Book 2: Chapter 13
Translated by Team DHH.
Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 13: Escape From The Snake's Stomach
After making the arrangements, Tiansha led the other shidi swiftly after the Jiu Dragon.
Beiqingsi frowned seeing Yunqian left behind but held her tongue. Yunqian awkwardly flew back to the mountain top.
"Zhong Shan is alive. Hurry, let's go and save him." Tianling-er screamed hysterically as tears streamed down her face. She was trying to break free from Beiqinqsi's grip and rush down for him.
"Ling-er, there's no hope for Zhong Shan." Yun Qian said to Tianling-er.
"I don't believe it. Zhong Shan will be alright." Tianling-er screamed.
Beiqingsi simply sighed while shaking her head. She had mixed feelings about Zhong Shan. On the one hand, she wished that Zhong Shan had died, on the other hand, she also hoped that Zhong Shan survived. If Zhong Shan was dead, then she could rest easy knowing that their embarrassing encounter would forever remain a secret. Yet, for some unknown reason, she also wished that by some miracle he had survived. It was a very awkward position to be in.
"No. Zhong Shan is not dead, I'm sure of it." Tianling-er insisted.
Indeed, Zhong Shan was alive as Tianling-er believed. If the big red snake had attacked Zhong Shan, then his death was assured. But, the snake had instead swallowed him whole.
Once inside the snake, darkness surrounded Zhong Shan. His body passed through a slippery passage before stopping in an area surrounded by muscle.
At first, the muscle was lax, but then tightened, becoming as hard as rock in an instant. It continuously began contracting and twisting in an attempt to crush him. In addition, there were a large amount of liquid which irritated his skin. Zhong Shan suddenly felt a stinging sensation on his entire body.
He'd reached the stomach of the big red snake.
Zhong Shan quickly realized that he was in the stomach of the snake. He frantically searched for a way to resist, but the stomach muscle constricted his movement.
Demonic Body Toning Method!
He quickly applied the Method to strengthen his skeleton which was about to shatter under the force of its stomach. Yet, that was not enough to resist the contracting stomach. Zhong Shan painfully struggled.
Hongluan Mist!
A great volume of red mist surged in all directions and quickly seeped into the body of the snake.
Yet, the stomach acid was still too corrosive.
What to do?
Collect them all!
Zhong Shan quickly managed to use his storage bracelet to indiscriminately absorb everything inside the stomach, stomach acid and anything else. He didn't care what fell into the storage bracelet as long as it saved his life.
A great volume of stomach acid rapidly poured into the storage bracelet. Zhong Shan even felt something like a small wooden box falling into the bracelet. What had this big snake been eating? It even ate wood?
There was no time to satiate his curiosity. This brief distraction caused great pain as the stomach muscles compressed him further. Even with the Demonic Body Toning Method, Zhong Shan still felt that he could be crushed into pieces at any moment.
The red snake was now beginning to feel the effects of the Hongluan Mist that had entered its body. Its eyes turned bloodshot and its body twisted and contorted wildly out of its control. It kept struggling and became restless.
All the stomach acid had finally been absorbed by the storage bracelet. However, contractions were growing stronger. Zhong Shan's eyes bulged out with streaks of blood. It took all of his power to support his own body. If he slackened for a moment, he would be squeezed into meat paste in no time at all. Then, he would be dead for sure.
Zhong Shan had almost reached the limits of his strength. He felt like he would collapse if there was one more squeeze.
Blue veins bulged all over his body. He clenched his teeth struggling to resist.
"Ah ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
With a roar, Zhong Shan's body suddenly expanded. He felt his power increase.
The second level of the Demonic Body Toning Method.
At this critical moment, now three times more powerful, Zhong Shan broke through. He displayed his fierce side, with the wave of his arm, his big machete, Nightmare, suddenly appeared in his hand. He started to slash the snake's stomach mercilessly.
The red snake was already under the spell of the Hongluan Mist, its body madly writhed about underground. It had lost all sense of direction and could only madly dance about. At the moment when the machete slashed its stomach, the snake painfully shot upwards.
"Hong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
In confusion and pain, the red snake broke the surface, uprooting a big tree.
"Pong~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
The snake landed in a forest, its body flailing about. Its tail whipped around crushing the surrounding vegetation quickly upturning the forest.
"Annihilating Slash~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
With his last roar and three times more power, Zhong Shan fiercely hacked at the snake's stomach. The slash was powerful enough to cut open the stomach and straight through the snake's midsection.
"Whoa~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
With a loud noise, the machete cut through the snake and the sunlight shone through.
The stomach muscle suddenly lost its strength and turned soft.
Zhong Shan quickly squeezed out of the hole bathed in snake blood.
There was a gaping hole on the snake, spilling the contents of its stomach. The red snake seemed to come to its senses turning to looked at its stomach in disbelief. It was going to die?
Its body kept twisting as if it could struggle away from death. Yet, it was futile; the more it struggled, the more its strength diminished and its chance of survival.
"Zhong Shan~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
Suddenly, Tianling-er's cry of surprise came from the distant mountain top.
Originally, Beiqingsi and Yunqian had already given up on Zhong Shan. This 30 meters long giant snake was as strong as person near the Gold Core Stage. Zhong Shan, on the other hand, had entered Kaiyang only for a year. Even if he could survive the snake's stomach acid, he would still be crushed to death. Besides, the snake had already burrowed away, they didn't even know where to look for his body. Beiqingsi didn't know what to do with the wailing Tianling-er.
While everyone had left, suddenly in a valley far away ,a huge red snake rose from the ground in a forest. The red snake uprooted a big tree and began thrashing about in pain.
The big red snake was actually in pain? And it looked exactly like the one which had swallowed Zhong Shan whole.
When she saw the big red snake, Tianling-er was pleasantly surprised while Beiqingsi and Yun Qian stood dumbfounded.
Then the two saw something even more unbelievable. From the midsection of the snake, they saw half a machete pierce through, before tear open great gash.
The machete had come from inside the snake. The next moment, a body tumbled out of the snake.
Beiqingsi and Yun Qian pieced together what had happened. They flew with Tianling-er towards the huge snake.
Seeing Zhong Shan had escaped, Tianling-er screamed in happiness. Her tears of sadness had been replaced by tears of joy. When they reached the valley, she quickly jumped off Beiqingsi's sword and rushed over to Zhong Shan.
Yun Qian took out his long sword and started to attack the severely wounded snake.
Tianling-er rushed into Zhong Shan's arms.
"You're terrible, you nearly scared me to death." Tianling-er cried in tears, before quickly breaking out into a big smile.
Zhong Shan had just broken through to the second level of the Demonic Body Toning Method, his entire body ached. Zhong Shan looked at the crying and laughing Tianling-er and softly said, "I'm filthy."
Indeed, Zhong Shan was covered in blood from the snake and reeked from head to toe. Yet, Tianling-er tightly held him without a care.
"Bring him over there, away from the snake." Beiqingsi spoke.
Beiqingsi's words reminded Tianling-er that Zhong Shan was injured and couldn't survive another encounter with the snake. She picked up Zhong Shan and dashed to safety away from the snake.
Zhong Shan smiled at Tianling-er's reaction. His cold heart which had been dead for many years now suddenly felt warm.
Beiqingsi followed closely behind. She suddenly had a feeling of loss seeing Tianling-er happily carrying Zhong Shan in her arms.
For the wounded snake, Yun Qian was enough to take care of it. As expected, the big red snake died just as they brought Zhong Shan to the safe zone.