"Hiss—"
As soon as He Xinyi finished speaking, a terrifying roar suddenly came from the mountaintop.
The roar was extremely terrifying, making one's scalp tingle.
And it was clear that only a colossal creature could emit such a deep and enormous roar.
He Xinyi's expression froze, as a massive shadow appeared in her pupils.
It was a gigantic head, or more precisely, a snake's head.
From a distance, a snake's head was seen relentlessly pursuing the group of people on the mountaintop.
The latter half of this giant snake was still hidden within the mountain, and the visible portion alone already exceeded ten meters.
Ten meters, how long is that? It's about as tall as a three-story building!
When a person stands before a three-story building, they don't feel particularly small, but when facing a giant snake over ten meters long, they realize just how insignificant they are.
Not only He Xinyi, but everyone had seen this giant snake!
In an instant, fear spread among the crowd. He Xinyi's mouth gaped open, unable to move, as if petrified.
Zheng Aoqiu, who had just woken up, hadn't figured out what was happening. He looked up at the mountaintop, was instantly terrified, rolled his eyes, and fainted again.
Even Li Mu's face turned pale, and he began to tremble again, "Little, little sister... let's, let's run quickly. If we don't run now, I, I'm afraid it'll be too late..."
Whenever danger arose, Li Mu's old habits resurfaced.
Chen Xiao glanced at Li Mu and said calmly, "What are you panicking about? Didn't you already know that there's a Zhujiuyin on Icefire Island?"
So, this giant snake was the legendary monstrous creature, Zhujiuyin.
However, knowing about it was one thing, and seeing it was another.
Li Mu felt that he had been prepared, but only when he truly saw Zhujiuyin did he realize that all his preparations and mental conditioning were in vain.
Fear is fear; it cannot be changed by any mental conditioning!
If the people at the foot of the mountain were so terrified, one could imagine how scared the people on the mountaintop were.
The giant snake behind them had stimulated all their potential, and they were running as if they could fly.
They were indeed fast, but Zhujiuyin was faster.
Its enormous body moved across the ground like a thick bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye, it had caught up to the person running at the very end.
Zhujiuyin's massive head lunged down, seizing the person's clothes in its mouth. It then reared its head, tossing the person high into the air, while it opened its maw, waiting for the person to fall into its mouth.
"Dad, save me..."
It turned out that this person was the son of the blue-robed elder's junior disciple.
He shouted in mid-air, but this was also the last sentence he uttered in his life.
The next moment, he fell into Zhujiuyin's giant mouth and was swallowed whole, clothes and all.
Seeing this, the blue-robed elder's junior disciple was so enraged that his eyes were about to burst.
"Damn it, you beast, you ate my son! I'll fight you to the death! Give me back my son's life!"
The junior disciple, driven mad by grief and anger, lost all reason. He brandished a sharp sword and charged towards Zhujiuyin.
"Junior disciple, no!"
The blue-robed elder shouted.
However, his shout could not stop his junior disciple's charge.
The junior disciple leaped high, thrusting his sword towards Zhujiuyin.
Zhujiuyin's scales were all crimson red, and those scales were as hard as steel. The sword scraped sparks off the scales but did not injure Zhujiuyin in the slightest.
However, the junior disciple's actions had enraged Zhujiuyin!
"Hiss—"
Zhujiuyin let out a strange roar, then spat out a stream of purplish-black flames.
The purplish-black flames directly sprayed onto the junior disciple. Before he could even cry out, the entire person turned into ashes.
Not even a speck of bone remained, as if he had melted away!
The other disciples around him were also affected, all burned to ashes.
In just an instant, the entire group on the mountaintop was annihilated.
Time seemed to stop for a second or two.
Then, the blue-robed elder's eyes turned bloodshot, and his internal energy surged.
He looked up at Zhujiuyin, the rage in his eyes almost bursting out of his sockets.
"You beast, I will kill you and avenge those who have died!"
The blue-robed elder's voice was terrifyingly low.
Then, he resolutely walked up the mountain!
"Master?!"
The two young boys, one black-haired and one white-haired, called out. The blue-robed elder did not respond, leaving the two brothers at a loss.
At the same time, the group of young scions had already fled in terror.
Someone reminded them, "It's useless for you to run now. Do you think you can outrun that monster?"
Huang Wenlei immediately spat, "Pah, I might not be able to outrun the monster, but I can outrun you!"
However, in the next second, a ball of purplish-black flame swept towards them. This group of young scions instantly turned into dust, leaving nothing behind.
Clearly, Zhujiuyin had been offended and did not intend to let anyone leave.
Seeing this, He Xinyi trembled uncontrollably, the fear of death spreading in her heart.
"Master Lin, what, what do we do now..."
He Xinyi asked, trembling.
Master Lin glanced at the mercenary group's captain and said calmly, "Now is your time to shine!"
The mercenary captain lit a cigar, took a deep puff, then waved his hand and shouted, "Brothers, get ready to work!"
They were already in a business of risking their lives for money, so even if they were afraid, they could not retreat.
Besides, no matter how powerful this monster was, could it be more powerful than modern firearms?
This group of mercenaries was heavily armed, with some even carrying rocket launchers.
With one round of firepower, even if the monster had a body of bronze and bones of iron, it would lose a layer of skin.
At the same time, the blue-robed elder had reached the mountainside, and Zhujiuyin had also swum up to him.
At this moment, the visible portion of its body had already exceeded a hundred meters, yet it still hadn't revealed its tail.
The sheer length of this monster was unimaginable.
The blue-robed elder swung his arms, and two long sabers appeared in his hands.
"Heh! You monster, prepare to die!"
After a furious roar, his two long sabers were covered with a layer of earthy yellow light.
Zhujiuyin seemed to understand the blue-robed elder's words, and its scarlet eyes emitted a hint of disdain.
"You monster, how dare you look down on this old man! I will make you pay the price!"
The blue-robed elder leaped high, wielding his twin sabers, and slashed towards Zhujiuyin.
At the same time, at the foot of the mountain, the mercenary captain took a deep puff of his cigar and shouted.
"Fire!"