Chapter Fifty-two: Killing Snakes and Extracting Blood

  The two of them wrapped up the antidote and tucked it away. Huang Rong said to Ling Yun, "Brother Yun, now that we have the antidote, let's go."

  Ling Muyun said: "Rong'er, wait a moment, there's still something good that hasn't been taken yet."

  "What's good stuff?" Huang Rong asked with a puzzled face.

  Ling Mu Yun glanced around and quickly walked to a bamboo basket the size of a water tank in the corner, pointing at it and saying, "The good thing I was talking about is this."

  Huang Rong leaned forward, borrowing the moonlight that shone through the gaps in the bamboo basket to take a look. To her surprise, inside the basket was an extraordinary large snake with a body as red as blood. The snake's diameter was about the size of a bowl, its body coiled into a ball, making it impossible to tell how long it was. It filled the bottom of the basket completely, its head slightly larger than a baby's, and its eyes shone like lanterns in the dark.

  "What a huge snake!" Huang Rong couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice. Born in the south, she had seen many snakes and insects, and had even caught snakes to cook before, but this red-colored strange snake was also her first time seeing it. Even Huang Rong, who always thought of herself as brave, couldn't help but be startled.

  "Cloud brother, this big snake is so scary, what do you want it for?"

  Ling Yun smiled and explained to Huang Rong: "Rong'er, don't underestimate this guy, it's a real treasure snake."

  "Treasured snake? Brother Ling, you'd better tell me, what's so precious about this snake?" Huang Rong asked curiously after hearing Ling Yun mention it.

  "I heard that Lianzhiweng, the old monster, somehow got a secret recipe for raising snakes with medicine to change his tendons and strengthen his body. He followed the recipe, went through great difficulties to catch a highly poisonous snake from the depths of Changbai Mountain, and then fed it various precious medicines according to the recipe. After feeding it for twenty years, it gradually changed its original color and became what it is today. It's said that drinking the blood of this snake not only nourishes one's face and increases one's lifespan and strength but also makes one immune to all poisons and repels all snakes. Do you think this is a treasured snake?"

  "Is this really the case? Then this snake is truly a treasure!" Huang Rong's eyes lit up instantly, and when she looked at the blood-colored snake in the bamboo basket again, her gaze was filled with greed. "Since that's the case, we must take this snake with us. It just so happens that I have two tricks up my sleeve when it comes to snakes. We'll bring this snake back, and I'll make a snake stew for you to eat, Cloud Brother, what do you say?"

  "Alright, I'm looking forward to tasting your culinary skills." Ling Mu Yun nodded repeatedly, although he had never personally tried it before, but he had long heard of Huang Rong's cooking level, which was even praised by the nine-fingered beggar Hong Qigong, who was known for being a connoisseur. This precious snake was already a rare and precious treasure, if it could be cooked with Huang Rong's skilled hands, it would truly be perfect.

  Because Leung Tsi-wong always treasured the precious snake as his life, he took it with him wherever he went. For convenience, Leung Tsi-wong specially made a large bamboo basket that was dense and suitable, and tied a net bag on the outside of the bamboo basket with rope, leaving two rope loops as shoulder straps for people to carry. This, however, facilitated Ling Mu-yung's theft. At this time, Ling Mu-yung covered the lid of the bamboo basket tightly to prevent the precious snake from escaping halfway, then put it on his back and left the mansion with Wong Yung together, taking the path out of the palace.

  With their exceptional lightness skills, Ling Yun and Huang Rong safely escaped from the Zhao Wang Fu and headed towards the small inn where Wang Chongyang and Guo Jing were staying. When they arrived at the inn, Wang Chongyang and Guo Jing had just finished dinner and were overjoyed to see Ling Yun return with the antidote. Guo Jing was especially thrilled, as if he himself had been saved. He didn't even have time to be surprised by Huang Rong's sudden transformation into a woman. On the other hand, Wang Chongyang, who was supposed to be the main beneficiary, remained calm and simply thanked Ling Yun before taking the antidote and retiring to his room to meditate.

  After Wang and the others left, Huang Rong indignantly said: "This surname Wang is really ungrateful, Brother Yun you risked so much to steal the antidote for him, he just says a simple 'thank you' and that's it? It's too insincere!"

  Ling Mu Yun smiled slightly and said, "Rong Er, you don't know this. A real man is grateful in his heart, not just in words. Just because he doesn't say thank you often doesn't mean he hasn't kept that kindness in mind."

  "Yun Gege, how can you be so sure he'll react as you think? Instead of just turning around and forgetting about this whole thing?"

  "Because he is Yu Yangzi Wang Chuyu. Ling Muyun smiled faintly and said, "Although I don't consider myself to be on the same path as the Seven True Men, I still admire their chivalry and have some understanding of their character. He would never be an ungrateful or disloyal person."

  "Oh, it seems I wrongly blamed that cow's nose."

