Chapter 74: Serpent Emperor of Darkness, Ba-Shei Right after Yao Jun entered the gate, he immediately teleported himself away from the entrance, appearing next to Guo Luo. This gate was his domain, while he could not yet teleport the other living beings within the gate, teleporting himself was no problem. He put his arm around Guo Luo's waist and teleported away once more, this time appearing amidst the branches of the ancient tree that stood at the center of his gate. “It has the power to move through shadows, allowing it to appear from virtually anywhere. It cannot sense or see you if you are hiding here, so this is the safest place for you.” Right after he finished speaking, the teleported away again, the serpent had just entered his gate. He had placed Guo Luo here because he was scared of anything happening to her. She had grown stronger, but she was not strong enough to face a Demonic beast that was almost at the 2nd Mortal Earth. If it decided to attack her, there was nothing she could do to defend herself. Guo Luo wanted to say something, but before she got the chance, Yao Jun had already vanished. She could do nothing but sit down on the branches, a sad expression on her face. She trained so that she could fight alongside Yao Jun, but now that a real fight was taking place, could she do nothing but hide? Yao Jun appeared in a clearing not far away from where the serpent entered his gate. He quickly made the exit move itself away from the serpent while it was confused, making the exit appear in the sky, floating above them. “Now there is no escape from here for you. Your only end is to join me.” Yao Jun's eyes locked onto the serpent as he spoke out. The serpent quickly turned it's head to face him after hearing his words, it moved it's eyes between Yao Jun and the gate that was floating in the sky, a sliver of fear appearing in it's eyes. It did not know where this was, it had never even heard of a power like this. Not just that, but it could feel three more dangerous auras in this place. One was flying in the air above it, circling it, and the two others were standing in the forest not far from it. But the thing that scared the serpent the most was the ancient tree standing at the very center of this area. The tree released an ancient aura that pressed down on the serpent, stifling it and almost making it hard for it to breathe. But that did not mean that it would just give up like that. It had fought and struggled until it was able to reach this level, it refused to go down without a fight. The serpent opened it's jaw and let out a loud hiss, the reddish black mass of tongues within it's split mouth wriggling as it did so. After it let out this hiss, it's body sank into the ground, disappearing into the shadows. Yao Jun had expected the serpent to be unwilling to join him immediately, so he was not too surprised at it's actions. A black light flashed in his right hand and his sword appeared. He quickly turned around and placed the sword in front of his chest preparing to take on the serpent's tackle head on. But the attack never came, his shadow was completely still. Yao Jun quickly realized what was happening, and his body teleported away appearing next to Little Thunder just as the serpent flew out of his shadow. Yao Jun was just about to stab out with his sword to push the serpent aside when his shadow suddenly started squirming. After a short moment, his shadow turned into long spikes that shot towards him. Yao Jun did not dare slight these spikes, quickly dodging to the side to dodge the spikes. One of the spikes still managed to reach him, so he placed his sword in front of his chest to block. When the spike hit his sword, he felt like he had been hit by a sledgehammer, his entire body flying backwards as his arms ached. Little Thunder had no time to worry about Yao Jun, as the serpent was charging directly at it. The serpent had chosen Little Thunder after a short moment of thought. After it dived into the shadows, it could see through the surrounding shadows within a certain range, allowing it to see just who was hiding within the forest. It spotted Sirius and Little Thunder hiding not far from Yao Jun. Sirius was small and slender, looking like it specialized in speed, so attacking him meant that it had very little chance of landing an attack. Little Thunder on the other hand was much larger and muscly, looking like he focused on pure strength. It might take some damage in return after attacking the tiger, but it was confident that it could heavily wound it in return. Little Thunder did not try to dodge, letting loose a loud roar as it slammed one of it's paws forward. It's paw crackled with lightning, purple arcs shooting into the surroundings. The serpent trusted in it's own defense, continuing it's charge. Just as it was getting close to Little Thunder, the serpent felt it's mind twist and turn, quickly losing control over it's own body as it turned sideways. It quickly