Dragon Snake

“What...what is that thing?!”

The huge monster drew nearer, letting the other three see its silhouette in the dense fog.

It was as tall as a seven or eight story building, like a small mountain, slowly moving towards them and bringing with it an endless sense of oppression.

The souls of the three trembled, and their bodies couldn't help but retreat!

Within this land of immortal remains, there was actually such a monster?!

Qin Ran and Su Changqing, however, could see a little more clearly. What was slowly approaching was nothing more than a viscous mountain of flesh.

Its features could not be made out at all, its shape was pitch-black, with mucus dripping down. It slid forward on countless tendrils, like seaweed drifting aimlessly over corals from the deep sea.

This thing was extremely ugly and terrifying, the sight of it made one's heart fill with fear, listening to it made one's scalp tingle!

It was unlike anything they had seen or heard before, they didn't know what species it was.

Not only was Qin Ran timid by nature, but even with Su Changqing seeing the thing clearly, his body couldn't help but tremble. He almost reflexively drew out his longsword, grasping it in his hand with silvery gray sword qi flowing along the blade.

The continuously flowing sword qi betrayed his uneasy heart.

Seeing Su Changqing's first reaction wasn't to flee but to grab his sword, Qin Ran frowned and asked: “Aren't you running? You want to fight it?”

Su Changqing looked at him without speaking. But there were some odd colors in his eyes, half terror and half surging battle spirit.

Seeing that he really intended to clash with the creature, Qin Ran swallowed his saliva and, with no other choice, took out a sword as well to prepare for the worst case.

But he quietly retreated behind Su Changqing's back.

The monster's movement speed was too slow, and Su Changqing grew impatient. He also didn't want to passively take the enemy's attacks, so he raised his hand and sliced out a blade of qi.

This blade of qi slashed across the tendril monster's body, cutting a bloody gash and making it shriek painfully.

But Su Changqing didn't do anything more. His whole body erupted with countless silvery gray sword qi, then he activated his movement technique and flew towards the tendril monster.

“Badass!” Qin Ran admired Su Changqing for being fierce enough to directly fly over to face such a monster.

“Coward!” Bai Ruoxi looked scornfully at Qin Ran for a moment, also drawing out her sword, her white feathers fluttering as she followed behind Su Changqing.

Qin Ran was not ashamed at all, quite the opposite in fact. Seeing Bai Ruoxi move forward, he retreated two more steps and gave her a fist salute, praising: “A heroic woman!”

Jian Yuanjie and Qi Yun looked ahead, then back at Qin Ran, hesitating for a moment. Ultimately they weren't as cowardly and shameless as Qin Ran, happily letting others face danger in their place, so they too activated techniques and flew forward.

“They're all heroes...” Qin Ran nodded, but his fingers were already pinched in an escape hand sign, ready to slip away at any time.

But though these people were charging forth so self-sacrificingly, their strength was lacking. They returned as quickly as they had set out.

Qin Ran didn't have to wait long before he saw Jian Yuanjie get whipped back first, closely followed by Qi Yun, then Bai Ruoxi.

And despite only being gone for around ten seconds, by the time they retreated back their condition was wretched, as if they had just undergone hundreds of years of battle.

Take Bai Ruoxi for example, her clothes were tattered with corrosion marks everywhere, her hair was a mess, and her whole body was covered in blood... Even her defensive magic tool had several cracks slashed into it.

And she was the one in the best shape. One could imagine Jian Yuanjie and Qi Yun, naturally weaker than her, had come out even more wretchedly after being relentlessly ravaged by the tendrils. They had only barely managed to struggle free with all their power.

Qin Ran deeply sympathized with them and took out some precious pills to treat everyone.

As for Su Changqing, the strongest among them, he had charged ahead first but still hadn't been forced back.

In fact, bursts of sword qi and shrieks from the tendril monster could still be heard echoing from within the fog, clearly indicating Su Changqing was battling intensely with the creature!

“Is this really just the Golden Core realm?”

Qin Ran shook his head. One really had to admire this person - with the same cultivation level, why was he so different from the rest?

“Hmph...” Bai Ruoxi let out a cold laugh, smugly saying: “Even among all the outstanding talents of our Lingnan Immortal Sect, my senior brother can still be called peerless amongst his generation.”

“He really is badass...” Qin Ran gave a thumbs up.

But even someone with peerless talent like Su Changqing was still utterly helpless before the gulf between cultivation realms.

The group didn't have to wait long before Su Changqing too was beaten back.

Though he was still better off than the others since he flew back of his own accord... Even if it was running back in retreat.

“Hurry and go!” He shouted at them from midair.

Qin Ran had long been prepared to escape at any time. Taking the chance now to glance back behind Su Changqing, hoping to see what the situation was, he saw countless tendrils madly chasing after Su Changqing like swarms of snakes...

This terrifying scene made Qin Ran's scalp tingle. He immediately turned and fled.

The other three didn't know the specifics, but with Su Changqing himself running they knew it was time to flee too.

Qin Ran was not boasting about his mastery of escape arts - he sped ahead of everyone else. Only after running some distance did he realize the tendril monster was powerful indeed, but seemingly not very fast. It could only chase them with its tendrils.

So he tried slowing down at this point to let the others catch up.

“Your escape technique really is impressive!” Bai Ruoxi said as she caught up to Qin Ran. Not just her, even Su Changqing couldn't surpass Qin Ran's speed.

Clearly she was mocking him, but Qin Ran didn't care. He accepted her praise with an easy conscience, even smiling and nodding back.

“So what exactly is that creature?” Qin Ran asked Su Changqing, since he had clashed with the tendril monster the longest.

Su Changqing should have some understanding about it.

“I heard the immortal who died here kept a chi snake as a mount. And after that immortal died, the chi snake didn't leave, instead guarding its master's corpse...” Su Changqing explained while running. “I'm guessing this monster might be that chi snake.”

“Chi snake?” Qin Ran didn’t know what that was.

“A descendant of dragons,” Bai Ruoxi said. “An ancient primordial beast.”

“Dragon...” Qin Ran pondered for a while, not quite understanding. “With the bloodline of dragons and an immortal's mount, how could it look like that?”

“I was just guessing based on the mystic arts it was using. I don't actually know the specifics... Its appearance really doesn't match up.” Su Changqing replied.

Just as they were discussing this, perhaps the tendril monster behind them overheard them critiquing its looks - some tendrils abruptly lashed out from the fog towards them.

“How long can its tendrils reach?!” Jian Yuanjie frowned. They had been running for so long yet it could still attack them.

By now they had confirmed the monster itself couldn't move very fast, but the attack range of its tendrils seemed unlimited.

Those endless tendrils were like they had some endless distance buff granting them reach. No matter how far they fled, the tendrils would whip out from the fog unerringly to find them.

And it wasn't like they could stand and fight, because the moment they stopped to battle they would be engulfed by that endless sea of tendrils. Their only option was to keep running while fighting back.

They didn't know how long they had been fleeing. Their bodies and minds were utterly exhausted. Within this endless white fog it was as if there was endless despair. And it was right at this moment that Su Changqing suddenly shouted again: “Watch out ahead!”

Still in relatively good condition, Qin Ran hurriedly looked forward to see the hazy silhouette of a massive tree within the fog up ahead.

“The Devouring Demon Willow?!”