Li Yundong and Ziyuan shouted in unison, and the two instantly gave chase after the fleeing Golden Python; Ruan Hongling and Su Chan dared not delay and followed closely behind.

Li Yundong had initially expected a long pursuit, but surprisingly, after the giant python shot up to the mountaintop, it transformed into human form and stood motionless before a massive boulder.

Li Yundong turned and signaled to Ziyuan, Su Chan, and Ruan Hongling; the four descended in four different directions, surrounding the golden snake.

"See where you can run now!" Li Yundong scoffed.

Ziyuan stated coolly, "Seeing as you harmed no innocents just now, we'll grant you a whole corpse!"

Su Chan interjected angrily, "You ungrateful, indiscriminate, stinking snake! Our Yundong kindly saved you, yet you turn around and try to devour him?"

Ruan Hongling, always quick to oppose evil, dispensed with unnecessary words and immediately summoned her crimson silk artifact, watching with a fierce, hawk-like gaze.

This Golden Python was the male python that had attempted to swallow Li Yundong earlier. In human form, he was a strikingly handsome youth. He stood rooted to the spot, tears streaming down his face. After glancing at Su Chan, then at Li Yundong and the others, he let out a miserable laugh while tears continued to fall relentlessly.

The Golden Python pointed at Li Yundong and shouted, "You humans have always hunted us down and killed us. What is wrong with me wanting to kill you? My mate, though a demon, possessed a kind heart and never harmed a single human life. When she learned that humans were coming to excavate our lair, she rushed ahead voluntarily to cover my escape. Who would have thought she would be killed by the insidious, shameless sneak attack of you humans? And yet, you have the gall to point fingers at me?"

Li Yundong's face was grim and he hadn't found a moment to speak when Su Chan flared up, "That was someone else's sneak attack; what does it have to do with us?"

The Golden Python roared, "What difference does it make? If one of our kind kills one person, you declare all demons to be evil. In our eyes, are not all humans the same—all evil?"

Su Chan was deeply shaken by this, rendered speechless for a moment.

After roaring out his fury, the Golden Python seemed to vent much of his resentment. Standing before the massive boulder on the peak, he gently stroked the stone's surface with his hand, his voice choked with tears, "My mate and I cultivated for a hundred years, only to meet such a catastrophe! Now that my mate is dead protecting my escape, what meaning is there for me to live alone?"

Saying this, he let out a great cry, bowed his head, and lunged toward the boulder. In the blink of an eye, his skull cracked open, splattering a bloody mess of white and red across the stone.

Li Yundong was stunned; the anger vanished from his face. Ziyuan and Ruan Hongling on the side were also deeply moved, their expressions shifting to disbelief as they stared at the python who had taken his own life, unable to utter a word.

Li Yundong walked up to the fallen Golden Python, his face etched with compassion, and said solemnly, "Do you have any final wishes to convey?"

The python's skull was shattered, and though he couldn't die instantly, he had only breath leaving him, no breath entering. He managed to glance at Li Yundong, struggling to whisper, "I only regret letting greed taint me, attempting to lay claim to the Medicine King Cauldron and the Immortal Brush. Thinking back now... I regret it beyond measure. You, you... if you are truly a good person, please bury me together with... my mate's body. I lived with her, but cannot be with her in death—I will not rest in peace!"

As he struggled to speak, he vomited a mouthful of blood with a gasp, weakly saying, "May, may I never be a demon in the next life..."

With that, the Golden Python convulsed once, his eyes wide open. After releasing his final breath, all signs of life left him.

Su Chan, unable to contain her empathy for the creature's plight, rushed into Li Yundong's arms, weeping torrentially, "Yundong, please stop hating him, alright?"

Li Yundong sighed deeply, gently holding the young girl's waist, "When one dies, the lamp is extinguished; what hatred cannot be forgiven?"

Su Chan lifted her tear-filled eyes, "I'm so afraid we might end up like this someday."

Li Yundong smiled slightly, affectionately stroking her hair, "Don't be silly. If anyone dares touch a single hair on your head, even if he were the Jade Emperor, I would wipe out his entire clan!"