regained control, but the damage was already done. It had moved it's body sideways, allowing Little Thunder's paw to slam down directly on the scar on it's back. Purple lightning shot forward when Little Thunder's paw slammed into the serpent, it's claws quickly digging into it's flesh and tearing open the scar. The smell of burnt flesh spread into the surroundings as blood started dripping down from the back of the serpent. The serpent raised it's head, staring at the grey eagle flying in the sky above it. It knew that it was this eagle that had muddled it's mind just now, forcing it to use it's weak spot to block the attack. The serpent let out a loud hiss and dove back into the shadows to hide. Yao Jun quickly reacted after he manged to stabilize his body. His arms were aching and there was blood at the corner of his mouth, but there was not too much damage to his body. He teleported himself to the side of Little Thunder and Sirius and brought the two of them with him to the clearing where he stood earlier, preparing for the next attack by the serpent. The clearing descended into silence, as only the sound of the wind could be heard. Yao Jun knew that the serpent was probably planning on trying to end this in one single attack. The scar on it's back had been torn open and it was bleeding heavily, it would not be able to fight for much longer. Since it wanted to end this quickly, Yao Jun did not mind helping it. He did not want to take several hits like the previous one, he did not think that his body would be able to endure it. The silence continued for a short while, before Yao Jun sensed a change in the wind behind him. He did not turn around to look, the control over wind that Sirius gave him allowed him to know what was happening behind him. The serpent shot out from his shadow, appearing almost directly behind him, it's jaw wide open. Just as it was about to bite down on Yao Jun, Yao Jun's body vanished. The serpent quickly realized it's mistake. This was Yao Jun's world, he could teleport around as he wanted. But it was too late for regrets now. Yao Jun appeared on the back of the serpent, right next to the bleeding wound. One hand grabbed onto the exposed flesh, while the other raised his sword high. Wind and lightning intertwined around his sword, the sound of thunder rumbling forth as the wind sped up the lightning, and the lightning heated up the wind. Yao Jun angled his sword slightly and stabbed down, his sword easily digging into the exposed flesh of the serpent, the wind and lightning shooting off of the sword and wrecking havoc inside the serpents body. The serpent quickly lost control over it's body, crashing into the ground and skidding forwards. Yao Jun teleported away from the serpent right after he had made the attack, so he did not crash into the ground with it. The serpent was laying a short distance away from him, blood dripping out from it's back and mouth, it's entire body devoid of strength. It's amber eyes were staring at Yao Jun. There was no hatred or anger, only a strong sense of unwillingness. It did not want to die yet, it wanted to become stronger, to see more places, to eat all kinds of different Demonic beasts. “Don't worry. You won't die, not here, not now. You will follow me in the future, together we will take each other to the top of the world. You want to eat all kinds of Demonic beasts? I will give you an entire world to feast on. You do not have a strong bloodline? I will give you the blood of every serpent type Demonic beast in the world, creating an entirely new bloodline just for you.” Yao Jun stepped towards the serpent as he spoke. He could easily read it's thoughts from it's eyes. Who wouldn't be unwilling in the face of death? He knew that this serpent did not have a strong bloodline, it was probably just a normal serpent that had absorbed enough Qi of the darkness type to grow to this extent. But he did not care. Having a strong bloodline was only a boost in the early stages. Sirius and Little Gray both had strong bloodlines, one had the blood of the Sky Wolf, while the other had the blood of an Illusory Roc. Little Thunder and this serpent on the other hand had no bloodlines. But it did not matter. As Yao Jun killed more and more Demonic beasts to strengthen his own, they would absorb their strength, birthing a bloodline of their own. He was certain that Little Thunder and this serpent would be just as glorious as Sirius and Little Gray in the future. “Close your eyes and sleep, rest your body. When you wake up, you will be Ba-Shei, The serpent emperor of darkness.” Yao Jun crouched down next to the serpent and placed his hand on it's head. His face had a gentle smile as he spoke and named the serpent, a black light shooting out from his body and covering the serpent. Since it was no longer resisting, absorbing it was no problem. The serpent closed it's eyes and allowed the black light to wash over it's body, quickly shrinking and vanishing.