Chapter 64
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Thousand Serpent Poison Essence Technique
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From the bottom of the valley, all sorts of large and small animals began collapsing one by one.
It started with the little field mice, then mountain rabbits, red-tailed foxes, and even venomous insects like scorpions and centipedes flipped onto their backs.
It was the Thousand Serpent Poison Essence Technique, one of the secret poison arts of the Guardian Heavenly Dragon Clan.
Thousand Serpent Poison Essence was a special toxin made by capturing thousands of venomous snakes and blending their venom extracts.
Miraculously, it was completely colorless and odorless, posing almost no harm to humans.
The most terrifying poisons were precisely those that were colorless and odorless.
Since they couldn't be detected, there was no way to guard against them, and by the time poisoning was realized, there was no recourse but to obtain an antidote.
Yet this Thousand Serpent Poison Essence was peculiar—even while being colorless and odorless, it was fatal only to animals.
Since its base was the neurotoxins from venomous snakes, it was supposed to require entry into the body to take effect.
However, when they developed it into a mist form to affect humans as well, they encountered far too many obstacles and difficulties, leading them to abandon the idea.
Thus, it had originally been used only for hunting animals like mountain deer and goats on the Western Plateau.
But three hundred years ago, it had been employed for the first time against invading Mongol cavalry.
Its effects were so extraordinary that afterward, it became extremely useful in battles against enemies.
This was because those who invaded the Western Plateau were always mounted cavalry.
The fact that, several hundred years ago, thousands of Mongol horsemen invaded the Western Plateau and not a single one returned was a top-secret matter even within Mongolia.
After that incident, rather than attempting to conquer the Western Plateau, the Great Khan of the Mongols chose instead to invite and favor the lamas of the Western Esoteric Buddhism.
Thus, the Thousand Serpent Poison Essence Technique, representing the mystical power of Western Esoteric Buddhism, was undeniably the true force that protected the Western Plateau from foreign powers.
And tonight, that technique had been deployed once more.
The previous deployment had been well over a hundred years ago.
Though not publicly known, it had been when a branch of the Mongols, the Oirat tribe, had come charging in.
Not one of them had returned alive.
Ananta hid herself in a crevice beside the valley and scanned for any signs of presence from above.
After some time, she tilted her head in puzzlement.
‘Strange. There’s not a single sign of movement. It’s been half a shichen since the Thousand Serpent Poison Essence was released and the wind started blowing upward. The sun has fully set already, so why……?’
By now, the enemies should have finished resting and descended into the valley.
They should have been thrown into confusion at the sight of their horses collapsing for no apparent reason.
Yet there was no sign of presence from the upper reaches of the valley.
Now, it was Ananta’s side that was plunged into confusion.
She hesitated briefly, wondering whether to wait like this or go up immediately to check on the Azure Heaven Dragon Cavalry Corps’ movements.
But one couldn’t just deliberate endlessly in battle.
Ananta immediately summoned four of her subordinates skilled in infiltration concealment arts and lightness skills.
“Hurry and go check their status, then come straight back. Do not let them detect you under any circumstances.”
As she watched her subordinates vanish into the darkness, Ananta still couldn’t shake off a nagging sense of something being off.
The mountains of the Western Plateau were rugged and barren beyond compare, with not a single tree in sight anywhere.
Yet two men were climbing smoothly through the gaps in the jagged rocks like snakes.
The world was already shrouded in darkness, and clad in pitch-black night-traveling clothes with black masks, even experts with substantial inner strength would find it impossible to detect their movements.
But their opponent surpassed that level.
It was just as they slightly poked their heads over the rocks.
“Come on out. I’ve been waiting a long time.”
A low shout echoed from some distant, unknown place, and at the same moment, an arrowhead glowing with blue energy streaked like a beam of light and embedded into one man’s face.
The other man hurriedly concealed himself in the rock crevice without even a scream from his fallen comrade.
In that instant, no trace of a human presence could be found anywhere around.
It was a ghostly concealment technique.
They had deployed the Spirit Serpent Concealment Art, a secret technique of the Guardian Heavenly Dragon Clan.
The next moment, a heavy figure dropped onto the rocks above.
“Truly like snakes. Not leaving even a single trace.”
True Demon Musujong scanned the surroundings with his horse-like face.
Following him was Azure Dragon Divine Palm Wi Jonggi, who descended beside him holding a bow with an arrow nocked in one hand.
“You couldn’t detect the other one’s presence?”
A corpse lay rolling at Wi Jonggi’s feet.
The arrow that had pierced through the face had emerged more than halfway out the other side.
“Remarkable trick. Can’t even sense their presence.”
“They couldn’t have gone far…… They must be hiding nearby.”
“Indeed. Unless they’re earthworms, they didn’t burrow into the ground.”
Even as he spoke, Musujong meticulously searched every crevice in the surrounding rocks.
