People fight and become emperors in advance

Chapter 211: Advance Payment Completed, Sudden Enlightenment

On the desolate desert, the wind and sand raged on, their howling sound swirling in the sky before finally carrying a wisp of sand away into the distance.

Suddenly, the calm sky split open, revealing a passage about ten feet wide. Immediately afterward, a handsome young man dressed in a moon-white robe stepped out from it.

The sandstorms seemed to never stop in the desert, but surprisingly, whenever the sandstorms swept within a few feet of the young man, they would automatically split off to the sides, leaving his clothes spotless.

Without a doubt, this person was Chen Xiao, who had arrived in Tianbei a few days ago.

Chen Xiao raised his eyes slightly and, through the hazy space, could see a rather steep mountain peak diagonally below.

This mountain rises abruptly from the ground, and in its center is a fissure that looks as if it were cleaved by a sharp axe. The fissure is about a hundred feet wide, forming a very long canyon.

The canyon is filled with tangled trees and lush greenery, making it particularly eye-catching when viewed from above.

"Ten Thousand Snake Gorge..."

After taking a quick look, Chen Xiao murmured softly.

This canyon is quite suitable for the snake people to live in; it's perfectly adequate as a temporary foothold.

Nodding in satisfaction, Chen Xiao immediately finalized the matter.

In the past few days, Chen Xiao has been traveling alone, constantly traversing the northern part of the country.

One reason was to select a suitable place for Zixiao Pavilion and the Snake-People to settle, and the other was to try their luck and see if they could find any information about the ruins.

Unfortunately, after taking matters into his own hands, Chen Xiao discovered that things were far from simple.

He had expected that there would be no results regarding the ruins.

However, the selection of a location for Zixiao Pavilion was not so smooth.

In this northern region, there are hardly any good unclaimed places to be found. Qifeng Mountain, the most suitable place to establish a sect, has already been occupied by Fenglei Beige. Chen Xiao can't just ask them to move everything without a reason.

Although there are no ironclad rules here, that kind of approach is not in line with Chen Xiao's personality.

Left with no other option, Chen Xiao had to consider several other alternative locations.

Chen Xiao found four or five places suitable for the snake people to live in, and the Ten Thousand Snake Gorge he saw at the moment was particularly satisfying.

Tap tap tap~
As Chen Xiao was looking around, a caravan came into view.

"Everyone be careful, we're about to enter the Ten Thousand Snake Gorge. Tang Si, prepare to have people scatter snake-repelling powder along the way. All the snakes here are the eyes and ears of the demon snake Xia Mang. As long as we don't disturb them, we should be able to pass through smoothly. Also, even if we are discovered, do not act rashly without orders. Anyone who disobeys will be punished according to family rules! Eldest Miss, Second Miss, you must not show yourselves. That demon snake is greedy and lewd to the extreme. If it discovers you, there will definitely be trouble!"

At the head of the caravan, a middle-aged man with a serious expression gave instructions.

"Yes!" the guards responded in unison.

"Don't worry, Second Uncle, we know what's important." A slightly heavy female voice came from inside the carriage.

Having received the answer he wanted, the middle-aged man nodded solemnly and then waved his hand dismissively.

"go!"

In an instant, the caravan started moving again and slowly made its way into the treacherous canyon.

From high above, Chen Xiao could clearly see that the caravan was probably afraid of disturbing the demonic snake they were talking about. Even the wheels of the cart were wrapped with strips of cloth, and the black-horned oxen carrying the carts had their mouths gagged to prevent them from making a sound. The group sneaked into the canyon in this way.

Along both sides of the caravan, all the guards quietly drew their weapons, while their other hands continuously took out handfuls of white powder from their storage rings and scattered it onto the road on both sides.

Despite the tense atmosphere, they proceeded slowly until they reached the middle of the canyon without any incidents. This brought a sense of relief to the faces of everyone in the caravan, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Chen Xiao, who was high up, shook his head slightly.

At that very moment, the bushes on both sides of the main road collapsed rapidly, and vaguely, the tracks of some enormous snakes could be seen.

"Damn it, we've been detected! Speed ​​up, get out of here!"

Upon seeing the surrounding scene, the middle-aged man in the lead immediately darkened his expression and shouted sternly.

Even without his order, the experienced guards had already done their best to drive the black horned bulls away, and the entire convoy roared and sped up, rushing madly toward the front of the canyon.

"boom!"

Before the caravan had traveled even a kilometer, enormous pythons suddenly sprang out from both sides of the canyon, completely blocking the road. Their ferocious maws hissed, flicking their pungent tongues, and their chilling eyes locked onto everyone in the caravan.