  "It doesn't matter anyway, since you didn't express it in person. Moreover, even if others noticed, with his identity as the Seventh Young Master of the Quan family, would he still have the nerve to bother with a little girl like you? If that's the case, then I really need to take back my previous evaluation of him."

  "En, let's not talk about him for now, let's just eat this big medicinal snake first."

  Ling Muyun nodded and said: "Alright, let's make the snake dish first. I'd also like to taste your cooking skills."

  "Brother Yun, don't worry, I definitely won't let you down. However, you have to help me kill this snake first. It's so big, I don't dare to kill it myself."

  "No problem." Ling Mu Yun said with a pat on his chest.

  At this time, Ling Yun and Huang Rong found the shop assistant and asked him to lead them to the kitchen of the inn, saying that they wanted to cook dinner by themselves and also gave the shop assistant some reward money. Because it was already past the time for dinner, the kitchen of the inn had been extinguished, and originally empty and unused, the shop assistant got the reward money, naturally happy to help, immediately led the two to the kitchen. The two waved off the assistant and began to take action.

  First of all, it was necessary to kill the snake and take its blood. Ling Mu Yun brought over a bamboo basket, opened the lid, and the blood-colored snake inside suddenly sprang out with a "hiss" and pounced on Ling Mu Yun.

  This giant snake had been fed with rare and precious medicinal materials by Liang Ziweng for twenty years, and it already possessed spiritual intelligence. When Ling Muyun took it away, the snake was already showing signs of restlessness, but because the bamboo basket it was in was specially made by Liang Ziweng, it couldn't break free, so it endured without making any sudden movements. Now that the lid of the basket had been opened, how could it possibly endure anymore? It immediately sprang out of the basket and bit at Ling Muyun, this stranger.

  With Ling Muyun's current martial arts skills, and being prepared for this, how could he be bitten by a beast like that? His palm shot out like lightning, accurately pinching the snake's neck, and the rapidly moving snake shadow suddenly came to a halt, suspended in mid-air.

  However, the boa constrictor that was being strangled around its neck apparently did not give up. While constantly twisting its neck to try and break free, its massive body also emerged from the bamboo basket, its body writhing and whipping about like a thick rope, wrapping itself around Ling Mu Yun's body.

  At this time, the length of the treasure snake was revealed. Under the circumstances that the snake's neck was being strangled, its lower body still wrapped around Ling Mu Yun's body for several laps, wrapping more than half of his body in it. Roughly calculated, this treasure snake was nearly ten feet long.

  To know that this treasure snake was originally a highly toxic giant python, and the common python grew to the extreme is only three or four feet long, while this treasure snake has exceeded its kind by more than two times, it has become an extraordinary species with the help of spiritual medicine.

  The python's body wrapped around him, and Lingyun suddenly felt a huge oppressive force coming from the python's body. It is worth noting that snakes are most skilled at binding, and sometimes when they swallow hard-to-digest objects, they will often wrap themselves around trees or wooden stakes, tightening their grip to crush the food inside their bodies and aid digestion. Therefore, the binding power of snakes is extremely great. This precious python was an extraordinary species, its strength even more remarkable, and even if it were to bind a fierce beast like a mountain dog, bear, or tiger, it would likely be strangled to death.

  Unfortunately, it encountered a hard nut this time. Ling Muyun's internal strength was extremely powerful, his power surpassed that of bears and tigers. The constraining force of the treasure snake was great, but with his strong internal energy as support, Ling Muyun could withstand it. With a fierce struggle, he suddenly broke free from the snake's entanglement, drew out the treasured sword at his waist, turned his head to Huang Rong beside him and said: "Rong'er, quickly get a basin to collect the snake's blood."

  "Brother Yun, the basin is here."

  Huang Rong quickly fetched a copper basin with a diameter of over one foot and placed it under the head of the precious snake. Ling Yun immediately cut open the snake's neck with his sword, letting its blood flow out.

  This precious snake's blood is truly abundant, and it took a whole big bowl to drain it clean. Ling Mu Yun looked at this large bowl of snake blood with his tongue tied, really not knowing how Guo Jing managed to drink so much snake blood in the original history, what a huge appetite that must be!

  This is actually a misunderstanding by Ling Yun. In the original history, Guo Jing did not drink all the snake blood. He only drank until the precious snake lost too much blood and had no strength left, then he loosened his grip and hastily escaped. The remaining snake blood flowed to the ground after he left and was wasted in vain.

  After draining the snake's blood, Ling Mu Yun did not stop there. He cut open the snake's body and took out its gallbladder.

  It should be known that this precious snake has been fed with rare and precious medicine by Liangziweng for so many years, and its whole body is a treasure. The most valuable thing is of course its snake blood, but the remaining things are also treasures.

  Especially the snake gall, ordinary snake gall has detoxification effect, let alone this kind of exotic species that has been fed with spiritual medicine for decades. Although it doesn't have the beauty and longevity enhancing effects of snake blood, its detoxification effect is even better than that of snake blood, such a good thing can't be missed.

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