Chapter 131: The Innate Divine Ability of the Demon Python (Third Update)
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Just as Liu Yiyi began to smile, she saw the Azure Python heading straight for the mountain. Her smile vanished, replaced by an anxious, troubled expression—but there was nothing she could do to help.
“What should we do?”
If the Azure Python crashed into the cliff, Xiao Cheng would certainly bear the brunt of the impact. Even as an expert, he would still be reduced to fragments.
The old woman could not bear to see Liu Yiyi so distraught. Besides, Xiao Cheng had saved both her and her disciple. If the Azure Python struck the cliff, Xiao Cheng would have no chance of surviving.
Yet she found it strange that Xiao Cheng did not simply jump down. If he leaped into the water, at least he would not be crushed to death.
The old woman rose, gripping her horsetail whisk in one hand while forming a sword seal with the other. She sent her flying sword toward the Azure Python’s tail.
With a light chime, the flying sword struck—but the Azure Python paid it no heed. Without even turning its head, it continued rushing toward the cliff.
The old woman was furious and frustrated. Compared to Xiao Cheng’s attacks, her flying sword was truly no more than a tickle. Yet she had no choice but to save him. With a low cry of “Bell-Spirit Heaven’s Mandate Sword,” the sword’s radiance flared brightly and shot toward the Azure Python like an electric drill.
“Crack—”
The blow caused the Azure Python pain, and it let out a hiss, but it still did not turn around.
Having forcibly controlled the flying sword, the old woman spat out a mouthful of blood. Her face turned from deathly pale to ashen blue, and her body swayed so violently that she nearly fell.
Seeing that her master’s two attacks had both failed while the Azure Python continued toward the cliff, Liu Yiyi grew even more anxious. Her clear eyes seemed ready to overflow with tears.
At that moment, all she could do was close her eyes and refuse to look. But once her eyes were shut, the tears began to fall uncontrollably.
……
Xiao Cheng sat firmly atop the Azure Python. The fierce wind rushing toward him cleared his mind and lifted his spirits. In his previous life, when he had reached the peak of the Innate realm, he had often dreamed of one day advancing to the Golden Core realm, riding a sword through the heavens and earth, and enjoying absolute freedom.
Riding the Azure Python now did carry a trace of that feeling—of soaring through the wind upon a flying sword. Unfortunately, this Azure Python refused to obey him and was determined to crash into the mountain.
The Azure Python’s plan was correct: it intended to shake him off by striking the mountain. Anyone else would have jumped down before the collision, but Xiao Cheng was different.
Xiao Cheng split his mouth in a grin, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth. As the cliff drew closer and closer, he formed an incomparably familiar seal with his left hand.
“Boom—”
With a thunderous explosion, the Azure Python slammed heavily into the rock face of Divine Maple Mountain, sending countless stones tumbling down.
Yet at the instant the Azure Python struck the cliff, the solid rock seemed to transform into rippling water, swallowing Xiao Cheng into its depths.
The Azure Python had thrown its full strength into the collision, but it had no effect on him. A single Earth-Evasion Technique resolved the matter, causing the Azure Python to crash into the mountain as though it were striking itself.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Azure Python’s enormous body continued smashing into the cliff, displaying a magnificent force, but achieving nothing.
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After more than a dozen collisions, the Azure Python finally stopped. It now understood that crashing into the mountain was completely useless against Xiao Cheng.
The scales around the creature’s vital point were in disarray, and blood poured from its wounds. Blood also trickled steadily from its mouth. Clearly, the collisions had inflicted severe injuries upon it.
When the Azure Python stopped, Xiao Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the tremendous force of its repeated impacts had been difficult even for him to withstand.
He knew that subduing the Azure Python would not be easy. Until now, the creature had relied solely on its massive body to fight him head-on. It had yet to use its innate divine ability.
Every demon beast possessed different innate abilities. Xiao Cheng could not guess what the Azure Python’s might be, and he could not afford to let down his guard.
Hearing the crashing suddenly cease, Liu Yiyi slowly opened her eyes, yet she still could not bring herself to look. She glanced at her two elder sisters and her master, only to find all three staring blankly ahead with their mouths agape. Only then did she cautiously raise her head.
When she saw Xiao Cheng standing unharmed, without even a speck of dust on him, her bright eyes curved into a delighted smile.
The girl’s pure and adorable smile was breathtakingly beautiful, like a shaft of sunlight breaking through the dark clouds.
“I knew Big Brother Xiao would never die!”
Just then, something unexpected happened.
