Chapter 384: You Chase and I Catch Up

Each snake scale was larger than a copper coin, and its hardness far surpassed that of a coin. Even a full-force chop from the boy's subordinates could barely damage it. Yet, when the boy bit into it, the scale shattered with a crunch, as brittle as a potato chip under his teeth. With two more bites, several scales disappeared, revealing the supple skin beneath.

At this moment, the giant python also sensed something was wrong. What it had coiled around felt like a wooden stick, lacking the softness and elasticity of flesh and blood. Not to mention a human body, it should have been able to crush a wooden stake this thick.

Then, it felt the pain of its scales being torn off. Looking again, the boy opened his mouth once more, biting into the newly opened wound. His row of neat, white teeth had transformed into sharp, pointed fangs, like those of a shark. The giant python immediately felt an indescribable pain, as if its entire body was being sucked into the creature's mouth.

To the onlookers, its full body began to shrivel, and the scales near the wound started falling off in chunks. The giant python cried out in pain, letting out a loud 'guak' and spitting a mouthful of green fire at the boy.

This was not fire, but a poisonous miasma brewed from the acidic liquid in its belly. Highly corrosive to skin, it caused those who touched it to suffer agonizingly with torn flesh. As the miasma passed, the skin on the boy's face and neck was indeed corroded, revealing raw, red muscle. Yet, he remained unfazed, simply closing his eyes.

Having no other recourse, the giant python released the boy and fled into the forest. "Damn it, you hurt me terribly, and you think you can run?" The black-clad boy wouldn't let it escape; he dragged it back with a flick of his hand and continued to gnaw and suck.

Seeing itself increasingly flaccid like a leather pouch, the giant python cried out, "I am an envoy from Elung Kingdom! If you kill me, there will be dire consequences! Haoling Kingdom and Baoshu Kingdom will never let you off!"

"Aren't you from Shanyu Kingdom?" The boy released his bite, looking astonished. "What, you're not from Shanyu Kingdom?" "No, no, I am an envoy from Elung Kingdom!" "Where's your credential? Let me see it." The giant python spat out a scepter.

Someone stepped forward, picked it up, and respectfully handed it to the boy. He took it, held it up to the light, and examined it closely. "Hmm, it is indeed an Elung envoy's scepter," he said, his voice tinged with deep regret.

"You've got the wrong person!" The giant python struggled to pull its tail free. "Let me go, and my country can let bygones be bygones." "So, you're an envoy too, but unfortunately not the one I'm looking for," the boy said, smacking his lips with a hint of regret. "I've already eaten half of it, never mind, I might as well finish it." With that, he grabbed the snake's body again and bit into it fiercely.

Further pleas from the giant python were useless. As blood dripped, it was almost reduced to an empty sack. Despite consuming so much flesh and blood, the black-clad boy's stomach did not swell; he merely let out a satisfied burp, and the wounds on his face healed. He tossed aside the snake carcass and casually wiped the corner of his mouth.

"This one wasn't from Shanyu Kingdom; it made me happy for nothing. Fuju, didn't you say the Shanyu Kingdom envoy would also pass through Sanxin Plain?" The area encompassing Sanxin Lake and its surrounding forests is known as Sanxin Plain.

Fuju, whose name was called, replied tremblingly, "Young Master, the information I gathered is absolutely true. Their absence is most likely, most likely still related to the Emperor's Dew." The itineraries of all diplomatic missions could potentially be disrupted by the Emperor's Dew.

"Most likely?" The black-clad boy scoffed. "So, you didn't gather all the facts? Tell me yourself how you should be punished." Fuju's forehead glistened with a thin layer of sweat. "I still need to serve the Young Master; how about I sever a finger?" The black-clad boy considered for a moment. "Alright, I'll spare you this once."

Fuju gritted his teeth, as if fearing he would change his mind, and quickly drew his knife to sever a finger—his pinky, of course. "Then we'll talk in Fufeng City," the boy said. "In this desolate wilderness, where else can we find our target's whereabouts? We might as well wait at the destination. For now, let's go find that piece of Emperor's Dew Paste!" Heavenly treasures belong to the capable. Regardless of who held the Emperor's Dew Paste, he was grateful to them for keeping it safe for so long.

The black-clad boy pointed northeast and asked the crow perched on a treetop, "You said he went that way?" Seeing how easily he had dispatched the giant python, the crow's confidence soared. It immediately flew to the spot where He Lingchuan had entered the forest. "He went right between these two trees!"

The black-clad boy walked over, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. After seemingly analyzing for a while in his mind, he said, "No mistake, besides the strong aroma, there's also a human scent from the lake! This person was busy all night and must have gotten a lot of Emperor's Dew on him!" "Pack up quickly and follow me." With that, he charged into the forest, pursuing the scent. In the rugged mountain woods, his speed far surpassed that of a galloping horse.

The crow quickly flapped its wings and gave chase. But before it had flown a hundred zhang, it realized with annoyance that it had lost him again!

He Lingchuan had indeed retreated northeast. Here, ancient trees towered, and the forest was so dense that not a palm-sized patch of sky could be seen—precisely the terrain he needed most. His horse was gone, but the fierce tiger controlled by the malevolent spirit was still there, and with the mirror holding it in check, the tiger demon wouldn't regain consciousness anytime soon. So, he rode the tiger like a horse, galloping ten li.

