Chapter 152: Escaping the Snake Pit

"Those double-headed snakes are burrowing in the mud," Tu'e said.

As soon as these words fell, a few terrified gasps came from behind, followed by a trembling voice: "Th-this... what should we do? If they crawl out from the sides and bite us to death..."

Hah! Their tone had been as bold as could be just a moment ago, yet now they had turned cowardly in an instant. These people were truly nothing special.

I said, "Don't worry, we've sprinkled black dog blood on ourselves. It wasn't very effective down below due to the heavy yin energy, but once we come up here, it will work."

Those people remained skeptical, but I couldn't be bothered with them. Tu'e and I continued walking forward.

Many of those double-headed snakes were burrowing out of the surrounding mud, their pairs of heads staring at us, darting their forked tongues and baring sharp fangs as if they were ready to launch an attack at any moment.

I wasn't entirely certain about the effectiveness of the black dog blood myself. Having been exposed to the heavy yin energy below for so long, coupled with the time that had passed since it was applied, even if it had been effective before, its potency would surely be compromised to some extent by now.

However, there was no other choice; I had to steady the morale first.

Fortunately, those snakes did not actually launch an attack.

Fresh air wafted over from ahead—we had finally reached the end!

Tu'e stepped out first, then reached down and pulled me up. The others emerged one after another.

The sky outside had turned completely dark. We had set out at noon, spent a considerable amount of time walking the mountain paths, and then stayed down below for quite a while.

Surrounded by pitch-black darkness, there was no sign of Yun Mutian. I wondered if that fellow had already left.

It was hard to tell whether his departure would bring fortune or misfortune. That guy was extremely eccentric; if he suddenly ambushed us, it would be terribly troublesome. Yet, if he had truly broken free from the snake's body, heaven knows what kind of chaos he might cause out there.

Everyone had come out, save for Old Man Ma and Third Master Guo.

I took the smartphone from Tu'e's hand. After such a long time, the battery was almost dead. I flashed the light into the passageway; it was pitch black inside, revealing nothing at all. Could something have actually happened to them?

"Master! Master! Are you alright?!" I shouted down into the opening.

There was no response whatsoever, nor was there the sound of anyone walking upward. Could they really be in trouble?

"Old Ma! Old Ma!" I called out anxiously.

Did I make the wrong bet by destroying the array's eye? I only wanted to save myself and deal with Third Master Guo, but if Old Man Ma suffered because of this, I would bear an unshirkable responsibility!

Still no sound from below—neither footsteps nor the slithering of snakes. It was dead silent!

Old Man Ma was so capable; how could he fall so easily? Even when he had stopped breathing in the vine forest, he had miraculously come back to life. Surely nothing would happen to him this time either!

"Old Ma! Old Man Ma!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Despite constantly denying it in my heart, my anxiety grew by the second.

"Are you mourning the dead?! Keep your voice down!" Old Man Ma's angry voice came back.

My hanging heart instantly dropped. That was wonderful—Old Man Ma was fine after all!

Rapid footsteps sounded, accompanied by the beam of a cell phone light, and the figure of Third Master Guo appeared. He looked utterly exhausted; under the dim, limited light, his aged face appeared several years older.

I paid him little attention and looked anxiously past him toward Old Man Ma. Old Man Ma also looked dead tired, though his wrinkled face was already so old to begin with that little change could be discerned. The two of them walked out swiftly and made to plop down on the ground to rest, but upon seeing the double-headed snakes darting back and forth in the dirt, they abandoned the idea.

"If... if everyone's out, let's get moving right now! Those snakes might crawl up any minute!" stammered one of the followers.

Having witnessed the terrifying power of those snakes, they had been desperate to leave the moment they emerged, yet fear of the double-headed snakes in the woods had kept them too afraid to walk.

Old Man Ma said in a weak, hoarse voice, "Those snakes have already been dealt with and won't come out again."

Dealt with? So many snakes! Although I hadn't seen them with my own eyes, just hearing the sound of that dense mass slithering around was enough to imagine the scene! Previously, even when Old Man Ma and the others had joined forces to use shamanic roaring, they had only managed to suppress the snakes on the upper levels. This time, not only the giant double-headed snakes, but even the ones from the woods had burrowed down, and yet we hadn't heard any shamanic roars. How on earth had they managed to handle them?

Neither Old Man Ma nor Third Master Guo cared to elaborate. Once he had caught his breath, Old Man Ma asked, "Did you see Yun Mutian after you came out?"

I shook my head, indicating that I hadn't. If we ran into him, he would truly be difficult to deal with.

Third Master Guo snorted coldly, "That creature originally possessed intelligence. Once it broke free from the snake's body, of course it ran away! We have your fine apprentice to thank for his clumsy stumbling—not only did he put us through all this torment, but he also created such a formidable evil entity!"

While we were down below, I had prioritized the bigger picture and kept my mouth shut, but now that the dust had settled, although the incident started because of me, the fundamental root of the disaster was this old bastard surnamed Guo!

"If you hadn't tried to kill us, none of this would have happened! You triggered the array's eye, drawing out the double-headed snakes from the woods to trap my master, and then manipulated the possessed Yun Mutian to try and kill us all! You didn't just want to kill us; you wanted to kill everyone down there!" I raised my voice.

Third Master Guo's expression stiffened. He glared at me resentfully and snorted, "You mustn't talk nonsense! If I could control the possessed Yun Mutian, would I have let him run away?"

This old fellow's shamelessness truly exceeded my imagination. I never expected that he would brazenly tell lies like that!

"How can you lie like this?" Tu'e frowned, evidently as astonished by Third Master Guo's falsehood as I was.

"Humph! Considering that you are juniors, I won't lower myself to your level. Though our paths are different, I would never stoop to bullying the young!" the old bastard declared with an air of unyielding integrity.

What the fuck! This was too damn shameless! In the twenty or so years I had been alive, this was the first time I had ever seen someone so old yet so utterly devoid of shame. Even the professional scammers on the main street weren't this thick-skinned!

Tu'e was about to retort, but Old Man Ma intervened, "There's no use saying more. Everyone knows what kind of person someone is in their heart. Am I right, young man surnamed Yang?"

As Old Man Ma spoke, he glanced at Yang Guangrui. Yang Guangrui didn't express an opinion immediately; instead, he cast a meaningful look in my direction and then said, "Indeed."

I secretly sized him up. The way this guy looked at me suggested he knew something. From the very beginning, A-Hao hadn't even bothered to hide the fact that he kept glancing at me; had he already told this fellow about my background?

It wasn't much of a secret, and I didn't deny it, but I didn't want it twisted by someone with ulterior motives.

"It's getting late. Let's head back to the village first, have the villagers slaughter a few black dogs, and use their blood to kill off the remaining double-headed snakes in the woods," Old Man Ma said.

The group began walking toward the village. Everyone's cell phone battery had reached its absolute limit. To prolong the illumination, they had to turn off their phones one by one, keeping only a single phone lit, and switch to another only when the current one died. If it went pitch black, neither the village head nor Yang Baoshu—despite being locals—would be able to find their way in the dark.