Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Green Snake Commander

"You little wench, you’re courting death!" the cyan-clothed man roared. "I am Cyan Snake Bi Xing, the Water Division Commander of Bian Palace! How dare you insult me?"

"And it’s you I’m insulting. Silk Embroideress, now!" Bai Ke giggled. Her small mouth opened, and a Celestial Fox Nail shot out, flying straight for the Bi Xing Commander’s face.

Silk Embroideress centered herself and, with a flick of her hand, sent an identical Celestial Fox Nail curving in from the left, coordinating with Bai Ke to launch a pincer attack.

SWISH!

The Bi Xing Commander flicked his right wrist, and a Soft Whip shot out from his sleeve. With a wave, the thirteen-foot-long whip batted Bai Ke’s Celestial Fox Nail aside. He then sidestepped the other nail, his Snake Whip coiling toward Silk Embroideress.

With a stern expression on her fair face, Silk Embroideress darted to the side. With a series of gestures, she directed the Celestial Fox Nail to curve around and strike again from the flank.

She and Bai Ke coordinated their attacks, pinning him down. The two Celestial Fox Nails crisscrossed through the air as they maintained their distance from the Bi Xing Commander. The human and the fox fought the snake in tandem, and for a moment, they actually prevented him from getting near.

In the darkness, Gu Zhao and the other two were watching the battle.

He held a Yellow Talisman, Taoist Yan Song rested a hand on his sword hilt, and Zhuo Qingyan kept her eyes on the battlefield, idly turning a Jade Flute in her hands. All of them were ready to act at a moment’s notice. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"They’re coordinating quite well," Taoist Yan Song said with a smile.

Zhuo Qingyan glanced at Gu Zhao. "Silk Embroideress cultivates relentlessly every day, and she often finds time to practice coordinating with Bai Ke."

Gu Zhao nodded. He too could see Silk Embroideress’s hard work.

They had been waiting in the inn moments before when they saw the Bi Xing Commander emerge from the water. Sensing the Qi Mechanism he revealed during his Transformation, they judged him to be weaker than a Golden Wind Sect Guardian. Thus, they decided to let Silk Embroideress test her skills against him and gain some practical combat experience.

Of course, Silk Embroideress couldn’t defeat him on her own. They estimated she could only hold out for a short time. That was why the three of them hadn’t remained in the inn to watch; they had come to the battlefield to hide in the shadows, ready to lend a hand at any moment.

On the battlefield, the Bi Xing Commander’s whip whistled through the air, its tip cracking with explosive force. The sound caused the lanterns near the entrance to Anlin Town to tremble and flicker.

Silk Embroideress and Bai Ke were not to be outdone. Their use of the Celestial Fox Nails was ever-changing, assaulting all five senses. At times the nails were sharp and piercing, at others completely silent. Now they would flash with white light, then vanish into the darkness. They even carried a faint, sweet fragrance.

Such a commotion naturally woke some of the townsfolk. Many trembled under their blankets, but the braver ones crept to their windows and witnessed a sight they would never forget.

Two white figures dodged and weaved, manipulating two points of white light that darted back and forth. They were besieging a cyan-clad, whip-wielding figure in a fierce battle right at the town gate.

After several more moments of fierce fighting, the Bi Xing Commander feigned an opening, letting Silk Embroideress’s nail draw close. Then, with a lift of his right hand, his Snake Whip coiled in a bizarre arc and ensnared the Celestial Fox Nail, which he then slammed downward.

CHUNK!

The Celestial Fox Nail was driven into the ground. The Bi Xing Commander planted his foot on it and sneered at Silk Embroideress. "Is that all you’ve got? And you dare obstruct this Commander’s business?"

Silk Embroideress tried to recall the nail, but it wouldn’t budge.

Bai Ke tried to harass him with her own Celestial Fox Nail, but the Bi Xing Commander kept batting it away. She quickly called for backup. "Gu Zhao, hurry up and help!"

The Bi Xing Commander froze when he heard her. "There’s backup?"

