Chapter 475: A Mutual Distrust

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　At that single span of time, a concentrated stream of slithering vipers filled every space in the air, darkening the area by covering almost half of the open sky. All of them had their jaws wide open, barring their harrowing fangs forebodingly before every single one of them dashed towards the five blur-robed men.

　　Even scarier was that every single one of these green vipers emanated Xian Tian level aura, while some were actually seemed close to Earth-rank, even.

　　The five could not believe how the tides had turned so drastically against them. These vipers wouldn’t have become much of a problem if not for their thousands and millions of numbers; Anyone would give one look at the situation and automatically—and rightfully—be compelled to give up on retaliating them head-on.

　　“Sh*t! Run!” The middle-aged man in blue robe let out a scream laced with fear and his erstwhile radiating icy blue aura suddenly returned back to him to form a coat wrapping him from head to toe as he flew towards a distance in an attempt to escape.

　　The rest of his group had lost any desire to fight to innate fear and shock as well. In a flash, every single one of them had summoned icy cold aura to wrap their body as a protective measure while trying to escape from a deluge of thousand millions of enormous vipers.

　　“Too late.” There was a cold chuckle following that brief remark as Jiang Shui Shui’s eyes blazed with an uncanny green glow.

　　The deluge of vipers seemed to have swarmed even faster like an angry, hungry wave that couldn’t wait to consume its victims. In a blink of an eye, the vipers were on their very feet.

　　The air was torn by ear-splitting sounds of countless vipers chomping.

　　The blue-robed men had released a thick burst of chilling aura at the very last second through every part of their body. Their last-ditch effort managed to bring down a small number of vipers, but it was like trying to scoop water out of an ocean with a spoon in comparison. The deluge of vipers drowned them, with a layer of vipers over the blue-robed men then another layer of vipers over the previous layer and so forth—

　　“Aaaarrrghhhhhhh!”

　　Despite the sheer volume of snakes and how muffled it sounded, one could still hear the harrowing cries escaped from the victims’ throats before they went silent forever.

　　Not far from the battle, hiding behind a boulder, Shi Mu took a sharp intake of breath. Noticing how Jiang Shui Shui’s eyes had shifted and changed several times over the course had intuitively made him very, very cautious.

　　Jiang Shui Shui raised her hand. Countless slithering vipers scintillated in blinding green light before they started to retrace their steps and returned to being a single strand of green hair back in her head.

　　With the scales on her forehead and her jade-green eyes receding, they revealed a face that was slightly paler than before.

　　At the spot where the flood of enormous snakes had consumed their victims, only five Qing Shan Orders remained.

　　“Shi Tou, this lady is no joke at all. I mean, look at that secret technique she used! It’s no different than unleashing a thousand million soldiers at your enemy at all,” Cai remarked telepathically with Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu nodded. “I agree, the girl’s a tough foe. But there is one problem with her secret technique… It costs her a great deal of energy, so she can’t use it for over a long period of time.”

　　Ever since he had met people the likes of Chi Ni Zi, Shi Mu had a more concrete idea of the sort of actual competitors to joining Qing Lan Holy Sect; Jiang Shui Shui’s prowess may be shocking and devastating, but it didn’t really surprise him that she could possess such depth.

　　With his mind lingering on that thought, Shi Mu turned quietly for a quiet retreat—

　　Suddenly, a sound of the air being pierced through rang in his ear as a single arc of green sword beam plummeted towards him from above!

　　Shi Mu’s face darkened, his body blurred, and he sidestepped the attack.

　　Pching! The green sword beam struck the spot where he was milliseconds ago gleefully, burrowing a deep trough at the earth while simultaneously splitting the boulder he was hiding behind into two neat halves.

　　Then, out of the corner of his eyes, there was a blurry silhouette—and Jiang Shui Shui with her green hair appeared before Shi Mu like a phantom, the tip of her green, ancient sword already pointing at the earth while its blade blocked his path.

　　Shi Mu frowned and stared at her.

