A Guide to - 31

Unedited chapter


31. Four-Legged Snake
 

Each time, the huge snake would take the initiative to let the thunderbolt fall on its head, but Shu Shu and the huge snake were cheek by jowl, so naturally, there was no narrow or lucky escape for him. After the arrival of a new round of thunderbolts, his external skin had already been charred. When he moved a little, a flake of charred skin fell from his body, exposing the bright red flesh inside, and it was extremely painful.
 
When the next lightning fell, those bright red flesh would get charred again . . . .
 
Shu Shu felt that his current appearance might not look human anymore.

But he didn't want to die; he still wanted to keep on living . . . .

Shu Shu had read some true cultivation novels. When the characters in the novels went through the heavenly tribulation, they often had some magic items and formations, but until now, he had never had anything at all.   

Because of this, when he had gone through the heavenly tribulation, he had just curled up and resolutely endured. Now Edgar was going through the heavenly tribulation, and once again, there was nothing he could do.

However, he could make himself feel a bit better.

Sitting cross-legged and smelling the burnt aroma emanating from his body, Shu Shu began to circulate the weak spiritual power within his body. He was trying to find a way to make himself forget the pain on his body.   

Shu Shu was very much in pain, and Edgar also wasn’t feeling better at this time. When he had lost a few scales before, he had been very anxious. And now, his scales were falling out at light speed.   

The originally ugly snake was all scorched now, and it looked even uglier.   

Without them being aware, the heavenly lightning had already fallen eighteen times, and the thundercloud still did not dispersed. Clearly, the thundercloud had been brewing for a good while, yet the nineteenth lightning had not fallen. It meant they could get a short break.
 
Edgar seized the moment to recover. At the same time, he finally had time to pay attention to the situation around him. Only then did he find that there were planes flying back and forth in the sky. They were even throwing something towards the thundercloud, probably wanting to destroy it. However, it was quite clear that they were doing useless deeds.
 
This thundercloud was certainly not a simple thundercloud . . . .   

Edgar’s cultivation speed was extremely fast. Now that the spiritual power around him was sufficient, his previously drained spiritual power was almost instantly brought up to full.   

At this time, thunderbolts were flashing inside the thundercloud. The third round of lightning tribulation would arrive in a moment. 

The people outside were watching the thundercloud that had gotten bigger instead of getting smaller. They gaped at it and totally couldn’t figure out what was going on.
 
This lightning was too wicked; how could it last for so long and strike relentlessly? And even aimed the strike at the snake beastman?
 
They had some ways to dissipate the black cloud and divert the thunderbolts. The two planes above had already thrown a lot of things into the black cloud, but these things unexpectedly hadn’t had any effect.   

What the heck was going on here?   

Under the doings of the planes flying above the square, the abnormal rain that had come down in the background finally stopped. Jones wiped the rain water off his face, his expression exceptionally solemn, and finally made up his mind: "Fire some rockets at the black cloud!"   

They hadn't dared to use offensive weapons before; they just wanted to disperse the black cloud. But those methods had had no effect at all, and now they could only try other methods.
 
Jones’ voice barely fell when the planes fired rockets into the thundercloud.   

Several artillery shells streaked across the sky at high speed, penetrated the thundercloud, and then exploded in succession. Unexpectedly, the thundercloud that was going to drop the nineteenth lightning scattered.
 
Upon seeing this, Edgar was exultant and proceeded with his cultivation. At the same time, the heavenly thundercloud slowly started to converge again. Obviously, it was not willing to dissipate so easily since the lightning strike was not done striking down. However, it just gathered together when some artillery shells unexpectedly exploded in the middle of it for the second time. Thus, it could only regroup once more.   

After waiting for a good while, the thundercloud still didn’t come down with anything, and Shu Shu felt rightly puzzled. Opening his eyes, he saw this scene and immediately had an unspeakable feeling.   

He had just learned some facts about the thundercloud from the red bead. According to the red bead’s statement, the thundercloud could not be scattered. If you used spiritual power to scatter it, the spiritual power would quite likely get absorbed by it, making it become bigger and bigger.   

However . . . these people did not use spiritual power to scatter the thundercloud. Rather, they used bombs. In this way, not only the thundercloud was scattered, it also would not become bigger and would become smaller instead . . . .
 
As it turned out, using high-tech weapons to scatter the thundercloud was also possible? 

Edgar was cultivating, and Shu Shu did not have any way to fight over the spiritual power with his disciple. He might as well watch the thundercloud in the sky cohere and then disperse over and over.   

His disciple’s turn to go through the lightning tribulation was certainly very, very interesting.   

Right when Shu Shu was thinking such thought, he suddenly discovered that some spiritual power was entering his body. After a closer look, he found out that it was actually the huge snake putting its tail on his body to help him treat his wounds.   

The disciple he had accepted was really good. While going through the tribulation, it still thought of him. If only it hadn’t brought him along on the run and made him have no choice but to follow and go through the tribulation together . . . .   

