Chapter 64

Chapter 64, Energy Fountainhead

The python frequently swallowed things live, so it did not really think much of it . A massive python like it several hundred meters in length swallowing a tiny Zi Chen was no problem . Actually, it wasn’t even full . That barely counted as a meal .

If there had been no accidents, Zi Chen would have entered the python’s stomach, resulting in certain death .

But there was just one tiny problem . The black sword gripped in Zi Chen’s hand was a top-quality weapon . While it was unable to break the defence of the Xiantian realm python, Zi Chen was within the python, the most tender area on it without any armour-like scales for defence . 1

Zi Chen’s entire body surged with Zhen Qi . The coal-black longsword shone . With a sickening plop, the black sword sunk deeply into the python’s body, leaving only the hilt visible .

The python twisted in pain, letting out a roar as it sent large waves roiling over the lake’s surface . It began to swallow forcefully .

A strong attractive force began to pull within its stomach, as if it wanted to suck Zi Chen in .

Zi Chen grasped the hilt of the sword with both hands obstinately . The attractive force pulled both Zi Chen and the sword down together towards its stomach, but the sword left a deep gash in its wake .

Fresh blood spurted from the gash like a tiny river .

This was all Zi Chen could rely on . Whether he would survive or not depended on this too . The blood of the python violently streamed out from the walls of its stomach…

“Ssss!”

Within the lake, the python thrashed about like an incensed dragon wriggling its body up and down . The stabbing pain within its stomach was intolerable . It spasmed, its massive body whipping about in the water .

The python twisted its body . An even stronger attractive force began to tug at Zi Chen, determined to send Zi Chen straight into the pits of its belly . At the same time, the python stretched open its mouth and began to gulp down large volumes of water from the lake .

Like an angry dragon absorbing water, the endless volume of water rushed towards the belly of the python, crashing onto Zi Chen’s body . Zi Chen’s body burst with light as he tightened his hold on the sword, allowing the sword to cut wider into the serpent’s body as it tore towards the serpent’s abdomen .

The python was large; although the hilt of the sword was buried deeply within the walls of the snake, it had not perforated through the snake . The intense agony of its stomach cut open drove the serpent into a frenzy . Raising its head over thirty meters high, it suddenly dived straight into the waters of the lake while roaring . The lake exploded with a bang, water flying everywhere .

Zi Chen was still persistently hanging on . The attractive force within the serpent’s belly was beginning to increase in intensity . The digestive mucus from the walls of the serpent’s insides dripped onto Zi Chen . It reeked of a fishy odour . Zi Chen gasped . The mucus felt like he was being roasted by an intense inferno . His powerful physique had unexpectedly shown traces of corrosion .

“Fuck, if this goes on, I’ll sooner or later be pulled into the serpent’s belly . ” Zi Chen’s face changed . His hand weakly shone with silver light as he pointed towards the walls of the serpent .

In the next instant, the unmistakable rumbling of thunder boomed within the python’s body, like the rolling of thunder within an overcast sky . 2

Zi Chen held onto the black sword with one hand, launching attacks with his other . Did he want to kill the python while within its body?

“Ss!”

The python hissed in agony, leaping ten meters from the lake surface before crashing down . It rampaged in the lake, sending sprays of water several tens of meters high as waves crashed .

Zi Chen was swung around like a ragdoll, but he held onto the black sword with an iron grip for dear life . If he slipped, he would be digested .

~

The serpent’s thrashing alerted the many cultivators watching .

“Don’t tell me Zi Chen still isn’t dead?”

“It has been an hour, and the python is still thrashing about . It looks like Zi Chen is still alive . ”

“Zi Chen’s still alive . Thank goodness . ”

Some people rejoiced while others worried .

The lives of many cultivators had been lost under the maws of the ferocious beasts, but Zi Chen was still alive . Zi Chen, the man who was supposed to have died long ago .

But this was also good . With Zi Chen still alive, the python had no time to kill other people .

Currently, the entire lake was bubbling . The serpent was like the legendary dragon of old that could control rain and floods . It wriggled its body, occasionally rising and occasionally falling . Endless sprays of water burst from the lake .

