Invincible Snake Emperor

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The Snake Catcher’s Rules

Unable to use his dominance ability and with no word from his bee army, Tu Xiao’an could only wander aimlessly. He also had to be careful not to let the Snake Catchers discover him, this House Snake.

In a stretch of jungle, a mountain breeze swept through, carrying the heat of early summer. Three Snake Catchers, drenched in sweat, searched for traces of the Supreme Profound Snake.

”Damn it, is there really a Supreme Profound Snake on She Mountain? We’ve been searching all day and haven’t seen hide nor hair.”

One man complained as he wiped away his sweat. Another laughed, ”The heat must be getting to you. Where’s a snake going to get hair? Your woman has plenty of hair, go home and look for some there!”p>

”She Mountain is huge. Forget the Supreme Profound Snake; finding any other venomous snake in a short time wouldn’t be simple.”

Yet another man said, ”Let’s just search slowly. Money isn’t that easy to make. We should be glad no one else has found it yet, or all this would have been for nothing.”

Snake Catchers have their own code. If someone catches a snake first, no one else can steal it, no matter how envious they are. To do so would be to break the code.

”I’m starving. I think we should hunt some game and fill our stomachs first. We’ll have more energy to keep looking for the Supreme Profound Snake that way.”

Searching an entire mountain for a single snake wasn’t something you could do just by deciding to.

”Good idea. My stomach’s growling.”

The three men reached a consensus and decided to hunt some game in the mountains first. But just then...

”CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK...”

The sound of a chicken suddenly came from the woods not far away. The three Snake Catchers glanced at each other, joy lighting up their eyes.

It was the call of a wild chicken.

Talk about perfect timing. The cry of a wild chicken couldn’t have come at a better moment.

”Hehe, I haven’t eaten wild pheasant in ages. Even if we don’t find the Supreme Profound Snake today, getting a mountain pheasant will make this trip worthwhile.”

His companion said, ”Careful. Let’s sneak over slowly. Pheasants are tricky to catch; they’re very sharp.”

The three Snake Catchers craned their necks and crept cautiously toward the sound of the pheasant, a cunning light shining in their eyes.

Pheasants were good at hiding and usually stayed within the jungle. They were highly territorial, and the jungle was perfect for a quick escape, so not even experienced Snake Catchers dared to be careless.

”CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK...”

The pheasant’s cry echoed again. One of them said, puzzled, ”That clucking sounds awful. It sounds like something’s attacking it.”

”Could someone be trying to poach it? Let’s go, quickly!”

No longer caring about staying hidden, the three Snake Catchers sprinted over. A moment later, their eyes lit up as a vividly colored pheasant entered their view.

The bird was smaller than a full-grown domestic chicken. Its feathers were vibrant, with its head, neck, and tail each a different color. It had mostly black spots, a white neck, and brown feathers interspersed with more black spots.

It was a textbook mountain pheasant, the kind whose meat is said to be the most delicious.

It was even said to be nourishing.

However, after their initial flash of excitement, expressions of horror appeared on the three Snake Catchers’ faces.

The pheasant, which had been crying out so wretchedly, was indeed under attack. But it wasn’t a person or some large animal. It was an entirely white venomous snake, its fangs sunk menacingly into the pheasant’s neck as the bird struggled in agony.

After biting the pheasant’s neck, the pure-white venomous snake held on for a mere three seconds before releasing its grip, letting the bird stumble away.

But unfortunately, though the pheasant had escaped the snake’s mouth, it managed only a few hops before its head lolled to the side and it instantly collapsed. It convulsed once, then its body went rigid, dead from the poison.

”What potent venom!”

The three Snake Catchers were astounded. A full-grown pheasant, bitten by this snake, had died from the poison in just three seconds.

”What a snake... A top-grade venomous snake!”

The more potent a snake’s venom, the higher its pedigree. Venom usually takes time to take effect; killing a pheasant in the time it takes for three breaths meant this snake was, at the very least, a rare species.

A rare venomous snake like this could be worth tens, or even hundreds of thousands.

As one of the men stared, his eyes grew brighter and brighter until he was overcome with ecstasy. ”Look! Doesn’t that little snake look just like a Supreme Profound Snake?”

The other two Snake Catchers had only been stunned by the snake’s venom, but at their companion’s prompting, they examined it more closely. The longer they looked, the more shocked they became.

It was pure white with incomparably potent venom. Its fine, pale scales shimmered, and its body was small and delicate, as beautiful as an ornamental snake from a pet shop.

”That’s it! It’s the Supreme Profound Snake! This is it, the Supreme Profound Snake! We’re rich! We’re rich!”

The Snake Catcher couldn’t contain his joy. He was ecstatic. Excitement and elation burst forth like a broken dam, a torrent of emotion flooding out from his heart.

Life was full of surprises. They never would have imagined that by simply looking for a pheasant to eat, they would stumble upon the Supreme Profound Snake.

”Make your move! Don’t let it escape!”

”Wait!”

One of the more level-headed Snake Catchers spoke up. ”Hold on. Why would a tiny little Supreme Profound Snake attack a full-grown pheasant? It can’t possibly eat it, even after killing it.”

”Who cares? A snake this venomous would probably attack an elephant and be able to kill it. It’s just aggressive.”

”Something’s not right!” The cautious Snake Catcher who had asked the question scanned the surroundings. Soon, his eyes lit up. In a hidden corner, he discovered a pheasant’s nest filled with eggs.

So, the Supreme Profound Snake had killed the pheasant to get to the eggs in the nest. It also didn’t want the mother bird to interrupt its meal.

”So that’s it.” The man who’d been puzzled finally understood.

One of the others glared at him. ”You and your damn questions. If the Supreme Profound Snake gets away because of you, you’ll be crying your eyes out.”

As they spoke, the three men moved with swift agility, forming a triangle to completely surround the tiny Supreme Profound Snake. Their eyes glinted with greed.

’We’re rich.’ Catching this snake would bring them both fame and fortune.

The Supreme Profound Snake suddenly reared its head. A cold, menacing light flashed in its Snake Pupils; it didn’t look frightened in the slightest.

Just as the three men surrounded the Supreme Profound Snake, a bee flew by overhead. It hovered for a split second, then abruptly sped off in a specific direction.

At the same time, another group of Snake Catchers happened to be passing nearby. They saw the three men surrounding a small snake, and once they got a clear look at it, they rushed over without a word.

”We found the Supreme Profound Snake first! You’re not getting a piece of this!”

Seeing their competition, the trio immediately shouted, staking their claim.

The new group of Snake Catchers sneered. ”A joke. You haven’t caught it yet. It’s still wild, so it belongs to whoever has the skill to take it.”

”Bastards! Trying to take advantage of the situation, are you?”

”We already found it! You think the three of us can’t handle one little snake? You want to break the code?”

”The code?”

”The code says the snake belongs to whoever catches it. Move!”