Chapter 195: Growing Pains

The limbed serpent kept writhing around within the cage, trying to escape from confinement. The boy, Tao Ba, rattled the cage a few more times. Laughing and then remembering he’d already grown bored of the teasing. His hand shot out lightning fast and snatched the tip of the Serpent’s tail. Grabbing hold a wave of energy passed from his hand and into the Serpent’s body. The energy rippled through the beast’s body before returning back to his hand.

“Still haven’t grown up enough? Interesting.”

Tao Ba waved his hand and the chain that was holding the cage unraveled from the tree branch that it was hanging from. Walking away, the cage just floated in the air behind him, following him as he walked towards the edge of the territory. At the edge of the ten mile radius area within the Universe Ring there was a thick fog, one which had always prevented Sage and anything he brought within from passing. No matter what was done, it was impassable.

The white haired boy simply walked right through the fog, the cage following behind him. After walking through the fog for a few minutes in what seemed to be random directions, he stepped out of the fog. They were now within the depths of what seemed to be an overgrown jungle. The air was hot and humid. Bird cries, insect chirps, frog croaks, the screeches of monkeys, and even the squeal of a boar were present. Huge trees seemed to stretch to the sky, dense vines interweaving between their trunks and creating a maze in the air. The ground was just as muddled, thick bushes with round leaves the size of dinner plates mashed up against thick reedy stalks covered in thorns. Brilliantly colored flowers opened up and displayed their delicate stamen and pistil. A bird landed upon a large flower and then seemed to slowly fall asleep.

The little green bird slid in towards the center of the flower blossom which slowly closed around it, sealing up like a fly trap. In another place a whole bush filled with a dozen of those same flowers shook a few times before falling down. The culprit was a creature the size of a large cat that looked like a cross between a rat and a boar. It’s body was shaped like a miniature hog, with four stocky legs and a rotund overweight body, yet it had thick fur, a long rat’s tail and paws with long clawed digits on paws instead of cloven feet. It even snorted and snuffled like a hog, munching on that large flower bush and quickly consuming it.

Tao Ba seemed completely at ease in this twisted jungle, walking past the creatures without a care in the world. The beasts quickly ran from him, escaping from the little boy like they’d seen a ghost. Soon the boy and the floating cage reached a lake. A huge waterfall was flowing in front of them, many exotic fish and other beasts were lounging around the rocks beside the water.

“There should be enough for you here, now hurry up and eat your fill.”

The floating cage split in half, dumping the Serpent out into the lake water and then returning to Tao Ba and disappearing. The little white haired boy turned around and walked away, leaving without a care in the world. That limbed Serpent fell into the lake and immediately took stock of its new surroundings. The lake was only a few hundred feet across on the surface, but it turns out that it linked to a much larger underground lake. The Serpent swam about, exploring this new territory and battling with a ten foot long eel. That eel was the old lord of this lake, so the Serpent quickly caught its attention and a fight began.

The two long flexible creatures entwined around each other and tried to strangle and crush the other. It was too bad that the eel was severely outclassed. The Serpent bit it and it felt venom entering its body. The eel wasn’t worried as it had fought many poisonous snakes in its time. Too bad the poison wasn’t aimed at its body, instead sinking deep inside to dull its mind and weaken its spirit. A few seconds later a ghostly apparition sunk into its body and, after a frenzied battle, consumed its soul. The eel stopped thrashing and became the Serpent’s first big meal in the lake.

Quite some time passed before that white haired boy with the pot belly finally returned.

“Lang Sheng! Come out. It’s been a year already, have you regained your mind yet?”

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He waved his hand and a gust of wind flew out, causing the water to splash and ripple. That sudden provocation incited the lord of the lake to come out. A huge black serpent burst forth from the water, a full foot wide and at least fifteen feet long, the beast snapped at Tao Ba. The boy laughed and caught the tip of the Serpent’s nose. His little hand was pressed up against that huge nose, somehow holding it perfectly in place like a stationary vice. The Serpent, the one with thick black scales and a vicious row of knife like spines down its back could only thrash around helplessly.

It reached its front legs out and like lightning the wrist twisted and a blade flipped outwards. The Serpent flicked its arm towards Tao Ba like a Mantis. The blade was hidden along its forearm, making it look slightly thicker than normal, hinged at the wrist and swinging out to the side. Tao Ba dodged the attack and held the Serpent in place. The pupils of its eyes were vertical and had a slim red outline. It aimed its gaze at Tao Ba and its pupils began to waver strangely. The middle of its vertical pupils bulged out roundly and started to oscillate from side to side, glowing with a golden light like a flickering flame.

Tao Ba seemed unaffected by the trick and gave the huge Serpent another shake, waving it around like a thick rope. Then he placed its head on the ground and stepped on its neck to pin it down. Just like in the past a wave of energy spread from his hand and swept through the Serpent’s body before returning to his palm.

“You have enough energy, you just need a little shock.”

Tao Ba rubbed his palms together for a few seconds like he was warming his hands. Then he spread them apart slightly and spit on them, rubbing his hands together again and then suddenly slapping both dirty hands against the Serpent’s head. Slapping it on either temple and simultaneously emitting a burst of power from either hand, the two waves of Qi met in the middle of the Serpent’s head. Fortunately, the waves of energy violently meeting didn’t make the Serpent’s head explode, it just caused it to pass out.

At that point, the flickering flame of consciousness in that scaled head suddenly burst to life. The Serpent was no longer just a Serpent. Lang Sheng, and more accurately Sage, returned to the world. It was like he’d just came out of a deep coma. His body didn’t feel groggy like he’d been sleeping, but his mind was still fuzzy. Tao Ba noticed the Serpent’s eyes had opened once again and he picked it up, giving it another good shake.

“Awake now? Figured I’d shake the cobwebs out.”

“Tao Ba? Is that you? Where am I? What happened?”

The kid flicked the tip of Sage’s nose and chuckled, “You died and hatched yourself a new body out of an egg.”

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