Chapter 305: Powerful Enemies Close In
The Abyssal Ancient Sword was incredibly sharp; in an instant, it pierced the Black Wind Giant Serpent's protective Heavenly Gang, passed through its teeth and tongue, and flew into its belly.
The Black Wind Giant Serpent, wracked with pain, thrashed violently, emitting strange howls from its mouth.
Streams of wind-attribute true qi surged from within its body, transforming into countless wind blades that shot out in all directions.
The waves on the water grew even more turbulent and fierce.
Zhang Ruochen stood amidst the storm, calm as still water, showing no sign of disturbance.
"Swish, swish!"
Under Zhang Ruochen's control, the Abyssal Ancient Sword severed all the internal organs of the Black Wind Giant Serpent, then flew back out of its mouth, dripping with blood, and returned to Zhang Ruochen's hand.
"Boom!"
The Black Wind Giant Serpent's body crashed heavily down, sending up a massive splash.
Moments later, the enormous corpse floated to the surface, over seventy meters long, its body terrifyingly thick and rugged, each scale forged like dark iron, reflecting a metallic sheen.
The entire stretch of water was stained red with blood, exuding a thick, bloody stench.
If Zhang Ruochen hadn't possessed the Abyssal Ancient Sword and the Sword Heart Illumination realm, killing the Black Wind Giant Serpent would have been no easy task.
Its scales alone were not something ordinary True Martial Treasures could break through.
This fourth-rank mid-level barbarian beast ultimately died by Zhang Ruochen's sword, and from then on, the waters for a hundred li around would be much safer.
Zhang Ruochen lightly tapped the water's surface with his toe, as light as a swallow, leaping up and crossing several dozen zhang before landing softly on the Black Wind Giant Serpent's corpse.
The Black Wind Giant Serpent's body held many treasures, such as its skin, which could be made into soft armor.
Or its fangs, which could be refined into a poisonous weapon.
Even its flesh and blood, after processing, could be taken by martial artists to enhance their physique and improve their poison resistance.
But for Zhang Ruochen, while the serpent's skin, fangs, and meat were good things, he no longer valued them highly.
After all, he now had millions of spirit crystals on him—what treasure couldn't he buy?
The higher one's cultivation, the greater one's wealth, and the higher one's standards.
Of course, there were still some things on the Black Wind Giant Serpent that Zhang Ruochen found worthwhile.
For example, the gall bladder.
"Tear!"
Zhang Ruochen carefully cut open the skin, digging out a three-colored gall bladder and a piece of spirit meat weighing over two hundred jin.
A rich fragrance emanated from the spirit meat, like a blood-and-flesh spiritual medicine; just one whiff made one feel refreshed and invigorated.
"A fourth-rank mid-level barbarian beast is many times stronger than a fourth-rank low-level one. Its spirit meat is a highly nourishing food."
The Black Wind Giant Serpent, roughly equivalent in strength to a Heavenly Extreme Realm late-stage or small extreme position martial artist, was indeed a formidable barbarian beast.
Though it was only over two hundred jin of spirit meat, its value was dozens of times greater than all the flesh and blood of the Black Wind Giant Serpent combined.
Even a Heavenly Extreme Realm initial-stage martial artist would gain considerable benefits from consuming it.
Zhang Ruochen divided the spirit meat into ten portions, each stored in a jade container, and carefully put them away.
Then, his gaze fixed on the fist-sized gall bladder, his eyes lighting up with even more excitement than when he looked at the spirit meat.
The gall bladder displayed three colors: black, white, and yellow.
"Three-colored—this Black Wind Giant Serpent has cultivated for three hundred years. Its gall bladder is comparable to a six-hundred-year-old spiritual medicine. What a treasure!"
Putting away the gall bladder, Zhang Ruochen returned to the shore.
He looked up at the sky.
The setting sun hung low, the horizon burning like flames, even the water turning golden.
"It seems I won't make it to Death City today."
Zhang Ruochen wasn't in a hurry to press on. Even if he was going to open the underwater Dragon Palace, there was no rush. He had waited three months; what was one more night?
"Tonight, I'll refine the three-colored gall bladder and see how much my cultivation improves."
Zhang Ruochen found a fairly secluded valley and set up a campfire.
He sat beside the fire, took out the three-colored gall bladder, treated it to remove toxins, then swallowed it and began to refine it.
The energy within the three-colored gall bladder was extremely cold; Zhang Ruochen felt as if he had swallowed a piece of dark ice. Fortunately, he had refined many Ice Pulse Pills before, so he could easily withstand the chill.
While refining the gall bladder, Zhang Ruochen also used its yin-cold power to cultivate the five sword waves in his right hand.
"Taiyin Pulse Sword Wave!"
Zhang Ruochen formed his thumb into a sword and struck out quickly.
"Whoosh!"
The air around him suddenly turned frigid.
A pale blue sword wave shot from his thumb, striking the stone wall behind the valley. With a thunderous roar, it left a three-meter-wide crater on the wall, as if hit by a meteor.
The surrounding stone wall cracked, emitting a hissing sound, and was sealed by a layer of ice.
