Chapter 57: The Little Green Snake

“Snake!”

Ji Xinghuo’s first reaction upon seeing the green blur was, is it really a snake?

His second reaction, it’s so tiny!

The snake, almost as long as a finger and less than ten centimeters, was finer than a chopstick. Its body was bright green, and its smooth scales almost seamless. As it rapidly fell, its belly revealed golden patterns, posing no threat.

The magnetic field of the Little Green Snake was extremely weak, fitting its small size.

In the Peak Valley, countless creatures of such size usually pose no threat. Therefore, Ji Xinghuo generally ignored such weak magnetic fields to reduce interference while tracking monsters.

Moreover, he was atop a very tall stone pillar, an even less dangerous spot.

That’s why he had been careless, not noticing the little snake approaching.

Ji Xinghuo focused his gaze. Besides magnetic perception, he could also sense the strength or weakness of a target through ether sensitivity.

Yet, the Little Green Snake’s ether response was also very faint, almost like an insect’s.

“Not right!”

Ji Xinghuo noticed something odd. How could such a small snake have eaten that large bird?

“Where’s my bird?”

He quickly scanned the area but saw no roasted bird.

By then, the snake had already dropped to the base of the pillar, just above the edge of a cliff, filled with dense bushes and rocks, making it hard to locate if it slipped further.

Ji Xinghuo didn’t think further, grabbed his eagle bow, and shot.

Snap!

The arrow shot straight down, catching up with the Little Green Snake in a moment. Sensing the danger, it swiftly curled up mid-air, raising its head and opening its mouth.

The arrow shot right into its mouth.

Then it disappeared.

“Uh…”

Finally seeing clearly what happened, Ji Xinghuo’s eyes widened.

“How did it do that?”

“Where’s my arrow?”

The titanium-aluminum alloy arrow, over 70 centimeters long, was much longer than the Little Green Snake’s body, yet it swallowed it whole, leaving no trace.

After swallowing the arrow, the snake fell into the bushes and vanished from sight.

Realizing its extraordinary nature, Ji Xinghuo couldn’t let it escape. His magnetic field perception had already locked onto it, revealing it had nowhere to hide.

“Nowhere to run!”

He slung his eagle bow over his shoulder, drew out his Leichi battle knife, and grabbed the fixed nanowire rope, leaping downwards as if running on the ground, clinging to the side of the pillar.

Halfway down, Ji Xinghuo suddenly sensed danger.

He flipped to the side.

An arrow flew up from the bushes below, lightning-fast, grazing past Ji Xinghuo and into the sky.

“Damn!”

Ji Xinghuo broke into a cold sweat.

This damn arrow, his own shot, had come back. Its power and speed undiminished; had it hit, it would have been ironic indeed.

“I almost shot myself…”

With his heart still pounding, Ji Xinghuo landed on the cliff. His magnetic field perception detected the Little Green Snake moving swiftly through the bushes below, its small size making it nearly invisible.

Once it settled in the bushes, there was no sound, no breath, no scent; it was unfound by anyone.

But Ji Xinghuo could find it.

With his magnetic field perception firmly locking on, he instinctively picked up his eagle bow, ready to shoot another arrow to force it out, but then rethought.

While he hesitated for a few seconds, the Little Green Snake had already moved seven or eight meters away, aiming for a rock crevice on the cliff below.

If it reached that crevice, he would be helpless.

Ji Xinghuo didn’t think further, grabbed the nanowire rope, and plunged down like a diving swan.

Clang!

Rocks shattered.

His Leichi knife struck the rock wall, preempting the snake’s path and severing a large portion of the rock.

As the Little Green Snake emerged from the bushes, its path cut off, it suddenly fell through mid-air.

By then, Ji Xinghuo was just a step away.

At this close distance, he clearly saw the Little Green Snake’s appearance.

“Iron Arrow Green?”

Ji Xinghuo was highly surprised. This Little Green Snake resembled an Iron Arrow Green scaled down hundreds of times, a common snake in the Peak Valley.

On Earth, there’s a similar snake known as the Green Bamboo Snake.

But Iron Arrow Greens are much more formidable.

They like to hide in trees and pounce on passing prey at incredible speeds, like an arrow shooting at its target.

Iron Arrow Greens are non-toxic. As monsters, they awaken “Iron Scales,” tough as iron, covering their bodies, and their arrow-shaped heads can pierce flesh and blood, as powerful as real arrows, if not more so.

These days, Ji Xinghuo had killed over a dozen Iron Arrow Greens.

This one was clearly different.

As he watched, their eyes met, and he sensed fear and nervousness in its golden, gem-like eyes, showing a certain intelligence.

“A spiritual creature!”

It was a spiritual snake!

Ji Xinghuo was overjoyed. Spiritual creatures evolved from ordinary Star Realm creatures, but they possess intelligence, extremely rare.

The odds of Star Realm creatures evolving into spiritual beings were incredibly low, almost immeasurable.

Like a genetic mutation.

Generally, spiritual creatures are far more powerful than monsters, with higher awakening abilities and greater power. Their growth rate is also much faster!

Most importantly, spiritual creatures possess higher intelligence and can communicate.

If tamed, a spiritual creature is the best battle pet companion, far better than ordinary monsters, aiding their master in evolving through life.

