Li Yundong and Zi Yuan shouted in unison and instantly leapt to chase after the escaping golden python. Ruan Hongling and Su Chan followed closely behind.
Li Yundong had thought that it would be a drawn out affair, but after the python jumped to the top of the mountain, it turned into a human figure and meekly stood still in front of a huge stone.
Li Yundong made a gesture to Zi Yuan, Su Chan, and Ruan Hongling. They landed in four different corners, effectively surrounding the golden python.
“Gotcha!” Li Yundong snorted.
Zi Yuan said indifferently, “Since you didn’t hurt the innocent, we’ll be merciful and make this quick!”
Su Chan said angrily, “You stupid snake! Can’t you tell right from wrong? My Yundong saved you out of the goodness of his heart, but you wanted to bite the hand that fed you?”
Ruan Hongling had always abhorred evil. Without another word, she directly took out her red damask and glared at it fiercely.
It was this male golden python that had tried to swallow Li Yundong before. His human figure was that of a handsome young man. He stood still with rivers of tears streaming down his face as he looked at Su Chan, Li Yundong, and the others. He laughing bitterly through the tears, looking utterly morose.
The golden python pointed at Li Yundong and shouted, “You humans never stop killing us! What’s wrong with me killing you? My poor, kind-hearted wife had never hurt any human in her life, even though she was a demon! She knew that the human was going to dig out our nest, so she rushed forward to cover me. I never thought her life would end up being ripped away by you humans’ sinister and shameless sneak attacks. How dare you try to blame me instead?”
Before Li Yundong could get a word in, Su Chan said angrily, “That was a sneak attack by someone else. It had nothing to do with us!”
The golden python roared, “What’s the difference? When one demon kills one person, you say all of us are evil creatures! In our view, aren’t all humans in the world bad?”
Hearing that, Su Chan was so shocked that she could not speak for a moment.
After having said his piece, the gold python’s resentment seemed to reside significantly. He stood in front of the huge stone and gently stroked the surface of it, then said tearfully, “I cultivated with my wife for hundreds of years. I had never expected that I would suffer such a disaster! Now my wife has died protecting me. What’s the point of living alone?”
With this, he roared, lowered his head, and dashed his skull against the huge stone, shattering the thick layer of bone in a flash. The blood and brains splashed over the stone, dying it a gruesome red and white.
Li Yundong’s face was full of shock, and his anger quickly faded. Zi Yuan and Ruan Hongling beside him were also moved. They looked at the sad scene of the suicidal golden python in astonishment, lost for words.
Li Yundong walked over to the golden python and said in a low voice, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Though the golden python’s skull had been shattered, it was still alive. It struggled to look up at Li Yundong and whispered, “I just regret that I was greedy enough to aim for the Medicine King Tripod and the Immortal Pen. Now that I think of it… I truly regret it. You, you… If you are really a good person, please bury me with my wife. I spent my life with her, so if I can’t die with her I’ll never rest in peace!”
He struggled and spat out a mouthful of blood, then said feebly, “I wish, I wish to never be a demon again…”
After saying that, the golden python trembled with its eyes wide open as it breathed its last shuddering breath.
Seeing this, Su Chan thought of her own identity as a demon. Unable to restrain herself, she threw herself into Li Yundong’s arms and said tearfully, “Yundong, just forgive him, okay?”
With a thousand feelings swirling through his heart, Li Yundong gently held the little girl’s waist and sighed, “Is there any grudge that can’t be erased by death?”
Su Chan raised her head with tears in her eyes. “I’m so scared that one day, we’ll also end up like this.”
Li Yundong smiled and caressed his little girl’s hair. “Don’t be silly. If anyone dares to hurt you, even if it’s the Yu Huang Da Di, I will make him pay for it!”
Even though Li Yundong spoke gently, his words were full of killing intent. There was an extremely strong confidence and determination in his tone.
