Chapter 11: The Demonic Beast Arrives

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  Just as the refugees were about to rush into the drying field, the old Taoist snorted in disdain and said, "A group of ants dare to ruin my good deeds."

  The old man patted the round plate in his hand again.

  Wow!

  Along the edge of the drying field, a milky white light suddenly rose, and this light quickly circled around the drying field, in the blink of an eye, forming a cylindrical protective cover that blocked all the refugees who rushed up outside the drying field.

  The starving people beat against this milky white light column with their hands, but no matter how hard they tried, the light column didn't move at all, as stable as Mount Tai.

  "Haha." The old Daoist laughed with satisfaction, "Heaven is helping me, my years of hard work have not been in vain. This time, as long as I can complete this formation, I will be able to seize the lifespan of these boys and girls, gather it into my body, and I will at least be able to extend my life by 63 years. With this additional lifespan, I will have hope of breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining."

  The old man seemed to have thought of something again, he glanced at Cao Yu and saw that his face was uncertain, as if he had the tendency to run away. He shook his hand and shot out a fixation symbol, fixing Cao Yu in place. With a somewhat complacent smile, he said: "Good disciple, still help your master complete this Seven Stars Nine Palaces Life-Extending Array, and afterwards you won't be without benefits."

  In just this short time, the blood threads condensed from the vital energy of the young boys and girls have already burst through the Tian Shu star, Tian Xuan star, Tian Ji star, and Tian Quan star, and are about to reach the fifth star, Yu Heng star.

  At this time, the blood vessels had grown larger and were now as thick as a cucumber.

  The old man stared with wide eyes, greedily looking at the blood thread. Later, he only needed to swallow this long spring thread, and his lifespan would increase by 63 years. He no longer had to worry that within three to five years, his lifespan would be exhausted and he would have no chance of achieving immortality.

  At this time, Li Wenjun used all his strength to finally pull out the half of the dagger. He barely grasped the dagger and aligned its blade with the silver cord, cutting it. In Lao Dao's eyes, a small gap appeared on the silver cord that only a magic weapon could cut through.

  This silver-inlaid cord was not a magical artifact connected to the old Daoist's mind, and he was now focused on devouring the Longchun silk. Moreover, he had never thought that Li Wenjun, an ordinary mortal, would possess such a treasure as half of a dagger, and thus committed a grave mistake that would leave him with eternal regret.

  The parents and friends of the young boys and girls, as well as the villagers from the military fortress town, all focused their attention on the sun-dried rice field. The young boys and girls themselves were struggling to survive and had no spare time to pay attention to anything else. Lao Dao was afraid that his carefully prepared Seven Stars Nine Palaces Formation would have some mistake, and he didn't dare to shift his gaze easily. As a result, three or four hundred people gathered around the sun-dried rice field, but not one person looked further away.

  The drying field is built next to the river dike of the Juhe River, and jumping over the dike is the wide Juhe River with a width of several zhang. Although the water level of the Juhe River has dropped due to drought, there are still several meters of water in the riverbed, which is more than one person deep.

  Just as Lao Dao brought in the heavenly round moon's Taiyin energy and activated the Seven Stars Nine Palaces Formation, the river water of the Chuan River suddenly rippled, and a huge triangular head emerged from the river.

  This head is much larger than a face basin, but the eyes are not very big, shining with a cold and eerie light that disregards human affairs. Behind this head is a slender body of three or four zhang in length, if the long worker from the Li family saw it, he would definitely recognize it as the so-called snake spirit he saw in the grass nest by the riverbank a few days ago.

  However, this snake is not a snake spirit, but a kind of demon beast, the black-striped giant rat snake. It was in an extremely rare opportunity that it ran into the Junhe River and then swam along the river to the vicinity of Junbao Town.

  Yao beasts and Lao Dao are both creatures that can cultivate using the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. The Seven Stars Nine Palaces Array set up by Lao Dao extracts the essence and blood of young boys and girls to refine what is known as Long Spring Silk, which has an equally great attraction for it.

  This black-striped giant python is not of a high rank, don't look at its massive body, it's basically a bottom-tier existence among the demon beasts. It doesn't have much wisdom to begin with, and most of its actions rely on instinct. Instinctively, it feels that if it can swallow the Long Spring Silk, it will bring great benefits to itself.

  When the old Tao activated the protective field of the drying beach, the black-striped giant python could no longer hold back. With a flick of its tail, its long and sturdy body moved silently through the water. Its head emerged from the surface, leaping out of the water first, landing on the shore.

  The black-striped giant python stuck to the ground, moving to the riverbank of the River Jing, just about one zhang in front of it, where a group of starving people were angrily smashing the grain drying field.

  Changchun silk is moving on the Seven Star Nine Palace Array, and it has been circling around the fifth star. The faces of the nine boys and girls on the fifth star are undergoing drastic changes, instantly aging, with threads of blood floating up from their bodies, making Changchun silk even thicker.

  The black-striped giant python suddenly lifted its triangular head, and with a burst of force from its abdominal muscles and long tail, its massive body seemed to take off into the air as it shot out in an instant.

