[There are strange snakes in the wilds of Yongzhou, which are black with white markings. They kill all the plants and trees they touch. They bite people and no one can resist them. ]

Having written this, Liu Zongyuan put down his pen, sighed, stood up and went to the window, whispering: "People's livelihood is difficult, and the harsh government is more severe than strange snakes! Since the 14th year of Tianbao, the state affairs have been corrupt, and even strange snakes are rampant in the countryside!"

In the 14th year of Tianbao, the Great Dao Great Saint Great Ming Xiao Emperor finally became incompetent, and the Prince of Dongping rebelled, and the glorious era ended. Although the rebellion was suppressed later, after years of war and division, the prosperous scene of the past was no longer there.

At this point, the land of China was full of evil spirits, and there were treacherous people in power in the court, and eunuchs were in power. Ambitious people like Liu Zongyuan were often demoted to remote areas and could not show their ambitions and aspirations.

Just as Liu Zongyuan was thinking of this, a black wind suddenly whistled outside the window, and a poisonous snake with black and white ring-shaped stripes rushed from the ditch to the street. Wherever it passed, the grass and trees withered rapidly!

This was exactly the strange snake he wrote about, extremely poisonous!

But this snake was ridiculously large, more than three feet long. With a sweep of its tail, houses collapsed, and when it opened its mouth, poisonous mist filled the air.

The people on the street were howling and running, not daring to stay.

A white and tender fat pig was eating cabbage at the corner of the street. It had no time to dodge, and it inhaled a breath of poisonous mist, and then kicked its four hooves and died!

Suddenly, a ragged boy rushed from behind and punched out with a punch. The wind of the fist was surging, like a gust of wind blowing away the poisonous mist.

The big snake was terrified and fled forward quickly. It was caught up by the boy, so it had to turn around and fight desperately, but was kicked on the chin by the boy.

The big snake flew up, spinning around. The boy stepped forward quickly, flew up, and tapped the big snake's back joints one after another with his ten fingers flying.

There was a crackling sound, like firecrackers exploding. Wherever the boy's ten fingers passed, the big snake's tendons and bones were dislocated.

In a short moment, the boy tapped from the back of the big snake's head to the tail, removing all the bones of the big snake, making it unable to move!

Seeing this, people on the street cheered and shouted, "Xiao Ying! Good skills!"

The boy's name was Xu Ying. He had slender limbs and ten slender and delicate fingers, but his skin was a little dark due to being exposed to the wind and sun all year round.

He was a famous snake catcher in Lingling County, Yongzhou. At the age of fourteen, he had mastered a lot of skills.

Xu Ying was about to go out, holding the snake's tail. Liu Zongyuan came out and called him, asking, "Xu Ying, why are you catching snakes?"

The young man Xu Ying stopped and saw that it was Liu Zongyuan, the Sima of Yongzhou. He greeted him and said, "Sima Liu, after the snake wax is dried, it can be used as medicine to treat gale, cramps, fistulas, remove dead muscles, and kill three kinds of insects. The governor said that whoever can catch this kind of snake will be exempted from taxes."

Liu Zongyuan smiled and said, "That's great."

Xu Ying's face was gloomy, and he said, "My grandfather was a snake catcher and died catching snakes. My father was also a snake catcher and died catching snakes. I have been learning the method of catching snakes from my father for six years. I am afraid that I will die catching snakes someday."

Liu Zongyuan was moved with sympathy and said, "I am a good friend of the governor, and I can ask him to exempt you from this corvée and restore your taxes."

The big snake heard this and spoke in human language, shouting, "Master Liu is right! Xu Ying, I have practiced hard for many years. Please let me go, pay your taxes, and I will practice my magic in the mountains!"

Liu Zongyuan was startled and said in a lost voice, "This is still a snake demon!"

The big snake shouted, "My grandfather was a snake demon and died at the hands of a snake catcher. My parents were also snake demons and died at the hands of a snake catcher. Now I am 120 years old. I thought I could escape and become a dragon to eat these bastards. I didn't expect that I would die at the hands of a snake catcher today..."

Xu Ying raised his hand and gently pulled its chin to remove its chin, and the big snake could not continue.

