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Translator: Tamon
Chen Ping walked up to Wang Xiaoniu and took his pulse with a frown.
“Immortal, has my child…” Wang Daniu began.
“No need to worry.”
Chen Ping spoke, noticing the ragged book behind Wang Xiaoniu. “He has high perception, but atrocious talent, making him unfit for cultivation, but more than enough for a scholar. Once you pass the official examination, mention my name and you’ll get a post in the Celestial Monitoring Bureau.
Something about Wang Xiaoniu caught his attention, only to walk away in disappointment.
The villagers crowded the kid once he left, filled with envy.
“The Celestial Monitoring Bureau, a haven of immortals!”
“Wang family has such fortune to receive an immortal’s attention!”
Wang Daniu gnashed his teeth, his mind was set. He was going to have Xiaoniu read, even if it meant going broke.
…
Once the officials left, the snake catchers came again, their search in the mountain proved to be of no avail. There was no sign of the Old Snake King.
They did, instead, meet with a demon in the river’s waters, each coming to harm.
As time passed, the fervor settled.
…
A shadow slithered beneath the swift waters of the river’s lower reaches.
The water’s surface suddenly exploded and then settled to reveal a snake crawling out on the shore.
It was covered in black, glossy scales and a prominent bulging belly, from recent feeding most likely.
It had been a month since Xu Hei came here, a time in which the downpour eased down and finally stopped.
Living on the shore, he had plenty of food to enjoy. At any time he could catch a few meter-long fish to sate his appetite.
Mundane food worked wonders for hunger, but not so much for cultivation. His yearning for demon flesh gnawed at him, giving the river a long look.
The desire was brief.
Xu Hei had no intention of facing the officials and snake catchers, or that unknown demon.
The cultivation method would provide a steady, but slow, growth, and risk-free.
Xu Hei coiled on a rock, breathing in and out, taking the Spiritual Energy around him through his scales.
Slowly, the scales gained a shine while the two last scales on his tail took a golden hue as they became triangular in shape.
Xu Hei opened his eyes, and the rubbing of the scales against the rock left behind dust.
[They’re as hard as fine iron!] Xu Hei was amazed.
He’d only noticed the transformation a month ago, that his tail had two extra-special scales with a third one underway, but far slower.
He searched his memories for any explanation but came up empty.
Xu Hei had a nagging suspicion that his cultivation method was behind this change. It was a mystical art that came from Chen Fan.
He’d been researching the Demon God Cauldron as well.
It had fully replaced his demon core, the Spiritual Energy haze within representing his cultivation. After advancing, the haze grew denser.
Xu Hei turned his focus on the cauldron’s surface. The carving of the Flood Dragon was so vivid, covered in countless sleek scales seen only by looking a hundred times closer.
Its body was covered in detailed lines, like meridians, revealed only when looking a thousand times closer.
Xu Hei’s Divine Sense only magnified up to a hundred.
He sighed and withdrew his Divine Sense. “My Divine Sense is lacking, but once I get stronger, I might be able to glean some hints from the meridians.”
…
Upstream, a large shadow moved under the surface, racing downriver.
It was a huge octopus, black as night. Its seven, three-meter-long tentacles darted everywhere and caught prey for it to devour.
This was the demon that dragged the humans beneath the depths when the river broke its banks.
It was wounded from fighting the snake catcher these past few days, and since the waters were receding, it fell back to the river.
Upon a closer look, one could notice a tentacle was cut off with a blade, while its abdomen was scorched.
All demons possessed heightened awareness.
Before leaving, it used a child as bait to gobble up a Qi Refining snake catcher out of spite.
At the 3rd layer of Awareness Stage, nearing the mid-level, it was the overlord in these waters for many years.
The large octopus feasted on anything that moved, scaring the shoals of fish to scatter.
Xu Hei’s eyes were fixed on a willow, his tail coiled tight like a spring.
His tail snapped into action, his sharpest two scales pointing out, and lashed at the willow.
Bang!
The tree snapped like a twig, bearing a surgical cut, and making a big splash as it hit the river.
Looking at his handiwork, Xu Hei thought, [The scales are hard as iron and sharp enough to be used as weapons. But two are just too few. When I’m covered in them, I’ll be invincible.]
Xu Hei had poison in his fangs as well, although far weaker. The base of his power would be these scales.
“Let’s test them on a fish first.”
He slipped back into the river, wanting to put them to a real test.
If it couldn’t even do this, forget about using it for defense, it would cause his death instead.
[Strange, where did all the fish go?] Xu Hei looked around the empty waters.
A sudden current took him by surprise as a large shadow shot from the depths.
“An octopus?”
Xu Hei started at the huge mollusk, having never seen one of this size. It didn’t faze him, having seen bigger. Snake Village once caught a three-meter-long fish, its taste was unforgettable.
Xu Hei drew closer to it, priming his scales and swiping with his tail, using it for his experiments.
Whoosh!
The octopus shrank back, but two of its tentacles were severed.
Xu Hei pushed his advantage with another tail strike, aiming for the head. The octopus was slow to react and its head was run through in a cold flash.
The huge body thrashed a couple of times then stilled.
Xu Hei was discontent with his performance. If he needed two strikes to fish, meeting a demon would’ve killed him by now.
“It’s best I don’t use them. Killing an octopus was already hard enough, but facing a demon is suicide, not to mention the snake catchers. They’d kill me before I can touch them.” Xu Hei muttered to himself.
He turned his eyes to the huge meal and noticed a wooden token falling out of the corpse and floating before his eyes.
Xu Hei froze and jumped back in fright, staring dumbstruck at it.
[A snake catcher’s token!]
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