Moreover, she was also very afraid of them. In her long life, she could count on one hand the number of times she had actively engaged with humans in a life-or-death battle, as she always escaped the moment she saw them. The death of her caretaker left a very traumatizing scar on her heart.

However, in the face of benefits, even those decade-long mental scars wouldn't be able to stop her.

In this life, strength reigned supreme, and she understood that very well.

So, to her surprise when she probed into the insect's bloodline and understood its value, especially to her at this stage, impatience overcame her.

She had been stuck at the peak of the Foundation Establishment for a long while now until she stumbled upon something that would enable her to break through. However, her plan needed a lot of preparations, and it had already been more than four years since she first started preparing, but it was still a bit far off.

The existence of the golden dragonfly, on the other hand, was the last piece of the puzzle although it'd take some time.

How could she let go of such an opportunity?

After weighing the pros and cons, she knew what she had to do.

"The human definitely has to die! He can't go back to the sect with such important information." Once that conclusion was reached, her gaze became resolute, and a terrifying pressure swept over the area toward the old man Lu Peng.

Seeing this scene, Lu Peng's expression turned grim, and he couldn't help but regret not bringing his insect familiar, as it was also in the same realm as him, albeit a tad bit weaker.

But how could he have known things would turn out like this? He was just planning on observing things from the side. However, one thing was certain in his mind: he was definitely going to do his best to secure the insects and take them with him.

Once that conclusion was reached in a split second, he had already put the net over his shoulder and started running with his rough feet, attempting to escape.

The Viper Queen wasn't surprised by this sight; she even grinned at the stupidity of his action. "You think you can run away from me? Think again."

She followed after him, but at first, her speed seemed awfully slow as she just slithered on the ground. However, after a while, a very strange sight took place. Suddenly, the Viper Queen's body seemed to enter a very peculiar state where her body slithered in perfect rhythm, generating a terrifying amount of speed in a very short time.

Needless to say, Lei Yan was shocked by this turn of events. "What kind of luck was this? Danger from the front and from the back."

More than that, he was pissed!

Two strong behemoths were playing with his life as they wished, and he had absolutely no say in the whole matter.

"Fuck, this is disgraceful." But what could he do other than boil in his frustration in silence?

They were both way out of his league. However, if he could choose one of the two, then it'd definitely be the man, as there, at least, he felt that there was a chance of making a comeback. As for the monstrous viper, that filled him with dread? Absolutely not.

That was precisely why when he noticed both of their speed, he was relieved at first, but as he kept watching the viper, his blood ran cold.

From his point of view, she just seemed normally fast at first, but in no less than three seconds, she became just a dancing blur that swiftly arrived in front of him, and a humongous mighty tail came crashing down.

Lu Peng, who was looking ahead while paying attention with his senses, didn't sense, hear, nor see anything until a formidable tail came crashing down with powerful strength that almost broke his right shoulder and sent him flying to the side.

Inside the net, the insects were already mashed together, and due to the force of the fall, many of them were severely injured, with some even losing their lives. If that tail had targeted them specifically, they would have turned into paste by then.

The viper didn't move after that but silently stared as she coiled her lower body, using it as a foundation to elevate her upper torso, reaching more than 10 meters in height. Her ferocious eyes locked onto the old man.

Lu Peng carefully inspected the net of insects and frowned as he didn't expect the viper to be that fast and stealthy. Realizing he had no chance of escaping, he threw the net with the insects aside and chose to face the confrontation head-on.

A faint smile appeared on his face as he skillfully cracked his neck and fingers simultaneously, turning to stare back at those vicious eyes fearlessly.

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"Heh, little worm, it seems like you don't know what's good for you." His voice managed to echo through the forest even without raising his tone, giving his delivery a smooth and calm quality.

As for the fact that the viper was awakened, only a fool wouldn't have realized it by then, much less a man who had lived for more than a century.

"For a soon-to-be-dead old man, you have quite a sharp tongue." The viper wasn't to be outdone, responding with a menacing expression.

Lu Peng wasn't surprised by the choice of words, as he could more or less understand that both of them had the exact same motives. "Alright, enough with the empty talk. Show me what you've got. If you fail to deliver, today is going to be your funeral." With that, he took out a golden whip filled with terrifyingly sharp barbs.

The viper's expression turned serious, even though, judging by the pressure both of them were emanating, she was clearly overwhelming him. However, her confidence and understanding of humans made her feel a bit restless.

She swiftly opened her mouth and emitted a high-pitched cry. The three strongest snakes that came with her rushed towards the old man, all at the mid Foundation Establishment realm.

