Chapter 13 - Imperial Guards (2)

"Guo Mei?" Ji Ting gasped. "I'm still here. Don't go!"

"Mommy?.....I...can't fight it," Guo Mei said as the dark tentacles disappeared.

"Curses. It seems her body is too weak to endure. I'll have you take good care of her for now. I must thank Guo Lin. I always found a body, but it did not possess enough darkness in its heart. You should know the only way to save her is for her to taint other fragments of the Darkness with evil. Lightning has evolved and will rise again. The others will be freed, and the Yin Yang Realm will be reunited once more! Her jealousy of Guo Lin's powers made this all possible. HAHAHAHA! It is only a matter of time. The next time you see the Snake, tell him that I will show him how much fun I am the next time I take control of this body," the voice of the crimson eye laughed, its laughter fading until only silence remained.

"Snake? Could it be that Yang'er knows about it?" Guo Li frowned as she checked her husband, relieved to feel a pulse. Her son and daughter-in-law didn't feel it, but Guo Li knew her husband protected them by spreading out his spirit energy and taking the brunt of the dark spirit energy pulse.

"Guo Mei!" Ji Ting cried as she hugged her only daughter, Guo Mei crying as she buried her head into her chest.

"I..I'm sorry I lied. I was scared. It seems to be sleeping. What do I do if it wakes up?" she cried, her mother at a loss for words.

"Mother-in-law?" Ji Ting asked, the two turning to Guo Li.

"I...I don't know. I think Yang'er might know a way. That boy is extremely smart for twelve years old. Whatever was inside her also mentioned him. Now, Guo Mei, what didn't you tell us that happened the night you got your Yin Yang divine tattoo?" Guo Li narrowed her eyes.

"I..." Guo Mei began and told her story, shocking her parents, Guo Li, and Guo Jing as he regained consciousness.

"What?" Guo Yang gasped and turned to the direction of the patriarch's house. "Something called to me."

"Why hello, young master of the Guo Clan. Welcome to Tang City's Pet Shop of Magical Beasts," a man smiled, distracting Guo Yang's thoughts as he turned to him. "Is there a particular magical beast you are looking for?"

"I want to buy all the snake magical beasts you have," Guo Yang said, stunning the man.

"Snake magical beasts are strong but take too long to cultivate and are very difficult to raise. Pardon my words, but only a fool would choose snake magical beasts. I understand you may wish for one as they are cheap, but it would be best to choose something else," the man said.

"Are you the owner?" Guo Yang asked, an innocent smile on his face. "Is there anyone else here?"

"Besides my two assistants upstairs, there is no one but another boy who has two escort guards wearing the same armor as the ones behind you," the man said.

"Take me to the snakes," Guo Yang said and turned to his guards, light spirit energy gathering in his eyes. "You are tired. You need to close your eyes and rest. Rest. Rest."

"We'll be here, young master. Don't worry. The two guards outside will protect this place from suspicious characters," the two guards said and fell asleep.

"Hypnotism. Heh. Light practitioner arts have their uses," Guo Yang laughed as he had used the Light Puppet Art. Unless the victim completely trusted you, it only worked on those with lower cultivation. The victim could only do or say things he already knew, and the more complex, the more difficult it was to succeed in using the light practitioner art.

"These are all the snakes?" he asked as the owner led him there.

"Indeed. Some of them are rather feral and had to be trapped in cages," the owner said. "The ones to my left are toxic while the ones to my right have superior bodies."

"I see. You collected quite a lot," Guo Yang said as he stared at the snakes. There were all kinds of snakes with different lengths and patterned scales. Some had feathers, horns, spikes, and even more than one head. They all looked abused and angry within their cages. Guo Yang turned to the man and smiled.

"You did good. Very good. It seems my spoils will be great. Come a little closer. I don't want someone to see me take out so many demon spirit coins and mark myself as a target for theft," Guo Yang smiled like an innocent little boy.

"Of course. Now the amount of money is...." the man began, but Guo Yang unleashed a red mist from a vial that appeared, entering the man's eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.

"Huck...huck...." the man coughed and grabbed his own neck as he gasped for breath.

