SWOOSH

　　Hou Qing’s figure was like that of lightning as he dodged the second attack from the Python Toad. The tongue slammed into the tree behind him and pierced straight through the trunk, and when the tongue flew back into its mouth, the tree fell amidst rumbles and the sweep of broken branches and a violent gust of leaves.

　　In this moment, Hou Qing made a great leap. Borrowing the force from the falling tree, he landed on the Python Toad’s back.

　　TCHHHN

　　With a quick movement of his hands, Hou Qing nervously plunged his sword downwards towards the back of the toad. The movement was followed by a loud metallic noise, and fiery sparks could even be seen as the sword touched the toad’s skin. This [Qin’fen Sword] had been treasured by Hou Qing since his days before the Qing-Yun Sect, yet now it was split in half.

　　Before any feelings of heartache could show, the Python Toad unexpectedly shook his enormous body as splashes of toxic liquid oozed from its densely packed parotoid glands[1], and Hou Qing—reacting quickly to the change—jumped and hopped around to narrowly avoid the venomous fluid. Despite his efforts, a small amount had still managed to find its way onto the edge of his robe, immediately burning the edge of the clothing like a strong acid.

　　One of the best materials for cloth had become heavily damaged with just a single contact of this liquid.

　　As the poison splashed around, trees withered, rocks melted, and the land within forty yards of the toad turned into a flatland of toxic liquid. Even Fang Xing had almost been affected as he quickly jumped and hid behind the tree he was on. Once it had become safer, the air was filled with a revolting stench and the tree he had hidden behind had close to ten inches of its bark dissolved away from the toxins.

　　Still in the air, Hou Qing saw that no matter where he landed, he would inevitably step on the toxic substance. With a clear whistle, he placed his left foot atop his right before leaping another few feet higher just as a silver Flying Sword appeared beneath his feet. With a sweep of his sleeve, a deep red sword transformed itself into a ray of flame and was launched towards the back of the toad. In less than a full second, the skin of the toad curled up along both sides of the sword mark.

　　‘Looks like Flying Swords can still do some sort of damage to it.’ Though Hou Qing was slightly relieved, he knew that this was no time to make any careless mistakes. Besides, such a small wound would have not made an impact on the beast.

　　In his moment of desperation, Hou Qing turned his head to see Fang Xing still loitering around watching the entire scene with excitement. The expression of joy alone was enough to have Hou Qing gritting his teeth with hatred and contempt, so much so that he would have slit Fang Xing’s throat right that moment if it weren’t for the toad. Under the beast’s continuous attacks, it was hard to escape uninjured, let alone if he were to be distracted by the boy.

　　‘No, I have to leave now or this toad will kill me.’ Hou Qing had always been levelheaded regardless of how heated the situation may be, and he knew this was not the time to act in a fit of pique. The Python Toad was a tier four beast and its skills were also extremely dangerous; it was not something a third-tiered cultivator like him could handle alone.

　　Hou Qing’s Flying Sword could only last him so long in the air. Once he had exhausted his Qi, he would fall into either the pool of toxic liquid or the stomach of the beast; either way, the end result would be the same.

　　As Hou Qing continued to think of an escape plan, his upper body spared no time in commanding the deep red sword to continuously slash and stab the body of the toad. Even though these wounds would not be life-threatening to the beast, it did send it into a chaotic frenzy and caused it to release deep howls of discomfort. Hou Qing’s eyes never stopped scanning the surroundings as his sword bought him time, and in no time he had already found himself a path of escape.

　　At this precise moment, the toad let out a low-pitched howl and opened its mouth to release a toxic smog. The smog was a pale green in color and was aimed directly at Hou Qing like a sharp arrow.

　　Shocked, Hou Qing dodged to the side with his Flying Sword to flee the attack. The poison did not stop just there, however. The toad was in fact spewing an endless torrent of this fume until its body had even shriveled. Seeing this, Hou Qing felt a sense of curiosity that was quickly covered up by a sense of danger.

　　Something was not right.

　　“SH*T!” Hou Qing involuntarily let out a cry, immediately abandoning his deep red sword so that he could run away as quickly as possible.

　　But it was too late.

　　As the toad spat out the last remnants of the green fumes, it inhaled violently while opening its enormous mouth.

　　HUUUUUUFF

　　A tornado-like gust could be seen whirling within the Python Toad’s mouth that was akin to a black hole. Any branches and stone shards that remained had been sucked in at its first inhalation, and within its mouth its tongue whipped every last one of these back out.

　　It was drawing in breath with a specific target, and that target was none other than Hou Qing who had been flying in the air.

　　SWOOOSH

　　Within a short time frame, Hou Qing had already fled some ten yards away before the immense power of the suction pulled him back. In a moment of panic, he threw out a red metal chain—also a spirit weapon—at the largest tree nearby. The chain secured itself to the tree and his body was pulled horizontal as the suction from the toad continued.

　　CRACK

　　The metal chain was a decent spirit weapon, yet the formidable tugging force had brought it almost to its breaking point.

