Lu Weiying finished his incantation and pointed to the spell flag. Trembling, the flag suddenly unfolded, shining with a blinding light. Gusts of wind repeatedly blew around it like a storm, eventually gathering enough force to condense into ten or so white wind dragons, all rushing towards the mist with overbearing momentum.

As for Marquis Nanlong’s huge golden sword, it shot out with a hum and began to revolve above the mist. It seemed Marquis Nanlong was planning to wait for the mist to disperse before striking at the ancient beast with a thunderous blow the moment it appeared.

Han Li silently flung out his sleeve, summoning a small bell that flashed with silver light and flew off into the distance in a flash of light.

The wind dragons seemed to race each other as they struck headfirst into the mist. The grey mist roiled for a spell before being torn apart by a tornado from within. 

However, the dispersion of the mist only lasted for a moment before a strange hiss filled the air and a muffled boom resounded through the mist. A huge snake tail swatted one of the wind dragons from the mist and dispersed the tornado.

Then with two more thuds, the snake tail easily smashed into two more wind dragons and threw them from the mist.

When Lu Weiying saw this, he was shocked and immediately grasped his hands in a strange incantation gesture, uttering, “Explode!” The remaining wind dragons suddenly flashed with white light and ruptured.

The explosive winds devastated the mist, scattering most of it with ferocious gales and revealing the monster within. 

The snake was currently coiled up and appeared to be the size of a mountain. With its body now revealed, Marquis Nanlong’s golden sword took the opportunity to silently strike at it.

As this occurred, Han Li shot a spell seal at the silver bell. In a brilliant flash of light, the bell suddenly grew three meters tall. With a clear ring, a silver wave suddenly rushed out from the shining bell and moved to engulf the huge python in a joint attack with the huge golden sword.

The python was slow to react and simply lowered its head into its coiled cody in response to the attacks, remaining still.

Marquis Nanlong was overjoyed by the sight of this, and poured even more spiritual power into his sword, slightly enlarging it. But before the golden sword could strike, a layer of green light suddenly enveloped the python’s body without warning. 

A huge boom sounded out as golden and green lights intertwined, but soon the green light overwhelmed the golden sword and repelled it. As that happened, the three cultivators were shocked.

Immediately after the golden sword was repelled, the silver soundwave struck the python’s barrier but was scattered without effort. The two successive attacks seemed to have awakened it as it slowly withdrew its head to look at Han Li and the others.

By this time, the grey mist had already cleanly scattered and the huge python had revealed itself before them.

The python’s body was as black as iron, over twenty hundred meters long and was exceptionally thick with black palm-sized scales covering it. Its faint green serpent eyes held an ominous glint.

Han Li felt his heart tremble upon seeing the python’s body. Just as he thought to recall his silver bell, the huge python suddenly extended itself in a blur and the silver bell that was a hundred meters away from it disappeared without a trace.

Before Han Li realized what had happened, Marquis Nanlong’s huge golden sword also disappeared from the sky with another blur from the python.

At that moment, Han Li had already processed what had happened: the huge python had extended itself with fantastical speed, swallowing both treasures in the blink of an eye. It had happened so fast that they were unable to even react.

Han Li grimaced. The python was giant, but its movements were still amazingly fast. 

When Marquis Nanlong saw that the sword was swallowed, his alarm was soon replaced with joy as he had spent over a hundred years tempering his linked magic treasure. ‘The huge snake’s exterior defenses may be formidable, but since it has taken the initiative to swallow the sword into its stomach, isn’t it seeking its own death?’

With that thought, Marquis Nanlong hastily commanded the golden flying sword to display its full might within the python’s stomach and directly cleave through the beast. But in that short time, his expression froze.

Although his magic treasure was still connected to his spiritual sense, it was restrained within the huge python’s stomach and didn’t budge in the slightest. In that moment, he couldn’t help but grow nervous. After all, if his magic treasure suffered any damage, his consciousness would be heavily damaged as well.

“Fellow Daoists, my flying sword has been restrained. This python is no ordinary beast. Be careful.” With that said, Marquis Nanlong solemnly sighed and he raised his hand. A dark green ring flew off from his finger and floated in front of him. The ring pulsed with light and was faintly inscribed with various talisman characters.

