Volume Five: Emerging Brilliance - Chapter Twenty: A Superb Chick

A crowd of people surrounded the nine-headed spirit flood dragon. Seeing Li Chengzhu and Yuanmu withdraw their magic treasures, they let out a simultaneous sigh of relief, filled with a mixture of envy and awe. Shui Ruyan cast a seductive glance filled with smoldering charm at Boss Li, her slender feet lightly shifting as she slowly walked toward the "sacred beast."

Reaching the front of the nine-headed spirit flood dragon, Shui Ruyan bowed gracefully. She opened her palms, facing upward, and pressed them tightly against her forehead, muttering incantations in a language nobody could understand. After a long while, she raised her head, looking at the sacred beast of her clan with eyes flickering with terror. Even Li Chengzhu, standing idly to the side, could see her frail shoulders trembling.

The nine-headed spirit flood dragon had presumably been terrified into submission by the fierce attacks of Li Chengzhu and Immortal Yuanmu. The massive holes in its belly were still oozing blood. Its nine heads glanced at Li Chengzhu and Yuanmu, then shifted back to the woman before it, its snake-like tongues darting in and out continuously.

Shui Ruyan slowly stood up, turned around, and offered Li Chengzhu a faint smile. "Thank you both. Before Ruyan came here, the Holy Mother specifically instructed me to invite the two of you to our domain as honored guests, as a token of gratitude for sparing the sacred beast. I kindly ask that you accompany our people there shortly."

Li Chengzhu glanced at Yuanmu, amusement flashing simultaneously in both of their eyes. This woman spoke far more pleasantly than he could sing; what gratitude for sparing the sacred beast? If it had angered him, he would have killed it outright. However, regardless of how one looked at it, the woman's demeanor carried a trace of profound sorrow, and her petite frame trembled incessantly. Even her previous words sounded as though she were facing something of utter terror.

Yet, could the Holy Mother of their clan also be a giant snake? Just right to form a pair with the nine-headed spirit flood dragon—ha, then there would certainly be a good fight to be had.

Shui Ruyan offered Li Chengzhu and Yuanmu another desolate smile before turning back to face the nine-headed spirit flood dragon. The score of clansmen who had been kneeling silently nearby suddenly raised their voices in unison, chanting in that strange cadence—at once impassioning and low-murmuring.

The nine-headed spirit flood dragon rolled its darting eyes, and abruptly shot out the tongue from its centermost head, lunging toward Shui Ruyan, who stood frozen on the ground with her eyes tightly shut and trembling. In the blink of an eye, it coiled around her and dragged her toward its agape, blood-red maw.

Boss Li, who had been listening intently to the rare chanting cadence, froze in utter astonishment, staring blankly at the unfolding scene. Even Immortal Yuanmu was dumbfounded. Seeing that the fair and delicate young maiden was about to be shoved into the serpent's jaws, Li Chengzhu whipped out his God-Slaying Bow and Meteor Sword with both hands simultaneously. He drew the bowstring and notched the arrow in a single fluid motion, shouting at the top of his lungs, "You dare, beast!" Before his voice even faded, the Meteor Sword shot forward like a streak of pure light.

With a muffled *thud*, a spray of fresh blood blossomed in the air.

Li Chengzhu soared forward to meet the momentum, recalled the Meteor Sword, and notched it once more. Without even aiming, he loosed another arrow into mid-air. Immortal Yuanmu finally snapped out of his daze as his Rainbow-Expanse Silk whipped across the sky, wrapping tightly toward the nine-headed spirit flood dragon.

Boss Li, possessed of peerless valor, severed the tongue of the nine-headed spirit flood dragon with his very first strike. Fresh blood splattered all over Shui Ruyan, who had been standing with her eyes closed, awaiting death. In the next instant, she was scooped up into a tight embrace by the flying Li Chengzhu. Feeling a trace of warmth amidst her chilling and utter terror, her small hands instinctively clenched the lapel of Li Chengzhu's robe.

