Chapter 89: Battle Between Dragon and Tiger (Part 1)
“W-What the hell is that thing?”
Tong Dongjie's voice was hoarse. By now, the monster's head had risen about a meter above the mouth of the well.
Thinking about how he had sat beside that very well during the day, a chill ran down Tong Dongjie's spine. Looking at his actions now, wasn't he basically sitting right next to the monster's mouth?
“It's a snake!”
Jing Shizhen seemed to realize that his description wasn't quite accurate and immediately added, “A python. A giant python. Damn, just how big is this thing?”
The exposed head alone was nearly as thick as an ordinary person's waist. The gray eyes on either side of its head looked exceptionally cold and emotionless under the firelight.
“Is it looking at us?”
Seeing the terrifying creature, Tong Dongjie was already regretting coming here.
He was the president of a listed company. Wouldn't it have been better to stay in his office and wait for the results? Why had he come all the way here to risk his life?
“Pythons and snakes are similar. Their eyesight isn't very useful. They sense their surroundings through temperature.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head and explained, “Their sensory system is somewhat like infrared. We're safe for the moment because the heat from the fire has attracted its attention.”
Snakes and pythons were cold-blooded creatures that feared the cold and relied on heat-sensing to hunt their prey. The large fire in the courtyard had interfered with the giant python's perception, preventing it from detecting the people behind the flames.
The giant python's enormous body continued slowly emerging from the well. Five or six meters of its body had already risen into the air, yet no one knew how much more of its body remained underground.
The scales on the giant python's head were twice as large as those on the rest of its body. Under the firelight, they reflected a metallic sheen.
“It isn't venomous. We might actually be able to kill it.”
Su Xiaofan finally spoke.
Although the giant python looked terrifying, Su Xiaofan wasn't particularly afraid.
Playing with snakes was something practically every mischievous country boy had done. Su Xiaofan had been catching water snakes to play with since he was still wearing split-crotch pants. He had seen plenty of reptiles like this.
“Kill it?”
Su Xiaofan's words nearly made Tong Dongjie collapse.
“Brother, what are we going to use to kill it? Uncle Jing's Money Sword?”
Both Tong Dongjie and Su Xiaofan were empty-handed. The only weapon Uncle Jing had was the Money Sword, but could that thing really be considered a weapon? It would probably fall apart the moment it touched the creature.
“There's nothing to be afraid of when it comes to snakes.”
Su Xiaofan was getting eager to try.
The thing in the well was huge, but Su Xiaofan himself was no longer the same person he had once been.
Recently, Su Xiaofan had only tested his bench-press strength. The barbell could no longer withstand his strength, which was probably more than two thousand jin.
He had never tested the power of his punches, but he felt that he could kill a cow with a single punch.
The snake looked enormous, but if he could strike a vital spot, it might not be impossible to kill it.
Apparently wary of the firelight, the giant python stopped after extending about five meters out of the well. It remained motionless, coldly staring at the burning tent.
“Master, we should strike first!”
Su Xiaofan was eager to make his move.
“Once its entire body comes out, it'll be much harder to control. This thing has tremendous constricting power.”
Su Xiaofan had never caught a python before, but he had seen anacondas on adventure programs on television.
Those creatures relied entirely on constriction when hunting. They would coil tightly around their prey, crushing its bones and suffocating it to death.
If he were caught by the enormous creature in front of him, there was no need to imagine the outcome.
He would definitely die.
“How did we end up running into something like this?”
Jing Shizhen was also scratching his head.
Snakes had extremely strong vitality, and this one was very likely a supernatural creature. Killing it certainly wouldn't be easy.
“If this thing lived in a river or lake, it might already be close to transforming into a dragon.”
“Xiaofan, can you use your Palm Thunder and strike it three inches below its head?”
Jing Shizhen stared at the giant python and spoke.
“Three inches? Master, aren't you supposed to hit a snake seven inches below its head?”
Su Xiaofan asked in confusion.
“You won't be able to kill it with one strike at seven inches.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head.
“Seven inches is where the snake's heart is. You can't kill it instantly, so even if you hit it there, the effect won't be very significant. Three inches below the head is where its cervical spine is. If you hit it there, you can temporarily knock it unconscious.”
Jing Shizhen had far more experience with giant pythons than Su Xiaofan.
He had spent some time in the southeastern region in the past and had even seen anacondas before.
“I can. Master, should I do it now?”
Compared with the trembling Tong Dongjie beside him, Su Xiaofan looked much more like someone who had trained in ancient martial arts. There wasn't the slightest trace of fear on his face.
“Wait a little longer. Let more of its body come out. I'm afraid it'll retreat back into the well.”
Jing Shizhen waved his hand, signaling Su Xiaofan to be patient.
However, he was very satisfied with his disciple's performance.
Tong Dongjie, on the other hand, was accustomed to sitting in an office and looked rather inadequate under the circumstances.
Of course, killing this giant python was also part of resolving the problem. Tong Dongjie was the wealthy boss who had paid for the expedition, so Jing Shizhen wasn't going to demand that he personally fight it.
“We need to make a little noise.”
Looking at the giant python's motionless body, Jing Shizhen picked up a small stone from the ground.