“Step aside for a moment. Back in my youth, I caught a few snakes. Snakes hiding in rock crevices are tricky, but……”
As Musujong stepped back a few paces, Wi Jonggi slung his bow over his shoulder and pulled a small animal with glossy red fur from his bosom, stroking it.
“Pretty one. Now find the snake hiding here. I’ll feed you a tasty field mouse soon.”
The creature Wi Jonggi had taken from his bosom was a red weasel.
After stroking it several times and setting it down, it scanned its surroundings with gleaming eyes, then began sniffing around in circles.
Soon after, the red weasel bared its sharp teeth, chittered sharply, and leaped onto a nearby rock.
Incredibly, what had looked like a rock was a person.
As the weasel pounced, the man released his Spirit Serpent Concealment Art and leaped into the air, swinging a dagger at the weasel.
But in that instant, the dagger—and the arm holding it—flew into the air.
True Demon Musujong’s True Demon Blade had sliced past his elbow.
At the same time, Wi Jonggi unleashed several streams of finger-force, sealing several of the man’s acupoints.
A short while later, Musujong peeled off the mask of the writhing man on the ground and muttered in surprise.
“Brother, have you ever seen eyes like these?”
Wi Jonggi let out a groan upon seeing the man’s snake-like yellow eyes glinting on his face.
“I’ve heard of them but never seen. So there really are people in the Western Plateau who live as snakes. Some kind of serpent tribe?”
“This is my first time even hearing of it…… Then this poison fog must be their doing.”
“That’s how it seems. And thanks to this little one, we avoided a disaster.”
The red weasel circled the fallen man, chittering sharply.
Its name was Blood Dagger, a spirit beast Wi Jonggi had raised as a pet for over ten years.
As the sun was setting, the over three thousand mounted warriors of the Azure Heaven Dragon Cavalry Corps, having finished their rest, began slowly advancing from the vanguard.
But the moment Wi Jonggi at the lead entered the narrow valley flanked by steep walls, he yanked the reins and halted.
The eerie silence in the valley ahead prickled his senses.
No matter where in the world, the energy of life should be felt.
Even in this barren, harsh highland of the Western Plateau, the presences of tiny grass insects and small wild animals were everywhere—yet uniquely in the valley before him, not a single living presence could be sensed.
Finding it suspicious, he slowly urged his horse forward, but suddenly, Blood Dagger in his bosom began thrashing.
Sensing something amiss, Wi Jonggi dismounted, took Blood Dagger out, and released it onto the ground.
Blood Dagger’s favorite prey was venomous snakes and insects.
With its extraordinarily keen sense of smell, detecting poison and hunting animals carrying it was its instinct.
Yet upon being set down, Blood Dagger hesitated and refused to advance.
It took a step forward, then retreated one, repeating this for a while before finally leaping back into Wi Jonggi’s arms in fear.
Wi Jonggi became convinced that something extremely dangerous had occurred in that valley and ordered his warriors to dismount and stand by.
Then, circulating his inner energy to guard against poison, he slowly walked into the valley.
True Demon Musujong, who had been at his side, soon followed suit.
They had confidence in enduring ordinary poison arts, and the blood poison antidote stored in their protective vests helped as well.
Moments later, they discovered large and small animals lying dead everywhere in the valley.
“Look at this, Horse-Head Brother. You alright?”
Wi Jonggi poked at a dead mountain rabbit’s corpse with a tree branch as he asked.
“Strange. I don’t sense any poison qi at all.”
“Exactly. This poison seems to target only animals.”
“Hmm…… I’ve never heard of it, but if so, it’s a poison art that’s truly hard to deal with. Had we entered unaware……”
“It would’ve been disastrous. We’d have lost all our horses here……”
As Wi Jonggi rose and muttered, Musujong replied gravely.
“We’d have met our end too. Somewhere in the Western Plateau.”
At that moment, Wi Jonggi raised a hand to silence Musujong.
“See that? Snake-like movement. Two of them.”
He unslung the bow from his back and nocked a special arrow.
Ananta looked down in dismay at the two subordinates prostrated before her.
Of the four she had sent up, one was dead, one captured, and only the two who had been covering their rear from behind had escaped back.
“So the Spirit Serpent Concealment Art was useless?”
“A red-glowing weasel-like thing came charging at us.”
Ananta sighed.
“I’ve heard that the multicolored weasels of the Kunlun Mountains are exceptionally clever……”
“What will you do now?”
When her prostrated subordinate asked, Ananta irritably replied.
“What can I do? It’s already failed. What more is there to do here?”
“Understood. We’ll withdraw immediately.”
Soon, the snake-like group hidden at the valley entrance bustled into action.
Ananta also stood openly, watching her subordinates hurriedly withdraw.
“The Ming Cult…… They’re no pushovers, as expected.”
Ananta muttered to herself and leaped into motion as well.
But her body didn’t get far.
“Where do you think you’re going? You greeted us, so now receive our greeting. Kahahahaha.”