Chapter 34 (Part A) – The sound of Thunder

(Mustang: This is Friday’s regular release. Have fun.

Bi Fan was in a state of shock, the fear of the beast that inhabited the ravine still lingered in his head. Maybe the beast wasn’t as strong as he had anticipated, or maybe the it was, who knows, could even be a goblin.

Even though there were many precious herbs and Panacea inside the valley, Bi Fan, for the fear of the monster that lurked the valley, decided to suppress his desire of going back in and continued to walk his way out through the passage.

Bi Fan had an amazing memory; just following the leopard on the way in, was enough for him to memorize the path. But walking out now, he was careful, so he could make sure that he wouldn’t forget this route, as it was definitely something that he would want to come back for, later in the future.

There were many extremely rare and expensive herbs and Panacea inside the canyon, and that was something that Bi Fan couldn’t ignore. His heart just yearned for the day when he would be strong enough to take on the demon that possessed the valley, and when that time comes, Bi Fan would return to this mysterious valley once again.

Once he had exited the secret passage that had led to the valley, Bi Fan climbed up the tallest tree that he could find, and carefully tried to identify the location, so that he would never forget this place’s location.

There were tall and towering trees everywhere, remembering directions in a place like this was a very difficult task, so Bi Fan decided to mark the tree with a seal for reference.

Once Bi Fan was sure that he had memorized the location of this mysterious canyon, he decided to leave. He turned around and looked at the passage one last time; he was still reluctant to leave.

Fortunately, the Long Diao was still asleep, had he seen so many precious herbs, he would have never wanted to leave that place.

He hadn’t walked away too far from the entrance of the valley’s passage when he saw some humans at a distance.

There were three of them, teenagers, walking carefully through the jungle. They all seemed reasonably strong, and he could tell that they were around the ‘inner organs’ layer mark.

“I really don’t like this place, I don’t want to stay here for long, and I’m already missing the beautiful world outside.” One of the teenagers, dressed in bright colored clothes muttered.

A sturdier looking teenager stated: “Ling Shao, unless we become disciples, we will never be able to enjoy the company of the beautiful women we all want.”

The bright-clothed youngster smiled as said: “Imagine if we could get the rewards that Jiang Sheng has offered for the head of that boy, and all the magical weapons that boy possesses! We would all be very rich, just imagine the life we could all have then!”

“I know, but it’s so difficult to find people inside the devil’s territory.”

“But as long as we can find him, we should be able to kill him easily.” The sturdy looking youngster replied confidently.

Bi Fan was hiding at a fair distance from those boys, but he could hear what they were talking about clearly enough.

“It appears that Jiang Sheng is desperate for revenge, so much so that, he is even willing to spend money on a reward for my killing.” Bi Fan thought to himself, feeling humbled, moved by emotions.

However, after all the practice that Bi Fan had gotten since entering the devil’s territory, his effective strength was as good as ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer, attributing to his amazing skill set, so he wasn’t really scared of these guys.

Bi Fan knew nothing about these three youngsters, and he didn’t feel like making any more enemies for no good reason, so he decided to let them go.

But maybe the heavens above disagreed with him, and suddenly a black, bucket-thick python snaked up behind Bi Fan. A python that size could be a very difficult enemy to deal with.

Bi Fan had taken a Sunset Jade pellet some time ago, which should still be giving him protection, but he decided to not take any chances, and popped in another one.

In addition to being extremely strong, a python has another very powerful weapon in its arsenal, poison.

The minute Bi Fan saw that big bad python, he knew that it was no longer possible to hide anymore; he quickly got out of his hiding spot and made a dash, in an attempt to get away from the viper.

He wasn’t very far away from the three youngsters and they heard the commotion he had just made. As soon as they heard the sounds, they ran in to check out the situation.

When they saw the python, they instantaneously decided to flee as well.

“Look, isn’t that the same guy that Jiang Sheng wanted dead?” The sturdy looking teenager exclaimed loudly.

“Yeah, he looks exactly like the boy in the picture!” The bright-clothed boy agreed, surprised.

“Ling Shao, what do we do now?” The sturdy looking teenager asked the bright-clothed boy. It seemed that the other two youngsters were relying on the leadership of this one.

The leader’s eyes were fleeting, fists and teeth clenched and he seemed to be making up his mind about the course of their action and eventually said: “Let’s follow the python around, sneakily. That way we can collect the valuables from its victims.”

“Ling Shao, you have one amazing brain my friend, what a wonderful idea you have just come up with.” The third and somewhat plump boy praised his comrade.

The three of them hid in the under bushes nearby and silently watched as the python caught up with the escaping Bi Fan, and the fight ensued.

The python was indeed a formidable creature, he was using his thick and powerful tail in a sweeping motion to attack Bi Fan, his strike was so powerful that it was uprooting all the bushes and shrubs in its path. Not something Bi Fan seemed very happy about.

Moreover, the python had an extremely rough and strong skin, Bi Fan tried to defend the strikes with his sword, but his light-ray sword didn’t seem to be doing anything to the snake’s skin. It appeared that the best Bi Fan’s weapon could do was scratch the viper, and would by no means, cause any serious harm.

Bi Fan was being forced to retreat, constantly. He was defending with all his might, using ‘Fufeng double-edged sword’ technique to his best ability.

In fact, Bi Fan was so focused on the fight, that he forgot all about the three youngsters from earlier and had no idea that the three of them were watching him.

“Bang!” All of a sudden, the python’s sweeping tail hit Bi Fan.

Bi Fan went flying into the air and blood splashed out of his the spot where the tail had struck him.

The minute he hit the floor, Bi Fan quickly mustered his strength and rolled over, picked himself up and tried to make another attempt to flee, this time, in the direction where the three teenagers were hiding.

“Don’t tell me, does he know that we are hiding here? Is he trying to lead the python to us?” The bright-clothed boy frowned.

“No way, just look at him, he seems to have sustained some serious injuries, he is definitely panicking and making a run to save his life, that’s all.” The sturdy looking boy reasoned.

“I hope you are right!” The boy replied: “Thankfully he is injured now; otherwise he would have been a handful to deal with.”

The moment the python saw Bi Fan escaping, he started after Bi Fan, not ready to let go of his prey so easily.

The trio could no longer conceal themselves at their present hiding spot and quickly taking advantage of the diversion, stormed out of their hiding spot and attacked the snake’s body.

In actuality, the three of them wanted to kill Bi Fan first, but since, Bi Fan was running in a random, haphazard fashion, they ended up attacking the python first.

The teamwork of these three was quite exquisite, their blows, very powerful. But even then, they couldn’t inflict any fatal injuries to the python but still at least managed to gash the python’s belly.

“HMMPPHHH” The python violently swept his tail again, uprooting every spec of flora that obstructed its path.

The chubby boy wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way and unfortunately took the hit.

He flew into the air, hit a tree and fell to the ground.

It appeared that he might not be able to fight any further, which meant that it was just the two other boys against this lethal viper now.

“Fatty!” The sturdy looking youngster called after his friend.

The bright-clothed boy’s face showed no emotions what so ever, his eyes were fixed on the python, his heart cold, but not his feet.

This python was in the ‘brave’ layer, at least. This meant that he was going to be extremely difficult to deal with.