"Hehehe, a bunch of ignorant fools, actually thinking they can slip past Grandpa Xia's nose?"

As the snakes surrounded them, a strange laugh suddenly rang out in the canyon. Immediately afterward, a dark green figure burst out from the bushes, hovering steadily in mid-air with the support of a pair of green battle aura wings, looking down at the caravan.

This creature had an extremely bizarre appearance. It had a human body and limbs, and its skin was covered with dense, dark green scales. However, its head was a ferocious snake's head. The characteristics of both humans and monsters were extremely obvious.

This is a sign that someone has taken the Demon Transformation Pill!
"The Demon Serpent. Xia Mang"

The middle-aged man leading the caravan felt a chill in his heart, but he quickly forced a humble smile, stepped out of the caravan, took out a crystal card, and said respectfully, "Commander Xia Mang, we are the caravan of the Tang family of Tianbei City. This is a small gift, and we hope that you will accept it, Commander."

"The Tang family of Tianbei City? Never heard of them."

Xia Mang looked disdainful. Tianbei City had two prominent families, the Hong family and the Han family, both with Dou Zong experts in charge. The other smaller families could only survive in the cracks.

With a disdainful look, Xia Mang raised his hand and summoned the crystal card with a suction force. He then glanced at it before grinning and saying, "Your sincerity is not bad. Since you've paid the toll, you can leave now."

Just as the Tang family members were beginning to rejoice, Xia Mang added, "However, we have to keep them here!"

Following Xia Mang's finger, they found themselves at the location of the carriages belonging to the two young ladies of the Tang family!
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Tang family members changed drastically.

"Commander, this is against the rules!"

"Heh, rules? In this Ten Thousand Snake Gorge, what I say is the rule! Since you don't want to leave, then don't leave at all. Stay here and become food for my snake followers!"

Xia Mang chuckled and waved his hand, and the swarm of snakes blocking the road immediately surged forth, attacking the caravan.

These snakes were all at the third or fourth tier, while the strongest member of the Tang family caravan, a middle-aged man, was only a nine-star Dou Ling. Under the siege of the snakes, their living space shrank again and again, and within just a few minutes, they were already in grave danger.

Xia Mang did not participate in the battle. As a four-star Dou Huang, he had no desire to fight these weaklings from the Tang family.

At this moment, its lewd gaze was fixed on the carriage. It licked its lips and eagerly moved closer, wanting to personally unveil the mystery of its prey.

Upon noticing Xia Mang approaching, the Tang family members felt utterly hopeless.

Just then, a figure quietly appeared in everyone's sight, like a ghost, without making a sound, causing many of the guardians to think they were seeing things.

"Alright, alright, let's stop this farce."

The light, airy voice caused everyone in the room to pause in surprise.

Not only the guards, but even Xia Mang didn't realize how Chen Xiao appeared. When he saw Chen Xiao, he thought he hadn't noticed that there was such a person among the guards.

After all, having sensed the presence of two women inside the carriage, its attention had already been focused on the carriage.

"You brat, how dare you spout such nonsense! Die, you little brat!"

Xia Mang's pupils contracted, and with a wave of his hand, a streak of battle qi shot out, heading straight for Chen Xiao's face. "Young brother, be careful!" the middle-aged man instinctively warned.

However, Chen Xiao ignored it, staring at the imposing stream of fighting spirit without moving an inch.

The guards were in a great hurry, but none of them dared to stop them.

An attack from a Dou Huang level expert—whoever blocks it dies!
Seeing that Chen Xiao still didn't dodge, they seemed to have already seen the ending.

To everyone's surprise, the stream of fighting spirit reached three zhang in front of Chen Xiao, but could not advance any further. Then, it mysteriously disintegrated and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"What's happening here?"

The guards were completely bewildered, but a few sharp-minded ones had a bold guess forming in their minds.

On the other side, Xia Mang's smile froze instantly, his face turned deathly pale, and then he knelt down with a 'thud,' burying his head deeply.

"Senior, please spare me! I didn't mean to offend you!"

The sudden change in the situation left the Tang family guards dumbfounded.

Soon after, they belatedly realized that their guess was correct.

But I still want to say that Xia Mang is not just an ordinary person who can bend and stretch!

Even Chen Xiao couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the demonic snake.

Of all the people he'd met, this guy was the first to kneel so readily.

"Alright, get up. You're not worthy of dying by my hand."

Xia Mang, who was prostrating himself on the ground, was overjoyed, thinking that there was a chance of survival. But as soon as he raised his head, he saw a silver-glowing iron fist rapidly enlarging in his vision.

