Chapter 481: Against the High Priest

A figure in wine-red, covered in viscous liquid and grime, crawled out of it. Who else could it be but Wu Manyue?

She gazed at the direction where the nine-headed giant python had disappeared. She took out the unfurled silver scroll; its light was dim, and its spatial power completely gone. It had become a discarded scroll.

Her palm trembled, and her eyes were filled with distress. It felt as if her heart was bleeding.

This was the life-saving talisman she had always kept hidden. It was discovered alongside the formation flags, and in terms of preciousness, it was far more valuable than them. She had carefully preserved it, planning to use it only when she encountered extreme danger. If she never needed it, she could have sold it at a high price to an elder, securing endless resources for life. Yet, Jiang Fan's schemes had caused her to waste it here for nothing.

"Jiang Fan!!!" she shrieked. "If I don't avenge this, I swear I'm no woman!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Fan, who was still on his way, sneezed without warning. "Is Xia Chaoge thinking of me?" he mumbled.

After an hour of trekking, he had covered more than half the journey. In another hour, he would be back at Mount Jie.

*Rumble, rumble—* A rumbling sound approached from a distance. Jiang Fan's eyes narrowed. He decisively tapped his toes on the ice and snow, leaped into the air, and landed atop a snowdrift. Then, he donned the Turtle Breath Cloak, concealing his spiritual energy fluctuations and aura.

As the sound grew closer, Jiang Fan's pupils involuntarily contracted. It was an enormous nine-headed giant python.

Even the reclusive Evil Spirit was startled. "Good heavens," it exclaimed, "the Demon Emperor's corpse has been refined into a zombie puppet! I truly underestimated the demon tribe's priests. Their mastery of corpse manipulation arts has reached a certain level."

He couldn't help but feel a little anxious. "Kid," the Evil Spirit urged, "you need to find a way to get to the demon tribe's heartland as soon as possible. I'm worried that if we go too late, the Nascent Soul corpse will be discovered by the demon priests and refined into a puppet. That would spoil the corpse, and it would be difficult for me to possess it."

Jiang Fan's agreement with the Evil Spirit was to help it find a Nascent Soul corpse; once it departed, the black mirror would belong to Jiang Fan. Of course, Jiang Fan had never truly believed this.

As the nine-headed giant python drew near, Jiang Fan finally noticed a graceful young woman, like a beauty from Jiangnan, standing on the python's head. She had a beautiful face and a tall, slender build, a beauty among humans, one in ten thousand.

However, Jiang Fan grew increasingly wary. The last demon who closely resembled a human was Liuli, the Demon Emperor's daughter. Now, another human-like being appeared; it was obvious to anyone that she was no ordinary individual.

He held his breath and focused intently, remaining perfectly still. With the Turtle Breath Cloak's invisibility, avoiding detection was effortless.

*Rumble, rumble—* Sure enough, the nine-headed giant python and the young woman on its head passed by without any awareness, rumbling past.

Just as they were about to brush past him, the python's tail suddenly lashed out without warning. Its speed was like a flash of lightning. By the time Jiang Fan reacted, the snake tail was already upon him!

His expression changed. He decisively used his movement technique to retreat, successfully dodging the direct impact of the tail. However, the sharp air current stirred up by the tail still sent him flying, slamming him into an ice mountain.

The Turtle Breath Cloak was shaken off, revealing his form. Jiang Fan tasted a metallic sweetness in his throat. He grabbed the cloak, his face showing surprise and doubt.

*Rumble, rumble—* The nine-headed giant python had already turned around, its body coiled, raising its massive nine heads high. The young woman standing on its central head crossed her arms over her chest.

From her elevated position, she said coldly, "How many demon powerhouses have you killed for such a dense aura of vital energy to gather on you? I could smell it from ten *li* away!"

Vital energy again? Back then, Jian Linyuan had also detected Jiang Fan's invisible state through his vital energy and warned him to control his slaughter of demonic beasts, or he would eventually become a public enemy of the demon tribe.

