Chapter 36: War Reparations

  A bear man and Jin shouted in unison: "Is anyone alive?"

  The snake-headed waiter carried two plates of dishes and walked up, clinking, and placed them on our table. He turned around and walked to the new customer's table, asking impatiently: "What do you guys want to eat?"

  The bear man said, "Just give us something to fill our bellies and hurry up. We're in a rush." The snake-headed waiter knew at once that they were poor devils who had come to beg for food, and he gave them a white eye, saying, "Wait a minute," before turning around and walking back into the kitchen. I was also getting hungry, so I picked up a piece of some unidentifiable dish and tossed it into my mouth. The moment it touched my tongue, I spat it out immediately, coughing uncontrollably, which made Jin and Yin burst out laughing.

  "Hey, what's the hurry? Eat slowly."

  I finally managed to control myself, sat back down, and panted: "What is this thing? It's so disgusting, it's not just salty, but also spicy to death."

  Jin Dao: "How can that be? I'm eating it just fine." As he spoke, he ate several more pieces in a row. It's really unknown how he managed to swallow them down. He even gestured for me to try some of the other dishes.

  For my stomach, I refused. The fellow asked for a bowl of plain boiled water and took out the dry rations that Wolf had given me to eat. Although the taste was not great, it could still be swallowed.

  Our table was constantly filled with dish after dish, all of which looked pitch black. Jin and Yin were eating with great relish, and it was really impossible to stop them. I had no idea what they would think when they tasted the delicacies at Longshen Temple later on. When Jin and Yin had cleared away half of the dishes on the table, the people who came later refused to eat any more.

  A bear man roared: "Buddy, come over."

  The snake-headed man slowly served us the last dish, swaying as he walked away. He flipped his nearly black eyeballs and unconsciously licked his mouth with his tongue, saying disdainfully: "What's up?" The angry bear-like man slammed his hand heavily on the table, making the seemingly fragile wooden structure creak: "Why haven't we had a single dish served after being here for so long?"

  The snake-headed man rolled his eyes again, his hands clasped together in front of his chest, and said coldly: "Yours? Wait a bit longer, don't you know what it means to come first and go last? The one who came first naturally eats first. You're just making a fuss over nothing." The bear-headed man slammed his hand on the table, which couldn't withstand his massive palm, and with a loud crack, it turned into a pile of broken pieces: "You damn dog-eyed creature looking down on people, I'll kill you, you turtle egg!" It seemed like they were about to come to blows.

  A fox-man on the left hastily stopped the reckless bear-man, saying in a low voice: "Don't get angry, forget it." Turning his head to the snake-man companion, he said: "Hurry up and bring us what we want, this table is our compensation."

  The snake man was about to erupt when he saw the bear man smashing the table, and upon seeing this, he spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm and cursed: "Damn it, you think you're so powerful just because you've come to our territory? I'll let you know that you can't stay here!" After finishing his sentence, he blew a long whistle. The fox man who was blocking the bear man's path changed his expression and said: "Brother, don't be like this, we're all struggling to make a living outside, why must we resort to violence?"

  The snake man sneered, "I don't care what you're doing, as long as you come to our territory to cause trouble, we snakes won't let you off easy. It just so happens that the Nine-Headed Saint is hungry, and we'll use you few to pay respects to him." When I heard this, I knew things were going to get ugly, these outsiders were in for it.

  Jin and Yin seemed to have not heard their conversation, still eating there on their own. We came here with a mission, I naturally wouldn't go looking for unnecessary trouble, lowering my head, eating my dry rations, pretending I didn't know what happened. A large group of snake people flooded into the restaurant, surrounding those outsiders, the snake person shouted: "Brothers, these outsiders insulted me, and also insulted our sacred Snake God, you say, what should we do?"

  I took a sneak peek, and these snake people were all ordinary civilians from the surrounding area, not a single high-ranking one among them. There were quite a few of them, around thirty or forty, but I knew that these outsiders weren't pushovers either.

  A leopard man behind them was apparently their leader and said in a low voice: "Fight quickly and end this fast."

  The bear man let out a loud roar and pounced on the snake man, apparently he hated this guy. The eight foreign beastmen and the group of snake men suddenly clashed together, making the entire restaurant lively with the sound of fighting. I transmitted to Jindao: "You guys hurry up and eat, leave quickly, don't cause trouble here."

