Free Web NovelChapter 502: Chapter 490: 100,000 Rat Spirits Dead in an Instant
"Since you insist on using poison against me, it would be rude of me not to return the favor. I’ll let you, you ugly centipede, witness what the world’s deadliest poison truly is—snake venom."
Tu Xiao’an looked as if he was about to spray his venom, causing the grotesque man to retreat more than thirty feet in fear, his eyes fixed on him like a predator.
"Scared? Just admit your centipede venom is inferior to my snake venom, and I’ll let you go."
"I, a Great Demon, am a master of centipede venom and have long been immune to all poisons. What is your paltry snake venom to me? Bring it on!"
Men fight for pride, and Buddhas vie for incense. This was a battle for the prestige of their two races’ venoms. He couldn’t afford to show weakness.
Tu Xiao’an raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips. He lifted his fair-skinned hand to his mouth, gently touched a pristine white fang in his upper jaw, and a single, glass-like droplet of liquid fell onto the tip of his middle finger.
The moment the exquisitely beautiful, crystal-clear drop of liquid appeared, the air around it instantly began to seethe as if it were boiling.
HSSSS... A sizzling sound filled the air as a vapor rose from the glass-like liquid. The mist billowed out, a mix of red light, black aura, and white fog that instantly shrouded the area in front of Tu Xiao’an, making the very space around him feel hazy and distorted.
This was a drop of venom from a Third stage Snake King. The strange phenomena it created offered a mere glimpse of its destructive power.
But in truth, even Tu Xiao’an himself had no concrete idea just how terrifying the toxins contained within this one drop truly were.
Back when he was still a Snake Catcher, an old man had told him that a single drop of venom from the world’s most poisonous snake could kill several hundred adult men, a million rats, or more than a dozen elephants from Africa.
Of course, the venom of any awakened snake was capable of this feat.
But now, Tu Xiao’an was facing cultivating species—Little Demons and Great Demons. The old standards no longer applied.
He was eager to test the power of a single drop of his venom as a Third stage Snake King.
The monstrous Centipede Demon was on high alert. His expression darkened as he watched the bizarre phenomena manifesting from the glass-like drop of venom on Tu Xiao’an’s fingertip, and his heart began to pound with unease.
’This venom is clearly no simple thing.’
Tu Xiao’an smiled faintly once more. With a flick of his finger, he sent the droplet flying—not toward the grotesque man, but toward the heart of the battlefield.
There, a massive, swarming horde of Little Rat Demons, densely packed and reeking of Demon Qi, were throwing everything they had at the Monkey Race’s defensive line.
FWOOSH...
The glass-like drop of venom hovered in the air above the densely packed Little Rat Demons before instantly transforming into a multicolored mist that descended, blanketing a massive area.
A Level 25 Rat Spirit of the Spirit Monster Level stared blankly at the descending, iridescent mist. It unconsciously took a breath, and in that instant, its beady eyes bulged, its entire body went rigid, and it shrieked in terror, "Oh no, this is—"
Before it could finish speaking, its head tilted to one side, and it dropped dead on the spot. Its body was as stiff as a stone, and its corpse immediately began to rot.
At that very moment, countless Rat Spirits inhaled the mist. Within the span of three breaths, they all dropped dead.
The swarming rats collapsed in great swathes, a landslide of bodies. The scene was utterly horrifying.
In the area blanketed by the mist, every last Little Rat Demon was annihilated in under a minute. A full one hundred thousand cultivated rats perished before they even had time to react.
This sight left the members of the Monkey Race, who had been desperately holding the line against the rat assault, completely stunned and terrified. In the blink of an eye, they found themselves facing a mountain of rat corpses.
Each of those Rat Spirits had been a difficult opponent, yet they had all died so easily and horribly.
To put it in perspective, Lin Fan, the Biological Controller from the Ancient Academy, had a Battle Companion—a Rat Spirit—that seemed quite extraordinary. Yet every single rat here was no less formidable than his "Baozi."
