Chapter 87 - 57: Little Green Snake

Chapter 87: Chapter 57: Little Green Snake"Snake!" Ji Xinghuo’s first reaction upon seeing the green shadow was, is that really a snake? His second reaction was, it’s too small! The snake was about as long as a finger, probably less than ten centimeters, thinner than chopsticks, entirely a lush green, with fine, smooth scales that barely showed any gaps. It was rapidly falling down when it flipped over to reveal its belly, which had golden patterns, and seemed to pose no threat. The magnetic field of the little green snake was quite weak, in accordance with its size. In Peak Valley, there were countless creatures of this size that were usually harmless, so Ji Xinghuo would always ignore such small and weak magnetic fields in his magnetic sense to reduce disturbance while tracking monsters. Here, on top of a very high stone pillar, it was even less dangerous. Therefore, he had been negligent and had not noticed the small snake approaching earlier. Ji Xinghuo’s gaze was focused. Aside from magnetic sense, he could also judge the strength of a target through ether sensitivity. However, the little green snake’s ether reaction was also quite faint, almost like that of a bug. "No way!" Ji Xinghuo realized something was off — how could such a tiny snake have eaten such a large bird? "Where’s my bird?" He quickly scanned the area and couldn’t find the roasted bird. By now, the little green snake had dropped to the base of the stone pillar, falling further would mean reaching the edge of the cliff, dense with overgrown bushes and rocky crevices. If it crawled into those, it would be very hard to find again. Ji Xinghuo didn’t hesitate anymore and grabbed his Eagle Bow to shoot. Pop! The arrow shot straight down and caught up to the little green snake in an instant. It seemed to sense the danger, reacting quickly by coiling up in mid-air, its head tilting upward, mouth wide open. The arrow went right into its mouth. Then it disappeared. "Uh..." Ji Xinghuo finally understood what was happening and widened his eyes in shock. "How did it do that?" "Where’s my arrow?" The titanium aluminum alloy arrow was over 70 centimeters long, many times longer than the body of the small green snake, yet it swallowed the arrow, leaving no trace. S~eaʀᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. After swallowing the arrow, the little green snake fell into the bushes and quickly disappeared from sight. Ji Xinghuo recognized its miraculous nature and wouldn’t let it get away; his magnetic sense had already locked on to it, making it impossible to escape. "Let’s see where you can run!" He slung the Eagle Bow on his back, drew out his Thunderbolt Battle Blade, grabbed the nano-rope fixed above, and leaped down like he was running on the ground, swiftly descending along the side of the stone pillar. He had just descended halfway when Ji Xinghuo suddenly felt alarmed. He flipped to the side to dodge. An arrow shot from the bushes below, as fast as lightning, skimmed by Ji Xinghuo’s body and flew up into the sky. "Dammit!" Ji Xinghuo broke into a cold sweat. This damn thing was the arrow he had shot, and it had come back at him. Moreover, the force and speed were not reduced at all, and it would have been ridiculous if he had been hit. "I almost shot myself..." Ji Xinghuo, still shaken, reached the cliffside. His magnetic sense indicated that the little green snake was swiftly moving through the undergrowth, speeding towards even deeper parts of the cliff below. With such a small size, it was practically invisible. It could lie in the undergrowth without making a sound, breathing, or having a scent, and no one could find it. But Ji Xinghuo could. His magnetic sense had firmly locked onto the little green snake. He subconsciously reached for the Eagle Bow to shoot another arrow, at least to drive it out of the bushes, but then reconsidered. During those few seconds of hesitation, the little green snake had already swum seven or eight meters away. Its target was a crack in the cliff below, leading deep into the Rock Peak. If it crawled in there, he would be helpless. Ji Xinghuo wasted no time; grabbing the nano-rope, he plunged downward like a wild goose, vigorously swooping down. Clang! Rocks shattered. Lei Chi’s sword chopped into the stone wall, calculated in advance, right on the path where the little green snake was slithering into the crack, cutting through a large section of rock. The little green snake, just emerging from the bushes, found its way blocked and suddenly fell through midair. At that moment, Ji Xinghuo was only a step away from it. At such a close distance, he could fully see the form of the little green snake. "Iron Arrow Green?" Ji Xinghuo was very surprised inside; this little green snake looked like an Iron Arrow Green shrunk by hundreds of times, a kind of snake very common in Peak Valley. On Earth, there was also a similar-looking snake called the Cuiqing Snake. But the Iron Arrow Green was much more formidable than the Cuiqing Snake. They liked to hide in trees and, when prey passed by, they would suddenly pounce at extreme speed, like an arrow shooting towards its target. The Iron Arrow Green had no venom but would evolve into a monster with the "Iron Scales" awakening; its scales were as hard as iron, covering its entire body. Its arrow-shaped head would pierce directly into the prey, penetrating flesh and blood, with a force comparable to real arrows, or even stronger. These days, Ji Xinghuo had killed more than a dozen Iron Arrow Greens. This Iron Arrow Green was clearly different. Ji Xinghuo looked into its eyes, which shimmered like amber gemstones, and in that moment, noticed the fear and tension in its eyes, which revealed a significant spiritual essence. "Spiritual Objects!" It was a Spiritual Snake! Ji Xinghuo was overwhelmed with joy; Spiritual Objects were also evolved from ordinary Star Realm creatures, but they possessed intelligence and were extremely rare. The probability of Star Realm creatures evolving into Spiritual Objects was very low, so low that it was practically incalculable. It was like a genetic mutation. Generally speaking, spiritual objects were much stronger than monsters, with higher levels of awakened abilities, greater might, and they also grew faster! Most importantly, spiritual objects possessed higher intelligence and could communicate. If one could tame them, spiritual objects were the best war pet companions, much better than ordinary monsters, and could evolve alongside their masters. One of the thirteen