  Yin Dao: "Such an interesting thing, wouldn't it be a pity if we didn't get involved?"

  I frowned and said: "When we were on the mountain, you promised me that there are more important things to do, and there will be opportunities for you to cause trouble later."

  "Alright, but you'd better do your best when dealing with the Nine-Headed Worm! We've already eaten our fill." Yin and Yang each grabbed a few things and tossed them into their mouths. I threw a few gold coins on the table and was the first to leave the restaurant.

  Although they were making a big fuss, they couldn't affect our pace. Accelerating for a moment, we had already left the restaurant.

  We had just left, and the battle at the restaurant was basically over. That group of strangers was extremely powerful, killing more than a dozen snake people before throwing down two corpses and rushing out themselves. A large group of snake people were chasing after them, and these people were rushing in our direction. I pulled Jin and Yin to the side of the road, letting the remaining six foreign beastmen rush past.

  A large group of snake people followed closely behind, they were all unarmed, sharp and poisonous claws, teeth were their best weapons. One of the snake people stared at us suspiciously as he passed by.

  Jin Dao: "What are you looking at? They're almost gone, hurry up and chase them." The snake man suddenly shouted to his companions: "There are two more outsiders here, they might be accomplices of the ones from earlier, kill them!" His words immediately attracted over a dozen snake men. Jin helplessly rushed towards me: "It's not that we wanted to cause trouble, it's just that they don't want to live, what can I do?"

  I'm also furious at the arrogance of the snake people. If it weren't for the sake of being able to capture Sa Si, I would have taken action long ago.

  "I glared at the approaching snake people and coldly said, 'Give you an opportunity, disappear in front of me immediately, otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite. Let me tell you, we two are friends of the Nine-Headed Saint.'"

  The snake people who were about to take action stopped immediately upon hearing the name of the Nine-Headed Saint. One of them asked in doubt, "What proof do you have that you are a friend of the Nine-Headed Saint?"

  Hehe smiled and said: "Of course we can prove it, now we are going to find the Nine-Headed Saint, or you can follow us, we came to give him a gift."

  When they heard that we were going to send gifts, the snake people couldn't help but believe a little. One of them asked: "Are you and those few people from just now in cahoots?"

  Jin Dao: "Of course not, otherwise we wouldn't help them, would we? You'd better hurry up and chase after those outsiders who were disrespectful to the Nine-Headed Saint earlier. We're all our own people."

  I was very satisfied with Jin's answer, and my face also eased up, saying in a low voice: "If you delay our meeting with the Nine-Headed Saint, whatever the consequences are, you will have to bear them yourselves."

  With a rustling sound, a red-scaled snake man with black spots on his back suddenly appeared from behind. He looked quite old and was considered strong among the snake people. As soon as he came over, he shouted angrily: "Why haven't you gone to chase the enemy yet? What are you doing here?"

  "Reporting to Village Chief, these two outsiders claim to be friends of Master Jiu Shou and say they want to give gifts to the master. We are currently interrogating them."

  The village head of Snake Man looked us up and down a few times, and asked cautiously: "What gift are you going to give to the master?"

  "I said coldly: 'There's no need for you to know this, the thing must be personally handed over to Jiu Tou Sheng. If something goes wrong, are you responsible?'"

  The village chief of the snake people was choked by me for a moment, his face showed anger, but with the pressure of the Nine-Headed Saint, he didn't dare to erupt: "We're already very close to the Patriarch's place here, since you're delivering goods to the Nine-Headed Saint, we'll escort you there."

  I was shocked in my heart, the wisdom of the beastmen has increased now, this snake-headed village head really has some brains, however, relying on them a few is still not enough to pose a threat to us.

  I hummed and said, "Suit yourselves, but we're leaving now. If you can keep up, then follow us." After finishing speaking, I took a step with both feet and floated out.

  Golden and silver Ha ha one smile, following in my footsteps, our speed is not something they can keep up with, just a few blinks of an eye, we have already disappeared from their line of sight.

  Yin Dao: "Lei, your endurance is very strong."

