Urban Martial Saint

”Jiao? Jiao?” Ye Qing slowly took a step forward, softly calling twice.

As he stepped forward, those dozen or so pythons suddenly turned their heads, glaring at him in unison. Although Ye Qing couldn’t discern the emotions of these pythons, he could sense that they seemed full of hostility towards him. This surprised Ye Qing, leaving him puzzled as to how he had angered these pythons, and he truly dared not advance further.

After all, these are pythons, merciless beasts. If truly angered, Ye Qing had no doubt they would swallow him whole in one bite.

Fortunately, at this moment, the python that had brought Ye Qing here swam over immediately, positioning itself in front of Ye Qing. It extended its head, intertwining briefly with the dozen or so pythons, as if communicating through this method. Anyway, it wasn’t long before this python withdrew, and those previously aggressive pythons slowly retreated as well, clearing a path for Ye Qing.

Ye Qing couldn’t comprehend what was going on with these pythons, but seeing them make way, he understood their intentions. He slowly proceeded to the center of the Stone Chamber, approaching the Fat Jiao.

Once beside the Fat Jiao, Ye Qing noticed something was amiss. Its eyes remained tightly shut, while its body trembled slightly, as if enduring some kind of pain. Its scale armor had all lifted, as if forcibly pried up by someone. The scales were bloodstained, and the Fat Jiao’s small claws were now covered in blood, with skin cracked to the point that Ye Qing could see its bones, indicating severe injuries.

Ye Qing never anticipated the Fat Jiao to be injured, and he was startled by its current state.

”Jiao? Jiao, what’s wrong? What happened?” Ye Qing hurried to the Fat Jiao’s side, supporting it as he asked excitedly.

The Fat Jiao’s combat abilities were incredibly frightening; who could possibly injure it? Could it be that he arrived too late, and the people from the Wanyan Family had already been here, injuring the Fat Jiao? But if the people from the Wanyan Family had truly been here, then why didn’t they take the Sun Shooting Bow?

Ye Qing called out a few times, and the Fat Jiao’s body shook as it slowly opened its eyes. Seeing Ye Qing, a hint of joy flickered in its eyes. It raised its blood-stained little claw and pressed it on Ye Qing’s shoulder, as if greeting him.

Seeing the Fat Jiao like this, Ye Qing felt even more sorrowful. While taking out the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill to feed the Fat Jiao, he said, ”Who injured you? Was it those people last time?”

The Fat Jiao’s eyes widened upon seeing the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill. Although it was injured, it couldn’t resist food.

This time, Ye Qing didn’t hold back, directly stuffing all the Ziyu Chenxiang Pills into the Fat Jiao’s mouth. The Fat Jiao happily swallowed all the pills, clearly enjoying them, and its expression became much more relaxed.

Watching the Fat Jiao’s expression while eating the pills, Ye Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Judging by its expression, it shouldn’t be in too much danger, right?

However, before Ye Qing could speak again, the Fat Jiao’s body suddenly changed. It started to twitch, its scale armor seemingly stimulated, and even more blood began to flow from it. Particularly its claws, from which blood even sprayed out.

Seeing the Fat Jiao like this, Ye Qing was dumbfounded. What on earth was happening? Feeding it the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill not only failed to alleviate its injuries but instead seemed to worsen them. What was going on?

The surrounding pythons were also startled by the Fat Jiao’s condition, with two pythons even charging at Ye Qing, glaring viciously. They seemed to believe that Ye Qing had worsened the Fat Jiao’s injuries and were preparing to attack him.

Fortunately, at that moment, the Fat Jiao grabbed Ye Qing and pulled him behind it, simultaneously letting out a soft call. The two pythons glanced at the Fat Jiao and then at Ye Qing, slowly retreating, their eyes showing little hostility. It seemed that the Fat Jiao had scolded them.

Ye Qing was mostly bewildered; why did feeding the Fat Jiao the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill worsen its injuries? Watching the Fat Jiao closely, he said, ”Jiao, what is going on? Who injured you?”

The Fat Jiao didn’t answer Ye Qing; its body continued to tremble as if in immense pain. After a while, its trembling gradually subsided, and it slowly crawled up, turning to look at Ye Qing.

Seeing the Fat Jiao like this, Ye Qing felt quite upset. Although his time with the Fat Jiao hadn’t been long, he shared a very good relationship with it. Seeing the Fat Jiao in such a state was distressing for Ye Qing as well.

