Insufficient balance

  At this time, as we gathered together, the nine-headed snake's attack also concentrated on our front defense boundary. The corrosiveness of the poisonous gas was very large, and the outermost earth-based defense boundary had already begun to melt gradually.

  I suddenly found that the yellow snake head of the nine-headed snake who could use earth magic had not attacked, and was shaking its head with its eyes closed, seemingly doing something.

  Yin suddenly shouted: "Be careful." A huge boulder, similar in size to a small mountain, suddenly appeared in the sky and was about to crush us. This is a level 7 earth-based attack magic - Meteorite Technique. The attacking power of this magic is very strong, and the area is also large. If I were to block it with my own strength, the result would only be being crushed into a meat pie.

  I instantly understood the intentions of the nine-headed snake, it was using the attacks of several other heads to entangle us, and then use that yellow giant head to cast high-level magic, attempting to annihilate us, what a ruthless plan.

  To resist the other attacks, we can't dodge now and can only withstand it hard. Gold and silver shouted in unison, and another two layers of gold and silver fighting spirit protective walls were laid out in front of us. I quickly chanted: "Great Dark God, with my soul as a sacrifice, with my life as a bridge, grant me your endless divine power, form a solid dark wall, protect Your servant! Dark Shield!"

  This is an enhanced version of the fourth-level dark defense magic. Due to the enhancement of my dark magic power, this magic still has a pretty good defensive power.

  The meteorite crashed down, heavily striking the seal we had set up. I watched as the seal shattered layer by layer under its impact. The four legs of the golden and silver creatures were already deeply buried in the ground. With the arrival of the meteorite, it naturally blocked other attacks for us. I grabbed the golden creature's long hair and swung my ink brush with a fierce stormy weather technique, releasing a powerful blast of energy towards the ground.

  The spot where we stood erupted violently, and using the recoil force, I quickly pulled the golden and silver creatures away from the meteorite's attack.

  The massive meteorite crashed down, blasting a deep crater into the ground.

  Jin and Yin's ears and nose were all bleeding, panting heavily, most of the attacks just now were blocked by them, otherwise, I wouldn't have had a chance to escape with them.

  As soon as it landed, a large amount of mid-to-low level magic and poisonous gas came again, not giving us any chance to breathe. It seems that the Nine-Headed Snake is really enraged. Jin Yin barely managed to chant the incantation and set up a three-layer defensive barrier once more.

  Yin Wai Tou asked me, "Lei, what to do? If we experience another attack like the one just now, we'll all be done for." Sure enough, that snake head who was skilled in earth magic was once again chanting something.

  It's no longer possible for me to hold back, or else the only outcome will be death. "Darkness gathers the soul, falling is freedom, awaken, endless demonic power sleeping in my blood." I released the energy of the fallen angel, a large amount of dark fog surrounded me, black wings descended upon the earth once more, my entire body was shrouded in dark mist, the lion-headed mask on my face turned to ashes under the powerful force. "Great Dark God, with my soul as the sacrificial offering, with my life as the bridge, grant me Your endless divine power, form a solid dark barrier, protect Your servant! Dark Shield!"

  The same magic, after my transformation, has a completely different power, instantly blocking all attacks. Jin and Yin simultaneously felt a lightness on their bodies, taking advantage of this opportunity to quickly adjust the internal Qi and magical powers.

  The nine-headed snake was also stunned by the anomaly on our side, and the big head in the center blinked its eyes, exclaiming: "Demon Clan." In his surprise, the attacks from his several heads naturally weakened a bit.

  Taking advantage of his brief pause in attack, I let out a loud roar and plunged the Ink Shadow into the earth before me. The Crazy God's aura and Dark Magic power raged wildly under my control. I shouted: "Prepare to attack!" And with the Heart Method of Stormy Rain, I shot two energies straight at the lower body of the Nine-Headed Snake.

  "Boom." Two kinds of violent energy exploded under the nine-headed snake's body, and the entire lake surface seemed to be boiling, with water splashing up to over ten meters high. The enormous force caught the nine-headed snake off guard, and its entire body was shaken out of the lake surface. This time I saw clearly that its body was actually one zhang in diameter and over ten zhang long.