Shu Shu had once gone through the lightning tribulation after all, so this time, he already had some immunity to it. Therefore, after the spiritual power entered his body, he immediately started to recover at an extremely rapid pace.
 
The charred blood scabs naturally came off, revealing the fair skin beneath. Since his clothes had long disappeared, it could be said that his naked body was sitting in a small circle formed by the huge snake’s coiled body.
 
Feeling uncomfortable, Edgar moved his gaze away. Shu Shu, however, spoke without the slightest awareness: "You’re really my good disciple! I’ll definitely teach you more carefully later."   

At present, he was within reach of the huge snake, but in a rare moment, he was not afraid of it. Each time, the huge snake would take the initiative to face the lightning strike, all in order to protect him. The huge snake, without doubt, wouldn’t hurt him.   

Nevertheless, it would be great if the huge snake was not a snake . . . .   

Thinking that the huge snake would be able to become a human after the lightning strike was over, Shu Shu was naturally happy. Right at this moment, he suddenly found some incongruity showing up on the huge snake’s body.   

"Disciple, you grew some limbs!" Shu Shu pointed at the huge snake’s abdomen in astonishment.
 
Edgar was helping the little sub-beastman treat his wounds when he suddenly heard the little sub-beastman’s words. He immediately looked at his own body and, sure enough, saw two clawed appendages sprout out of his  abdomen, one on the right and one on the left.   

No, not only these two, likewise, there were also two clawed appendages growing out of his lower abdomen.   

Being a snake, he had always felt inconvenienced and hoped that he could grow a couple of legs. And now, he really grew two pairs of legs . . . .
 
Shu Shu and Edgar took notice of Edgar’s situation, so, of course, those people outside who had been watching them saw it too.
 
"That snake, he suddenly grows two pairs of legs?" Jeca looked at Jeress incredulously: "Boss, that’s obviously a snake, right? Why does he grew four legs?"   

"I also don't know." Jeress frowned.   

"I’ve never heard of a snake constantly growing and even being able to sprout out legs." Jeca said again.   

"No, some snake beastmen originally could sprout out legs." Jeress said.   

"What?" Jeca stared at Jeress, perplexed.   

"Do you still remember the design of the school badge of the Imperial College in the capital star? It is a snake with legs." Jeress explained.
 
Jeca had never gone to the Imperial College to study, but he, nevertheless, had seen the school badges of various schools. He had even studied them specially because these school badges were said to have originated and evolved from the ancient totems, which were of historical significance. And on the Imperial College’s school badge was indeed a four-legged snake.
 
Of course, the four-legged snake mentioned above was golden and had a noble and threatening air. Yet the four-legged snake right here was dark and countless scales on his body were missing from the lightning strike, making him look extremely terrible.   

"I heard that the beastmen of the Imperial family used to be snakes with legs, but don’t know what happened afterwards, they don’t have legs anymore." Jeress said. Although he made a supreme effort to stay calm, but he was actually greatly astonished.   

Could it be that the beastman father of the sub-beastman was a member of the Imperial family? If it was true, could it be that the little sub-beastman was also a member of the Imperial family?   

Didn’t the Imperial family always lack children, often only one per generation? How could a fallen beast from the Imperial family suddenly emerge?
 
If the sub-beastman was a member of the Imperial family, he certainly wouldn’t be able to catch up to him . . . . All at once, Jeress was a bit distressed. 

In addition to Jeca and Jeress, other people also saw the snake beastman’s situation. Likewise, they started to talk about it, and some of them also mentioned the Imperial family. 

Although those people mentioned it, but they were also not sure if the snake beastman was a member of the Imperial family. They were only curious about his identity. Jones was watching from the sidelines, and his mood was immeasurably complicated.
 
Edgar's innate skill was very, very good, but Jones had not expected that his innate skill could actually be so good to the point of awakening the atavistic bloodline . . . . It was a pity that a beastman with such unsurpassed innate skill had unexpectedly become a fallen beast.   

"Dr. Jones, that black cloud was very strange; it didn’t scatter after our hit. Do you want to shoot at it again?" Someone asked.   

"Keep on shooting, don’t let it hurt people!" Jones ordered.   

The artillery shells were fired one more time, scattering the thundercloud in the sky once again. 

At this time, Edgar's clawed legs had grown some.   

Edgar’s mood was particularly complicated after finding out that he was actually an atavism. Over ten thousand years ago, there had been only a few members of the Imperial family who had showed up as atavisms. And these few people, each of them had been very very powerful. Edgar had not expected that he could become one of them. Not only had he not been born as an atavism, but he also underwent the atavistic process after becoming a fallen beast . . . .   

With a bitter laugh in his heart, Edgar turned towards the little sub-beastman in front him just to see a flake of charred, dead skin fall from the little sub-beastman’s nose tip, exposing a fair and tender nose.
 
Shu Shu felt a little itch on his face and reached out to rub at it, wiping off more dead skin. Then he turned towards the huge snake: "How’s your recovery?"   

Edgar used his tail to pat his own body and knock off the top layer of dead skin and scales, revealing the newly sprouted golden bright scales inside.
 
