The second and third princes were probably experiencing being taunted by a mouse for the first time. Angry, yet helpless, they could only hold back their frustration and walk out, planning to teach Lan Qing a good lesson to relieve their anger later.
Shu Bao, perched on Lan Qing’s head, had already sent out the news of the duel. As they walked, the two princes noticed that more and more people were gathering around, all looking at them with a mix of excitement, curiosity, and pity.
Because the Lan Snake’s true form was enormous, the duel was set to take place outside the city. When they arrived at the designated location, the area was already packed with people, and the crowd continued to grow.
The two princes couldn’t understand what was wrong with the people of Fu Xia Star. Why were they so eager to watch a Lan Snake battle? After all, if they got caught in the crossfire, they could lose their lives.
However, for the residents of Xia Wang City, rare duels like this were not to be missed. It would be a regret if they did. Besides, the communication from the Divine Deity had already mentioned that spectators needed to take defensive precautions to avoid accidents.
The second prince looked over at Lan Qing, who was standing with his arms crossed, and said, “The battle is about to start. Why isn’t that mouse leaving?”
Shu Bao’s ears perked up in surprise as he asked, “What? You want a two-on-one fight?”
This question immediately caused murmurs among the spectators. The second prince didn’t pay much attention to what they were saying, but instinctively felt that they were mocking them. Just as the second prince was about to speak up, the third prince quickly said, “Then you join in too. We’ll make it a fair two-on-two.”
The crowd’s murmuring grew louder at this statement.
The second prince gave the third prince a look, seeming a bit disapproving. Though it would be a two-on-two in terms of numbers, one of the opponents was a mouse. It would be hard to make it seem fair to others.
The third prince, however, was unbothered. If they won this fight, people would have to follow their narrative anyway, so why worry about fairness now?
What the two snakes didn’t realize was that the crowd wasn’t discussing fairness, but rather their fearless battle spirit. Even though they were facing Lan Qing, they had even dared to challenge the Divine Deity to join the fight. This was truly a reckless path to death.
Shu Bao, hearing this, immediately stood up and said, “Alright, it’s a deal.”
The third prince laughed and then coiled his body, beginning to visibly grow in size at an alarming rate. In the blink of an eye, a terrifying giant snake, dozens of meters tall, emerged. With a sinister tone, it said, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Since childhood, all of Lan Qing’s friends have died tragically, even his closest brothers, who perished at his hands. Do you really think that a Lan Snake who has grown this strong did so just by being pure?”
Upon hearing the third prince’s words, Lan Qing stiffened for a moment. But as the two Lan Snakes began to transform into their true forms, he followed suit. Of course, before shapeshifting, he carefully tucked away his hat and gloves.
As Lan Qing removed his gloves and hat, his dragon horns and claws became visible. As his body rapidly expanded, it became even clearer to the watching crowd.
The second and third princes were even more astonished. Though they had already noticed that Lan Qing looked less and less like a snake, it had been somewhat hidden by his hat and gloves before, unlike now, where his appearance was undeniably strange. As Lan Qing continued to grow, the sense of oddness became clearer and clearer.
What shocked the two snakes even more was that Lan Qing’s body didn’t stop expanding at the tens of meters mark. Instead, it kept growing, and the terrifying green body finally stopped only when it reached several hundred meters. Lan Qing looked down. The two Lan Snakes now appeared small, pitiful, and helpless.
The second and third princes were stunned for quite a while. Both the massive size of Lan Qing’s body and his bizarre appearance were beyond their understanding.
Faced with such a colossal creature, even the proud Lan Snakes didn’t dare attack recklessly. However, their pride wouldn’t allow them to admit their fear. The second prince stubbornly puffed out his neck and said, “What’s this? You’ve really turned into a monster, Lan Qing?”
The third prince cautiously observed Lan Qing and found that, aside from the changes in his appearance—growing four extra legs and strange horns on his head—Lan Qing didn’t seem to have any particularly deadly features.
But for some reason, seeing such a creature that was neither fully snake nor something else filled the third prince with an inexplicable sense of fear. He even felt a strange urge to bow down and submit.
Fortunately, the Lan Snake’s nature triumphed over their fear. Despite the enormous difference in size, the two princes adopted attacking stances, preparing to duel with Lan Qing.
Lan Qing reminded Shu Bao, who was perched on his head, to hold on tight, then wordlessly faced the two attacking Lan Snakes. Due to the huge difference in size, the two Lan Snakes didn’t charge directly into him but instead tried to find his weak spots to attack.
At first, the two Lan Snakes assumed that Lan Qing’s enormous size would limit his speed, giving them an advantage in agility. However, when the battle actually began, they realized that Lan Qing’s speed wasn’t hindered by his size at all; in fact, he was even faster than them.
This highly unusual situation left the two Lan Snakes confused. But in a life-or-death battle, there was no time for speculation. They had to think of every possible way to win.