　　“Brother Toad, we’re supposed to be on the same side!” While Hou Qing’s chain desperately tried to prevent its owner from being sucked in by the Python Toad, a miserable shriek could be heard from the side. It had come from Fang Xing who had been watching all along; in a temporary moment of carelessness, he had been pulled in by the strong suction as well. As his tiny body flew upwards, he reacted quickly by stabbing his dagger deeply into the tree beside him, barely securing himself to it.

　　Yet both Fang Xing’s body weight and his cultivation level was less than Hou Qing’s; it didn’t seem as though he would last too much longer.

　　“Haha! I’ll make sure if we’re both going to die today, you’ll die before me!” Hou Qing let out a nasty laugh, as he had already given up on escaping his final destiny. Hou Qing opened his palm wide and ordered his Flying Sword to fly wildly within the gust towards Fang Xing, attempting to kill the boy before he himself died in the stomach of the toad.

　　Fang Xing had his dagger stabbed firmly inside the tree. It was difficult enough to secure his body, let alone evade the attack of Hou Qing’s Flying Sword. Soon, the sword would slice Fang Xing in half.

　　“Hou Qing your mom!” Fang Xing loudly cursed, biting his lips while drawing his dagger free from the wood.

　　Since Fang Xing had managed to secure himself only with the tree, pulling the dagger free meant that his body flew with a great speed right into the Python Toad’s mouth. Of course, Hou Qing’s sword had also missed him.

　　POW

　　Once Fang Xing had been sucked inside, he was almost knocked unconscious by its heavy tongue. It was fortunate that at crucial times like these, Fang Xing’s reaction speed would increase even more. Right now, he knew that it would be all over for him if he slid into the toad’s stomach, as the mucus inside its stomach would trap and suffocate its prey. Thus, Fang Xing bit his teeth tightly and—unable to see clearly—he took a blind stab at something in the hopes of securing himself before falling deeper inside.

　　Luck must have been on Fang Xing’s side; once he’d stabbed into something with the entire dagger until only its handle was visible, his fall was stopped. It was also at this exact time that the toad jumped in agony, the gust also stopping as a result. The toad could be seen scratching with its short forelegs powerlessly at its chest; it was in so much pain that the toad had almost been driven berserk.

　　Seeing the boy being swallowed by the toad had left Hou Qing delighted. To make it even better, the gust of terrifying suction had also stopped. With a sigh of relief, Hou Qing attempted to escape the sea of venom by flying on his Flying Sword.

　　What Hou Qing didn’t know was that while he was stopped in mid-air, the toad had not paid him any attention, but as soon as he sped up on his Flying Sword the creature had locked onto its target once more. The toad had been feeling extreme pain at a location it could not reach, and now that there was something it could spew its anger on, rather than use its tongue, it unexpectedly dashed towards Hou Qing without restraint.

　　Desperate for escape, Hou Qing did not expect the beast to come at him headfirst. Unable to dodge, he was immediately knocked over forty feet away and—before his body had even touched the ground—the toad had initiated its second attack with each of its four legs waving and striking in arbitrary motions. Trees and rocks fell in all directions, as though Mount Miasma itself was currently enduring an earthquake of significant scale.

　　‘Has this toad gone crazy?’ Hou Qing almost spat out blood after being slammed by the head of the beast.

　　Hou Qing had always been courageous. He knew that this was his moment of fleeting chance where he could still successfully complete his Duty Talisman mission.

　　After all, Zhao had died, Qian now held a hatred towards him and would need to go as well, Lyu had died, and the kid had also just died. In other words, the entire party that he had organized for this particular mission was now down to him alone.

　　If he were to return to the sect empty-handed now, the sect might no longer make important use of him, let alone reward him with the Ore Essence Powder necessary for the Poji Pellet. Even if he was successful in breaking through into the fourth tier somehow, no one was likely to befriend him in the inner court. To add salt to the wound, if he were to one day have great accomplishments within the sect, this single failure of a mission would forever be a stain on his path of cultivation.

　　If he was able to bring back a dead Python Toad, however, it might be a completely different story altogether. Regardless of the death toll, as long as he was able to complete the mission, he himself would be deemed successful.

　　‘From great danger comes great wealth. If I were to let go of this chance, I wouldn’t be who I am.’ From his pocket, Hou Qing grabbed a pellet before sending it down his throat, and if Fang Xing were present, he would know that this was exactly the same secondary Demon Pellet Hou Qing had tried to scam him with. Although the amount of Qi contained within the pellet was nowhere comparable to that of the primary one, it could still be consumed directly during battle to replenish used Qi within a short time frame.

　　Swallowing this pellet meant that Hou Qing was ready to fight the toad with his life.

　　—

　　NOTES

　　[1] Parotoid gland: The parotoid gland is an external skin gland on the back, neck, and shoulder of toads and some frogs and salamanders. It secretes a milky alkaloid substance to deter predators—or in this case—a toxic liquid (source: Wikipedia).