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Chapter 383: The Three Major Factions

"Miss Xu, stop running!" Chu Liang called out.

"You\'re right. We can\'t keep running." Xu Zhiyin replied, her mind racing. "We\'re too far from Python Belly City to outrun it on flat ground. We need to hide!"

With that, she veered sharply and darted into a cluster of jagged black rocks. Finding a semi-protruding boulder, she ducked behind it, sitting with her back against the black rock. She peeked out cautiously, trying to spot the demonic beast.

The beast was nowhere to be seen, but she didn\'t dare relax. Her eyes darted around, scanning every shadow, every crevice.

At the same time, a long shadow stretched out from above the black rock.

Chu Liang\'s eyes widened in terror as he found himself face-to-face with the demonic beast.

Xu Zhiyin also sensed something was wrong. She turned her head, and for a split second, her pupils dilated in sheer horror, her breath catching in her throat. She was so scared that she couldn\'t make a sound.

With the long neck, the demonic beast dangled its ferocious head low, its eyes glinting with a predatory greed as it locked onto the two. To their shock, it uttered garbled, almost human speech, "Found you..."

Chu Liang met its gaze calmly. So what if you found us? This isn’t a game of hide-and-seek where you win just by finding us, he thought.

"Roar—"

The demonic beast let out a deafening roar and lunged, its jaws gaping wide to devour them.

At this moment, Chu Liang made a move.

No, to be precise, he delivered a kick.

While maintaining his seated position, he launched himself up with both hands. With his feet up in the air and his body upside down, he delivered a powerful kick straight to the demonic beast\'s massive eye.

BAM!

The kick was so forceful that it caused the demonic beast\'s eyeball to burst, sending vibrant liquid splattering everywhere.

Yet, not a single drop touched Chu Liang. With a graceful twirl in the air, he soared above the demonic beast\'s head and delivered a powerful punch directly onto it. Bang!

The impact was accompanied by the sharp, crisp sound of bones breaking.

Boom—

The colossal body of the demonic beast crumpled to the ground.

Chu Liang descended with an effortless grace, his movements fluid and elegant. The entire sequence of actions appeared seamless and easy.

As for Xu Zhiyin, her entire body was splattered with the colorful liquid, leaving her looking rather disheveled. She sat there, staring dumbfounded at Chu Liang.

"Ah, Miss Xu, sorry about that," Chu Liang quickly apologized.

"You\'re quite the fighter, huh?" Xu Zhiyin responded. The splatter of liquid didn\'t bother her at all as she casually wiped her face, inadvertently spreading the dirty liquid even more.

Chu Liang smiled slightly and said nothing more. In this unfamiliar environment, he didn\'t want to reveal too much about himself. Otherwise, he could have simply summoned his flying sword and pierced the demonic beast from a distance.

Xu Zhiyin stood up and said, "With such impressive skills, the Blazing Fire Gang will definitely want to recruit you."

With that, she prepared to head back to Python Belly City.

Chu Liang pointed at the demonic beast\'s corpse and asked, "Aren\'t we taking this back to eat?"

Xu Zhiyin looked at Chu Liang, stunned at how quickly he adapted.

She immediately shook her head. "If the demonic beasts of the Divine Tiger Hall know that we did that, they\'ll definitely come for revenge. They\'re very fierce. We\'d better leave quickly."

Chu Liang hesitated. He wanted to tell Xu Zhiyin that it might not be a horrible thing if that were to happen, but he decided to keep silent. The current situation was too uncertain, and he couldn\'t afford to make enemies recklessly.

So, he decided to follow Xu Zhiyin for now.

On the way back to Python Belly City, Xu Zhiyin explained the distribution of powers to Chu Liang.

The city was divided among three major factions. The Blazing Fire Gang, made up of human martial artists, was in the eastern areas of the city. The southern area of the city was controlled by the Sun and Moon Pavilion, which was a faction made up of human cultivators. Lastly, the Celestial Tiger Hall, which was a faction of demon race, was in the western area of the city.

Of the three factions, the Blazing Fire Gang controlled the most civilians and black tree rice fields. With the largest number of members, it was the most powerful force in the city.

Although the cultivators in the Sun and Moon Pavilion were also human, they were fewer in number and more detached from the general public. Consequently, more civilians chose to ally themselves with the Blazing Fire Gang.

As for the demon race, their territory in the western area of the city was off-limits to everyone.

Law and order gradually took shape among the three factions, but conflicts were inevitable.

Aside from the civilians governed by the three major factions, the city was mostly filled with ordinary people like Xu Zhiyin\'s family, who were not part of any forces and survived in the gaps between these powers.

Chu Liang\'s curiosity got the better of him. "What about the northern area of the city?" he asked.

"I don\'t know," she replied, shaking her head. "Since I was a child, my father warned me that the northern area is the most terrifying place in Python Belly City because it\'s... the territory of the city lord."

...

As they drew closer, the so-called Python Belly City came into view, its walls made of layers of black rock, stacked in a primitive manner. It was clear the city lacked specialized talents like the disciples from Mount Shu Sect\'s Construction Hall.

The two entered the city through the south gate, where several burly human martial artists stood guard.