Xu Ying's eyes turned red, and he said, "Lord Liu, I can still survive by catching snakes, but if the tax is restored, I'm afraid I will starve to death soon. Who would be willing to risk their life to catch a snake demon unless they have no choice?"

He dragged the snake demon away sadly.

Liu Zongyuan couldn't help crying, and said with emotion, "Who knows that taxes are more poisonous than snakes! Although strange snakes are poisonous, what is more poisonous is the extortion and extortion!"

He returned to his room, wrote down the famous "On the Snake Catcher" with his pen.

Xu Ying dragged the snake demon home and threw it into a large vat. It was late, and he didn't have time to send the snake to the government office to report, so he had to wait until dawn.

Xu Ying lit a fire and cooked, ate a meal in a hurry, and fell asleep.

The big snake struggled desperately in the big vat, trying to connect the dislocated bones. It was so hard that in the middle of the night, fierce officials rushed into the village like bandits, smashing, burning, and looting, shouting and demanding that the villagers pay taxes.

Xu Ying was awakened, got up, lit the lamp, looked into the vat, and found that the snake demon was still there. He breathed a sigh of relief and then lay down to continue sleeping.

The snake demon continued to work hard to connect the bones. After an unknown period of time, the lower jaw was finally connected. Only then did the sound of Xu Ying getting up come.

The snake demon was dejected.

Xu Ying dressed neatly and came to the side of the vat to take a look at the snake demon. The snake demon did not move, thinking: "Wait until I connect the bones at the back of his head, then I will raise my head suddenly, give him a fierce bite, and send him to see his grandfather and parents!"

Xu Ying faced the rising sun, breathing slowly, and silently operated the Taiyi Daoyin Gong.

As he breathed in, the sunlight on his face gradually brightened, and one could even see tiny particles of light in the air, which disappeared into his body as he breathed in.

There was a faint sound of thunder in Xu Ying's abdomen, rumbling, rising from his dantian, gradually reaching his throat and nasal cavity, and then the thunder slowly sank and slowly returned to his dantian.

After a moment, Xu Ying's body was steaming, and wisps of white mist rose.

His skills were not taught by his grandfather or father.

In fact, he was not his father's biological child, but was picked up by his grandfather.

His father and grandfather were surnamed Jiang, and Xu Ying was surnamed Xu. Seven years ago, when Xujiaping caught fire, his grandfather rescued Xu Ying from the fire and brought Xu Ying here.

Xu Ying had few memories of the fire, but he vaguely remembered a breathing method, which was Taiyi Daoyin Gong.

Xu Ying usually practices Taiyi Daoyin Gong when he has nothing to do. To date, he has been practicing for seven years.

Xu Ying didn't know what the point of practicing this thing was. Anyway, he was free and it didn't take much time to practice it in the morning.

During the practice, he found that the biggest effect of Taiyi Daoyin Gong was that when the blood and qi flowed to the lower body, the urine was much straighter than before, and there was no need to worry about peeing on the shoes.

"This thing is useless, it can only pee far." Xu Ying used to sneer at this.

It was not until Xu Ying grew up and followed his grandfather and father to catch snakes and killed a big snake that he realized that the effect of Taiyi Daoyin Gong was far more than just peeing far.

Xu Ying taught Taiyi Daoyin Gong to his grandfather and father, but they started learning too late and made slow progress, and they fell one after another in the process of catching snakes.

Now, Xu Ying is the only one left in the family.

Xu Ying had practiced Taiyi Daoyin Gong to the extreme three years ago, and his blood and qi flowed like thunder.

He felt that there was a way to go, and his blood and qi were still changing, but unfortunately he didn't know the skills behind.

Behind him, the snake demon quietly poked his head out of the tank and was shocked when he saw this.

Xu Ying devoured the essence of the sun and tempered his blood and qi faster than himself. How could he absorb the essence of the sun at the speed of refining the essence of the sun? He was like a monster, opening his mouth wide to swallow the mystery of the morning sun!

"He is practicing the skills of my demon clan!" The snake demon widened his eyes, puzzled, "Isn't he a human? Why can he practice the skills of my demon clan?"

When the sun was at the top of the pole, Xu Ying slowly stopped breathing, and the snake demon quickly retracted his head.

