The Samsara Jade

Chapter 20

The beautiful woman in the black dress smiled at Li Chen. Her crimson red eyes, shaped like the eyes of a viper, glowed brightly in the dark cave. 

"What a delicious little snack you will make," she whispered. Her voice was smooth, but it carried a strange, echoing hiss. 

Li Chen did not lower his guard. He kept his iron-hard hands raised in front of him. His mind raced. This woman said she had been trapped here for three hundred years. If that was true, she should be an ancient, terrifying monster. But Li Chen felt something was very wrong. 

"Who are you?" Li Chen asked. His voice was steady. He pushed his heavy, dark Qi through his veins, ready to fight or run. "Why do you have the eyes of a snake?"

The woman took a step forward. She did not walk normally. She seemed to glide across the rocky floor without making a single sound. The beautiful silver light from the box in the skeleton's lap illuminated her pale skin. 

"I am the master of the shadows," the woman answered, her smile growing wider. "I am the queen of this dark place. And you, little boy with the dark root, are going to give me all of your energy."

As she spoke, she opened her mouth. 

Li Chen gasped. Her jaw unhinged. It dropped down far lower than a human jaw ever could. Inside her mouth, he did not see normal teeth. He saw two massive, sharp fangs dripping with a dark, foul-smelling liquid. 

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit Li Chen. The cave started to spin. The silver light from the box began to flicker and turn into a sickly, glowing green color. The beautiful white silk robes on the dead skeleton turned into dirty, rotting leaves. 

"Do you feel it?" the woman hissed. Her body began to stretch and twist in a terrifying way. "The sweet smell of the dream-dust..."

Li Chen shook his head violently. His vision was blurry. He realized he was not breathing normal air. The area around the cave was filled with an invisible, odorless gas. It was a hallucinogenic toxin. It was a poison meant to confuse the brain and create false images. 

But Li Chen was not a normal boy anymore. He had the Void-Iron Physique. His body had been forged by the deadliest miasma in the chasm. 

Deep inside his stomach, the Primordial Chaos Root sensed the new toxin trying to trick his brain. The dark vortex spun quickly. It grabbed the invisible poison in his blood and instantly crushed it into pure energy. 

In less than a second, Li Chen’s mind became completely clear. The dizziness vanished. 

"Your trick will not work on me!" Li Chen shouted. 

He blinked his eyes. When he opened them, the terrible truth of the cave was finally revealed. 

The illusion shattered completely, like a mirror breaking into a million pieces. 

There was no beautiful woman in a black dress. There was no ancient skeleton wearing clean silk robes. There was no glowing silver box. And there was no dry, safe cave. 

Li Chen was standing knee-deep in a massive pit of thick, rotting black mud. Piles of broken, dirty bones were scattered everywhere. The smell of dead animals and sour acid filled the air. 

And directly in front of him, towering over his head, was the real monster. 

It was a Rank-1 demonic beast. A Shadow Viper. 

The beast was absolutely massive. It was over thirty feet long, and its body was as thick as an old, giant tree trunk. Its scales were completely black, shining like polished dark glass in the faint purple light of the chasm. Its eyes were the same glowing crimson red that the woman in the illusion had. 

The Shadow Viper was a terrifying predator. It used its magical, toxic breath to create illusions. It made its prey see their greatest desires or interesting treasures. When the prey walked close to the illusion, the viper would strike from the dark shadows and swallow them whole. 

But the viper looked confused. Its illusion had never broken so fast before. It stared at Li Chen, its long, forked tongue flicking in and out of its mouth, tasting the air. 

"You think I am food?" Li Chen growled, his dark eyes turning cold. "I am the Devourer."

The Shadow Viper let out a loud, angry hiss that sounded like escaping steam. It realized its trick had failed. Now, it had to kill its prey the old-fashioned way. 

The giant snake moved with blinding, terrifying speed. 

It pulled its massive head back and launched itself forward like a giant black spear. Its huge jaws opened wide, showing fangs that were as long as Li Chen’s forearms. 

Li Chen had no sword. He had no magical shield. And most importantly, he had no martial arts techniques. 

In the Azure Sword Sect, disciples spent years learning beautiful, complex sword dances. They learned how to move their feet perfectly. They learned how to strike with elegance and grace. 

Li Chen had never been taught any of that. He was a woodchopper. He was a floor scrubber. He only knew how to survive. 

So, when the giant snake lunged at him, Li Chen did not use a fancy martial arts pose. He relied purely on his enhanced speed and his raw, animal instinct. 

He threw his body heavily to the left, diving straight into the thick, filthy mud. 

SPLASH! 

The Shadow Viper’s massive jaws snapped shut right where Li Chen’s head had been just a second ago. The force of the snake’s bite created a loud CLACK that echoed in the dark pit. 

The snake’s heavy body crashed into the mud next to Li Chen, splashing the thick black sludge everywhere. 

Li Chen rolled in the mud. He was covered in dirt, but he did not care. He quickly pushed himself up onto his knees. He saw the thick, black scaled body of the snake sliding rapidly past him in the mud. 

"Take this!" Li Chen roared. 

He pulled his right fist back. He pushed his heavy, dark Qi into his arm. His fist took on the dull, grey shine of solid iron. He punched downward with all his strength, aiming directly for the snake’s thick body. 

BANG! 

The sound was exactly like a heavy blacksmith's hammer hitting an anvil. 

Li Chen’s iron-hard fist smashed into the Shadow Viper’s black scales. The scales of a Rank-1 beast were incredibly tough, harder than normal steel. But Li Chen’s Void-Iron Physique was stronger. 

A dozen black scales shattered into pieces. Black blood sprayed into the air. 

"HISSSSSS!" 

The Shadow Viper screamed in pain and fury. It had never met a human whose bare hands hit like falling boulders. 

The giant snake whipped its body around. Its massive tail, thick and heavy, swept across the mud pit like a giant broom. 

Li Chen saw the tail coming, but the mud was too thick to jump away. He crossed his arms tightly in front of his chest to block the hit. 

SMASH! 

The snake’s tail slammed into Li Chen’s crossed arms. The force was incredible. Li Chen was thrown backward through the air. He flew for fifteen feet before crashing hard into a pile of giant, rotting bones.