Zhou Zishu raised the luminescent pearl, and clearly made out the entirety of that thing--it was a gigantic python as thick as a man’s waist, flicking its forked tongue as it stared at them predatorily.

Fortuitous events did not come in pairs, and trouble never travelled alone; Zhou Zishu wet his lips, and at this moment, deeply understood what was meant by the ability to even get cool water stuck between one's teeth when drinking[22].

For some unknown reason, when frightened to the core, Zhang Chengling talked more instead, nattering endlessly by his ear, “Shi...shifu, I...I heard that pythons move very swiftly, it’s impossible for an ordinary person to dodge. It...it probably has bad teeth, before it eats people, it always has to flatten them by squeezing them, once...once targeted by an python, the person will be strangled to death, and all their bones will be crushed, their intestines squished into a ball, turning into a sack of only skin and nothing else[23], and then when it feels like it’s finally easily digestible, it’ll swallow the person whole…”

Zhou Zishu reached out and pressed a hand on the flexible Baiyi sword at his waist, grinding his teeth together as he uttered, “Shut, up!”

Then, amidst Zhang Chengling’s desolate howling, that python raised its head and swiftly struck at them.

Chapter 47: Puppet

The python was even taller than Zhou Zishu when it rose to full height. Opening its maw, it swooped in to bite Zhou Zishu’s throat. Flinging Zhang Chengling into a corner, Zhou Zishu bent and ducked, unsheathed the Baiyi sword in the same instant, and brought it down onto the back of this beast’s neck.

When Baiyi’s blade collided with that great snake’s skin, sparks of friction seemed to fly; the skin on the python’s neck was not broken in the slightest. Its tail flicked, and barely missed Zhou Zishu’s shoulder as it passed. Had Zhou Zishu not dodged quickly enough, this one move could have broken his neck. With a thump, the snake’s tail landed on the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust and debris.

Zhou Zishu retreated three steps in succession, his heart growing cold. He knew that if it had not been Baiyi, but any ordinary sword in his hand, it would have been snapped by this single strike.

Instantly, he sensed that something was amiss, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind--when that python had opened its maw and struck out at him, he had not smelled the stench of blood! These animals ate their prey raw, with fur and blood whole, all year round. How could it not have the stench of blood in its mouth?

Curled up in a ball but with his neck outstretched, Zhang Chengling observed it closely for a while, before he suddenly exclaimed, "Shifu, this looks like an artificial snake!"