Chapter 9: The Snake Demon's Gaze

  The young officer held his breath, which wasn't difficult, because he had completely forgotten how to breathe.

  The bald man rushed at him with a smile, but finding no effect, retreated behind the tree. Soon, another face appeared from behind the tree, and the military officer recognized this person as one of his old soldiers, although he couldn't remember his name, but his appearance was unmistakable. The only strange thing was that he too was smiling and nodding continuously, without a hint of the sternness of Xuanfu Jun.

  The officer remained still, and the face behind the tree changed constantly, as if trying to attract him with this method.

  Previously, the officer had abandoned his soldiers and fled alone without seeing the scene of the fight, but he was now quite certain that these faces which had smiled at him only remained as skulls.

  At the thought of over a dozen lonely heads grinning at him in turn, the officer's patience was immediately exhausted, and he let out a shrill cry, tumbling to the ground with a thud. The sorrel horse was startled, leaping forward several steps before stopping again, completely unaware of any danger.

  The scream woke everyone up, Xia Qiu and Fang Fang's heads bumped together, and the two of them cried out in pain at the same time.

  The boys were in a confused heap, and it was some time before they saw the officer still yelling.

  Those skulls that kept appearing finally lost their patience, unable to entice, the manipulator behind them revealed their true face. Two or three zhang high in the air, a huge snake head floated, two lantern-sized yellow eyes flickering with cold light.

  This time there were no Xuanfu soldiers fighting in the front row, and the snake demon seemed to know that this was a group of humans with little combat power, slowly lowering its height, sizing them up one by one.

  The young officer finally stopped screaming and fainted for the third time in less than a day.

  The young men of Yelinfeng had run away twice before, but this time under the direct gaze of the snake demon, their legs seemed to be stiffened and they couldn't move at all. They could only stand still on the spot, with extreme panic causing numbness in their minds.

  The snake demon crawled around the boys, stopping when they were head to tail, encircling them with its body, and then continued to stare at humans, spitting out long snake letters at each person, as if searching for something.

  The boys could speak now. Er Liang was the first to think of a possibility, and he said in a trembling voice: "It's full from eating during the day, now it's surrounding us, leaving us for breakfast."

  Everyone was frightened by this scene, and Dumb was a bit fatter than others. Hearing this, he was especially afraid, clinging tightly to Ershuang's side, "What to do? Why don't we hand over your family's Red Date Horse?"

  The snake demon was not interested in the larger food, and the jujube red horse was fenced outside. It ran far away, sniffing around for grass everywhere, without abandoning its owner, nor did it think of saving its owner.

  He swallowed hard and hid his long sword behind him, saying in a low voice: "Find the right opportunity, run if you can."

  Looking at the serpent body in the night color that is higher than themselves, the young men can't think of how to have a chance to escape.

  "It's catching prisoners." Xia Qiu suddenly came up with an idea.

  The giant head of the snake demon slowly lowered, finally only a few feet away from the ground, its gaze level with that of the young men, and it made a hissing sound in its mouth, as if issuing some kind of command.

  Xiao Qiu took a step forward, and the young men gathered together in tension, but also admired him in their hearts.

  "I." Xia Qiu stared into the snake demon's large round eyes, trying not to blink, pointing at herself and then at the officer who had fainted nearby. "Wake him up, and we'll go with you."

  The snake demon blinked its eyes, as if trying hard to understand what the little human was saying, then nodded its head and surprisingly understood.

  Ben's hand grasped Er Shuang's arm, "What does Xiao Qiu mean? Follow it? Where are we going?"

  With a flick of her wrist, Xia Qiu freed herself from the grasp of the stunned man, and with a slight blink of her eyes, she signaled to her companions not to be afraid, for she had a plan.

  Xiao Qiu slowly walked towards the officer.

  The officer fainted near the middle section of the snake demon's body. Xia Qiu was kneeling on the ground with his back to the snake head, using force to push and pull.

  The officer slowly opened his eyes, first looking at Xia Qiu with a bewildered expression, then discovering the huge and slippery snake body beside him, suddenly sat up, opening his mouth to scream again.

  Xiao Qiu covered the officer's mouth with one hand, "Don't shout, what's the use?"

  The officer's two eyes were wide open and he nodded slightly.

  "Have you calmed down now?"

  The officer nodded again.

  "Can you stand up?"

  The officer nodded.

  Xiao Qiu moved her hand away from her mouth and with the other hand, she handed a stack of paper talismans to the military officer.

  The officer was taken aback and understood Xia Qiu's intention. He finally took back his own protective charm, but he didn't have the courage to use it. "My leg..."

  Xiao Qiu helped the officer stand up and shook his shoulders twice, "Are you okay? Can you walk?"

  The officer first nodded and then shook his head, even daring not to look at the snake demon.

  Xiao Qiu really wanted to beat the officer like Er Bing, a proud member of the Xuanfu Army, who was stern and cold when facing prisoners, but when he needed to take charge, he became as timid as a sheep, even less brave than the most cowardly boy in Ye Lin Town. Fangfang is just a girl, but she's not as useless as him.

  The snake demon's head moved over, stopping a few feet away to observe the two humans. The officer was so scared that he almost fainted again. Xia Qiu quickly supported him and tried her best to block the view in front of her, not letting the snake demon see the stack of paper charms.

  "If you can't move, then I'll just have to feed you to it first," Xia Qiu said, his right hand secretly gripping the dagger. When there was no way out, he wasn't as afraid as he thought he'd be; after all, he wouldn't just sit and wait for death.

  The officer regained his composure after extreme panic, "I can move, don't, don't give me to it."