  Between the black-striped giant python and that layer of cylindrical protection, there was still a distance of several feet, but this distance was nothing to the black-striped giant python.

  Apart from this distance, there are some people.

  The black-striped giant python rushed over, and these people were in a desperate situation. The black-striped giant python's body was heavy and fast, and it instantly knocked the people who blocked its way flying out. There were also several more unfortunate ones who were directly hit, breaking their bones and spitting blood, dying unjustly.

  Even so, the black-striped giant python still crashed heavily on the cylindrical protective cover.

  A loud crash, a white cylindrical protective cover shook violently, almost collapsing.

  The villagers and refugees outside the threshing ground were frightened by this black-striped giant python that suddenly appeared, and they cried out in unison: "Snake demon!"

  The village chief, who had received some news beforehand, did not expect to encounter the snake spirit in this situation. His head buzzed, his blood rushed up, and he was frightened silly, standing still on the spot.

  Villagers, refugees, as long as they have two legs, are all flustered and fleeing. Who still cares about the length of their clothes? Who still cares about the young boys and girls in the Seven Stars Nine Palaces Array? They all wish their parents had given birth to a few more legs, no one dares to stay behind.

  The black-striped giant python swung its tail and crashed into the protective shield released by Lao Dao.

  "Save me, hurry up and save..."

  Ri Chang had just shouted for help when he was swept away by the giant black-striped centipede's massive tail, which slammed him into the protective shield. The middle of Ri Chang's body was instantly flattened into a meat patty, and as blood splattered everywhere, the villagers and refugees ran even faster.

  The milky white cylindrical shield shook again, this time more violently than before.

  The old Taoist in the sun-drenched valley almost jumped three feet high when the black-striped giant python emerged. He wasn't excited, but anxious, frantically anxious.

  Lao Dao Shouyuan was nearing the end of his life, and he had spent more than half of his family's wealth to obtain the Seven Stars Nine Palaces Life-Extending Array, a sinister array that could prolong his life.

  In order to minimize the disturbance, and prevent those who like to use the banner of demon-hunting and meddling in other people's business from gathering around, he plunged into the mortal realm, traveling thousands of miles to a place called Junbao Town, where birds wouldn't even leave their droppings. Taking advantage of the impending severe drought, he cleverly lured the village headman into helping him gather 7963 boys and girls, assisting him in setting up this Seven Stars Nine Palaces Formation.

  Just as everything was going smoothly with the help of heaven, and they were about to succeed, unexpectedly a monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

  "A first-class demonic beast, the Black-striped Giant Python." The old Daoist gazed at the Black-striped Giant Python that was currently smashing into the protective barrier, his teeth clenched in anger.

  The black-striped giant python seemed to have heard the old Taoist's voice, it raised its head, through the semi-transparent protective cover, its cold and indifferent eyes stared at the old Taoist.

  Suddenly, the black-striped giant python opened its huge mouth and spat out a mouthful of black water. The black water fell on the protective cover, and a white smoke burst out, making a hissing sound. In an instant, the protective cover that Lao Dao had painstakingly set up was corroded into a big hole.

  The black-striped giant python lowered its head and was about to drill into the sun-dried rice field from this big hole.

  The old man couldn't let the black-striped giant python get its way, at this critical moment, he bit his tongue and aimed at the round plate in his hand, suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood. Instantly, more milky white light burst out from the plate, and the large hole corroded by the black-striped giant python's venom quickly healed at a visible speed.

  The old Daoist looked up and saw that the Changchun silk had already absorbed the essence of the nine palaces of the fifth star, Yuhe Star. He let out a long sigh of relief in his heart, thinking to himself: "It's almost done, just a little more time, about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea (five minutes), and the essence of the last two stars of the seven stars, eighteen boys and girls, will all gather into the Changchun silk."

  When the Long Spring Silk is fully cultivated, he swallows it, and at this moment all the losses can be made up.

  Just as Changchun silk was about to rush into the sixth star, Kaiyang Star, Li Wenjun's body emitted a soft "ding" sound. After his tireless efforts, he finally used the half截 dagger to cut off the silver rope that bound him. He quickly broke free from the rope and rolled out of Kan Palace just as Changchun silk flew over the nine palaces above Kaiyang Star.

  Lao Dao's eyes flickered and he saw a black shadow rolling out of Kaiyang Star. He focused his attention and found it was none other than Li Wenjun, the one person who never gave him peace of mind.

  "How is this possible? Weren't you bound by my silver rope?" The old Daoist almost fainted.

  Li Wenjun did not answer the old Taoist's question, but instead grasped the half dagger in his hand, lowered his head, with a hint of fear, and also with a hint of stubbornness and resentment, staring at the old Taoist.

  Before the old Dao could think of a way to deal with Li Wenjun, the black-striped giant python outside the protective cover made another move. It opened its huge mouth again and sprayed out a new snake gall.

  This mouthful of black water was obviously less than the previous one. It fell on the milky white protective cover, making a hissing sound, and white mist rose again.

  However, this time, the venom of the black-striped giant python did not corrode through the protective shield activated by Lao Dao's own vital energy.