Chapter Sixteen: Something Has Gone Wrong

Hei Lin heard the hissing of the great serpent behind him and instantly sensed disaster. “My senior sister kills without mercy—how can I just sit here and wait for death?!” He hurriedly chanted his spell, hoping to summon the black serpent to block the blue one, but the black serpent paid him no heed, locked in fierce combat with Xiao Li and the others.

“Black serpent! Why won’t you help me now!?” he cried, but the black serpent didn’t even glance his way, still locked in brutal struggle.

Qing Lin couldn’t help but laugh, her voice sharp as she shouted, “Even the black serpent’s spirit looks down on you, traitor! Die!”

Hei Lin’s pupils dilated in terror. He ran for his life, cursing, “Damn it! Damn it!” But how could a human’s legs ever outrun a gigantic serpent born of the wild? He’d scarcely made it a hundred meters before a chilling scream split the air; the blue serpent tore his body in two, blood spilling across the ground, and that was the end of him.

Seeing Hei Lin wrung apart, Qing Lin was beside herself with glee. “No one betrays me! No one!” she shrieked, her laughter growing wilder, her face twisting with a mania that seemed almost schizophrenic, impossible to fathom.

Suddenly, with a wild yell, she slashed her own wrist, spraying blood onto the raging soul-burning flames. The fire leapt higher, as if a pack of starving wolves had been unleashed, surging toward Nian Xue’s Samadhi Fire Dragon.

Nian Xue was astonished. “This Qing Lin may be a woman, but her ruthlessness surpasses any man’s. Even killing her own junior brother, she doesn’t hesitate!”

Seeing Qing Lin still struggling desperately, she gathered her breath and poured more power into the Samadhi Dragon, its fire intensifying and slowly devouring the wolfish blue flames.

Qing Lin, who had once held the upper hand, fought on with all her might. But as Huang Lin fell and Hei Lin betrayed her, she knew her cause was lost. “If I can escape the circle, I might live, but with my master’s influence, I could never hide forever. Enough! Enough!”

As the furious dragon-fire bore down on her, Qing Lin gave a cold laugh. “Little girl, want my life? If I die, I’ll take you with me!”

Facing the searing Samadhi Dragon, Qing Lin suddenly withdrew her magic, letting the holy fire consume her.

Even Nian Xue hadn’t expected this. “Why isn’t she fighting back? If she doesn’t defend herself, she’ll be utterly destroyed, soul and all!”

Then, from within the flames, Qing Lin’s wild laughter rang out. “To the victor the spoils, to the defeated destruction! To the victor the spoils!”

A strange cry echoed from the inferno. Nian Xue’s heart turned cold with dread. “No! Is she about to unleash the Serpent-Human Spirit?”

Within the blaze, Qing Lin’s flesh was charred away, her hair lost, revealing a bloody, raw scalp. Mouth full of blood, she recited, “With my blood as guide, my flesh as offering, with the souls of dozens as tribute, I beseech the Great Saint of Serpent and Human to possess me, lend me your strength!”

As the incantation ended, the blue and black serpents that had been locked in battle with Xiao Li and the others vanished into thin air. Then a monstrous shriek erupted from within Qing Lin, shaking the air.

“It’s been so long since I’ve emerged.” The voice came again, as an immense being slowly surfaced from Qing Lin’s body. Strangely, though the surrounding flames shone brightly, the ground bore not the slightest shadow of this creature.

Xiao Li and his companions stared in terror. “Each one’s bigger than the last! Are they calling in all three giant serpents at once?”

Officer Li and his team had arrived, drenched with cold sweat from the oppressive power seeping from the formation. Xiao Yang gripped his rifle, voice trembling. “Boss, did we stumble onto a movie set by mistake?”

Officer Li swallowed hard. “I wish they were just filming a movie!”

Nian Xue’s heart pounded wildly. Confronted with the colossal spirit-serpent, she found herself unable to think. “Is this the legendary Serpent-Human Manifestation? What should I do? What should I do?”

Within the circle, Ye Dong and his three companions were nearly mad with fear, barely restraining themselves from wetting their pants. Ye Dong, legs trembling, looked back at the stunned Nian Xue with a mixture of terror and urgency. “Nian Xue! Hold yourself together! Don’t lose your focus!”

His words were like a bucket of ice water, snapping Nian Xue out of her daze. “That’s right! I can’t falter now, or none of us will make it out alive!”

Ye Dong called out again, “Brothers, I know you’re afraid—I am too! But we’re men, and at this moment, we can’t afford to go soft!”

Liang Lingzhi clenched his chattering teeth and shouted, “I promised Xiaoting I’d avenge her!”

Xiao Bao and Da Chun gasped for air. “I won’t be a coward! Damn you, stinking snake, come on! Come fight your daddy!”

The spirit ignored their shouting, instead plucking up the souls of several bandits, slipping them into its mouth with an evil grin. “Ghosts still taste as delicious as ever.”

After picking the souls from its teeth, the Serpent-Human Manifestation finally turned its gaze on Nian Xue in the distance, mocking, “You dare flaunt a mere ‘Child’s Exorcism Array’ here?”

Before the words had faded, an overwhelming demonic aura surged toward Nian Xue, nearly knocking her off her feet.

As the smoke cleared, the monstrous Serpent-Human Manifestation finally revealed itself—its body covered in iridescent patterns, its head a grotesque blend of human and serpent, a blood-red maw gaping open, flicking a tongue as wide as a table. Most shocking of all, it possessed human-like limbs!

Ye Dong and the others were buffeted by the demon wind, their chests tight, heads splitting, fear mounting by the second. “Is…is this the legendary demon?”

The Serpent-Human Manifestation swept its massive arm, sending a wave of stench slicing through the air, slamming viciously into the Child’s Exorcism Array.

Nian Xue fought with all her might, but even she couldn’t withstand a single blow from the spirit. With a muffled cry, her hair disheveled, face ashen, Ye Dong’s worry grew. “Nian Xue! This is bad!”

“The array is completely destroyed!” Nian Xue gasped, collapsing to the ground, coughing up blood.

Officer Li, seeing their lives on the line, shouted desperately, “Nian Xue! Is there anything we can do?”

Through a haze of blood, Nian Xue recognized his voice and forced herself to focus. “Get Ye Dong and the others out of here! Hurry!”