The Thousand-Eyed Snake let out a low roar and, with a flick of its body, swam rapidly toward Qin Ziwen.
Behind it, the massive Snake Puppet was in hot pursuit, churning up waves of mud from the seabed.
However, the deep sea wasn’t land. In addition to forward, backward, left, and right, there was also up and down.
Just as the Snake Puppet was about to pounce, the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s head suddenly dipped. Leveraging its smaller, more agile body, it slipped past the Snake Puppet.
Then, it shot forward like a sharp arrow, diving as it closed the distance.
Red Hare ducked down, sliding into position beneath Qin Ziwen, ready to carry him off.
Below, the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s movents suddenly froze.
A shadow, much deeper than the surrounding seawater, erupted from the darkness.
A giant palm, covered in faint scales, its skin deep blue and its knuckles bulging like hamrs, shot up from below and slamd into the snake’s belly.
It latched firmly onto a gap between the scales on the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s underbelly!
The Thousand-Eyed Snake’s massive body went rigid, its upward montum abruptly cut off.
Before it could retaliate, another fist, carrying the force of a thunderbolt, ca crashing down!
The fist smashed into the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s side, sounding like a heavy hamr striking a leather drum with a deep, muffled thud. A visible, circular shockwave exploded outward from the point of impact. The water was violently displaced, creating a montary vacuum before it rushed back in.
The Thousand-Eyed Snake’s back arched high, and the pores all over its body gaped open.
Mogu took advantage of the opening to pull, forcibly dragging the rising Thousand-Eyed Snake back down. Then his other fist began to strike like a pile driver:
One punch,
Two punches,
Three punches.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Each blow louder than the last.
The Thousand-Eyed Snake was pumled until its insides churned and its organs ached in agony.
It reared its head, whipping it around. Its savage eyes locked onto Mogu as it opened its maw and lunged, biting viciously.
Mogu’s expression was composed. He rolled, nimbly slipping to the snake’s other side to dodge the attack.
anwhile, the Snake Puppet attacked from behind. Its enormous body bore down, coiling around the Thousand-Eyed Snake like a set of Shackles, trapping it completely.
The Thousand-Eyed Snake struggled desperately, but it was locked in a stalemate.
Normally, the Snake Puppet wouldn’t bother locking the Thousand-Eyed Snake in a stalemate, as it was just a waste of energy and wouldn’t cause any fatal damage.
But now, there was outside help.
Mogu leaped, flipping precisely in the water, and landed steadily atop the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s violently thrashing head.
By the faint fluorescent light, Cao Biansheng and the others finally got a clear look. "It’s him?"
Cao Biansheng recognized that show-off, who seed to be riding atop the giant snake’s head.
The Snake Puppet and the Thousand-Eyed Snake were locked together, head to head. From within the Snake Puppet’s hollow eye socket, a pale, cold Bone Spike Long Spear slowly erged, extending toward Mogu’s hand.
Mogu glanced at the weapon. His left hand tightened its grip in a gap between the scales, steadying his body, while his right hand seized the proffered Bone Spear.
He held it aloft with one arm, his body taut like a drawn Bow.
In that mont, he looked like a hero straight out of Greek mythology.
No war cry, no gathering of strength.
He raised his arm high, and the Bone Spear sliced through the water, plunging viciously into a crevice on the back of the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s neck.
"SQUELCH—"
The sound of the impact was swallowed by the churning seawater.
The Thousand-Eyed Snake struggled frantically.
Its tail thrashed violently.
Mogu wrenched the Long Spear free, raised it high once more, and plunged it down into the exact sa spot.
The Thousand-Eyed Snake opened its maw and desperately spat venom.
The venom tainted the seawater, which grew murky as it spread in all directions.
The churning currents quickly diluted it.
Red Hare sensed the danger and imdiately turned to flee.
Cao Biansheng and the others followed close behind.
Once they had retreated to a safe distance, they looked back to see the two entangled serpents slowly sinking toward the seabed...
Qin Ziwen hadn’t received a notification about the Ho task being completed, so he knew the snake wasn’t dead yet.
The massive serpentine body finally settled onto the churning, muddy seabed. A short section of the spear shaft protruded from the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s neck, pinning it like a nail.
