The Red Python

Well, duh. I was a villain. Of course I wouldn't save them for entirely altruistic reasons. I saved them so that I could make use of them.

"What is it, benefactor?" the first orthodox cultivator asked, cupping his hands and bowing his head. "If we know the answer, we will reply immediately!"

No need to be so dramatic…

"Actually, I was hoping if you guys know where the Red Python is. If you've seen a Red Python anywhere."

It was a low chance, but it was worth a shot. At the very least, it was better than me wandering around like an idiot, searching blindly for the Red Python in this vast forest. It was practically like searching for a needle in the sea…granted, the Red Python was a lot bigger than a needle, but you know what I'm saying.

"Red Python, sir?" the second orthodox cultivator asked, surprised. "Why are you looking for a Red Python?"

"I need its blood for the ingredient of a spirit pill," I explained patiently. I was already feeling a sinking dread in my stomach. These guys probably didn't see any Red Python at all. Now that I thought about it, if they did encounter a Red Python, they wouldn't be alive to talk to me about it. Unless they ran away from it, of course.

"Oh, I thought benefactor was here for the True Fire too." A third orthodox cultivator spoke up, looking puzzled. I stared at him, bewildered.

"What? True Fire?"

"Benefactor doesn't know about it?" A fourth orthodox cultivator asked. I shook my head.

"Never heard about it. I mean, I know what True Fire is, but what does that have to do with anything?"

True Fire was a type of essence flame with mystical properties. I had to roll my eyes at the name. If this was the "True" Fire, then what about all the other fires? Were they all fake then? Lame.

Regardless of the stupid name, True Fire was a highly sought after flame. It was particularly useful in alchemy because the concocting of pills and spiritual medicines lay in the ability to ignite a spirit furnace and heat the ingredients up or some bullshit like that. Additionally, it was also said to be a sacred flame that could cleanse people of any impurity such as demonic yin qi and the like. It probably would help burn away the demonic yin qi that suffused Master Lan's organs.

"There's rumors of a ruin being discovered inside the Crimson Forest," one of the orthodox cultivators explained. "They say it contains the True Fire. If you can make it to the core of the ruin, you'll be able to acquire the True Fire. Right now, there are many cultivators from the various sects competing to get to the core of the ruin."

"I see." Ultimately, it was just a rumor, though, so I wasn't going to risk my future father-in-law's health over something so unreliable. Furthermore, it appeared that the competition for the True Fire was pretty fierce, and I had no time to fight other people for the damned thing. It was much easier to just grab the Red Python's blood. Also, even if I did obtain the True Fire, I wouldn't know how to use it.

Perhaps I could come back later and see if it was still around, but for now I had to prioritize the Red Python's blood.

"We're giving up," the first orthodox cultivator said with a heavy sigh. "With our current realms, never mind the other cultivators…we can't even survive the spirit beasts that surround the ruin."

"We're too weak."

"So we're leaving the forest now." The cultivators bowed gratefully. "Thank you very much for saving our lives."

"Not at all. You guys can get back safely on your own, right?" I wasn't going to escort them if they asked me to. I wasn't some hero, and I had my own things to do.

"Yeah, don't worry about us. We can't burden you anymore, benefactor."

"Are you sure you're not going to try for the True Fire, benefactor?" Another cultivator asked. "I think, with your strength, you certainly stand a high chance of obtaining it before anyone else."

"Unfortunately, as tempting as the True Fire sounds, I have more important things to do." I scratched my head and sighed. "I need to save my future father-in-law's life. That comes before personal ambition."

"Oh." They nodded, impressed. "You're such a great guy!"

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll leave first."

"Wait!" One of the cultivators called out. I looked at him impatiently, and he pointed in a direction. "I think we came across some Red Python's tracks over there, about a few hundred meters away from here. They were pretty fresh, and we saw them just before we ran into the Infernal Sabretooth."

"In fact, we were debating whether to pull back the moment we saw signs of the Red Python," another cultivator added. "But the Infernal Sabretooth attacked us before we could come to a decision."

"Great! Thank you very much!" That helped a lot. It was much better than wandering around aimlessly and hoping to encounter a Red Python by luck. As much as I wanted to play this like a monster collecting game, running around in tall grass and hoping for a Red Python to appear was as likely as finding a rabbit on the moon.

"No, we should be the ones thanking you!"

And so we parted ways.

Wait! You ask. Why didn't you kill them?

…wait, what? Why should I kill them? Huh? Because I'm a villain? What kind of stupid reason was that?

Seemed like some people had a very narrow, black and white view of what evil was…of what a villain was supposed to be. I was a villain, not a murderous psychopath. A villain didn't have to be a murderer. A villain didn't have to be someone who never helped anybody. There was no such thing as a completely good person or a completely evil person. An evil person – or a villain could still do good things, just as how a good person or a hero could do bad things. I was a villain because I was a demonic cultivator and I fought on the wrong side – on the opposite side of the heroes of the orthodox sect. That didn't mean I was some psychopathic slaughterer who reveled in spilling the blood of others. I was a villain because I had no qualms lying to others, no compunctions making use of people. If I had to steal, I would. I was a dishonest person, no doubt about that.