The "Taiyin Pulse Sword Wave" in his left thumb had officially reached the minor success realm.
"Taijing Pulse Sword Wave!"
Zhang Ruochen changed his hand seal, pointing with his right index finger.
A sword qi shot from his fingertip, leaving an icy trail on the ground.
"Boom!"
Another crater appeared on the stone wall, causing damage similar to the previous sword wave.
Zhang Ruochen struck again, this time retracting his index finger and thumb, leaving only the middle, ring, and little fingers of his right hand.
He struck with all three fingers at once.
"Zhongling Pulse Sword Wave!"
"Taiyuan Pulse Sword Wave!"
"Shaoyue Pulse Sword Wave!"
Three sword qis flew out almost simultaneously, leaving three more craters on the distant stone wall.
Two of the craters were the same size as the previous ones, but the "Shaoyue Pulse Sword Wave" only left a one-meter-wide pit on the wall.
"The Black Wind Giant Serpent's gall bladder is truly excellent. It helped me simultaneously cultivate the Taiyin Pulse Sword Wave, Taijing Pulse Sword Wave, Zhongling Pulse Sword Wave, and Taiyuan Pulse Sword Wave to minor success, leaving only the Shaoyue Pulse Sword Wave still at the entry level."
Zhang Ruochen was quite satisfied. Before coming to the Tongming River, he never expected to cultivate four sword waves to minor success in such a short time.
Sword waves at the minor success level had several times the power.
After refining the three-colored gall bladder, Zhang Ruochen felt his martial arts cultivation had improved significantly, nearing the peak of the Earth Extreme Realm great extreme position.
Additionally, his eyesight, hearing, and spiritual power had all slightly improved. His five senses were sharper, and the world around him seemed clearer.
In the middle of the night, Zhang Ruochen was suddenly jolted awake from his cultivation. His ears twitched slightly, and he muttered to himself, "Surrounded, huh. They've caught up, but I wonder which faction they're from?"
He could already hear their footsteps, breathing, and even heartbeats. Though the enemies were still far away, Zhang Ruochen had a thorough understanding of them.
Among the enemies in the darkness, several had formidable cultivations, even stronger than Zhang Ruochen's current self. Only by using all his trump cards could he possibly defeat them.
As the powerful enemies drew closer, Zhang Ruochen remained perfectly calm. He picked up a branch from the ground and added it to the fire.
"Crack, crack!"
The firewood in the campfire emitted faint popping sounds, sending up sparks.
"Rustle, rustle!"
A foot beneath the ground, a metal whip covered in sharp barbs, like a metal snake, surged forward rapidly, heading toward Zhang Ruochen.
When the metal whip was just three meters from Zhang Ruochen, it burst out of the ground with a "whoosh," spinning with its barbs, aiming to coil around his neck.
The tip of the metal whip was a three-inch-long spike, glowing with a purple light, clearly coated with poison.
Zhang Ruochen's lips curled into a smile. He grabbed a branch and held it between two fingers.
Spiritual Fire True Qi flowed from his fingertips, enveloping the branch, and he struck it against the metal whip.
"Clink!"
The branch, wreathed in Spiritual Fire, accurately hit the whip four feet from its tip, dispersing the true qi within it.
An instant later, the metal whip rose again, making a "swish, swish" sound as it struck at Zhang Ruochen's back.
At the same time, the whip's owner emerged from the darkness.
She was a woman who looked nearly thirty, clad in golden armor that tightly wrapped her chest and hips, but left her long, snow-white waist and legs exposed.
She let out a sharp cry, moving like a phantom, continuously striking with the metal whip, executing a refined whip technique that completely enveloped Zhang Ruochen within its range.
The entire valley was filled with dancing golden light.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged on the ground, appearing relaxed and carefree, continuously striking out with branches, each time accurately repelling the metal whip.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, a flaming arrow, trailing a phoenix tail, flew from the distant darkness, aimed at Zhang Ruochen.
In the blink of an eye, the arrow crossed over ten li, entered the valley, and struck precisely at Zhang Ruochen's brow.
Shooting an arrow over ten li while maintaining its force—this opponent was undoubtedly a top-tier archery expert. Not only was his arm strength astonishing, but his eyesight was also beyond that of ordinary martial artists.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze turned serious. He immediately grabbed the hilt of the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Whoosh!"
The ancient sword left its sheath, dragging a brilliant sword light, forming a crescent-shaped sword qi over ten meters in diameter in the air.
"Boom!"
The phoenix-tailed flaming arrow collided with the sword qi, producing a deafening roar that violently shook the spiritual energy throughout the valley.
The Phoenix Feather Arrow immediately exploded, turning into a rain of fire that shot out in all directions.
The woman with the metal whip immediately retreated to avoid the impact of the fire rain.
The fire rain also flew toward Zhang Ruochen.
But at a distance of one meter from him, it was blocked by a layer of true qi shield, so the fire rain fell to the ground, turning into grains of iron sand.
"Swish!"
A man holding a crimson great bow and carrying a quiver of arrows flew out from the darkness like a great bird.
(Extra chapter)