Chapter 1 The Ticking Sound

——Da da da da da!

As soon as one magazine of the submachine gun was emptied, another was immediately loaded. This weapon required no precise aiming, only suppressive fire. Su Zhou wasn't particularly fast at changing magazines, but the members of the Holy Serpent Gathering weren't in any condition to evade.

If an explosion occurred in a semi-enclosed underground cavern, the resulting shockwaves would reverberate several times, creating an implosion effect. A more violent explosion would shatter the internal organs of ordinary people, and it wouldn't be surprising if the entire cavern collapsed.

Even now, the fragmentation damage from four grenades was nearly maximized. After Su Zhou fired two bursts, there were few living people left in the cavern. In less than half a minute, dozens of members of the supernatural organization were wiped out.

——Solved that easily? They're a bit weak, aren't they.

However, just as Su Zhou thought the problem was resolved, he suddenly felt a chilling sensation rise from his heart, and an extremely dangerous premonition came from the very center of the prayer hall.

Buzz! With a hum, a gloomy green light emerged from the dust and turned into a semicircular shield, enveloping the altar. It rotated incessantly, and the wind it generated blew away the dust. The huge ouroboros (snake eating its tail) phantom was still present, undiminished by the deaths of so many chanters.

Behind the altar, the Bedouin leader, holding a snake-bone staff and chanting incantations to support the shield, had an extremely somber expression. His eyes practically burned with fire, and he wanted nothing more than to devour the Asian brat before him.

However, the calmness and composure honed by years of experience prevented him from being driven mad by rage. Even after the ritual site was raided, causing decades of progress to revert in a single morning, the Bedouin leader merely snorted coldly and continued chanting. He raised the snake-bone staff high in his right hand and held the holy seal of the Holy Spirit to his chest with his left. He was going to ignore everything and continue the void ritual!

——It doesn't matter if everyone is dead. As long as the 'Blood of Eternal Life' descends, then in the new era, the Holy Serpent Gathering will have the absolute capital to return once more!

"That old man!"

Seeing the radiant shield, such an obvious display of supernatural power, Su Zhou couldn't help but be taken aback. Realizing that the Bedouin leader was still continuing the ritual, he immediately raised his submachine gun, preparing to continue firing.

Regardless of how the radiant shield worked, maintaining it definitely required the old man's power. In that case, he would continue to attack! As long as he didn't stop, the other party would eventually be forced to divide his attention to deal with him.

But, could the Bedouin leader or anyone else not think of that?

Just as Su Zhou was preparing to continue shooting, he suddenly felt an incredibly dense wave of malice begin to coalesce in mid-air. The spirituality that could see 'spiritual bodies' was warning him, causing him to be alarmed.

Following his spiritual instinct, Su Zhou decisively looked up to the upper left, and his pupils constricted.

He could see streams of blood flowing from the bodies of the Holy Serpent Gathering members who had died from the explosion fragments and submachine gun fire. This blood was now silently boiling, turning into wisps of serpentine blood mist. These blood snakes seemed to be alive, rapidly writhing and coiling in mid-air before flying towards him!

Without hesitation, Su Zhou performed a forward roll, avoiding the initial blood snakes——but the subsequent blood snakes had tracking ability, and under the circumstances, he could only continue to roll and dodge, being forced back into the hall. He grabbed a corpse of a Holy Serpent Gathering member, using it to block the remaining blood snake attacks.

The blood snakes impacted the corpse, without any substantial physical force, but Su Zhou felt the entire corpse suddenly lighten in weight, and a large amount of thick liquid dripped down. The flesh and blood of the corpse in his hand dissolved, corroded until only bones remained.

"Haaah!"

But before he could marvel at the power of the spell, he heard the sound of wind from the side! With a furious roar, a tall figure leaped directly from the pile of corpses, then, a cold light flashed in his hand as he lunged towards Su Zhou!

It was that Sukra, the Indian man who was either a Brahmin or a Kshatriya!

This man was tall, and his originally calm and indifferent expression was now filled with furious ferocity, like an angry Vajra. Without a word, he took a step, flying into the air, spiritual energy enhancing his leg muscles. He crossed a distance of more than ten meters in an instant, as if teleporting, and then slashed down with his sword!

