A Will Eternal

“Why is this happening…?” On the verge of tears, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, gritted his teeth, and continued concocting, surrounded by the rumbling sounds from outside.

His goal had never been to cause a big disaster! He’d only wanted the snakes to close their mouths. He felt more wronged than ever….

He thought he’d come up with a very simple way to solve the problem; how could he ever have imagined that closing the snakes’ mouths would come with such violent side-effects?

Seeing that the situation was rapidly devolving, his first reaction was to create a temporary remedy to buy time so that he could then come up with an antidote. He’d solved the problem with the thrashing, but could never have imagined that as a result, the snakes’ fleshly bodies would become infinitely more powerful. From the look of things, the spell formation wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer.

His heart pounded with fear, and his eyes were completely bloodshot; he simply wanted to get things back to the way they were, even if that meant having all the snakes hissing all the time.

Two days later, the cracking sounds from the spell formation were getting more intense under the constant bombardment of the snakes. Fissures were even starting to spread out across the shield. It was at that point that Bai Xiaochun ran out of the stone hut, panting, holding two medicinal pills in his hands.

“This time I’m definitely going to remedy the situation!” he shouted. “10,000 Snakes Valley, it’s time to get back to normal!” The mental pressure recently had really begun to build, and he almost looked like he was in a trance as he hurled the medicinal pills out of the spell formation. High in the air, they exploded, transforming into a green mist that spread out in all directions.

As soon as the mist made contact with the snakes, they shivered, and then plopping sounds could be heard as they collapsed onto the ground, the power of their fleshly bodies rapidly decreasing.

The mist slowly spread throughout the entire cave, reaching even the bloodgod cobras. As they sagged listlessly, Bai Xiaochun heaved a sigh of relief. By this point, he felt the utmost respect for the Dao of medicine, and yet at the same time, immense pride over his level of control with it.

Taking a deep breath, he murmured, “Just like always, I–”

However, before he could finish speaking, he nearly jumped into the air when he saw what was happening to a nearby tri-recluse viper.

“Th-this… this….” he muttered, his eyes going wide with disbelief.

Unexpectedly, the tri-recluse viper began to writhe as a long horn suddenly grew out from the top of its head.

“The snakes are growing horns!?!?” he cried in alarm. His mind rumbled as it was battered by massive waves of shock. All of the snakes were now writhing, and if they could hiss, the sound would surely be shocking to the soul.

Soon, all of the snakes had grown horns out from the tops of their heads! Furthermore, their bodies also seemed to be getting stronger.

In addition to the wondrous addition of the horn, they all began to thrash around again, as though the violence which had been suppressed earlier was finally able to explode out. As they smashed back and forth, they began to punch holes into the walls and burrow out of the cave itself.

Even the bloodgod cobra was acting the same way. As for the huge snake with the three-meter-long head, it was shaking violently as a huge horn grew out of its head. Although the horns didn’t appear to be very sharp, Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of them. They snakes were all starting to go mad, and before long, Bai Xiaochun realized that their skin was now virtually impenetrable.

All of the snakes were thrashing about violently, causing a mighty rumbling sound to explode out. Any of them who saw even the slightest hole in the wall would unleash all the mysterious power contained in their horns to try to burrow their way out of 10,000 Snakes Valley to freedom!

Although 10,000 Snakes Valley was located behind Fragrant Cloud Peak, the snakes actually had no specific destinations in mind, and began burrowing subterranean passages in all directions, even toward Violet Cauldron Peak and Green Crest Peak.

Only about thirty percent were actually heading in the direction of Fragrant Cloud Peak.

It was easy to imagine the scene which would result in the three mountains when innumerable snakes with sealed mouths burst out into the tunnels and began to charge about madly.

FLOP!

Bai Xiaochun dropped down to sit on the ground and look around at the empty cave.

“I’m… done for….”

It didn’t take long before the snakes made their way through the cracks and fissures in the ground, all the way to the three mountains. Countless horned snakes with bulging eyes burrowed through any hole they could find, shocking countless disciples of the south bank. For years, things had been peaceful and quiet, but now, a massive commotion once again engulfed all the disciples.

On Green Crest Peak, outside of Spirit Sword Hall, more than a thousand disciples were cheering on two of their fellows who were fighting in a minor competition. Just when one of them secured the upper hand and was about to win the match, a horn burst out from the ground beneath his feet, with a cloudy-eyed death viper following close behind. Everyone stared in shock as the snake instantly began to slither up the leg of the disciple who had been just about to win.

The disciple screamed and leaped up into the air. Next, more screams could be heard as more horned snakes burrowed up from the ground.

“What’s going on!?!? Why did they stop fighting?!”

“Heavens! Look at all the snakes…. What are all these snakes doing here? And look, they have horns!!”

“Dammit! What’s happening? What’s happening!?!? Not even my magical item can block these snakes!”