The scene fell into utter chaos. The nine-headed spirit flood dragon, newly recovered from its initial shock, suffered fresh wounds and lashed out with its massive body. Its eight uninjured heads once again spat out concentrated balls of spiritual energy. On the ground, the score of clansmen chanted at an increasingly frantic pace, paying absolute disregard to the attacks of the nine-headed spirit flood dragon. Even when several of them were killed or injured, they continued unabated, striving to suppress the beast's ferocious nature.

Immortal Yuanmu manipulated the Rainbow-Expanse Silk in his hands, desperately trying to subdue the nine-headed spirit flood dragon, but alas, the moment Li Chengzhu left the eye of the formation, the Demon-Binding Array ceased to function. The strength of the nine-headed spirit flood dragon surged by a full thirty percent out of thin air, leaving him feeling utterly powerless despite his best intentions.

"The wind is picking up, time to bail!" Li Chengzhu dodged an incoming spiritual energy orb and shouted loudly to Yuanmu.

"Huh?" Immortal Yuanmu had never heard such obscure underworld slang and failed to react for a moment.

"Huh my ass, dodge!" Li Chengzhu roared, spinning around to fly outward.

***

Yuanmu cast a lingering, reluctant glance at the nine-headed spirit flood dragon before hurriedly recalling his Rainbow-Expanse Silk and following closely in Li Chengzhu's footsteps.

"My people!" Shui Ruyan, who had been staring dazedly at Boss Li with tearful, tender eyes, was carried along for a considerable distance before suddenly remembering that she still had over twenty clansmen back there.

"Forget them! Your whole clan consists of a bunch of idiots!" Li Chengzhu retorted ungraciously, never pausing his stride as he fled outward.

"But..." Shui Ruyan furrowed her brows tightly, gripping Li Chengzhu's small hand with even greater force.

"But my foot! Even if we went back, we couldn't save them." Damn it, to save a young maiden, he had gone and ruined the entire formation. This business deal was a terrible loss; he should have just eradicated that nine-headed serpent right from the start.

Still, watching such a fair, exquisitely sculpted maiden get swallowed whole by a giant serpent was truly a pity.

When had Shui Ruyan ever been in such close proximity to a man, let alone being held so snugly in a warm embrace? As a saintess, the men of her clan were forbidden from even casting a glance at her, and she was not permitted to look at others either. Not only was she now in intimate physical contact with a man, but she was being held like this. Raising her small head, Shui Ruyan looked at the carved, chiseled features of the man holding her, where a faint, ambiguous smile lingered. Her cheeks instantly flushed as red and dripping with juiciness as a profound ice fruit.

Li Chengzhu flew forward with Shui Ruyan in his arms for a long time, only landing once he felt they were completely out of the nine-headed spirit flood dragon's spiritual pressure sensing range. Having a beauty in one's arms was such an exquisite sensation that Boss Li actually forgot this maiden's cultivation level was not weak at all.

Immortal Yuanmu was an old fox wise to the ways of the world. He trotted along behind Li Chengzhu's heels the entire journey, a look of disdain on his face, yet he never dared to overtake him.

Upon landing and setting Shui Ruyan down, the young maiden remained flushed from ear to ear, looking remarkably like a ripe apple. The subtle, refreshing fragrance she had emitted earlier was truly intoxicatingly memorable, and Li Chengzhu stared at her with a lewd smile on his face.

Pierced by this invasive gaze, the pure-hearted Shui Ruyan instantly felt she had nowhere to hide. Her hands nervously twisted the edge of her robe into knots, not even daring to raise her head.

"This lass—if she's not putting on an act, she's an absolute supreme treasure," Immortal Yuanmu communicated to Li Chengzhu via divine sense.

"Old lecher," Boss Li mentally scoffed with utter contempt.

"Hehe, if you still felt interested in her after knowing her true form, that truly would command my respect," Yuanmu said, staring at Boss Li with a smiling gaze.

"Isn't she just a snake? What's so big about that? In my hometown, Lady White was also a snake spirit, and her union with a human is still celebrated as a legendary romance." Li Chengzhu scoffed dismissively. This old lecher had seen nothing of the world; why, there were even tales of love between humans and ghosts!

