Lin Xia clearly saw that the hard scales, capable of clashing head-on with a diamond drill, had finally reached their limit under such a close-range and ferocious metal storm.
Purple-black blood mixed with shattered scales and tissue sprayed out like a fountain from the giant snake's head and neck.
The enormous body of the snake seemed to have been struck by an invisible heavy hammer. Its forward momentum was forcibly checked and completely broken.
It let out an earth-shaking shriek of agony. The sound was no longer threatening, but filled with dying despair and utter disbelief.
Intense pain made the massive body twist, roll, and convulse crazily. The thick tail whipped against the mine walls like a giant lash, smashing stones everywhere and causing the entire pit to tremble.
Lou Gao, however, remained unmoved. His eyes were cold as iron, and his finger clenched the trigger until a sharp "click" signaled the empty magazine. A whole box of bullets had been poured without a drop spared into the fatal point of the snake's head in only a few breaths.
The wild gunfire stopped abruptly. What remained were the final struggling impacts and screams echoing even more miserably through the dusty cavern.
Amid the thick smoke, the snake's body jerked a few times before finally crashing to the ground and raising another cloud of dirt.
The head and neck were already a blurred mess of flesh and blood, nearly unrecognizable. The pair of lantern-sized vertical pupils still held a last trace of unwilling terror, staring ahead yet having lost all light.
A suffocating stench of blood blended with the smell of gunpowder filled the narrow space and made one nauseous.
Lou Gao slowly lowered the assault rifle still emitting thin green smoke. His chest rose and fell slightly. After drawing a long breath as if replacing all foul air in his lungs, he uttered one hearty word.
"Awesome!"
That single word was full of vigor and release, sounding especially loud in the quiet mine.
It felt like the depression accumulated for six years under Meyers' pressure, together with the frustration caused by the recent bottleneck in soul device research, had been completely vented in that violent burst of fire.
Lin Xia looked at his master's expression of lingering excitement, then at the miserable snake corpse. His lips twitched uncontrollably several times.
He knew the old man liked powerful weapons and that the AK rifle was his current favorite, yet witnessing a Soul Saint level divine craftsman using Earth technology with such brutal aesthetics to destroy a formidable soul beast was a mental shock too strong to describe.
This painting style in the Douluo world was simply beyond words!
At that moment, dots of black light began gathering over the giant corpse, finally condensing into a deep, mysterious soul ring emitting strong energy waves and floating above.
The dark color declared the formidable strength it once possessed, at least ten-thousand-year level!
Lin Xia's absurd feeling was overwhelmed by curiosity. He steadied himself and asked while pointing at the black soul ring.
"Master, what kind of soul beast is this? Why was it hidden so deep?"
Lou Gao was pulled from his immersion. He shifted his eyes from the AK rifle to the black soul ring and corpse.
The excitement on his face subsided, replaced by serious observation belonging to a veteran soul master.
He stepped closer, crouched down, carefully prodded the shattered scales with the gun barrel, and examined intact armor elsewhere.
The diamond-shaped scales had sharp edges. The deep black base was twisted with fine lines. Even after death, yellow light flowed in the texture, exuding rich Earth element aura.
"Ah, it is this one… no wonder it endured so long."
Lou Gao rubbed the scaled dust on his fingers and sighed with understanding.
"Lin Xia, your luck is not bad. This beast is called the Black-pattern Mystic Rock Python!"
"Black-pattern Mystic Rock Python?"
Lin Xia repeated, feeling totally unfamiliar whether from past memory or original text.
"Yes, the Black-pattern Mystic Rock Python."
Lou Gao rose and explained while pointing at the peculiar lines.
"This is an extremely rare kind of soul beast that only exists deep underground, near regions where deposits of rare metals lie buried."
"They do not grow by devouring the flesh and blood of other soul beasts. Instead, they rely on absorbing the power of the earth veins, especially the essence contained within metal-rich ores, to cultivate, evolve, and advance!"
Lou Gao's eyes became profound, as if recalling some ancient records or long-forgotten rumors.
"Their scales are naturally fused with pure earth element and the metallic traits of the ores they consume, which makes them incomparably hard, far beyond other scale-type soul beasts of the same level."
"You saw it just now. If we hadn't been holding a real treasure and given its head a thunderous face-wash of iron rain at such close range, dealing with it would have taken serious effort. We might even have ended up injured or bleeding."
Lou Gao continued in a serious tone.
"They are ferocious by nature, with an exceptionally strong sense of territory, and they are extremely sensitive to the aura of ore vein."
"Usually, they hide and sleep in the most core, most energy-rich part of a mineral vein. Once they sense any intruder trying to dig what they regard as their private treasure, they awaken immediately and launch attacks that will not cease until one side dies!"
Lou Gao pointed to the collapsed rock walls around them.
"Just now it suddenly erupted from behind the layers we had opened. We probably dug right up to the door of its underground bedroom, ruining its sweet dream, or perhaps, touched the thing it was guarding!"
At this point, Lou Gao suddenly realized something. His bearded face turned sharply toward the enormous corpse. His eyes burst with light like fresh fuel thrown into a furnace. He slapped his thigh hard with a crisp "pa!" echoing clearly in the silent cave.
"That's it! I get it now!"
His voice was filled with certainty and annoyance.
"Xiao Xia! Now I know why we dug nearly a hundred meters without finding even a shred of rare ore, maybe it was all hidden by this beast!"
Hearing this, Lin Xia's mind was struck like lightning.
"Hidden?"
He looked sharply at the Black-pattern Mystic Rock Python and the region it coiled around.
"Master, do you mean, this creature swallowed the most refined, energy-rich ores, then transformed them into part of its scales?"
Lou Gao paused and listened to his disciple's guess.
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