Chapter 65: A Human Head on a Serpent's Body

"Open!" Amid the curling smoke, the figure in black robes formed a spell with one hand and slapped the thick tree trunk with the other—smack, smack, smack. Feng Ke'er shuddered once more: that shout was forceful and resolute, yet it was unmistakably the voice of a young woman.

And then, that move—she recognized it instantly as the Great Palm Seal from the secret manual!

The black-robed figure could also use the Great Palm Seal! Yet the power behind it was nothing impressive. For a tree of that size, why slap it so many times? If it were Feng Ke'er, one palm would have been enough to fell it. She frowned, continuing to spy with her spiritual sense.

But soon, she was embarrassed by her own ignorance—the black-robed figure wasn't trying to topple the ancient cypress, but to remove the restriction placed upon it. And that wasn't an ordinary cypress at all. Once the restriction was undone, the tree vanished, revealing the entrance to an underground lair. The opening was pitch-black, roughly twice the height of a person and just wide enough for one to pass. Lying there, it looked like the gaping maw of some monstrous beast, terrifying in its ferocity.

Having spent over twenty days in the Forest of Ten Thousand Ants, Feng Ke'er had done little besides slaying fire ants and raiding their nests. So at a glance, she recognized the entrance as a colossal fire ant nest.

Fire ants were nothing if not practical—never wasting effort on ostentation. What kind of monstrous fire ant needed such a grand entrance? Now, Feng Ke'er found her curiosity well and truly piqued.

The black-robed figure did not enter. He swayed his enormous serpentine tail, retreated several paces, and stood on guard, wary as if facing a deadly foe.

At that instant, with a whoosh, a cloud of white smoke erupted from the entrance, followed by a sudden burst of orange-red flame.

Feng Ke'er straightened her back in an instant—she was right: something massive dwelled within that lair, a giant fire ant!

The black-robed figure drew his sword, ready for battle.

Hiss, scuttle, hiss, scuttle—the sound of heavy, disordered footsteps echoed from within the lair, drawing ever closer. Dust billowed as sand and gravel tumbled from the mouth of the tunnel.

All signs pointed to a formidable creature within—and not just one.

Feng Ke'er sent her spiritual sense probing into the lair, only to have it scalded by the orange-red flames within.

After running rampant in the Forest of Ten Thousand Ants for so long, she had forgotten what it was like to taste adversity. The pain made her spring from the bushes, instantly retracting her spiritual sense. If her hand hadn't been clamped over her mouth, she might have cried out in pain.

But even that slight movement caught the attention of the black-robed figure. Fortunately, with a grave enemy before him, he merely snorted, "Overreaching fool," and did not pursue the eavesdropper.

Have I been exposed? Feng Ke'er clapped a hand over her mouth, her heart pounding wildly.

But this was the rare spectacle of a high-level cultivator battling monsters—an opportunity not to be missed. After some hesitation, she timidly extended her spiritual sense once more—whatever, she was already exposed. She might as well enjoy the show! Besides, she was truly curious. The figure was already disguising his voice, so why, after transforming into a snake-tailed being, bother to fake a woman's voice?

Meanwhile, the scene by the lair had changed entirely: in the blink of an eye, a horde of massive, violet-red fire ants surged forth from the flames. It was as if the entire nest had been stirred. These were true giants, each many times larger than an ordinary fire ant. A vertical, crimson eye glowed from the center of each forehead, and it was from their jaws that the orange-red flames issued forth. If a normal fire ant was a poodle, these were full-grown Tibetan mastiffs. In size and ferocity, they were simply incomparable.

Against such monsters, Feng Ke'er dared not even approach, let alone fight.

Yet the black-robed figure seemed to treat them as nothing.

"Ten Thousand Pear Trees in Bloom!" he called out in an oddly delicate tone (indeed, this grown man shouted like a maiden), and his sword rang with a clear, metallic note.

In a flash, it was as if myriad pear blossoms burst forth from his blade.

The wind rose.

Snow-white petals danced through the air.

It was a beautiful sight—except that each blossom concealed a deadly intent.

Whiz, whiz, whiz—the petals unerringly pierced the crimson vertical eyes of the giant ants.

The poor creatures, barely having shown themselves, did not even have time to pose for a "say cheese" before they all perished in unison.

What a devastating area attack. Feng Ke'er broke out in a cold sweat: compared to "Ten Thousand Pear Trees in Bloom," her own meager ice spell and palm seal were nothing.

As the flames were snuffed out and the wind stilled, the giants lay dead, strewn across the ground. The black-robed figure, sword in hand and tail swaying with an odd grace, leaped into the lair and vanished.

With the orange-red flames gone, Feng Ke'er's spiritual sense followed quickly after. Unfortunately, she barely entered a meter before being seared again—the temperature inside was scorching!

Unable to watch the excitement within, Feng Ke'er gritted her teeth, spread her arms, and launched into "Dragonfly Skims the Water" combined with "Swift Step": every part of a fire ant was valuable. Waste was shameful. While she had the chance, she would scavenge what she could!

Since entering the Foundation Establishment stage, her speed had increased noticeably. Seventy or eighty miles could be crossed in the span of a few breaths. Had the old teacher Chen lived to see this, he would have been astonished: for a first-level Foundation Establishment cultivator to be eighty percent as fast as him was unthinkable.

