Chapter 5

At night, the full moon rose, and a serene calmness spread over the forest park with the silver mist-like moonlight.

Under the towering trees by the lakeside in the northern part of the forest park, a dozen men in black crouched, their faces solemn, staring intently at the forest lake ahead.

The Forest Lake was not an ordinary small lake; it occupied a large area in the forest park. As its name suggests, there were many trees around it, and it had a large water capacity and great depth. On the vast lake, there were more than a dozen islands of varying sizes.

"Water Elder, do you think the Adamantine Dragon Snake will come out tonight?" a man in black asked the tall, masked man beside him in a low voice.

"It should, tonight is the night of the full moon. The Adamantine Dragon Snake appears every twenty years on this day. I have been investigating here for over twenty years. Twenty years ago, it appeared here, but due to a moment of carelessness and lack of preparation, it escaped. Over these twenty years, I have explored the water properties of the Forest Lake and learned about the conditions here, finding it very suitable for the Adamantine Dragon Snake to live." The man called Water Elder looked at the forest lake ahead.

"Why don't we just go to the Forest Lake and catch the Adamantine Dragon Snake directly, instead of waiting for twenty years?" the man in black beside him was puzzled. With their strength, it shouldn't be a problem.

Water Elder sighed lightly, his eyes a bit lost. "Do you think the Adamantine Dragon Snake is so easy to catch? The Adamantine Dragon Snake, it is said, might ascend to become a dragon after ten thousand years. If not during the full moon every twenty years, its body will shrink back to its newborn state, and approaching it would mean certain death. The Adamantine Dragon Snake is very peculiar; it undergoes a transformation every twenty years, gradually shrinking back to its newborn state, which happens on the night of the full moon. Starting from tomorrow, its body will gradually grow and elongate, returning to its previous form. If we fail to catch it tonight, we will have to wait another twenty years. Additionally, no one knows how old this Adamantine Dragon Snake is. Even if it transforms back to its newborn state, it cannot be underestimated. You have followed me for many years, I don't want any of you to get hurt. Be careful."

"Yes!" The men in black nodded, they no longer spoke, just quietly watching the lake water ahead.

Suddenly, the calm lake water began to boil like boiling water. The previously cloudless night sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, and the distant rumble of thunder could be heard, followed by raindrops falling on the lake surface.

Water Elder knew the time had come. The Adamantine Dragon Snake was a legendary treasure, and its appearance would certainly bring abnormal weather.

"Everyone, pay attention, the Adamantine Dragon Snake is beginning its transformation." Water Elder took out a specially made net from his backpack. They had to act at the critical moment to catch the Adamantine Dragon Snake.

When Water Elder reported the matter of the Adamantine Dragon Snake to the gang leader, the leader immediately sent people to assist him in capturing the dragon snake. Capturing the dragon snake would be a great boon for a martial artist.

In the center of the lake, there seemed to be a large whirlpool, which grew larger and larger, as if something was stirring below. The men in black had never seen such a strange phenomenon, and their palms were sweating.

Water Elder whispered, "That whirlpool is caused by the Adamantine Dragon Snake's transformation. Once the whirlpool calms down, we will fly to the center of the lake to capture it."

As Water Elder predicted, the whirlpool gradually shrank and finally disappeared, and the lake water calmed down. Seeing the right moment, Water Elder gave a low command.

"Let's go." Before he finished speaking, Water Elder and the others flew towards the center of the lake.

Although the lake was wide, the feet of these men in black only lightly touched the water, flying forward like great eagles. Soon, they arrived at a small island near the center of the lake.

Water Elder and the others first took out packets of realgar powder from their chests and scattered them towards the center of the lake. After a while, they leaped into the center of the lake.

They were all highly skilled in martial arts and could stay underwater for a long time. As soon as they entered the water, a whirlpool suddenly appeared below.

"Bad, the Adamantine Dragon Snake hasn't fully transformed back to its newborn state; we've been tricked." Water Elder felt the whirlpool below and immediately leaped out of the water, shouting loudly.

But it was too late. A red light shot out of the water, striking a man in black, who screamed and fell into the water, dead.

"Water Elder, let's fight it." One of the men in black also noticed that the red light was actually a small snake, not very large, but capable of killing their companion with its venom.

"No, the Adamantine Dragon Snake is extremely venomous. If bitten, death is certain. We must retreat; we cannot fight it head-on. It will soon transform back to its newborn state and lose its toxicity, making it easy to capture then." Water Elder said as he flew towards the shore, his feet lightly touching the water, and his body quickly retreating over ten meters.

"Ah, ah!" The red light flashed twice, and the two men in black flying at the back screamed, also killed by the Adamantine Dragon Snake.

If not for seeing it with their own eyes, no one would believe that such a small snake could fly so fast and be so venomous, killing three highly skilled men in black in the blink of an eye.

The "red light" saw the men in black leave its attack range and stopped pursuing, flashing red and diving into the lake.