  I gave her a sideways glance and said, "What's the point of this? They didn't even threaten us, killing them would be pointless. Hmm, I think this is the third time we've run into them today, quite a coincidence."

  Not far ahead, we once again encountered the remaining six beastmen from earlier. They were being entwined by over a dozen snake people, struggling ceaselessly.

  Among these dozen or so snake people, there were three high-level snake people. The six foreign beastmen who were back to back and struggling hard against them looked like they wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.

  Yin Dao: "Running into each other three times in one day, that's fate. Let's save them." Jin sneered: "Huh? When did you become so kind-hearted and willing to rescue people?"

  Yin Nu said: "What's wrong, can't I save people? Today I'm in a good mood and these people look pleasing to the eye, what about it?"

  Jin: "You...". I interrupted them and said, "Alright, are you two tired? Xīn, do you really want to save them?"

  Yin nodded and said: "Looking at them doesn't seem like bad people, it's a pity to die in the hands of these unreasonable snake people."

  I took a look around, flapped my ears, and within 300 meters, even the sound of leaves falling to the ground couldn't escape my hearing. Except for the two sides fighting and us, there were no other living creatures in this not-so-dense forest.

  I exchanged a glance with Jin Yin and said, "Make your move, let's end this quickly."

  Yin let out a cheerful wolf howl and charged out with their shared body, silver aura enveloping them whole, I flew in pursuit.

  Our arrival suddenly alerted the snake people, and a senior snake man was about to rush towards us when he encountered Yin's heavy kick. His reaction was quick, and he immediately opened his bloody big mouth to welcome us. As long as we were scratched by his teeth, Jin and Yin would be in danger.

  Of course, I wouldn't worry about those two perverts at all. Silver's "jade legs" were just as the snake man had expected, sent right into his big mouth, but before he could even get excited, they were already blown to pieces by Silver's violent aura. This Silver guy, not a bit of ladylike demeanor, is actually more violent than Gold.

  My whole body bursts with energy, a yellow glow surrounds me, I coldly judge the position of the snake people, my right foot lightly taps on the ground.

  This is my improved *, no longer need to punch heavily, just infuse the Crazy God's aura into the ground, and it can control it to attack enemies arbitrarily within a certain range.

  The ground in the center of the Snake People exploded, and a large amount of dust, broken stones mixed with extremely strong aura rushed towards them. The Crazy God Technique that had been cultivated to the fourth layer was again upgraded, and the seven successful forces it emitted were enough to solve all their problems.

  Jīn Yín, who had just annihilated two snake people, looked at the battered and bruised snake person on the ground and shouted: "Lei, you didn't even leave us a few!"

  I glared at the six beastmen and said, "Who made you move so slowly? You obviously have the strength, but you insist on being lazy." The six surviving beastmen stared blankly at us, unsure of what to say for a moment. I took two steps forward and asked, "Have any of you been injured by the snake people?" A foxman replied respectfully, "Thank you, kind sirs, for saving our lives. None of us were injured, we're just a bit tired."

  I waved my hand and said, "Don't call me a benefactor, it's just a coincidence. I suggest you leave Sarsland quickly, the snake people here are very ferocious."

  Jin and Yin walked over, Jin said: "Lei is right, you guys have nothing to do with this place, why are you still here? Hurry up and leave!" The fox man sighed and said: "Two benefactors, it's not that we wanted to come here, but we were forced to. We were originally part of the military, belonging to different troops. This time, after the defeat, you should have also heard about it. In the battle, we were in charge of contacting the demon tribe as logistics officers. Those demons gave us a hard time, and after the battle was over, they said that we beastmen had dragged them down and caused them great losses, so they demanded compensation from us."

  "I exclaimed in surprise: 'Compensation? Don't those high-ranking officials of the Demon Clan know how poor we Beastmen are? We can barely afford to eat, and now you want us to pay compensation? Are they asking us to compensate for a few bandits?"

  The fox man smiled bitterly and said, "No, they want gold coins, and we have to compensate them with five million gold coins. These five million gold coins may not be a big deal for the Dragon God Empire, but for our Beastman Nation, it's a considerable amount. We just returned from the demon tribe's army, in order to save time and report to His Majesty as soon as possible, we had to cross the Sars territory to reach the imperial capital earlier, who knew, we encountered such a thing."

