Chapter: The Bone Snakes
The low-lying land between the two mountains was barren—like a dry riverbed.
Cheng Yu walked down the hillside and came to the river valley between the two mountains.
The corpse flowers were blooming gorgeously. The stench was everywhere. Mina and Ivennie frowned and covered their noses. This thing was too smelly.
Coming to the corpse flowers, Cheng Yu took out two large cloth bags from the system warehouse and began picking them.
He stretched out his right hand. Before his fingers touched the corpse flowers, the ground in the river valley began trembling violently.
Somewhere fifty meters away, the soil layer surged upward.
A seven or eight-meter-long bone snake burst from the ground. There was no flesh or blood on its body—completely a white skeleton. The hollow snake eyes flashed red light, staring straight at Cheng Yu and the other two.
The scarred necromancer had said there were undead monsters here.
Without any panic, Cheng Yu tossed two large cloth bags to Mina. "Mina, go pick the corpse flowers. Pick as many as possible. Ivennie and I will block this bone snake."
"Okay."
Mina nodded, took the cloth bags, and went to pick corpse flowers.
Ivennie stood in place. Green magic lingered in her jade-white palm. She chanted a magic incantation briefly, released vine magic barehanded, and three wrist-thick vines burst from the ground and entangled the bone snake.
The slender body of the bone snake was entangled by the vines, struggling desperately, unable to break free.
At the same time, Cheng Yu pulled out a magic staff, condensed magic power—the magic power formed lines of texture—and a circular magic array was constructed at the staff's tip.
He chanted the magic incantation corresponding to fireball and released first-tier magic: fireball.
The basketball-sized flame struck the bone snake, hit its head, and exploded in a large ball of flames.
Undead creatures had no flesh and blood and generally had high magic resistance. Fireballs weren't a big deal to this bone snake.
Since one shot couldn't solve it, use more shots.
Gripping the magic staff with both hands, Cheng Yu increased his strength to gather magic power. Using the bone snake entangled by vines as a live target, he bombarded it with fireballs.
"This is pretty fun."
Cheng Yu held the magic staff. Every time he chanted, a ball of fire flew out of the magic array at the staff's tip.
Though the bone snake had high magic resistance, under Cheng Yu's continuous bombardment, the skull was scorched by high temperature and exploded. The white bones became charred.
On the other side, Mina moved quickly among the corpse flowers. In less than five minutes, she'd picked a full bag.
She pulled out another cloth bag and continued picking.
After releasing over a dozen fireballs in a row, Cheng Yu blasted the bone snake to death. He walked over slowly and kicked the dying bone snake.
I don't know what tier monster this bone snake is. It's far inferior to the undead bone dragon I encountered last time.
Ring, ring, ring~
The hollow pupils glowed red. The bone snake's tail swayed at high frequency, making a series of crisp sounds.
Along with the crisp sound, the entire valley began shaking violently. The ground cracked.
One after another, bone snakes emerged from the ground—the big ones fifty or sixty meters long, the small ones five or six meters long. They were densely packed. The number was estimated at thousands, surrounding Cheng Yu and the other two in three circles.
"Shit! You can't beat me, so you call for help? You have no martial ethics!"
Cheng Yu hadn't expected so many bone snakes were buried under this dry riverbed.
He stomped on the bone snake's head with one foot.
"What should we do, Master Cheng Yu?"
Ivennie looked at the bone snakes around them. Her eyes showed instinctive fear and panic.
"Run away."
Cheng Yu didn't want to fight so many bone snakes. He said to Mina behind him, "Mina, stop picking! Carry Ivennie on your back! I'll lead the way—you follow me!"
Ivennie was a mage. She didn't run fast. It would be faster if Mina carried her.
"Okay, okay!"
Mina didn't pick any more corpse flowers. She ran to Cheng Yu with two large bags of corpse flowers, gave the flowers and the greatsword on her back to Cheng Yu, then carried Ivennie on her back.
"Follow me!"
Cheng Yu put the greatsword and corpse flowers into the system warehouse and ran out of the valley.
A bone snake over thirty meters long lunged at Cheng Yu from the front.