”What’s wrong with you?” Ye Qing asked the question again, still uncertain about what had happened to the Fat Jiao.

The Fat Jiao took a few light breaths, stretched out its paws to pat the scales on its body, not knowing what it meant.

”Did someone injure you? Who hurt you?” Ye Qing said solemnly. ”Was it those people who came last time?”

The Fat Jiao shook its head, denying Ye Qing’s words. It again used its paws to pat the scales on its body, one moment gesturing with five, the next with ten, leaving its meaning unclear.

Ye Qing watched in confusion, wondering, ”Five? Ten? What does this mean? Was it a person named Fifty who injured you?”

The Fat Jiao shook its head again, gestured a few times, and seeing that Ye Qing still didn’t understand, it became a bit anxious and suddenly turned with a light call.

Amongst the dozen or so Pythons behind, two immediately swam over, crouching down before Fat Jiao and Ye Qing. The Fat Jiao gestured to Ye Qing, indicating he should sit atop one of the Pythons. Last time Ye Qing was here, he had ridden on this Giant Snake.

Ye Qing didn’t know what Fat Jiao intended to do but still mounted the Python. Fat Jiao called lightly twice, and the two Pythons carried Ye Qing and the Fat Jiao away from the Cave, reaching deeper within. After advancing about a hundred meters, they arrived at a Stone Chamber at the end of the Cave.

The Stone Chamber was roughly fifty square meters, not very large, so with the entry of two Pythons, it was quite cramped. Therefore, after they delivered Ye Qing and Fat Jiao inside, they retreated outside the Stone Chamber, waiting respectfully. Although these Pythons appeared terrifying, they treated Fat Jiao with great respect.

Ye Qing had not entered this Stone Chamber during his previous visit, naturally unaware of the situation inside. This time, with these circumstances, Fat Jiao led him into the Stone Chamber, and Ye Qing knew that Fat Jiao was surely going to tell him something.

Upon entering the Stone Chamber, Fat Jiao slowly stood upright and led Ye Qing to the stone wall at the chamber’s end. Using its tail, it brushed off the dust on the wall, revealing some paintings.

Ye Qing was surprised to see paintings inside the Stone Chamber. Upon closer inspection, the paintings depicted not humans but a Giant Snake, seemingly quite large and aged. The Giant Snake in the paintings was slowly shedding its skin. However, this time, shedding appeared quite difficult, for the new skin retained scales. Additionally, the chest and abdomen had grown two small claws, with a single horn on the head, looking entirely different from its previous form.

After staring at the paintings for a while, Ye Qing suddenly realized something. The paintings illustrated the transformation from a snake to a Jiao. As the saying goes, a snake would become a Jiao after five hundred years. In other words, Jiao evolved from snakes. Ye Qing had only heard this before, but now with the complete transformation of a snake into a Jiao depicted in the paintings, it seemed this matter wasn’t false.

”Is this... is this true?” Ye Qing looked at Fat Jiao in surprise.

Fat Jiao nodded, suddenly stepped forward a little, pointed its small paw at the Jiao in the painting, and then at itself.

”You mean...” Ye Qing looked at the painting, then at Fat Jiao, exclaiming, ”The Jiao in the painting, is you?”

The Fat Jiao immediately nodded, with a look of joy on its face, seemingly excited because Ye Qing had guessed its meaning correctly.

”This...” Ye Qing’s eyes widened, realizing there was no doubt about it. It seemed the saying of a snake turning into a Jiao after five hundred years was indeed true, as Fat Jiao was a living example.

However, thinking about it, this was quite normal. Fat Jiao must be the ancestor of snake species, which is why the snake group in Mount Wendao revered it. If not for this reason, then even if it were some other species, it couldn’t possibly make all these snake species submit to it.

”Your former self was such a large Python?” Ye Qing took a deep breath and suddenly remembered, looking at the two Pythons at the entrance of the Stone Chamber. ”Can these Pythons also transform into Jiao like you?”

Fat Jiao nodded, affirming Ye Qing’s words. But soon, it gestured again, with Ye Qing understanding this time; Fat Jiao indicated that transforming from a snake to a Jiao was an exceptionally challenging task.

Ye Qing could understand. Were it easy for snakes to become Jiao, then why are Jiao so rare in the world? Perhaps snake transformation into Jiao is possible, but a snake surviving five hundred years is extremely rare. Furthermore, the shedding process for snake transformation into Jiao is fraught with danger. A single misstep could result in death during the shedding!