Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates

Chapter 12: In the Belly of the Snake

The Qiu Dragon was still standing atop the mountain not moving, with Hao San standing on the Qiu Dragon’s head. The black-robed eunuch, Old Wei, held onto the horsetail whisk and stood on the side of the Qiu Dragon’s body.

Hao San watched every direction, as if waiting for something. Seeing snakes slithering into the valley from three directions, he prepared to escape from his pursuers’ attention.

Princess Qianyou felt that something was amiss, her eyes never left the large snakes. The snakes in three directions were all moving fast, only the one up north acted strangely. The large snake was foraging as it moved, is that a pair of ducks?

The large red snake opened its maw and attacked Zhong Shan and Tianling-er. It was too fast, visibly much faster than Beiqingsi and Tiansha in reaching Tianling-er and Zhong Shan.

Beiqingsi and Tiansha both had extremely worried expressions on their faces, faster, faster please! The two of them flew down the mountain as fast as they could but compared to the giant red snake’s open maw, they were still too slow. That open maw was already in front of the two.

The moment Zhong Shan and Tianling-er leapt into the air, he heard a loud sound. He twisted his head to see a giant red snake, with its b.l.o.o.d.y maw wide open, flying straight towards Tianling-er and himself. They will definitely be swallowed.

Seeing this dire situation, Zhong Shan’s mind span wildly, what to do? What to do?

The more dire it is, the calmer Zhong Shan becomes. Seeing that open maw, he quickly made a decision.

Suddenly, Zhong Shan grabbed Tianling-er’s b.u.t.tocks with both hands and forcefully thrusted her upwards into the sky. Tianling-er’s speed increased to twice as fast as before, shooting towards the sky, whilst Zhong Shan himself instead rapidly shot downwards, due to the immense force.

This was the only way to avoid the giant red snake’s mouth, they only needed a little bit of time for Beiqingsi and Tiansha to arrive from above. This little bit of time is all they needed to live, this was the only way.

Tianling-er rapidly flew up whilst Zhong Shan rapidly fell down, and as predicted, the giant red snake’s maw met open air. They succeeded in stalling for that small time.

However, the giant red snake refused to be foiled, its speed was unbelievably fast, it didn’t get anything the first time, so it turned it head and dove towards the falling Zhong Shan, attempting to swallow him.

Zhong Shan watched this incredulously, he never expected the sheer speed of this snake, and the snake’s choice in target meant he was unable to defend himself.

It was too fast, the guys from above couldn’t make it in time, and with the two people split up, the snake unfortunately chose him. Zhong Shan was frustrated and loath to accept his fate as he felt his surroundings darken as he was swallowed whole by the snake.

After Tianling-er leapt out using the large boulder she didn’t notice the large red snake behind her, she only knew that danger was imminent and that she must quickly hop onto either Da s.h.i.+xiong or Third s.h.i.+jie’s flying sword.

At this time, Tianling-er suddenly felt two hands on her behind. Zhong Shan? Tianling-er’s eyes widened in shock, what the h.e.l.l is he doing? And now?

Just when Tianling-er was embarra.s.sed beyond words, that pair of hands suddenly squeezed. It was so strong that it was like the squeezing was going to injure her tender b.u.t.tocks, like it’ll explode from the pressure. It was so painful that Tianling-er’s mind went into shock, under the immense pain, Tianling-er’s tears began to fall.

What’s Zhong Shan doing? Tianling-er didn’t know whether to cry from the pain or the wrongdoing.

However, in the next moment, she only felt Zhong Shan push.

“Whooooooooooosh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

Tianling-er suddenly shot up.

“Hahhhhhhhhhhhhhh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

An explosive burst of noise sounded as the snake pa.s.sed below her. In that moment, Tianling-er finally understood Zhong Shan’s intention. He was saving her by pus.h.i.+ng her out of the snake’s maw.

Rapidly rising, she was getting closer to Beiqingsi. Beiqingsi could stretch out her arms and grab Tianling-er’s shoulder.

Then, Tianling-er took the opportunity to turn her head and look down, only to see the giant red snake dive down and swallow a defenseless Zhong Shan whole.

“Zhong Shan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

Tianling-er suddenly screamed for Zhong Shan. Zhong Shan sacrificed himself? To save her? He died saving her? Seeing Zhong Shan be swallowed by the giant red snake, Tianling-er suddenly felt some part of her heart aching. Disbelief, unwillingness, dismay and unacceptance all mixed together in her scream, the tears from before, now flowed as though from a fountain.

Tiansha charged towards the snake, however, the large red snake was also an expert hole-digger, and after swallowing Zhong Shan, it kept diving down and colliding with the ground, it quickly disappeared beneath the earth. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared from sight completely. Other snakes were also quickly converging on the area so Tiansha had no time to spare, and quickly flew upwards.

Beiqingsi grabbed Tianling-er and watched as Zhong Shan was swallowed by the snake. The mixed feelings she had towards Zhong Shan, now for some reason suddenly turned into emptiness. However, she still held onto Tianling-er as they flew upwards.