“This idiot’s life is really big . To think he’s still alive . ”

At the summit, Ling Chen’s eyes shone as he stared at the lake, fixated . What a surprise .

“What should we do? People are going to charge out of the valley soon . ” Xie Qiu asked .

“Gather men to block up the valley’s mouth . Not a single person is to be left alive . ” Ling Chen stated . He spun around, flying down from the summit of the valley .

~

Zi Chen slid down another several tens of meters, before he met sight with something above his head that resembled an enormous gem . It sparkled with a translucent, sapphire light within the pitch-black confines of the serpent’s stomach .

“That’s?”

Zi Chen’s eyes glowed . The sapphire gem seemed to pulse like a living object . Now, it was lurching repeatedly .

“It’s the gall bladder of the serpent!”

Zi Chen exclaimed in astonishment . Rumor had it that snakes were different from the other animals; the energy and soul of it did not rest in its heart, but instead converged at the gall bladder of the snake . The entire gall bladder of the snake was the snake’s source of energy .

The serpent’s gall bladder lurched, like it was a beating heart . It provided energy to the snake . The gall bladder of the snake was dark blue, bright and sparkling, like it was a large piece of sapphire . It was as big as a human’s head, and flickered with light .

Zi Chen’s pulse quickened . The gall bladder of the snake had genuine value . It surpassed the value of a precious stone of the same dimensions by miles, this was a Xiantian realm serpent’s fountainhead of energy, something that was not many . It was not any less worth than a thousand-year-old spirit medicine .

“It’s that, if I can get that, my strength will definitely make a breakthrough . Furthermore, I’ll be able to kill the serpent . It’s killing two birds with one stone . ” Zi Chen breathed . His breath quickened, not in excitement, but because the air within the snake’s stomah was limited . Zi Chen was finding it harder to breathe .

The python’s gall bladder was several meters above his head . Furthermore, there was a terrifying attraction force within the stomach of the snake, and the huge volumes of water crashing down from above his head . If Zi Chen wanted to cover several meters of distance up, it was an extremely challenging feat .

“Screw it!”

This was an opportunity that only came once . Bets and gambles were mandatory . The second Zi Chen leaped up, he would be inevitably yanked straight into the python’s belly, turning into the python’s food . Hence, he had no choice but to use old methods .

His right hand flickered with silver light . Suddenly stabbing his hand towards the meaty walls of the python, Zi Chen’s entire arm sank into the walls of the python . Retracting the longsword with his left hand, he plunged it above him . Zi Chen had taken the walls of the python as a rock wall, slowing scaling the ‘rock wall’ as he climbed up .

This was the best method he could think of, as well as the safest . But to the python, it was an indescribable method of torture .

The python whined, thrashing about fiercely . The lake shuddered . 3

After an hour of being thrown about, Zi Chen finally reached his destination — the side of the gall bladder . Zi Chen brandished his sword, cutting away sinewny shreds of flesh stuck to the gall bladder and revealing a complete gall bladder .

“That’s it . ”

Zi Chen’s eyes sparkled as his breath quickened . The amount of time left to him was not much; the stomach of the python was gradually being filled with the lake water . The oxygen inside its stomach was rapidly thinning .

The fight outside was becoming fiercer . Many cultivators had died, and the number of casualties was disastrous . Within the python’s stomach, Zi Chen stretched open his mouth and bit at it .

The exterior skin of the gall bladder was very tough . Zi Chen bit it several times, but repelled back . He was unable to break its defense .

“I don’t believe that I can’t bite it open!”

The Zhen Qi within his body began to stir once more . But this time the Zhen Qi converged at his teeth, giving his teeth a silver glow . Zi Chen tore at the python’s gall bladder, his teeth flashing like steel sawtooths .

“Pu!”

The python’s gall bladder was bitten open . Bitter and astringent liquid trickled out from its opening, seeping into Zi Chen’s mouth .

