Chapter 16: Between Life and Death, A Sword Descends from Heaven to Slay the Serpent

It was inexplicable. From somewhere deep within his slender frame, Xiao Yifeng summoned a burst of titanic strength. He seized the giant serpent by the tail, swung it through the air like a whip, and hurled it backward with all his might.

Crash!

The beast slammed into the forest floor.

Xiao Yifeng immediately spread his arms, placing himself between the monster and Su Miaoqing, shielding her like a mother hen guarding her last chick. He gasped for air, his chest heaving like bellows from the sudden exertion, his eyes locked viciously on the cloud of dust where the serpent had landed.

“Senior Sister, go! Quickly!” he shouted between breaths, not daring to turn his head. “I’ll hold it off! Go back and get help!”

Su Miaoqing froze for a second, her mind sluggish from the poison. Then, realization dawned. With trembling hands, she fumbled a jade token from her Storage Ring.

She barely had time to inject her Qi into it.

“Mother…” she whispered, her eyes rolling back as she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Hearing the thud, Xiao Yifeng glanced back in panic. He rushed to her side and checked her pulse. Her lips were black, but she was still breathing. He let out a breath of relief, though his heart remained heavy.

The toxicity of this Demon Beast is terrifying.

He checked his pockets—empty. He had no Storage Bag, no antidotes, nothing. And the giant serpent was already recovering.

Having been tossed aside by a mere human, the beast was apoplectic with rage. It reared up and unleashed a deafening roar.

ROAR!

A visible shockwave of sound blasted through the clearing. Xiao Yifeng gritted his teeth, struggling to remain standing as blood trickled from his ears. He gently laid Su Miaoqing on the grass and stood up to face the monster.

His cultivation in Qi Refining had been slow these past years, but he had a secret weapon. Both the Demonic and Buddhist sects prioritized Body Refinement. Coupled with the daily medicinal baths he had shared with Su Miaoqing—riding on her coattails—his physique was exceptionally robust.

He estimated his raw physical strength was roughly equivalent to a Level 7 Qi Refining Demon Beast.

If he abandoned Su Miaoqing now, relying on his secret movement techniques, he might escape. The snake was focused on her, not him.

But how could I face Master and Mistress if I did that?

Su Miaoqing had treated him well. Even ignoring his past life’s debts, as a disciple of Wuya Hall, he had a duty to protect her.

She activated the distress token. If I can just buy a little time, reinforcements will come.

His mind raced, weighing the odds. There was no choice.

Xiao Yifeng gritted his teeth. He fully activated the conflicting Demonic and Buddhist arts within his body, igniting the Demonic Sect’s forbidden technique—the Burning Blood Art.

His muscles instantly bulged, his frame expanding as his body became rock-hard. Waves of white steam rose from his skin as his blood boiled.

“Come on!”

With a thunderous shout, he charged at the beast, determined to buy every second he could.

The giant serpent, seeing this insignificant gnat attack, hissed in fury and lunged.

Even with the secret technique pushing his body to the strength of a Level 8 beast, Xiao Yifeng knew he couldn’t match a native-born predator in a head-on collision.

As the massive jaws snapped shut, Xiao Yifeng dropped low, sliding dangerously close to the serpent’s belly. Relying on his enhanced agility, he darted left and right, weaving through the trees. He formed hand seals rapidly, firing fireballs and ice spikes to harass the beast, occasionally landing a heavy punch on its scales.

The attacks didn’t hurt the serpent much, but the indignity drove it mad.

Xiao Yifeng was slippery as an eel. The massive snake couldn’t pin him down. At one point, Xiao Yifeng repeated his earlier feat—grabbing the beast’s tail and using its own momentum to whip it off balance.

But the stalemate couldn’t last. Xiao Yifeng was panting like an ox, his muscles screaming in protest. He looked like a desperate demon, steam rolling off his red skin.

The serpent lunged again.

Xiao Yifeng held his breath, waiting for the last microsecond to jump. He leaped, narrowly dodging the bite.

Wham!

He had dodged the head, but he forgot the tail. The massive appendage whipped around and slammed into him mid-air.

Xiao Yifeng only had time to cross his arms before the impact sent him flying like a cannonball. He crashed through several trees, snapping them like twigs.