Then, there was no more.

Its head had been blown apart by the puppet, and its consciousness had completely dissipated.

The puppet killed the demonic snake Xia Mang with a single punch, but its movements did not stop. Like a god of death, it twisted and turned within the canyon, and with each punch, a giant snake crashed to the ground.

In less than a minute, the surrounding giant snakes had been cleared away, leaving only corpses and flesh scattered on the ground.

It wasn't until Chen Xiao had the puppet gather Xia Mang's storage ring and the spoils of war, such as the magic core, and put them into the storage ring, that the guards finally snapped out of their daze.

Thump~ Thump~
The sounds of kneeling rose and fell, and the carriage curtain was lifted. Two women, around eighteen or nineteen years old, jumped down quickly and performed a grand salute without hesitation.

"Thank you so much for saving our lives, senior! The Tang family will remember this kindness forever. Please leave your name, senior. If you ever need our help in the future, the Tang family will go through fire and water for you!"

The woman, who appeared slightly older, spoke respectfully.

They were all cultivators, so their appearances were naturally not bad, but compared to the likes of Cai Lin and Little Fairy Doctor, they were not on the same level; they could only be described as pretty.

"Get up, all of you. I was just helping you out as a favor."

Chen Xiao didn't care about any reward; the Tang family didn't even look down on Xia Mang, let alone him.

Saving them was really just something I did on a whim.

After all, Chen Xiao had his eye on this place.

Chen Xiao didn't consider himself a good person, but he generally wouldn't lay a hand on people he had no connection with or interests in. However, he had no qualms about dealing with a greedy and lewd monster like Xia Mang.

Therefore, even without the Tang family's involvement, Chen Xiao would still have cleaned up Ten Thousand Snake Gorge today.

Upon hearing Chen Xiao's words, the group of people cautiously stood up, remaining silent and trembling, not daring to utter a sound, and even looking at each other with awe.

Finally, it was the woman who seemed to be the young lady who spoke up, "May I ask your esteemed name, senior..."

"I am the Pavilion Master of Zixiao Pavilion. Of course, you don't know me now, but you will in a few months. Now, leave here. I've set my sights on Ten Thousand Snake Gorge and need to make some arrangements."

Miss Tang wanted to say something more, but the middle-aged man next to her tugged at her sleeve.

The young lady immediately realized what was happening, quickly gave a slight curtsy, and dared not say anything more. She then turned back every few steps to direct the caravan toward the outside of Ten Thousand Snake Gorge.

Silence returned to the canyon, and Chen Xiao, as the master of the land, once again surveyed the territory prepared for the snake people.

Sensing that there were still a terrifying number of low-level snake-like magical beasts within, Chen Xiao had a thought, and the Bone Spirit Cold Flame immediately burst forth from his body, transforming into wisps of white flame, forcing all the snake-like magical beasts into a corner of the Ten Thousand Snake Gorge to survive.

These snakes were a resource for the snake people, so Chen Xiao left them behind for them.

The bone spirit's cold fire drifted back, sweeping over the corpses scattered on the ground. Almost instantly upon contact, the flesh and blood on the ground were burned to nothingness, making it look much more pleasing.

After handling these minor matters, Chen Xiao's consciousness seeped into his mind to check the advance payment information.

[Currently available advance payment]

Spell: (0/1)

Rare and precious materials: (1/1)

General: (0/1)

[Follow-up to the advance payment]

① Read 50000 volumes, current progress: 49999/50,000.

② Obtained a Bodhi Foundation Building Pill.

Looking at the pre-received information in his mind, Chen Xiao was slightly taken aback.

During his time traveling from the Northwest to the Central Plains, he frequently perused martial arts techniques, and he did the same during his free time these past few days. Unbeknownst to him, the progress of his advance training had already reached the critical point of near completion.

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Xiao took out a cultivation scroll that he hadn't yet read. He was only one step away from completing it, and no one could resist doing something like that.

As Chen Xiao opened the scroll, he couldn't help but become serious as well.

Although there are no strict requirements for attitude after the advance payment, taking it seriously to improve one's own qualities will only bring benefits and no harm.

As he read through the cultivation techniques, Chen Xiao pondered their advantages and disadvantages.

Unconsciously, consciousness sank deeper and deeper, and a peculiar aura spread out.

snort~
A figure quietly floated out from the snow-white storage ring between Chen Xiao's fingers; it was none other than the Heavenly Fire Venerable residing in the storage ring.

Seeing Chen Xiao's strange state, Venerable Tianhuo was completely astonished.

"This is…"

"Epiphany!"

(End of this chapter)