　　The girl had skin as fair as porcelain, which complemented her delicate, sculpted-like features. Although she looked much sicklier and paler than she was because of the toll of her last battle, it somehow gave her an oddly charming effect on her entire being.

　　The only thing that could bring anyone down from wanting to approach her, of course, would be the very same icy sulk she had been wearing the whole time—an expression so cold it was akin to slamming a door on one’s face.

　　She fixed Shi Mu with a pair of beautiful but emotionless eyes. “You’ve been hiding here quietly for a long time, haven’t you? Friends with those scums from before?”

　　Shi Mu sighed, a little exasperatedly. “Don’t misunderstand this lowly one, Sect Fellow Jiang. I don’t know them. I was here purely coincidentally!”

　　“Wait. I know you… You’re that human who was transported to the Straying Savanna.” While examining Shi Mu, she seemed to remember something, and her tone relaxed ever so slightly.

　　“It’s an honor that you remember this lowly one from then. Now, as Shi Mu had said, he was here on pure coincidence while you were battling that group of men. This lowly one never intended to interfere,” Shi Mu said directly. “Now, if you would excuse him…”

　　“Excuse you? Just like that?” Jiang Shui Shui sized him up and swung her sword a little threateningly, though her tone was dissonantly placid. “The only way I’ll allow you to leave is if you crush your Watery Vault Heaven Jade and leave your Qing Shan Order behind.”

　　Shi Mu’s pupils constricted a little at her words, his expression darkened as he said quietly, “Making a remark like that, Sect Fellow Jiang, made this lowly one wonders if you have actually thought him weak and incapable of fighting you.”

　　“You want to do this the hard way? Fine by me. Say goodbye!” Apparently not a chatty type, Jiang Shui Shui terminated their exchange with a cold sneer—and suddenly, with her sword raised, green lights flared out from her body while a row of runes blinked before she swung her blade down, emitting the sound of air being torn.

　　It was then when a large green sword beam—about twenty to thirty yards large—projected out from the sword. Accompanying it were smaller bolts of sizzling green lightning circling around the sword beam which was swung right down on Shi Mu’s head.

　　The sword had not even reached him when its precursor aura arrived, crushing the debris around Shi Mu into powder through sheer pressure.

　　“Ha!” Shi Mu let out a battle cry and his body scintillated in a burst of red light before every single ounce of it flowed into his left arm. Under that blinding red glow, a harrowing, terrifying surge of power radiated from his left arm.

　　He gave another yell and swung his left arm forward at the direction of the incoming green sword beam. A gigantic, clear mirage of a fist projected out from his fist and slammed into its opposing attack, resulting in loud “Boooooomm!”

　　It was like thunder had exploded in midair as green and red turned into a storm of their own, pushing each other away to a side, causing trees of every size within an area of several yards to be uprooted right there and then by their ensuing storm. That was not all; Even boulders were being blown away from their spot like leaves in a wind, some of them even crumbled while in the air.

　　The red glow on Shi Mu’s body was shimmering erratically as his feet stomped backward a little before regaining his stability. Jiang Shui Shui, meanwhile, seemed to have been hit harder than him—she had to backtrack about seven or eight steps before she stuck the tip of her ancient sword onto the earth to support her body.

　　It was a very brief moment, but a shade of red surfaced to her pale cheeks before it was gone completely—she wouldn’t admit it, but she did suffer quite a blow from Shi Mu’s counterattack.

　　“Good,” She said, looking at Shi Mu slightly differently, “I did not expect you to be this challenging… No matter, have another one!”

　　She let out a soft cry and hurled the green ancient sword in her hand. It expanded into a large sword of about four to five yards which then spun a little in midair, taking a form of a green crescent, before diving down on Shi Mu.

　　It was so fast it was like lightning itself. In a blink, it had reached the top of Shi Mu’s head.

　　Jiang Shui Shui used one hand to assume a sign before extending the other hand’s index finger, pointing at him.

　　The green crescent exploded into a dazzling light as a horrible mien of lethal intent erupted from every edge of the blade. It plummeted downwards, carving a single green trail on the void whenever it sailed.