"Who told you her true form was a snake?"

***

"If not a snake, what is she?" Li Chengzhu asked in bewilderment. Wasn't their sacred beast a snake?

Before Immortal Yuanmu could reply, Shui Ruyan, who had been standing there with her head bowed in profound embarrassment, spoke in a soft, gentle whisper. "Respected immortals, thank you both for saving my life, but... but the sacred beast cannot be offended."

"The sacred beast?" Boss Li tilted his head up toward the sky, huffing a heavy breath of disdain. "You mean that big snake? We'll just go back down and eradicate it shortly, Miss, you needn't worry." Since they could lure it into the formation once, they could lure it in a second time. Besides, it was already injured; why should he fear it?

A ripple stirred in Shui Ruyan's heart. Although the sacred beast protected the safety of the tribe, it also brought endless calamities upon them. Every single sacrificial ritual required the sacrifice of a saintess. Over thousands of years, an unknown number of her clansmen had perished in the maw of the sacred beast. Yet, her status was humble and her words carried little weight; she was utterly incapable of shaking the traditions of the clan. If these two men truly possessed the ability to eliminate the sacred beast, and if she could beg them for some cultivation techniques, perhaps she could resolve the survival crisis of her entire tribe.

With this thought in mind, Shui Ruyan dropped to her knees with a soft thud, tears streaming down her face like an untamable faucet. "Two immortal elders, might I ask a favor of you both?"

*Damn it*, this maiden was developing an addiction to kneeling. Boss Li looked at Yuanmu, but that old scoundrel was staring straight up at the sky with an expression that clearly said *none of my business*.

Li Chengzhu hurriedly stepped forward, extending a hand to support Shui Ruyan's tender, lotus-root-like arm. His fingers lightly grazed the crook of her elbow a few times as a lewd smile crept onto his face. "Get up quickly, beauty. If there's something on your mind, why not speak it and let us hear."

Shui Ruyan's face burned crimson, internally scolding this immortal elder for being so utterly lustful. Yet, since she currently needed their help—and they were her saviors to boot—she could not afford to show anger. She could only allow herself to be pulled up, weeping softly as she slowly recounted the plight of her clan.

The cultivation of spiritual beasts was inherently much more arduous than that of human immortals. While a human cultivator might achieve immortality in a few short centuries, a spiritual beast required twice as much time, if not more. Moreover, spiritual beasts had always been regarded merely as playthings by the lofty immortals; once captured, they were either killed for their spiritual energy or kept in captivity. Therefore, spiritual beasts dared not show their faces before attaining immortality—a plight remarkably similar to the pure infant souls kept inside Li Chengzhu's storage ring.

Shui Ruyan's tribe had inhabited this land for thousands of years, if not longer. Long ago, there had been precedents of spiritual beasts achieving immortality, but over the past five thousand years, not a single spiritual beast had been known to ascend. Not within her tribe, nor among any of the neighboring clans they interacted with. Several chieftains and figures akin to the Holy Mother were all merely a step away from immortality, yet they could never break through that ultimate bottleneck, as if some invisible force were constantly suppressing their cultivation.

Furthermore, over these past millennia, various clans had engaged in endless wars to contend for cultivation resources. Valuable cultivation techniques had been lost as their predecessors fell in battle, plunging all the major clans into cultivation bottlenecks. With their cultivation levels stagnating, the scramble for resources only grew more ferocious.

The nine-headed spirit flood dragon was simply the sacred beast guarding the Profound Ice Fruit. Shui Ruyan's tribe relied heavily on the Profound Ice Fruit for their cultivation, which was why they treated the sacred beast with such utmost reverence. Without it, the Profound Ice Fruits would have long been plundered by other clans, plunging her people into the peril of extinction.

Yet, the sacred beast's appetite was simply too voracious. From time to time, it required saintesses with some minor cultivation achievements to fill its stomach—which was why Shui Ruyan felt both reverence and terror toward the sacred beast.