After the sun was at the top of the pole, the fire in the sunlight became extremely hot. If you practice the guiding technique at this time, you will feel that your blood and qi are getting hotter and hotter, and you may spontaneously combust and die at any time!

Practicing more is harmful to your body. If you practice more without paying attention, more and more fire will accumulate in your body. You need to collect the flowers of the moon on the night of the full moon to dissolve the fire to ensure the purity of your practice.

Xu Ying came to the side of the jar, reached out and pinched the snake demon's seven inches, lifted it out of the jar, and said kindly: "I am not a murderous person. I ask, you answer, otherwise I will kill you. Do you understand?"

The snake demon nodded repeatedly.

Xu Ying put it down and asked: "How did you become a monster?"

The snake demon was sympathetic and said: "My grandfather was originally an ordinary venomous snake. One day, he mistakenly entered the Qinyan Cave. The Qinyan Cave suddenly collapsed in half, revealing a scroll of scriptures and a gourd of elixirs. After eating the elixir, my grandfather suddenly became enlightened, his mind became much smarter, he could speak, read and write. So he practiced according to the scroll of scriptures and became a monster. Later, my grandfather passed the scriptures to my parents, and my parents passed them to me. It can be said that the inheritance is orderly and the family learning is profound."

Xu Ying nodded gently and said: "Bring your family's scriptures here, let me see."

The snake demon hesitated.

Xu Ying picked up a fist-sized stone by the well and squeezed it hard, squeezing four or five drops of water out of it.

The young man let go, the stone broke into powder, and said calmly: "How are you better than this stone?"

The snake demon made a prompt decision, opened his mouth, and spit out a scroll of scriptures from his mouth.

Xu Ying opened the scripture, which recorded a guiding technique called Da Ri Dao Yin Gong and a martial arts boxing technique called Xiang Li Niu Mo Quan.

"You are a snake, without hands or feet, how can you practice the Bull Demon Fist?"

Xu Ying laughed out loud, "This is a martial arts method that can only be practiced by bull monsters or elephant monsters, right?"

The corner of the snake monster's mouth moved, thinking: "Some of them are good, how can I be picky? Aren't you also practicing the guiding skills of my monster race?"

Xu Ying flipped through it, and found that the Great Sun Guiding Skill was similar to his Taiyi Guiding Skill, but after a moment of speculation, he found that the speed of the Great Sun Guiding Skill in absorbing the essence of the sun was much inferior to that of the Taiyi Guiding Skill.

The Great Sun Guiding Skill recorded their current realm, the Qi Gathering Stage.

Qi Gathering is to gather the essence of the sun, that is, the light particles condensed from the sun, to strengthen the body and improve the blood.

Xu Ying frowned. The Great Sun Guiding Skill in the scriptures was the same as his Taiyi Guiding Skill. They were all cut off after the Qi Gathering Stage, and there was no subsequent skill!

"Do you feel that there is still a way to go after you have mastered the Qi-gathering?" Xu Ying asked.

The snake demon said cautiously: "After practicing to the top, I only feel that my Qi and blood are full and surging, and I have the momentum to break through the barrier, but I don't know where the barrier is."

Xu Ying frowned, got up and went to the Mingtang, and took out a book basket.

He poured out the scriptures in the book basket and spread them all over the floor.

The snake demon was shocked to see that those scriptures were all kinds of guiding skills, dozens of them!

Xu Ying has not only captured snake demons in these years, but also other monsters. Almost all the monsters within a radius of dozens of miles have been caught by him!

These monsters also have various opportunities, or occasionally enter the ancient cave, or listen to the scriptures on the stone wall, or find the cave in the water, so they practice to become monsters.

However, the skills they get can only be practiced to the Qi-gathering stage, and there is no subsequent skills!

The same is true for the Taiyi Daoyin Gong that Xu Ying is practicing now. Although he can continue to improve his Qi and blood cultivation, he can clearly feel that there is still a way ahead, but the road is broken. It is chaotic and vast, and he doesn't know where to end.

"Why are all the skills cut off at the Qi Gathering Stage?" Xu Ying frowned and muttered to himself.

The snake demon was indignant and said angrily: "I think someone is targeting my demon race and destroying all my demon race's skills, leaving only the Qi Gathering Stage skills! This is probably a conspiracy of the human race!"