The black and white striped python was the first to charge, with its colossal, ten-meter-long body lunging fearlessly at the old man.

Just as he was about to use his whip to strangle it, he felt as if his mind was invaded by an army of vicious ants, gnawing away at it. Turning around, he saw the sky-blue horned snake looking at him, strange symbols dancing around its human-like eyes.

As for the relatively tiny green viper that came with them, it had already submerged itself into the ground and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Lu Peng swiftly dodged the black and white python's charge, and in mid-air, he took out a talisman, tearing it apart.

Once the energy inside the talisman was released, it quickly converged into a wooden bell that floated several inches above his head. Regardless of how fast Lu Peng moved, the wooden bell perfectly followed.

The previous mental pain had already vanished, but more than that, the sky-blue horned snake's aura looked chaotic, as if suffering through some grievous injury.

Throughout all of these events, the viper didn't move a single inch, but her predatory gaze kept following the man perfectly not missing a single movement, trying to gauge something.

Lu Peng's attention was also mostly given to the viper as she was the biggest threat to him here. And although such an action was necessary, it proved to be dangerous.

Just as he dodged one of the python's swift lunges and landed on the ground, a small and inconspicuous green viper emerged from the ground soundlessly, as if swimming in water, and bit down on Lu Peng's ankle.

Before the pain even reached his brain, the veins around his ankle had already started to darken and spread out to the rest of his body at a very fast speed.

When he finally noticed what happened and looked down, the green viper had already disappeared once again, leaving the old Lu Peng shocked!

He quickly circulated his Qi to suppress the poison, but to his horror, he found that the poison not only had physiological effects, but it also negatively affected the way his Qi moved around his body, making it seem slow and obstructed.

The queen viper finally moved after seeing that her opportunity had finally come. She swiftly circulated a vast amount of Qi to surround her lower coiled body, which made it compress even further to the point that the ground beneath her had caved in. Then, like a coiled spring, she directed her upper body and let go of the compression, launching herself towards Lu Peng at a terrifying speed.

She managed to close the distance of close to a hundred meters in the fraction of a second.

Lu Peng, who had just dodged another one of the python's charges, albeit slowly this time, sensed the movement of Qi in the air and turned around to look.

Yet, even with that amazing speed of the viper, his reflexes seemed even more exaggerated. Although his body didn't have the time to move, he swiftly brought out a square, pitch-black small shield that was round at the edges, with some white engraving in the middle, to block in front of him.

BOOM-

A loud booming sound reverberated throughout the whole forest once the viper crashed into the shield. All of her momentum and force seemed to be absorbed by the mysterious void-like shield, but even with that, some of the after shock still reached Lu Peng, sending him flying backward—a testament to the unimaginable strength behind that attack.

The collision with the shield caused the viper to rebound, and she fell backward with hisses, writhing in intense pain. If someone were to observe very closely, they might detect a subtle alteration at the apex of its skull resulting from the impact.

The shield, like the previous Bell Talisman, kept following Lu Peng as if it had an intelligence of its own.

The viper queen, in tremendous pain and anger, released a high-pitched cry and followed after him relentlessly.

Now the black and white striped python, the viper queen, the green viper, and the sky blue horned snake were all attacking him at the same time.

Miraculously, Lu Peng managed to skillfully fight all of them, even though he was also poisoned. However, he would miss from time to time, and an attack would land, further decreasing his speed.

Although Lu Peng wasn't a pushover either, the barrage of attacks from one peak High Foundation Establishment and three at the middle stage was still a bit too much for an old man like him.

They fought like that for several minutes, until the viper queen found another opportunity and swung her tail at him, hitting him right in the waist bone, sending him flying to the side. Intense pain assaulted his mind as his senses seemed to become disoriented.

Gritting his teeth, he brought out a shiny full-body armor with a helmet, leg guards, and everything. The moment the golden armor appeared out of nowhere, it immediately seemed to dissolve and enter Lu Peng's body. Then, just as quickly as it disappeared, it started to sort of "bloom" out of his body—from the inside of his skin until it covered him entirely.

The four reptiles stopped their barrage of attacks, caught off guard by this change, and felt a bit apprehensive because the human now gave off a terrifying energy and visually looked too domineering.

The old man stood, adorned in resplendent full-body golden armor, gleaming with a radiant sheen. The intricacies of the armor bore testament to an artisan's meticulous craftsmanship. The helmet, crowned with demon-like horns, added an aura of majestic authority to the aged figure. Despite the passage of time, he emanated an aura of strength and grandeur, a living testament to a history etched in both gold and scars.

Lu Peng's eyes flashed with a ruthless gleam, and a faint smile was plastered on his face, hidden inside the helmet.