Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 242 Black Snake
On the surface, it's easy to determine that the exit is located at the bottom of the lake, but Lu Xingzhou originally thought it was unlikely.

Because if it were at the bottom of the lake, wouldn't the strange beasts below have already left?

This secret realm is vast, stretching as far as the eye can see, so it wouldn't be surprising if the rifts appeared anywhere.

It turned out to be at the bottom of the lake.

"Teach me a spell first." Lu Xingzhou thought for a moment, then took out a dragon bone from his own Danxia Secret Realm: "You said this can be used to cast witchcraft spells on one's own kind, do you know it?"

Ye Tinglan was not proficient in witchcraft, but she had a basic understanding of it. She pointed to Lu Xingzhou's brow and taught him a spell.

She found it somewhat amusing... If it were someone else encountering an enemy with her, she would never have this "I must try to help" mentality. Didn't she realize the vast difference in their abilities? If even Ye Tinglan couldn't withstand it, what could a mere fourth-rank lowly dog ​​like her possibly do by learning some witchcraft on the spot, especially with such a serious attitude?

Of course, it's always good that he has the intention, and Ye Tinglan wouldn't deliberately not teach him.

But after finishing the lesson, for some reason, I added, "What are you going to call me?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "First... no, Madam. You yourself said you would call her Madam Ye."

Ye Tinglan's face was as cold as frost, and she clenched her fist.

Lu Xingzhou jumped back: "Wait a minute, don't go into the water rashly. Let me make some other preparations."

Ye Tinglan watched with a stern face as he took out a pill furnace, lit a fire, and threw all the poisonous substances he had collected into the furnace to refine them into pills.

Among them was a highly poisonous herb, the toxicity of which alarmed Ye Tinglan: "Even if this thing isn't refined into a pill, taking it directly would at least kill a third-rank cultivator. If refined properly, it could easily deal with a first-rank cultivator. Where did you get it?"

"The collection of Fenxianglou. They don't have many other good things, but this poisonous herb is of the highest grade. I kept it but didn't know what to do with it. Now it's perfect."

Ye Tinglan watched him refine the pill with great interest. Given the quality of this pill, it should be at least a second-grade pill; she wondered if he could actually refine it.

It can be seen that Lu Xingzhou is trying his best to effectively fuse the flames that come with his Fire Essence with the Destruction Gold Flame he obtained from the Demon Subduing Domain, attempting to possess both the stability of his own flames and the violent heat of the Destruction Gold Flame. However, the effect is still not very good, as these two characteristics are difficult to fuse together.

Seeing Lu Xingzhou sweating profusely, Ye Tinglan couldn't help but say, "Your fusion was a bit forced... mainly because your own cultivation hasn't kept up. If you can break through the third-grade barrier, this fusion will be more stable. Right now, it's a bit of a stretch. With such a forced fusion flame, you won't be able to refine pills of this level."

Lu Xingzhou sighed: "Everything is just a series of events, I don't have a stable time for cultivation."

She said with some grievance, "I could have cultivated properly at the Dan Academy, but you brought me here."

Ye Tinglan sneered, "I brought you out just in time to resolve the troubles in your Heavenly Sword Sect, and you're blaming me now?"

"No, no," Lu Xingzhou said with a forced smile. "Sir, could you please help with the fusion?"

"Sir, if there's something to discuss, madam."

Ye Tinglan was both annoyed and amused: "Your abacus beads are practically jumping into my face."

Lu Xingzhou glanced at her face and thought that the master's expression was becoming more and more vivid every day: "Well... this is about alchemy, and it falls within the scope of your guidance, master. You cannot shirk your responsibility."

Ye Tinglan slapped him on the back.

Just as Lu Xingzhou was about to speak, he felt a surge of heat flow into his meridians. Ye Tinglan's voice came: "My help in the fusion is only a temporary combination. You will still need to master it yourself in the future. You can't take shortcuts."