One of the Asia-Pacific Community’s Thirteen Kings, globally ranked no. 10 “Master Chaofeng” Luo Yimeng, owned a spiritual battle pet “Phoenix Crown Colorful Magpie” shortly after becoming an extrahuman, which propelled his rise to global fame as the premier Beast Master.

Ji Xinghuo had intended to slash the Little Green Snake again to take its exotic kind. But knowing it was a spiritual creature, he naturally couldn’t bring himself to do it.

A living battle pet was incomparable to any exotic kind; such an act would be like killing the goose that laid golden eggs.

Ji Xinghuo let the Little Green Snake fall off the cliff.

Its body was too small, too light. Before it even reached the bottom, winds had it fluttering back and forth in midair.

“How can I catch it?”

Catching it with bare hands was out of the question.

The Little Green Snake seemed to possess the ability to swallow and transfer matter, a terrifying capability involving space. If it bit him, he might well lose his entire hand.

Trapping was also difficult; it could bite through material to escape.

If he attacked, hindered, or bound it recklessly, it would breed resentment, remembering its significant intelligence.

He could only observe carefully to discover its weaknesses.

Ji Xinghuo climbed back up to the pillar, holding the nanowire rope, but his mind stayed focused on the Little Green Snake’s movements.

It had already fallen into the valley below, swiftly moving tens of meters and diving into a rock crevice.

The Little Green Snake was still for the next half hour, sticking out its tongue every few seconds.

It was waiting for enemies to leave, showing great patience.

Ji Xinghuo was even more patient. He casually ate some rations to fill his stomach and packed up his tent and gear. He had changed his plans. The most important task was no longer hunting the Stone Scythe Ghost Monkey but figuring out how to tame this Little Green Snake.

Though he couldn’t think of a way to tame it yet, tracking was no issue.

The Little Green Snake could not escape his magnetic field perception.

Ji Xinghuo climbed down the pillar and descended from another path off the rock peak, pretending to leave.

When he was over three hundred meters from the cliff, the Little Green Snake immediately showed signs of activity.

“As expected…”

“It must have an impressive sensing ability, likely smell,” Ji Xinghuo guessed.

Snake species generally have poor hearing and vision, but their sense of smell is very acute. Their forked tongue collects air particles and delivers them to the Jacobson’s organ in the mouth, detecting subtle differences in scents to pinpoint the exact location of objects.

Some powerful snake-type monsters can even detect prey scents several kilometers away.

Ji Xinghuo walked another hundred meters, likely out of the Little Green Snake’s olfactory range. It slowly emerged from its hiding place.

In his magnetic field perception, the Little Green Snake moved rapidly through the valley.

Ji Xinghuo followed at a distance.

Moments later.

The Little Green Snake slithered into the depths of the valley, entering a narrow cave hidden behind bushes. The interior resembled a maze, twisting and turning. Part of it filled with water, requiring swimming to continue further inside. At the end was a warm cave.

The cave was small; a person could only lie down, not stand up.

But it was spacious enough for the Little Green Snake.

“This is too concealed…”

Ji Xinghuo shook his head. Without magnetic field perception, other senses would almost certainly fail to locate the Little Green Snake’s nest.

As he was still marveling, he saw the Little Green Snake open its mouth.

Something was regurgitated, falling into the cave, taking the shape of a bird.

“My roasted bird!”

Ji Xinghuo clenched his teeth. No one would be happy to see their food fly away, even if it wasn’t particularly valuable.

The next second.

The magnetic field of the Little Green Snake suddenly enlarged.

“Hmm?”

Ji Xinghuo was startled. It was still a snake, but the strength and range of its magnetic field had expanded dozens of times, as if appearing out of thin air.

It was no longer the Little Green Snake but a two-and-a-half-meter-long Iron Arrow Green!

Now nearly as thick as a human arm, the once spacious cave had become somewhat cramped. It coiled around the cooked bird, opened its snake mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp.

The roasted bird slid through the snake’s belly, quickly reaching its stomach.

In less than five minutes, the snake’s belly returned to normal, having digested the bird.

The large snake, now fed, didn’t move but lay coiled in the cave, lying quietly as though asleep.

Ji Xinghuo observed while pondering.

“This snake has at least two abilities.”

“The first one is unheard of, capable of swallowing something in its mouth, seemingly into another space, then releasing it.”

“The second ability likely involves shrinking!”

Ji Xinghuo recalled a video he had seen previously, specifically discussing transformation abilities like enlargement and shrinking, allowing the body to grow or shrink. Other transformative abilities involve changing into other species, thereby altering body size.

Enlargement, in particular, was a core ability of the giant warriors.

Both enlargement and shrinking are exceptional abilities, generally not exceeding 50% of the original size.

To change more drastically is not an ordinary physical transformation.

It involves space and dimensions!

Shrinking is one of them, capable of reducing the body size by dozens or even hundreds of times.

The American Federation has a king-ranking extrahuman known to be the only human on Earth who has mastered shrinking. Though just a super-limit ability, it has given him an edge in battles among equals and can be applied in various situations, yielding unexpected effects.

As for the Little Green Snake’s ability to swallow and transfer matter, Ji Xinghuo guessed it might be a starfall ability!