Chapter 234: Chapter 120: Mist Marsh, the Cyan Snake Demon, Cao Yan in Peril, Crushing Bai Nan

There were no footsteps.

But the mist at the valley’s entrance began to flow differently.

It grew viscous, carrying a faint, acrid stench.

Cao Yan slowly rose to his feet, his figure disappearing into the shadow of a rock.

The dense fog at the valley entrance was now churning violently. It was no longer a wispy white, but had taken on a disturbing, sickly cyan-gray hue.

The temperature plummeted. A cloyingly sweet scent mixed with the stench of decay filled the air, as if some potent poison were quietly blooming.

A cyan silhouette silently condensed and materialized within the strange mist.

She made no sound, not even stirring the air. It was as if she had always been standing there, one with the mist.

She was a woman of enchanting figure, her form wrapped in a tight white dress that outlined a breathtaking silhouette.

Her face was exquisitely beautiful, so otherworldly it seemed unreal.

Her skin was pale, utterly devoid of color.

A cruel yet curious light glinted in her eyes. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

A scarlet, forked tongue would occasionally dart from between her alluring lips, quick as lightning, emitting a soft but spine-chilling "HISS" as if tasting the fear in the air.

"Hehehe..."

The woman in white’s laughter rang out. It wasn’t loud, but it carried a bone-deep chill that pierced everyone’s eardrums and clung to their minds. "You’re not so bad, little one. To think you’ve brought me so much... fresh food."

’She’s not from the Moon Worship Sect or the Seven Stars Gang...’ Cao Yan’s heart tightened as he recalled the legends of the Mist Marsh.

"A demon... It’s a demon!"

"It’s a Great Demon from the depths of the Mist Marsh! It’s over, we’re done for..."

"WHIMPER..."

After a moment of dead silence, panicked cries and gasps erupted from the crowd.

Many people’s legs gave out, and they collapsed to the ground, their faces ashen.

They had just escaped the jaws of a tiger, thinking they’d found a sliver of hope, only to fall into an even deeper den of demons.

The woman’s icy gaze swept over them, like solid ice scraping against their skin. It extinguished any thought of resistance, leaving only the primal terror of facing a natural predator.

Cao Yan hid behind a large rock, his muscles tensed. He gripped the hilt of his Flaming Dragon Saber, completely still.

It felt as if an invisible hand were squeezing his organs, sending waves of sharp pain through him...

But he seemed oblivious to it all, standing like a stone statue.

"Stop hiding..."

The woman’s voice drifted over, ethereal and elusive. "I know you’re hiding behind that cyan stone."

"You’ve applied Golden Sore Medicine to your wounds, but you’re still bleeding..."

"Look. Your blood is running down your saber and dripping from its tip."

Cao Yan didn’t speak, only furrowing his brow.

His gaze swept to his right, where he saw a small snake’s head emerge from a crack in the rock.

He tilted his head slightly and saw several more small snakes staring at him from a crevice to his left.

’This woman can use small snakes to relay information?’

’Or... does she share their vision?’

His expression grim, Cao Yan stepped out from behind the cyan stone.

He slowly raised the Flaming Dragon Saber in his hand, its tip aimed at the Snake Demon. His voice was low but remarkably steady. "Though I am gravely injured and near the end of my rope, if I were to throw my life away, shatter my Dantian’s Primordial Qi, and unleash the Annihilation Slash of the Ninefold Thunder Shock Saber... it might not be impossible to take you down with me."

The moment he finished speaking, the weakened aura around him, a result of his heavy injuries, suddenly became extremely dangerous.

Faint yet violent, chaotic fluctuations of Primordial Qi, brimming with destructive power, began to emanate from his body like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

The Flaming Dragon Saber seemed to sense its master’s resolve. The blade itself began to hum, and a faint, dark red light pulsed along its cracked edge.

"The Ninefold Thunder Shock Saber?"

The Snake Demon’s gaze slowly swept over Cao Yan. "A member of the Cao Family from Cyan Yang Ancient City?"

She had cultivated for hundreds of years and had seen countless humans fight back before death.

But it was truly rare to encounter a young man like this one, whose will was so firm and whose resolve was so absolute that even she felt a hint of a threat.

She had no doubt that if she truly pushed him, this young human would commit that very act of madness.

"Taking me down with you?"

The Snake Demon’s scarlet tongue flickered rapidly a few times before she giggled coquettishly. "Why must things be so tragic? In all my years of cultivation, the one thing I’ve never lacked is patience. Your ’friends’ should be arriving soon, shouldn’t they?"

With an all-knowing mockery in her eyes, she added, "After you’ve all fought to the death and the blood flows like a river... wouldn’t it be lovely for me to come out and clean up the mess?"

With that, her white figure flickered and seemed to melt away, silently dissolving into the thick, cyan-gray mist above the valley as if she had never been there at all.

But the cold, cloyingly sweet Demonic Qi did not dissipate. Like an invisible shackle, it still enveloped the entire valley, coiling around everyone’s hearts.

It was a silent reminder to everyone that they were not safe. They had merely gone from being prey about to be devoured to being prisoners in a pen, awaiting an even crueler fate.

All hope was extinguished, leaving only a deeper, more helpless despair that spread silently, shrouded by the dense mist and Demonic Qi.

Cao Yan, however, acted as if nothing had happened. He walked back a few steps and sat down again on the same cyan stone where he had been wiping his saber.

A wolf before, a tiger behind. The situation was even worse than he had anticipated.

But he had no choice other than to fight to the death.

To abandon these people and flee for his life...

He couldn’t do it.

Suddenly, footsteps approached from behind.

"Senior Brother Cao Yan..."

Cao Yan turned to see two youths, about sixteen or seventeen years old, walking up to him.

One clutched a dagger, the other a broken saber.

The youth with the dagger said, "Senior Brother Cao Yan, our injuries aren’t serious. Let us go stand guard at the valley entrance. You’re hurt so badly, you should rest first."

Cao Yan looked at the courage that had not yet been extinguished in their eyes and nodded slightly.

To remain calm in such a predicament and even volunteer for guard duty—the mental fortitude of these two youths far surpassed that of the others.