Lu Xingzhou clearly felt his two types of flames being temporarily combined by an extremely domineering force, so domineering that it was completely unreasonable.

When this feedback is applied to one's own alchemy flames, it truly achieves a state where one possesses both the original stability and controllability, as well as the intense heat of the Destruction Golden Flame, suppressing all the uncontrollable violence—the alchemy flame form one has always dreamed of.

Thus, the pills, which were originally difficult to refine, gradually began to rotate and fuse, and the medicinal fragrance gradually dissipated.

“Your control also has some issues.” Ye Tinglan’s voice continued, “At this level, you should start paying attention to the influence of the environment on alchemy. I sent you to Frozen Moon Cold River before because of this kind of trial requirement, but you didn’t complete it… It’s the same now. This is a closed environment lacking air, with no wind and no moon. Your alchemy method can no longer be based on the usual method. You need to carefully feel and adjust how to regulate it.”

Lu Xingzhou felt that his mental consciousness had become much clearer.

Originally, one could observe the changes in the medicine inside the alchemy furnace through the small window of the furnace with the naked eye, but now it seems that one can "sensitize" them. The subtle changes and collisions of particles enter one's consciousness directly and are clearly understood, as if one were truly seeing them.

In a sense, this is also a "hands-on teaching" method, but there is no room for romance; all the mind is focused on the alchemy furnace.

The three pills gradually took shape under precise control.

Lu Xingzhou had witnessed the techniques of alchemists of the third rank and above in advance, and had also experienced the vision of a third-rank Daoist cultivator after activating soul cultivation.

In their eyes, the world can be deconstructed... The world seems to be viewed differently by everyone.

Even the light of the sun and moon, which seems powerless to ordinary people, is a different kind of energy in their eyes, and can even affect the formation of elixirs. No wonder the previous lessons mentioned that the time of day for refining elixirs and how long it takes have different effects at a higher level. I couldn't understand it before, but now I have fully experienced it.

As the elixir was finished, Lu Xingzhou stood up and bowed sincerely: "Thank you, sir."

Ye Tinglan glanced at him sideways. Now this kid's filial and respectful appearance could no longer fool her... She knew perfectly well that he could easily take advantage of her with just a little kindness, and would come to touch her hand the moment he turned his back.

Lu Xingzhou took the pill and handed it over: "First..."

Ye Tinglan instinctively hid her hands behind her back.

Lu Xingzhou: "..." He turned his head away in annoyance, threw the refined pills into the lake, thought for a moment, kept one, and threw in only two.

The elixir dissolved in the water, and soon the lake water became laced with a deadly poison.

Ye Tinglan peeked out and finally understood what he was doing. He didn't want to rush into the water and wanted to force the other party to the surface to fight.

"Even if this lake isn't very large, the water is enough to dilute the toxicity to almost nothing. Is there any point in doing this?"

"If someone farts in my room, I'll definitely be very annoyed..."

Before he finished speaking, a whirlpool suddenly appeared in the lake.

A roar, like that of a dragon or a snake, echoed, and a hornless dragon head suddenly emerged from the lake. Its emerald green vertical pupils looked at the two people on the lakeshore, flashing with cruel and greedy light: "Living...humans..."

The sound seemed to penetrate straight into one's mind, making one's head buzz and causing extreme discomfort.

"boom"!
The dragon's head lunged forward, bringing with it the body of the giant python beneath it.

Just as Ye Tinglan predicted, this subspecies, half snake and half dragon, might be called the Xuan Snake.

The lake water splashed onto the lakeside ground, making a "sizzling" sound. All the lakeside flowers and plants disappeared, and the ground was corroded into pits.

In an instant, the dragon's head appeared in front of the two from the center of the lake, its huge mouth opening as if to swallow them whole.

Ye Tinglan waved her hand, sending Lu Xingzhou a hundred feet away. She then made a hand seal, and a dazzling light shot directly into the depths of the dragon's mouth.

