VIP Volume Chapter 053: The Battle Between the Tortoise and the Serpent

Moreover, Little Green was dragging three people behind her!

Hao Six-Fingers gripped Ye Dajun’s maimed arm with his left hand and clutched Ye Xiaoxuan’s wrist with his right. He shouted to Ye Dajun, “Dajun, don’t you dare let go! If you do, the three of us are… glub, glub—”

When Hao Six-Fingers surfaced again, Ye Dajun said with difficulty, “You hold on to Xiaosan, too, or I’ll… glub, glub—”

Ye Dajun was also struck under by the waves, gulping water. Ye Xiaoxuan cursed, “Enough with the chatter! Let Little Green find her mother—only she can… glub, glub—”

Little Green needed no instruction from Ye Xiaoxuan. When it came to fleeing, she was second to none; now she was using every ounce of her strength—even if she’d never actually suckled before.

The Giant King Anaconda was in a frenzy, relentlessly pursuing them from behind. It looked as if it wouldn’t rest until it had swallowed the turtle and all three people whole. The monstrous waves it raised were terrifying, their thunderous noise rolling behind, so frightening that none of the three dared look back.

But Little Green had already veered off course, breaking free from the serpent’s territory. The Giant King Anaconda was simply too massive; though each surge propelled it farther than most could swim in half a day, its bulk made its movements sluggish and unwieldy. Catching up to Little Green was not something it could accomplish in a moment.

Still, this couldn’t go on. The Giant King Anaconda, enraged beyond reason, was doggedly closing the gap, inexhaustible and enormous. Little Green, meanwhile, was visibly weary; her speed was gradually flagging.

Ye Xiaoxuan shouted at Hao Six-Fingers ahead, “Six-Fingers, let go!” Hao Six-Fingers twisted his head around, staring at Ye Xiaoxuan in astonishment, “What did you say?”

Dodging a wave, Ye Xiaoxuan yelled, “Let go! If we keep this up, none of us will escape!”

Hao Six-Fingers glared and swore, “Are you mad? If I let go, you’re dead for sure! I may not always be the most dependable, but with my own brother’s life in my hands, I’m not the type to push you off a cliff!”

Ye Dajun turned and shouted, “Xiaosan, don’t forget what you promised me—until the last moment, we don’t give up!”

Hao Six-Fingers corrected him, “Not give up, never seek death of our own accord… glub, glub!” Ye Dajun flushed, “Same thing! Stop talking into the waves, and don’t let go of Xiaosan!”

Ye Xiaoxuan hollered at them, “I’m not giving up or seeking death—I want to gamble! I’m wearing the Dragon Mark Armor; it can’t kill me. Even if I’m swallowed, I won’t be digested. I’ll rip its guts out from the inside, and it won’t survive! This is our only chance!”

Ye Dajun and Hao Six-Fingers hesitated, but the Giant King Anaconda was already upon them, its massive eyes, like twin headlights, glaring right behind Ye Xiaoxuan. Even knowing it couldn’t see them, the sight sent chills down their spines.

“Let go!” Ye Xiaoxuan shouted at Hao Six-Fingers, “If you don’t, it will be too late! Take the risk—if we all hold on, none of us will make it!”

But Hao Six-Fingers only let out a bitter laugh, “Since I came, I’m resigned. Live or die, the three of us are together. No matter what you say, I won’t let go! If I hadn’t grabbed you, maybe I could escape, but now your life’s in my hands. If we die, we die together!”

In desperation, Ye Xiaoxuan twisted his body, flattening himself against the water’s surface. With his left hand, he gripped Hao Six-Fingers’ hand and forcefully pried his fingers apart, shouting, “Let go!”

Hao Six-Fingers clung to Ye Xiaoxuan’s right wrist, gritting his teeth, “No way!”

Ye Xiaoxuan strained to peel his fingers away one by one, cursing, “Damn you, Six-Fingers, I have to pry off one more finger than anybody else… Hold on to my brother, I won’t die!”

With a final shout, Ye Xiaoxuan finally broke free from Hao Six-Fingers’ iron grip, only to crash directly into the enormous serpent’s head surging up behind!

The Giant King Anaconda hadn’t expected its prey to deliver itself. Stunned, it paused, and Ye Xiaoxuan seized the moment, grabbing the fangs beneath its jaw and swinging himself onto the massive snake’s head.

The anaconda’s skull was triangular, more than a meter long, and behind it stretched the thick, slippery neck, covered in huge, tough scales.

Ye Xiaoxuan clung tightly to one of the scales, anchoring himself so he wouldn’t slip off. As the serpent raised its head, his whole body soared skyward as if riding a rollercoaster.

If he fell, he might not drown, but the monstrous beast would surely crush him.

Ye Xiaoxuan braced himself, digging his fingers furiously into the scales. To his surprise, his strength tore one of the scales loose.

The pain made the anaconda’s body shudder. It thrashed its head, trying to fling Ye Xiaoxuan off.

But with one scale gone, there was more to grip. Ye Xiaoxuan seized the exposed edge with both hands, his body sliding up and down the serpent’s neck—but he refused to let go.

The more violently the anaconda shook, the more scales Ye Xiaoxuan tore free. When his hands stripped the scales away, he drove them into the wounded flesh for extra purchase.

The agony drove the anaconda mad; it forgot all about chasing the turtle, obsessed only with shaking the man from its head.

With a thunderous crash, the monstrous head slammed into the water, sending up waves as high as a building. Then the lake grew still, all sounds vanishing as if nothing had ever happened.

Little Green had already stopped in the distance. Ye Dajun and Hao Six-Fingers scrambled onto the turtle’s back, shouting toward the silent lake, “Xiaosan! Xuanzai!”

There was no response, as if nothing had ever been there at all. Ye Dajun stood atop the shell, scanning the pitch-black waters, and anxiously yelled to Hao Six-Fingers, “Listen—where did he go?”

Hao Six-Fingers pressed his ear to the water, puzzled. “I can’t tell. It’s all a buzzing sound, like wind blowing beneath the surface. How can there be a sound like that? Unless—”

Before he finished, the distant lake erupted as if a bomb had detonated, sending a tsunami skyward. After long silence, the Giant King Anaconda burst from the depths.

Its enormous head shot dozens of meters above the surface, but its neck was torn and battered, the scales peeling away like the crumbling plaster of a weathered wall.

At that moment, a red glow blazed beneath the water, as if the lake was on fire and boiling.

A colossal old turtle slowly rose from the depths, its head nearly three times the size of the anaconda’s, eyes glowing red like erupting volcanoes. In its immense jaws, it gripped something as thick as a water tank—the Giant King Anaconda’s tail!

With a deafening crunch, the immense tail was snapped clean off, sending the serpent writhing in agony. It crashed down upon the turtle’s shell with a thunderous thud, then coiled its seemingly endless body around the turtle, constricting with all its might.

Hao Six-Fingers, stunned, pointed at the titanic battle between turtle and serpent, then glanced at Ye Dajun. Ye Dajun looked back at him, and in unison they cried, “Where’s Xuanzai?!”