Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 24: Viper Heart (IV)

As the night deepens, there are no more wild animals in the mountains and no more birds singing in the valleys.

Gu Jingnian and Huang Hu searched along the forest that was crushed by the giant viper, and gradually, a small stream appeared in front of them.

Looking back, they had already climbed over the entire mountain, and a stream was flowing out from the rocky stream on the mountainside.

In other words, there is only a high mountain between here and that valley.

"Master, what are you looking at?"

“I wonder where the stream water comes from.”

“There must be an underground river in the mountains.”

"Stop calling me master."

"Yes, there is no one else here."

The two continued walking along the stream, still seeing collapsed trees along the way. Until they were out of the woods, they looked up and saw a person flying in the moonlight with white wings spread out, as free as a big bird.

That is the setting sun.

She is not as free as she looks.

"Chase!"

Gu Jingnian shouted, and the yellow tiger instinctively rushed out like an agile hound.

The two ran at full speed, chasing the winged man in the sky.

Finally, a lake appeared in front of us... no, it was a swamp.

The swamp is dark, unlike the sparkling surface of a lake.

There was only a faint light illuminating a huge outline, which was a giant viper, sinking slowly towards the edge of the swamp.

The winged man folded his wings and flew towards the giant snake.

"Don't touch it!"

Huang Hu shouted angrily, rushed towards her without hesitation, and punched her hard.

Gu Jingnian ran towards the big snake.

He felt that something was wrong with it. It looked listless and lifeless as it sunk, so he climbed directly onto its huge body.

The giant snake was still sinking. Gu Jingnian could feel its blood vessels beating, but he could no longer sense its life.

He crawled over the coiled body, searching for its tail... until he was stunned.

The snake's tail had been cut open, and the ventricle was actually very small and empty, with only a few blood vessels still bleeding.

The vitality of this giant creature had not yet completely gone. One of the snake heads was curled up, staring at its own ventricle in a daze. When it saw someone stepping on it, its pair of eyes, which only had the whites of its eyes, showed no emotion.

Gu Jingnian no longer felt the connection between himself and Dagui, because the heart built with his blood was no longer there.

The next moment, the giant viper opened its mouth and bit Gu Jingnian. Its huge fangs pierced his heart and sucked his blood.

Gu Jingnian did not resist, but stood there in a daze.

Some images flashed through his mind, the stench of the swamp hit his nose, but it gave him a sense of home, and he felt as if he saw some memories of the viper.

At this moment, he felt a sense of closeness to the snake. He reached out and stroked its head, letting it suck his blood, as if it were feeding a puppy.

He didn't even think about how many human lives such a big snake would have to eat every day to survive.

But when he looked at the tail of the snake, he saw that the blood flowed into the empty ventricles and into the swamp, and no heart grew again.

The teeth that were biting him gradually loosened, and he fell again.

The big viper died, having its heart dug out.

When Gu Jingnian came to his senses, he saw the yellow tiger holding Luoxia's wings and flapping its wings in the swamp.

Luoxia tried several times to throw Huang Hu into the swamp, but Huang Hu refused to let go and she was pulled down. She had no choice but to fly, but she could not fly high. If she continued like this, both of them would drown.

Gu Jingnian knew that Huang Hu could be drowned.

He looked at the giant viper whose half body, including its tail, had sunk into the swamp, and spoke.

"Your name is Luoxia?"

Luoxia ignored him and flapped her increasingly muddy wings, dropping a few feathers.

Gu Jingnian said, "Let's make a deal. If you pull him out, we won't kill you."

"Let him let go!"

Luoxia scolded angrily and pushed Huang Hu into the swamp again.

Gu Jingnian had no choice but to say, "Okay, we'll give Viper Heart to you. Bring him here, and we'll leave now. I'll make him let go."

"You keep your word."

"It's a word."

Luoxia then flew up with difficulty, flew to the edge of the swamp, and tried to kick Huang Hu down.

But it was not until Gu Jingnian spoke that Huang Hu finally let go, fell to the ground, and vomited a lot of rotten water and mud from the swamp in disgust.

"Let's go."

"Sir, they..."

"Let's go first."

Gu Jingnian didn't say much. He patted Huang Hu on the shoulder and left immediately, as if he was afraid that he would meet Liu Heng if he walked too slowly.

Luoxia flapped her dirty wings, sometimes looking at the sinking viper, and sometimes looking at Gu Jingnian's back vigilantly. Only after they walked away did she dare to take off and send out signals in the air.

--------

"Sir, we are not going to take Liu Heng anymore?"

"No rush, he will eventually look for it in the swamp." Gu Jingnian whispered, "Let's go find Viper Heart first."

Huang Hu was stunned, and was about to ask again, "虺..."

"Hush." Huang Hu immediately lowered his voice and asked, "Sir, do you know where to find it?"

The sky and earth were vast, and the dusk fields were all around. He really couldn't imagine where the snake's heart could have gone.

Gu Jingnian's eyes were determined, and he said, "Let's go back."

He saw in the snake's memory before its death who had cut out its heart.

Ma Shi.

Although he was surprised that Master Ma was not dead and had rushed ahead of them, he saw the memory of the big snake. There were countless rotten corpses by the swamp, some of birds, beasts, and humans, piled up into a huge mountain. That was the big snake's favorite food. It immediately bit down with its five big mouths and fell into a coma not long after.