  Xiao Qiu took a step forward, facing the snake head that was even higher than him, and said loudly: "Where are we going? Are we leaving now?"

  The snake's head slowly rose, stopping when it was over a zhang high, and looked down at the tiny humans with its lantern-like yellow eyes, where a strange green light flashed from left to right before quickly disappearing. Then, it opened its mouth, revealing long sharp teeth and an unfathomably deep black hole.

  "What is it doing? Isn't it supposed to capture prisoners?" Xia Qiu asked in puzzlement.

  The officer was the only one who had a slight understanding of the demon, and the courage that had just gathered together also meant to escape, "It's not going to take us away, it's going to absorb human essence to cultivate its demonic body, so it wants us all to be alive, because only living people..."

  He couldn't go on, and he almost fainted again, just so that the snake demon wouldn't be interested in him.

  Xiao Qiu was actually very afraid in his heart, but this fear did not make him lose his courage. Instead, it gave rise to a strong will to fight in the face of desperation. He suddenly pulled out his dagger and shouted loudly at the black hole above his head, ready to face the enemy.

  The snake demon was unmoved, the more lively the prey, the better the effect of refining the demon body.

  Xiao Qiu's bold move was a kind of inspiration to the besieged boys, Er Shuang raised his hands and held up the long sword behind him, taking big strides towards the nearest snake body, letting out a loud roar that was even louder than Xiao Qiu.

  Two bundles, one sword chopped on the snake's body, hoping to open a path, with a loud noise, the sharp symbol sword didn't even chop off a single scale, but was bounced into the air and fell heavily to the ground. Er Bund had a fierce momentum, without any weapons, he pounced on the snake's body, opened his mouth and bit down.

  The snake demon was unfazed by such an attack and rushed towards the nearest human with its big mouth open.

  The black hole is getting closer and closer, Xiao Qiu is still shouting loudly, behind him, the officer finally gathered enough courage, his right hand raised up, "Wheel Empty Slash!"

  A wheel-like white light flew out of the officer's hand at high speed and rushed towards the yellow eyeball of the snake demon.

  This was not the desperate blow of a small town youth, but the powerful force emitted by the first-class paper charm of Xī Jiè Country. The snake demon clearly did not anticipate this move, and with a swing of its head, it let the beam pass through.

  The snake demon actually made an evasive action, which greatly increased the officer's confidence. His right hand didn't stop, releasing one paper talisman after another, shouting loudly in his mouth, all of which were names like "Hundred Steps Strike" and "Explosive Ice God Stab", but none of them were the hidden body talismans and directional talismans he had mentioned before.

  Xiao Qiu didn't expect this, but only felt that the officer's move was too fast and had no accuracy. More than a dozen paper charms were released, but they only made the snake's head rise slightly, and not one of them hit their mark.

  "Hit the snake's body! Hit the snake's body!" Xia Qiu shouted loudly to remind him, but the officer was like a madman and couldn't stop at all until his hands were empty, then he stared at Xia Qiu with his mouth agape, "N-no more."

  The snake demon was enraged, its snake head shook twice in mid-air and then dived down fiercely, intending to end the battle quickly.

  At the same moment, Xiao Qiu also made a move, pouncing on the snake's body, tightly grasping the dagger and stabbing down with force, knowing that this action was futile, yet refusing to back down.

  Pfft!

  This stab was beyond everyone's expectation, and it actually penetrated the scales and pierced into the snake's body.

  The snake demon was even more unexpected, the dagger wasn't long, but it was a bit wary, the snake head rose again, its body shook violently, and Xiao Qiu was thrown out along with the dagger.

  "Right, with the dagger! With the dagger! This is a treasure that has killed monsters." The officer shouted, just remembering that this dagger was his own thing, a rather legendary magical object. While speaking, he used his hands and feet to run backwards, hoping to get away from the snake's head.

  Xiao Qiu got up from the ground, one move was effective, his courage became bolder, and he shouted loudly and rushed forward again.

  The two men behind were stunned for a moment, ran out a few steps, picked up the long sword on the ground, also shouted loudly, and followed Xia Qiu's back to attack the snake head.

  The desire to contend for the position of young leader in Yelan Town outweighed all fears, and even if there was a deep abyss ahead, Ershuang would follow without hesitation.

  The other boys also shouted loudly, they still didn't dare to move, but the cheering voices were exhausted, hoarse, and several people's faces turned bright red without stopping.

  A sharp voice merged into a piece, also with a few points of high-pitched and majestic momentum, the snake demon opposite seemed to be subdued, two yellow eyes retreated several feet back, then quickly changed direction, and actually had the intention of escaping.

  Xiao Qiu and Er Shuang's confidence increased, and they didn't think that the snake demon, who couldn't be defeated by ten Xuanfu soldiers, would be afraid of two children. Instead, it sped up its pursuit.

  The snake demon really wanted to escape, and it was fleeing in a panic, circling around a large tree once, its massive body, almost as thick as the trunk, slid past two brave young men like a small moving mountain, finally sweeping its tail and knocking them back dozens of feet.

  Xiao Qiu felt something fall into her arms, and she instinctively hugged it. When she landed, she looked down to see that it was the bald man's head, with a comical smile still frozen on his face. Xiao Qiu's hair stood on end as she reflexively threw the head backwards with both hands, discarding the last remaining part of the bald man.

  Xiao Qiu and Er Bing were knocked flying so easily, the boys' shouting voices weakened, only then did they suddenly realize that there was someone else who had scared away the snake demon.

  "Ding..."

  The sound of the copper bell rang out, a beam of light descended from the sky and landed between the snake demon and the boys. As the light dissipated, it revealed a person that all the boys except Fangfang and the officer knew.