Snipe
Snipe
Stone murmured something to itself then lied down on the ground; he huddled up, closed his eyes, and turned into what seemed like a pile of ordinary stones.
Treeman stood on Stone's body, tens of tendril-like roots plunged deeply into the ground. Similar to Stone, he too closed his eyes and turned himself into an ordinary tree. He leaned against another tree, that looked ancient and majestic.
Hong Luo gently patted the red leopard she was riding on; the leopard then dashed out like a ghost having no weight. Lithely and agilely, the leopard trod on the tips of the branches and leaped miles with a few jumps. In the blink of an eye, Heng Luo and her leopard disappeared in the jungle, like a drop blending with the sea without leaving even a single trace.
The black ape patted its own chest, looked around for a while and hid while carrying its huge wooden stick on its shoulder into a big tree hole. Similar to others, the ape, too, was a powerful creature nourished by the jungle. It took a deep breath and merged its internal energy with the natural energy of the jungle. As such, even powerful Maguspriests wouldn't be able to detect its presence.
Ji Hao leaped through the branches while holding a long spear. After a while, he arrived at Ji Xia's location. He quietly stood beside Ji Xia and stared into the forest.
Qing Fu and the altar were covered by a fog, which quickly turned translucent and gradually disappeared along with Qing Fu and the altar in it. By now, the grey whirlwinds, the fog and all those weird figures, had all merged with the dim light of the night. The jungle became quiet, spreading a tranquil yet extremely eerie atmosphere.
A three-hundred-feet-long, metal centipede crawled silently out of the dense jungle.
Di Luo was standing on the centipede's head, gnashing his teeth and was cursing something. He suddenly raised his head, staring at Ji Hao and Ji Xia, stunned. Toba and Toao, who were standing behind him were also struck speechless by the presence of Ji Xia and Ji Hao.
"Damn... Don't...don't you people sleep?" Di Luo pointed at Ji Hao and growled irritated.
Behind them, tens of Blood Fang warriors were sneaking silently out of the jungle. Obviously, they were on their way to ambush Ji Xia's troops during the night. Without a doubt, they were all dumbfounded as well when they saw Ji Xia and Ji Hao.
This was obviously not how it was planned!
According to Di Luo's plan, these well-trained Blood Fang warriors would ambush the Fire Crow guards at the entrance of the valley. Afterwards, they would break into the valley, create chaos and draw Ji Xia out of the valley and into the jungle where they would encircle him and launch a sneak attack.
But, why were Ji Xia and Ji Hao not sleeping so late in the night, and instead standing straight up here?!
"Abba and me... we have been expecting you!"
Ji Hao sneered at Di Luo who was standing on the metal centipede's head with a shocked face, then let out a shout towards the jungle behind the metal centipede, "Oi, you, hiding in the darkness, come out!"
The jungle was deadly silent. Ji Mu and Ji Xiao were hidden behind the trees. They glanced at each other; they weren't sure whether Ji Hao truly discovered their presence or if he simply was bluffing.
On a tree beside them, a tank-like thick serpent coiled its body, lowered its head slowly and stared at Ji Shu and Ji Mu in the eyes. Black Water Jiao was standing on the head of the horned snake, while his left hand was tightly wrapped around Jiang Xue's tender neck.
Jiang Xue kneeled on the huge serpent's head, eyes filled with tears, piteously looking towards Ji Mu and Ji Xiao.
"Oi, what's wrong with you two? Just do it! We all want Ji Xia to die, don't we?" Jiao looked at Ji Xiao and laughed mockingly, and continued, "Once Ji Xia dies, no one in the clan could ever be a threat to you... And by killing Ji Xia, we can also destroy a terrifying enemy of our Black Water Serpent Clan; isn't that a good thing?"
Hundreds of Black Water Serpent Clan warriors silently walked out; they were all wearing snakeskin armours, holding similar-looking daggers which were dipped in poisonous liquid, and carrying long swords which were poisoned too.