Before he could even hit the ground, the serpent opened its maw and spat a concentrated poison bomb at his trajectory.

Boom!

The gas exploded.

Xiao Yifeng tumbled out of the smoke, looking wretched. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, broken. Several ribs were cracked. The impact had disrupted his Burning Blood Art, leaving him vulnerable.

He staggered to his feet, ready for the next attack.

But the serpent didn’t move. It coiled in place, its vertical pupils gleaming with a human-like cunning.

Oh no.

The beast turned its head and slithered toward the unconscious Su Miaoqing.

“Hey! Over here, you ugly worm!”

Xiao Yifeng screamed, stumbling after it. He ignored the agony in his shattered arm, throwing weak elemental spells at the beast’s back. But the serpent ignored him completely. It knew exactly where Xiao Yifeng’s weakness lay.

It opened its jaws, ready to swallow Su Miaoqing whole.

“Stop!”

Xiao Yifeng ran frantically. Every step sent bolts of lightning through his broken bones.

He was too far away.

With a roar of desperation, he stomped his right foot into the ground, shattering his own leg bone to generate a burst of explosive speed. He launched himself into the air, flying toward the beast.

He caught up.

With his remaining good hand—his left—he formed a sword-finger. channeling every scrap of spiritual energy he had left, he stabbed down with everything he had.

Pu!

His hand, sharp as a divine weapon, pierced through the scales and plunged deep into the serpent’s tail. Several of his fingers snapped on impact, and the razor-sharp scales flayed the skin from his arm, but he held on.

The serpent shrieked in pain. It whipped its tail violently, dislodging the human pest and flinging him into the air.

Smack!

A follow-up tail strike batted Xiao Yifeng out of the sky.

He hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop not far away. He couldn’t move. Every bone in his body felt pulverized. Blood leaked from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth—the seven orifices.

But he had succeeded. The giant serpent was now thoroughly enraged at him. It abandoned Su Miaoqing and turned its massive head toward the broken boy.

It opened its blood-red maw, ready to end him.

Whoosh!

A sharp, piercing sound tore through the air. A white rainbow streaked across the sky like a falling star.

A woman’s furious cry echoed from the heavens:

“Wretched beast, die!”

Before her figure even appeared, a brilliant sword light descended from the clouds, vertical and unforgiving.

Shing!

The beam of light sliced through the serpent’s neck. The beast didn’t even have time to scream before it was cleaved cleanly in two. The sword intent continued downward, carving a deep ravine into the earth.

The severed head and massive body slid forward on inertia, the gory head coming to a rest just feet away from Xiao Yifeng. The light in its eyes faded into nothingness.

Lin Ziyun descended from the sky, landing beside Xiao Yifeng. Her face was pale with panic as she scooped him up into her arms.

“Yifeng! Yifeng!”

He was a mess of blood and twisted limbs. His body was bent at unnatural angles, and blood was gushing from his mouth mixed with fragments of his internal organs. He stained Lin Ziyun’s pristine white palace robes crimson in seconds.

Lin Ziyun’s hands blurred as she tapped his vital acupoints, sealing his meridians to stop the bleeding. She pulled out a jade vial and poured high-grade healing pills into his throat as if they were cheap candy, desperate to keep the spark of life from fading.

“Mistress…” Xiao Yifeng mumbled, his consciousness fading. “Senior Sister… is she…”

He tried to raise his hand to point at Su Miaoqing, but his arm wouldn’t obey.

Tears welled in Lin Ziyun’s eyes. “Don’t speak. Mistress knows. I know!”

She had already swept the area with her powerful Divine Sense before she landed. She knew her daughter was alive, merely unconscious. But this disciple… this boy was hanging by a thread.

Seeing him worry about Su Miaoqing even while he was at death’s door broke her heart.

Xiao Yifeng finally succumbed to the darkness and went limp.

Lin Ziyun held him tight, one hand pressing against his chest to protect his heart meridian. With a wave of her other hand, she telekinetically pulled the unconscious Su Miaoqing into her embrace.

Seeing her daughter’s pale face and black lips, Lin Ziyun didn’t waste time administering antidotes here. Holding both children close, she transformed into a streak of white light and shot back toward the palace at full speed.