Whoosh!

With a flash of cold light, the submachine gun in Su Zhou's hand was cut into two pieces, and even the bulletproof vest and shirt in front of him were directly cut open, revealing a bloody mark on his chest——if Su Zhou hadn't retreated quickly enough, his head and ribs would have been cut open at the same time!

As the leader of the Holy Serpent Gathering's Indian branch, Sukra's strength was no less than that of the third-generation Bedouin leader, but his talent lay in spiritual martial arts, cultivating himself, rather than in activating rituals and borrowing the power of the void, so he could only be second in command——he was a true expert, both in martial arts and spellcasting!

In the previous explosion and shooting, he was not seriously injured, only a small cut on his forehead from a collision, a little blood flowing out. The slight pain strengthened his power, making the snake-patterned long sword in his hand faster and more powerful.

Faced with such fierce and continuous attacks, Su Zhou, with only a short knife as a parrying weapon, naturally found it difficult to resist. He dodged left and right, retreating, but was unable to escape Sukra's attack range. He even failed to dodge once, and half of his left ear, along with his hair, disappeared in a flash of blood, sliced off by the sword, and the short knife in his right hand was also knocked away.

But like the Bedouin leader and Sukra, who could maintain precise attacks even in their rage, even though Su Zhou was at a great disadvantage, and felt a sharp pain in his left ear as blood gushed out, he remained calm. At this moment, he was even calmer, more able to rationally consider the current situation.

——This is the only way.

Making up his mind, Su Zhou raised his left arm to block in front of him——a cold light of steel flashed past, half of Su Zhou's left wrist was severed, and his hand spun and flew in an arc in mid-air. At the same time, the iron watch shattered.

Sacrificing a pawn to save the king, although severely injured, Su Zhou used the hardness of the watch to slow down the sharpness of the blade for a moment, and used the strength of his arm to deflect Sukra's attack. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he retreated rapidly, seemingly intending to escape, but how could Sukra give him such an opportunity?!

"Haa!"

With his essence, energy, and spirit united, the Indian man who stimulated the power of his whole body exhaled a breath. He stepped on the ground, and invisible spiritual power mixed with blood qi surged within his body. A death warning began to sound wildly in Su Zhou's mind——and at the same time, Sukra had transformed into a gale, attacking the hateful little thief before him at full speed!

At that instant, Su Zhou also let out a shout, he exerted force from under his feet, kicking the corpses flying, hurtling towards Sukra——he had been retreating constantly, not to escape, but to find a suitable area and opportunity!

The heavy corpses were kicked flying, hurtling towards Sukra, blocking his vision like an overturned table. The Indian man's eyes narrowed, he waved his arm, cutting one corpse in half, and slapping another corpse away. The silver light of the blade flashed with a gale, cutting the two corpses that pounced at the same time horizontally——even with his strength, he was now near exhaustion, but there was still one corpse that Su Zhou had stepped on and stood upright, pouncing towards him.

"Delaying for time!"

Everything happened in a flash of lightning. Sukra hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he did not choose to retreat, nor did he continue to use a large-scale sword swing to split open this last obstacle. The Indian warrior directly stabbed out with his sword, transforming into a shooting star. After penetrating this last corpse-shield, this sword aimed between Su Zhou's eyes!

But, that moment of hesitation led to defeat!

"Bang bang bang!."

Gunshots rang out, and the warrior fell to the ground!

And the long sword that was about to pierce Su Zhou's frontal bone directly stopped in its place.

With a expressionless face, Su Zhou held a pistol in his right hand. It was the gun he had taken from the tour guide on the bus, which he had stuffed in his pocket. When the battle was intense, he had no time to pull it out, so he paid the price of his left hand, only then finding the opportunity.

Three consecutive shots were fired, hitting Sukra's left shoulder socket, neck, and mouth respectively, shattering his teeth along with his upper jaw, turning them into a bloody mess. After taking such three shots, even a spiritual martial arts practitioner like Sukra who had only just awakened would undoubtedly die.

"Heh heh… didn't expect that, did you?"

Enduring the pain, Su Zhou suppressed his trembling voice and laughed: "I still have a gun!"