Chapter 89: Silver Striped Golden Snake

Just as Jian Chen stabbed downwards with his Light Wind Sword, a golden vine-like thing flew out of the water and attacked Jian Chen .

When Jian Chen's sword and the golden vine-like thing collided into each other, Jian Chen's downward momentum was stopped . His whole body maintained a stabbing posture while he was suspended in midair . The tip of his sword accurately pierced the head of the golden vine-like creature .

This scene lasted for a span of two breaths . Suddenly, from the forest next to the river, another golden vine suddenly burst out from the tall grass and flew at Jian Chen .

Jian Chen's face didn't change from the sudden ambush . Bracing his arm as he prepared to borrow the power of the golden vine-like thing below him to gain momentum, he kicked off of his attacker and whirled through the air, landing firmly down by the riverside . The moment he hit the ground, he immediately sprinted to where his clothes were and put them on .

After putting on his clothes, Jian Chen looked up to assess the golden vine-like thing only to find out that it was a golden snake . Its entire body was golden in color, but there were a few silver lines going from the top of its head to its tail . It was also long in length; just the exposed area alone was almost 6 meters long . The moment Jian Chen noticed the silver streak on its body, he was stunned . It seemed like he had remembered something, as his face suddenly changed dramatically . He couldn't help but exclaim loudly, "Silver Striped Golden Snake!"

The Silver Striped Golden Snake was something that Jian Chen had read about before from the books in the academy's library . It was a rare magical beast that was regarded as the emperor of serpents . In the entire Tian Yuan Continent, considering the tens of thousands of magical beasts, the population size of Silver Striped Golden Snakes barely even reached three digits . .

The Silver Striped Golden Snake wasn't precious because of its rarity, but because of its body . Whether it was for meat or blood, it was very valuable . The venom in its body was especially precious; it belonged to the type of goods in the Tian Yuan Continent where there was no market, even if people offered high prices for them .

This was because if this highly toxic venom was specially refined, it could even kill a Peak Heaven Saint Master . Moreover, purging this venom was impossible . Unless one had the blood of the Silver Striped Golden Snake, there was no other method; even a Radiant Saint Master wouldn't be able to do anything about it . Although the Light Saint Force had mystical healing effects, and could detoxify many poisons, it simply couldn't remove the unique and highly toxic venom that a Silver Striped Golden Snake possessed, as well as several other rather special types of venom . At most, a Radiant Saint Master would only be able to temporarily suppress the poison; however, completely purging it was impossible .

Also, the Silver Striped Golden Snake was different compared to any other snake . Not only was it long it was also relatively thin . It could be said that a few Silver Striped Golden Snakes that reached the Class 5 Magical Beast rank would reach up to a hundred meters long, but their widths would not even be thirty centimeters wide .

A Class 6 Silver Striped Golden Snake was able to control the size of its body, and could even shrink its body down to one or two meters long .

Not only were Class 6 Silver Striped Golden Snakes very strong, but rumors said that they could fly through the air and burrow into the ground . Its venom was unrivaled, and even a Heaven Saint Master would be afraid of the consequences of being infected by one .

In the ancient records, a hundred years ago in the Holy Empire, a Class 6 Silver Striped Golden Snake had laid waste to a King City with the population of ten million people in the time it took for a candle wick to burn out . Every single person was killed by the potent venom even decayed corpses . All that was left in the city was the stench of fresh blood that rose endlessly into the air .

After this horrifying event, the Holy Empire sent out over ten Heaven Saint Masters to go kill the Silver Striped Golden Snake . But before half a day was over, seven of the Heaven Saint Masters were killed by the poison with the remaining few having serious injuries or were poisoned heavily . However not long afterwards, the remaining few experts that were poisoned died as well .

This event had caused every single Saint Ruler in the Holy Empire to become shocked . In the end, a Saint Ruler finally fought the Silver Striped Golden Snake in an earth shattering battle that had only led in the withdrawal of the beast instead of killing it .

But in the end, everyone knew how strong a Silver Striped Golden Snake could become .

Recalling the information he had read about this beast back in Kargath Library, Jian Chen looked at the golden colored snake with a horrified look of disbelief . His heart couldn't help, but begin to race rapidly . He didn't think that he would come across the rare Silver Striped Golden Snake in such a desolate place like the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts; it was only the outskirts of the Mountain Range, where it should've been hard to even encounter one on the entire Tian Yuan Continent .

Sweeping his eyes over the wrist sized snake attentively, Jian Chen had to concede to the fact that he had come across a Silver Striped Golden Snake .

"What terrible luck, how could I come across such a thing?" Jian Chen quickly calmed himself, but inwardly, he was still cursing to himself . He knew how terrifying a Silver Striped Golden Snake could be despite never seeing one in real life . Just reading about it was enough for Jian Chen to understand that with his current Great Saint strength, fighting against a Silver Striped Golden Snake was extremely troublesome .

