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"Hiss— hiss— hiss—"
These strange black snakes flicked their blood-red tongues, making a series of bizarre, piercing noises as they slithered toward the large earthen mound. They then reared up, their postures especially eerie.
Shawn Young noticed these black snakes were different from ordinary ones. Though only about the size of two or three chopsticks, they moved incredibly fast. The strangest thing was the odd fleshy lump on their heads, shaped like a rooster’s comb, and their triangular eyes glinted with a ghostly, chilling light, radiating an unusually sinister deathly aura.
"Are these... Necroserpents?" Shawn Young suddenly recalled a rare venomous creature described in the Codex of Ascension—the very black snakes before him. The so-called "Necroserpent" was a supernatural species born in places of extreme yin energy, living off corpse flesh and fluids. Yet, even without corpses, they could survive for centuries by absorbing the deathly miasma of such places. Ancient Taoists believed these snakes were supernatural, hence called "Necroserpents." Fierce and highly venomous, they were sometimes raised through special rituals and buried with the dead to guard coffins. In the Han Dynasty, many sorcerers liked to keep Necroserpents around tombs for protection!
But this was Shawn Young’s first time seeing these legendary supernatural snakes—and in such overwhelming numbers! It was far beyond anything he had expected.
"Hiss— hiss— hiss—"
The countless Necroserpents kept crawling up the earthen mound. Soon, the entire mound was densely covered in a writhing mass of black snakes, the scene utterly terrifying.
"Gaa—" Suddenly, a strange noise rang out atop the mound. All the Necroserpents began to tremble, shaking the crowns on their heads and making bizarre hissing sounds. Their bodies shuddered again, and a faint white mist started to rise from their scales.
In the haze, Shawn Young’s vision blurred as the mound split open with a strange crack, forming a bizarre vortex that swallowed all the Necroserpents in one go. In less than half a minute, a gigantic Necroserpent—thick as an adult’s arm, four or five meters long, and gleaming black—appeared atop the mound. It was clearly the Necroserpent King!
"Whoosh—whoosh—boom—" A dazzling burst of white corpse energy shot skyward from the cracked mound, a thick, chilly mist spreading in all directions. In the midst of the cold, stinking haze, a massive gray-white figure vaulted into the air, leaping right over Shawn's head and landing with a thud, arms thrust into the ground, anchoring its enormous body in place!
"Ah—this is the 'Serpent-to-Bird Transmutation'! It happens when corpse energy from the Six Forces of Heaven and Earth reaches a critical point. That means this place is saturated with corpse energy! For the Necroserpent to transform like this, the concentration must be off the charts!" Shawn exclaimed, his voice brimming with astonishment.
The bird-shaped Necroserpent King flapped its wings midair, circling the towering earthen mound, then unleashed a series of chilling "hiss—hiss" cries. From its beak, it flicked a blood-red, forked tongue, looking more bizarre and sinister than ever.
At its call, the smaller Necroserpents that had been crawling into the cracks of the mound surged out like a tide. They rose upright, mouths open to the sky, flicking their blood-red tongues and collectively spewing a faint, white mist that reeked of rot and death.
Shawn instinctively clamped his nose shut, horrified as he watched—the Necroserpents, after releasing the white mist, instantly collapsed, their bodies dissolving into puddles of black water. The clouds of mist hovered in the air, drifting around the towering mound in a bizarre, ghostly dance.
"Uh—what the hell is going on?" Shawn muttered, completely baffled by the strange spectacle.
"Heh heh—brat, this is a Necroserpent sacrificial summoning! Enjoy the show! Gahaha—" Master Wuxiang's voice drifted eerily through the air, though his whereabouts were unknown. Clearly, he was watching everything unfold with amusement.
"Sacrifice summoning? Summoning what?" Shawn shouted upward, knowing Wuxiang must have triggered some evil formation. If he didn’t break the spell, he wouldn’t be able to see the villain. Something about all this felt deeply wrong.
"Hahaha—brat, once that thing inside the mound bursts out, you'll know exactly what it is—and trust me, it's a thrill!" Before Wuxiang finished, the monstrous bird swooped again above the mound, screeching "hiss—hiss—gaa—gaa—" with a haunting, wild cry. Suddenly, its body morphed into a streak of black light, and with a "whoosh—" it dove straight into the earthen mound!
Immediately, the ground began to quake violently. Clods of earth and shattered stones, mixed with wisps of corpse energy, erupted from below. The towering mound in front of Shawn suddenly roared with a thunderous "boom—boom—boom," spewing dirt and splitting open before his eyes.
"Whoosh—whoosh—boom—" A dazzling burst of white corpse energy shot skyward from the cracked mound, a thick, chilly mist spreading in all directions. In the midst of the cold, stinking haze, a massive gray-white figure vaulted into the air, leaping right over Shawn's head and landing with a thud, arms thrust into the ground, anchoring its enormous body in place!