The feeling of death instantly engulfed Gu Han.
Damn it! His heart tightened, and his spirit qi surged wildly. He instinctively retreated. Being willing to risk everything didn’t an he would throw his life away foolishly.
Hiss!
Gu Han’s movents seed to enrage the creature. Its crimson forked tongue flickered, and the snake transford into a streak of red light as it lunged at Gu Han at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
In an instant, it was already in front of him. Its snow-white fangs were terrifyingly sharp and Gu Han could feel a fishy, pungent stench coming from it.
I can’t escape. I have to fight.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, just enough ti for Gu Han to form that thought!
At this mont, his extraordinary spirit perception once again played a crucial role. Although the tiny snake was incredibly fast, he was still barely able to track its movent.
Without hesitation, he swiftly drew his sword. He channeled every ounce of his remaining spirit qi, and slashed at the snake’s neck, seven cun[1] down from its head. That spot was precisely its weak point[2].
Hiss!
A flicker of almost human-like fear appeared in the snake’s blood-red eyes. It twisted its body slightly, trying to dodge.
Clang!
A tallic sound echoed and sparks erupted as the blade left behind a deep white gouge in the scales.. Aside from that, there was no further damage; the snake had avoided a fatal blow. anwhile, Gu Han’s entire right arm lost all feeling, trembling uncontrollably. Even gripping his longsword beca a struggle.
“Hiss!”
As it was enraged by the pain, the snake’s ferocity erupted. With another swift twist of its body, its fangs sank into Gu Han’s hand.
Gu Han felt a searing pain.
In an instant, venom surged into his arm. An unbearable, scorching heat spread from the wound up his arm. It was as though he were being set ablaze. His arm turned crimson in the blink of an eye. The fire poison then spread throughout his body.
His flesh, bones, and internal organs...His consciousness slowly blurred. Yet Gu Han clenched his teeth, holding onto the last shred of clarity in his mind. His left hand gripped the sword and repeatedly slashed at the tiny snake.
Clang! Clang!
Sparks were flying. But even as the snake writhed in pain, its eyes glead with even greater ferocity. More fire poison surged into Gu Han’s body. Soon, the fire poison reached his ridians. And at that very mont, a sudden transformation occurred.
Instead of being corroded, his newly-ford ridians shimred with countless tiny silver lights. Those lights converged into microscopic vortexes, which began absorbing the fire poison.
Under the vortexes’ filtration, the toxin within the fire poison was erased. All that was left behind was only pure spirit qi, which coursed through his ridians.
The next instant, Gu Han’s cultivation surged, starting to climb at an unbelievable speed. Fifth stage of Qi Condensation. Sixth stage. Seventh stage.
Soon, he reached the ninth stage, teetering on the brink of breaking through to ridian Opening.
I can’t break through! As the burning sensation faded, Gu Han’s eyes regained clarity. As he sensed the anomaly within his body, he made an imdiate decision.
This is a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. Supre Stage. Now is the ti!
He had no ti to think about the cause of this change. He forcibly sealed off the critical points in his ridians, trapping more and more spirit qi within them.
The tiny snake was far superior to Gu Han in cultivation. Its venom was the condensed essence of its power. It contained an imnse amount of spirit qi.
Soon, a faint pressure built within Gu Han’s ridians. Had it been an ordinary person instead, their ridians would have ruptured under the chaotic spirit qi, leading to an explosive death.
But Gu Han’s reconstructed ridians were exceptionally resilient and several tis wider than normal. Although he felt discomfort, he had yet to reach his limit.
A while later, the tiny snake lay motionless on the ground, utterly drained from having exhausted its venom. Its forr ferocity and brutality were gone.
anwhile, the pressure in Gu Han’s ridians suddenly eased. The once-vast, fog-like spirit qi had condensed into a gentle, flowing stream.
It was liquid spirit qi, the hallmark of the tenth stage of Qi Condensation!
“Hah...”
Gu Han exhaled slowly, rising to his feet as he carefully sensed the changes in his body.
“So this is the Supre Stage?”
Though the stream of liquid spirit qi flowing through his ridians was only one-fifth the width of his thumb, the total amount was nearly five tis that of an ordinary cultivator at the sa level. It was comparable to soone at the fifth or sixth stage of ridian Opening. More importantly, his spirit qi was far purer than ever before.
