“Seething Purple Cobras are very territorial.”

“We can see that!”

Song Lu Tian did not find Elder Meng’s commentary amusing. As more and more of the cobras came out, Sage was looking for a path of retreat, but Elder Zhong merely stepped forward to stand beside Elder Meng.

“We’ve entered their territory, and they won’t let us go without a fight. If we escape, we’re likely to enter the territory of another pack of them. We may as well wipe them all out and then we can pass through the rest of their territory without any concerns.”

The man with the eyepatch seemed unconcerned by the cobras, even though Sage could clearly sense that the lead cobra they’d first seen was at the sixth tier. The two others that came out to join it first were also at the same level as a Nascent Soul, but thankfully the others that were pouring out of the den now were only tier five.

Elder Meng pulled out a pill bottle and tapped out a single green pill, “Time for the Emerald Rebirth Pills. Battle will accelerate the poison miasma, and the pill will protect us from the cobra’s venomous aura.”

Song Lu Tian and Elder Zhong followed his advice, but Sage was unaffected by the miasma so he saved the pill. Elder Zhong drew out the sword from his back and tossed it into the air. It slowly grew larger and larger until the spike that came from the pommel was large enough to fit both of his hands quite comfortably. The half inch wide spike was now an inch and a half, and the blade was now nearly ten feet long.

Elder Meng drew the sword from his back, but it was quite simple and thin in comparison to those used by Song Lu Tian and Elder Zhong. He held it carefully at his side as he spoke, “Protect Song Lu Tian, he’s the main reason we’re here after all. Brother Ten and I shall handle them.”

Zhong flew forward with a sudden burst of acceleration and then his feet stomped the ground and he came to a stop just as rapidly. The ground in front and behind him were blasted apart from the force of his two movements, but his hands moved differently from his feet. When he rushed forward he lifted the huge sword upwards and when he suddenly stopped it was brought downwards, using the speed of his whole body to accelerate the giant sword. With his body stopped he brought his arms down with terrific force and chopped down upon the trio of Seething Purple Cobras.

Sage felt the power of laws gather in that sword chop and the lead cobra’s hood flared. It tilted its head back and its body convulsed, releasing a streak of dark purple into the air. It seemed to be a condensed version of the mist that was constantly being released from its body, and that dark streak clashed against the violent sword chop. There was a sound of metal on metal, but the sword wasn’t stopped. The cobra hissed frantically and darted to the side. The huge sword fell to the ground and a burst of law energy sliced a huge chasm clean through the cobra den.

A dozen of the weaker cobras were instantly killed, and the three tier six cobras rushed towards Elder Zhong with a fire in their eyes. Zhong didn’t seem to mind, merely lifting his sword and bringing it down again in another huge chop. He focused upon the lead cobra once again, while the two others split apart to either side of him to try and flank him.

Elder Meng was expecting such a move and he waved his sword through the air in a small flourish. There was a rush of wind and light, like a glimmering fairy passed by. It swept past each of the two cobras darting to either side of Elder Zhong and where the light passed, the cobras were blown away. They were thrown back and had a dazed look in their eyes, while the giant sword continued to chop down atop their leader.

The long haired Elder Meng smiled and rushed forward, he moved so fast that he seemed to disappear and then there was a loud swish and one of the dazed cobras erupted into a geyser of blood. Its head flipped through the air, moving so slowly in comparison to the swordsman who now flew past the cobra den and cleanly removed the head of a dozen more cobras in a flash.

The two remaining tier six snakes were furious and moved to intercept Elder Meng’s rampage, but they could barely keep up with him as he rushed away. Elder Zhong let out a roar and waved his giant sword in a horizontal slash, cleaving through another dozen of the tier five cobras. With the two strongest ones chasing after Elder Meng, he took over killing the weaker ones.

Elder Meng, with two cobras on his heels suddenly disappeared and the pair of cobras found themselves in the middle of a swirling vortex. Somehow a tornado, rippling with law energy, had formed in the middle of the poison miasm and the two cobras started releasing blasts of dark purple energy from their mouths, peppering the swirling wind with vicious attacks.

With the two strongest ones dealt with, Song Lu Tian couldn’t hold himself back any longer. His large triangular swords appeared and he rushed into combat with Elder Zhong, massacring the many weaker cobras. Sage didn’t jump in, instead he stayed close to Song Lu Tian and guarded him from any hidden attacks. As Meng had said, they were here for Song Lu Tian, and Sage also didn’t wish to see his friend hurt, especially since he was a powerful backer for the Tiankong Clan in the Mount Song Sword Sect.

I’ve run into so many dangerous things, it's definitely much safer for them to be protected by the Sword Sect.

After a few minutes of slaughter, the whole den of cobras were wiped out, with the exception of the two strongest ones. The three of them moved to the edge of the swirling tornado and Elder Meng appeared next to them, “It’s only a matter of time until they exhaust themselves. Then they’ll be easily slain.”

Then Sage stepped forward and turned to salute Song Meng, “Elder. Forgive my demand, but is it possible you might help me capture these two?”

Elder Meng tilted his head, “I can, but it will take quite a bit more effort. You can’t want to try and tame them, we’ve already killed their whole family. There’s no way they will agree to ever work with you. They’re very powerful, so it's an unnecessary risk to capture them. They’re liable to break out and attack us when we least expect it.”

Sage nodded, “I understand your concerns, but I have some special methods. There will be no danger of them breaking free. I also believe you can capture them far more easily with my help.”

“Alright, we can give it a try.”

Since this guest had been such an asset so far, they were willing to give it a try and in just a few moments he was pleased to see that he wasn’t lied to.

Sage reached a hand over to the small of his back and then flicked it forward. He released a small portion of his Human Seal and accessed the silk spinnerets, flinging a line into the tornado. It was carried off by the powerful wind and he lifted into the air. Normally, a flying line like that only worked for extremely small and light spiders, but because of the furious tornado, it was strong enough to carry him. Then he grabbed another line and released a burst of water from his palm, using it to propel the silk line out to hit the ground next to the pair of cobras. They had been furiously firing bursts of dark energy into the tornado, slowly staining it a dark color from the concentration of their venom.

Sage felt the venom was barely comparable to the poison miasma, but it was an actual liquid rather than an incorporeal thing like the miasma. He flew in large circles through the air, drawing the poison into his poison dantian while his silk line was pulled into many large loops. Then when he was satisfied there were enough layers he gave the silk line a hard pull, while simultaneously using Spirit Power to guide the sudden tightening of a noose.

Many layers of silk suddenly wrapped around the two cobras, pulling them together and wrapping them into a large cocoon. Worse yet, it only got thicker and thicker as Sage rode the whirlwind to wind the silk thicker. When there was only a large ball of silk on the ground, the raging whirlwind finally came to a stop and Sage landed gently on the ground.