  I let out a loud shout: "Up!" With a flick of my dual wings, I merged with the sword and shot towards the nine-headed snake.

  The golden and silver threads didn't dare to slacken, suppressing the injuries within their bodies as they flew up.

  After transforming, I arrived in front of the nine-headed snake one step ahead of the golden and silver threads. The Ink Shadow brought forth a long, black light that slashed towards the middle head with great force.

  The body of the nine-headed snake was still mostly in the air, falling towards the lake surface, and had no chance to dodge. In desperation, it could only drive the three physical defense snake heads that were heavily damaged earlier to come up. The injured snake head couldn't withstand my transformed blow, and with a series of cracking sounds, the three huge snake heads fell off from their main body.

  Jin and Yin arrived just in time, letting out a loud whoop as they shot towards the nine-headed snake like a golden and silver meteor. The nine-headed snake remained calm in the face of danger, its five large heads simultaneously spitting out four magic bullets and one poisonous gas bullet.

  The massive energy and the full force of gold and silver collided in mid-air, continuously producing a rumbling sound. Due to the threat of the poisonous gas, gold and silver were unable to pursue further, but the violent power still sent the main body of the nine-headed snake flying over ten zhang.

  I dodged the aftermath of their power clash, withdrew Mo Ming behind me, and shouted: "Crazy Shadow Hundred Splits." My body split into two, two into four, four into eight, eight into sixteen... transforming into countless black shadows that shot towards Jiu Tou She. This is the fourth form of the Crazy God Fist, which I've only used for the first time since learning it.

  I don't use the Ink Oblivion, first because I'm afraid of killing the Nine-Headed Snake and making an irreconcilable enemy out of the snake tribe. Second, since I still can't fully grasp the secrets of this move, using my fists would allow me to exert more power instead.

  Under the amplification of Fallen Angel Transformation, Crazy Shadow Burst exerted enormous power. Each shadow was both illusory and substantial, chasing after Nine-Headed Snake's body like lightning and successfully breaking through his four-layer magical defense barrier.

  Boom, boom... Nine-Headed Snake's body was struck by me over a hundred times, especially the five large heads, three of which were beaten until their skin burst open.

  The attack power of the Kyoshin Douki with the dark magic is extremely surprising, and the nine-headed snake was unable to withstand it after being heavily injured by the gold and silver. Its body kept twisting with my attacks, and when it sank into the water, only two heads that were good at water system magic and wind system magic were still intact.

  Jin and Yin flashed to my side, wanting to continue the attack. I grabbed Jin's long hair and said, "Spare his life if you can, our goal isn't to kill him."

  The fresh blood of the nine-headed snake dyed a large area of lake water red, I hugged Jin's neck, constantly flapping my wings to keep us in the sky. The surrounding snake people soldiers were already in an uproar when I cut off three heads of the nine-headed snake, each with red eyes wanting to rush over and settle accounts with us.

  I waved my ink brush, releasing a black energy that blasted a trench three zhang long and half a zhang deep in front of the Snake People soldiers. "I don't want to kill people casually, not even your Nine-Headed Sage is an exception," I said. "What's the point of you coming up here?"

  Actually, I had no choice but to scare them off. In the battle with the nine-headed snake just now, both Jin and I exhausted a lot of physical strength. So many snake people are not what we can handle at present.

  Bubbles kept rising in the lake water, and a nine-headed snake slowly floated up with two of its heads.

  The golden and silver auras were about to clash, but the nine-headed snake hastily shook its body and retreated ten zhang. The blue snake head let out a mournful cry: "Stop fighting, I admit defeat." I was taken aback - just moments before, it had been so arrogant, yet now it seemed so weak.

  "Get your snake-like descendants out of here!"

  The nine-headed snake let out a helpless roar: "You bunch of trash, get out of my sight." Turning to us, "What do you want to do with me? As long as you don't kill me, I'll agree to any condition." He somehow restricted the spread of his voice, so only we could hear it. Yin sneered: "So the great Nine-Headed Saint of the Snake Clan is actually a cowardly and timid weakling?"

  " Bah, can you beat me? If it weren't for this demon clan, humph, I would have eaten this two-headed dog of yours long ago." Yin's anger surged, and he spat out a silver energy ball, scolding: "How dare you still speak!"

