Chapter 157: The Death of Golden Eyes

Acting as the master, Xiang Nan commanded Little Ba to tell him everything it knew about the Soul Suppressing Stone.

Since Little Ba had already acknowledged its master, it naturally told Xiang Nan everything that had happened in Lingxu in complete detail. Naturally, Little Ba could only speak of the parts it was personally aware of.

From Little Ba, Xiang Nan learned that the Soul Suppressing Stone had actually been removed two months ago. During this period, many groups of people had indeed come to Lingxu, and even military personnel had visited. The entire Lingxu, including Spirit-Binding Island, had been thoroughly searched by various parties. As for the Soul Suppressing Stone, it was indeed on Spirit-Binding Island, but no one had been able to unearth it because the female demon guarding it was far too formidable.

The female demon had a head of writhing snakes for hair, coiled at one of the entrances to guard the Soul Suppressing Stone. However, the theft of the Soul Suppressing Stone was definitely not the snake-haired demoness's own doing.

After Little Ba's cultivation broke through to the fifth tier, it had also visited Spirit-Binding Island and discovered that the ferocious beasts on the island had all pledged allegiance to a single faction, serving a powerful Demon King. Once a ferocious beast acknowledged a master, it became bound and was forced to serve that master. The snake-haired demoness was also a demon who had acknowledged a master, yet she was not the master herself.

She possessed a pair of petrifying eyes, an ability that was practically invincible. Anyone who met her gaze would instantly be turned into a stone statue, rendering even the highest levels of cultivation completely useless. Moreover, the snake-haired demoness was extremely cunning. Even if an enemy learned of her supernatural ability and deliberately avoided looking into her eyes, she would always find various ways to trick them into falling for her gaze.

At first, it was beasts who refused to submit to the Demon King, and later, it was people who came to the island in search of the Soul Suppressing Stone. All of them had perished beneath the petrifying gaze of the snake-haired demoness.

"Does that mean if we find the snake-haired demoness with the petrifying eyes, we can find the Demon King?" Xiang Nan couldn't help asking, as his ultimate objective was to retrieve the Soul Suppressing Stone.

"That's hard to say. The Demon King is elusive, and its cave dwelling is truly a mystery, but the snake-haired demoness will definitely know," Little Ba answered with certainty. "Since the Demon King ordered the snake-haired demoness to guard the Soul Suppressing Stone, the stone cannot be too far away from the demoness. And when the Demon King went to great lengths to steal the Soul Suppressing Stone, it must be keeping the stone close by as well. Master, it won't be easy for you to take the Soul Suppressing Stone."

Xiang Nan let out a soft snort. Whether it was easy or not depended entirely on strength. The Demon King sounded terrifying, but Xiang Nan possessed an invincible divine artifact—a primordial supreme treasure from the prehistoric era. Wasn't using it to deal with a mere Demon King like using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken? If he killed that Demon King and dug out its spirit pearl, it would undoubtedly be a massive boon to his own cultivation.

At this thought, Xiang Nan felt a surge of excitement. The Soul Suppressing Stone was already a minor issue; unearthing the Demon King's spirit pearl excited him even more.

"Little Ba, I want you to take me to the snake-haired demoness," Xiang Nan ordered.

Naturally, Little Ba dared not hesitate. "This... the snake-haired demoness is right next door."

Xiang Nan: "..." *What a coincidence. Is Little Ba doing this on purpose?*

Regardless of whether it was intentional, Little Ba looked so sincere. This was the first ferocious beast that could communicate with him and obey his every command, giving Xiang Nan an immense sense of accomplishment.

Since the tunnel was far too narrow for Little Ba, after pointing out the direction to Xiang Nan, Little Ba simply burrowed directly through the earth in a chosen direction.

Thus, arriving nearly half an hour later, Xiang Nan also reached the snake-haired demoness's cave, just in time to witness a chaotic battle in progress.