"Snake poison. My own original. You see, I was a snake magical beast. I was treated as food and a source of magical beast cores by greedy humans. I put my brethren, who suffered under magical beast contracts, out of their misery. The poison that entered the seven orifices—the openings in your head—is my poison powder. Contrary to belief, not all poisons take life. There are some that are just a teeny bit scarier," Guo Yang said as he kicked the man.

"You....you," the man choked.

"Me. Me. Me. It's too bad I can't kill you. You won't remember a thing. The poison I used was created by studying poisonous magical herbs. It attacks the memory and makes you comatose. When you wake up, you won't even remember how to walk or talk. Think of it as a fresh start to treat snakes better," Guo Yang said as he patted the man before he went unconscious and turned to face the magical beasts. "Now, which of you has a similar poison? I will let you free, and you can eat the man before the city guards show up. Any volunteers?"

"Neidan?" the snakes hissed as Guo Yang manipulated the spirit energy in his hand to reveal the shape of the neidan in his Spirit Realm. "The Exalted One lives!"

"I will serve. I am old and dying, as my cultivation is too weak to increase my lifespan. I suffered the most and was captured first. I thank the Exalted One for this gift," a snake with white, frail scales and a black pattern hissed, dipping its head in respect as he freed it and set it upon the man.

"Ah, the receipt. Hmm. Let's just take it from his own inter-spatial ring. I'll also take some items while I am at it," Guo Yang muttered and took five minutes to do the deed. "I cannot take all of you, only the eggs of snakes with the most potential. However, I will free you to kill the avian magical beasts who are imprisoned here. Do not kill the boy who is my age and his two guards. Their deaths will bring me trouble."

"Thank you, Exalted One," the snakes hissed and rubbed their heads against the back of his hands before slithering off. Guo Yang picked ten magical beast eggs. He stored them in his inter-spatial ring and was about to leave when he noted two things. "Wait. Let me take things of interest before you proceed upstairs."

"Yes, Exalted One," one of the snakes said and relayed the order.

Guo Yang headed to the back of the area and opened the door. Sure enough, he found cages and cages of mice. They would serve as food for his five snakes, and he stored them in his inter-spatial ring, letting them free so the snakes could enjoy a little hunt before eating them.

"I don't need to bind these snakes as I can brand them with my neidan. I can use it to inject my poisonous spirit energy inside them to control them. I still need a magical beast....but my five snakes are better," Guo Yang considered the five snake eggs he chose thanks to the other snakes' guidance.

Two of the five eggs were hydras. Of course, they were female. Hydra milk was exceptionally valuable and increased one's spirit cultivation. Hydras also regenerated their heads and had stronger scales. Most of all, each head would breathe a different element, up to three heads per hydra. They had no obedience, but his neidan would take care of that. He chose one flying snake magical beast. Flight was imperative to escape or chase enemies below the Earth Mortal stage. The final two were poisonous snakes that could also breathe on land or beneath the water's surface.

Why poisonous snakes? Guo Yang had once used a unique cultivation that required poisoning magical beast flesh before eating it. The neidan would absorb the poisoned spirit energy of the meat and convert it into richer spirit energy while simultaneously improving his own poison. Guo Yang called it the Toxic Jade Emperor Cultivation. Him, kowtow to a human emperor? Much less his fucking scroll? No. If anyone was going to bow, it should be the emperor! How dare he mess with Guo Yang's peaceful life?

"Well, interesting life," Guo Yang said as he closed his eyes while letting the snakes roam upstairs and yelled, "Guo Lin! Run! The snakes broke out and are escaping! RUN!"

"Be careful, young master!" the two guards upstairs cried as the two sleeping ones shook and awoke. Hastily, they all left and lingered as the city guards solved the chaos and inquired as to what happened.

After three hours, they were released, and the two brothers were allowed to ride their carriage home.

"You bought five snake magical beast eggs? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to contract with one, let alone five?" Guo Lin cried.

"Relax. You saw how Red Shadow obeys me more than grandpa patriarch. I'll be fine. More importantly, something might have happened at home. Remember? Guo Mei?" Guo Yang said.

"Ah, right. Driver, hurry and take us back home!" Guo Lin roared as Guo Yang clapped his hands together.

"Poison and trickery only get me so far. I need to start training," Guo Yang thought as the carriage picked up speed.