But that didn't mean I had to kill every single person in my path, or that I had to avoid helping people because I was "evil." What did evil even mean? Was I evil because I lied, cheated and deceived? Perhaps, but that didn't mean I had to go all the way and become a psychopathic murderer. People were never so black and white, and nobody was completely good or totally evil.

So don't push your narrow-minded expectations of what a villain should be onto me and start whining when I didn't do what you wanted me to do. I was going to do what I wanted to do, and just like any other villain, I couldn't care less if you got all upset and bitchy about it. In fact, I would probably laugh.

Anyway, after parting ways, I ventured forth in the direction they pointed me in. My sense of distance was pretty vague and I couldn't tell if I had traveled a few hundred meters or a few dozen. The terrain was making it more difficult too. I had spent hours in this godforsaken place, and I had to cut through a fiery ape that dropped down on me from a bunch of vines, thinking I was easy prey. Wiping the perspiration off my face, I continued onward.

Now that I thought about it, I realized I didn't know what the tracks of a Red Python would look like. I wasn't a hunter, I had never learned how to track creatures or to observe what kind of prints they would leave behind.

Well, I would still have a better chance of running into a Red Python in the general area now that I knew there was at least one somewhere around here, rather than wander blindly and depending purely on luck.

As luck would have it, I heard a thunderous hiss. Quickening my pace, I ran straight toward the source despite my instincts telling me to go in the opposite direction. Clearing a bunch of shrubs and bashing through thick vegetation, I finally emerged in a hot clearing that was misting with steam. The lenses of my glasses were smudged immediately from the high humidity and heat.

Flames burst to life around me and I caught sight of an enormous silhouette rising up. Even with my vision partially obscured, I could make out the serpentine shape and the ruby colored scales that lined it. Fire poured out of its jaws to bathe the clearing in a hellish inferno.

The Red Python. Finally.

"Sorry, pal," I said, drawing my sword. "I'm going to need a bit of your blood."

The Red Python appeared to understand my words and hissed furiously in reply. Lunging at me, it appeared as if it wanted to swallow me whole.

That wasn't what it really intended, of course. Pythons were constrictors. While the Red Python was certainly capable of swallowing me whole, it would seek to crush me to death first, wrapping its coils around me and strangling the breath out of my body. Perhaps break every bone as well. Then only would it swallow me whole. Stretching about over thirty meters long and sporting about a ton of muscle, it certainly possessed the raw power to do so.

Assuming I was a normal human, of course.

Raising my sword, I swung it down in a single stroke.

Heaven and Earth Strike.

The Red Python instinctively pulled back, but was unable to avoid the blow. The golden blast of bladed-shape qi sliced through its length, sending out a spray of blood. Immediately, I grabbed a bottle from my spatial pouch with my free left hand and tossed it up, collecting the huge amount of blood.

"That should be enough, I think?" I mused to myself. Catching the bottle as it fell, which was now full, I then capped it and placed it back in my spatial pouch. An angry hiss drew my attention to the Red Python again. Rearing up, it breathed a tremendous torrent of fire.

Pure yang qi…it really lived up to its name. The entire clearing lit up, baked in crimson flames and reduced to ash. My skin reddened from the intense heat, almost unable to withstand the sheer potency of the Red Python's pure yang flame despite the protective aura of defensive qi coating my body.

"Not bad," I remarked, wincing from the stinging pain. I was going to need some aloe Vera paste after this. Raising my right hand again, I swung my sword a second time and sliced the steam of flames apart, dissipating them into harmless embers.

The Red Python retreated in shock, unable to understand what had just occurred. Then it narrowed its crimson eyes before darting forward, its tongue lashing outward. If flames didn't work, then it would make use of its huge bulk to crush me. Of course, it had learned its lesson the first time and was moving erratically so that I wouldn't be able to hit it with another Heaven and Earth Strike.

Naïve.

I waited for it to close in on me before I disappeared into the shadows. The Red Python's mass hurtled past the space where I had been, its jaws closing on nothing. The length of its body wrapped around thin air, and the Red Python looked around wildly, confused by what was going on.

I emerged from a shadow cast upon a branch stretching from a nearby tree. Without hesitation, I swung my sword with my right hand. Golden qi wreathed my blade, taking the form of a dragon.

The Red Python noticed my attack, and it spun around. Realizing that it wouldn't be able to dodge in time, it conjured all of its strength to meet my blow. Its fiery qi coalesced in the form of a blazing serpent. The golden dragon and crimson serpent collided explosively before leveling the entire clearing. Smoke blasted upward in a mushroom cloud.

As it cleared, I wobbled. Behind me, the head of the Red Python fell with a soft thump, separated from its body. Blood spurted out, the pure yang qi inside it igniting the moment it was exposed to the air. Leaning on my half-broken sword, I exhaled wearily.

Looked like I was still a long way from being invincible.

Rising to my feet, I flicked the blood off my blade and sheathed it. I collected whatever I could from the remains of the Red Python – including more blood wherever possible – and stored them in my spatial pouch. With that done, I turned and left.

Time to return to the Lan residence.