“This is amazing! Even though I’m still in the Qi Condensation Realm, those at the fifth or sixth stage of ridian Opening wouldn’t be my match. So that guy wasn’t lying. This Supre Stage isn’t so difficult to reach after all. But...”
Glancing at the red snake’s corpse, a lingering fear crept into his heart.
“I can’t be this reckless next ti!”
Upon reflection, he understood what had happened. Though the tiny red snake was high tier, it primarily relied on its venom to attack.
For ordinary cultivators, even those at the Acupoint Unsealing Realm, facing it directly would have been suicidal. However, Gu Han’s mysterious ridians were a natural counter to its venom, and that made all its power completely useless.
Had it been any other demonic beast instead, he would have likely been torn to pieces by now. It would have been impossible for him to turn misfortune into fortune and gain this great blessing.
“Hiss!”
As Gu Han was contemplating, the red snake seed to have regained so strength. Its tongue flicked out, and with its blood-red eyes filled with venomous hatred, it lunged at Gu Han’s eyes.
However, it underestimated Gu Han’s spirit perception. Gu Han reacted the mont it moved.
He swung his sword, and at the sa ti, the liquid spirit qi within his body surged. It circulated through his body along a mysterious path, and then poured into the sword.
The sword accelerated, instantly reaching twice its previous speed as it once more struck at the point seven cun below the snake’s head!
The snake was gravely wounded, while Gu Han had advanced significantly. The gap between them had closed, and they now matched each other in speed.
Due to the massive amount of spirit qi infused into it, a three-cun sword light unexpectedly erged from the broken tip of his blade.
A light sound then echoed. Just as the snake closed within half a chi[3] of Gu Han’s face, his sword struck its weak point. The sword effortlessly pierced through, as this point was much weaker than the rest of its body. Then, a scorching red liquid burst out as the snake was split in two. It twitched a few tis and fell lifeless.
“Just now...” Gu Han stared at his sword. “That was... the Great Evolution Sword Qi?”
With this thought, he once more started to circulate his spirit qi according to the Great Evolution Sword Scripture’s guidance. Once again, a three-inch sword light appeared and replaced his sword’s missing tip.
As he poured more spirit qi into it, the sword light extended more and more until it reached half a chi.
At that mont, his spirit qi had been depleted by one-fifth. As Gu Han swung his sword, the half-foot sword beam shot forth. It transford into a beam of sword qi that streaked toward a distant gray-blue boulder.
There was no resistance. The sword qi passed through seamlessly and pierced deep into the mountain wall behind it, leaving behind a fine, needle-like hole.
A mont later, the boulder suddenly split into two and tumbled to the ground. The cut was as smooth as a mirror. It was flawless.
“Inescapable... Unstoppable...”
Gu Han took a deep breath and gripped his sword tightly.
“The Great Evolution Sword Scripture is truly formidable! Even at the tenth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, I can barely form a single strand of sword qi. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to create forty-nine strands!”
As he suppressed his thoughts, he stored the tiny red snake’s corpse in his storage bag. Then, he made his way to the small tree ahead.
With this spirit fruit, my cultivation would soar once more. And every bit of progress I make will bring one step closer to vengeance.
Suddenly, a frantic cry rang out from the distance. “Young master, run—Waaaaaaah!”
“Damn it!”
Gu Han recognized the voice imdiately. It was Ah Sha.
There was no ti to pick the spirit fruit. His spirit qi surged, and his footsteps beca like the wind. Then, he rushed toward the sound at full speed.
In just a few monts, he arrived at the dense forest. There, a middle-aged man stood with a firm hand clamped over Ah Sha’s mouth, silencing her struggles. It was none other than Commander Gu, who had been pursuing him all this ti.
1. Traditional Chinese unit of asurent. 1 cun = 3.3 cm. ☜
2. Snakes are traditionally considered to be able to attack even after they are beheaded, or even able to revive/regenerate. The point 7 cun (around 23cm or 9 inches) below a snake’s head is considered a weak point that must be struck in order to actually kill a snake. ☜
3. Traditional Chinese unit of asurent. 1 chi = 33 cm. ☜
User Comments
0 comments from readers