I Am Supreme
chapter-385

The group who was surrounded by the swarm of snakes was ecstatic, their eyes gazing hopefully in the direction where the flute's melody seemed to originate.

Had their savior finally arrived? Has an expert recluse come to save us?

This was their one and only hope of survival.

"Help!" Young Master Lan cried, tears streaming down his face. He did not look anything like the graceful young master of a wealthy home he actually was.

"Help, help!" The others regained their senses as well, crying aloud pathetically; the girls’ cries were especially shrill.

At this point where life and death hung in a balance, what was elegance? What was grace?

The melodious flute continued to play the unfamiliar tune. The crowd was delighted to see that the serpent king seemed to grow anxious upon hearing the sounds of the flute; it coiled into itself, although the remaining length was still tens of feet long.

The small snakes began to thrash in agitation.

The flute was approaching!

Everyone’s yearning eyes finally spotted a silhouette that was still a distance away. It was walking over from the other side of the field with a fife in between his lips, oblivious to the venomous snakes all around him.

The fife's notes rang and ricocheted in the forest while the snakes began to retreat. Those within the outer-most layer were already turning to leave as if a death threat was looming; it was as if they had collectively decided it wasn't the best idea to stay.

Swoosh, swoosh…

The group was weeping with joy as the venomous snakes left, beginning from the outermost layer followed by the inner layers that slithered away.

In the end, only the serpent king stubbornly remained, forming a huge coil to begin battling it out with this strange expert.

The crowd was relieved. It seemed there was some hope of survival after all.

Although the clothes of this expert looked quite tattered, they were clean. His age was unfathomable from his looks, but he could not be all that young. Someone who could contend with this serpent king must not have been able to do so without a certain number of cultivation years…

How could the age of such a matchless expert be figured out from his face?

The slightest of hints could betray the entire story; the image that this expert portrayed hinted at the long years he stayed in this forest!

Just as they were thinking of how they should ask for help and for the gigantic serpent king to leave, they were unprepared for what came next, which stunned them to insensibility.

The recluse of an expert walked to the front of the giant serpent king and roughly kicked a shiny scale while shouting, "Rubbish! Bullying the weak and harming lives again! I see that you remember the food, but not the beating!"

The group’s eyes were about to shoot out from their sockets.

The serpent king that had coiled itself into combat position immediately collapsed and laid flat on the ground, retreating backward instead. It obviously wished to avoid further chastisement.

"Go away quickly!" Yun Yang, the unknown expert, hollered authoritatively, "I shall debone you if I see you eat someone again!"

Hearing the words of dismissal, the serpent king was instantly gone, as if receiving the royal amnesty.

Finally, the shadow of death had left.

Seeing that the ominous fog of death had dissipated and the light of life shone brightly again, Young Master Lan and the other sixteen survivors collapsed at once as their high strung state was replaced with relief. They could only shudder, and words failed them utterly.

The unparalleled expert kept quiet for a bit after seeing the piles of bones and murmured, "The only constant in life is change; life and death can come within the blink of an eye; I’ve come too late after all…"

Surviving the calamity, Young Master Lan, who was a descendant of a noble family recovered the elegance he was meant to own instantly. He stood up at once and took a step forward to kneel on the ground with all the courtesy he could muster. "Thank you for your saving grace, senior! This junior is grateful and regrets the fact that he has nothing to give as compensation. Nothing can repay even one-tenth of a thousand of senior’s saving grace."

The rest of the group seemed to have come alive with a start as they saw the scene and forced themselves up to kneel on the ground to thank the expert.

Yun Yang said faintly, "There's no need for that. It’s only a casual favor. Return to where you’ve come from. It’s not good to linger here, leave quickly."

Young Master Lan looked troubled and pleaded, "I ask for senior’s kindness. A few of my friends here have been bitten by the venomous snakes. Their energy has been depleted and they can’t save themselves. Senior, please..."

A total of nine people had been bitten among the seventeen survivors. They had taken medicinal pills but the effects remained fruitless. Although the venom of the snakes could do nothing to high-level cultivators, the situation when the high-level cultivators were poisoned had to be taken into account. If they had suppressed it immediately with their cultivation base until the venom's bite had dissipated, they would naturally be fine.