At that moment, Tianling-er’s body was continuously s.h.i.+fting, as though she was going to dive down to rescue Zhong Shan. She seemed to be losing her mind. Constantly yelling Zhong Shan’s name, relentlessly clawing everything around her trying to break free, even the special materialed clothes that Beiqingsi was wearing had large numbers of wrinkles on it.

“We can’t save him, let’s go up.” Tiansha said as he flew close.

“No, Zhong Shan isn’t dead, save him, please save him.” cried Tianling-er, staring at the large hole in the ground.

From afar, Princess Qianyou saw everything that transpired. When she saw Zhong Shan throw Tianling-er up, the suspicion she had towards Hao San’s actions suddenly turned into a strange feeling, she had a hint of envy in her eyes.

“Zhong Shan? If I was at death’s door, who would sacrifice themselves for me?” mused Princess Qianyou with an air of longing.

Seeing Princess Qianyou like this, Mr.Shuijing waved his feather fan and smiled. Watching Princess Qianyou, his eyes shone with doting and adoration.

“Qianyou, if it was me, I would definitely be like that man.” offered Gulin immediately.

Hearing Gulin’s voice, Princess Qianyou looked over with disdain in her eyes. She once again began to ponder on Hao San’s actions.

Zhong Shan’s ‘sacrifice’ to save Tianling-er was seen by countless eyes, however that one event only serves as an interlude.

Atop the mountain, Hao San standing on top of the Qiu Dragon’s head, watched the large red snake swallow Zhong Shan, and proceed to burrow beneath the ground and his eyes seemed dreary.

“Is this because I’m about to die and you’re mourning me?” Asked Hao San softly. Obviously finding a reason for the giant red snake’s strange actions.

“Let’s go, westward. Take me exploring until the end.” said Hao San quietly.

“Ang~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

The Qiu Dragon roared to the sky, s.h.i.+fted its body and slammed its tail on the ground, creating a five metre deep crater, as it swam quickly westward. The eunuch Old Wei followed close behind.

Moments later, the Qiu Dragon was at the mountain valley, its speed was at least ten times faster than a snake. As it swam over the ground, the dirt flew outwards in waves, and blowing up clouds of dust. It charged towards a far away valley, pa.s.sing the endless mountains deepest areas.

“Whizz~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

From the western mountain peak, a stream of blue light was fired accompanied by a piercing sound. It whistled straight towards the Qiu Dragon, no, to the eunuch Old Wei on the Qiu Dragon’s side.

An arrow flew over, carrying with it an immense power. Seeing this, Old Wei’s eyes widened and he leveled his horsetail whisk towards the projectile.

“Bang~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

Old Wei was blasted backwards.

“Old Wei!” called Hao San, still standing atop the Qiu Dragon’s head.

“I’m only here for you, he’s not my problem.” called the Qiu Dragon to Hao San, as he abruptly slithered away with only Hao San.

Seeing Hao San trying to escape, all the powerful people hurried in pursuit.

“Qianyou, let’s chase.” Gulin called immediately.

“Be quiet.” ordered Princess Qianyou in annoyance. She proceeded to ignore Guling entirely, as she watched with Mr. Shuijing at Old Wei who had been blasted back.

“Shatter~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

The horsetail whisk in Old Wei’s hand shattered, and with the pressure of such immense power, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, as he smiled pitifully whilst flying backwards.

To the west, from the mountain where the arrow was shot earlier, about a dozen people suddenly flew out, heading towards Old Wei.

“Capture that old guy.” ordered Princess Qianyou.

When she gave the order, the group of people behind her quickly charged towards the eunuch Old Wei. Not only them, but there was also some power aimed directly at Old Wei from the south.

The flying Old Wei felt powerful attacks shooting towards him from three directions. Old Wei’s face expressed sorrow as he retrieved a large black sphere with a wave of his hand.

“Hahahaha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

Following the eunuch Old Wei’s crazed laughter, the black sphere in his hand suddenly sparked with large amounts of electricity.

“Crash~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”

The black sphere exploded, taking Old Wei with it as his body was exploded into many pieces, showering the area in blood.

The explosion carried a large shockwave, causing everyone advancing to backtrack and evade.

Seeing the man take out the black sphere, Princess Qianyou suddenly exclaimed, “Oh s.h.i.+t.”

The old eunuch died and Princess Qianyou had a frustrated expression on her face, and her beautifully legs stomped the ground.

“Go.” ordered Princess Qianyou angrily.

Then, everyone followed Princess Qianyou and chased in the direction the Qiu Dragon headed in.

The people from the other directions also followed suit.

Beiqingsi had just dragged Tianling-er up the mountain when this all transpired, and Tiansha, seeing that Hao San was escaping, said “After him.”

The people of the Kaiyang School immediately followed Tiansha. They flew in the same direction as the Qiu Dragon. In the air, Tiansha saw that Beiqingsi wasn’t there so he turned to see what she was doing.

Beiqingsi was dragging Tianling-er in the direction of the Qiu Dragon but upon second thought, seeing Tianling-er clawing around crazily, she frowned.

“You guys go ahead.” said Beiqingsi softly.

Seeing that Beiqingsi wasn’t going, Tiansha frowned and then immediately said, “Yun Qian, you stay here and accompany Beiqingsi, five days from now, we’ll meet back up at the Cuiyun Mountain.”