Li Yundong's words were gentle, yet they carried an undercurrent of lethal intent, subtly revealing an incredibly powerful confidence and unwavering resolve.

Hearing this, Su Chan's fear and sorrow lessened considerably. She looked up at Li Yundong with utter devotion, feeling that with this young man beside her, even if the heavens fell, she would have nothing to fear.

The young girl nodded heavily, her gaze brimming with deep attachment and affection. The two looked at each other, momentarily forgetting the others present, completely lost in the moment.

Although Ruan Hongling was fiercely righteous, human hearts are made of flesh. Seeing the Golden Python die for love, much of her anger dissipated. She walked over to Ziyuan and whispered, "Sister Ziyuan, what should we do now?"

Ziyuan looked up, her gaze shifting toward Li Yundong and Su Chan. Her expression momentarily grew complex. After a pause, she sighed, her voice tinged with wistful emotion, "I honestly don't know."

Ruan Hongling softly asked, "Sister Ziyuan, have you heard the news about the Immortal Brush and the Medicine King Cauldron about to surface?"

Ziyuan hesitated before replying, "I've heard some rumors. But the Immortal Brush was the artifact of Zuo Ci during the Three Kingdoms period; it has been missing for over eighteen hundred years. I find it hard to believe such an ancient artifact would reappear now. The Medicine King Cauldron is even more astonishing—it was the refining tool of the Medicine King Sun Simiao. Legend says Sun Simiao once used it to refine three Grand Immortal Elixirs simultaneously in a single batch!"

Ruan Hongling gasped, exclaiming involuntarily, "One batch could refine three Immortal Elixirs at once? How is that possible?"

Ziyuan nodded as well, "I don't quite believe it either; it's merely legend. However, the Medicine King Cauldron is the essential tool for refining those three Grand Immortal Elixirs. After the Human Origin Golden Pill appeared recently, I suspected the Medicine King Cauldron might also have surfaced. Now, it seems the news about the Cauldron's reappearance might actually be true."

As the two whispered quietly, Li Yundong, now walking over with Su Chan around his waist, asked in confusion, "What news is true?"

Ziyuan recounted their conversation, then concluded, "Regardless of whether the Immortal Brush truly emerges, we can be certain that the Medicine King Cauldron is almost certainly surfacing."

Ziyuan sighed, "Alas, ever since the Human Origin Golden Pill appeared, the once tranquil cultivation world has begun to churn beneath the surface. In the scramble for that pill, experts from major sects clashed fiercely at Mount Gezao, forcing the Sect Master of the Gezao Sect, Wan Zhenyuan, to flee. Who knows what kind of bloodshed and turmoil the emergence of the Medicine King Cauldron will ignite!"

Ruan Hongling glanced at Li Yundong, then suddenly chuckled at Ziyuan, "I think the world has been in chaos ever since this fellow stepped into the cultivation world. Could this guy be some demon king descended upon us?"

Ziyuan glared at her, "Stop talking nonsense!"

Li Yundong paid it no mind. He pondered for a moment and stated, "Although this Golden Python attacked me first, seeing as he died for love, a deeply moving act, we should still bury him with his wife."

After Li Yundong finished speaking, even Ruan Hongling, who had harbored strong hostility toward the snake demon, offered no objection. The group used the cover of the woods to fly down to the foot of the mountain.

At the base of the mountain, they found utter chaos. Some individuals were operating an excavator to hoist the dead golden snake high into the air, while others were frantically taking pictures with their mobile phones.

The foreman, the manager, and Zheng Yuan conferred quietly for a moment. The manager then made a phone call. Before long, a truck drove up from inside the mountain, and a driver jumped out. Foreman Zhang shouted loudly, "Make way, make way! This snake is being sent to the Research Institute. Everyone clear the way!"

Someone pointed to the driver lying on the ground and called out, "Boss Zhang, Boss Zhang, hurry and take him too! Send him to the hospital; maybe he can still be saved!"

Boss Zhang glanced at the driver, replying impatiently, "Isn't he already gone?"

A villager felt his chest and shouted, "He's breathing! His heart is still beating! Hurry and send him to the hospital, maybe there's still hope!"

