Shi Mu watched the gigantic wooden box suspended motionless in midair, his heart throbbing out of shock!

　　Fortunately, other than its size, the box had not shown any other unusual properties. So it seemed that the silver charms pasted on it before were there as a sort of suppression of the wooden box’s original size.

　　Shi Mu’s shock died down, yet in its place, a new sense of curiosity arose in him as he wondered about the sort of things that might have been stored inside.

　　He mused for a moment before making a move, activating his Qi Cloud technique to get on top of the gigantic wooden box. Then, with his arms gripping hard on the edge, he was ready to lift the lid.

　　He raised his eyebrow; the box hadn’t bulged at all!

　　For a wooden box with such a nondescript appearance, it weighed at least a million pounds!

　　Of course, to the current Shi Mu, this was not that much of a challenge.

　　“Heave-ho!” he growled, his arms lifting the whole lid open before he cast it aside.

　　Shi Mu could feel a blaze of golden light shining out from the box as well as a thick chill crawling all over his body, causing him to shudder.

　　He fixed his eyes on the contents and was so shocked that he leaped backward, his body encased in protective red light, his Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife already in his hand.

　　Lying within that square box was the gigantic head of a golden Jiao serpent!

　　The surface of the head was covered in rows of dense golden scales radiating halos of matching golden light. A single arched, gold horn protruded from its crown, two strands of beard hair hung on the sides of its cheeks while a few of its fangs were barren from its jaw. Overall, the head gave off a heart-penetrating sense of antiquity and atavistic majesty.

　　The serpent’s eyes were squeezed shut, yet the whole thing still looked so lively and vibrant that one could mistake it as being merely asleep.

　　After finally recomposing himself, Shi Mu remained at a distance for a while as he inspected the head, making sure it was truly dead. The serpent’s beard hung weakly at the side of its cheeks as Shi Mu noticed the edge of the neck to be completely straight as if the head was severed using an incredibly sharp tool.

　　With that in mind, Shi Mu finally exhaled a breath of relief. Sheathing his black blade, he flew down and then stopped at the edge of the box as a new, terrifying thought occurred to him.

　　The head he was looking at reminded him of the nine-headed golden Jiao dragon that the white ape had felled in his dream. If this thing had been sealed within the wooden box before being kept safely at Heaven Ascension Peak, then could this be one of the nine-headed leviathan’s heads?

　　But in his dream, the golden Jiao serpent ended up being wholly swallowed by the white ape.

　　Could this belong to an even larger nine-headed Jiao serpent? One that came to kill the white ape to settle a blood vendetta?

　　If that was the case, then the strength of this golden Jiao serpent before him must have likely exceeded even Heaven-rank!

　　Nonetheless, this one serpent head had not an ounce of connection to inheriting the powers of the white ape no matter how one looked at it. So why was Huang Long so driven to get his hands on this particular thing? Could he have gotten it wrong?

　　Shi Mu shook his head, trying to cast his thoughts aside. He decided to get closer to the head in order to inspect it better.

　　Just then, something unexpected happened!

　　The eyes on the huge head suddenly bolted open, radiating dazzling golden light as a stupefying aura of draconic mien quickly stifled the air. The head started to shake as if it had just come back to life. Its golden scales were gleaming and glistening in a dazzling display of gold.

　　Shi Mu could only see a flash of gold before a sudden, unknown force braced his face—and then suddenly his body had lightened and was somehow in a backward flying motion like he was being stowed away by clouds.

　　Aghast, he managed to perform a handsign only after he had flown backward over several dozen yards. On his command, a puff of cloud appeared and anchored his body.

　　Still blazing with bright golden light, the gigantic head slowly rose to the air, its gilded pupils scanning its new surroundings as it let out a draconic bellow.

　　A large soundwave rippled through the air in all directions—it shook the void, causing an aerial tidal wave that could be seen by the naked eye.

　　A few lower-ranked undead creatures burst into pieces from the resonance of this single roar. Meanwhile, Wu Ye—who was still sitting next to the Darkwater Lake quite far away from here—was unharmed, but he was still lifted off from his seat by an unseen force.

