I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 231 - 229: Sand Snake

After confirmation by Chu Yunyi, among the hundreds of tunnels in this underground cave, three had airflow movement.

"The caves in the twelve o’clock and two o’clock directions have extremely weak airflow, suggesting that these two tunnels are very far from the exit. The tunnel in the eight o’clock direction shows a noticeable airflow, but..."

Cui Tianxiao: "But what?"

Li Xing finished Chu Yunyi’s thought: "But there’s a nearly complete fresh sand snake molt at the tunnel entrance. If we choose this path, we might encounter a sand snake."

Cui Tianxiao exclaimed: "What! I thought sand snakes were extinct!"

Ye Qingting: "Aren’t there still plenty of sand silkworms? Under the right conditions, they can definitely grow into sand snakes."

Chu Yunyi added: "From analyzing the molt, that sand snake is at least a hundred years old, over two hundred meters long."

Even though a sand snake that’s two hundred meters long is considered small in the sand snake world, it would still take some effort to fight it.

Ye Qingting thought for a moment and said: "Cousin, Ah Xing, I want to choose the eight o’clock direction tunnel. If the tunnel leads to the surface, that’s great. If not, following a sand snake gives us a better chance of getting out."

Even if this sand snake doesn’t go sunbathing, it still needs to surface to expel waste. Following it is much faster than following the airflow!

Chu Yunyi and Li Xing exchanged a smile; they knew Qingtian would make the same choice.

"Ah Xiao, what about you?"

"I have no objections."

"Then it’s decided, we’ll take the eight o’clock direction."

Everyone followed Chu Yunyi to the tunnel entrance. Cui Tianxiao immediately saw the huge wrinkled snake molt and couldn’t help but shiver.

If the molt is this large, the sand snake itself must be more astounding. He’s already afraid of snakes and now he’s fallen into a snake’s lair. Is heaven playing a joke on him?

To prevent another sneak attack by the transparent creature, Li Xing switched places with Ye Qingting. To avoid raising Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao’s alertness, Li Xing kept her Divine Sense half-open, fortunately, Chu Yunyi walked not far from her diagonal, just within the coverage of Divine Sense. The four of them walked into the tunnel. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The sand silkworm is amphibious, but the sand snake greatly dislikes water. Once it eats animals or plants rich in water, the sand snake will expel the excess moisture from its body through its skin glands as sweat.

Aside from expelling excess moisture, the glands also release body odor to mark territory. Therefore, wherever the sand snake goes, it leaves behind a distinct body odor.

Upon entering the tunnel, they all smelled a faint scent of stone pine.

The soil in this tunnel was fresh, and the body odor strong, indicating the sand snake passed through recently, which was a good thing.

As they walked further, the air in the tunnel became increasingly foul, and the stone pine scent grew stronger. The sand snake was not far from them, but the faces of all three male companions showed discomfort.

The sand snake is truly wicked, with such an embarrassing body odor. No wonder its genes are collapsing!

Chu Yunyi couldn’t stand it any longer. He used Wind Blade to stir the airflow, even if it cost all his spiritual power; he had to make the smell disperse. Li Xing could not bear this scent.

Cui Tianxiao sneakily glanced at Li Xing and saw her expression remained calm, feeling relieved.

Xing Er, being young and naive, didn’t understand the meaning of this scent; otherwise, the three grown men would die of embarrassment.

While the companions endured the brain-piercing odor, the "naive" Li Xing had long blocked her sense of smell, dutifully using Divine Sense to protect Chu Yunyi.

They discovered nothing as they walked, causing Li Xing to suspect her earlier strike wounded the transparent creature, making it afraid to return?

If so, that would be ideal, allowing them to focus on finding a way out.

Once they leave here, Li Xing must ask Yang Zhou whether the high-tech lab equipment has yielded results.

At that moment, Ye Qingting, walking at the front, suddenly raised a hand to signal the team to stop, and Chu Yunyi’s voice timely sounded in everyone’s ears.

"Everyone, be alert. A sand snake is spotted one kilometer ahead."

Li Xing immediately became excited. She hadn’t thought this trip would be so smooth, encountering a sand snake so quickly.

Li Xing: "Captain, I’m ready. Just give the order!" The sooner they finish the encounter, the sooner they can leave. She has many things to do and can’t afford to waste time underground!

Ye Qingting felt a headache seeing Li Xing looking so eager. Normally, this kid seems gentle and docile, but when it comes to fighting, she becomes noticeable, more macho than the guys?

"You, step back!" Ye Qingting gave Li Xing a glare, then said to Chu Yunyi: "Cousin, is the space where the sand snake is large or small?"

"Small. It’s eating. The tunnel is as wide as its body, allowing only forward and backward movement."

Ye Qingting’s eyes lit up with an idea.

"Everyone, since the tunnel isn’t wide enough for the sand snake to turn around, let’s harass it from behind. Once disturbed, the sand snake will certainly burrow to the surface, and we can follow it out!"

Cui Tianxiao scratched his head, puzzled: "How do you know the sand snake will head upward? What if it goes down?"

"Ah Xiao, I read a research paper on the sand snake, which states the sand snake’s tail end is most prone to parasitism by star beasts such as soil barnacles. Severe parasitism can block the cloaca, affecting excretion and leading to the sand snake’s death."

"To avoid such parasitism, once the sand snake feels pain at the tail end, it immediately burrows up to expel the parasites the moment its body leaves the soil. It discharges waste to flush off the parasitic soil barnacles."

"If this doesn’t kill the barnacles, it rolls and rubs itself on the surface, using sunlight and hot sand to kill the parasites. This is one reason why the sand snake likes sunbathing."

After hearing this, Cui Tianxiao’s eyes filled with admiration for Ah Xing, and any previous feelings vanished: "I didn’t know, Qingtian, you know quite a lot!"

Ye Qingting: Heh heh (*^▽^*)

Chu Yunyi analyzed the situation and also felt Ye Qingting’s strategy was feasible. After discussing the specific tactics, they ran to catch up with the "greedy snake’s" rear end.

Despite being mentally prepared, Li Xing still slightly opened her mouth in surprise upon seeing the behemoth before them.

What they saw was just a cross-section of the sand snake’s body, oval in shape, ten meters high, and fifteen meters wide. The entire sand snake was orange-red, its outer skin covered with rough and hard, rock-like scales.

Ye Qingting drew out the Ice Sword and fired a series of Ice Arrows at the sand snake’s rear. The Ice Arrows struck the hard sand snake scales, instantly breaking into pieces, falling from mid-air. The sand snake’s body didn’t even show a mark.

Cui Tianxiao pouted, then gave Ye Qingting a "watch me" look. He drew the Thunderbolt Bow like a full moon, a thick purple Thunder Arrow shot towards the sand snake with a swoosh. The arrow’s angle was extremely tricky, striking precisely into the gap between two scales.

The arrow pierced the sand snake, causing a muffled roar from ahead, and the sand snake sped up. Everyone tightly followed the sand snake’s rear, noticing the tunnel clearly tilted upward.

Apparently, Qingtian’s judgment was correct. The sand snake was moving along the tunnel, quickly approaching the surface. They were saved!