It was Su Qi!

He abruptly charged into the serpent mass, twin daggers inverted in his grasp.

The Hidden Snakes rose and fell, lunging and striking in succession. Su Qi seemed to drift upon the wind, two trails of frigid light weaving about him, appearing and vanishing in turn. His posture, surprisingly, conveyed a sense of elegance and grace, as though he were dancing!

Countless serpent heads fell like raindrops. This was a slaughtering serpentine dance, a song of death.

Jiang Wang made a decisive call: “Qing Qi Shu, penetrate deep into the serpent mass, share the pressure. I will be the reserve.”

Su Qi’s sudden eruption of combat power was unexpected, but it was not entirely a positive development. It disrupted the rhythm of their unified command. From the outset, it was not something to be praised.

Furthermore, it was clear that Su Qi had not considered anything else; he simply wished to vent.

Jiang Wang was, in fact, displeased.

He understood Su Qi’s mood and had therefore arranged for him to be the reserve for this hunt. However, this did not mean he could tolerate Su Qi interfering with the overall operation.

But as the commander, this was not the time to reveal his emotions. A seasoned battlefield commander, when faced with the unexpected, should first focus on rectification.

Qing Qi Shu, without a second word, kicked off a tree with his rear foot and, holding the Qing Wood Shield, crashed directly into the serpent mass. His entire being was like a whistling piece of wood colliding, carving a path through the densely packed Hidden Snakes.

“Continue!”

He grabbed a serpent head and, with a backhand fling, sent the entire Hidden Snake flying. A potent force infused within, the Hidden Snake straightened like a spear. Jiang Wang’s sword swept horizontally, skillfully severing the venomous fangs with practiced precision. The sword body trembled, and he then flung the fangless snake towards Wu Qu Ji, who stood far back.

Wu Qu Ji’s left hand, unbeknownst to anyone, was already clad in a translucent glove. He reached out to catch the serpent, but no effort was needed. The Hidden Snake, as it approached, suddenly went limp, falling softly into his hand.

Wu Qu Ji couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Wang, secretly astonished by the exquisite control of force at its peak. From this one action alone, Jiang Wang’s strength was far greater than he had imagined.

At present, he also wasted no words, directly withdrawing even further to the outer perimeter. He took out the necessary tools and concentrated on researching the Hidden Snake’s venom.

Once the battle began, everyone involved had to play their designated role.

Meanwhile, in the serpent mass, Su Qi danced, his twin daggers moving with an almost supernatural skill. Qing Qi Shu held his shield in one hand, blocking left and right.

Strictly speaking, under absolute numbers, Su Qi’s movement technique would be increasingly restricted. His daggers were merely dancing to carve a path. And Qing Qi Shu’s blocking was never truly airtight. The reason the situation was currently favorable was primarily due to Qing Jiu Ye’s arrows.

He temporarily fashioned arrows from wood. Their might might not equal the branches of the Divine Dragonwood Arrow, but they were sufficient to deal with the Hidden Snakes.

He drew his bow and shot, every shot hitting its mark, every hit landing in a crucial spot. This was to cover for moments when Su Qi’s leap was untimely or Qing Qi Shu’s shield shift failed to catch.

Li Long Chuan once said that for an expert archer on the battlefield, control over the overall war situation is a more important ability than shooting technique itself.

And Qing Jiu Ye’s overall vision was undoubtedly excellent. His arrows struck east and west, precise and efficient.

With this level of archery support, within the Hidden Snake mass, Qing Qi Shu stood firm, and Su Qi moved freely. Hidden Snake corpses constantly fell. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they had more than enough Hidden Clothing material. At that point, whether to fight or retreat would be entirely up to them.

Despite the smooth hunt, Jiang Wang’s vigilance heightened. The reason was simple: the leader of the Hidden Snake mass possessed wisdom.

Since it had wisdom, it was absolutely impossible for it to sit by and watch the Hidden Snake mass continuously make futile sacrifices.

Just like yesterday’s serpent encirclement of Jiang Wang – a withdrawal followed by an advance – it had grasped the essence of military strategy. The fact that the current scene could still continue meant there must be another plan behind it.

Jiang Wang had not expected that one day he would have to engage in a battle of wits and courage with a snake, but the Sen Hai Yuan World was indeed a different world. The martial arts striking techniques of that Forest Bear were enough to show him the profound depths.

