Chapter 96: The Secret Realm

The instant the constables charged, Shang Lu moved as well.

He unleashed his Tiger Step and Ape-Walk Technique, slipping aside in a blur and dodging the pounces of the two nearest runners.

Then he lifted a foot and kicked away a constable who came at him from the left, trying to seize him in his arms.

With another agile twist, he evaded Captain Niu’s assault.

In the blink of an eye, he was already upon a burly officer.

A faint demonic aura flowed over that man’s body, and his outline had turned somewhat indistinct.

It was the flesh-tumor demon snake Shang Lu had encountered before, a creature able to take human shape and stir up infighting!

Clearly, Captain Niu and the others had failed to see through its disguise, and had fallen for its instigation.

But even so, the flesh-tumor demon snake had not expected Shang Lu to identify it by sound and rush straight at it.

By the time it tried to flee, it was already too late.

The ox-tail saber in Shang Lu’s hand erupted in a blaze of dazzling, savage light, engulfing it completely.

Every path of retreat was sealed by that curtain of blade-light!

The demon snake shook the scales over its body and let out a shriek that could unsettle the mind, driving the surrounding constables to clutch their heads in agony. Yet Shang Lu was unaffected.

At the first instant, the Liver Spirit image had already drawn away the negative force hidden within that shriek.

Unfortunately for the demon snake, it excelled in illusion, deception, and mental assault.

In close combat, it was not strong.

So under Shang Lu’s full-force onslaught, it was quickly overwhelmed and cut into several segments.

Though the severed creature did not die at once, its illusion was shattered.

Once the tumor was sliced away by Shang Lu’s blade, the spray that could befuddle the mind also temporarily ceased.

With the spray gone, Captain Niu and Squad Leader Xu of the strongmen were the first to regain a trace of clarity.

That little spark of awareness told them something was wrong. They hurriedly bit their tongues, using the pain to steady themselves.

At the same time, they drove their blood and qi to halt the constables who were still rampaging in madness and trying to tear Shang Lu apart.

Not only that, they also chased down the officers they could reach, knocking them to the ground and restraining them.

Several times the demon snake’s broken remains tried to knit themselves back together, only to be stopped by Shang Lu.

Seeing that the constables had either come to their senses or been subdued, and that the infighting had ceased, the snake knew its wishes could not be fulfilled.

With a violent burst, it exploded into a mass of flesh and mud.

Shang Lu quickly produced an empty gourd and collected the poison from the demon snake’s tumor into it.

He had no idea whether the poison would still be useful after the creature’s death, but it was best to gather it first.

Besides the poison, he also found a snake gallbladder in the scattered remains.

Unlike the earlier snake’s gall, this one was a strange grayish brown.

Shang Lu looked up at Third Lady. Seeing her nod, and seeing her use a yin wind to clean the gallbladder, blowing away the clotted blood and rotten flesh clinging to it, he knew the demon snake’s gall was edible as well.

So without hesitation, he swallowed it in one gulp.

After collecting the spoils, it was only then that Captain Niu and Squad Leader Xu, guided by the sound, managed to grope their way to his side.

When they drew near and saw the strange snake corpse on the ground, they were both shocked and shaken.

It was obvious they had realized that the earlier slaughter among their own men had all been incited by this monster snake.

Shang Lu wasted no time. He briefly explained the situation, then led them out of the mist.

By then, most of the constables had already regained their reason and calmed down.

But a small number were still in a state of berserk madness.

Captain Niu and Squad Leader Xu had their own methods: they simply knocked these men unconscious, stripped off their belts to bind their hands, and ordered others to carry them away.

They also carried away the bodies of several comrades who had died in the earlier bloodshed.

On the way out of the mist, Shang Lu and the others encountered more people.

There were constables and local militia alike, some alone and scattered, others gathered in small groups for mutual protection.

Among these men, some had been lucky enough never to encounter the demon snake at all. Others had met it and somehow survived.

Shang Lu took them all along.

Once the group grew larger, it became difficult to keep hunting the demon snakes.

Third Lady understood this as well. Without needing Shang Lu to say a word, she led them around the demon snakes along the way and simply pressed onward.

The thick fog not only obscured sight, but also disrupted all kinds of perception.

So Captain Niu and the others had no idea how far or how long they had followed Shang Lu.

If the journey had not gone so smoothly, if they had not encountered another demon snake, someone would surely have lost patience, raised objections, or even left the group.

At last, under Third Lady’s guidance, everyone emerged from the strange mist.

The moment Captain Niu and the others stepped out, they could not help cheering aloud.

Shang Lu, however, did not relax. He narrowed his eyes, raised his ears, and vigilantly scanned the surroundings, wary of paper figures or bean soldiers appearing.

But this time, neither paper men nor bean soldiers came.

Shang Lu found that somewhat strange.

In his view, since the elder sorcerer had stationed paper figures outside the mist to prevent anyone from escaping, it was impossible that only one had been set.

If none had come now, could it be that the elder sorcerer had encountered a formidable enemy and had been forced to recall the paper figures to his side to aid in battle?

Who was this enemy?

Was it some demon or spy that had infiltrated the mountain? Or the young sorcerer?

Curious as he was, Shang Lu did not neglect the real business at hand.

As soon as he emerged from the mist, he told Captain Niu and Squad Leader Xu to take the constables and militia who had come out with them and hurry back to the county seat to report the matter and bring reinforcements.

When they heard that Shang Lu intended to go back into the mist, the constables and militia reacted much as Constable Liu and the others had: shocked, but admiring.

“Brother Shang, you really mean to go back in there?” Captain Niu asked.

After Shang Lu nodded, he tried to persuade him a few times. Seeing that he could not change his mind, he finally sighed and said, “Brother Shang, I’m not worthy to compare with you. Take care of yourself. We’ll wait for you in the county seat.”

Shang Lu was left speechless. Damn it, why are you putting a flag on me too? At this rate, you’re all going to stick me up like an old general on a stage!

After Captain Niu, Squad Leader Xu, and the others left, Shang Lu returned once more into the dense fog.

This time, under Third Lady’s guidance, he entered a peculiar place.

It was a cave, and the mist inside was even thicker than outside.

Following Third Lady through the winding passages, Shang Lu had no idea how long they walked before he suddenly felt the surrounding world become clearer, the dense fog no longer obscuring his sight.

Although the cave had no light source and was utterly dark, Shang Lu’s eyes had been strengthened and blessed by the snake gallbladder and the Liver Spirit. Even in the blackest environment, he could see.

Looking around, he realized he seemed to have entered the interior of the mountain itself.

It was a vast limestone cavern, and not one formed naturally. Clear marks of human excavation were visible everywhere.

He even saw structures that looked like pavilions and houses.

But they were all badly ruined, steeped in the traces of time.

“What place is this?” Shang Lu could not help asking in a low voice.

“A secret realm.”

Third Lady, who had been leading the way, turned back and uttered a term Shang Lu had not expected.