High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

Zhao Hu frowned and said, "You're going in from the back alone? That's too dangerous."

Song Chen shook his head: "No."

"With its attention diverted from three directions by you, its senses from the rear will be in a blind spot. I only need ten seconds to confirm the source of that energy. If I can get it, I will; if not, I will retreat."

"What if it finds you?" Liu Dong asked.

Song Chen did not answer the question.

He simply raised his head, his gaze calmly sweeping over everyone.

There was no fear, no hesitation, and not even nervousness in that look.

It's as if it's saying, "Even if it finds me, I'm confident I can get out alive."

This confidence was not at all boastful; it was so natural that everyone present instinctively believed it.

Zhao Hu took a deep breath: "When are we going to make our move?"

Song Chen stood up and looked in the direction of the dead wood forest.

The psionic particles in the sky have begun to brighten, and twilight is falling.

"Now, its senses will be stronger after dark. Let's make our move before it gets completely dark."

Everyone stood up.

No one mentioned breaking up anymore.

The six people walked back towards the deadwood forest. This time, it wasn't Zhao Hu leading the way, but Song Chen.

The five people behind him watched his retreating figure, each with their own turbulent emotions.

Soon, Song Chen's plan began.

The plan went surprisingly smoothly.

Zhao Hu and Zhou Yuan entered the deadwood forest from the front. Zhao Hu tapped on the tree trunks, producing a dull and rhythmic sound, while Zhou Yuan opened the poison bottle, and pale green mist spread along the ground towards the snake.

The two men maintained a safe distance in the forest, one on the left and one on the right, like two nails driven into the edge of the snake's sensing range.

The Azure Viper was indeed attracted. It slowly turned its head to face forward, its amber vertical pupils shining against the gray-white tree trunk. Its forked tongue flickered rapidly, capturing pheromones in the air.

Almost simultaneously, Liu Dong and Liu west lit the dry branches on the flank.

Flames spread across the grayish-white fossilized wood, crackling and popping, as heat waves carrying thick smoke surged toward the snake.

The green-scaled viper's body visibly tensed up; its sensitivity to high temperatures far exceeded expectations. The snake's body retracted slightly, and its head turned from the front to the side, then back again, seemingly hesitating between two threats.

Shen Yuan unleashed her wind-based abilities near the southeast exit.

Instead of creating a strong wind, she used a gentle but continuous airflow to direct the smoke toward the snake's head. The grayish-white smoke spread through the deadwood forest like a thin veil, obscuring the snake's vision.

Everything is proceeding according to Song Chen's predictions.

He cut in from behind, his Gale Wings silently opening.

The Great Perfection of Gale Wings made his body almost silent.

It's not just about being light; it's about merging one's own blood and energy fluctuations with the spiritual energy particles in the surrounding air, making each step feel like the flow of the wind itself.

The grayish-white tree trunks swept past on either side of him, and the withered branches under his feet made no sound.

ten seconds.

He counted silently in his mind.

In eight seconds, he had passed the outer edge of the snake's territory and entered the blind spot above the culvert.

The tail of the blue-scaled viper was less than fifteen meters away from him, and he could even see the fine lines on its scales.

Five seconds later, he saw the source of the psionic energy.

Inside the culvert, in the center of the hollow area formed by the snake's coiled body, a blue crystal the size of a thumb is quietly embedded in the soil.

The crystal emitted a soft blue light, like a dim lamp in the dark culvert.

The light was not static, but pulsating slowly, with each pulsation releasing a ring of almost invisible psionic energy ripples.

The ripples spread across the snake's body, were absorbed by its scales, and seeped into its flesh.

Seeing this, Song Chen understood why the Azure Scale Viper was able to recover from severe injuries to the mid-stage of the third tier within a few days.

three seconds.

Song Chen silently slid into the culvert, his right hand reaching out, his fingertips touching the surface of the crystal.

The icy touch felt like touching a piece of ancient ice.

Suddenly, his fingers stopped.

Song Chen discovered that inside the crystal, countless tiny characters and symbols were densely arranged.

Those symbols were neither any human language nor the psionic patterns on the beasts, but a writing system he had never seen before, with an extremely complex structure.

Each symbol is composed of several layers of overlapping lines, which flow slightly under the blue light, as if they were alive.

Song Chen's pupils contracted slightly.

This is not a naturally formed crystal of psionic energy.

This is man-made.

Or perhaps it was created by some kind of intelligent being.

Without thinking, he tightened his grip and pulled the crystal out of the soil.

The moment the crystal detached from the ground, the blue light suddenly intensified, like a small sun exploding in the culvert.

A visible shockwave of psychic energy spread outwards from the crystal, sweeping across every tree, every stone, and every person in the withered forest, before the crystal returned to normal.

With such a commotion, Song Chen exclaimed that something was wrong.

He looked up abruptly, and the Azure Scaled Viper's head had already turned around.

His amber-colored vertical pupils pierced through layers of smoke and tree trunks, precisely locking onto Song Chen inside the culvert.

Then it opened its mouth.

It was not an attack.

Instead, it hissed.

An extremely sharp screech burst from its throat, the frequency of which was almost beyond the range of human hearing, but Song Chen could feel the sound waves. They spread through the air, through the dead forest, through the ruins, and in all directions.

This is a summons.

"It called for its little brother!" Liu west's scream came from the side, her voice filled with terror.

As soon as he finished speaking, rustling sounds rang out from all directions of the dead wood forest.

From beneath the dead branches on the ground, from the cracks in the tree trunks, from the cavities underground.

Countless serpentine beasts emerged.

First-tier mutated snakes swarmed in from all directions like a gray-green tide; second-tier snakes were mixed in, larger and faster, with a dark luster on their scales.

Hundreds.

No, there could be thousands.

The entire dead forest had turned into a snake pit.

"Damn it!" Zhao Hu cursed, and slammed the wooden stick in his hand down on a second-tier snake that pounced from the side, smashing its head to pieces.

But more snakes are swarming in, from the ground, from the tree trunks, and from the dead branches overhead.

Liu Dong and Liu west stood back to back, wildly wielding their two battle swords, each strike taking down a first-tier snake. However, there were too many snakes in the swarm; after killing one, three more would surge forward.

Zhou Yuan's poisonous mist exploded among the snakes, and the pale green mist enveloped an area. Dozens of first-tier snakes convulsed and died in the poisonous mist, but the second-tier snakes only slowed down slightly and still rushed towards them through the poisonous mist.

Shen Yuan's wind blades wove a blue net in front of her, cutting the snakes that pounced on her into pieces, but her mental energy was being rapidly depleted, and the density of the wind blades was visibly decreasing.

"Song Chen, get it and then leave," Zhao Hu roared.

Song Chen did not retreat; he gripped the Thunderclap Blade on his back with his right hand.

He had already sensed that since the crystal was taken away, the Azure Scale Viper's aura had begun to decline, and its wounds had started to bleed.

If the Azure Scale Viper still possesses the aura of a mid-stage third tier after the crystal is taken away, Song Chen will leave without hesitation.

But now, it's estimated that it will soon drop to the initial stage of the third tier, and then it will be able to fight!