　　Shi Mu instantly knew that things had taken a turn for the worse. His Real Qi formed a wall encasing him tightly before the head could emit its cry. Still, when the soundwave hit his shields, they shook violently as the mere sound came through and whammed Shi Mu on his ears.

　　A wave of nausea immediately seized him. Even his chest was paining.

　　“Why the heck is this thing still alive?!”

　　Shi Mu flew backward over a few yards and finally stabilized his body, but his face was still quite pale.

　　The lights on the golden serpent head started to dim, and its cries ceased. A golden phantom escaped from its head—as if it was its spirit that had long hidden in the head.

　　The golden Jiao serpent’s spirit quickly noticed the undead creatures standing not far from it in the surroundings, and its eyes lit up in joy. With a heave, it started to suck them in!

　　Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

　　The Soul Flames from the undead creatures were forcefully nabbed out of their bodies and flowed into the serpent’s mouth.

　　After that, the golden Jiao spirit’s surface gleamed, and it seemed to have become a tad bit more corporeal.

　　Shi Mu’s face darkened immediately at the sight.

　　Boom! Booooomm!

　　It was then when the deathly miasma perforating the entire realm of the Dead Spirit World started to boil and roll as they gathered at where the serpent’s head was.

　　Countless streams of dark smog converged and wrapped the golden serpent head. Within a couple of seconds, the head was attached to a makeshift body formed completely from the black smog about twenty to thirty yards long. The body may not have been tangible, but it radiated a dreadful pressure just as much as Liu An did before.

　　The golden Jiao head looked downwards at its newly-fashioned body and growled in dissatisfaction.

　　In a split second, its enormous eyes were on Shi Mu.

　　His heart was immediately seized by a dreadful chill, his mind racing on the possibilities of fleeing. After all, if this golden Jiao head had nothing to do with inheriting the White Ape’s powers, then there would be no point in making an enemy out of it…

　　Although one had to admit, this serpent head was no less a treasure trove of incredible materials…

　　Roaaaarr!

　　The golden Jiao serpent head bellowed and curled its body—then lunged toward Shi Mu at terrifying speed.

　　Anticipating the attack, Shi Mu swung himself violently to the side and put a distance about ten yards away from where he was, successfully evading the initial attack.

　　But the golden head did not stop at missing its attack. With an incredibly agile swipe of its leviathan body, the serpent’s tail swooped in from the side like a bolt of lightning striking right on Shi Mu’s body—

　　With a loud rumble, Shi Mu was slammed into the earth hard. Like a meteor, his fall had created a great crater.

　　Fortunately, Shi Mu’s body was inhumanly durable, hence he was unscathed from this attack. However, a new thought occurred to him, and he soared into the air.

　　His body was covered with red light as the Crimson Ape Energy Construct manifested above his head. The ape’s hands drew backward and a flash of light blazed in its palms before revealing a large claymore made of flames. A powerful aura emanated from the entire Energy Construct.

　　Simultaneously, Shi Mu’s chest flashed with black light as black scales started to surface from his skin, each of them giving out a deadly black glow.

　　If this golden Jiao head was looking for a fight, then a fight it would get!

　　Perhaps it was because the serpent head had just awakened from its slumber, despite its seemingly unbeatable appearance, its true strength didn’t seem very impressive—or else Shi Mu knew that the one blow which had struck him just now would have caused more than just a roll in the mud.

　　Shi Mu’s hand quickly swiped for the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife strapped to his back. With a low hum, the black blade was instantly lit up with blinding black lights before they converged into a black shadow several yards tall.

　　“Ha!” Shi Mu cried out hoarsely and his body, in a black blur, sprang toward the serpent head. As he brandished his Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife, the Crimson Ape Energy Construct did the same with its flaming claymore.

　　Chiiiiinggg!

　　Two arcs of sword beams—one black and the other crimson—shot out of their blades and zipped through the air to where the golden Jiao serpent head was.