Water Elder and the others had just flown back to the shore and were about to catch their breath when several white beams shot out from the forest.

"Bad, there's an ambush." Water Elder shouted.

One of the white beams was aimed at him, and he leaped into the air to dodge, recognizing it as a hidden weapon.

Water Elder was startled. To be able to shoot a hidden weapon with such speed using internal energy required very high martial arts skills.

"Ah, ah!" Two men in black were too slow to dodge and were hit, falling to the ground dead.

Water Elder waved his hand. "The hidden weapons are poisonous, we've been ambushed. Let's go."

They had already lost five people, and now they were ambushed. If they didn't leave soon, they would all die here. They leaped away in groups, disappearing into the night rain.

After a while, a masked man leaped out from the forest. Seeing that Water Elder and the others had left, he couldn't help but feel secretly pleased. "Heh heh, if not for the ambush, we wouldn't have scared them away."

The masked man looked at the lake water ahead, where the Adamantine Dragon Snake had fallen, now calm.

This masked man had been following Water Elder and the others, like a mantis catching a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

When Water Elder and the others rushed forward to capture the Adamantine Dragon Snake, he remained still. He knew that the Adamantine Dragon Snake in the lake was already a thousand years old and knew how to protect itself. Therefore, it would not quickly transform back to its newborn state.

"Now it's my turn." The masked man took out a specially made net from his back and flew towards the center of the lake.

His figure appeared and disappeared, his lightness surpassing Water Elder's. The masked man landed on a small island near the center of the lake, took a deep breath, and was about to jump into the center of the lake when a tornado suddenly appeared in the sky.

Seeing the sudden tornado, the masked man quickly lay on the ground, not daring to get up. He knew the power of a tornado; even with his high martial arts skills, he would be swept away. No matter how strong a person is, they cannot resist the forces of nature.

The tornado swirled towards them, but when it reached the center of the lake, it stopped, continuously swirling.

At that moment, a person fell from the tornado. "Bang," the person fell into the lake and immediately sank. This person was Mo Zhitao, who had been unconscious after being swept up by the tornado.

When Mo Zhitao fell into the water, he woke up. He opened his eyes and, seeing himself in the water, panicked and opened his mouth to scream.

But this scream was even worse, as the lake water rushed into his mouth, making him unable to make a sound.

Suddenly, a red shadow shot up from the lake, and due to the tornado, it swirled towards Mo Zhitao.

"Ah, um..." Mo Zhitao felt the red shadow rush into his mouth, and with the lake water, he couldn't spit it out. Once the red shadow entered his stomach, Mo Zhitao felt as if his stomach was on fire, his whole body heating up, and the heat from the red shadow seemed to be melting him.

"Ah!" Mo Zhitao, as if possessed, suddenly jumped out of the lake, rising three meters above the water. The tornado, seemingly affected, swirled away and soon disappeared. Mo Zhitao, after jumping out of the lake, fell back into it.

The masked man saw everything clearly. The red shadow was the thousand-year-old Adamantine Dragon Snake, which had transformed back to its newborn state, very small, only three to four centimeters long. But how did the Adamantine Dragon Snake end up in the young man's mouth? This puzzled the masked man.

In fact, the masked man didn't know that because Water Elder and the others had thrown a lot of specially made realgar into the water, the Adamantine Dragon Snake, unable to withstand the realgar, leaped out of the water, and coincidentally, it leaped right into Mo Zhitao's mouth.

The lake water calmed down, and Mo Zhitao floated to the surface. The masked man flew over to Mo Zhitao, lifted him with a palm, and flew towards the shore. On the shore, he threw Mo Zhitao to the ground, who was now unconscious and on the verge of death.

The masked man reached out to check Mo Zhitao's pulse and then shook his head helplessly.

The young man's pulse was chaotic, and his body was black, a sign of deep poisoning. The Adamantine Dragon Snake was extremely venomous, and being bitten would result in immediate death. Although the young man had swallowed the Adamantine Dragon Snake during its newborn transformation, it was still enough to poison him to death.

It was a pity that such a good Adamantine Dragon Snake was wasted. If the venom could be removed with the right medicine and then consumed, it could bring unexpected benefits to a martial artist. As for how many years of skill it could add, the masked man didn't know.

Suddenly, Mo Zhitao's feet twitched, and his head drooped, motionless. The masked man checked his nostrils and shook his head. The young man was dead. It seemed that tonight's efforts were in vain. The masked man threw the bodies of the men in black into the lake and stopped when he reached Mo Zhitao.

"Let his family take care of his body." The masked man turned and leaped away, quickly disappearing into the rain.

"Rumble..." A thunderclap echoed in the sky, like a golden snake dancing wildly, and the sky lit up with white light. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down, hitting Mo Zhitao.

"Bang!" The lightning struck Mo Zhitao's body with a loud sound, and a red light enveloped him, as if completely surrounding him. Despite the heavy rain, the red light did not fade for a long time.