The grasslands trembled as the massive Exo Snake slithered out of the undergrowth, its body as thick as a towering tree trunk, its hide gleaming with jagged bone plating that clattered as it moved.
Each shift of its colossal body sent sharp cracks through the earth, the ground shaking beneath its weight.
Its forked tongue flicked in and out, tasting the air, and its amber eyes locked onto Xue Wen with predatory hunger.
Xue Wen gripped his saber tightly, his breathing steady, though his heart thundered.
"So big…" he muttered under his breath. "One wrong move and I'll be crushed."
The beast hissed and lunged forward, its enormous body crashing down like a rolling boulder.
Xue Wen darted to the side, his boots skidding against the dirt as dust rose.
With lightning reflexes, he slashed with his saber, the blade cutting across the beast's midsection.
Clang!
Sparks exploded. His eyes widened.
"What?"
The blade bounced off the snake's bony plates, as if he had struck solid steel.
The creature reared its head back and let out a guttural hiss, its entire skeleton-like armor rippling with strange energy, thickening until the bones gleamed like polished ivory.
Xue Wen frowned.
The snake snapped its head forward, its gaping maw big enough to swallow a man whole.
Xue Wen rolled across the ground, dirt sticking to his robes as massive jaws slammed shut just behind him, the impact creating a shockwave that rattled his bones.
He sprang up, spinning around to meet the serpent with another slash, this time aiming for its eye.
But the Exo Snake twisted unnaturally fast for its size, its massive tail whipping around like a battering ram.
Xue Wen barely crossed his saber in time, Bang! The impact sent him flying backward, his back slamming into a boulder.
Pain jolted through his arms.
The snake surged again, its colossal body thrashing with terrifying speed.
Xue Wen zigzagged across the clearing, barely avoiding the strikes.
Each tail whip shattered earth, each snap of its jaws ripped chunks of dirt and stone.
"Damn it… hacking at its body won't work," Xue Wen thought, his teeth gritted. "I need to find a weakness."
With narrowed eyes, he darted forward, his saber flashing in rapid arcs.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Dozens of blows hammered across the serpent's bony armor, sparks showering the air, but not a single cut was made.
The snake's hiss grew louder, mocking almost, before it reared its head back again, gathering force for a lunge. Xue Wen's pupils shrank.
"It's aiming to end it."
When the beast launched forward, its mouth stretched wide like a black abyss, Xue Wen didn't retreat.
Instead, he dashed straight ahead, his body low and swift, closing the gap in a heartbeat.
At the last instant, he kicked off the ground, launching upward.
The jaws snapped shut beneath him, missing by an inch. With both hands gripping the saber, he thrust downward with all his might...
Shhhhkkk!
The blade rammed straight into the snake's open maw, bypassing the hardened bone armor and piercing through flesh.
The Exo Snake shrieked, thrashing violently, but Xue Wen refused to let go.
He twisted his body and dragged the saber along its mouth, tearing downward.
Blood gushed out in torrents, spraying across the ground as the beast writhed in agony.
Its colossal form crashed left and right, flattening trees and rocks in its frenzy.
But Xue Wen held firm, his arms straining as he ripped through bone and tissue.
With one final heave, he split its jaw apart.
The Exo Snake let out a broken, pitiful hiss before collapsing with a thunderous crash, its massive body twitching before going still.
The ground quaked beneath its weight, silence finally returning to the battlefield.
Xue Wen stood atop its ruined head, chest heaving, his saber dripping with blood.
His clothes were soaked, his arms trembling, but his eyes burned with determination.
He looked down at the carcass and muttered, "Even bone can break… you just have to strike where it hurts most."
He then quickly sliced open the massive serpent's chest cavity, the saber sinking into layers of flesh and bone until he reached its pulsating heart.
With a sharp pull, he severed it free, steam rising from the still-warm organ. Without hesitation, Xue Wen bit into it, devouring the raw flesh.
The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but he didn't care, he knew that a beast's heart carried the densest concentration of marrow essence.
Some higher-ranked sacred beasts were said to form a Bone Palate, a crystalline organ where marrow essence was condensed to its peak.
Unfortunately, this Exo Snake was not of that level.
There was no Bone Palate inside its body, only its ordinary marrow-rich heart.
Even so, as the last chunks slid down his throat, he could already feel waves of fiery energy surging into his bones.
His marrow tingled, his skeleton vibrated faintly, and his blood pumped harder, as if drums were pounding inside his veins.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, he leapt off the carcass and dashed away.
The beast was far too large to harvest for meat; even if he tried, he could only carry a fraction of it, and dragging the rest back would be impossible without attracting every predator in Esther Wilderness.
The second reason was more pressing, he wasn't done yet.
His cultivation demanded more.
Xue Wen clenched his fists, his eyes burning with determination.
Just now… I felt a stir in my canines.
The mysterious black teeth lodged in his mouth quivered faintly, sending an itch down his jawbone.
He could tell instinctively, if he fought another beast on par with the Exo Snake, the marrow essence drawn from its death would be enough to push him into the Bone Cracking Realm.
The thought made his blood boil with anticipation.
With renewed vigor, he ventured deeper into the wilderness, his saber always within reach.
Trees thick with moss loomed around him, the air growing colder and darker.
The shadows between the trunks stretched long, and the sound of distant roars echoed now and then, reminders that he was intruding on the hunting grounds of creatures far deadlier than himself.
Two hours passed in tense silence, every crunch of his boots on dead leaves magnified by his sharpened senses.
But despite his efforts, no beast of sufficient strength revealed itself.
He cut down a few minor spirit beasts that leapt from the underbrush, but their marrow essence was shallow, barely a drop compared to the torrent he craved.
Frustration gnawed at him. His body ached for the breakthrough, his marrow essence swirling within him like restless thunderclouds searching for a spark.
Yet the prey he needed did not appear.
Finally, Xue Wen paused on a cliffside path and gazed at the slanting sunlight.
The golden rays filtering through the canopy told him time was slipping away.
He clenched his saber tightly, conflict warring in his chest.
He was already far deeper into Esther Wilderness than he had planned.
The trees grew unnaturally thick, the silence too heavy, the kind of place where stronger and stranger beasts made their nests.
To go further might mean encountering something far beyond his current ability to fight.
And worse, if he stayed too long, he risked breaking his promise to Ding Mei.
Her tearful eyes flashed through his mind, her trembling words echoing in his ears.
"I will die without you…"
Xue Wen closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
"One more chance," he whispered to himself, voice low but steady. "Just a bit more. If I don't find something within the next hour… then I'll turn back. Even if it means lowering myself to hunt weaker beasts, I'll do it. A promise is a promise."
He tightened the straps on his cloth bag, adjusted the saber at his side, and pushed forward again.
His steps grew quieter, his senses sharper, as he ventured into the darker belly of Esther Wilderness.