  Yin Dao: "Why didn't you guys take out your military IDs and reason with them just now?"

  The fox man shook his head, "What's the use of our identities, unless we have more deterrent power than the Mong King or the Emperor's Crazy Lion Army? For a small officer like us, do you think these local forces will take us seriously? Alas, if this matter is not handled properly, even without human intervention, our beastman tribe will be in danger."

  "Damn it, this demon clan is too much, they can't beat humans and it's not entirely the beastmen's fault, why do we have to compensate them?"

  "My face turned solemn as I said, 'This matter is indeed extremely serious, you must return immediately. Let's do this, the two of us will escort you for a while, once we leave the Saishi territory, there should be no more danger. I am the vice leader of the Beast God Sect, our sect's creed is to protect the vast number of beastmen so that they can live in peace and prosperity on this continent. When you return, tell His Majesty what I said, he must make thorough preparations, those demons are wolves that devour humans without spitting out their bones.'"

  "My last words were cut off by Yin's angry voice: 'What do you mean by saying that we are wolves who eat people without spitting out their bones? Are our wolf tribe really that bad?'"

  I awkwardly said: "Sorry, I misspoke for a moment. The matter of escorting them is more important. Let's go find the Nine-Headed Worm and stall for a bit."

  Jin Dao: "Never mind, the nine-headed worm can't escape either. I'll listen to you. We also hope that nothing goes wrong with the Beastman Nation."

  So, I and Jin escorted the six military officers who had made great efforts on the front line to set off in the direction of the imperial capital. It wasn't until five days later that we returned after sending them out of the range of Sasari territory. What we didn't know was that during these five days, a major incident occurred. "Lei, look, the city in front is the largest plate city in Sasari territory. The little insect with nine heads lives in the Nine Holy Palace inside." Jin introduced to me the city in front of us, which couldn't be considered magnificent.

  This city wall looks only four zhang high, and the scale is only one-fifth of that of the Beastman Imperial City. The most peculiar thing is that there is a three-mile radius of water around the city, which can also be said to be an island city built on the lake surface. The clear lake water has become a natural barrier for this city. Various tall trees are planted around the lake, and it seems that the snake people still care about their imperial city. I asked: "Jin, do all snake people love water?"

  "Right, if they were in the water, these guys would be even more formidable. Unfortunately, aquatic battles are rare on the mainland, otherwise, organizing them into a naval force would definitely make them famous throughout the continent."

  Yin Dao: "Stop the nonsense, let's go in quickly." It can be seen that Jin and Yin attach great importance to this battle with Jiu Tou She. Their eyes are flashing with an indescribable excitement.

  I arrived at the ferry terminal, where a dozen or so ferries were docked, all guarded by snake-headed soldiers. I stepped forward and shouted: "Which boat can take me into the city?"

  A sturdy snake-man soldier walked over, eyeing us up and down. When he saw the gold and silver wrapped in our cloaks, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes: "Do you want to enter the city?"

  I nodded and handed him a silver coin, saying: "Please do me a favor." He tossed the silver coin in his hand and said: "You can enter the city, but you are not allowed to bring any weapons." As he spoke, he pointed at the ink-colored sword in my hand. I furrowed my brow and said: "My sword is my life, we can negotiate about the fare, but I absolutely cannot leave my sword behind."

  The snake-like soldier's face changed, and he slammed the silver coin onto me, saying: "This is our snake people's rule. If you want to enter the city, you must follow this rule. Otherwise, get out!"

  When did I ever suffer such humiliation, a fierce killing aura suddenly burst out, and the breath of death shrouded the entire ferry. The sturdy snake-like soldier trembled all over, his face stern and menacing as he shouted: "You, what do you want to do?" With a raise of his hand, he threw a signal flare into the sky.

  A red light shot straight up into the sky, and suddenly a large group of snake people surrounded us. I couldn't help but feel infuriated by these arrogant guys, and Jin grabbed my arm, shaking his head at me.

  I activated the Tianmo Jue, using the dark and cold magic to suppress the anger in my heart. If I were to go on a killing spree here, there would be no turning back for me and the snake tribe.

