Luo Zhen didn't waste a second. Yellow Leaf Town was already behind him, a memory swallowed by the encroaching wilderness. He moved with a singular, driving purpose, his powerful body a black streak against the forest floor.
His destination: the Misty Swamp.
That old hunter, Zhou Hong, hadn't been lying. The mere mention of a five-hundred-year-old spirit herb was a lure too powerful to ignore. It was the jackpot. Consuming it wouldn't just be a simple power-up; it was the key to his next evolution. A surge in strength was guaranteed, but the real prize was the chance to awaken his latent bloodline. If he unlocked a powerful lineage, it would change the entire game.
But first things first. The herb had to be real.
If it were, then there would be no debate. He'd have to face the swamp's reigning tyrant, the Yellow-Patterned Giant Python. He was willing to risk serious injury for a prize this big. Besides, they were both Level 10 demonic beasts. It was an even playing field.
Almost even. A sly grin might have crossed Luo Zhen's face, had he the lips for it. The python was blind in one eye. A critical weakness. It might not be his match at all.
That thought added fuel to the fire. He pushed his speed, the world blurring around him.
The fifty-li journey from town to swamp was nothing for a serpent of his power. In what felt like no time at all, he arrived at the edge of the murky expanse. The air grew thick and heavy. He flicked his forked tongue, tasting the night, then plunged headfirst into the gloom.
The darkness was a cloak for most, but not for him. Human eyes would have been useless here, but his serpentine senses painted a vivid picture of the world. He could feel the vibrations in the ground, taste the subtle shifts in the air. The pitch-black swamp was as clear to him as a sunlit field.
Fifteen minutes later, he reached the heart of the territory.
He recognized the place instantly—a small hill rising from the bog, the site of the recent battle between the giant python and a band of human warriors. This was the beast's lair. A faint, ethereal mist clung to the ground, and as Luo Zhen inhaled, a refreshing coolness flooded his system, followed by a pleasant, spreading warmth.
This wasn't just swamp gas.
He had initially dismissed the haze as the python's demonic aura, a territorial marker. He'd been wrong. This was spiritual energy, pure and potent, leaking from a powerful source. For the mist to be this dense, blanketing an entire hill… it could only be the spirit herb. It was real.
He took one more breath of the intoxicating air, then froze. He wasn't alone.
On the hill opposite him, a massive shape uncoiled from the shadows. Under the pale, indifferent starlight, he could make out its form—a giant python, nearly his own size, its body a canvas of brilliant yellow patterns. An aura of power, a mirror of his own, rolled off it in silent waves.
The overlord of the Misty Swamp had arrived.
The Yellow-Patterned Python watched him, its head raised, and gave a slow, deliberate flick of its tongue.
A low hiss slithered through the air. The meaning was unmistakable, a universal serpent language. This is my territory. Leave now.
But it was just a warning. The python made no move to attack, which struck Luo Zhen as odd. The stories portrayed it as an aggressive, undisputed tyrant. This hesitation was a crack in its facade.
Luo Zhen felt a surge of confidence. He remembered the last time he'd been in this swamp. Back then, the Yellow-Patterned Python had been on a bloody rampage, a Level 10 monster cutting a swath of destruction through the territory. It had slaughtered nearly every high-level demonic beast in the region. Luo Zhen, weaker than, had fled in terror.
How things had changed. Fueled by countless lesser herbs, he had finally reached the same level of power. He wasn't the refugee anymore; he was the returning king.
And the old king? The tyrant's arrogance was gone, replaced by caution. Even with Luo Zhen at its doorstep, it only hissed warnings, unwilling to commit to a fight. It was afraid.
"Hsssss…" The python hissed again, a nervous, agitated sound this time.
Luo Zhen ignored it, instead consulting the internal map that was part of his unique abilities. Life forms appeared as points of light. The python's dot glowed red, signifying a threat. But the light was faint, almost pitifully so. It meant the danger was minimal. It meant the python was weaker than him.
Threat was a two-way street. If it could barely harm him, then he could certainly harm it.
A low, guttural rattle—'Heh, heh'—rose from Luo Zhen's throat. It was the serpent's challenge, a declaration of a fight to the death. The Yellow-Patterned Python's body went rigid, its posture snapping into a defensive coil. It understood.
Luo Zhen had no intention of backing down. That spirit herb was his.
Goaded beyond its fear, the python's pride finally ignited. It had ruled this swamp for decades. It would not be so easily dethroned.
Swoosh!
The air tore as the python exploded into motion. It was on him in a flash, a blur of yellow scales. Its massive jaws opened, unleashing not fangs, but a torrent of ice-blue, frigid air.
Luo Zhen met the attack head-on. He opened his own mouth and fired.
Boom!
The icy blast slammed into Luo Zhen, and a creeping frost spiderwebbed across his scales. His muscles seized, his movements turning sluggish and heavy.
But the python was in a far worse state.
Luo Zhen's Venom Dart had struck it square in the face. The point of impact sizzled, black venom eating through flesh and bone. In seconds, half of the python's head dissolved into a grotesque, bloody slurry. Its one good eye was gone, leaving it completely blind.
