Chapter 301: Become Sworn Brothers
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
While Zhao Kuo was captured alive by a powerful immortal item, the two silver and golden great pythons were still fighting a fierce battle with several tens of metal soldiers. The golden python was skillful in using jets of flame to attack enemies, while the silver python was an expert in attacking the enemies with cold breezes. The entire area was blotted with jets of cold breeze and raging flame, which kept smashing onto those soldiers summoned by Zhao Kuo and generating ringing of metal clashing. Every now and then, some soldiers would have their bodies pierced by either the jet of raging flame or cold breeze, turning them stiff before exploding into silver specks that shot in all directions.
It seemed both great pythons were having a fun time while fighting with the metal soldiers. With much joy, the gold python said, "Silver Horn, let's quickly get rid of these scrap irons and capture that human cultivator alive, so we can taste something fresh and warm! As our ancestors told us, human is the most delicious food under the heaven. Although we were born ten thousand years ago, we have yet to taste a human!"
Sharing the same joy, the silver python cried out loud, "Alright! Let's get rid of them quickly, capture the man alive, and eat him! He is trying to make us surrender with his little body? Our ancestors said our bloodline is grand and noble, and our divine abilities are mighty. We'll never surrender to anyone save for Immortals!"
As both Gold Horn and Silver Horn were talking endlessly while fighting the metal soldiers, they did not notice that Zhao Kuo had already been captured by Wu Qi.
Wu Qi shook his head, then shot out a white beam from the Spirit Breeding Ring, from which came striding out one thousand Long Bo people, each standing one thousand feet tall. Roaring and yelling, they ran aggressively towards Gold Horn and Silver Horn, and very quickly formed into the Heavenly Hundred Spirit Warring Formation, emanating a dense white fog that rolled over the ground and enveloped the entire flatland. Loud rings of metal clashing were heard without an end, as the group of several tens of metal soldiers summoned by Zhao Kuo was instantly dismantled into numerous pieces by them. Then came the miserable wails of two great pythons, loud and soaring high up into the sky.
"They are tall and burly! We can have so much delicious meat!!" Gold Horn roared.
Immediately after Gold Horn's voice came the shrill shrieks of Silver Horn as he cried, "So much delicious meat! But... why are they so tough to defeat?!"
Not long after that, both pythons wailed miserably together, "Help! Help! Stop it now! You're going to kill us! What are you trying to do?!"
Abruptly, the white fog vanished, then Long Yuan and the other Long Bo man who had the burliest stature walked out while dragging two great pythons in their hands. Although both great pythons measured one hundred feet long each, Long Yuan and the other man were seen pinching them with fingers and shaking them up and down, as if two naughty kids were playing with two little earthworms. The pythons almost fainted as their vision blurred due to the violent shake. They howled and cried, their voices sounding very forlorn and bitter.
Wu Qi turned and gave them a glance, shook his head and said, "Be careful, Long Yuan. Although they are over ten thousand years old, it seems they are just two little kids that haven't grown up. Hmm, be careful and don't hurt them!" Upon hearing Wu Qi's words, Long Yuan and the other Long Bo man quickly loosened their grip. Two great pythons raised their heads up and looked at Wu Qi with tears in their eyes, and it seemed their eyes were filled with a touching emotion.
Wu Qi looked at both pythons, grinned coldly and said, "I've no intention to make you as my steeds. Instead, I want you to be my pets. I'll bring you out of this foul place, and I'll bring your ancestors' remains together, then find a blessed spot and bury them properly. Now, if you obey my orders, you'll be rewarded with endless benefits, but if you refuse, I'll make both of you as one of the ingredients to the Three Whips Soup![1]"
Both great pythons exchanged a glance pitifully, then Silver Horn asked with a careful tone, "Excuse me, what is this Three Whips Soup?"
Wu Qi told them the exact meaning of Three Whips Soup impatiently, which made both great pythons wail and whine pitifully, "Surrender! We surrender!! Mighty Senior, Immortal, Master, we SURRENDER!!" Both pythons obediently opened up their Nascent Souls, and even forced out a drop of their Prime blood essence. Without being courteous with them, Wu Qi planted a restrictive spell which he learned from the Scroll of Stealing in both Gold Horn and Silver Horn's Nascent Souls. With that, he had subdued both the great pythons.
After that, Long Yuan and the other Long Bo man threw Gold Horn and Silver Horn to the ground, and together with the rest of the Long Bo people they began to collect the flood dragon bones that piled up into a small hill on the grassland, placing them into Black Dragon Ring. Guided by Wu Qi, Long Yuan and the others simply used the unique divine ability of Long Bo people to pull up the entire grassland, and shoved it into the Spirit Breeding Ring.
