Chapter 50: Jade Snake Orchid (1/2)

Chapter 50: Jade Snake Orchid

Upon nearing the region, Ye Fan and Pang Bo got a fright of their lives. Several hundred bucket thick Venomous Dragons were spewing forth their toxic mist, shrouding this entire area causing the vegetation to all wither away. Besides this, from the deep forest low-pitched roars could be heard, an innumerable number of large ferocious beasts were clearly moving around within.

For unknown reasons, they did not attack each other but rather seemed fretful and continually gathered within this region. More and more like an unending tide of water that was rushing towards this area, a majority of this ferocious beasts were simply unknown to them.

There were also large numbers of flying beasts gathered in the sky and they continually glided through the air. Their bodies were all at least several metres big and seemed like a black mass, shrouding the sky and blocking the sun.

“What’s going on?”

Ye Fan and Pang Bo were stunned, the scene unfolding before their eyes was simply stupefying. A veritable sea of ferocious beasts and endless numbers of flying beasts were gathering in this region, all of them seemed fretful and they were akin to a surging wave that was vast and mighty.

Ye Fan observed for a period of time before saying: “I think they should have retreated from the depths of the ruins.”

“Could it be the fighting between the Lightning Bird and Scaled Monkey King that resulted in these ferocious birds and beasts to be frightened and thus escaping outside?”

“It’s difficult to say, even if the king of beasts were fighting, it shouldn’t scare so many exotic beasts and birds out.”

“How are we going over there, there are too many ferocious beasts and birds in our way.”

“Let’s find a way to circumvent them, this is absolutely an opportunity. I’m sure that there’s an empty area within. The innermost parts may have two beast kings fighting or something other change that caused all these beasts and birds to escape to the edges.”

The two people circumvented over ten miles before finally finding a cliff, climbing the vines hanging down and continuing past several cliffs before finally using the old vines to once again climb down arriving at the depths of the forest and avoiding the beasts and birds.

“It’s so quiet here!”

Within this region, ancient trees covered the sky and old vines could be seen intertwined, verdant and lush however there was a deathly silence in the air as though all living things had fled only only this stillness remained.

“I wonder what happened in the depths of the ruins, even if the beast kings were fighting it should not result in this, I think there’s surely some other reason! Otherwise, how could all the beasts and birds run away.” Ye Fan and Pang Bo were bewildered but decided to continue moving forever. Another ten miles in, the ancient trees became even more old and hardy, it was simply an image of primitive times.

“Sssss……” Within the forest and rubble, sounds of hissing could be heard, as though a snake was spewing forth something as a five coloured mist was in the air there and the scent of a fishy stench permeated the air.

“An enormous snake!” Pang Bo let out a low shout.

Between the forest and rubble, an enormous snake that was as thick as a water tank was slithering amongst the rubble, its mouth continually spitting out a five coloured toxic mist, it seemed very restless and worried.

“It isn’t a regular snake, there is a jade horn on its head!”

The whole body of the enormous snake was covered with scales that were about the size of a palm, it was multicolored and unusually bright. The shiny scales seemed to sparkling under the sunshine. The most unique thing about the snake was that it had a horn on its head, continually releasing a glow that seemed to be multi-coloured threads, bright and resplendent and was converging towards its head.

“This snake with a horn has already gained spiritual awareness , it knows how to swallow the energies of the sun and moon. If it grows claws out from its body. It will become the curling dragon from legends.

Their hearts were shaken. It was not all the ferocious beasts that had left, there were still some extraordinary ones left behind. This enormous snake seemed jittery as though it wanted to leave but could not make a decision.

Suddenly, from within the depths of the ruins came a soft sound that seemed to be muffled, like the beating of an enormous drum, coming from an incomparably far distance away.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo upon hearing this muffled sound felt a sense of fear but had no idea why. At this time, the enormous snake with the jade horn started to tremble before suddenly fiercely moving its body speedily into the depths of the rubble forest.

“Snake Hole!”

The rubble forest was its lair, it looked panicky as it crawled into a large black hole, not daring to come out again. The five coloured toxic mist dissipated, the fishy smell gradually dispersed and the everything within the rubble forest could be clearly seen again.

“This should be the Jade Horned Snake described by the elder that taught mystical arts!” Initially the two had not thought about it but now that the toxic mist had dispersed, they saw the black snake hole within the rubble forest and recalled.

“I recall the elder saying that this Jade Horned Snake is an old snake that has been absorbing the energy from the sun and moon for at least one hundred years before evolving, its dwelling has a spiritual medicine that is exceptionally rare ‘Jade Snake Orchid’.

Although the two of them had some recollection, they were not entirely clear. Besides teaching mystical arts, the elder at the stone cliff also enriched them with other knowledge like the different cultivation books, weapons as well as spiritual medicines. Ye Fan and Pang Bo were more keen on cultivation and did not pay much attention when he talked about the other information. For this expedition they had toiled to remember the different medicinal plants so as to be able to recognise them. This was to enable them to quickly recognise medicinal plants if they come across any.

“It really is the ‘Jade Snake Orchid’!”

Ye Fan and Pang Bo were very excited, they could see that at the entrance of the dark snake hole there were three unique plants the height of a palm. The plants were snow white like jade, their entire bodies sparkling and translucent, at a glance one would think that there were three white snakes standing tall there. There were several jade white leaves on them and on top there was a glorious white magnolia.

The three plants were very unique and it was clear they were exceptional. Dots of light could be seen flowing and a faint fragrance could be smelt in the wind.

“There’s no mistaking it, it’s the ‘Jade Snake Orchid’!”

Upon personally seeing the ‘Jade Snake Orchid’, the words the elder mentioned seemed to resound in their minds once more. The two immediately thought of how valuable he mentioned this plant was.

It was rumoured that when the old snake was absorbing the energies of the sun and moon, the spiritual qi surrounding its snake hole would be dense but normal plants would not be able to bear it, even spiritual grass when exposed to it for long periods of time would eventually turn to fine powder. Only a unique kind of plant could continue to live on, it would absorb the energy together with the old snake and after over a hundred years of basking in spiritual qi, it would gather large amounts of sun and moon energy, changing into a figure that would be akin to the old snake. This was why this unique plant was named ‘Jade Snake Orchid’.

Living by the side of the snake hole, it had an extraordinary ability to cure poisons and could cure many different kinds of unique poisons. Besides this, it also swallowed the energies of the sun and moon and had collected large quantities of spiritual essence of life which was something all cultivators longed for.

The two people controlled their impulse as they did not dare to directly rush forward to pick the plant. It was rumoured that the plant was prepared by an old snake for itself and when the ‘Jade Snake Orchid’ had completely turned into the form of the old snake it would swallow it. Whoever wanted to take the ‘Jade Snake Orchid’ would face the full fury of the old snake.

“The old snake has already transformed into a Jade Horned Snake but the three ‘Jade Snake Orchid’ have not fully changed into the form of the old snake, meaning that it has not fully matured.”

“How can we take the plants……”

“I think this old snake was previously terrified as it hurriedly slithered to the depths of its snake hole and temporarily won’t dare to come out. If we stealthily advance we should be able to successfully attain it.”

“There’s still quite a bit of danger, let’s wait awhile. If that oppressive sound resounds from the depths of the ruins again, we’ll rush forward to pick the plants then immediately run away.”

“Okay, let’s patiently wait and see.”