Tumor-ridden pythons as thick as tree trunks rose from the mire, only to tremble and sink away when Jared’s marked aura washed over them. By dusk, a dense forest of purple bamboo appeared ahead, each stalk swaying like spears beneath a copper sky.
Lavender mist drifted between the canes, so caustic it sent ripples across Jared’s marked aura shield like stones dropped in water.
“We’ve reached the outer line of Venom Valley. Their venom slaves lurk in this bamboo, cultivators whose hearts are chained by poison,” Corin warned, voice low against the sighing wind.
Just as finished, dozens of shapes burst from the fog, bodies moving with jerky malice. They were skin and bone, their flesh stained a sickly blue-purple, their eyes laced red, each gripping a bone spear dripping with oily toxin.
“Attack!” the venom slaves howled, the word cracked and hollow as rotten wood. They lunged, movements stiff yet fearless, as though death itself had been cut from their vocabulary.
Flaxseed flung three Flame Charms. Golden fire rolled out like a breaking tide, reducing the front rank to smoking Cinders.
“Mind their blood!” Corin shouted. Jared blurred forward, his Dragonslayer Sword flashing free with a metallic cry.
A fan of golden light tangled with black energy swept wide. Bodies were cleaved at the waist, and the purple blood that sprayed hissed through solid stone, boring hundreds of tiny holes.
‘These venom slaves were once Earthly Immortal Realm cultivators,” Corin said, severing a poisoned needle hurled his way. “The Heart Devouring Parasite of Venom Valley sits in their chests and turns them into thoughtless puppets.”
“Is there any chance to free them?” Jared asked, brow tightening as saw the pain still flickering in their ruined eyes.
“Slim to none,” Flaxseed answered, snapping a Freeze Charm that sheathed one venom slave in crystal ice. “The parasite coils around the heart. Miss it by an instant and the host explodes on the spot.”
Jared’s hesitation vanished. Dragonslayer blazed brighter, its edge carving patterns of a sword technique had comprehended from the tomb of swords.
Every thrust speared a heart, and with each strike, a thread of marked aura raced down the blade, shredding the hidden parasite.
Thump! Thump! Thump! The slaves went rigid, then crumbled to gray ash that drifted away on the mist, no poison left to spill.
Seeing the effect, Corin and Flaxseed shifted tactics at once, driving their blades straight for the heart of every incoming slave.
An hour later, the last venom slave scattered into pale ash on the poisoned wind. Jared lowered his Dragonslayer Sword and felt his marked aura thicken, fed by every parasite had Just devoured.
Corin raised one gloved hand toward the murk where the bamboo grew densest. “The main gate of Venom Valley is right ahead. Push through that gorge and their very heart will come into view.”
The trio moved through the purple bamboo until a narrow ravine split the thicket before them. On either cliff, honey-combed caves yawned like wasp nests, and something black writhed deep within.
“That is Centipede Cave,” Corin murmured. “A thousand-year venomous centipede lives in each cell, startle them and we are done.”
His warning slipped into the gloom like a dagger.
Jared’s gaze caught on a flat stone marking the ravine‘s mouth, its surface etched with twisting runes. Each symbol pulsed a sickly green that mirrored the drifting miasma.
“A warning formation,” Jared observed, brushing the stone. “Set foot inside, and every venomous creature here will know.”
As channeled his spiritual energy, his marked aura streamed from his fingertip into the carving. The green glow flickered, then died as the runes withered under the black energy.
“It’s settled. Let’s move,” Jared said, pulling his hand away.
They stepped into the ravine, and all of a sudden, a dry rasping storm rolled across the cliffs. Countless half-foot centipedes, black-plated and metal-bright, poured from the caves, their stingers glowing cold blue.
“D*mn it, they still spotted us! These are Mithril Centipedes, their shells harder than forged steel!” Corin hissed with a frown.
Flaxseed ducked behind Jared, clutching a fistful of charms that shook harder than did. Jared’s eyes narrowed; swung the Dragonslayer Sword in a wide, gleaming arc.
