The moment she finished speaking, several miserable screams rang out.
Yu Leping and the others' expressions changed drastically as they whipped their heads around. They saw that several of their warriors had turned pale green, foaming at the mouth, and were swaying weakly to the ground — dead in the blink of an eye.
"Snakes! So many snakes!" someone shrieked in terror.
The deck had been overrun with a writhing mass of serpents of every size, and the air was instantly saturated with a nauseating stench — clearly the concentrated emanation of venom that made anyone who breathed it in feel dizzy and faint.
A strange sound escaped Snake Woman's lips as she placed one slender, jade-like hand before her mouth and blew gently. The venomous snakes responded as though receiving orders, springing up from where they lay and shooting toward Yu Leping's group like arrows.
Several of the weaker warriors, already disoriented from the snake venom, had no time to dodge and were bitten directly. Within ten breaths they collapsed stiffly, dead on the spot.
Over on the other side, Man Kuai saw that Snake Woman had already made her move and let out a bellow. He summoned a massive bronze hammer taller than a man and swept it forward in a single devastating arc.
The warriors from the City Lord's Mansion, already rattled by the overwhelming tide of snakes, instinctively leaped high into the air to escape the serpents blanketing the ground. But just then, Man Kuai's hammer came sweeping in. A powerful shockwave of aura and Source Power erupted, and a vortex of force coiled around the great hammer as though possessing an infinite gravitational pull, trapping those near it in place — unable to advance or retreat.
BOOM…
A muffled impact rang out, and several City Lord's Mansion warriors were instantly obliterated, not even bones remaining.
Before the few survivors could catch their breath, Sander — who had remained silent throughout — let out a cold snort. A formation flag materialized in his hand out of thin air, and he tossed it toward a point in the void. In an instant, the tower ship blazed with the glow of a formation array that not only sealed the entire vessel airtight but also exerted a ban on flight.
The warriors who had leaped skyward cried out in alarm as they plummeted back down.
Shhhhing shhhhing shhhhing shhhhing…
Shen Fei drew his long sword, murderous intent radiating from every pore as he wove through the crowd like a gust of wind. His movements were ghostlike and unpredictable, his blade striking again and again — each swing claiming a victim as enemies screamed and fell.
"You dare attack me?!" Yu Leping had lost all his earlier composure. His hair hung in disheveled strands and his body was drenched in blood. Though he had survived the initial ambush unscathed, he was clearly badly wounded.
Of the fifteen City Lord's Mansion warriors who had accompanied him, only three remained in the blink of an eye. All three were at the third level of the Dao Source Realm. Though they shared the same cultivation, Yu Leping was unquestionably the strongest among them.
Though battered and desperate, the three formed a triangular formation, shielding each other and fending off attacks from every direction. They barely managed to hold their ground.
Seeing their furious assault stalled, Snake Woman and the others immediately eased their offensive pressure, unwilling to push too hard and force Yu Leping into reckless desperation.
Meanwhile, on the City Lord's Mansion tower ship, the few stationed warriors witnessed the battle erupting and their side suffering devastating losses. Their faces drained of color, and they stood frozen in shock — not a single one thought to flee in time.
"You little brat, you've been slacking off!" Snake Woman turned on Yang Kai as though she had discovered a new continent, screeching at him hysterically.
Everyone had fought in the battle just now — everyone except Yang Kai. He simply stood there, hands clasped behind his back, watching as though enjoying a fine spectacle.
This whole affair had clearly been set in motion by Yang Kai. If he hadn't had a grudge against Yu Leping, the man would never have chased them out to sea in the first place, and this battle would never have happened.
Yet while all the rest of them had thrown themselves into the fight, Yang Kai — the very person at the center of it all — stood there with a look of complete indifference. How could Snake Woman not be furious?
Shen Fei and Man Kuai said nothing, but their expressions made their displeasure plain.
"Who says I'm slacking off?" Yang Kai shot back sharply, wearing a look of utter disdain. "Are you blind? I'm providing backup cover for you!"
Snake Woman trembled with rage, blossoms and branches and all. She was discovering that this brat called Yang Kai was annoying to the absolute extreme. Ever since boarding the ship he had refused to give her a shred of face, opposing her at every turn as though they harbored some deep, ancient grudge. And now he had the audacity to lie through his teeth — clearly lounging around doing nothing, yet he claimed he was "providing backup cover"? The sheer shamelessness was beyond belief.
She gritted her silver teeth and silently swore that she would make Yang Kai pay, so he would learn the consequences of offending a woman.
"Since you're providing backup cover, then now is the time we need you. Handle these three!" Sander, apparently also displeased with Yang Kai's idle attitude, spoke in a cold voice.
"What about the ones over there?" Yang Kai pointed toward the warriors still aboard the City Lord's Mansion tower ship. Whether it was lack of battle experience or genuine terror, these warriors hadn't even thought of fleeing until this moment — and it was only when Yang Kai pointed at them that they scrambled into a panicked, disorderly retreat.
"Leave those ones to me. You just need to deal with Yu Leping and his lot." Sander snorted and launched himself from the tower ship in a single bound, soaring through the air like a great roc spreading its wings, imposing and majestic, giving chase to the fleeing warriors.
None of them had significant cultivation — they'd been left aboard purely to guard the ship. Now, even scattering in every direction, they had no chance of outrunning Sander's pursuit. Death was only a matter of time.
"Brat, get moving already!" Snake Woman urged when she saw Yang Kai still standing there with no intention of lifting a finger. She, Shen Fei, and Man Kuai had managed to pin Yu Leping and his two remaining companions in place, but none of those three were pushovers. Working in perfect coordination, their defense was airtight.