He Lan Tianxia

"Lingyi, look, I am Jiang He."

“Brother Lingyi, I am the old pine tree spirit.”

Lingyi seemed completely deaf. It spun around angrily, spewing out mist as it vented its anger at whoever had touched its nose with alcohol.

Jiang He had no choice but to grab the old pine tree spirit and retreat.

"Brothers, here you go. Soak them in alcohol and see if it works." The dwarf handed over a few black apples.

"Thanks." Jiang He took the black apple handed to him by the dwarf, smashed it, soaked it in wine, and then tossed it to Ling Yi.

Lingyi took a bite and swallowed it in one gulp. He tossed another one, and Lingyi swallowed that too. When he got to the last one, Lingyi suddenly opened his eyes, flashed forward, and snatched the old pine tree spirit from Jiang He's side with his long forked tongue. Lingyi tilted his head back, about to swallow the old pine tree spirit whole. Jiang He threw the apple in his hand towards Lingyi's mouth, causing it to choke him. The old pine tree spirit took the opportunity to roll off.

Ling Yi paused for a moment, then swallowed the black apple and continued his attack on Jiang He with his eyes closed. Jiang He had no choice but to fight Ling Yi. The two fought from the tree hole to the treetop, and then from the treetop to the ground. Several hours passed, and the outcome remained uncertain.

Suddenly, Lingyi stopped moving. He stretched his neck and flicked his tongue at Jiang He, who also remained still. Just then, a fruit fell from the tree with a soft thud. Lingyi flicked his tail, knocking the apple away, and lunged straight at Jiang He. Jiang He was prepared and was about to dodge when the old pine tree spirit suddenly pounced from behind.

"Damn it!" Jiang He thought to himself, "This is bad." If he stepped aside now, the old pine tree spirit would automatically be delivered into Lingyi's mouth. If Lingyi swallowed him, he might never forgive himself when he woke up. With that thought, Jiang He had no choice but to retract his foot, then squatted down, pushed with both palms, and parried Lingyi's attack.

Lingyi was a snake, incredibly agile, and his millennia-long cultivation was no fluke. Just as he was about to touch Jiang He, he suddenly spun around like a swallow returning to its nest, attacking Jiang He from the right. Jiang He's powerful push wasn't something he could easily retract; he could only lunge forward to avoid the attack. But before he could even hit the ground, Lingyi twisted around again, its gaping maw lunging straight at him. The old pine tree spirit, seeing this, realized something terrible—Lingyi was going to devour Jiang He! It leaped forward, aiming directly at Lingyi's head. Lingyi, in pain, lashed out with its tail, sending the old pine tree spirit flying. Still not satisfied, Lingyi opened its massive maw and completely covered Jiang He's head.

"Lingyi, shut up." The old pine tree spirit got up, turned around, and was shocked to see that Lingyi had already swallowed Jiang He's head.

"Click." A series of sounds came.

The old pine tree spirit closed its eyes, not wanting to see the gruesome sight of Jiang He's head and flesh flying everywhere.

"Guard Jiang!" the old pine tree cried out in despair. In that moment, it forgot the danger it was in. To have eaten its own brother—what a cruel thing to do! The old pine spirit's legs gave way, and it collapsed to the ground, seemingly unable to roll any further. Its eyes widened in resentment and defiance; it thought it would wake this ignorant fellow before it died. Only then did the old pine spirit realize just how devastatingly terrible this poison truly was.

It had waited a long time, like a lifetime, at least that's what the old pine tree spirit thought. It didn't seem to feel the pain it had imagined, only its body trembling uncontrollably, a sign of extreme fear. Although its mouth was also slurring involuntarily, it still felt that it should be more heroic in its final moments, more like a man. Oh, it remembered, it was still a man.

However, this moment had been awaited for a long time, until even the old pine tree spirit grew impatient. It wanted to secretly open its eyes, but lacked the courage. So it decided to let out a man's roar, its final roar of life. With all its might, it raised its head and shouted:

"I'm a man!"