The next moment, a delicate, leisurely melody began to play in his ears. The music was serene and elegant, imbued with a soothing tranquility that made the Bi Xing Commander feel an overwhelming wave of drowsiness.

Alarm bells screamed in the Bi Xing Commander’s mind. He struggled to fight off the drowsiness, but his consciousness was sinking, pulling him under against his will.

The situation terrified him; he knew he’d run into an expert. Not daring to linger, he retracted his whip and turned to flee.

But as soon as he turned, he saw a figure materialize between him and the Anqu River. The person’s left hand was slightly raised, and a vast, majestic aura crashed down upon him.

"I am—"

BOOM!

A flash of purple light came and went, followed by the crack of a Thunderbolt.

The blast sent the scales on the Bi Xing Commander’s whip flying, charring half of it black. His body convulsed from the Thunderbolt’s power. Then, he saw a single spark shoot out and lightly tap his body.

With a soft FWOOSH, the spark instantly expanded into a net of fire, enveloping him as if trying to seep into his very being.

The Bi Xing Commander marshaled his Protective True Qi, resisting the fiery net’s invasion with all his strength as he tried to escape into the water.

But he suddenly realized that beneath the fiery net, he couldn’t build up any speed. A distance he could normally cross in the blink of an eye now seemed as insurmountable as reaching for the heavens.

"Three Elements and Three Officials, Nine Rivers of Jiujiang. Become iron chains, and bind your entire body."

After the clear voice recited the incantation, the Bi Xing Commander felt an iron chain pierce through the fiery net and enter his body. In an instant, it had sealed his Dantian Sea of Consciousness, his Magical Power, and his spirit, leaving him unable to exert even a shred of physical strength.

THUD! The Bi Xing Commander collapsed. Then, he heard an elderly but lighthearted voice speak. "This Shangqing Great Forbidden Dragon Binding Talisman of yours is quite useful. Give me a few to study, will you?"

"We can discuss that later," a young voice replied. "First, let’s take this snake back and interrogate him to find out what’s going on."

The Bi Xing Commander was stunned. ’The Shangqing Great Forbidden Dragon Binding Talisman? I’m just a little cyan snake! Did they really need to use a technique for binding dragons on me?’

Silk Embroideress came to the group’s side. "Young Master..."

"You fought well!" Gu Zhao ruffled Silk Embroideress’s hair. "This guy isn’t much weaker than that black-robed Ghost from the Golden Wind Sect. You two are already very impressive."

Silk Embroideress’s face instantly lit up. "Really?"

"Of course," Bai Ke said, hopping onto Silk Embroideress’s shoulder. "Give it a little more time, and we’ll even be able to hold our own against the Golden Wind Sect’s Divine Consort!"

Bai Ke and Silk Embroideress’s Divine Souls were in perfect Harmony. Cultivating together yielded exponential results, making their training speed several times faster than cultivating alone. It was no wonder that while Demons and Ghosts stood at the top of the world’s Pyramid, the foundation of society was still overwhelmingly human.

The gods of the Divine Cultivation Dao required Incense, while Ghosts and Spirit Monarchs seeking rapid advancement needed to form a Harmony with humans. This created a balance against the other Demons and Ghosts who simply treated humans as food.

...

The Bi Xing Commander, doubly bound by the Dragon-Binding Talisman and the Fire Shield Technique, was dragged back to the inn.

Besides the young woman and the white fox from before, he finally saw the other three people.

There was a gentle, scholarly-looking young man who seemed perfectly polite, yet he was the one who had cast the two deadly, torturous spells afflicting him.

There was an ethereally beautiful but cold woman exuding a bone-chilling aura and toying with a Jade Flute. The Bi Xing Commander knew at once she was the expert who had almost hypnotized him.

Finally, there was an old man looking at him with a smile and curious eyes. Despite the gentle expression, the Bi Xing Commander felt an overwhelming sense of terror from him. ’This one,’ he thought, ’is probably the most powerful of them all.’

Gu Zhao clapped his hands, opening a small gap in the metaphysical chains binding the Bi Xing Commander from within. "Alright, talk," he said. "What is Bian Palace plotting?"