　　“Off!” Shi Mu let out a hoarse grunt, his golden eyes narrowing slightly, not a sign of fear on his face.

　　A golden spark shone from his left arm and his body, in an instant, was suddenly covered by a full body of golden scales. He balled his left hand into a fist and swung it right at the plummeting green crescent hurling downwards from above!

　　“Idiot!” Jiang Shui Shui scoffed, her hand assuming a handsign once more. The green crescent shone even brighter as it was imbued with even more force!

　　It was at that moment when a narrow lick of white flames flickered on Shi Mu’s left fist.

　　The sword clashed with his golden fist in the next millisecond.

　　Kabooooom!

　　The earth shuddered. A bolt of green light broke off into countless smaller beams of swords spraying uncontrollably towards every part of the valley like an erratic rain, hammering new dents on the valley.

　　Cheng!

　　A large green sword flew backward from the impact over ten-odd yards before it finally stopped. As the blade vibrated and hummed, the green runes on its body blinked and shimmered for a good while before finally coming to a rest.

　　Jiang Shui Shui’s face was white as paper. Her delicate body rocked a little as a trickle of blood coursed from a corner of her lips, her eyes widening in shock as she glued her attention on the green light that hasn’t dissipated completely.

　　The lights faded and Shi Mu came into her focus.

　　He slowly kept his golden-scaled left arm to a side, his face remained normal while his hand wasn’t even marred by a single papercut. He looked like nothing had happened.

　　Jiang Shui Shui beckoned and the ancient sword flew backward and back into her hand. This time, she didn’t launch into an attack—she just stared at Shi Mu with her eyes filled with sobriety.

　　“If there’s nothing else you would like to discuss, this Shi would be excusing himself!” Shi Mu cupped his hand before his chest as the golden scales receded from the skin. Then, just like that, he silently retreated backwards.

　　From the high air above, Cai spread its wings wide and dove downwards before landing on his shoulder. It brought its one wing and hid its face behind it, but managed to turn back a little and took a small spy on Jiang Shui Shui…

　　The girl shot her with the same chilling expression she always had so abruptly that Cai shook into a jump. It turned its head away quickly as it flapped its wings wildly, trying to regain its stability back on his shoulder.

　　“Shi Tou, this icy demoness who thinks she’s so cool was being so mean to you! Why did you let her go, huh?” After finally stabilizing his footing, Cai whined quietly in dismay.

　　“It’s obvious that she’s got a very tough background. Besides, even I’m not sure that IO can win her completely… So let’s just leave it at that,” Shi Mu replied calmly.

　　Standing about a hundred yards away from him, Jiang Shui Shui watched Shi Mu’s figure disappeared at the very edge of the valley, her eyes remaining as cold.

　　She was always proud and confident of her own abilities, but it didn’t mean she was stupid; She could tell very easily that the man could pour out an even more powerful hit—in other words, he reserved some forces from that one punch. If she persisted in fighting him, she might be her own casualty.

　　She averted her gaze and made a beckoning gesture with her one hand, conjuring a single drove of technicolor light from her arm to wrap around all five Qing Shan Orders from the felled blue-robed men from earlier. Then, she turned to leave…

　　Her graceful eyebrows furrowed a little and she leaped backward so quickly her body blurred, putting a distance of ten-odd yards away from where she was a millisecond ago.

　　Splah! Splah!

　　The spot where she was seconds ago was suddenly ripped open into a large schism, causing debris to scatter everywhere while two gigantic brown root-like structure shot out from the crack like two brown pythons slithering and wriggling.

　　The two wriggling things had a coarse surface engraved with rings of magical glyphs and what looked like some sort of green moss. They looked like some sort of plants’ roots.

　　After pausing for a moment, the two green roots—as if they had sprouted eyes—suddenly lashed out towards where Jiang Shui Shui was standing in a terrifying speed!

　　Watching two gigantic roots hurling towards herself, Jiang Shui Shui raised her eyebrow and her green hair started to dance in the wind.