Only when the forest ahead thinned did he dismount the tiger, find a large tree, and climb up. He ascended more than five zhang above the ground before finding a comfortable branch to sit on. This large tree was lush with branches and leaves, and the particular branch he chose offered an excellent view, conveniently near a beast trail. He even saw the crow fly overhead several times through the gaps in the leaves, cawing in frustration.

He chose this spot because being too far away would make it difficult to clearly receive the live broadcast from the Eyeball Spider. Witnessing so many martial artists and demons slaughtering each other over the crow's rumors, he was grateful that his decision to leave early had been exceptionally correct. And the black-clad boy's deduction was also correct; He Lingchuan had been thinking that when the battle by the lake began to wind down, he might be able to return and pick up some spoils. However, with an artifact like the Eyeball Spider for covert observation, he didn't need to get close to watch, so he wasn't exposed by the black-clad boy's purple-gold hammer; instead, it was the lurking giant python that suffered a terrible fate.

But when the black-clad boy appeared, He Lingchuan became highly vigilant. Despite having a handsome human face, this guy wasn't human at all, was he? What normal person would have eyes and fangs like that? After the black-clad boy devoured the giant python, He Lingchuan heard his conversation with the crow, immediately jumped down from the big tree, mounted the fierce tiger, and urged it to gallop wildly.

Observing this fellow's actions, the black-clad boy appeared more than capable of handling the giant python, surely holding back some trump cards. He Lingchuan had little confidence against this person. Most importantly, he now carried a great treasure. He believed in the adage 'jade doesn't clash with porcelain'; carrying such a large amount of Emperor's Dew, he didn't want to fight to the death with someone of unknown origin.

He had originally intended to use Lord Boshan's invisible snake skin to sneak through, but that fellow's nose was even keener than a dog's. He could conceal his own aura, but the scent of the Emperor's Dew could not be hidden along with it. As He Lingchuan urged the tiger to gallop, he pondered and soon came up with a plan. He took a wide detour.

He even trespassed into the territories of two demons along the way, receiving two angry snorts in greeting. These were two enormous wild boars, their bulk nearly matching the fierce tiger he rode. Behind them was a massive burrow. It was well-known that wild boars liked to live in burrows. The moment He Lingchuan saw that burrow, he stopped in his tracks, and the fierce tiger halted as well.

The two boar demons immediately grunted loudly at him, warning him to leave quickly. Their four small eyes were bloodshot from maintaining a state of high excitement all night, and white foam flecked the corners of their mouths. To their surprise, He Lingchuan suddenly undid both his shirt and trousers, moving so quickly they couldn't stop him. The two boar demons were instantly dumbfounded; their next two grunts failed to materialize. Was this something they were supposed to see?

Then, these two garments flew directly towards them. The wild boars furiously tried to push them away, but as their snouts twitched, they unexpectedly caught the scent of the Emperor's Dew. Overjoyed, the two boars picked up the clothes and stuffed them into their burrow. After all, the Emperor's Dew rain had fallen on these clothes all night long. Now that dawn was approaching and the spiritual rain had stopped, here was an unexpected bonus, and they wanted to go into their burrow to properly digest it. As they waddled back, He Lingchuan, now clad in only his undergarments, rode the tiger in a circle around the burrow, then continued to charge towards the lake.

Just about a 'tea-drinking' interval later, the black-clad boy surprisingly caught up to this spot. Looking at the burrow in the dense forest, he frowned. He had tracked the scent all the way here and could feel it was strongest inside the burrow. Had the target hidden inside? It didn't seem impossible. Dawn was approaching, and both demons and humans would need to find a safe place to digest their night's gains. Moreover, how would the target know someone was pursuing him? So, the black-clad boy hesitated for a moment, then stooped and crawled into the burrow.

Once he entered, a quarter of an hour passed. What happened inside the burrow was unknown to those outside, but a series of high-pitched pig squeals certainly emanated from it. The idiom 'screaming like a pig being slaughtered' must have originated here, perhaps? Later, the boy emerged with a grim face. His clothes were already black, so the bloodstains weren't very noticeable, but he reeked of blood, and a few drops were splattered on his face. The burrow had been too narrow to avoid them.

The first thing he did upon emerging was to look up at the sky. Time was running out. The black-clad boy searched the surroundings and finally picked up the scent again. This time, his speed was even greater; as he passed by two grazing sika deer, they merely looked up blankly, unaware of what was happening.

After galloping for several hundred zhang, he found a prominent beast trail leading to a bamboo forest. The moment the boy reached it, the ground shook, and with a 'boom,' it exploded. The explosion was powerful, creating a two-foot-deep crater at its center, sending soil within a two-zhang radius flying into the air before it rained down. The sound was immense, scattering nearby birds and beasts. The black-clad boy was also blasted ten feet away, but he quickly scrambled to his feet, seemingly unharmed. However, his clothes and shoes were shredded, making his appearance exceptionally disheveled; he looked as if he could set up a broken bowl by the roadside in Fufeng City and expect kind passersby to offer help.

"Still, I was too hasty," he muttered. If he hadn't been so eager to pursue, he would have smelled the hidden gunpowder on the path. At this point, he ignored everything else and continued chasing into the bamboo forest. To his surprise, the area suddenly opened up—there was no path, and directly ahead lay the vast, misty main lake of Sanxin Lake.