The juice of the gall bladder was unlike spirit medicines; and was not like the solid gall of a bear . This was pure liquid, the essence of energy, although abnormally bitter . When the liquid flowed into his stomach, Zi Chen struggled not to throw it up . Within his stomach, it was overturning seas and rivers . 4

Good medicine tastes bitter . This was the energy origin of a Xiantian realm python, and more than anything, it was bitter . Zi Chen held back the urge to gag as he gulped it down in big mouthfuls . Gudu, gudu, Zi Chen drank as if he was chugging down wine of the finest quality, though the bitter grimace on his face said otherwise .

~

Outside, the python which was wildly thrashing about suddenly shivered, pausing in its frenzy . The crashing sound of the waters ceased .

Lin Xue had been following the lake with her eyes the entire time . When the lake waters began to still, a painful ache crept into her heart . Zi Chen was dead . Her eyes, which were previously brimming with hope, darkened with despair . Hot tears washed down her face .

“He has held on for so long . ”

Su Mengyao’s eyes reddened as tears threatened to seep out of her eyes .

Quiet sighs of sorrow rose from the cultivators . Yet another genius had fallen .

“Ai, a tragedy . If not for this, he would have went far . ”

“A genius that died young . We can only blame his terrible luck . ”

Before the sighs of sorrow had even paused, the lake suddenly shook . The python’s body shot upright . In that instant, its terrifying height stood at several hundred meters, like a colossal obelisk in defiance of the natural order . The several-hundred-meters long body of the serpent leaped out of the water .

Its densely packed scales beamed with viridescent light as its malevolent triangle-shaped head twisted in agony . It whined repeatedly, its strident shrieks cutting into the ears of everyone . Like the collapse of a stone obelisk, the serpent began to slant and topple .

“BOOM!”

The lake shuddered as the ginormous body of the python sent splashes of water over several hundred meters high .

A whine rose from the serpent, but this time its whines were filled with anger and desperation .

“Zi Chen’s still alive? What’s he doing, to give the serpent this much pain?”

“Is he a cockroach that can’t die? Xu Yan perished against that serpent, but he still hasn’t died . ”

“It sounds like it’s roaring in despair, don’t tell me, has Zi Chen found a way to kill the serpent?”

Cries of surprise rose from the cultivators as they gawked . This was inconceivable . At this moment, the waters began to stir and the serpent began to randomly struggle within the lake . A thick tail slapped the water like a long whip .

“Bang!”

The tail of the serpent rose from the lake, swinging carelessly towards the valley walls . A light echo rang out as broken rocks showered down . Dust rose from the ground in small clouds . The tail of the serpent swung again, falling onto the battlefield taking place within the valley this time . Several ferocious beasts and human cultivators were squashed, dying instantly . 5

Drops of lake water fell to the ground like rain .

The python had gone berserk . Like it was trying to run away, its head rammed against the wall of the mountain, sending a loud echo reverberating throughout the valley . Its original cold eyes were now filled with pain . Shivers tore through the body of the python . Like a legendary dragon turning over its body, it sent sprays of water into the air .

With lightning speed, it sped across the battlefield and back into the depths of the lake . Wherever it passed, it brought about gargantuan waves . However, the python’s thrashing was gradually weakening .

~

Within the python, Zi Chen took large bites into the python’s gall bladder . Around two-thirds of the gall bladder had already entered Zi Chen’s stomach . Zi Chen’s stomach had long begun to swell . The Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering technique frantically operated, converting the huge pieces of the gall bladder into energy and absorbing them into his heart .

Fortunately, it was Zi Chen, who possessed a Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering technique and a unfathomable heart . Otherwise, the sole energy from the python would have exploded Zi Chen’s body inside out .

But even with the Heavenly Thunder Body Tempering technique working away, Zi Chen’s belly was still swollen, with signs of exploding . Furthermore, with Zi Chen still gorging down more pieces of the gall bladder, more energy had converged within his body, and were unable to enter his meridians . Zi Chen felt like his stomach was going to burst . Too much energy was rampaging within his body .

This was the energy of a Xiantian realm being . Berserk and frenzied, it greatly exceeded Zi Chen’s capabilities . His body began to shudder, his face contorting with pain none less than the python had suffered .

The only difference was that the pain he was experiencing was due to energy drainage and from over-excessive absorbing of energy .

Chapter 64, END