Anyone entering the city would be extorted by them.

"We have to pay a toll?" Chu Liang asked as he observed the scene from a distance.

"No need," Xu Zhiyin replied. "They\'re just members of the Blazing Fire Gang. Most people leaving the city today are taking advantage of the white rain to scavenge, so they should have some gains on them."

As they approached, the martial artists didn\'t stop Xu Zhiyin. Instead, they greeted her with smiles. "Zhiyin, what treasures did you find today?"

Xu Zhiyin laughed brightly. "Nothing at all, just a big living person."

They turned their gaze to Chu Liang, sizing him up with a mix of amusement.

"The young man looks quite handsome, but who knows how many days he\'ll survive," one of them teased.

Chu Liang didn\'t argue with them; he simply smiled and nodded as he followed Xu Zhiyin into the city.

As Chu Liang wondered why the guards were so lenient with Xu Zhiyin, she led him to her home, and the answer became clear.

It turned out that Xu Zhiyin\'s home was a medicinal hall.

"My father is one of the few healers in Python Belly City, so everyone respects him," Xu Zhiyin explained.

Chu Liang nodded.

It\'s no wonder. In a harsh place like this, no one would dare offend a healer.

As he lifted the white cloth and stepped into the medicinal hall, a heart-wrenching scream echoed from behind.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"

Chu Liang couldn\'t help but wince as he asked, "What kind of illness is this that they are in this much pain."

"Most likely corroded by the black rain," Xu Zhiyin said.

"Isn\'t this corrosion fatal?" Chu Liang asked.

"My father can treat it," Xu Zhiyin said proudly. "As long as the parts touched by the Black Sea are cut off in time, they won\'t die."

No wonder they\'re screaming so miserably,

Chu Liang thought. From the sound of it, they aren\'t given any anesthesia at all. If the corroded parts are just being cut off, I could be a healer too.

Xu Zhiyin had just asked Chu Liang to sit down when a commotion erupted outside, and a large group of people rushed into the medicinal hall.

From the looks of it, they were all robust men brimming with vitality and clearly martial arts cultivators.

However, every one of them were injured. The more seriously wounded were carried in, looking as if they had barely escaped a fierce battle.

Xu Zhiyin had mentioned that because their medicinal hall was in the east of the city, they had close ties with the Blazing Fire Gang, so the injured were often brought here.

"Zhiyin, where\'s your father?" the leader called out as he entered.

"He\'s treating someone right now; you\'ll have to wait a bit," Xu Zhiyin said. "Was it another battle?"

"Not a formal battle. We ran into a group from the Sun and Moon Pavilion while scavenging. They attacked without a word," the leader replied angrily. "I will leave the injured brothers here and head back to report to the vice-chief so we can prepare for revenge! Zhiyin, tell your father to hurry."

"Haaaaa," Xu Zhiyin sighed. "Got it."

It seemed that while food wasn\'t particularly scarce in Python Belly City, the competition for other resources was just as fierce. Every outing could turn into a battle.

...

After the leader left, Xu Zhiyin helped the injured get settled in the medicinal hall. She then turned to Chu Liang and said, "I\'ll head to the back to freshen up and change my clothes. You can make yourself comfortable here for a while."

With that, she also left the main hall.

Sitting in the medicinal hall, Chu Liang noticed an unsettling detail: there was no smell of herbs, only the metallic scent of blood lingering in the air.

It was astonishing to think these people had been living here for so many years. But with the Heaven-Devouring Python rampaging across the seas, sometimes swallowing entire small countries in one gulp, the sheer size of Python Belly City was not strange at all.

But regardless, this place couldn\'t possibly be inside a Heaven-Devouring Python\'s belly. If it were, the entire city would be flipped upside down whenever the python turned. It had to be a self-contained realm, akin to a hidden dimension. The python\'s enormous mouth was merely a passage connecting this realm to the outside world.

But how could he get out?

He could use the jade talisman with the Shattering the Void immortal art that Venerable Wen Yuan gave him. However, this technically wasn\'t a life-or-death crisis, which was why he hadn\'t used it. Nonetheless, staying here indefinitely wasn\'t a solution. It would be fine to use it...as he could always head back and request for another one.

Randomly teleporting a thousand li away might get him out of the python\'s body.

But what if he couldn\'t leave this realm and ended up in a dangerous place like the Black Sea? It wouldn\'t be worth the risk.

Every hidden realm should have its own exit.

Where would the exit of this realm be?

He seemed to have fallen from the sky, so could he return the same way? Or perhaps the exit lay within the mysterious territory in the north of the city?

As he pondered this, the sound of urgent and heavy footsteps suddenly broke his concentration.

Thump, thump, thump...

With a scan of his divine sense, he saw a golden-patterned giant elephant emerge onto the broad, dilapidated black street. Its massive body almost filled the entire street.

A man in a brocade robe sat cross-legged on the elephant\'s back, and dozens of sword-riding cultivators hovered in the air behind him, arriving outside the medicinal hall in the blink of an eye.

"This is the place, right?" The brocade-robed man lazily glanced around, a murderous intent flashing in his eyes. He raised his hand and commanded, "Kill everyone here. Don\'t let any of them get out alive!"