At that moment, the Fat Rat King, who was locked in a fierce battle with the Bull Demon King, saw this and was utterly devastated. One hundred thousand of the Rat Race’s elite, all dead within a minute. It was an incomprehensible loss.
You have to understand, these weren’t ordinary rats; they were all cultivated Little Demons. He wouldn’t have even blinked if millions, or even tens of millions, of common rats had died.
But for one hundred thousand cultivated rats to die in an instant... that was a catastrophe. Even the Rat Race could barely withstand such a loss.
He had led this invasion of Monkey Mountain with only a few hundred thousand cultivated rats, and now, nearly a third of them were gone in an instant.
Furthermore, under the normal system of cultivation, only one in a million rats would ever awaken.
This was in the Yaoling Mountain Range, no less. The death of one hundred thousand cultivated rats was like the sky itself was falling.
"Snake Demon! The Rat Race will never rest until you are dead! You won’t escape today, even if you sprout wings! You’re a dead man! The Gray Demon King will not spare you!"
The Fat Rat King roared at the sky, his voice thundering like waves, brimming with overwhelming killing intent. He was clearly furious enough to vomit blood.
’You’re competing with the Centipede Demon, so why the hell did you use my rats for your experiment, you son of a bitch! Fuck! That was one hundred thousand elite, cultivated Rat Spirits! They were like a hundred thousand Celestial Soldiers and Generals!’
"You damn rat! You should be more worried about whether you’ll leave this place alive!"
The Bull Demon King bellowed, taking advantage of his opponent’s chaotic state of mind to launch a thunderous assault, striving to slay this Pseudo Demon King Level rat with his staff.
For now, only three races were fighting in the warzone, but many other races of Demons had already appeared on the outskirts of Monkey Mountain, all observing the battle.
Now, the instantaneous death of one hundred thousand cultivated rats left many of these races trembling in fear, nearly scaring the piss out of them.
"My heavens, thank goodness my Cat Spirit clan didn’t charge in first. That would’ve been a suicide mission!"
"Did you see that? The Snake Demon killed a hundred thousand cultivated rats with a single drop of venom. A minor race like ours could never withstand such a loss."
"Before this, the Black Mountain Eagle King died a horrible death, and even the Baihua Fairy can’t guarantee her own safety. This Snake Demon is too powerful!"
Many Demon Spirits from the various races whispered amongst themselves in the shadows, no longer daring to charge in.
As time went on, more and more Demon Spirits had been stirring restlessly in the shadows, looking for the right opportunity to kill the snake. But the death of the Black Mountain Eagle King, the Flower Demon’s desperate struggle to survive, and the demise of a hundred thousand cultivated Rat Spirits all served as dire warnings.
With this snake’s ascension, the very balance of power in the Yaoling Mountain Range had shifted.
.......
By testing the power of his venom, Tu Xiao’an had inadvertently relieved the pressure on the Monkey Race. The monkeys hadn’t been at a complete disadvantage in numbers to begin with, and now, more importantly, his display had made the many hidden races afraid to make a move.
Meanwhile, the grotesque Centipede Demon’s face turned deathly pale as he watched one hundred thousand cultivated Rat Spirits perish in an instant.
’Is this Snake Demon’s venom really that powerful?’
’One hundred thousand cultivated Rat Spirits, dead in the blink of an eye. The power of this venom is truly terrifying.’
’If a drop like that were unleashed on a human city, everyone in it would probably die.’
He was confident in his own centipede venom, but it was nowhere near this horrifyingly potent.
"Test complete. Now, it’s your turn." Tu Xiao’an was extremely satisfied with his venom’s power; it had far exceeded his expectations.
’To kill one hundred thousand cultivated rats in an instant... that’s equivalent to killing one hundred million ordinary rats. The power of this venom is simply world-shaking, enough to make gods and ghosts weep.’