Boss Zhang frowned, "Then we'll send him later. We'll call an ambulance when the time comes!"

The villagers became angry upon hearing this and surrounded him, shouting loudly, "How can you be like this? You prioritize sending away a dead snake over saving a living person! Do you think a dead snake's life is worth more than a living person's?"

Seeing the collective outrage, Boss Zhang panicked and shouted, "What are you people doing? Are you trying to start a rebellion?"

The villagers were incensed, completely blocking the truck, "If you don't save the person, you aren't leaving!"

Boss Zhang became flustered. He turned to look at the manager nearby, who was also pale with fright and immediately looked toward Zheng Yuan.

Zheng Yuan wore a benevolent smile and chuckled softly, "It's just one person, bring him along; it's no great matter."

The villagers then shifted from anger to joy. Seeing Zheng Yuan's youthful face despite his white hair, and his air of transcendent cultivation, they began hailing him as a living Bodhisattva, a true immortal.

The villagers, working together, managed to heave the tens-of-meters-long python onto the truck, then lifted the driver onto the truck as well, placing him beside the dead snake's body. A few more villagers hopped onto the truck, slapped the side of the vehicle, and shouted, "You can go now!"

Zheng Yuan smiled faintly and led Ding Nan into the front passenger seat.

The driver started the engine; the vehicle roared once and began driving down the mountain road.

Li Yundong saw too many ordinary mortals at the foot of the mountain, making it difficult for him to forcibly seize the body. He said to Ziyuan, "We'll follow them and look for an opportunity midway. What do you think?"

Ziyuan nodded, "That's what I was thinking."

The group dared not get too close, maintaining a distant surveillance.

The truck traveled along the mountain road. When they reached a rough and secluded area, someone in the back of the truck began pounding on the front window, shouting, "This person is dead!"

Zheng Yuan looked back, seeing that the driver had indeed passed away completely. He sighed and said, "The man is dead; let's not rush. We've been driving for so long; let's take a break, have a smoke?"

The driver, knowing Zheng Yuan was an important figure—even the foreman and manager fawned over him, suggesting he was wealthy—was delighted. He turned off the ignition and said, "That would be wonderful!"

Zheng Yuan pulled out a pack of cigarettes from who knows where and offered them. The driver cautiously accepted a cigarette with both hands, as if receiving a priceless treasure, lit it, and took a long puff, exhaling as if he had just inhaled celestial energy rather than smoke.

Zheng Yuan glanced sideways at Ding Nan, "Would you like one?"

Ding Nan, accustomed to frequenting social gatherings with Zhou Qin, was unfazed by tobacco or alcohol. She casually took a cigarette and reached for the car's cigarette lighter, about to light it.

At that moment, Zheng Yuan squeezed Ding Nan's hand and gave her a significant look, signaling her to stay in the car and not get out. Ding Nan paused, not quite understanding Zheng Yuan's intention, but before she could react, Zheng Yuan had already exited the vehicle. He called over the driver and the few villagers in the truck bed, smiling broadly as he handed them cigarettes.

The villagers smilingly came forward to accept the cigarettes, but the instant they leaned in close, Zheng Yuan suddenly erupted. His thumbs moved like iron chisels, delivering rapid, forceful jabs precisely onto the temples of the villagers.

The temples are among the body's vital pressure points. A normal child striking there could kill a grown person; how much more so with such heavy blows delivered by a cultivator like Zheng Yuan?

In the blink of an eye, the villagers collapsed onto the ground without so much as a groan.

Ding Nan watched, dumbfounded. The cigarette she had lit dropped onto her lap, and she didn't notice until the burning tip scalded her skin. She snapped the cigarette away, rushed out of the car, and exclaimed in shock, "Master, why did you kill them?"

Zheng Yuan sneered, "If I don't kill them, how can I take this Golden Snake?"

Li Yundong, who had been following from a distance, saw Zheng Yuan suddenly lash out and kill. He knew he couldn't intervene in time even if he wanted to. He became instantly furious, rushing forward at high speed, roaring with rage, "Zheng Yuan! Aren't you afraid of karmic retribution, of heavenly tribulation!"