With a flick of his finger—
Bang!
The stone shot toward the giant python's head.
Jing Shizhen's finger strike was probably no weaker than a bullet, but when the stone hit the python's head, it was immediately deflected by its scales.
It didn't even leave a mark.
“Moo!”
The sudden attack elicited a low growl from the giant python that sounded somewhat like the bellow of a cow.
Its enormous body suddenly rose another two meters, while its massive head looked around in every direction.
“Do it—wait!”
Just as Jing Shizhen was about to tell Su Xiaofan to attack, he suddenly grabbed Su Xiaofan's arm.
A black shadow had just swept down from a tree more than ten meters away and pounced directly onto the area three inches below the giant python's head.
The shadow moved so quickly that Su Xiaofan and the others couldn't even follow it with their eyes.
By the time they could clearly see what had happened, several deep claw marks had already appeared three inches below the python's head.
The giant python's body, which even bullets had difficulty penetrating, now bore several extremely conspicuous scratches more than twenty centimeters long.
Its scales had been torn open, and bright red blood flowed down its enormous body.
After landing its attack, the black shadow quickly leaped off the giant python.
Almost at the exact moment it landed, the python's massive body slammed heavily onto the ground.
Even though they were more than twenty meters away, Su Xiaofan could feel the ground tremble.
The force behind that impact was clearly immense.
“Moo… moo!”
The black shadow's attack was far more lethal than Jing Shizhen's stone.
The giant python rapidly extended more of its body while continuously rolling around, trying to prevent the black shadow from attacking it again.
However, in terms of speed, the giant python was clearly no match for the black shadow.
Before its entire body could even emerge from the well, the black shadow struck again, leaving several more deep claw marks across the python's body.
“Is… is that a leopard?”
This time, Su Xiaofan and the others finally saw it clearly.
The black shadow was only about a meter long. Its body was covered in short yellow fur, making it look very much like a leopard—except that it was smaller.
What was completely disproportionate to its size were the claws it extended when attacking the giant python.
They were nearly thirty centimeters long, like several razor-sharp short blades, and they tore deep wounds into the python's body.
“This is a battle between a dragon and a tiger!”
Su Xiaofan and the others stared at the scene in astonishment.
There was no need to mention the giant python's power.
Its sheer size alone was enough to make many creatures flee in terror.
Yet the leopard-like creature seemed to be the giant python's natural nemesis.
Its razor-sharp claws could penetrate the python's defenses, while its lightning-fast speed left the python helpless.
At that moment, the giant python's enormous body finally emerged completely from the well.
“Holy crap, it's that long?”
Even Su Xiaofan couldn't help swearing when he saw the python in its entirety.
The giant python was completely black, with a metallic sheen covering its body.
Once its entire body was exposed, it turned out to be more than twenty meters long.
The portion that had emerged from the well earlier had been only about a quarter of its total length.
“Fall back! Back up!”
Jing Shizhen suddenly shouted in a low voice and quickly moved behind the house.
Su Xiaofan and Tong Dongjie also reacted.
The entire courtyard was only forty or fifty square meters. If the giant python swung its body around, none of them would be able to dodge it.
And that was exactly what the giant python did.
As Su Xiaofan and the others retreated, the section of its tail that had emerged from the well swept horizontally across the ground.
The burning tent was instantly smashed into pieces.
The entire courtyard looked as if a layer of earth had been scraped away. Dust filled the air, and Su Xiaofan and the others immediately lost sight of what was happening.
Jing Shizhen threw the Money Sword onto the ground.
At a time like this, that thing was nothing but a burden.
He continued retreating.
“This beast is very intelligent. Keep backing up!”
Only after they had retreated forty or fifty meters, reaching the steep slope behind the house, did Jing Shizhen finally stop.
The giant python sensed its prey through temperature and infrared radiation, so the dust swirling through the air had no effect on it.
Instead, the leopard-like creature had lost its line of sight and could no longer leap down to continue attacking.
The ground in front of the courtyard looked as if it had been bombarded by artillery.
The enraged giant python appeared and disappeared amid the swirling dust.
Boom!
When the giant python's enormous body swept across the house, the structure made of stone and packed earth collapsed with a tremendous crash, like a pile of building blocks.
“That's faster than an excavator demolishing a house.”
The people on the slope clicked their tongues in amazement.
Su Xiaofan looked down at his own palm.
Suddenly, his Palm Thunder didn't seem quite as impressive anymore.
If he struck this giant python with his palm, it would probably feel no different from being scratched.
After venting its rage for a while, the commotion below gradually subsided.
Su Xiaofan and the others didn't dare move an inch, afraid of attracting the giant python's attention.
Although the burning tent had been smashed into pieces, the solid fuel wasn't so easy to extinguish.
With the firelight, they could still make out the scene below.
Perhaps it had been struck in a vital spot.
The giant python's enormous body lay motionless on the ground, as if it were dead.
The creature that was slightly smaller than a leopard had also disappeared without a trace.
Time seemed to sink into silence.
The prey and the hunter appeared to be testing each other's endurance.
And above them, there were several spectators watching the show.
(End of Chapter)
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