  The nine-headed snake didn't dare to confront them head-on, and dodged to the side, saying: "Fine, fine, fine. I'm no match for you all. I won't say anything else. Do whatever you want."

  "I said, 'I'm not some kind of demon tribe, but I admit that if you had used your full strength from the start, whether or not we could have defeated you is still an unknown quantity.' The nine-headed snake proudly raised its head and glared at Yin with one eye."

  Jin Chen said: "Go tell him, are we supposed to just hang here in mid-air?"

  The nine-headed snake let out a sigh, turned its body around, and headed towards the direction of Pan City, cutting through the waves with a swoosh.

  I flapped my wings and followed closely behind the golden light, chasing after the nine-headed snake. I transmitted a message to it: "You'd better not play any tricks, otherwise, I'll cut off your last two heads as well."

  "Let you guys be scared, here except me, who is still your opponent, I don't want my sons to die in vain." Silver proudly said: "You know that's good."

  The nine-headed snake didn't go through the main gate, but instead circled around to the side of the city and slipped in through a cave. I glanced at Jin, who whispered, "It should be fine, let's follow him." Having lost seven heads, this guy doesn't have much strength left to resist. I led Jin and Yin down to the ground, transforming back from the fallen angel form, and Jin and Yin also transformed back into their wolf-like forms. The nine-headed snake saw us following him and shook his body, transforming into a regular snake-man. What's funny is that four of his nine necks no longer had heads, three were limp and lifeless, and the remaining two were covered in scars.

  His remaining two heads with four small eyes looked at us cautiously and said, "You really won't kill me?" I smiled slightly, trying to maintain a "benevolent" appearance, saying, "Of course not, we've come this time because there's something we need your help with."

  The nine-headed snake shook its head, somewhat angrily saying: "You have something to ask of me yet you've ruined seven of my heads, aren't you being too ruthless?" Jin said with a tone of gloating over someone else's misfortune: "If we don't subdue you, would you honestly cooperate with us? Don't waste words, this isn't a place for negotiating terms."

  The nine-headed snake hissed, spat out its forked tongue and turned to walk into the cave, saying: "Follow me." I exchanged a smile with Jinying and followed him. Through the tacit cooperation in the battle just now, our friendship has increased a lot.

  After walking for a good while in the winding, damp cave, we finally reached the end. The nine-headed snake pressed a nondescript stone on the wall, and the wall at the end transformed into a stone gate that rose up: "Inside is my Nine Saints Palace, let's talk inside. I have buried a large amount of explosives here, if you are not beneficial to me... Hehe..." This guy was indeed cunning, although we were already very careful, we still unknowingly fell into his trap.

  Although I admired his cunning, I couldn't lose face and said disdainfully: "Hmph, do you think you have the chance to detonate explosives? Leave quickly, we really don't intend to kill you."

  Entering the stone gate, it is a wide and spacious corridor. The corridor is built with thick and solid rocks, and there are bright torches hanging on both sides of the wall. Through the corridor, we arrived at a palace, yes, a palace. The luxurious decoration here far surpasses that of the Beast Emperor's imperial palace, and compared to the VIP room I lived in back then, it is even more extraordinary.

  It's clear that this is just a bedroom, as a large bed with a thick fur mattress takes up about a quarter of the space. I've found that these ancient beasts all seem to like making their beds very big, are they afraid that they'll transform in their sleep or something?

  Jin knocked on the jade stone railings and exclaimed, "Nine-headed insect, you're really good at enjoying yourself. This is even more luxurious than our home in Yunna!"

  The silver-haired man tapped his foot on the carpet: "This can't be made of white bear skin, can it? Although the hair isn't long, the luster and tenacity are very similar. Looks like you're quite wealthy."

  The nine-headed snake hummed and replied, "Of course, do you think I would go help those civilians with farming like you guys? I want to enjoy myself well, especially in winter. If I don't keep warm properly, how can I sleep well?"

  In the Snake People tribe, I am the Supreme Emperor, and whatever I want is available. He said, walking to the center of the room and plopping down on the large sofa: "Double-headed Dog, what brings you here with people this time?"