Jian Chen heavily stared at the Silver Striped Golden Snake only ten meters away from him, his gaze filled with vigilance . He gripped his sword tightly as he thought about the fact that the Silver Striped Golden Snake he encountered was no ordinary magical beast . A single mistake could possible cause him to lose his life today .

This was definitely the most dangerous encounter that Jian Chen had experienced since he had first entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts . It was to the point where he was unsure if he would be able to leave the place alive .

If it was any other strong magical beast that Jian Chen couldn't defeat, he would still be able to run away . But the moment he recognized the Silver Striped Golden Snake, he had already given up all such notions He was fast; even if he just relied on his Saint's strength, he could surpass the speed of a wind attribute practitioner . However, Jian Chen was sure that his speed was incomparable to the snake's; he wouldn't even be qualified to carry the shoes for the snake if it owned any .

That was because the Silver Striped Golden Snake was extremely fast while running in a straight line . Although it wasn't the fastest magical beast, when it came to the ones that crawled on the ground, the Silver Striped Golden Snake was in the top three . When compared to humanity, unless you had the wind attribute and were multiple ranks higher than the snake, then you wouldn't be fast enough to outrun it .

"When seeing a Silver Striped Golden Snake, one cannot run away in a straight line, or else a dead end will be the only thing that'll greet them . I don't know how strong this snake is either; if it is a Class 1 Magical Beast, then the danger will be significantly smaller, and I might be able to kill it . If it's a Class 2 Magical Beast, then there will be a bigger threat to my life, but I should be able to run away from it with no problem . " Jian Chen muttered . Right now, his only wish was for the snake to not be too strong; otherwise, he didn't think he would be able to leave this place alive .

As Jian Chen was pondering to himself in that brief moment, the Silver Striped Golden Snake suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a gray poisonous mist that quickly floated over to where Jian Chen stood . As it floated over, every single plant life in the mist immediately began to wilt, and even the larger trees were noticeably changing . In a flash, it looked as if its very life was being drained away quickly .

The moment the gray gas drew closer, Jian Chen's head started to feel a little dizzy . At the same time, Jian Chen felt as if his strength was being sucked right out of him .

Feeling the change that was happening in his body, Jian Chen's eyes widened in shock; he realized the Silver Striped Golden Snake could directly contaminate the air with its poison . Now he finally knew how terrifying the poison was; it was no wonder that the poison could easily kill a Heaven Saint Master .

Without hesitating, he bit down onto his tongue with his teeth . The piercing pain from his tongue finally cleared away the dizziness he was feeling . After that, he jumped further back, and began to circulate his Saint Force around him so that the strength draining sensation was weakened .

Once again calming himself down, Jian Chen narrowed his eyes in concentration . Although he hadn't fought the Silver Striped Golden Snake yet and only experienced its poison, Jian Chen could deduce that this snake was at the very least a Class 2 Magical Beast .

Seeing the poisonous fog float closer, Jian Chen didn't hesitate before immediately holding his breath . His legs glided across the floor as he ran further away from the poison .

The moment Jian Chen began to move, so did the snake . Turning into a golden streak of light, it flew towards Jian Chen at a speed multiple times faster than him .

Although the Silver Striped Golden Snake was only the size of his wrist in width, it was still very fast . In the blink of an eye, it had already caught up to where Jian Chen was, with its mouth wide open: ready to bite his neck .

Right as the Silver Striped Golden Snake was about to bite into Jian Chen's neck, Jian Chen tilted his head in this crucial moment and retreated backwards . At the same time, his Light Wind Sword flickered into view in his right hand . With a single swing, a silver light came trailing behind the blade, slashing at the snake . With a large amount of Sword Qi concentrated together, the sword trail left behind looked like the lunar moon, and left a dazzling effect . Jian Chen had used his entire strength in that one swing .

The Light Wind Sword met no obstructions as it smoothly stabbed towards the Silver Striped Golden Snake . But there was no excitement on Jian Chen's face; in fact, his face had started to look quite unsightly, as his sword didn't pierce through the scaly skin of the snake . Not a single mark could be seen on the scales .

"What a strong defense . " Jian Chen gasped, his face deathly pale; because of his cultivation methods, his attacking power was extraordinarily strong . Although he only had the power of a Great Saint, his attack was not much weaker than a Saint Master's . But an attack with his entire strength hadn't left even a single trace on the Silver Striped Golden Snake . By this point, Jian Chen was aware that this Silver Striped Golden Snake was at the very least a Class 3 Magical Beast, maybe a Class 4 Magical Beast . This was not a fight Jian Chen could afford to have .

If it were an ordinary Class 3 Magical Beast, Jian Chen would have to expend a little more energy to kill it, but the Silver Striped Snake couldn't be evaluated the same way as a normal magical beast could .