  The surrounding snake people are getting more and more, all of them are fierce regular army snake men, wearing leather armor with the word "brutal" on it. The movements of these snake people are really fast, in a short period of time, at least thousands of people have surrounded the crossing point.

  My mind is racing, thinking about how to get out of the current predicament.

  Jin and Yin were not in a hurry, leaning against me, carelessly looking at the snake people around. "Ha——ha——ha, who did I think it was? It's you, that two-headed little dog! How is it? You didn't accept defeat last time, so you came back for another round?" The voice was enormous and shocking, causing the surface of Panchi Lake to ripple with wave after wave. The snake people soldiers around us suddenly all fell to the ground, devoutly praying to something.

  Jin tore off the cloak on his head and shouted angrily: "Bah, you nine-headed worm, come out and compete with us if you have the ability. What kind of thing is hiding your head and showing your tail?" The surface of Panchi Lake was shaking more and more violently, from ripples to waves. I shouted loudly: "Be careful!" My body flew away from the dock.

  Jin and Yin jumped up hastily after hearing my call, half a body slower than me. Under our feet, a huge wave crashed past with a loud bang.

  Although it can't harm us, if we're caught on camera, how can we still have the face to compete with the nine-headed snake?

  He floated down to a distance of 100 meters from the crossing point and shouted: "Nine-headed worm, come out! What kind of skill is it to suddenly shoot a cold arrow?"

  Some of the snake men soldiers on the ferry fell into Panchi Lake under the call of the huge waves, all snake people can swim, and this cannot harm them at all.

  They crawled out of the water and still crouched on the ground, not daring to move. What a faithful believer! The previous arrogance and domineering attitude had vanished without a trace.

  "My subordinates are still daring to be arrogant on my turf, fine, let them know my ferocity." The surface of Pan City Lake was boiling, and in the center of the lake's surface directly in front of Pan City, huge bubbles kept emerging, nine gigantic snake heads appeared, each as thick as a man could wrap his arms around.

  Although his body can't be seen, his enormity is imaginable. The five heads in the center are all different, with the middle one being purple, and to the left are blue and yellow, while to the right are red and green, which should be the four magical attributes of gold, silver, plus poison gas attribute. The outer four heads are covered with armor and spikes of varying sizes, swaying in front of the five main heads.

  Yin Chuan said to me, "Be careful, Lei. This is the strongest form of the Nine-Headed Bug. Later on, you'll still turn into that red thing. Now there's no point in talking about it anymore. If we don't defeat him, I'm afraid none of us can leave this place." I now realize that Jin and Yin were deceiving me from the start. The strength displayed by the Nine-Headed Snake was not something they could withstand, let alone fight evenly. Even with my transformation, I may not be able to do it either.

  As I thought of this, a surge of anger rose up in my heart. With the help of this anger, I tried hard to recall the brutal, arrogant and cruel nature of the snake people. In front of so many people, I absolutely could not become a fallen angel first, otherwise, how would I be able to stand firm among the beastmen again? Going berserk was my best choice.

  The central head of the nine-headed snake sneered, "Two-headed dog, you're quite bold, I spared your life last time and you dare to come again." He glanced at me and continued, "Oh, so you've brought some help. It seems there are two more little ones. Looking for trouble? I hate it when people disturb my bath the most."

  After finishing, the nine-headed snake laughed wildly and unceasingly. Hearing the nine-headed snake's command, the surrounding snake people quickly retreated to both sides, cheering for their supreme sacred snake from a distance.

  Jin and Yin were so angry that they couldn't speak, their two big heads raised to the sky and let out a long howl. The cloak covering them outside was torn apart by their violent protective true energy, revealing the golden and silver long hair on their bodies. Their bodies underwent strange transformations, swelling violently, and with a sudden movement, they transformed into a giant wolf over three feet tall and nine feet long, half gold and half silver.

  Under the pressure of the nine-headed snake, Jin and Yin had to transform into their true forms to resist. The nine-headed snake sneered: "What, do you want to play with your lives? You're just a defeated general." I was the most frustrated, having tried for half a day but still unable to make myself go berserk. I realized that it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to go berserk, which might be related to my deeper cultivation of the Tianmo Jue. I must first go berserk and then transform into a fallen angel in order not to be discovered by the opponent as having the power of the demon clan. But now, I'm unable to do so. I transmitted a message to Jin: "I currently can't go berserk, you guys go first, I'll wait for an opportunity."