At the same time, on the summit of Green Crest Peak, where the Inner Sect disciples lived, an old time Inner Sect disciple was sitting in his immortal’s cave, cross-legged in meditation. Suddenly, the ground trembled, and the disciple’s eyes widened in disbelief. Then… he let out a bloodcurdling shriek.

“AIIEEEE! What is that thing?!?!

“A snake! A snake just burrowed out of the ground!!”

Similar cries echoed out from other immortal’s caves. It was the same with Shangguan Tianyou’s immortal’s cave, although the maddened scream which emanated out from him seemed to come from an inner wound which had been reopened.

The situation was the same with the Outer Sect disciples. Countless snakes burrowed up out of the ground, to the profound shock and terror of all. Even the elders of Green Crest Peak were flabbergasted. The old peak lord flew up into the air, looking down in astonishment at the countless horned snakes which covered Green Crest Peak.

It was the same with Violet Cauldron Peak. Innumerable disciples shouted in fury, unleashing magical techniques in all directions. However, they didn’t affect the snakes at all….

Lu Tianlei was surrounded by flashing electricity as he roared, pulling a horned snake out of his trousers. He tried to crush it, only to find that he couldn’t.

“What happened? Dammit! Why are there so many snakes!?”

“Wait a second, something seems fishy here!!”

As the bellows of rage rose up from Violet Cauldron Peak and Green Crest Peak, Xu Meixiang bristled with fury.

“Investigate!” she bellowed. “Investigate immediately and find out what exactly is happening!!”

On Fragrant Cloud Peak, enraged shouting rose up into the sky. Xu Baocai was screaming at the top of his lungs, and Zhou Xinqi’s eyes were wide with astonishment as she flew up into the air.

Hou Xiaomei and Hou Yunfei also took to flight. Many disciples there were whipped into an unbelievable fury, and although some began to unleash powerful magical techniques, Fragrant Cloud Peak was known for its skill with plants and vegetation. It was no surprise, therefore, that quite a few disciples whipped out medicinal pills, and quickly found that although the effects were rather ordinary, the snakes would immediately flee at the sight of them.

Many of the fleeing horned snakes then headed toward Green Crest Peak and Violet Cauldron Peak….

“What’s happening here? Dammit! What could have caused this!?!?”

“Is this a natural disaster or was it caused by humans? Bai Xiaochun was sentenced to stay in 10,000 Snakes Valley, and since then everything has been so peaceful. How could… wait a second! 10,000 Snakes Valley!?!? Bai Xiaochun is supposed to be in 10,000 Snakes Valley!!”

As people began to react, a long-eared rabbit suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. Apparently, it had been listening in for some time. All of a sudden, it began to run through the three mountains, bellowing at the top of its lungs.

“Oh god, my butt!

“Dammit! I’m gonna kill this snake!!

“AIIIIEEEE! From now on people are gonna laugh themselves to death at the name Xu Baocai!!

“Get lost, you evil snakes! I am Shangguan Tianyou, Inner Sect disciple and Chosen of Green Crest Peak. From this day forth, our enmity is irreconcilable….

“What an incredible snake. If I, Lu Tianlei, could become a snake, I would definitely go… heh heh….

“Li the Snake! Li the Swindler! When you tossed Lord Bai into this place, did you really think he couldn’t handle some measly snakes? You just wait until this treasured pill is finished being concocted, then I’ll teach your stupid little snakes a lesson. Humph! Who knows, after this, I might even be able to lead these snakes to conquer the world! Hahahahahaha!”

Soon, the rabbit’s words could be heard within all three of the mountains, and the disciples erupted into a fury.

“Bai Xiaochun!!”

“Exterminate Bai Xiaochun!!”

“So, he did this! He sent the snakes against us in revenge!!”

The howls coming out of the mouths of Shangguan Tianyou and Lu Tianlei were especially barbaric. The disciples of the three mountains were in a complete fury; this disaster far exceeded the matter with the acid rain….

Li Qinghou looked around blankly at the events playing out. Then, he starting thinking about everything that had occurred after Bai Xiaochun first joined the sect.

As a servant, he had sold spots into the Outer Sect, arousing public wrath. He had thrown the entire servants’ district into chaos.

When he was an Outer Sect disciple, there was the tragedy of the spirit tail chickens, and the terrible incident with Elder Zhou’s phoenix. Countless disciples were affected, and the entire mountain had been thrown into chaos.

After becoming an Inner Sect disciple, he had provoked lightning, sent crazy animals running around the entire mountain, and had even caused acid rain…. By then, he had thrown all three mountains into chaos.

However, no matter how Li Qinghou thought about the matter, he could never have imagined that throwing Bai Xiaochun into 10,000 Snakes Valley would result in something so preposterous…. He didn’t even hold back when it came to snakes. 10,000 Snakes Valley had been thrown into chaos, which then spread to cover all of the south bank.

As of that moment, Li Qinghou suddenly remembered how, when he had first met Bai Xiaochun, all of the villagers at the bottom of the mountain had cheered and thrown a party upon his departure….

Finally, he understood how those villagers felt….