Afterward, Jiang Fan had slain over sixty beast kings in the Heaven-Severing Canyon and nearly a hundred demonic beasts of varying sizes at Mount Jie. The demonic vital energy on his body was so dense that even the Turtle Breath Cloak could no longer conceal it. It was just that human eyes couldn't perceive it yet.

"Hmph!" Jiang Fan swallowed the metallic sweetness in his throat and said, "Then you have a very sharp nose. It's a shame you're not a dog."

The beautiful young woman's willow-leaf eyebrows slightly twitched, and she said indifferently, "I have important people to kill. I don't have time to waste on you. Destroy him!"

At her command, the nine-headed giant python opened its mouth and spewed out a black mist. It resembled fire, yet also a poisonous miasma. Before it even swept over him, Jiang Fan felt dizzy and weak all over.

The Evil Spirit immediately warned, "Be careful! This is death qi! Touch it, and you're dead! Quickly use your thunder-path cultivation technique. Death qi is a type of sinister evil, and the thunder-path specifically counters it."

Upon learning it was death qi, Jiang Fan had already activated his Thunder Dragon Electric Leg. With a slight crouch, he kicked into the air.

*Sizzle—* Two thunder dragons instantly struck the surging death qi. It must be said, the thunder-path truly was the bane of all evil beings! This extremely dangerous and vast death qi was instantly obliterated into thin air after the two thunder dragons struck it, not a trace remaining.

Residual lightning arcs splattered onto the python's body, causing it to convulse violently a few times. The young woman on the python's head stumbled, falling to her knees somewhat ungracefully. A hint of shame and anger appeared on her indifferent, pretty face.

"I didn't realize you were a disciple of the Orthodox Thunder Sect?" she exclaimed. "Good! Very good! No wonder you all dare to trespass into the demon territory. So, you've either cultivated a secret soul technique or you're a disciple of the Orthodox Thunder Sect!"

The young woman stood up, her face icy cold. "Then I'll deal with you first, before I deal with that bastard! Trample him to death!"

She now regarded the human before her, who was roughly her age, with a bit more seriousness. It was truly surprising that a mere junior disciple possessed such a powerful thunder-path cultivation technique. Fortunately, what she had brought out was a zombie puppet refined from the Demon Emperor's corpse. If it were a puppet refined from a Core Formation realm corpse, it probably wouldn't have withstood his thunder-path technique. This person posed a significant threat to her zombie army and had to be eliminated!

*Roar—* All nine heads of the giant python let out a fierce roar simultaneously. Its colossal body, hundreds of feet in length, rapidly charged and lunged towards Jiang Fan.

At such incredible speed, Jiang Fan didn't even have time to evade. But he had no intention of escaping.

That single trace of lightning arc had made the nine-headed giant python tremble violently. He wondered if this Demon Emperor's corpse could withstand his "Five Thunders Rectifying Heaven Palm," a technique he had painstakingly cultivated. He had drained all the lightning power from within the Heavenly Thunder Stone to finally master the Five Thunders Rectifying Heaven Palm, and he hadn't had a chance to test its power yet. Now was the perfect opportunity.

He took a deep breath, circulating spiritual energy between his palms. The powerful lightning stored within his body surged like boiling water, threads of it emerging from his pores and gathering at his chest.

A streak of lightning. Two streaks. Three streaks… In an instant, a thundercloud formed before Jiang Fan's chest!!!

Amidst crackling sounds, the thundercloud emitted flickering, destructive lightning. It cast an indistinct glow on Jiang Fan's face and illuminated the entire area in flickering light and shadow.

The Evil Spirit gasped, "Y-you, where did you get so much lightning?" As an evil being, it felt a tremendous threat. If Jiang Fan had used such lightning against it when they first met, it would have long since turned to dust.

The young woman's expression also changed drastically. Feeling an immense threat, she urgently commanded, "Quick! Trample him to death!"

The power of this thundercloud was more than just one or two times stronger than his previous move. But realizing Jiang Fan's threat at this moment was already too late.