Xiang Nan was in no rush to reveal himself; instead, he carefully observed every move of the snake-haired demoness. Aside from her petrifying eyes, the snake-haired demoness's splitting arrows were also formidable. With a single shot, she could mentally split the arrow into multiple projectiles mid-air, targeting different enemies simultaneously. Even amidst such a chaotic melee, the snake-haired demoness was fighting a crowd single-handedly without showing any signs of strain.

In contrast, Daoist San-Tong, Yoshino, and the others looked rather disheveled. Not only did they have to avoid meeting the snake-haired demoness's gaze, but they also had to dodge her highly accurate splitting arrows while remaining on guard against Jin Tong's madness.

Jin Tong was fighting entirely on his own, his eyes filled with a frenzied urge to slaughter. He was uniquely gifted and miraculously unafraid of the snake-haired demoness's petrifying eyes. Although his cultivation wasn't the highest, he moved with ease.

Although Alice and Yoshino had formed an alliance, they found it rather exhausting to fight the snake-haired demoness while constantly watching out for Jin Tong.

"Daoist San-Tong, Bald Crocodile, stop hesitating! Let's kill this troublemaker Jin Tong together. With the four of us joining forces, we won't need to fear a single snake demon!" Alice called out, seeking an alliance.

Daoist San-Tong originally wanted to avoid making enemies, but in the current chaotic situation, if Jin Tong wasn't dealt with, everyone might end up petrified!

The Bald Crocodile on the side glanced at the lunatic-like Jin Tong and finally nodded. "Fine, let's finish off Jin Tong first!"

Jin Tong truly was infuriating! Not only was he arrogant and self-important, but he also took advantage of others' precarious situations, acted with utter selfishness, and worst of all, lacked brains—a complete idiot! If he were allowed to keep stirring up trouble in this scene, none of them would meet a good end.

Just think of how high the Grand Mage's cultivation had been, yet he was instantly petrified. That alone showed how terrifying the snake-haired demoness's petrifying eyes were!

Daoist San-Tong and the Bald Crocodile exchanged glances. Understanding each other's thoughts, they made their decision.

At that moment, although the snake-haired demoness's splitting arrows were still flying wildly through the cave, the four experts banded together, focusing all their attacks solely on Jin Tong.

Jin Tong's body had already completely transformed into a snake. Realizing that even his ferocious strength couldn't withstand four opponents at once, he wriggled his body and tried to tunnel into one of the passages.

Alice anticipated Jin Tong's intention and instantly cast countless vines, sealing the tunnel openings tightly shut.

"Trying to run now is too late!"

As Alice's vines sealed off the tunnel exits, the other three launched continuous attacks, raining blows directly down upon Jin Tong. Even if Jin Tong were made of cast iron, he could not withstand the lethal assaults of three top-tier experts.

However, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Taking advantage of the moment when the four experts simultaneously struck Jin Tong, the snake-haired demoness suddenly exerted her full strength, channeling more spiritual energy to release her splitting arrows.

Due to the sudden surge in spiritual energy, the speed and accuracy of the splitting arrows were immensely enhanced. As it turned out, the snake-haired demoness had been acting all along; her actual strength was far greater than they realized. Feigning weakness was merely a tactic to lull her opponents into complacency.

And so, because everyone had been preoccupied with fighting Jin Tong, they had lowered their guard against her, assuming that as long as they didn't meet her gaze, her ordinary archery skills could do nothing to transcendent-tier experts.

Once you look down on your opponent, the ultimate price you pay is death at their hands.

On the other side, with the tunnels sealed, Jin Tong had nowhere to escape. Under the simultaneous onslaught of the four experts, he was brutally slain on the spot.

Yet at the exact same time, all four of them were struck by the snake-haired demoness's splitting arrows, and not a single one managed to escape unscathed.

Blood splattered across the ground, smelling pungent and foul. Naturally, this came primarily from Jin Tong, who had transformed into a giant serpent. Ordinarily, even when humans underwent beast-transformation, the blood they shed after death remained human blood and wouldn't carry such a foul, fishy stench. Yet for some unknown reason, the blood flowing from Jin Tong was intensely reedy and rancid, as if he had truly been a venomous snake all along.