However, the tense and precarious situation did not even give the bitten cultivators enough time to tackle the swarm of snakes with mystical Qi, how could they have the time to concentrate and remove the venom? Afterwards, their expended mystical Qi made the venom flow through their entire body; even their faces had turned black.

In such a state, those that were poisoned were already so exhausted it would be difficult to be revived even if they were fine and dandy!

To those who had been bitten, they were still stricken with the threat of venom even after getting rid of the death threat. There was nothing more fitting than to call today the most unlucky day of their lives!

Yun Yang checked on the poisoned ones and said with a frown, "It’s indeed tricky… Carry them and follow me."

He turned to leave after finishing his words.

Young Master Lan and group followed behind him respectfully, carrying the wounded. Everyone had a strong sense of instinct that they had met a truly capable albeit unknown expert! A truly unmatched expert! This calamity might only be a test before they encountered another God-given chance!

We’re blessed children of the heavens!

The snake and bear that were spying on the survivors from afar could vaguely gauge what they were thinking from the genuine delight they wore on their faces. Both of them snorted, "Why would you think that? Why don’t you just go straight to heaven, since you're so ‘clever’?"

When they saw the huge cave this expert resided in and the scenery outside of it as well as an exceptionally rich aroma of alcohol, they began to get an inkling of how the expert worked.

"The snake's venom has run rampant in those injured and coursed through the entire body. However, it’s not problematic. They’ll be fine after ingesting this medicine." Yun Yang patted on the cave wall and produced a bottle of inky medicine. Passing it over, he said, "Ingest half of it and apply another half on the wound. It’ll eliminate the toxin and heal injuries."

The coal-colored medicine did not look impressive but it was very effective. Just as it was applied, the poison that clouded one’s face had dissipated while the wound gushed poisoned blood. It was only a while before the blood turned red, meaning that the poison in those bitten was already gone by more than ninety percent.

The group realized that not only was the black medicine a miraculous cure for venom, it was remarkable in recovering mystical Qi. Those bitten had depleted their internal energy deeply and had their basic Qi damaged greatly. They had thought that even if they were lucky enough to survive, their cultivation base would deteriorate by at least a level. Who knew that after they had consumed the medicine, not only was the poison cured at once, their basic Qi recovered some by half, and there was energy churning in their dantian that was nourishing their meridians. Everything pointed to the fact that the cultivation base of those bitten would not deteriorate from the poison this time!

This was a sacred medicine of toxin elimination, wound healing and reinvigoration!

It was a lucky encounter, a godsend chance.

"Rest here for a day, don’t act recklessly," Yun Yang said coldly, "Then, you may leave tomorrow."

The others had just gotten their senses back, so they naturally promised to do so with reverence. It was said that such recluse experts had strange tempers, so being careful would be their safest bet.

Although resting in a cave meant there would hardly be a comfortable bed, the group felt unprecedentedly safe and sound!

In the relative calm, they could not help but recall the gory scene earlier. It was like a nightmare that no one would be willing to take another glance at. Some of the ladies were already weeping with tears coursing down their cheeks.

The few youthful young masters had their head lowered in sorrow as well.

So many lives were lost, just for a hunting trip.

Young Master Lan sighed and said, "Let’s return using our original route when we go back. We should collect their remains..."

Despite their grieve, the gratitude and happiness of being able to survive still formed the better part of their emotions; they were also extremely grateful that they had met such a reclusive expert by chance. The young lads and girls laid down on the ground, disregarding their image. They took in the air they thought they had no more chance of breathing earlier; gradually, they calmed down.

Then, the girls began taking care of their appearance before the chatter followed.

"Say, who is that person?"

"No idea, but looks like he’s been staying here for…" Another girl looked at the surroundings and continued, "It has to be tens of years, at least?"

"Tens of years? More than that. I think it’s more than a hundred years…"

"Yes, look at the marks here and here. That stone stool is so smooth from long years of use…"

"What sort of a person would he have to be, to be able to stay here for so long?"

"It must be an unparalleled prodigy! Just look at that trick he used against the serpent. If he didn’t have an amazing cultivation base, how could he do that?"

Listening to the whispered words, Young Master Lan was musing about the same thing, feeling his blood boil the more he thought about it.