Heavenly Kings of the Asia-Pacific Community, Luo Yimeng, who ranked tenth globally as a "Heavenly Master Chao Feng," had obtained the spiritual pet "Phoenix Crowned Colorful Magpie" shortly after becoming a mutant. From there, he soared to the heights, step by step, becoming the world-renowned number one Master. Ji Xinghuo had intended to strike again, directly kill the little green snake, and capture its Alien Species. Now that he knew it was a spiritual object, he naturally could not bring himself to do it. A living war pet was incomparable to an Alien Species, such an act would be like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Ji Xinghuo let the little green snake fall off the cliff. Its body was just too small, too light, and before it hit the bottom of the cliff, it was blown about by the wind, floating here and there in mid-air. "How should I catch it?" Directly reaching out to grab it was not an option. The little green snake likely possessed the ability to consume and shift matter, a type of space-related ability that was extremely terrifying. If it bit him, his entire hand might vanish. Trapping it was also difficult; it could directly bite through matter and escape. If one kept attacking, obstructing, and binding it, it would develop feelings of enmity, especially since it wasn’t low in intelligence. He could only observe carefully and find its weakness. Ji Xinghuo, gripping the nano-rope, climbed back atop the rock pillar, but in his mind, he was constantly aware of the little green snake’s movements. It had already fallen to the valley below the cliff, swiftly slithering tens of meters, and entered a rock crevice. For the next half hour, the little green snake did not move, sticking out its tongue every few seconds. It was waiting for enemies to leave, showing great patience. However, Ji Xinghuo was even more patient than it. He casually ate some dry food to fill his belly and packed up both the tent and his baggage. He had changed his plans; the most important thing now was not to hunt the Stone Scythe Demon but to figure out how to tame the little green snake. Although he temporarily couldn’t think of a way to tame it, tracking it was not a problem. The little green snake couldn’t possibly escape the magnetic field sensing. Ji Xinghuo climbed down the rock pillar and took another path down from Rock Peak, pretending to leave. When he was more than three hundred meters away from the cliff, the little green snake immediately showed activity. "As expected..." "It must have a very effective means of perception, probably a type of smell," Ji Xinghuo guessed. Snakes have poor hearing and vision but very sensitive olfaction. Their forked tongues collect scent particles from the air, sending them to the Jacobsen’s organ located above the mouth to distinguish minute differences in smells and thus pinpoint the precise location of objects. Some powerful snake monsters could even sense the smell of prey miles away. Ji Xinghuo walked a further hundred meters away, which should be beyond the sensing range of the little green snake, allowing it to slowly crawl out from its hiding crevice. In the magnetic field sensor, the little green snake swiftly slithered through the valley. Ji Xinghuo followed from a distance. A moment later. The little green snake crawled to a deeper part of the valley and entered a narrow cave hidden behind some bushes. The internal space was like a labyrinth, zigzagging in multiple bends, with some areas filled with water that one must swim through to continue moving deeper inside until reaching a warm cave at the end. The cave space wasn’t large; if a person crawled in, they could only lie down, unable to stand up. But it was spacious enough for the little green snake. "This is too hidden..." Ji Xinghuo couldn’t help but shake his head. If he didn’t have magnetic field sensing, other means of perception would almost certainly fail to locate the little green snake’s nest. While he was still marveling, he saw the little green snake open its mouth. An object was spat out, landing in the cave; the magnetic field shaped like a bird. "My roasted bird!" Ji Xinghuo gritted his teeth—no one would be happy to see their food, even if not greatly valuable, snatched away from them. The next second. The magnetic field around the little green snake suddenly grew. "Hmm?" Ji Xinghuo was taken aback. It was still a snake, but the strength and range of its magnetic field had grown tens of times larger, as if out of nowhere. It was no longer the little green snake, but a two-and-a-half-meter-long Iron Arrow Blue! Now nearly as thick as a human arm, the previously spacious cave became somewhat cramped, it wrapped the cooked bird in the middle, opened its snake mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp. The roasted bird slid through the snake’s stomach, quickly reaching its digestive tract. Within five minutes, the snake’s belly returned to its normal shape, having digested the roasted bird. After its meal, the big snake no longer moved, coiling into a ball, lying quietly in the cave, as if it was asleep. Ji Xinghuo observed it while he started thinking. "This snake has at least two abilities." "The first one I’ve never heard of, it can consume objects in its mouth, seemingly entering another space, then release them again." "The second ability is likely Miniaturization!" Ji Xinghuo remembered once watching a video, specifically introducing transformation abilities related to body size, such as Gigantification and Shrinking, both of which can make the body larger or smaller. There are also Transformation Elements abilities that change form to other species and thus alter body size. Gigantification is the core ability of the ’Giant General.’ Both Gigantification and Shrinking are considered Superior Abilities; the change in body size usually does not exceed 50% of the original, that is, half. To become significantly larger or smaller is not just a simple physical change. It involves space and dimensions! Miniaturization is one of them. It allows the body to shrink dozens or even hundreds of times smaller. An individual from the American Federation, the only human on Earth known to have mastered Miniaturization, though just a Transcendent Ability, gave him a tremendous advantage in battles against opponents of the same level, and could also be applied in many scenarios, yielding unexpectedly effective results. Regarding the little green snake’s ability to consume and transfer matter, Ji Xinghuo speculated that it might very likely be a Star Fall Ability!