Cheng Yu didn't hesitate at all. He just raised his hand and threw a right hook.
The fist landed on the bone snake's head. The powerful force spread throughout the bone snake's body, breaking bones inch by inch. The over-thirty-meter-long bone snake instantly turned into a pile of broken bones.
This was absolute power suppression after strength attributes improved.
Another bone snake over ten meters long lunged at Cheng Yu from the right.
"Special skill! Strong elbow strike!"
Cheng Yu raised his arm and struck with his right elbow. With a loud bang, the bone snake's head exploded directly. Bone fragments flew everywhere.
After killing another bone snake, over a dozen bone snakes rushed toward Cheng Yu from all directions.
Iron Mountain Lean!
Cheng Yu half-squatted in a horse stance and exerted force from his waist. Using his shoulders as weapons, he pushed left and right.
The waist was the strongest part of the human body. Every time Iron Mountain Lean struck, it could smash a bone snake into pieces.
More bone snakes crawled out of the ground and swept over like a tide, trapping the three in the middle.
With so many bone snakes, relying on Iron Mountain Lean alone was too inefficient. Cheng Yu clenched his fist and punched the ground with all his strength.
Boom!
A loud bang.
The deafening sound echoed. The whole mountain shook slightly. Birds in the mountain flew around startled.
Though this mountain wasn't high, being able to shake a mountain was terrifying.
Smoke and dust rose into the sky. With Cheng Yu as the center, the ground within dozens of meters around him sank and cracked, forming a massive pit.
The strong shockwave generated by the fist hitting the ground spread outward, shaking away all the bone snakes that had lunged at him.
Mina and Ivennie on the side were stunned. Is this Cheng Yu's full strength? It's too absurd.
With this level of strength, he could definitely become a senior general at the Northern Fortress.
Seeing Mina and Ivennie in a daze, Cheng Yu said calmly, "As a chef, I need a little strength to subdue ferocious ingredients."
Mina and Ivennie were speechless. To be a good chef, Cheng Yu trained himself to be stronger than a warrior.
Cheng Yu continued rushing forward, clearing the way. Every time he punched, a bone snake was blasted into bone fragments.
Mina carried Ivennie on her back and followed Cheng Yu.
The three climbed over the hillside, left the valley, and ran toward Snow City.
The bone snakes chased for two or three miles then stopped.
"Finally escaped."
Cheng Yu wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead.
???
Hearing this, Mina turned her head to look at the broken bones behind them.
You call this running away? If those bone snakes had continued chasing, they probably would've been wiped out by you.
Beastfolk worshipped power. The powerful strength Cheng Yu had just shown fascinated Mina. Little stars appeared in her worshipful eyes. She hugged Cheng Yu's arm and rubbed her head against his shoulder.
Ivennie also felt Cheng Yu's power was too absurd. With such strong power, there's no need to learn magic.
"The materials have been collected. Let's go."
Cheng Yu and the other two returned to the hotel in Snow City, took a bath, then took a carriage to Bailu Town.
Bailu Town was over a hundred kilometers from Snow City. The speed of ordinary carriages couldn't match the army's transport convoy.
After a day and a night, the three arrived in Bailu Town and returned to the manor.
After over half a month, the fruits and vegetables in the farmland were growing well. Sweet corn had already produced ears. Tomatoes were ripe. Catnip had grown over a large area...
Mina and Ivennie opened the manor gate, carried baskets, and went to the farmland to pick fruits and vegetables.
Cheng Yu walked to the shade of the manor and took out the black earthworms that had been pickled over half a month ago.
When he opened the paper, an extremely unpleasant stench hit him in the face. This stench was the smell of earthworms and the odor of rotting corpses.
Cheng Yu almost vomited last year's New Year's Eve dinner smelling this stench.
He pulled out three ingredients: corpse flower, asparagus seeds, and snow dragon grass. These three ingredients were also very smelly.
"If these things are mixed together, will they really not kill people?" Cheng Yu doubted.
According to the process on the recipe, he processed several ingredients and started making the dark dish—pickled earthworms.