Feng Ke'er did not immediately harvest the demon cores. First, she tested the sharpness of her Qingping Sword by stabbing it, and her chipped Green Edge Sword, into the shell of one of the giants. The results pleased her. The shell was clearly far superior to that of ordinary fire ants. She paid the price of a low-grade magical weapon—the Green Edge Sword sparked and snapped in two, unable to pierce the shell, but the Qingping Sword slid through as easily as stabbing tofu, leaving not a spark behind and impaling the creature clean through!

She then used her secret manual to examine the giant fire ants: third-rank fire-attribute demon beasts! The same grade as the flesh bird! No wonder they were so formidable.

These were the most powerful demon beasts she had encountered so far.

Yet, in the hands of that "snake spirit," they were no more than white-rank beasts. Clearly, his cultivation was extraordinary.

Feng Ke'er stuck out her tongue and began stuffing the giants' corpses into her storage pouch as quickly as possible. Who knew how long the black-robed figure would be gone in the lair? She had to pack up everything she could.

Regrettably, storage space was limited: after two hundred-odd corpses, the pouch was full. She took out her cooking pot and crammed in another few dozen before reluctantly surveying the carpet of corpses one last time and slipping away.

Since she had already been exposed, this time she found a hiding spot much farther away.

As she had expected, less than a quarter of an hour later, the black-robed figure emerged, his tail swaying. He looked perfectly fine—breathing evenly, his black robe spotless, as if he had merely taken a stroll through his own cellar.

Feng Ke'er tensed, covering her mouth and stilling her breath. Now that his business was done, he would surely come for her.

But unexpectedly, after taking fewer than ten steps over the corpses, the figure's sword clattered to the ground and his body convulsed violently, without warning—worse than a seizure. At the same time, smoke billowed up once more.

Feng Ke'er was utterly baffled.

After two heartbeats, the smoke cleared. The serpent's tail was gone, replaced by two pale human legs beneath the robe.

Restored to human form, the black-robed figure seemed terribly weak. Gasping for air, he took out a jade bottle and, as if eating beans, swallowed a dozen red pills in one go. Sitting cross-legged, he began to regulate his breath.

After about half an incense stick's time, he finally opened his eyes and sent out his spiritual sense, searching the area.

Apparently, he found nothing. He sighed, picked up his sword, and with a wave of his sleeve, cleared away all the giant corpses—presumably stowing them away.

After that, the black-robed figure departed.

Only after confirming his absence did Feng Ke'er cautiously approach the lair once more.

It was still hot, but no longer scalding. Warily, she drew the Qingping Sword and crept inside.

The interior was vast, more like an underground palace. There was no light, nor any obstructing miasma. Though the tunnels were dim, she was well accustomed to darkness after twenty days in the Forest of Ten Thousand Ants. She didn't need a torch at all.

The lair was not the labyrinth she had imagined, but a straight and spacious passage. It was empty—there wasn't so much as a fire ant leg to be seen.

At the very end, the passage opened into a chamber as bright as day. There, she saw a square pool, two meters on each side. The liquid within was like molten lava, fiery red and viscous.

Feng Ke'er had once puzzled over how, in a forest so thick with cold, fire-attributed ants could thrive here. Now she understood: the secret lay within this pool. Perhaps some fiery treasure had been hidden inside. Of course, it was now gone: first, the pool's temperature was plummeting; second, what other reason could the black-robed figure have had for venturing into the lair if not to seize this treasure?

Though she had missed out on a rare treasure, Feng Ke'er was not empty-handed: first, she had collected over two hundred third-rank demon beast corpses, a windfall from harvesting their shells, demon cores, and fire sacs; second, after witnessing "Ten Thousand Pear Trees in Bloom," she had spent five days in contemplation and succeeded in upgrading her own "Ten Thousand Needles" technique.

At present, Feng Ke'er still did not know what sword energy truly was. She could not conjure thousands of sword energies in an instant like "Ten Thousand Pear Trees in Bloom," but she did have her own Ten Thousand Needles.

Since reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, her spiritual power had surged; she could now summon nearly a thousand ice needles at once. Inspired by "Ten Thousand Pear Trees in Bloom," she focused on reducing each needle to the size of an embroidery pin. This drastically reduced the spiritual energy required, allowing her to release thousands of needles at a time, and repeat the technique ten times over.

More importantly, by emulating the moves of "Ten Thousand Pear Trees in Bloom" and painstakingly controlling her spiritual power through a thousand repetitions, her accuracy rate with Ten Thousand Needles soared to seventy percent.

Feng Ke'er was very pleased with this upgraded technique. Elegant and silent, it was nowhere near as flashy as the ice spell or the Great Palm Seal, yet its effectiveness was nearly equal.

Thus, within five days, the Forest of Ten Thousand Ants became a mere name. Like a reaper, Feng Ke'er swept through the entire forest, annihilating every fire ant, great and small, and even their eggs.

Her cultivation advanced two more levels—Foundation Establishment, level three! Stowing away her manual, Feng Ke'er caressed her sword and smiled. A month had passed; her hellish training was complete. She had not wasted her time.

Outside the forest, Qin Hanyan stood in the air, hands clasped behind her back, utterly perplexed: the miasma above the Forest of Ten Thousand Ants had shrouded it for years—why had it so obviously thinned these past days? What strange events had unfolded within the woods?

(To be continued)