  Jin's face was filled with rage as he shouted: "Nine-headed worm, be careful what you say! If it weren't for the fact that we're all ancient lineages, I'd kill you and wipe out your entire nine-headed worm clan!"

  "Hey, you little demon kid, listen to them, they keep calling me a nine-headed worm, why can't I call them two-headed dogs? It's not fair. Last time, if it wasn't for me showing mercy and sparing their lives, that crappy wolf god would have been gone already."

  I frowned and said, "I've told you before, I'm not a demon clan, and I hate it when others call me 'young master'. We're all unfamiliar with each other, so let's keep some courtesy. How about this: he calls you Nine-Headed Snake, and you can call him Jin Yin, to avoid further conflict."

  The nine-headed snake hummed and said, "You're not a demon clan, what are you? Not a demon clan can't fall angel transform? I'd rather die than believe it, do you think we beastmen have no vision? However, your method is good, Golden Silver? Such a vulgar name."

  Yin Dao: "Vulgar? At least we have a name, what about you, aren't you still called Nine-Headed Snake?"

  Nine-Headed Snake puffed up with anger and ignored them, rushing towards me to say: "You said you're not from the Demon Clan, then what are you?"

  My face darkened, and I said, "I am a mixed-blood of the human tribe, demon tribe, and beastman tribe. Naturally, I possess some special abilities. We came here to discuss something with you."

  "Wait, my injuries are severe. Let me recover first, then we can talk. You're more sincere than that... wolf." If not for Yin's warning glance, he might have called out the Double-Headed Dog again.

  An aged voice echoed within the temple: "Great Saint, I heard that you were injured." The nine-headed snake retrieved a copper tube connected to the ground from under the tea table. The voice was transmitted from there. The nine-headed snake said somewhat impatiently: "I'm fine, just exchanging blows with a few friends. You take care of comforting the young masters and have them guard the crossing well."

  The hoary voice replied respectfully: "Yes, my saint, if you have any needs, just instruct me."

  "Alright, you go do your own thing." After saying that, the nine-headed snake somehow found a wooden plug to block the copper pipe's mouth. He looked up at me and said: "This is that damned old snake elder, if it weren't for them serving me quite diligently, I would've eaten him long ago just because he's so annoying... Ah, no, his meat is too old, not tasty..."

  These ancient races all have the habit of nagging, I reminded him: "Aren't you going to heal your wounds? Hurry up, I still have something to say to you."

  The nine-headed snake hastily sat up straight, crossed his legs and said: "I'll start now, you can do as you please." With that, he began to cultivate on his own.

  I transmitted a sound to Jindao: "Looking at his appearance, it seems that he doesn't have much hostility towards us. Otherwise, he wouldn't have treated his wounds in front of us. Why did you guys become enemies with him?"

  Jin and Yin exchanged a glance, both of their faces showing some helplessness, loss, and self-blame.

  Jin let out a sigh and said, "Actually, we were originally very good friends, all coming from that large forest. However, after leaving the forest, we were disturbed by this bustling world and often quarreled due to our different understanding of the same thing. Over time, our arguments gradually escalated into physical fights. This guy was inherently one level higher than us, so every time we fought, we basically ended up at a disadvantage. In a fit of rage, I and Yin left him, which was when we met the elder of the Wolf Tribe, and Jiu Tou She met the tribe leader here. We naturally became the totems of our respective tribes. However, this didn't weaken our competitive spirit. Every now and then, we would find him and engage in a fierce battle. Due to the difference in strength, we surprisingly never won once, but Jiu Tou She never truly harmed us either. Until we met you... to be honest, when we followed you down the mountain, we had ulterior motives. We wanted to use your power to suppress Jiu Tou She and satisfy our own vanity."

  I said with some discontent: "So you've been using me all along, if you regret it now, you can go back to Yunna and be your own emperor, but I absolutely won't let you kill the nine-headed snake, that would provoke the beastmen to slaughter each other. Is vanity really that important? What's the point of being able to beat him or not?"