Hearing this, the anxiety and sadness in Su Chan’s heart eased significantly. She looked up at Li Yundong in a daze, filled with the feeling that with this guy by her side, she would not have to be afraid even if the sky collapsed.
Su Chan nodded firmly, her eyes full of attachment and affection. They looked at each other, wrapped up in their own world to the point of forgetting that there were other people around them.
Although Ruan Hongling abhorred evil, she was not made of stone. When she saw the golden python dying for love, the anger in her heart dissipated. She walked over to Zi Yuan and whispered, “Sister Zi Yuan, what should we do now?”
Zi Yuan raised her head and looked at Li Yundong and Su Chan with a complicated expression on her face. It took a while for her to regain her senses. She sighed softly and said emotionally, “I don’t know either.”
Ruan Hongling then opened her mouth to ask softly, “Sister Zi Yuan, have you heard of the birth of the Immortal Pen and the Medicine King Tripod?”
Zi Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying, “I have heard some rumors, but the Immortal Pen is a magical item that belonged to Zuo Ci in the Three Kingdoms period. It has been mising for more than 1,800 years. I don’t believe a magical item which has been gone for so many years will appear again. The Medicine King Tripod is even more frightening. It was Sun Simiao’s magical item. It is said that Sun Simiao once used it to refine three Elixirs of life at the same time!”
Ruan Hongling gasped and cried out, “He could refine three Elixirs of life at the same time? How is that possible?”
Zi Yuan nodded. “I don’t believe it either. After all, it’s just a legend. However, the Medicine King Tripod is a necessary magical item for refining three Elixirs of life. After the birth of Renyuan Jindan, I began to suspect that the Medicine King Tripod had been created. Now, it seems that the news about the appearance of the Medicine King Tripod is very likely to be true.”
While they were busy whispering, Li Yundong walked over with Su Chan in his arms and asked in confusion, “What’s news is likely to be true?”
After filling them in on what they had been discussing, Zi Yuan continued to say, “Whether the appearance of the Immortal Pen is true or not, we can at least know that the appearance of the Medicine King Tripod is very likely to be true.”
Zi Yuan sighed and said, “Alas, since the birth of the Renyuan Jindan, the Cultivation World’s peace has been torn to shreds. The experts from the major sects fought at Mount Gezao for Renyuan Jindan. Even the leader of the Gezao Sect, Wan Zhenyuan, was forced to escape Mount Gezao. I really can’t even guess at what kind of bloody storm will be stirred up once the Medicine King Tripod shows up!”
Ruan Hongling looked at Li Yundong and suddenly laughed. “I think the whole world has been in chaos since this guy stepped into the Cultivation World. Is this guy a devil heralding the coming of the Apocalypse?”
Zi Yuan shot her a sharp glare and said, “Nonsense!”
Li Yundong didn’t take it seriously. He thought for a while and said, “Although this golden python attacked me and was initially in the wrong, considering that he died for love, we should bury him with his wife.”
After Li Yundong had finished his words, Ruan Hongling, who had originally been very hostile toward the python, felt no opposition. Then they flew to the foot of the mountain under the cover of the woods.
At that time, the crowd at the foot of the mountain was chaotic. Some people were making use of a wood harvester to pick up the dead golden snake’s body, and others were taking photos.
After the foreman, the manager, and Zheng Yuan had whispered to each other for a while, the manager took out his phone and made a phone call. After a while, a truck appeared at the mountain and a driver jumped out. The foreman shouted, “Get out of the way! We’re going to send this snake to a research institute. Get out of the way now!”
Someone pointed at the wounded driver, who was still lying helplessly on the ground, and said loudly, “Let’s hurry up and take him to the hospital. There’s still hope for him!”
Foreman Zhang looked at the driver and said impatiently, “Isn’t he dead already?”
A villager put a hand to the injured man’s chest and said loudly, “He’s alive! I can feel his heart beating! Send him to the hospital quickly. He might survive this!”
Foreman Zhang frowned and said, “I’ll send him later. I’ll call an ambulance in a little while.”
