Chapter 399 “Deceptive plan and Accidental Discovery”

Ye Ling Yue truly didn’t expect to meet Xia Hou Hong here of all places. But more than being surprised by the boy’s sudden appearance, her eyes were more focused towards the two individuals following the former crown prince.

One of them had a pair of huge ears, and the other had a nose shaped like that of a pig!

She did have a brief encounter with the pair back at the valley where she picked up the Qiu Tian, the carnivorous plant. But due to the cloak they wore overhead at the time, she wasn’t able to get a clear look at their faces. However, that wasn’t the case here anymore.

“Your Highness… I am not picking up any movement around here. This area should be safe.” While the tall scrawny individual with the big ears gave his assurance, the shorty with the pig nose was more proactive and led the way by pointing to the grassy part up ahead after giving a sniff.  

It’s pretty obvious what they are doing, the prince was hunting the double-headed python like her!

Ling Yue did hear some rumors about the prince during this period. According to the words on the street, the disgusting boy was rather brave in quelling the rampant chaos plaguing the Northwest, a complete turnaround from his usual demeanor in the capital. But after seeing the boy in person, she can tell it wasn’t the prince who has changed for the better, but rather it’s the effort of these two strangers helping him.

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Afraid to draw too close and attract their attention, Ling Yue and her group continues to maintain their distance for the time being until both parties arrived at river stained yellow by the sand and sediments.

In the area around the Northwestern Plains, rain was plentiful here during the spring season. As a result, most of the banks have been swamped by the river water, making it extremely difficult to perceive how deep the water levels were.

Now that’s worrying indeed. Aside from the fact that the current was strong enough to wash away the wooden bridge that should’ve been here before – evident by the broke stubs on the shore’s edge – there’s also the inherent danger of being attacked by any underwater creatures lurking about.

“Your Highness, I can only catch the scent of the python up to this point. It’s gone…” The pig nose shorty gives another snort as if to signal his disappointment. Nevertheless, he’s certain the python can’t be far now.

After a brief discussion with the prince, it was decided that they will continue to cross the river in search of their target. But before then, they must first create a vessel that can be used to carry them across the body of water. Fortunately there’s so many trees around for the cause. Before long, several canoes were carved out of the trees nearby by the soldiers.

Despite the dangers involved by what he’s doing, Xiao Hou Hong knows he can’t turn back now. This venture was done behind Hong Fang’s back. Even if he does return with nothing in hand, it’s almost certain the rift between him and that man would be brought to the forefront. By then, it will be drastically more difficult to move on his own again and away from prying eyes.

“Chief, shouldn’t we also cross the river soon? If we are too late then they might locate the snake before us.” Still hiding under the foliage around a kilometer away, Jin Wu Monster was the first to make the suggestion after seeing what the other party intends to do.

“Let’s wait first,” Ling Yue easily refutes the idea. Unlike the prince and his men, she had her alchemist puppet to act as a vessel, meaning she’s in no hurry here. But more than that, her eyes were strongly attracted by the water. Something wasn’t quite right….

From her observation, even a simple leaf would be quickly devoured by the raging currents and mini whirlpools that appears from time to time, yet an odd triangular shaped object was hovering near the surface in the middle of the river.

Now that’s when it struck her. Focusing in her eyes, she soon realized that was no rock or log like she initially assumed, it’s a head with a pair of eyes sticking out!

As the old saying goes, “appearances can be deceiving.” It’s not like Xia Hou Hong and his men didn’t notice this snake before, but due to the small size of that head, they assumed it’s of no danger and continued on with their passage.

Fortunately for Ling Yue and her group, they were smart enough to stay behind. Otherwise, they would be in for a huge surprise which was easily confirmed by the second thing the girl noticed before she averted her gaze back. About partway into the other end of the river, there’s a tail flicking up and down from the surface!

Going dry in the throat, the truth finally donned on her. What small snake? That’s clearly a massive creature spanning more than half the river, likely around sixty feet in length!

“No one is to move, I’m going to take a look first.” Using the tree branches as cover, Ling Yue slowly makes her trek towards the river bank.

While it’s true her body moved at an incredibly slow speed to avoid detection, but once she was close enough though, that’s when she strikes with her Twilight Dagger.

Yet despite the direct hit on the tail, the expected blood splattering never came. Instead, the only sound she could be heard were the metallic clang of her dagger being deflected by the snake’s scale.

“Holy crap, what a hard skin it has!” Even for Ling Yue herself, she cannot help but gasp with astonishment.

Remember, her dagger was forged with Meteorite Iron, one of the hardest metal in this world. To have it deal no damage at all aside from scraping a few scales off the snake’s body, it just goes to show how sturdy that thing was!

Enraged by the sudden attack, it’s only natural that the python would retaliate. Exploding out of the water without bothering to hide its head anymore, what came into view was an enormous body that spanned an incredible length. What sixty feet? More like a hundred feet!

But the most disturbing part here wasn’t how long that body was, it’s the fact that there’s another head squirming out from underneath the water. Unlike the first head that’s relatively small, the one that came up from the bottom could be estimated at five times the size of the original….

As per A’bone’s speculation, this twin-headed python has evolved to the stage where it now has legs on the front and back of its body. A genuine serpent dragon that’s surpassed the five hundred years of age!

Glaring around after being attacked, the python wanted to find the perpetrator to exact its revenge. Unfortunately for it, snake type spirit beasts tended to have horrible eyesight’s during the day. For that reason, the only target it could detect was the canoes currently rowing across the river.

What a fierce looking two-headed python! Ling Yue murmurs to herself, grateful she’s not the one being caught.

“Not good, it’s the two-headed python!” By the time the big eared man noticed the sound, it was already too late. The snake had locked onto to them.

Raising waves from its roaring scream and charging body, the snake was able to easily destroy one of the canoes without much effort. Due to this, several of the poor soldiers that came with the prince was swept away by the river’s current in a blink of an eye.

Horrified by this scene, Xia Hou Hong finally understands now why so many feared a peak ninth rank spirit beast. Those men of his were the best people working under him, to be defeated without so much as a chance to retaliate, what odds does he have to survive?

Meanwhile up on the tree, Ling Yue was ready to retreat now because she didn’t want to be caught up in the confrontation. However, her gaze suddenly noticed the bulge coming off of the python’s snowy white belly!

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