Ling Han and Liu Yu Tong had already started taking pills like mad.
The pills Ling Han had been taking helped him replenish his Origin Power while the ones Liu Yu Tong had been taking were meant to speed up the recovery of wounds. A head-on clash with this kind of demonic beast was practically seeking death, and she had already sustained considerable internal injuries within a few short minutes of battle.
Thankfully, the pills Ling Han concocted were of excellent quality and allowed her to maintain her battle prowess at her best condition. Furthermore, because of Lone Wolf's Blood, her battle prowess was still on a soaring rise.
…Ling Han had taught it to her some time ago.
With the increasing battle prowess she possessed further enhanced by the circulation of the Lone Wolf's Blood, Liu Yu Tong could just about handle a head-on clash with the Red Scaled Dragon Snake.
If the Red Scaled Dragon Snake had not been poisoned, then the losers of this battle would definitely be Ling Han and Liu Yu Tong. But things were different now. They only needed to hold on for twenty minutes.
As the battle persisted, the Red Scaled Dragon Snake became more and more frantic. The conflict between the Yin and the Yang in its body was becoming even more intense, and there were already many places on its body that had exploded. Green-colored blood splattered everywhere. It had a corrosive nature–falling on the rocks littered around, the blood actually melted the rocks at an extremely quick pace.
There was also poisonous gas floating around in the air that could easily poison and kill a martial artist in the ninth layer of Element Gathering Tier!
If it did not possess such awe-inspiring abilities, how could it be labeled the ruler of Element Gathering Tier?
Rulers were, of course, invincible!
Unfortunately, it had encountered Ling Han.
Ling Han and Liu Yu Tong had already taken antidotes, and the powerful poison only caused them to feel slightly dizzy, not having too much effect on their battle prowess.
"Si si!" The Red Scaled Dragon Snake could feel death approaching and began to attempt to flee recklessly. In its eyes, it only needed to solve the problem within its body, and then dealing with these two insignificant human beings would be a cinch.
Liu Yu Tong was enraged too. She brandished her long sword like she was holding a rainbow in her hand, as if she was a battle goddess displaying her heroic beauty.
The great serpent did its utmost to flee, while Ling Han and Liu Yu Tong did their utmost to stop it from fleeing. If they missed this chance, the Red Scaled Dragon Snake would definitely not be fooled next time and they'd have to wait until Liu Yu Tong broke through to Gushing Spring Tier before coming again.
A large river appeared some distance ahead.
The Red Scaled Dragon Snake seemed to understand that the river's water would cure its poison and instantly became energetic, increasing the speed of its escape. Even if it suffered attacks from Liu Yu Tong, it did not attempt to counterattack even once. It seemed to have made its decision to do its utmost to slip into the river.
A flash of absolute determination crossed Liu Yu Tong's eyes as she raised her sword high up and lightly shouted, "One sword of Heaven's Martial Arts determines the Universe!"
"Xiu," she waved her sword, and it was almost as if wielder and sword were as one, slashing towards the neck of the Red Scaled Dragon Snake.
Ling Han's expression changed and he shouted loudly, "Don't be reckless!"
This slash was much too powerful and the Red Scaled Dragon Snake dared not receive it head on. Otherwise, it was highly likely that the great serpent would be killed by this one slash. It gave a loud hiss, and the serpent's body quickly coiled in place, concealing its head within its coiled body to protect it.
"Pu!"
The long sword lowered quickly in a slash, and a flash of Sword Qi was revealed, which actually chopped the body of the Red Scaled Dragon Snake in two; green blood instantly gushed out like a spring.
The great serpent twisted all over the ground in agony. Close to one third of its body near to its tail had actually been chopped off by this sword slash of Liu Yu Tong!
"Pa," Liu Yu Tong's delicate figure wavered, and she fell down towards the ground.
Ling Han quickly leaped up to catch the icy beauty before she hit the ground. He frowned and said, "Are you crazy? You actually forcibly squeezed your Origin Nucleus to increase your own battle prowess! If it exploded, you'd lose your life!"
"I managed to form Sword Qi! Did you see, I formed Sword Qi!" Liu Yu Tong said weakly, but excitedly. At that moment, there was only one thought in her head, and that was to obstruct the Red Scaled Dragon Snake. She could not disappoint Ling Han.
