32: Using a snake to kill

Hong Yu's speed was very fast, almost leaving behind blood-colored afterimages. Behind him, thick smoke billowed, accompanied by a loud roar.

When Sun Yang and the others clearly saw the massive creature following Hong Yu, their expressions changed drastically. Without looking back, they ran toward Wolong City, not even having time to collect the Tiger Yao's corpse nearby.

While running, they roared in anger, "Hong Yu, you will die a miserable death!"

One could tell even with their toes that Qi Refining Stage Cultivators had absolutely no way to deal with a Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast, let alone an existence like the Cloud-Patterned Snake, which even City Lord Wang, who was also at Foundation Establishment, dared not provoke.

At this moment, they only hoped they could run faster than Hong Yu; after all, he was the one who had provoked the Cloud-Patterned Snake!

But their hopes were soon dashed. No matter what means they used, their speed was always a large margin slower than Hong Yu's.

What made them even more desperate was that Hong Yu deliberately ran in their direction and soon overtook them.

The Cloud-Patterned Snake pursued relentlessly from behind, its massive body bringing billowing dust and smoke, rolling directly toward them like a steamroller.

Soon, the first victim appeared—it was Zhao Yuntao.

Originally, his exhaustion was quite significant from maintaining the Formation, and the Spiritual Energy in his body was eighty to ninety percent depleted. Furthermore, he didn't have a Movement Technique to rely on, so his speed was the slowest among them. He was quickly caught up by the Cloud-Patterned Snake.

Although they hadn't provoked this terrifying Yao Beast, in the eyes of the beast, these people were merely stumbling blocks preventing it from catching up to Hong Yu. What should it do when encountering a stumbling block?

In the Cloud-Patterned Snake's simple mind, kicking it aside was the easiest choice.

Seeing that he could no longer escape, Zhao Yuntao grew desperate. He took out a large pile of life-saving items from his Storage Pouch and threw them frantically at the Cloud-Patterned Snake, even applying dozens of defensive Talismans to himself in one breath.

For a moment, he used all his means, and his body flickered with the light emitted by various colorful defensive Spells.

However, all his methods were as laughable as a mantis trying to stop a carriage before the Cloud-Patterned Snake. The snake simply crushed over him. In an instant, Zhao Yuntao was rolled under the snake's belly, all the lights were extinguished, and only a few dull, crisp sounds were heard.

By the time the Cloud-Patterned Snake revealed him again, he had turned into a puddle of mush, stuck firmly to the strange rocks of Red Stone Ridge.

Hong Yu, who was running at the very front, looked back with interest at this moment and teased, "Senior Brother Sun, aren't you going to look at your Junior Brother Zhao? You plotted against me together, and look how miserably he died! But don't worry, it'll be your turn next soon."

Hearing this, Sun Yang's eyes nearly split from rage, and his deep-seated hatred could no longer be hidden. He roared in fury, "Hong Yu, you piece of trash, don't you dare fall into my hands, or else even grinding your bones to ashes won't satisfy my hatred!"

Wu Tie and Mu Xue also began to curse loudly.

Hearing this, Hong Yu actually found it a bit funny. After all, in his eyes, Sun Yang and the others were already dead men. Since they were about to die, why not let them vent a bit?

He considered himself a very kind person, so he generously didn't argue with them about what their last words were. He only silently adjusted his direction while fleeing to ensure that he and Sun Yang's group were on the same straight line.

Seeing the Cloud-Patterned Snake drawing closer and closer, Wu Tie couldn't help but say, "Senior Brother Sun, this isn't the way to go on. Why don't we run in different directions? That beast behind us clearly only wants to chase Hong Yu. If we split up, I'm sure that beast won't continue to pursue us."

How could Sun Yang not know that Wu Tie's words were perfectly reasonable? But that kid Hong Yu was too cunning; his escape route was clearly calculated to use the Cloud-Patterned Snake as a blade to kill them!

Even if the three of them split up, one would surely be killed by Hong Yu!

As for who that person would be, the answer was self-evident—it would certainly be himself or Mu Xue.

Sun Yang was not a saint to begin with. If death was unavoidable, he preferred to drag a few more people down with him. Moreover, he wasn't without options. So after thinking for a moment, he didn't answer the question directly but instead asked Junior Sister Mu, "Junior Sister Mu, can you start the flying boat now?"

Mu Xue shook her head and said, "No, it takes time to start the flying boat. Before it can start, we'll likely be caught and crushed to death by the Cloud-Patterned Snake."

So Sun Yang immediately said, "Then we'll do as Junior Brother Wu says and split up. However, Junior Sister Mu, your speed is too slow. If Hong Yu is determined to kill you, you won't escape death either. Why don't you come with me? If we join forces, we might be able to slightly resist the impact of the Cloud-Patterned Snake."

Hearing this, Mu Xue's face instantly turned slightly red, and her heart felt a bit sweet as she thought to herself.

"As expected of the man I chose; true feelings are revealed in times of trouble."

So she nodded and agreed without hesitation, "I'll listen to you, Senior Brother Sun."

Wu Tie didn't dare to delay and hurriedly said, "Then Senior Brother, I'll be going first."

After saying that, he chose a direction and turned to leave, pushing his speed advantage to the limit.

Sun Yang didn't say much. Instead, he quietly placed his hand on his Storage Pouch. With a flash of green light, a small flag-like soul-summoning banner instantly appeared in his hand.

The soul-summoning banner grew with the wind, quickly becoming over two meters tall.

Sun Yang gripped the flagpole, which looked neither like metal nor jade, and gave his wrist a light shake. Black mist immediately swirled on the black surface of the banner, accompanied by faint, indistinct wails.

"Sun Yang, you beast who will die a miserable death, I curse you for all eternity!"

"Sun Yang, give me back my life!"

...Clearly, he had harmed an unknown number of lives.

Sun Yang's lips moved incessantly. After chanting some unknown Mantra, he threw the soul-summoning banner forcefully toward Wu Tie. The soul-summoning banner immediately turned into a black light, swiftly heading straight for the center of Wu Tie's back.

Wu Tie hadn't expected that the usually amiable Senior Brother Sun would be so ruthless toward him. Thus, completely off guard, the soul-summoning banner passed directly through his body. A look of unbelievable surprise instantly appeared on his face.

However, just as he wanted to say something, he could no longer speak. With a flash of black light from the soul-summoning banner, Wu Tie's body was instantly sucked dry into a withered corpse. Then, the banner flipped and rolled, actually dragging out Wu Tie's soul and devouring it alive!

Then, with a flicker, the soul-summoning banner returned directly to Sun Yang's hand.

However, if one looked closely, they would find that on the originally pure black surface of the banner, there was now an additional figure with a distorted face, filled with endless resentment.

One could still vaguely tell that the appearance was fifty to sixty percent similar to Wu Tie.