The Flame Flower Sea spread out, covering a small portion of the outer serpent mass. The Flame Flowers, a mix of the real and the illusory, bloomed in succession. Jiang Wang’s entire being suddenly vanished within the Flame Flower Sea.

The Flame Flowers exploded one after another, quickly killing the Hidden Snakes that “mistakenly entered” the Flame Flower Sea. Within such an environment, a comb mirror suddenly appeared.

Red Makeup!

Jiang Wang stepped into it, a Flame Flower within the sea closing its petals, covering the Red Makeup Mirror. His physical body entered the Red Makeup Mirror, and five steps outside, it was a vast expanse of white.

But with the aid of the Red Makeup Mirror, the environment within a five-li radius was already within his sight. Every detail, every fine hair, was completely present!

Entering the Red Makeup Mirror with his physical body was not a very safe thing, for if the mirror broke, he would die. But with the cover of the Flame Flower Sea, he could gain a time advantage.

Even if the Hidden Snake King had wisdom, it probably wouldn’t guess what Jiang Wang was doing inside the Flame Flower Sea. Even if it saw the Red Makeup Mirror, it wouldn’t be able to understand what it was or how it functioned. It was even less likely to discover the Red Makeup Mirror immediately and break it before Jiang Wang could react.

If it truly had that wisdom and ability, there would be no need for Yan Xiao; the Saint Clan would likely have been exterminated or enslaved long ago.

With all details within a five-li radius observed by Jiang Wang, the quantity of the serpent mass far exceeded his imagination. Densely packed Hidden Snakes swam in from various locations, continuously joining the battlefield.

He first “saw” a branch of the serpent mass “separate” and swim into the Flame Flower Sea. The Hidden Snake King, hidden in the darkness, clearly wanted to probe Jiang Wang’s movements. And a larger branch of the serpent mass rushed directly towards the outer perimeter of the battlefield – that was Wu Qu Ji’s direction!

This indicated that the Snake King had already realized what was being done over there.

Once Wu Qu Ji could crack the Hidden Snake venom, even Qing Ba Zhi and Qing Jiu Ye would likely be able to fight deep within the serpent mass, without needing to consider defense too much.

Therefore, that was absolutely the most crucial point.

The Hidden Snake King’s wisdom was astonishing, fundamentally no less than that of a human.

But Jiang Wang did not react. His target had always been the Snake King, hidden somewhere unknown.

On Wu Qu Ji’s side, there was Qing Ba Zhi, who was hidden nearby, to respond.

The Hidden Snake mass temporarily divided into three battlefields. The absolute majority were encircling and attacking Su Qi and Qing Qi Shu, a small portion were “filling” Jiang Wang’s Flame Flower Sea, and another portion was attacking Wu Qu Ji.

At this point, Qing Qi Shu had been bitten an unknown number of times. He was purely raising his shield to respond, often simply unable to block in time. There were dozens, even hundreds, of Hidden Snakes attacking from all directions. How could a single Wood Shield block them all?

But as he had said, the Hidden Snake venom was fundamentally not fatal to him. The seemingly bloody wounds would naturally heal with time.

In comparison, it was actually more difficult for Su Qi, who had not been bitten even once so far. He did not have the physique to directly confront the serpent venom. This meant his fight had to be like walking on thin ice; he could not afford to make a mistake.

If not for Qing Jiu Ye’s exceptionally skilled archery…

Qing Jiu Ye!

Jiang Wang suddenly realized, his vision sweeping across. He leaped directly out of the Red Makeup Mirror, and with a backhand, placed the mirror into his storage box.

Bang bang bang bang!

His body transformed into a Flame Flow Star and shot rapidly towards Qing Jiu Ye’s direction to the west.

“Jiu Ye, jump forward!”

Needless to say, all the warriors of the Saint Clan were highly qualified.

Even within the Autumn Kill Army, they could all occupy a place.

Hearing Jiang Wang’s sudden roar, Qing Jiu Ye, who was continuously shooting his bow on the tree, directly pounced forward, flipping in the air.

And almost simultaneously, on the very tree where he had been waiting, a massive “tree branch” suddenly twisted, rushing with lightning speed, opening a blood-filled maw, and biting empty air!

Unbeknownst to anyone, the Hidden Snake King had actually “replaced” this tree branch and had already lurked to Qing Jiu Ye’s side!