  "Come on, how could we kill him? We wouldn't even leave you. You're right, after what happened just now, both Silver and I have come to our senses - this whole thing was our fault, we were too petty. The Nine-Headed Snake never really hurt us, but today we damaged seven of his heads and greatly weakened his powers. Earlier in the air, we even had the intention to kill him. You saw it too, didn't you? Even when we had the intention to kill him, he still didn't show any hostility towards us... and yet we kept going on about that tiny little matter, that tiny bit of face... Compared to the Nine-Headed Snake, we're really too selfish. Once he's recovered from his injuries, we'll apologize to him. Regardless of whether or not he wants to follow you, we'll fulfill our promise on the mountain - there are just too many things we need to learn. However, Silver and I hope that you won't pressure him too much, give him the right to choose freely... okay? Consider it a plea from us."

  I didn't expect the Nine-Headed Snake to be such a sentimental and righteous guy. I nodded my head solemnly and said, "Don't worry, I absolutely won't make things difficult for him. Our previous consumption wasn't small either. Originally, I was still worried that he would launch a sneak attack. After hearing what you all said, I think now we can rest assured and take a break."

  After finishing speaking, I also learn from the nine-headed snake's appearance and sit cross-legged, rotating the two kinds of energy inside my body.

  Jin and Yin looked at each other, nodded firmly, and flashed to the back of the nine-headed snake. They stretched out their palms and slowly input their remaining Dou Qi into the snake's body to help it heal its wounds.

  The nine-headed snake first shook its entire body, then gradually calmed down, and the remaining two snake heads had a faint smile at the corner of their mouths.

  Two kinds of energy in me are running along their prescribed routes, and every week brings some new-born power to gather into the original torrent.

  This feeling is really great, after they have run for twenty-one weeks, my body is once again filled with the power of the Crazy God and Dark Magic. I took a deep breath and slowly withdrew my energy.

  The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the nine-headed snake, and it was still practicing. What made me feel extremely strange was that the four heads that were originally destroyed had all grown new pink heads, and the ones that were beaten to the point of being unable to work also stood up straight, with their eyes merged together. No wonder it's not easy to deal with this guy - he actually has regenerative abilities.

  I slightly raised my head and was startled, Jin and Yin were standing behind the nine-headed snake, with one golden and one silver arm exerting force on the nine-headed snake's back. The hair on their bodies was wet and dripping, white steam constantly rising from them. Their faces were pale grey, clearly showing signs of excessive exhaustion.

  I move freely, flashing behind the golden and silver backs, my palms slapping together in succession, stirring up the Crazy God's fighting energy to invade their bodies. I was shocked to discover that this so-called Wolf God had already approached the edge of exhaustion, with only an extremely weak energy left inside his body, yet still pouring into the body of the Nine-Headed Snake.

  If I had woken up a little later, they would have been in danger of dying from exhaustion. I controlled the Crazy God's aura and first cut off the channel through which they were inputting energy into the Nine-Headed Snake, sucking their bodies back to their original position, with my toes tapping against their knees. With a thud, Jin and Yin sat down on the ground, I took a deep breath, freed one hand from my pocket and took out the green pine stone, placing it in my palm, using the pure Crazy God's aura to fill up their weakened bodies.

  After being nourished by the Crazy God's aura, both Jin and Yin simultaneously spat out a mouthful of turbid air, recovering some of their divine consciousness. They crossed their hands over their legs with their palms facing upwards, and began to recover on their own.

  Their bodies' golden and silver energies are the source of their power, which has begun to slowly circulate. I naturally won't repeat their mistakes, after pushing them through a cycle of their own energy circulation and slowly withdrawing my own strength, I place the green jade in the center of their palms, letting them recover on their own.

  This Jin Yin is too foolish, the Nine-Headed Snake obviously has the ability to recover on its own, but he insists on helping. Instead of showing his apology like this, it would be better to wait until the Nine-Headed Snake recovers and then say a sincere sorry.

  After about two hours or so, the nine-headed snake was the first to wake up from his meditation. He had already restored his nine heads and eighteen eyes blinked at me several times in a row.

  I exclaimed: "Your regenerative ability is really impressive, you can recover to your previous state so quickly." The nine-headed snake shook its restored heads and chuckled: "Of course, this is my most powerful skill. As long as not all of my heads are cut off at the same time and my body is completely destroyed, I can regenerate again. Although it's not comparable to the legendary phoenix's rebirth from ashes, it's still pretty good. However, my strength won't recover in a short while, and I don't know how much food I need to eat to replenish myself. You two were quite coordinated during the fight earlier, especially your last move, which almost took my life. Wasn't it Double-Headed Dog... no, Double-Headed Wolf who healed me just now?"

