Through a unique Cede ignition, the golden bullet shot out from the muzzle of the gun. The Cede runes engraved on the bullet rapidly absorbed the surrounding natural energies and struck the black smoke snakes.
Cede could be considered to be an omnipotent ability. As long as it was something that this world recognized, Cede would be able to accomplish it, and the only exceptions were matters that surpassed the world's capabilities.
Other than the beast tooth that actually originated from outside this world, the essence of the serpent was a mass of Source Energy that was absorbed from outer space. After undergoing the world's modifications, the black smoke venom that it created would naturally also be a product of this world.
And since it was a product of this world, the world surely had a way to counteract it.
The Thousand-arm Celestial's Totem was wielding a large number of guns at the same time, the long bands of bullets wrapped around his body were being consumed at a rapid rate as bursts of flame could be seen at the end of the nozzles.
Because Cede was being activated as soon as they exited the gun nozzles, a flash of blue light could be seen right as the Cede runes triggered.
And because of how many bullets were being fired off, the blue flashes of light were seen as blue bursts of fire.
「 Insect… 」before the serpent even finished its words, a mechanical armor as large as a three-story building jumped into the sky and landed in front of the serpent with thrusters on its arms and legs. The sharp metallic fists repeatedly punched the snake eyes that were as large as the fists themselves.
There were also dozens of thrusters equipped on the mechanical armor's arm and elbow, installed in order to provide extra kinetic energy.
The heavy fists striking the snake's eyes caused the serpent's large head to twist and go off-balance. Several gashes could be seen on the crimson irises, but they were all healed in a matter of seconds.
The long snake tongue shot out and licked the mechanical armor, carrying with it a violent black breath of smoke. The armor's energy field flickered intensely as it was sent flying.
However, an androgynous deity statue with golden eyes took this opportunity to land on top of a piece of scale over the serpent's head.
Po Nan's golden eyes did not contain any emotions; nothing but pure data was flowing through his vision, which he used to draw the most accurate conclusions and act on them accordingly.
In the past, Po Nan had already seen a lot of data regarding the serpent in Yun Yi's lab, and now that he had a chance to closely observe it in real-time, he was able to analyze increasingly more information on it.
After the large amount of grudge was released as a tsunami into its surroundings, the serpent's scales returned to their original black hue, only a single smaller crimson eye remained at the center of the snake's forehead, which was staring straight at Po Nan.
Several scales then broke at the same time, releasing several black scale venomous snakes that leapt towards the deity statue with their jaws opened wide.
However, what greeted them wasn't a delicious meal, but a fist as large as cauldrons. Following Po Nan's will, the deity statue's fists turned into blurred images; even the air itself was being distorted by the force of the strikes, so the snakes were swiftly beaten to a bunch of pulp.
Po Nan's Totem was simply this way, the perfect combination between speed and power, while using it, he could even guarantee that his real body remained intact. The only weakness of this Totem was that the further it was from the user's body, the weaker it became.
This power, speed, and the golden eye's ability to analyze abilities made Po Nan's Totem nearly unbeatable among those with similar power.
The pulp of flesh swiftly gathered together, then turned back into smoke and returned to where the snakes had leapt out earlier. The Deity statue continued its mad barrage without any hesitation, anything that tried to stop it would be shattered in seconds, then ripped apart by the force of the swings.
The serpent uttered a painful howl, its body madly writhing nonstop, but at the same time, the deity statue could also feel its power rapidly growing.
From the serpent's wounds, a lot more black smoke began to pour out like violent whips lashing out at everything around itself, even the deity statue was instantly sent flying.
The golden eye swiftly collected the data and provided a conclusion.
A large amount of the serpent's current power originated from its initial Totem form. From the very beginning, such a huge amount of Source Energy accumulated in one place should be able to exert immense power, but due to the contradicting nature of different Totems, a large part of this power couldn't be used at all.
But conflict continuously created pain, and for the serpent who was gradually using the Seed of Truth to manifest a Pathway, the more painful it felt, the more power it would be able to utilize, which included pain caused by external forces.
Once absolute pain had filled every corner of its body, the serpent would be able to utilize the full extent of its original power.
Essentially, an outsider's attack would instead help the serpent control itself better, and the more pain it felt, the better its control would become.
"Then let's try a fist technique that doesn't hurt!"
After Po Nan sent this information to the others, he clenched his fist while keeping his index and middle fingers straight, which was similar to the so-called acupuncture martial arts in wuxia novels.
Once again, the deity statue approached the serpent's body, its hands once again turning into blurred images. The difference was that its attacks no longer made any sound, not even the air put up that much resistance to them, as if the arms were moving into another aspect of Reality as it moved.
However, the serpent's power did not stop growing. This despicable fellow's body was extremely sensitive, and despite looking like a serpent that had devoured thousands of Totems, it was in fact thousands of Totems that had connected to one another in the shape of a serpent.
This connective structure was ridiculously weak, constantly crumbling and collapsing without any external stimulations, so any sort of external force would only speed up its internal conflict no matter how gentle one tried.
If any other living beings lived in such a state, they would essentially be a weak glass toy that could be shattered with a light tap. However, when a serpent who was comprehending the Truth of 'pain' lived in this state, its body would be able to remain as a whole no matter how broken or painful it was, which made it difficult for them to win.
To kill it, they must break the structure of its body, but before being completely broken, the serpent would always remain as a whole and grow increasingly more powerful.
The moment that it was at its weakest would also be the moment that it was most powerful.
This was the same as the Desolates' current state. The Desolates as a species had practically gone extinct, but it was at this very point in time that the most powerful creature they had ever created came into existence.
「 IT HURTS! Why does it hurt so much!? If that's the case, let me return twice as much pain to all of you! 」
The serpent madly writhing its mountainous body had already levelled the surroundings into a total wasteland. And the attacking Celestials had to be careful of both the serpent's writhing body as well as the venom it occasionally spat out.
At the same time, the serpent's body was also transforming, although it still managed to maintain a basic form, it couldn't really be recognized as a snake anymore.
It was under this state that the serpent's explosive force would become much more terrifying. The mere force generated by its writhing body had already begun to cause storm-force wind and even more severe changes in the world.
「 Insects, accept my pain! 」
Every bit of flesh, every length of skin, even stand of vein, and even every drop of blood from the serpent instantly transformed into venomous snakes of different sizes.
Their tails were linked together, which made the world almost seem like a small planet-sized snake nest. The venom seeped out from the mouth of every snake, which gradually filled every gap in their surroundings.