A shriek of pure agony ripped from its throat. Robbed of its sight, it descended into a berserk rage. It lunged forward, sinking its fangs deep into Luo Zhen's body, and began to constrict, wrapping him in a deadly embrace. A crushing, suffocating pressure began to build.
Trying to squeeze the life out of me? Luo Zhen thought with a cold fury. You forget who you're dealing with.
He met force with force, twisting his own powerful body and coiling around his attacker. It became a brutal ballet of muscle and might, the two colossal serpents locked in a grinding test of wills. The air hummed with the strain.
But Luo Zhen had an ace up his sleeve. While they were locked together, he opened his jaws and began spitting one Venom Dart after another at point-blank range. His venom was his greatest weapon, and he used it mercilessly.
Each dart found its mark, the black poison melting through scales and flesh, turning the python's body into a canvas of weeping, foul-smelling wounds. The beast's strength began to fade, its coils weakening with every passing moment.
A few seconds later, its power gave out completely. The massive yellow body went limp, slumping to the ground. The overlord of the Misty Swamp was dead.
A notification pinged in his consciousness.
You have slain the overlord of the Misty Swamp, the Yellow-Patterned Giant Python!
Gained 150 experience points!
One hundred fifty points. That was the equivalent of a 300-year-old herb. Not bad.
Still, as he looked at the massive, ruined corpse, the victory felt… surreal. It had been too easy. Anticlimactic, even. This was the beast that had haunted his nightmares, the undisputed king of the swamp. He had expected a bloody, knock-down, drag-out fight that would leave him half-dead. Instead, aside from two puncture wounds, he was virtually unharmed.
Was the python just weak, or have I become this strong?
And then it clicked. He didn't have a wide array of flashy skills. He had one thing: the Venom Dart. An ability so potent it could melt a Level 10 beast into sludge. It wasn't just an attack; it was a trump card.
Well, no sense in letting this go to waste.
Flicking his tongue, he sank his fangs into the corpse. A silent command, and the Devour ability flared to life. The python's essence—its power, its vitality—flowed into him in a rushing torrent. Its massive body deflated like a burst wineskin, and in moments, nothing was left but a clean skeleton and a papery sheet of patterned skin, a skeletal monument to its former reign.
The brutal calculus of Luo Zhen's evolution was simple: killing things gave him experience. But to gain their abilities, he had two paths. The first was luck—hoping an enemy dropped a special item, like the venom sac from the Black Widow Spider that had let him synthesize his devastating Venom Dart.
The second path was more direct: devouring the flesh and blood of his own kind.
Unfortunately, the swamp king hadn't dropped any loot, leaving Luo Zhen with only one option. As the last of the python's essence surged into him, a new notification appeared.
You have devoured the Yellow-Patterned Giant Python!
Congratulations, you have obtained the active ability: [Coil]!
A pleasant warmth spread through him and then faded. He felt… the same.
"[Coil]?" he mused, a wave of disappointment washing over him. Every snake in existence knew how to coil. It was instinct, as natural as breathing. Getting it as a special ability felt like winning a lifetime supply of air.
"Alright, let's see what this 'upgrade' can do," he grumbled to himself. He found a thick, sturdy tree and wrapped himself around it, squeezing with all his might.
The tree was unimpressed. Luo Zhen, on the other hand, felt like he was choking himself out.
He unspooled and tried a new target: a massive boulder. He coiled around it and squeezed again. The boulder didn't budge, but its sharp edges scraped painfully against his scales.
Yep. Utterly useless. He would have preferred the python's ice breath. At least that had a slowing effect.
"Forget it," he hissed, shaking his head. "The real prize is waiting." He turned and headed for the python's lair.
He was only a few dozen meters up the slope when a thought stopped him dead in his tracks. A profound realization settled over him.
The python wasn't weak. It was a normal Level 10 beast. He was the anomaly. His ability to devour and synthesize skills like the Venom Dart put him in a league of his own. The fear that had dogged his steps for so long began to recede, replaced by a cold, sharp confidence. He was no longer just another beast struggling to survive. He was a predator on a different level.
With his thoughts clear and his confidence soaring, he reached the entrance to the lair—a gloomy maw in the side of the hill. The scent of the spirit herb was intoxicatingly strong here. He was close.
He slipped inside. The cave was dark and deep, but at its very end, he saw it.
A single herb, no more than half a foot tall, grew from the stone floor. At its apex sat a single, crimson fruit, the size of a marble, glowing with a soft, internal light. It was the source of the overwhelming spiritual energy that filled the cave.
The spirit herb.
He rushed forward, his entire being screaming at him to devour it on the spot. But he held back. His instincts, honed and sharp, told him it wasn't quite ready. To eat it now would be to waste a portion of its power.
But the wait wouldn't be long. A few days, at most.
And so he made the cave his new home, a silent guardian watching over his prize. Time flowed, the sun and moon trading places in the sky outside. Two days later, it happened.