“Roar—”
After taking a brief breath, the Azure Python suddenly threw back its head and let out a long howl. This howl was entirely different from the cracking sounds it had made before. It was rough and penetrating, echoing endlessly through the forested valley. Anyone who heard it felt an instinctive fear, as though they were listening to the roar of a dragon.
After the howl, the Azure Python’s enormous body suddenly shuddered. Every one of its scales sprang upright at almost the same time.
Xiao Cheng’s heart sank. This was probably a sign that the Azure Python was about to unleash its innate divine ability.
Xiao Cheng intended to retreat, but before he could pull out the Azure Edge Sword, he felt the body beneath him begin to swell.
The Azure Python’s entire body expanded violently. The transformation happened with astonishing speed, and the tremendous rebound sent Xiao Cheng flying.
After being thrown into the air, Xiao Cheng adjusted his posture and formed another seal. His feet locked onto the cliff as though welded to it. He turned to look at the Azure Python—and could not help staring in astonishment.
The Azure Python’s body could no longer be described as merely enormous. It had become a colossal monster. Compared with its present form, its previous body had been no more than a caterpillar.
The creature was now nearly three hundred meters long and more than ten meters thick. It stretched across the lake like a mountain range, while golden light radiated from its massive eyes.
Xiao Cheng made a rough estimate and realized that the Azure Python had grown more than tenfold. What kind of divine ability was this? He had never seen or even heard of anything like it. This was not an ability that a demon beast at the peak of the Spirit Communion realm should possess.
The Azure Python’s immense transformation meant that all of Xiao Cheng’s previous plans had come to nothing. His earlier methods of attack had lost their effect. He had originally intended to subdue the creature with Blazing Sun True Flame, but now that seemed nothing more than wishful thinking. No matter how high the temperature of his Blazing Sun True Flame became, it would probably only tickle the Azure Python.
Liu Yiyi, her two sisters, and the old woman all stared at the Azure Python spanning the lake. Their eyes were wide, their bodies motionless, and their minds utterly blank.
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They had actually lived beside such a terrifying Azure Python for many years…
“Roar—”
The Azure Python threw back its head and roared. Its eyes locked tightly onto Xiao Cheng on the cliff face. Without the slightest hesitation, it charged at him, moving as swiftly as a hurricane or a bolt of lightning. Its greater size had not made it clumsier; instead, it had become even more agile.
Xiao Cheng frowned and did not dare underestimate it. This Azure Python had already exceeded all his expectations.
Seeing it rush toward him at incredible speed, he quickly formed the seal for the Light Feather Technique and walked upward along the cliff using the Steps Across the Void.
Xiao Cheng ascended two hundred meters in a single breath, but the Azure Python followed like his shadow. Frowning, Xiao Cheng continued upward until he reached a height of three hundred meters.
The Azure Python, however, coiled its entire body around Divine Maple Mountain and spiraled upward like a green snake climbing a tree, pursuing him relentlessly and drawing ever closer.
Escaping the Azure Python’s pursuit would have been easy for Xiao Cheng, but survival was not what he wanted. Seeing that the creature possessed such an extraordinary innate divine ability only made him more determined to subdue it.
If he could tame this demon python, his strength would increase dramatically. Even if he encountered Wang Qiyi again, he would be the one crushing his opponent.
Watching the Azure Python approach, Xiao Cheng had already devised a plan. He formed a complicated seal with both hands and vanished from where he stood.
When he appeared again, he was already atop Divine Maple Mountain. This was his first time using the Shrinking Earth into Inches Earth-Evasion Technique. The technique consumed an enormous amount of energy and allowed him to move at tremendous speed, but it was not true teleportation.
After using Shrinking Earth into Inches once, Xiao Cheng felt that his dantian was completely empty. He took a Spirit-Nourishing Pill from a hidden compartment in his belt and swallowed it, recovering somewhat.
Xiao Cheng looked down from the mountain cliff and estimated that the drop was at least a thousand meters.
He had no time to survey the entire situation around the Bell-Spirit Sect. He hurried to a huge stone stele measuring five meters on each side. It was clearly the Bell-Spirit Sect’s mountain-gate stele, with the three characters of the sect’s name carved into its surface.
But Xiao Cheng had no time to worry about that now. The Azure Python had to be dealt with first. Liu Yiyi was still down below.
He formed a seal, pressed his hand against the stele, and then uprooted it completely. Even after he cast the Light Feather Technique on it twice, the stele still weighed a full hundred kilograms.
Carrying the enormous stone stele, Xiao Cheng reached the cliff and looked down. The Azure Python was still spiraling upward, already five hundred meters below him.
After calculating its position, Xiao Cheng hoisted the massive stele and leaped from the cliff.
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(To be continued.)
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