Two great pythons had coiled up their bodies right next to Wu Qi. While wagging their heads and looking at Long Yuan and the others working laboriously, they kept yelling and shouting with saliva shooting everywhere, "Hey, that's my Great-Grandfather's tailbone… You've left out one piece there… Hurry up and put it back! Aye, careful! That's our Ancestral-Father's skull! You bunch of big meats, why did you knock off our Ancestral-Father's horn?! Careful, careful!! Our Ancestral-Father was once Cang Ao Immortal's steed, he has a very honorable status!!"
Amidst the seemingly never-ending nagging of both great pythons, Long Yuan and the other finally cleaned up everything they found on the grassland. Without the slightest hesitation, they spun and shot back into the Spirit Breeding Ring. These two great pythons were two talkative fellows, and they could nag for one whole day with just a tiny mistake Long Yuan and the others made. As the people of Long Bo Kingdom were honest and naive, how could they endure such a nagging attack that seemed to never come to a complete stop?
Seeing that all the Long Bo people had returned to the ring, Gold Horn and Silver Horn immediately turned their attention to Zhao Kuo. They stretched their heads forward, stuck out their long tongues, and licked Zhao Kuo's face. After a brief moment, Gold Horn nodded its head and said deeply, "Ancestors did not fool us. I've smelled the aroma of meat that made my heart melt. Meat, oh meat, how does it taste? Especially the meat of a human cultivator, ah, what a wonderful day!"
Saliva was seen dripping from Silver Horn's lips as it turned to look at Wu Qi and said, "Mighty Immortal, can we eat him?"
Looking at both Gold Horn and Silver Horn, whose saliva could not stop dripping from their lips, Wu Qi was shocked. "You have never eaten a single piece of meat in the last ten thousand years?" cried Wu Qi with an unbelievable tone.
Two great pythons opened their big mouths and breathed out a venomous breath at Wu Qi. Then, Gold Horn said bitterly, "Smell that, smell that! You will only find the aroma of freshly cut grass and fruits, not even a single flavor of meat!! We've lived here for ten thousand years, but we never stepped out from the door of our courtyard! As a matter of fact, since our parents were killed by the restrictive spell nine thousand years ago, my brother and I have never seen another living being again."
Silver Horn kept staring at Zhao Kuo, wagging its head as he said, "We only eat meat, while we can save the rest as the ingredients for the Three Whips Soup for you, mighty Immortal. For we are only interested in meat, and we fear we'll have diarrhea if we ate that strange 'whip'."
It was at this moment Wu Qi released the restriction that Spirit-Restricting Rope had on Zhao Kuo's head, resuming Zhao Kuo's five senses and the function of his mind. He immediately heard what Silver Horn had just said. Out of his instinct, he immediately turned to look at his crotch, and saw the Spirit-Restricting Rope, glinting with pale purple gleam and strapped around his body. He remained silent for a brief moment and then said coolly, "An immortal item?"
Wu Qi replied with a deep voice, "Yes, an immortal item, and its quality is pretty decent, as it is crafted by a Thirty-Third Tier Heaven Immortal. That also means that as long as I can provide sufficient energy to it, I can completely trap a Thirty-Third Tier Heaven Immortal, or even an Immortal three tiers higher than that. General Zhao Kuo, I reckon you are just at the early-stage of Nascent Divinity realm, aren't you?"
Wu Qi reached out to Zhao Kuo's finger and removed his storage ring, then broke away the restrictive spell of the ring right before his face. After that, he poured out all the mid-grade, upper-grade, and even supreme-grade energy stones from the ring and piled them up like a little hill. Wu Qi nodded his head satisfyingly, and with a sweep, he shoved all the energy stones into Black Dragon Spirit Ring. Then, he continued to go through all the contents in the ring, and to his surprise, he found a few wild buffaloes that had been slaughtered and thoroughly cleaned. Very quickly, Wu Qi pulled these few wild buffaloes out and threw them to Gold Horn and Silver Horn.
Like two hungry wolves, the python brothers gave some wild hissing, opened their mouth wide and sprung towards the buffaloes. Each of the buffalo weighed two to three thousand kilograms, yet they simply swallowed one at a time and finished all of them within just a twinkle. When the wild buffaloes passed through their throats, one could still see the vague shape from the outside. But, when the buffaloes finally reached their stomachs, a few strange 'Gu! Gu!' noises echoed out from their stomachs, and both pythons immediately had their body shape returned to normal. It was as if they never ate anything before.
Droplets of cold sweat rolled off from Zhao Kuo's forehead as he said bitterly, "Wine and meat are both my favorites, so I brought these wild buffaloes here for emergency needs. The two of them have a really good appetite!"