　　Golden lights shone from the serpent’s eyes. It opened its jaw and a thick, golden pillar of draconic breath lasered out to meet the two sword beams.

　　Vrrroooooommmmm!

　　The Crimson Ape Energy Construct’s claymore was immediately shattered by the draconic breath attack, but the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife remained in one piece, its momentum like a gale hellbent on snapping off a bamboo forest as it split the dragon’s breath pillar open and struck onto the golden Jiao head.

　　The head seemed to understand the power of that Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife, so instead of bracing against it, the beast lowered its head and met the attack with the horn on its crown.

　　A dazzling golden light started to light up from the horn’s tip before a beam of deep golden light, about as thick as a human’s thumb, burst out of its tip.

　　Wherever the golden beam tore through, the void rippled with force.

　　The golden beam and the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife clashed into an ear-splitting clasp of iron meeting gold rang in the air; With a shock, the golden Jiao serpent head flew backward over a dozen-odd yard away.

　　The Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife shook violently as well, its preceding black beam shattering like a mirror. A stinging jolt of force coursed through the blade and towards its pommel, shocking Shi Mu into taking a few steps backward.

　　He froze a little and quickly triggered the necessary technique to stabilize his footing and stop himself from being carried away by the force.

　　He sneered and poured more of his Real Qi into the black blade in his hand. Once again, the blade was covered in a black glint.

　　At the same time, a flash of red shimmered out of his body to form a pair of blazing wings. With his wing stretched, he turned into a blur of red cruising through the sky before lunging right at the golden serpent head.

　　Unfortunately, as the golden Jiao head was piloting a body made out of deathly miasma, its powers and speed were pretty much compromised. Hence, as Shi Mu—zipping in the air as a trail of red—attacked the golden Jiao head with dexterous aerial maneuvers and well-timed cuts, the black blade may not have cut through the golden head itself, but it sure landed some significant blows on its makeshift body.

　　The tip of the golden head flashed, and the spirit of the Jiao serpent once again surfaced with a low growl.

　　Once again, as if they were being called up, the deathly energy from the surroundings was starting to pour into the serpent’s body in droves. At a speed visible even to the naked eye, the heavily-damaged body of the Jiao serpent was patching up with the new influx of material.

　　“Ha! You’re just the one I’m waiting for!”

　　Shi Mu smirked, his flame wings blazing brightly as he turned into a trail of red bolting toward the spirit on top of the golden serpent’s head, seizing the small opening when the serpent’s spirit had surfaced in order to replenish its damaged body.

　　The golden spirit was stunned before it quickly tried to coil back into the serpent’s head.

　　At the same time, the golden serpent head raised its head and opened its jaw wide, shooting out its golden draconic breath at Shi Mu.

　　“If your real body were here, I might have chosen flight over fight—but you’re just a disembodied head! Do you think you can bully me without even a neck? How about you go back to your matchbox and dream on… forever!”

　　Shi Mu gave a loud, hoarse cry, his left hand engulfed in a flash of red before he gave one serious punch at the golden draconic breath. A thick pillar of crimson flames spew out from his fist and collided with the golden beam, instantly breaking it apart.

　　Shi Mu’s left hand’s momentum was hardly deterred as it coursed forward and smacked onto the golden serpent’s head. At the same time, with a flash of black behind his body, five mirages of serpents surfaced—they were, indeed, the mirages of his tattoo.

　　The five serpents lunged at the golden Jiao spirit like lightning and bound the spirit from escaping.

　　With a loud rumble, the golden serpent head was knocked out by Shi Mu’s left hand and into the earth below, burrowing straight into the underground as a large, deep crater was formed from the force.

　　The earth rumbled violently not unlike an earthquake. With the black crater as its center, large cracks appeared and spread to all sides as dust and earth were kicked up into the air by the tremor.

　　The golden Jiao serpent spirit, still ensnared by the five pythons’ bite, was struggling violently—even resorting to attacking its five captors. It emitted a powerful aura of spiritual pulses that was far superior to any of the python phantoms, but as it fell prey to the disadvantage of numbers, it was quickly subdued.