Venom could kill, but it could also save. If a drop of Tu Xiao’an’s venom were given to Dr. Snake for research, it could likely be used to save countless lives.
The grotesque man couldn’t help but back away, step by step. He watched as Tu Xiao’an squeezed another drop of venom from his pristine fangs. This droplet was dozens of times larger than the last one, as big as a marble.
’He’s actually planning to poison a Great Demon Level Centipede Demon like me to death!’
Upon seeing the marble-sized drop of venom, the grotesque man’s complexion instantly turned a deathly gray, his heart like dead ashes.
"Ugly centipede, if you can survive this drop of my venom, I, the Snake King, will let you do with me as you please. But that’s only if you can survive," Tu Xiao’an said, the corners of his mouth curling up. His enchanting eyes were filled with mocking amusement.
In the eyes of the countless onlooking Demons, that marble-sized drop of venom was like an atomic bomb. If unleashed, it would bring utter devastation.
The Centipede Demon felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Though he had long been immune to all poisons, the Snake Demon’s venom could no longer be described as merely ’abnormal.’ Throughout the entire world, even a Demon King would have to think twice before facing it.
Suddenly, the suffocating feeling of death overwhelmed his body and mind.
’I can’t take it on. I absolutely cannot let myself be goaded into facing it.’
"GAGA! Snake Demon, do you take me for an idiot? Only a complete moron would test your venom! Die!"
The Centipede Demon’s Demon Qi flared. With a single shake, he transformed into his true form: a terrifying, gigantic centipede. With its countless jointed legs, it looked like an Abyss Demon.
The countless hidden Demons mentally applauded the Centipede Demon’s intelligence. Not testing that venom was definitely the wise choice.
The power of that venom was enough to scare you to death.
"Master, allow me, the Cyan Dragon, to deal with this ugly bug!"
Zhang Qinglong stepped forward, his Divine Beast aura flaring. But Tu Xiao’an shook his head. Gazing at the marble-sized drop of venom on his fingertip, he sneered, "He won’t escape this venom."
The Centipede Demon’s enormous, elongated body suddenly coiled around Tu Xiao’an. Its writhing legs transformed into a whirlwind of countless blade-like shadows, closing in to shred him to pieces.
"Hmph..." Tu Xiao’an’s expression remained unchanged in the face of the attack. With a flick of his finger, the marble-sized drop of venom instantly atomized into a multicolored mist, a poisonous miasma that enveloped the giant centipede.
The Centipede Demon was horrified; there was no way to dodge. He silently screamed to himself, ’This is bad! I have to hold my breath! I can’t inhale a single trace of this Poisonous Qi!’
In the next second, the Centipede Demon felt as if he had been struck by a bolt from the blue. An intense pain shot through his entire body, a pain that pierced straight to the marrow.
’No! The mist is blanketing my body, and I can’t withstand it! It feels like death by a thousand cuts!’
’What terrifying venom...’ The Centipede Demon had to admit it: this snake’s venom was hundreds of times more potent than his own.
’With the ability to unleash this kind of venom, this Snake Demon was practically invincible against anyone below the Demon King Level.’
"Aaaargh..."
Soon, the Centipede Demon couldn’t help but scream in agony. He completely forgot about killing Tu Xiao’an, instead focusing all his power on preventing the Poisonous Qi from invading his body.
’Heavens, Master’s venom is too terrifying! A Deep Mountain Great Demon can’t withstand it at all!’
Even Zhang Qinglong, a noble Divine Beast, couldn’t help but gulp. If he were the one facing such a lethal venom, he feared his fate wouldn’t be much better than the centipede’s.
Suddenly, all that was left was the sight of a giant centipede writhing on the ground, screaming miserably. Its cries were like those of a wandering spirit, as sharp and haunting as a ghost’s wail, causing all the onlooking Demons to gasp in shock, their hearts pounding with fear.