Unexpectedly, the dazzling power that could have shattered a small mountain entered the dragon's mouth, only to be absorbed and disappear without having any effect whatsoever.

A cruel light flashed in the black serpent's vertical pupils, and it closed its mouth, about to swallow Ye Tinglan whole.

Ye Tinglan dodged, and the dragon's mouth snapped shut, making a piercing scraping sound.

Ye Tinglan swung her sword again, and two sword beams appeared precisely in front of Shu Tong, piercing straight in.

Long Mou snapped his eyes shut. The sword light pierced his eyelids, producing a sharp metallic clang, but it couldn't break through his defenses!
Ye Tinglan frowned slightly. The dragon seemed to sense that this woman was not to be trifled with, and suddenly leaped forward, its body, several tens of feet long, rushing straight towards Lu Xingzhou.

Ye Tinglan suddenly appeared in front of her, her slender hand gently pressing down on the dragon's head. The massive dragon body was pinned down by her single hand, unable to move forward an inch.

A look of astonishment finally flashed across the dragon's vertical pupils, as if it could not comprehend how such a delicate body could possess such immense power.

Ye Tinglan stopped the dragon with one hand, and finally used her magic weapon with the other.

A divine sword appeared in the sky, transforming into countless rays of light, piercing all the suspected weak points on the dragon's body. At the same time, flames suddenly erupted from beneath the snake's belly, engulfing its tens of feet long body in a sea of ​​fire.

She is also a typical practitioner of both Taoist and martial arts.

However, this all-encompassing and powerful attack was ineffective. All the sword beams that struck the snake's body were simply grazed by its naturally slimy skin, causing almost no damage. The flames below, on the other hand, caused the snake to feel pain, and it angrily swung its body, attempting to crush Ye Tinglan into a pulp.

Ye Tinglan frowned and dodged, his snake body slamming into the ground and creating a huge crater.

At this moment, Ye Tinglan admired Lu Xingzhou's foresight in luring this thing outside to fight.

According to records, the Xuan Snake didn't have such strong defensive capabilities; it's unclear how this monster mutated. It's already so troublesome to fight on land; if we rashly go into the water, its movements will undoubtedly be stronger underwater, making it even more difficult to deal with. If we take Lu Xingzhou into the water with us, we might not be able to protect him at all.

His steady approach paid off.

This black serpent itself wasn't particularly strong; it was roughly considered top-grade, but there was a slight difference in power levels. The fact that she could hold it off with one hand meant its strength was at least insufficient to harm her, Ye Tinglan. The problem now was that its defensive capabilities were somewhat excessive; she couldn't find a weakness.

This excessive defensive power is not without flaws. The attack that just hit the dragon's mouth was definitely not something the monster eliminated on its own; there's a very high probability it swallowed some treasure. If she were fighting alone, Ye Tinglan would most likely choose to crawl inside its belly and wreak havoc, but now that she's with Lu Xingzhou, that decision is difficult to make.

Bringing him inside is an extremely dangerous choice; what if something happens?
Let him stay outside; I can't take care of him inside the womb, and what if he gets crushed to death...?

Just as she was pondering, the snake's tail flicked out again, striking Lu Xingzhou in the distance. Ye Tinglan instantly teleported away, grabbing Lu Xingzhou and pulling him far away.

Once again embraced by warm, fragrant flesh, Lu Xingzhou felt this scene could be accompanied by slow motion and background music...

But how can a grown man resist this image of a pampered wife being protected during battle?
"Sir..." Lu Xingzhou suddenly spoke as he moved.

"how?"

"I'll go into its belly too."

Ye Tinglan looked down at him.

Just as you dodged the snake's tail, the dragon's head came biting right at you.

Without further hesitation, Ye Tinglan grabbed Lu Xingzhou and plunged into the dragon's mouth.

(End of this chapter)