With the support of this conviction, she actually broke through her own limits and managed to form Sword Qi.
"You silly girl, if you dare to do something like this again, I'll smack your behind!" Ling Han lifted Liu Yu Tong onto his back. The Red Scaled Dragon Snake's energy was now close to being completely spent. Although the river was not too far away, it could no longer reach it.
A red flush appeared on Liu Yu Tong's beautiful, cold face, but she plastered her face onto Ling Han's back. Hearing the strong beating of his heart, her mind was empty of any stray thoughts.
The Red Scaled Dragon Snake was still twisting around on the ground, yet the extent of its movements was becoming smaller and smaller; finally, it no longer made any movements.
Yet Ling Han did not make any impulsive moves. A centipede dies but never falls down, and the serpent was extremely long. Moreover, this Red Scaled Dragon Snake was considered within the ranks of kings!
"Big Brother Ling!" Liu Dong and his group raced over. Their faces were filled with astonishment, and when they looked at Ling Han, it was as if they were looking at some kind of monster.
How could they not be astonished?
Although the Red Scaled Dragon Snake had been poisoned, its battle prowess had not weakened; Ling Han actually managed to battle with it for such a long time. Even if the main attacking force had been Liu Yu Tong, this was still an unbelievable feat.
If it had been them in his place, one whip of the great serpent's tail would probably be enough to make them all die in one go.
"Is Miss Liu all right?" they asked.
"She should be all right," Ling Han smiled. With an Alchemy Emperor like him nearby, as long as she still had one breath within her, there was no way she would die. He was just about to have Liu Dong and his group watch over her and the serpent while he enters the cavern to pluck the Earth Dragon Grass when he suddenly spotted a few people coming out from the bushes on the river's banks.
There were six people in total, and the one in the lead was a young man. The others were five men dressed all in black and seemed to be of different ages. From the looks of it, they were the lackeys of the young man.
"Hahahaha, it's an actual Red Scaled Dragon Snake!" The young man rubbed his hands and laughed loudly, "That's why I said we should come over here and check things out when we heard the commotion! We actually encountered such a good thing."
"Young Master's good fortune is as high as the sky!" The five men in black said in unison, showing off their abilities of currying favor.
"Quickly carry this great serpent back for me, I'll let Grandfather see how great I am!" The young man immediately commanded.
"Understood!" The five men in black walked towards where the Red Scaled Dragon Snake was lying.
The six of them were speaking amongst themselves as if they had completely not seen that Ling Han and the others were also here.
"Hey, we were the ones who killed that Red Scaled Dragon Snake!" Zhu Xue Yi shouted loudly in anger.
Li Hao had already drawn his saber, preparing to step forwards to stop them.
Yet Ling Han raised one hand to stop him from advancing further, and said, smiling, "You don't have to do anything!"
Li Hao and the others couldn't understand him. Could it be that Ling Han really intended to surrender the Red Scaled Dragon Snake just like that? But Ling Han did not seem at all as if he was that kind of person. Previously, even though he had known Hang Zhan had been the grandson of the Seventh Elder of Stone Wolf Sect, he had still done as he had said and killed the man. His brow hadn't even twitched back then.
When the young man on the other side saw this, his face was filled with an expression that told them this was something common to him. Because of his identity, it was absolutely normal for other groups to yield to him.
Yet it was at this very moment that the situation changed drastically!
The Red Scaled Dragon Snake that seemed to have completely died actually coiled up! Its head shot out and bit one of the men in black, snapping him in half, whilst its body coiled and constrained the other four tightly.
This was its final attack before death. As it gathered all its remaining strength to carry it out, it was extremely powerful.
"Ka ka ka," the sound of bones shattering continued for a long time; the four people who had been trapped in the snake's coiled body were instantly squeezed into a lump of flesh and blood, which had all mixed together into an indefinable lump–there was no way to identify who was who now.
Meanwhile, the man the great serpent had bitten in half was only left with two legs that walked a few steps in different directions before they fell down with a "pa".
"Pa," the Red Scaled Dragon Snake once again lay down on the ground, and this time, it was finally dead.