They tried attacking Lan Qing’s tail, head, neck, and abdomen. However, even the scales of this green snake had mutated, becoming incredibly tough. Under normal circumstances, their venomous fangs wouldn’t be able to pierce Lan Qing’s defenses.
But as a member of the royal Lan Snake bloodline, each Lan Snake was born with a unique ability. Lan Snakes could acquire the abilities of others by killing them.
This was why the birth of a royal snake was always accompanied by the deaths of many Lan Snakes. Even if one didn’t attack others, there would always be those who coveted their abilities. The more of their kind one killed, the more abilities they would acquire, making them stronger.
The second and third princes, as strong contenders for royal status, had already gained several abilities from other princes. Of course, every additional ability meant the death of another member of their species.
Shu Bao, watching from Lan Qing’s head, quickly noticed that the second prince’s body began to swell once again. It soon grew to a size comparable to Lan Qing’s. More terrifyingly, its body started to turn into steel. Even its teeth transformed into sharp metal.
Meanwhile, the third prince, who hadn’t grown in size, was surrounded by purple mist. His eyes turned a strange dark purple, and two pairs of transparent dragonfly-like wings sprouted from his back, allowing him to fly quickly.
Seeing this, Shu Bao thought the two snakes were so hypocritical. The steel snake and dragonfly snake were far more abnormal, yet they had the audacity to mock Lan Qing before.
Complaints aside, the transformations of the two princes brought Lan Qing considerable trouble. After the transformations, in addition to close-range attacks, the two snakes also gained ranged attack abilities. The third prince, with his visibly poisonous purple mist, left a trail of toxic fog wherever he went, severely limiting Lan Qing’s mobility.
The steel giant snake fearlessly engaged Lan Qing in a head-to-head battle, even intentionally forcing Lan Qing into the toxic mist. The third prince, true to his poisonous nature, hid in the mist and launched sneak attacks.
If Lan Qing accidentally came into contact with the toxic mist, the terrifying mist slowly corroded his tough scales. If he were directly hit by the third prince’s poison, it would rapidly cause bloody wounds to appear.
Lan Qing really wanted to blow the toxic mist away all at once, but with so many onlookers around, if such potent poison spread, the consequences would be unimaginable. Similarly, the steel giant snake erased any advantage Lan Qing had in terms of size and strength. The two snakes were working together in perfect harmony, clearly not their first time teaming up. The Lan Snake clan had already seen countless members meet their end.
The surrounding residents quickly realized Lan Qing’s concern and began to prepare to retreat. However, after retreating just a few steps, they were horrified to find that they had returned to the original spot. No matter which direction they tried to leave in, they would always end up back where they started.
The third prince sneered, “Since you enjoy watching so much, why don’t you stay and watch the ending? Why rush to leave?”
As soon as the words were out, most of the residents froze in place, as if they had lost their minds, standing motionless.
Shu Bao immediately understood—his opponent possessed spatial abilities, along with a mental hypnosis ability similar to that of Fu Qing. It seemed that the fear of the Lan Snake clan in the original universe wasn’t without reason. These two snakes had the strength to act with impunity, even plundering interstellar ships.
With Lan Qing at a disadvantage, Shu Bao knew it was no longer a time to just watch the show.
A flash of white light appeared and Shu Bao transformed into human form. With a casual motion, he activated an energy conversion field, rapidly healing Lan Qing’s injuries and boosting his speed and strength once more.
The steel giant snake, caught off guard, was knocked flying by the collision. However, it quickly adjusted itself and increased both speed and strength, charging forward again to continue the battle.
Lan Qing’s voice echoed from below, “The second prince has imprisoned the thirteenth prince. The energy it is using now is drawn from the thirteenth prince’s life force. The stronger the energy, the faster the thirteenth prince’s life drains away. And the thirteenth prince’s ability is a hundred times the lifespan of a normal Lan Snake.”
Shu Bao: “…” What kind of bizarre abilities are these?
“But this ability has its limitations,” Lan Qing continued. “It gets stronger when facing stronger opponents, and weaker when facing weaker ones. It can only maintain a comparable level of power with the opponent. And there’s said to be an upper and lower limit, though no one has ever tested it out.”
Although Lan Qing had left the Lan Snake clan, he had naturally made sure to learn about the abilities of the other Lan Snakes in the clan to protect himself.
The Lan Snake’s abilities were all strange and varied, but the purer the bloodline, the stronger the ability. These two had already accumulated an unknown number of abilities, making them very troublesome to deal with.
After hearing Lan Qing’s explanation, Shu Bao began to think of countermeasures. No wonder these two snakes were cooperating. As long as the second prince maintained a similar level of power with the opponent, it would ensure their side’s survival. Then, the third prince could go in for a sneak attack. In a one-on-one fight, there was almost no chance of victory.
The sight of Shu Bao transforming into human form surprised the second and third princes. Shu Bao’s human form was flawless, showing no beast traits whatsoever, and its appearance was quite striking, something extremely rare among the Beast Clan. The strange weapon it had used earlier was also beyond their understanding; not only had it absorbed part of their energy, but it had also healed Lan Qing.