From the Snake Puppet’s eye socket, another Bone Spear slowly erged.
Mogu took the Bone Spear, planted his feet on the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s head, and bent down. Raising the Bone Spear high with both hands, he took aim at its eye.
"SQUELCH!"
The Thousand-Eyed Snake’s vertical pupil snapped wide open and its tail shot up, but it remained pinned firmly beneath the Snake Puppet.
The struggle continued until the light in its eye was completely extinguished.
On the back of the Thousand-Eyed Snake, two crimson Cards slowly materialized.
With a wave of his hand, Mogu grasped the two Cards.
At almost the exact sa mont, Qin Ziwen heard a notification from his Ho.
[Hunting Celestial List Level 3 Task complete: Hunt an adult Thousand-Eyed Snake]
[Reward acquired: Upgrade Card·Resource Upgrade Card x1, 80 points]
Qin Ziwen rode Red Hare closer.
On the cold seabed, the Snake Puppet slowly turned its head to look at Qin Ziwen and his group.
Then, it lowered its head, clamped its jaws on the tail of the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s corpse, and began swimming leisurely toward the Fishman Tribe.
Qin Ziwen gestured for them to follow.
The mont he turned, the hair on Qin Ziwen’s entire body stood on end.
In that instant, he felt as if he were being watched by sothing utterly terrifying.
The feeling lasted for only a split second before receding like a tide.
When he snapped out of it and looked to his side, Cao Biansheng’s face was white. It wasn’t the pale bloat from being underwater, but the ghastly pallor of lingering terror.
The two exchanged a look, confirming that what they had just felt was no illusion.
Beneath him, Red Hare’s ears were flattened back against its head. It broke into a desperate gallop, sprinting forward without a backward glance.
Mogu said nothing, just pushed off with both feet.
"BOOM—"
The seabed erupted, sending up a great cloud of mud and sand.
Mogu stretched his arms forward and swam with powerful strokes, like a massive whale shark surging through the deep.
Cao Biansheng snapped back to his senses and hurried to give chase, but he was the slowest. Even having reached the Extraordinary realm, he was still a great deal slower than the Yan Brothers.
Up ahead, Red Hare, which had run far off, circled back around. Its eyes were brimming with tears, and a large lump was swelling on its head.
Qin Ziwen’s expression finally eased a bit upon seeing Cao Biansheng and the others.
He held out a hand, gesturing for them to climb on.
Cao Biansheng glanced at the cramped space on the saddle, waved his hand, and prepared to politely decline.
The Yan Family’s Three Brothers exchanged a look, and none of them moved to mount either.
Just then, Mogu returned. He glanced at the four of them but said nothing.
Reaching out, he scooped up all four of them and deposited them on his back.
He gave Qin Ziwen a nod, then swam furiously forward, carrying the four small "pendants."
By the ti Qin Ziwen’s group made it back to the Fishman Tribe, the Snake Puppet, dragging the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s corpse, had only just arrived.
The Snake Puppet slowly opened its massive maw, and an agile figure erged from within.
It was followed by a second, and then a third...
So it turned out all these Sacrificial Race Fishn had been inside the Snake Puppet’s stomach.
But sothing was wrong when the fourth Sacrificial Race Fishman ca out. Its skin had turned a deep, bruised purple. It turned and dragged sothing else out from inside the Snake Puppet’s mouth.
"SPLAT~"
A slimy mass, its shape barely discernible, was tossed out.
It was another Sacrificial Race Fishman, but the skin covering its body had completely rotted away. Its flesh was corroded, revealing stark white bone. Lying on the ground, its chest still rose and fell—it was, sohow, still breathing.
That wasn’t all. The fourth Sacrificial Race Fishman ducked back inside, rummaged around for a mont, and then dragged out a gelatinous lump.
This thing barely even had a humanoid shape. One could only just make out that it had once been a living creature.
The surrounding Fishn all lowered their heads, observing a mont of silence for the heroes of their people.
The Fishman Leader swam over. "This is why the Hunting Race of our tribe was wiped out, and why the numbers of the Sacrificial Race continue to dwindle."
...
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