The only one who could predict that the big snake would come to the swamp and make arrangements in advance in the swamp was Master Ma.

But Master Ma shouldn't have been able to reach the swamp faster than they did.

Gu Jingnian quickly guessed the reason.

Master Ma marked the valley on the map, not because he had heard that a giant beast had appeared there, but because he had been thinking about the plan to steal the heart of the viper for a long time. Knowing that there were winged people around Liu Heng, he had to find a faster way to reach the swamp than flying over the mountains.

For example, going directly through the mountain.

This idea may seem far-fetched, but if there is a stream in that mountain, there is likely to be an underground river or cave. All we need to do is dig a tunnel from the valley to connect them in advance.

Even if there was no cave, Gu Jingnian believed that Master Ma would dig through the mountain.

Now, he thought that Master Ma would take Vixen back to hide in the cave.

Because there were no birds within a dozen miles of this valley alone, and since Master Ma was afraid of being spotted by the caged bird, he would not go too far. And since he said that it was best to catch and eat the snake heart immediately, he must still be nearby.

And in this area, the only place that can escape Liu Heng's search is a cave...if it exists.

"quick."

Gu Jingnian and Huang Hu went upstream. When they looked up, they saw a patch of wet rocks in front of them, with stream water flowing down from above the rocks like a waterfall.

"Young master, please step on me to get up." Huang Hu immediately stood still in the stream.

Gu Jingnian did not step on him, but searched nearby and said, "Don't you forget that you are the Kaiping police officer? Don't you have any means of search and arrest?"

"Oh, I forgot."

Huang Hu only then remembered that he still had many skills and experience. He quickly found a vine between the rock walls and said, "Master, there is someone coming up here... little thief! Stop!"

When he pulled it down for the first time, the vine was still tight. When he pulled it again, the top of the vine had been cut off. Obviously, someone had just climbed up.

"Master Ma!"

Gu Jingnian had excellent eyesight. He raised his hand and pointed at a thin figure who was about to dive into the mountain stream.

Huang Hu was able to become a captain of the Kaiping Division not only because of his brute strength, but also because he was best at arresting people. He swung the cane in his hand with all his strength, and it hit Master Ma's feet directly like a long whip.

"Ouch!"

The mountain stream was slippery to begin with, and Master Ma screamed and fell into the stream.

Huang Hu reached out and grabbed him, lifting him up.

Gu Jingnian looked carefully and saw that Master Ma was holding a red thing in his hands, which was still beating.

That is the heart of a viper, a heart condensed from the blood of five vipers that were fed with the flesh and blood of tens of thousands of people.

He stood there, watching the heart beating in the exact same rhythm as his own.

"Master Gu? It's you again?!"

When Master Ma saw his eyes, he immediately hugged Kui Xin into his arms and said with a sad face, "I have done everything I promised you, I have seen the six-headed Kui, and I have also led out the mastermind. Why are you still chasing me?"

"Bring it to you!"

Huang Hu stretched out his hand and immediately snatched the Viper Heart, held it in his hand, was stunned for a moment, and then handed it to Gu Jingnian.

"Be careful!" Master Ma said, "You big man, don't break it!"

In fact, Huang Hu was very careful. The moment he touched the heart, he also felt strange.

Master Ma carefully observed Huang Hu and confirmed that this was the cocoon that the six-headed snake had discarded. He was stunned for a moment, his eyes rolling, and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Gu Jingnian took the snake heart, felt its beating, and asked, "Can we put it back?"

"No! Of course not!" Master Ma said, "Not to mention that the six-headed viper can't survive, how can you have such an idea? How many people will it eat?"

After saying this, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that Gu Jingnian had not swallowed the viper heart in one gulp.

"Sir, you were born with a different body, which is already...perfect. This snake heart is of no use to you, why don't you give it to me? I swear, from now on, I will let you command me..."

"You have been lying to me." Gu Jingnian said.

"No!" Master Ma denied immediately, "I have never lied to you, sir. It's just that I didn't tell you something."

"What do you want this snake heart for?"

"I really didn't lie to you, sir." Master Ma said earnestly, "I really want to save my daughter. I only ask you to show me your loyalty. No matter what you want, just ask me. I will do it, no matter how hard it takes."

He was held down by Huang Hu, but he tried hard to raise his head and stare at Gu Jingnian, his eyes full of pleading.

Seeing that Gu Jingnian did not answer, he began to kowtow in the stream.

"Please, sir!"

There was blood flowing in the stream, but it was washed away in an instant. Master Ma had already knocked out blood, but he was still begging.

"Sir, this snake heart cannot be left for too long after it is taken out. I beg you to do so."

Huang Hu advised: "Sir, you should eat it, right? This originally belongs to you."

Gu Jingnian looked at Qi Xin and had no appetite. Instead, he felt a sense of rejection as if he didn't want to eat his own flesh.

He looked up at the sky and finally spoke, "If that's the case, the person you want to save must be in the mountain stream?"

"Yes Yes."

Gu Jingnian knew that Liu Heng's men would soon come, so he said, "Let's talk inside."

(End of this chapter)