  I nodded and said, "Yes, he thinks he's not as broad-minded as you are, and he's a bit regretful. It's just compensation. They've also suffered greatly themselves, and they're desperately treating you, almost exhausting themselves to the point of collapse. What's the point of all this? You were too careless too, if we had gone all out from the start, we might not have been able to defeat you."

  The nine heads of the nine-headed snake shook simultaneously, saying: "Actually, I've never blamed them. In my heart, they will always be my friends. Our ancient species is already very rare, and I cherish this feeling deeply. It's just that I often can't control myself and want to argue with them, but those two are so stubborn. By the way, what brought you and them together to find me?" I smiled slightly and told him about my Beast God plan.

  The nine-headed snake stared blankly, saying: "You're quite ambitious, no, it can't be called ambition, but your idea is very good. The beastmen are indeed too chaotic, okay, I agree to your request and support you. However, they should have also told you that I'm a lazy snake who has become accustomed to an easy life, so it's better for me to stay here and control the overall situation of the snake people."

  I didn't expect him to agree so readily, although he refused to leave the mountain with us, but this result has already satisfied me: "I won't force you, everyone has the right to choose their own way of survival, however, you should restrain those snake sons and grandsons of yours, they are simply too overbearing and tyrannical. Other races, as long as they utter some disrespectful words in your territory, will immediately face a disaster that will destroy their homes."

  "Really? I didn't know that. This needs to be thoroughly investigated, or the two-headed wolf will say that I'm not doing a good job of managing my subordinates. After you leave, I'll pay attention to this aspect and it seems that I've been too lazy lately, it's time for me to care about Sasari."

  "It's not just laziness, it's... " A weak voice came over, they had also finished their cultivation and as soon as they opened their eyes, they heard the Nine-Headed Snake's words and couldn't help but retort. The Nine-Headed Snake laughed and said: "Double-headed... that wolf, you're awake."

  Jin said in a bad mood: "How, do you still hope we won't wake up? Lei, have you told him about your business?" I nodded and said: "I've already told him, the Nine-Headed Snake has decided to support my decision, but he will stay here to guard his subordinates." Yin said: "Alas, this guy is just too lazy. On the mainland, there are so many new and interesting things to pursue, but he prefers to sleep in his own bed. Lei, thank you for earlier, I'll return this to you. If it weren't for the fact that it provided us with a large amount of life force, it wouldn't have been easy to wake up."

  As he spoke, he handed over the green turquoise. When passing by Jiu Tou She, Yin deliberately moved the green turquoise, causing the gem's light to flash in front of his eyes.

  The nine-headed snake's eighteen small eyes lit up at the same time when it saw the green turquoise, and it snatched it away, carefully examining this oily green gemstone from top to bottom: "Wow, such a pure green turquoise! Does the Beastman tribe have something so good?" Jin Chong gave me a sly glance.

  I said with a smile: "Sorry, this gemstone has many uses for me and I can't give it to you." The nine-headed snake looked at the gemstone in its hand greedily, and reluctantly returned it to me.

  I secretly smiled to myself, took off my outer garment and revealed the Mazi Xigua armor underneath. I furrowed my brow and said, "Oh dear, I forgot which pocket this gemstone should be in, let me take a look." As I spoke, I walked over to the tea table and one by one, pulled out the gemstones from the small pockets.

  They were four black gems, two chicken blood stones, three blue diamonds, three yellow citrines, one green peridot and one purple amethyst. The total of fourteen gems illuminated the nine-headed snake's bedroom into a rainbow color. Jin and Yin knew that I had many good things, but they didn't know the exact number. Suddenly seeing so many top-grade gems, they were stunned for a moment. Jin said in surprise: "Lei, it turns out that you are the richest one."

  The nine-headed snake was even more miserable, with nine heads flowing out of nine mouths and eighteen eyeballs staring as if they were about to fall out. I ignored their surprise, picked out a chicken blood stone and threw it at Jinsil, saying: "You keep this for use, it can refresh your mind and is very beneficial for cultivation and battle."