Chapter 1435: Nine Infants

“I recall that the Nine Infants has nine heads,” Yan Xuehen said, remembering what Shun had told them.

“It already sounds annoying,” Yun Jianyue said, even though she wasn’t actually scared at all.

Both she and Yan Xuehen had recovered most of their strength. They also had Zu An and Yu Yanluo. As long as they didn’t encounter an earth immortal like the Fiend Emperor, they would be practically unstoppable.

“What I’m more curious about is why there are so many monsters with snake bodies,” Zu An said. He thought about how Yayu and Er Fu both had human heads and snake bodies. Xiushe was a snake too, and the Nine Infants seemed to have a snake body too.

“Why are you looking at me? How would I know?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed, blushing. She shot him an annoyed look.

The others couldn't help but laugh when they saw her expression.

…

Just like that, the group continued in good spirits. They quickly left the Field of Longevity.

Soon, however, they arrived at a large, surging river. They looked at each other in dismay, wondering, “Why does this place look so familiar?”

It wasn’t their fault for feeling that way. After all, the river was really similar to the Weak Water they had seen before. The ferocity of its currents even exceeded that of the Weak Water.

Zu An squatted by the shore and reached into the water. After sensing it for a bit, he stood back up, saying, “The water is normal. It’s not like the Weak Water, which can cause you to sink. Still, this river is strange. I checked it out just now, but I couldn't sense its depths at all.”

He had inspected it with his Blue Mallard ability. Even if the river wasn’t several thousand meters deep, it was at least a thousand meters deep. That was just too ridiculous! After all, even the great Yangtze River in his previous world was only a hundred or so meters deep, and that was because it had three gorges that stored water. However, this river was actually as deep as an ocean!

“Is the Nine Infants hiding inside?” the others wondered, feeling a bit of a headache when they heard about the water’s depths. After what they had experienced so far, they really didn’t want to touch water again. However, they couldn't think of any good ways to find the Nine Infants.

While they were at their wits’ end, they suddenly heard some faint baby cries in the distance.

“How could there be babies here?” Yun Jianyue wondered with a frown. In contrast, Yan Xuehen was calm. She cultivated the Unshakable Daoist Manual. As long as it wasn’t about her and Zu An, it was difficult to make her feel any strong emotions.

Yu Yanluo looked around and said, “Let’s go and take a look. If any ordinary people have lost their children here, we can help bring them back to their families.”

After their past experiences, she had realized that this world actually had its own native inhabitants.

“Be careful of any tricks. Why would there be any babies all the way out here in the wilderness? It doesn’t seem normal at all,” Yun Jianyue warned them.

Yu Yanluo nodded. She carefully searched the area around her. Soon afterward, she arrived at an expanse of reeds; the cries came from within.

“Could it be an abandoned baby?” Yu Yanluo wondered with a frown. Why would any normal children be left here? She had heard that in the past, some people abandoned young children in places such as the reeds. She moved aside the dense reeds and carefully searched for the child.

Suddenly, a ferocious mouth shot out from the reeds, trying to bite her.

“Be careful!” the others exclaimed while trying to save her.

Fortunately, Yu Yanluo wasn’t so naive and innocent. She had long since been prepared. When it was about to reach her, she kicked off the ground and drifted into the distance, avoiding the deadly attack. Zu An and the others’ attacks arrived soon afterward. The vicious mouth evaded them, but in doing so stood up, allowing them to finally see what it looked like.

It wasn’t just a single ferocious mouth; rather, there were nine of them. The creature had nine heads, and its body was that of a large snake. Even though it was a bit smaller than the Xiushe Snake had been in life, its body paired with its nine writhing heads made it look frightening. The nine-headed monster roared furiously at the people who had attacked it.

The group finally realized where the baby’s cries had come from. That was the noise the creature made! No wonder its name was ‘Nine Infants’!

Yun Jianyue laughed and said, “I like this style much better than before. There’s no complicated backstory, and we just need to fight.”

Zu An laughed as well, because he knew that she was talking about the monsters they had faced thus far. All of them had had complicated pasts, making it a bit awkward to face them.

The Nine Infants became somewhat angry. Even after they beheld its dignified body, these insignificant humans actually didn’t seem to show any fear at all, instead talking cheerfully to each other.

Absolutely preposterous!

One of its heads suddenly opened its mouth. A water bolt shot out of it, flying toward the group like a blast from a high-pressure water gun. The group quickly evaded it, but the bolt left a deep crater in the space where they had been standing.

Yun Jianyue snorted. She didn’t stop, attacking with her Crescent Ring. However, several of the Nine Infants’ heads shot water from their mouths, blasting her Crescent Ring away. The water bolts were like densely-packed bullets, leaving behind countless deep pockmarks on the shore.

Soon, however, the monster switched to shooting thin lines of water instead; wherever they passed, they could even silently cut the sturdiest stones in half.

Under the concentrated barrage of attacks, Yun Jianyue was forced to defend with her Crescent Ring. However, that also meant she had no chance to retaliate for the time being.

Zu An was shocked. It was always said that water had unparalleled flexibility, but also held the greatest power. He had seen the power of water blades that could cut through steel like butter in some videos from his previous world. He hadn’t expected to see such a thing again today.

The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped, and snowflakes swirled through the air. It was clear that Yan Xuehen had made her move. Her Snowflake Sword just happened to counter water-element attacks.

The water bolts the Nine Infants released were instantly frozen solid, weakening them significantly. The Snowflake Sword’s cold energy even followed along the water trails that came out of the Nine Infants’ mouths, freezing them all the way up to the monster’s snake tongues.

Zu An watched in admiration. He was used to Yan Xuehen’s weaker side. Now that she had recovered eighty percent of her strength, her attacks once again carried the imposing style of a grandmaster.

Two of the heads were about to freeze, but suddenly, the Nine Infants’ other heads spat out streams of flame that instantly melted the ice.

“It can use fire and water?” the group exclaimed. The three women were particularly surprised, as they rarely encountered individuals who could use two elements at once. To be honest, the monster was actually a bit similar to Zu An in that regard.

However, the monster didn’t give them any chance for a reprieve. The nine heads each found different targets, continuing to attack all of them at once.

Yu Yanluo’s eyes began to shine with radiance. This was a nine-headed snake, and she was a Medusa. It was hard to say whose bloodline was at a higher level.

Sure enough, however, the head that was facing her stiffened. The surface of its skin began to petrify, and soon afterward, the entire head turned into a statue. Afterward, the other heads all turned around to attack her. Yu Yanluo had no way of dealing with so many heads at the same time, so she quickly dodged.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Just then, a golden brick flew toward the monster, enlarging at a visible rate. Then, it slammed into the petrified head. It was one of the heaven-grade weapons from the Ocean races’ Dragon Palace that Shang Liuyu had given Zu An: The Golden Brick!

This was the first time he had used it. It was as powerful as expected! The petrified stone head was instantly crushed to pieces by the giant brick.

The Nine Infants screamed in pain. Its entire body trembled, and the other eight heads began to rock back and forth crazily.

Zu An’s group sighed in relief. They were getting better and better at fighting together. If they did the same thing a few more times, surely this monster’s nine heads would be destroyed one by one. However, their smiles quickly froze.

The Nine Infants continued to rock back and forth. Then, new flesh began to form around the spot where its head had been destroyed. After that, a new snake head began growing rapidly. Apart from the color being a bit lighter and the flesh a bit more tender, it was the exact same as the previous head!