Black Water Jiao lifted one of his fingers, stroked the delicate face of Jiang Xue, and said, "Someone gave me the whereabouts of Ji Xia in exchange for this little girl, which is how I found this place. I brought my best warriors along with me...to kill Ji Xia! Once he is killed, you can have this girl back!"
Ji Mu narrowed his eyes and looked at Jiang Xue, showing a trace of excitement. He said "Of course we'll bring her back, she is the daughter of Jiang Shu, one of the elder Maguspriests of the Bi Fang Clan!"
He then turned to Ji Xiao and said, "Xiao, my brother, since we failed to get Ji Xia into the jungle and let Jiao ambush him, let's instead launch a frontal attack!"
The thick-horned serpent uncoiled itself from the tree and slithered out of the jungle as fast as black lightning.
Black Water Jiao laughed out loud on the serpent's head, pointed his finger at Ji Xia and said coldly, "Ji Xia, it has been a long time. Do you remember Black Water Mang? The man you killed? That was my elder brother! I came here to avenge him!"
"Black Water Mang?" Ji Xia snorted scornfully, shook his head, then said, "I slaughtered too many of your vile snakes; it's impossible to remember each of them!
"Does your Black Water Serpent Clan have to be so shameless and gang up with these monsters? Do you have any idea, how many of our clansmen they've captured and sold? Not only from our Fire Crow Clan, but from your clan too, and your subsidiary clans! They've taken our brothers, sisters and friends from us!" Ji Xia shouted at Black Water Jiao while pointing his finger at Di Luo.
Jiao laughed in rage, then responded, "Of course I know! Indeed, they're the enemy of the entire Southern Wasteland. But, as long as I get to kill you, what's the big deal about working with monsters? Remember, I am the blood brother of Black Water Mang! By the way, Ji Xia, your father was killed by our ambush!"
The horned snake opened its large mouth and spewed a strand of black fog out. Everything in the path of the black fog froze instantly. Thick layers of ice covered the ground and huge rocks shattered due to being frozen.
Ji Hao could feel a bone-piercing coldness. Even though he was quite far from the fog, a thin layer of ice still rapidly appeared on his skin.
At the same time the snake spewed the fog, Jiao pulled out a long sword and pointed the sword tip at Ji Xia. "What are you waiting for? Let's attack together...Finish Ji Xia!" growled Jiao. "I'll chop his head off and use it as a mug; my ancestors would love that as an offering!"
Inside the jungle, three Senior Magi from the Black Water Serpent Clan grinned hideously; the horned serpents coiling around their waists, bolted out simultaneously and expanded their bodies to hundreds of feet of length. The three Senior Magi hopped onto the serpents' heads and planned to rush out of the jungle.
At this moment however, Treeman, who was standing three hundred feet away from those Senior Magi and pretending to be an ordinary tree, suddenly opened its flame-like eyes, emitting a muffled roar. Countless fist-thick vines darted towards those Senior Magi and their serpents, whipping and smashing against their bodies.
The three Senior Magi were sent flying right away; all of them screamed out in pain. Treeman didn't stop attacking; countless vines lashed out on their bodies like a storm and splintered their snakeskin armours.
Ji Mu reacted very fast; he flew up to Treeman as soon as Treeman moved, pulled out a heavy axe and chopped towards Treeman.
However, the dirt under Treeman's feet suddenly bursted out; a huge white arm thrusted out from the ground and heavily pounded on Ji Mu's chest; Ji Mu was sent flying backwards swirling, smashing onto two trees before finally falling into the jungle.
Ji Xiao growled, half in shock and half in fear; he was thrown into confusion and didn't know what to do.
Before Ji Xiao could make up his mind, hundreds of light spots emerged from the night sky along with rustling sounds; those where hundreds of poisoned arrows, which were flying towards the jungle. The faint herbal scent emitted from the arrowheads was so intoxicating.