The fragrance in the cave intensified, growing so rich it was almost tangible. He watched, captivated, as the small red fruit at the top of the stalk began to pulse with a brilliant crimson light. The glow brightened, held steady for a quarter of an hour, and then, with a soft, final thud, the fruit detached and fell to the ground.
As soon as it landed, the stalk that had birthed it withered into grey ash and scattered into nothingness.
"Incredible," Luo Zhen whispered to the empty cave.
He focused on the fruit. It lay on the stone floor, a perfect sphere of red, a faint light still throbbing within. It was ready.
He didn't hesitate. A powerful inhalation drew the fruit into his mouth, and he swallowed it whole.
It dissolved on his tongue, a liquid explosion of pure energy that surged through every fiber of his being. And then, the voice he'd been waiting for echoed in his mind.
You have consumed the spirit herb, the Scarlet Flame Fruit!
Gained 500 experience points!
Critical experience threshold reached. Initiate level-up?
Luo Zhen's eyes, which had been half-closed in bliss, snapped wide open.
"Yes," he sent the command without a shred of hesitation. "Confirm upgrade!"
The word had barely formed in his mind when his body exploded with blinding white light. It wrapped around him like a cocoon, thick and opaque, sealing him off from the world.
Inside the cocoon, agony and ecstasy warred within him. A symphony of cracking bones echoed in the small cave as his entire skeleton was broken down and remade, stronger than before. His black skin rippled and trembled as his body began to grow at an alarming rate.
In the span of a dozen breaths, he stretched from ten meters to a colossal twenty.
His sheer size was staggering, and with it came an exponential leap in strength and durability. But that was just the beginning. A new sensation flickered to life within him—faint threads of energy, weaving through his veins like a ghostly circulatory system. At first, they were as fine as spider silk, but they quickly thickened, coalescing into powerful currents that began to circulate on their own.
This feeling… Is this… demonic qi?!
He was a Level 10 beast, the peak of his current stage. A breakthrough like this would elevate him to a new state of existence—the Demonic Qi Realm.
As if to confirm his thoughts, the currents of energy converged in his abdomen, swirling together to form a spinning vortex, a nascent star of pure demonic power.
Congratulations! Upgrade successful! You have advanced to the Demonic Qi Realm!
He had done it. This wasn't just a level-up; it was a transcendence. With demonic qi at his command, he could now crush dozens of his former Level 10 peers with ease. And with a major realm breakthrough came the ultimate reward.
Major realm breakthrough detected. Reward protocol initiated.
You will receive one chance for a bloodline awakening or evolution. Do you wish to claim the reward?
"Yes!"
His world dissolved.
The stone walls of the cave vanished, replaced by an endless, churning blue sea. He was floating in the cold, bracing water, the waves lifting and dropping him like a piece of driftwood. Above him, a shadow fell across the sky. He looked up and froze.
A super-python of impossible size soared through the clouds, a god made of scale and storm. And sprouting from its ribs were two magnificent, crystalline wings. It beat them once, a slow, lazy motion, and a hurricane-force gale ripped across the surface of the ocean. An ancient, crushing might washed over Luo Zhen, so powerful it made his very soul tremble in submission.
He could only watch in awe as the winged serpent danced between the sea and sky, its power shaping the world around it.
A flying python… unbelievable, he thought, utterly mesmerized.
Then, the world blurred and reformed. The sea was gone, replaced by a roiling, infinite ocean of magma. The heat was immense, but he felt nothing. He knew, instinctively, that this was all a vision, a journey into his own potential. The great winged serpent still soared above, but now, every flap of its wings sent waves of fire washing through the sky.
He watched it closely, his fear replaced by intense curiosity. What was this vision trying to show him?
Screech!
A piercing cry echoed from the heavens. The serpent's crystalline wings began to transform. One turned a deep, glacial blue, radiating an aura of absolute zero and trailing waves of seawater with every beat. The other became a searing, fiery red, wreathed in untamable flames.
Water and fire. Two opposing elements, held in perfect balance. Was this its power? Was this his power?
Screech!
The great serpent cried out one last time, then folded its wings and dove, a living meteor of fire and ice, plummeting directly toward him. The pressure was immense, rooting him to the spot. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He could only watch as his ancestor, his legacy, came to claim him.
It didn't collide with him; it merged. The moment it touched him, the colossal serpent dissolved into pure energy and flooded his being, a baptism by fire and ice that sought to rewrite his very essence.
Congratulations! You have successfully awakened the Teng Snake bloodline!
With a jolt, he was back. The scent of damp stone and earth filled his senses. He was in the cave, his massive twenty-meter body coiled on the floor. The sea, the lava, the great serpent—all gone.
"It was all a vision," he murmured, his voice a low rumble. "Teng Snake… is that what the winged serpent was?"
He shifted his new, larger body, and a strange, unfamiliar sensation prickled at his sides. An itch he couldn't quite scratch.
"What is that? Feels like a bug…"
He craned his massive head back, twisting to get a look at his own body. What he saw made his mind go blank with shock.
Sprouting from his ribs, still small and unfurling, were two nascent wings.
"Holy crap!" he yelled, the sound echoing off the cave walls. "I have wings!"