  Jin didn't respond to my words, let out a loud roar, and the golden long hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood up. He opened his mouth and spat out a fireball the size of a washbasin towards the poisonous head in the middle of the nine-headed snake. The fireball continued to grow larger in mid-air, and the scorching airflow was so intense that I could clearly feel it even from where I was standing.

  The blue head of the nine-headed snake swung back and forth, opening its mouth to spit out a large water ball, which collided with another in mid-air, producing a hissing sound. A white mist rose from the point of fusion.

  The nine-headed snake laughed and said, "Double-headed dog, you fool, this is all water, yet you still use fire to attack. Look at me." The nine-headed snake's body shook, and the four large heads on the outside quickly pounced over. Three of them pounced towards Jinyu, while one with bared teeth charged towards me. I focused my mind and grasped the Mò Míng tightly, as the Crazy God's aura surged out wildly. I also wanted to try it out and see just how formidable this guy was. I concentrated all my attention on the Mò Míng, holding it above my head with both hands. The Mò Míng shone with a bright yellow light, waiting for the enemy's arrival.

  The snake head that pounced on me, seeing that I didn't dodge, immediately accelerated and charged towards me. When it was about three meters away from me, I exerted force with both feet and leapt into the air, shouting loudly: "Crazy Battle Across the World."

  The furious energy of the Mad God surged wildly within me, pouring into my hands and then injecting into Mo Ming. Mo Ming brought out a one-meter-long yellow awn in mid-air, slashing towards the giant snake head. This was an extraordinary phenomenon that I had never seen before. It was also the first time I had fully exerted myself after cultivating the Mad God's Secret to the fourth level, and it had such an unexpected effect.

  My opponent was just a snake head after all, with the main body behind it, dodging and weaving in vain, instantly being chopped by me heavily right in the center of the snake head.

  The nine heads of the Nine-Headed Snake let out a mournful cry at the same time, and the big head that I chopped was splattered with fresh blood, with a deep blood groove appearing on its forehead. However, this guy's defensive power is indeed astonishing, even if it were to be hit by me like the Mongolian Beast, it would probably be beheaded, but this individual head was only seriously injured.

  On the other side, Jin and Yin would not let go of this opportunity. The two big heads simultaneously roared: "Golden Dragon Wave." A huge wolf body rapidly rotated in mid-air, with golden energy on the outside and silver energy on the inside, quickly releasing a dragon-like impact wave. The nine-headed snake apparently did not expect that Jin and Yin would go all out as soon as they started, and under the attack of the impact wave, three snake heads attacking them were instantly heavily injured. The one in front suddenly exploded, while the other two also had blood splashing everywhere. For a moment, the nine-headed snake was caught off guard and did not use its full strength, but it seized the opportunity.

  The four snake heads that had been severely damaged hung weakly on both sides, and a large amount of snake blood dyed the lake water red. The nine-headed snake's body rapidly shook in the water, recalling its four physically attacking snake heads, let out a mournful cry, and the central five heads launched separate attacks. Countless ice cones, wind blades, and fireballs poured down from the sky, but the greatest threat was still the large head in the center spewing out purple toxic gas. Jinsil quickly flashed to my side, his body curled up together, and the two wolf heads rapidly chanted incantations, continuously casting three layers of magical defensive barriers that appeared before us, withstanding the nine-headed snake's attack.

  Yin manipulated the defensive barrier on one side, and chuckled: "This time this stinky bug is going to suffer a big loss. He definitely didn't think that we've made so much progress, and as soon as he came up, he damaged one of his heads. Our chances are much greater now."

  Jin was no longer his usual mischievous self, and said solemnly: "Don't be careless, this guy isn't that easy to deal with. Haven't you had enough of losing yet? Lei, if all else fails, use the Fallen Angel transformation later. That one sword of yours just now was very strong, and even without transforming, it could heavily injure him."

  I feel the fierce energy surging inside me, and I have a strong urge to fight: "Jin, how about I go out and exchange blows with him?" Jin says: "No way, it's too dangerous."