Chapter 42: Encountering a Giant Python Deep in the Cave

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Encountering a Giant Python Deep in the Cave

The woman in the yellow robe was Golden Core Realm Tier Three, and so was Gong Ping.

But as the saying goes, comparisons can be fatal.

Though both were at Golden Core Realm Tier Three, the power the woman in yellow displayed was several times greater than Gong Ping’s.

Gong Ping’s cry—"Does the Eastern Domain have no one to defend it?"—failed to rally the other Cultivators of the Eastern Domain to his side. Only the disciples of his own Red Blood Mansion rushed over.

One versus eighteen, the woman in yellow showed no signs of being at a disadvantage.

The male disciple from the Celestial Dao Palace and the eight women in white behind him had no intention of intervening, calmly watching the fight unfold.

As for Chu Fan, he was more than happy to watch, hoping the woman in yellow would slaughter every last one of the dozen or so Red Blood Mansion disciples.

The commotion from the fight soon attracted the other Cultivators on Zao Ying Mountain.

The crowd immediately broke into discussion.

When they learned it had all started because of an ordinary person—Chu Fan—many turned to look at him.

Master Ni and the few disciples from the Xuanming Sect who had seen Chu Fan before were all stunned.

Some even began to wonder, ’Could this ordinary person be connected to the Celestial Dao Palace?’

But after the woman in yellow mercilessly slaughtered all dozen-plus disciples from the Red Blood Mansion, the look in nearly everyone’s eyes changed.

"I’ve taken care of that little problem for you. Shouldn’t you offer something in return?" the male disciple from the Celestial Dao Palace said to Chu Fan.

"What do you mean?" Chu Fan asked.

"Xiang Ying, send him down!"

The moment the man spoke, one of the women in white behind him flicked her right wrist. A white satin ribbon shot out, wrapping one end around Chu Fan’s left arm.

Then, with a forceful yank, the woman sent Chu Fan’s body flying into the air and down into the deep pit.

In truth, Chu Fan didn’t resist. He had already prepared himself the moment he heard the man say, "send him down."

Fortunately, domineering as the people from the Celestial Dao Palace were, they hadn’t completely lost all sense of humanity.

As he continued to plummet, the satin ribbon tied to his left arm remained taut, its other end still held by the woman in white named Xiang Ying.

He had no idea just how long the satin ribbon was. Chu Fan had already fallen at least a hundred feet, yet he could still feel the force from the other end.

Finally, after what Chu Fan estimated was a three-hundred-foot descent, his feet touched the ground.

It was pitch-black below, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. For Chu Fan, however, whose Spiritual Power had already reached Tier Nine, this was of no consequence; he could still see everything around him perfectly.

It was a vast underground cavern, roughly half an acre in size. A quick scan revealed six tunnels leading out from the cavern walls.

In addition to the tunnels, the walls were covered in murals. They were vibrantly colored, depicting people and objects with incredible realism.

He couldn’t resist approaching to study the murals in silence.

Circling the cavern were seventy-two murals in total, seemingly telling the story of one’s ascension into the heavens.

Moreover, the protagonist of this story was a woman.

A truly legendary woman.

Her birth was far from noble; it was, in fact, quite humble. Her father was a wealthy merchant, but her mother was merely a servant girl. Had she been born a boy, her mother might have gained status through her son. But alas, she was a girl.

She was abandoned in a forest right after birth, and her mother was abused to death by the family’s matriarch.

A White Fox saved her, and she grew up being nursed by the Ten Thousand Beasts.

As she grew, she became the King of Beasts. Her Spiritual Power was immense; she could communicate with any wild animal, yet she could not speak human language.

As she aged, her Spiritual Power grew in tandem.

Once her Spiritual Power reached a certain level, she incredibly recalled the scene of her own birth and the words her mother had tearfully spoken while abandoning her.

Overnight, she learned human language.

Guided by her memories, she later returned to her former home. When she learned of her mother’s tragic death over two decades earlier, with a single thought, she used her Spiritual Power to slaughter her father’s entire household of more than one hundred people.

After her revenge, she returned to the forest and lived a carefree life.

Later, when human Cultivators began to slaughter the Profound Beasts of the forest, she rallied the Ten Thousand Beasts and launched a war against them that lasted for a hundred years.

Eventually, she was forced to lead the Ten Thousand Beasts in a retreat to Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain and forge a truce with the human Cultivators.

At Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, she took on two disciples, one male and one female. The male disciple was Ascendant Xingfeng; because it was only a mural, Chu Fan couldn’t know the female disciple’s name.

After receiving a portion of her inheritance, Ascendant Xingfeng returned to the mortal world to advocate for harmony between humanity and nature, attempting to stop human Cultivators from hunting Profound Beasts.

The female disciple, however, inherited the remarkable woman’s entire legacy and became the new King of Beasts.

As for the remarkable woman, after her female disciple received her legacy, she ascended.

The murals ended there. ’These were probably painted by Ascendant Xingfeng,’ Chu Fan guessed. ’I wonder if he ever found his master in the Immortal Realm after he ascended.’

’No wonder when I once went to Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain to train, my master warned me that the area ten li beyond it was a forbidden zone for humans!’

’So this must be the agreement between human Cultivators and the King of Ten Thousand Beasts.’

’So this is a story from ten thousand years ago.’

Just as Chu Fan was lost in reflection, he felt a tug on the satin ribbon wrapped around his arm.

Chu Fan simply yanked the ribbon off and headed into one of the six tunnels by himself.

Far above in the cavern, Xiang Ying’s expression turned icy when she retracted the satin ribbon.

The male disciple from the Celestial Dao Palace, however, showed no change in his expression. He simply said, "Let’s go down."

"Young Master, allow me to go down first and scout the path," the woman in yellow suggested.

"No need. We’ll go down together." After speaking, he was the first to jump down, with the other women following close behind.

The moment they left, the rest of the crowd erupted into a clamor.

"There must be treasure down there! Why else would that kid have torn off the ribbon?"

"For sure. The Celestial Dao Palace group went down without a second thought. What are we all waiting for? Let’s go!"

"Hold on! The people from the Celestial Dao Palace are tyrants. If we don’t band together, we won’t even get the scraps if there’s real treasure down there."

"Exactly! For the Celestial Dao Palace to come to our Eastern Domain and act so arrogantly... do they really think the Eastern Domain has no one to answer them?"

With everyone chipping in, a temporary alliance was formed on the spot.

Afterward, they all jumped down into the pit.

But when they reached the bottom, there was no one there.

Evidently, the group from the Celestial Dao Palace hadn’t lingered. They had simply picked a tunnel and gone straight in.

Though these Cultivators from the Eastern Domain saw the murals on the walls, none paid them any mind. Upon seeing the six tunnels, they split into six groups, each taking a different path.

At that moment, at the end of one of the tunnels, Chu Fan had run into trouble. Big trouble.

Two giant pythons, each as thick as a water bucket, were coiled within the chamber. The moment Chu Fan appeared, before he even had a chance to flee, one of them shot out like lightning to block his escape.

Immediately after, a huge python tail swept toward Chu Fan.

It moved with incredible speed. Chu Fan leaped into the air, barely dodging the attack. The serpent’s tail slammed against the cavern wall with a deafening CRASH, sending sparks flying.

Chu Fan was startled by the sight. ’Is this python’s hide made of iron or something?’

Just then, the other python attacked as well.

Chu Fan hastily retrieved a Sword from his ring...