Hearing this, the villagers all felt a flash of anger in their hearts. They surrounded him and shouted, “Why do you mean? You care more about some dead snake than saving a living human being? Do you think that a person’s life is less important than the body of a dead snake?”
Seeing the anger of the crowd, foreman Zhang panicked and shouted, “What do you think you are doing? Turning against me?”
These villagers were so angry that they surrounded the car tightly. “Don’t even think about leaving if you’re not going to save him!”
Foreman Zhang was growing flustered. He turned to look at the manager, who was not far away, only to see that he was also scared to death and looking right back at Zheng Yuan.
Zheng Yuan smiled kindly and said, “It’s just one person. The truck can easily fit him. It’s no big deal.”
Only then did the villagers’ anger abate at having had their demands met. When they saw Zheng Yuanhe’s white hair, ruddy complexion, and sage-like demeanor, they all called him the living Bodhisattva and the living Shenxian.
The villagers picked up the golden python, which was dozens of meters long, and carried it to the truck in a hurry. Then, they also carried the wounded driver into the truck. One of them gave the back of the truck a slap and shouted, “You can go now!”
Zheng Yuan smiled and led Ding Nan to the front seat of the truck.
The driver started the engine, and the car roared up the mountain road.
Li Yundong considered there to be too many mortals at the foot of the mountain, which meant that it was not a good situation for him to go and take the python’s body. He said to Zi Yuan, “Let’s follow them and wait for an opportunity. What do you think?”
Zi Yuan nodded and said, “Yep, sounds good.”
They didn’t dare to get too close and maintained a good distance.
The car drove along the mountain road. When it reached a remote and rugged place, someone in the back of the car suddenly patted the window in front and said loudly, “This man is dead!”
Zheng Yuan looked back and saw that the driver had indeed passed away. He said with a sigh, “He’s really dead. There’s no need to rush now. You’ve been driving for so long, why don’t we take a break and smoke?”
The driver knew that Zheng Yuan was a big shot because the foreman and the manager were doing their best to ingratiate themselves to him. “At least he must be a rich man!” The driver was overjoyed, cutting the engine and saying, “Sure!”
Zheng Yuan fished out a pack of cigarettes from somewhere and handed them over to the driver. The driver carefully withdrew a cigarette from the pack and took a deep drag. It was as if what he had just inhaled was not a lungful of cancerous smoke, but a breath of divine aura.
Zheng Yuan squinted at Ding Nan and said, “Would you like one?”
Ding Nan often went to various social gatherings with Zhou Qin, so she was not unaccustomed to cigarettes and alcohol. She took one out casually, then took out a lighter from the car and was about to light it.
At this moment, Zheng Yuan pinched Ding Nan’s hand and winked at her, indicating for her to stay in the car and not get out. Ding Nan did not understand what Zheng Yuan meant, but before she could even react, Zheng Yuan had already gotten out of the car. He called out to the driver and the villagers in the car and lit cigarettes for them with a smile on his face.
These villagers all happily went over to fetch cigarettes for themselves. However, once they got closer, Zheng Yuan suddenly opened his thumb and poked them hard on their Taiyang.
The Taiyang was one of the death acupoints of the human body. Even an ordinary child could kill a person if they poked it, let alone a cultivator like Zheng Yuan, who was poking it heavily.
In the blink of an eye, the ignorant villagers fell to the ground without a sound, dying before they even knew what had hit them.
Ding Nan was so stunned that she didn’t even notice that the cigarette in her mouth had fallen on herself until it burned her skin. She stubbed the cigarette out and got out of the car, screaming, “Master, why did you kill them?”
Zheng Yuan sneered, “If I hadn’t killed them, how could I have taken this golden python away?”
Li Yundong had been following Zheng Yuan from a distance. Though he had wanted to save those people, it was too late. He was instantly filled with fury, rushing to Zheng Yuan and shouting angrily, “Zheng Yuan, aren’t you afraid of retribution and divine punishment?”
