knife

Chapter 785 Snake

A series of melodious flute sounds drifted through the night sky.

Everyone looked across at the other side with some doubt. In the darkness, some flickering lights were visible, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

However, the flute music did indeed come from the other side.

"They suffered a crushing defeat during the day, or perhaps they're trying to appease their troops this way?" A captain by the fence chuckled as he fiddled with a crossbow. "The officers on our side are quite cunning!"

"Should we retaliate?" someone laughed.

“I know a folk song from the Southwest, do you want me to teach you and we can all sing it together!” Another person said, “Aren’t most of the soldiers on the other side from the Southwest? They’ve been away from home for a long time and are now trapped here. If this battle continues, they’ll definitely never be able to go home. If we sing their hometown songs, maybe we can demoralize their troops!”

"How come you know Southwestern folk songs?"

"I used to do business in the Southwest!" the singer argued. "Back then, the Empress Dowager encouraged everyone to go there, and the government even said that if you could marry a girl from the Southwest, you would get a subsidy of five taels of silver!"

"Come on, everyone, let me teach you a song!" the officer shouted with a laugh. "Then let's all sing it together and see if that bastard over there can still play the tune!"

Folk songs are simple and easy to learn. They are just a few phrases and a few tunes repeated over and over again. In the blink of an eye, everyone has learned them and started singing them together. They are not exactly pleasant to listen to, but the number of people singing them is quite impressive.

The flute music from the other side stopped abruptly.

This made the people here even more excited, so they sang even louder.

A moment later, the flute music started again, and no matter how loud the sound was on this side, it could not drown out the melodious flute music on the other side, which surprised the officer.

Unlike ordinary people, he was skilled in martial arts and had seen the world.

To be able to hold his own in such a situation, the martial arts cultivation of the flute player opposite him must be quite profound, far beyond what he, a mere sixth-grade Qi Master, could match.

Is it really necessary for such a martial arts master to get into a fight with these guys and insist on getting to the bottom of this verbal battle?

He stood up and stared intently at the person opposite him.

The pitch-black night obscured everything, and nothing could be seen.

Tao Silang was also singing a song, and his dog was standing beside him. As the singing grew louder, the dog seemed a little uneasy. It nudged Tao Silang's legs with its head and even bit Tao Silang's clothes, trying to drag him backward.

The dog's unease alerted Tao Silang, who slowly backed away.

Beside the fence, the captain reached out and grabbed a torch, then suddenly flung it forcefully into the darkness. The torch landed on the ground, but his eyes narrowed slightly.

On the ground, countless snakes and insects were slithering toward them.

"Watch out, everyone! Snakes! Lots of snakes!" the captain shouted. "Light the fire! Light the fire!"

As the captain roared, the flute music from the other side suddenly changed; what had been melodious and pleasant now became extremely mournful.

When the whistle, which sounded like a horn from hell, rang out, the snakes and insects that had been slowly crawling on the ground suddenly raised their heads and rushed towards the fence in front of them.

More torches illuminated the night, and bonfires were lit one after another. But the snakes and insects seemed utterly unafraid of the fire, rushing headlong towards the fence. The fire stretched out in lines, and the snakes and insects swam straight through it, sizzling and releasing a fragrant aroma. Those in front burned into curled-up clumps, while those behind still held their heads high, as if there was something they desperately craved ahead.

The mournful flute music grew closer. The captain swung his sword, slicing several venomous snakes that lunged at him in two. He then saw, in the darkness, a man with a headscarf wrapped around his head and leggings wrapped around his legs, holding a flute across his body and moving forward, surrounded by countless snakes and insects.

"Kill him!" the captain shouted, brandishing his sword. A dozen soldiers immediately surrounded the captain, pushed him over the fence, and rushed toward the man.

The man didn't even glance at the approaching captain. Instead, several large snakes, each as thick as a bowl, suddenly sprang out from behind and rushed towards the captain and his group.

The captain swung his sword fiercely, but the snake had grown scales. With one strike, the sword became embedded in the scales, and for a moment, he couldn't pull it out. After a moment's hesitation, the snake's tail had already coiled back, wrapping around the captain. Countless venomous snakes swarmed forward, and in the blink of an eye, the captain was no longer visible; all that could be seen was countless venomous snakes enveloping him in a ball.

The soldiers who followed were terrified and turned to run away.

As the flute music played, more and more snakes and insects emerged from the darkness, easily clearing the territory that had been painstakingly won during the day.

The animals were not afraid to fight to the death against fully armed opponents, but seeing so many snakes slithering around made them feel numb and their legs go weak.

As the alarm bells rang, the Tiger Legion's camp suddenly lit up, and news from the front lines reached the central camp at top speed.

"It's those guys from the Witchcraft Cult!" Ke Wuji said. "Controlling insects and beasts has always been their specialty, but to be able to control so many snakes and insects at once, their skill is quite impressive!"

"How deep could it be? It can't be as deep as a master of innate cultivation, can it?"

“Of course, but at least it’s at the ninth rank of the Profound Origin Realm!” Ke Wuji said.

"We have a bunch of ninth-grade Xuan Yuan cultivators here!" Kang Zhen sneered. "Go kill this bastard, and his monster will be defeated on its own!"

Zhan Zhao, standing to the side, was somewhat apprehensive: "Killing this guy isn't a problem, but he's hiding in the snake formation. How are we going to get there?"

"I'm here to help you!" The curtain was lifted, and Gan Zhan, the army doctor, walked in, reaching into his robes to pull out several cloth bags. He said, "These were just prepared. Snakes and insects will surely avoid them. However, time was short, and the medicine was limited, so I only managed to get seven or eight!"

"That's enough!" Ke Wuji snatched two and stuffed them into his pocket, while Zhan Zhao and He Yiming each took two.

“One is enough!” Gan Zhan said discontentedly, “Don’t you trust me?”

"To be on the safe side!" Ke Wuji chuckled and pulled out his pipe from his waist. "Let's go kill this snake-playing guy."

The group left the barracks and looked at the scene before them; their expressions were not good.

Between the ranks, the Tiger Warriors had already set up a long line of fire. The cavalrymen were galloping on their horses, shouting for those who had fled back from the front to flank the ranks and not to charge at them. Otherwise, to stabilize the ranks, the archers would not hesitate to shoot them dead on the spot.

Behind these fleeing people, one could vaguely see countless long snakes slithering towards them.

Let alone ordinary people, even Kang Zhen felt a chill.

"Let's go kill that bastard!" Ke Wuji leaped into the air.

"Old man Gan, if your medicine doesn't work, I'll pluck all the hair off your body when we get back!" He Yiming roared at Gan Zhan before following Ke Wuji and Zhan Zhao away.

With three ninth-grade Xuan Yuan cultivators working together, they could run rampant as long as the opponent wasn't a Xiantian master.

(End of this chapter)