Lu Weiying was alarmed to discover that their magic treasures had failed and he hastily attempted to recall his spell flag. Then with a wave of his hand, he released several talismans into the air that soon burst with white light, transforming into tens of blinding white fireballs that floated in front of him.

Han Li astonishedly glanced at the white fireballs and felt some familiarity towards them, but now was not the time to think on the matter. He then turned his head around and slapped his storage pouch, summoning six streaks of white light around him.

Three wolves, two flame oxen, and a green snake appeared in front of him. They were the six puppets that he had acquired from Daoist Heavencrystal at the grand trade meet. After he’d acquired them, he had yet to truly use them. Now that he was facing this formidable ancient python, it seemed  to be a good opportunity to test their strength.

Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying saw Han Li’s puppets and momentarily revealed a trace of surprise.

The three were all vastly experienced cultivators. With a solemn exchange of glances, they all executed their various abilities in a joint attack against the python. However, an ominous glint began to condense within the python’s eyes as it stared at the three cultivators. It raised its head and spat out a mouthful of liquid towards them, filling the air with a fishy scent.

In their alarm, the three hastily raised light barriers around them and held their breaths. In the next moment, they discovered that while the fishy scent was putrid, it wasn’t poisonous. Regardless, it had still caused them to hesitate.

In that momentary delay, the huge python had widely opened its mouth and began to suddenly inhale, expanding its body.

In the blink of an eye, the entirety of the stone and earth in front of the python was sucked into its mouth. The three cultivators were caught off guard and felt a huge force pulling on them. They were rendered completely immobile as they resisted being sucked into python’s mouth.

Han Li’s six puppets were brought to the python's mouth in the blink of an eye, offering no resistance against the attractive force.

A trace of surprise appeared on Han Li’s face, but his heart remained calm. Azure light flashed from his body, causing him to grow incredibly heavy as he sank into the ground. Then with a mental command, the six puppets that had been brought to the python’s side began to attack. The red oxens’ horns began to flash with red light and shot four beams of light into the python’s gaping mouth.

Just as the python confidently believed that it could suck Han Li and the others into its stomach, it was struck at its exposed tongue.

Red light flashed and a series of thuds soon followed as the huge python groaned and closed its mouth. Although the extent of the damage to its tongue took was uncertain, it had stopped breathing in for the time being.

During that momentary pause, Han Li regained control of the three white wolf puppets. Their bodies brightly glowed with white light and regained their bearing on the ground using claws glowing with several inches of light. The wolves then brandished their vicious fangs before blurring from sight, flying towards the beast in streaks of light.

Clangs sounded out as the wolves struck the python’s head. For some unknown reason, the green light hadn’t appeared when the wolves struck, but the wolves shining claws and incisive fangs still weren’t able to harm the black scales; they were only able to leave behind white marks.

Then, two of the wolves immediately blurred and split up, shooting towards the huge python’s eyes. The eyes appeared bare and without the protection of its scales. 

With a quick purple blur, two muffled thuds sounded out. The two white wolves were scattered with a lightning-fast flick of the python’s tongue and were sent flying.

The building-sized head of the python tilted to the side and began to close its mouth on the white wolf puppets. But just as it attempted to swallow them, the green snake puppet suddenly grew to forty meters in size and pounced at it. Additionally, the two red oxen shot out another attack from their horns. 

Provoked by the puppets’ strikes, the huge python roared and it quickly swayed its head, spouting a black mist from its nostrils. In the blink of an eye, its entire head disappeared from view. 

As for two of the white wolf puppets, they had taken this opportunity to run away. But suddenly, two figures shot out from the black mist and held down the two white wolves. They were two snake heads that appeared completely identical to the first.  

This had all happened in the blink of an eye. By the time the cultivators realized what had happened, the black Qi had disappeared to reveal the python’s true form.

“This is a....”

“Three-headed Ebony Snake!”

“How is this possible!”

The three shouted with disbelief.

They were now facing a three-headed python that was furiously glaring at them. The center python head was hissing with its tongue flicking as the other two heads were chomping down on two of the wolf puppets.

Then, the still air rippled as the word “explode” was uttered. With two huge booms, the puppets in the snakes’ jaws suddenly shined with blinding white light.