"If you’re fine, let the lightning tribulation come down, OK? We definitely must endure all of it, only then will we be alright." Shu Shu said with a bitter face.   

Those lightnings had to continue for them to be alright? In that case, how could he manage if he was not careful and hurt the little sub-beastman again?   

Edgar didn't want to let the little sub-beastman get hurt, but Shu Shu was quite clear that he had to endure the lightning tribulation today: "The sooner the lightning strike finishes, the sooner this matter is over! When we can't stand it, they can help scatter the tribulation cloud. Let's rest a bit, and then we had better continue!"   

Edgar more or less understood Shu Shu's words. After confirming that those lightnings could not be avoided, he thought about it and eventually lifted up his tail and started to gesticulate.
 
"He’s writing!" The people around finally took note of the movement of the snake beastman's tail. They also understood the point he wanted to convey. 

Don't fire the artillery shells again? Wait a moment and then continue to help scatter the cloud? Jones glanced at Edgar who was targeted by the thundercloud and, in accordance with the other party’s wish, told the people on the planes above not to fire the artillery shells again.   

The thundercloud soon gathered together, and the long-delayed third round of the lightning tribulation was eventually brewed to fruition. Impossibly, a bucket-thick thunderbolt struck down, coming right into the face of the two people below. When it fell below, it even split into two. The big strike was heading towards Edgar, while the small one was heading towards Shu Shu.
 
"Ah!" Shu Shu cradled his own head. Although this lightning was small, but it was still bigger than the biggest lightning he had endured before!   

He was certainly going to die! Shu Shu wanted to cry, but just like before, the lightning didn't fall on his body—the huge snake blocked the two lightnings without exception.
 
Disciple, you were a good person, and you had to keep on fighting! Shu Shu sighed heavily. Then those tiny electric sparks scorched him once again.

Edgar's tail was tapping the ground. Seeing this scene, Jones gave orders to the planes above, letting the people on the planes proceed with scattering the thundercloud.   

The thundercloud, which originally should’ve persistently and quickly struck one man and one snake below into charcoals, was once again scattered by the hot weapons. In the end, it could only struggle to resume its agglutination.   

Edgar continued to cultivate, repairing his body and conveniently absorbing the thunderbolt’s power in the vicinity. He could sense that these thunderbolts brought him lots of benefits.   

Even though the heavenly tribulation could strike people to death, but if you didn't die, you could get huge benefits from it. Edgar now had enough time to mend, enabling him to get more benefits. Even Shu Shu himself felt that he was getting stronger and stronger . . . .

Once the both of them had rested well, Edgar sent out a secret signal, and the planes above stopped harassing the thundercloud. It didn't take long before another lightning struck down.   

Edgar blocked the lightning just like before and then began to mend and cultivate again . . . .   

In this way, the heavenly tribulation that could strike people to death became a tool for cultivation . . . . Didn’t know whether this thundercloud would feel unwilling and wronged or not.   

"Jones, what the heck is going on here?" The governor of Gass planet, Justin, dragged his plump body over and asked loudly even before he got near. 

Initially, the situation here was only known to the people in the barracks and was not spread outside, but Jones had people prepare so many artillery shells at a time, so it was impossible for Justin to not know the matter here.   

"Some things happened." Jones said.
 
"What’s the thing that will make you call for so many artillery shells? Jones, although you have a powerful backer, but you also can't run amok!" Justin frowned.   

"I’m here to save people." Jones replied.   

"To save people by using so many artillery shells? Can’t you just make them go inside?" Justin had heard about some of the situation here, but he simply didn't believe that there was a black cloud that needed the utilization of bombs—wasn't it just a black cloud? The blowing wind was enough to disperse it!   

While saying so, Justin turned towards the two people underneath the black cloud.   

The sub-beastman was in the middle of the snake beastman’s coiled body, only his head could be seen, and the snake beastman on the outer side . . . .
 
"A snake with clawed legs?! This . . . this . . . Imperial family? His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince?" The crown prince had suddenly disappeared half a year ago. Many people knew about this news, and Justin also knew a little.   

At that time, he had thought that if he could find the crown prince, then he would definitely get a lot of rewards. But he also hadn’t hoped too much. After all, it was impossible for the crown prince to turn up on such a remote planet where the birds didn’t shit. But now . . . what did he see? Could it be that it was the crown prince?
 
One heard that Dr. Jones’s relationship with the Imperial family was special. He definitely must’ve already known about the crown prince, so he dared to mobilize so many bombs at once . . . . Justin thought about it and immediately patted his thigh: "Isn’t it just using some artillery shells? Use them! As many as you want to use! By all means, don't use it sparingly!"

Jones gave Justin a quick look. He knew what this man was thinking, but at this moment, he didn’t have the spirit to say anything to him.   

Whatever it was, it could wait until this thundercloud was dealt with. 



TL's note: I dunno why the author like names that start with J so much. Jeca, Jeress, Jared, Justin.... (・_・ヾ

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