Two great pythons slithered slowly around Zhao Kuo, while their long tongues kept darting out and licking every part of his, with saliva rushing out from their mouths. They had their eyes rested on Zhao Kuo's face, drenching his clothes with saliva.
Zhao Kuo breathed out a long sigh, looked at Wu Qi, and smiled bitterly. "It seems there is no enmity between Duke of Tianyun and me. I do not understand why Duke of Tianyun wants to capture me." said Zhao Kuo.
"You're right, there is no enmity between us." said Wu Qi in a rather flat tone. "However, there is enmity between Zhao Ling and me! Don't worry, I've killed him, and I've also killed over three hundred men from Great Zhao. So, it is not so much of a big deal to kill you." He patted Zhao Kuo's face, smiled lightly, and said, "General Zhao Kuo, I can see that you have a very muscular body, and I believe it must be very chewy. Gold Horn, Silver Horn, General Zhao Kuo is a supreme delicacy. You have to chew slowly to savor it. Do not swallow him, because that is a serious insult to our General!"
Chew slowly, not swallow.
Immediately Gold Horn and Silver Horn opened their big mouths, revealing their densely grown sharp fangs that nearly covered every inch in their mouth.
Cold sweats were rushing out from Zhao Kuo's forehead at an even faster rate. He looked at Wu Qi helplessly and smiled wryly, "Zhao Ling? Since the day he secretly colluded with Lu Buwei, I already knew he will come to no good end, just that I didn't expect the day will come so soon! That old man Lu Buwei only knows how to use someone to work for him, but he himself... hmph! Duke of Tianyun, it is very unwise for you to offend us, the Great Zhao, just for an unworthy Zhao Ling!"
Wu Qi grinned coldly and said, "But, who will know that it was me who killed so many people from Great Zhao?"
Zhao Kuo shut his mouth. Hesitatingly, he raised his head up and looked at Wu Qi, then forced out a smile and said, "Are you... are you really brave enough to kill me?"
Suddenly, a purple gleam appeared between Wu Qi's brows and split apart, while the Cold Electric Mirror shot out a lightning bolt soundlessly and smote viciously into Zhao Kuo's forehead. Zhao Kuo howled painfully, and his entire face was nearly burned to char by the lightning bolt. "Who are you? Some mighty existence? Why would I not be brave enough to kill you?" snapped Wu Qi with a flat tone.
It took a while before the severe pain faded away from Zhao Kuo's face. At last, he said in a hoarse voice, "Then, what is the reason that Duke of Tianyun still doesn't want to kill me now?"
Wu Qi did not answer him. It took him quite a while before a cheerful smile jumped on his face suddenly, then he said, "General Zhao Kuo, I feel like we are old friends at the first meeting, and I think you are a wise man with excellent foresight, a man who always carry an elegant and noble bearing. You're truly a rare and mighty man! Well, although I always try to avoid to improperly belittle myself, I think I am also a rare mighty hero under the heaven. So, why don't we swear an oath to the Heaven, smear our blood as a sign of the oath, cut the chicken head and burn the yellow paper[2], and become sworn brothers that share life and death together? What do you think?"
Sword of Greedy Wolf thrust out with a dark tail behind its back, and pressing its tip tightly against Zhao Kuo's forehead.
Wu Qi said coldly, "Either you will become my brother, share the information, and work hand in hand with me, or I'll destroy your Nascent Divinity now, and let the pythons chew through your meat slowly! Now, make your decision before I count to three!"
However, before Wu Qi could start the counting, Zhao Kuo had already burst out into loud laughter. "Well, well, I have the same feeling, Duke of Tianyun! I also feel like we are old friends at the first meeting! Why don't we become sworn brothers, and with both of us each working in different immortal sects, we’ll share the information and work hand in hand? Isn't that an enjoyable thing to do? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find an intimate friend in life? Well, I've found my brother Wu Qi today, don't you think today is my lucky day?"
Wu Qi laughed. Although Zhao Kuo was over two thousand years old, he still patted his chest and said, "My good younger brother!!"
Zhao Kuo laughed aloud and said, "Zhao Kuo offers greetings, my elder brother!!"
Both men looked at each other and laughed. However, there was not even a tiny bit of smile that could be found in their eyes. Both men had the identical expression in their eyes, calm as ice and sharp as a blade.
[1] Three Whips Soup - A traditional tonic with three different animal's penis as main ingredients. It is believed to have an effect of aphrodisiac.
[2] Cut the chicken head and burn the yellow paper - It was once a ritual of swearing a poisonous oath commonly used by the people in Hong Kong.
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