Chapter 14: The Great Battle Against the Starvation Python

The giant sword bought Qin Shu a few moments of time.

He retreated without hesitation.

A streak of blade light flashed across the sky as he arrived within the Domain of Good Fortune.

Qin Shu spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped the corner of his lips. His expression grave, he said, “At least late Core Formation stage. I knew it wouldn’t be easy; good thing we encountered them ahead of schedule.”

Two successive bursts of true essence had injured his qi vessels.

Seated on a green lotus leaf, Qin Shu opened his mouth and drew in a gale-force breath of fortune energy. The damage to his qi vessels rapidly healed under its nourishing effect.

The entire process took only an instant. He felt a momentary tingling sensation throughout his body, but it was bearable.

Without delay, he summoned the Qingping Sword Pill.

“Number One, you handle the rear. Clean up those smaller ones while I deal with the big guy upfront.”

“This venerable one understands.” The number one lotus root duplicate leaped onto a water-type lotus leaf, employing the Water Element Great Escape technique. By controlling the vital energy of water, he formed numerous water arrows that suspended in mid-air, ready to fend off incoming monsters.

Meanwhile, having taken hold of the Qingping Sword Pill, Qin Shu glared coldly forward.

His hands swept through the air, gathering the vital energies of the Five Elements.

“The Five Elements Cycle!”

Standing atop the lotus leaf, his understanding of the Five Elements Great Escape deepened significantly in that moment.

The five Five Elements Sword Lotuses faced forward, their tips pointing ahead, with the Qingping Sword Pill positioned between them.

“Come on, let’s see what you’ve got!” he thought, secretly anticipating the arrival of that giant snake.

That serpent is probably a descendant of the ancient Ba Snake, likely possessing an already formed demonic core.

However, due to the limitations of this Abyss World fragment, it hasn’t been able to reach the fourth rank.

Based on their previous encounter, Qin Shu had roughly estimated his chances. Within the Fortune Force domain, he could unleash infinite bursts of power, and with the Cyan Lotus Sword Pill in hand, he stood a fighting chance.

In the distance, waves of mud surged.

“It’s here.”

Qin Shu’s gaze sharpened as he pushed his palms forward.

Five-colored light blossomed as the sword lotuses erupted with sword qi, converging towards a single point.

It truly was ten thousand strands of sword qi, all directed at one precise location.

“Roar!”

As a snake-type monster beast, the Hungry Eater Python unexpectedly emitted a roar akin to a lion’s, surprising even Qin Shu.

Those ten thousand strands of sword qi condensed into solid form, each blade seemingly tangible and real.

Ding-dong…

The sword qi struck against the snake scales, shattering upon impact but transforming into finer, more penetrating strands that relentlessly eroded the python’s defenses.

Standing within the Fortune Force domain, Qin Shu allowed his true essence to surge without restraint. The five sword lotuses before him expelled an unending torrent of sword qi, mirroring the inexhaustible nature of his inner power.

At first, the Hungry Eater Python could still rely on its powerful physical defenses to ward off the sword glares’ assaults as it rapidly closed in on Qin Shu.

But with each successive blow from the sword glares shattering against its body, the sheen gradually faded from its snake scales.

A sense of impending danger surged within it.

Yet some mysterious will seemed to prevent it from retreating.

“Ao~!”

With a mighty roar, the python twisted its body and dove into the depths of the swamp.

“Trying to escape?”

Qin Shu’s mind raced, instantly grasping the Hungry Eater Python’s plan.

The Five Elements Sword Lotus transformed entirely into an earthen hue.

“Earth Submersion!” He too plunged beneath the swamp, sensing the python’s location.

His earth-type sword glare erupted forth.

In the swamp’s depths, far from impeding his progress, the earth-type sword glare actually accelerated.

This was the realm where the python reigned supreme; never had it imagined that Qin Shu could pose a threat here.

The earth-type sword glare grew even more potent, enveloping metal-type energy within itself. Before long, it breached the python’s defenses.

The python swept its massive tail, returning once again to the surface. Opening its maw, it spat out a column of venom towards the Cyan lotus.

By now, a flower bud had formed at the tip of the Cyan Lotus’s stem.

“Guard!”

One by one, earthen walls materialized before the cyan lotus.

The column of venom pierced through ten earthen walls before finally losing its momentum. It landed in the swamp, sending up a noxious cloud.

In the next instant, the shattered walls coalesced into an enormous sword, cleaved the air, and stabbed deeply into the gaping maw of the Hungry Eater Python.

The force sent the python staggering.

Qin Shu burst forth from the earth, the four remaining Earth Traveling Sword Lotuses transforming once again into all five elements.

“Five Elements Mutual Generation!”

Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth—the five sword lotuses rotated clockwise, their blossoming sword glares converging on the center, where the Qingping Sword Pill sat.

Qin Shu aimed for the weakened scales at the seven-inch mark on the python’s body.

With divine will guiding his blade, the Qingping Sword Pill condensed the sword glares from all five sword lotuses into a jade-green flash that seemed to tear apart the very void as it appeared before the python.

By the time the Hungry Eater Python realized what had happened, it was too late to dodge.

The sword glare surrounding the Qingping Sword Pill tore through the gap in the snake’s scales, while the core itself burrowed inside.

Qin Shu’s divine sense attached to the sword pill, controlling it as it began to wreak havoc within the python’s body.

The Qingping Sword Pill was razor-sharp, and the python’s insides were soft—it couldn’t possibly fend off such an attack. The pain caused the creature’s body to thrash violently, churning the swamp and sending mud flying in all directions.

Qin Shu closed his eyes, concentrating. The sword pill moved with unstoppable force through the python’s body, swiftly locating the monster’s core.

At that moment, the monster core within the Hungry Eater Python was still soft, not yet fully formed.

With a single stab from the sword pill…

Outside, the writhing body of the python reached its limit before suddenly going still.

It was dead.

Qin Shu controlled the sword pill to pierce through the python’s forehead and emerge from its body.

Unwilling to let the python approach the Cyan Lotus, he swiftly caused its corpse to dissipate into nothingness after its death.

“Finally got rid of it,” Qin Shu said with a furrowed brow. Fighting across ranks wasn’t impossible, but it certainly was mentally exhausting.

Due to the battle with the python, monsters in this area had largely been cleared out.

In another direction, his number one duplicate continuously used water arrows to kill encroaching first- and second-rank monsters.

After these beasts died, their bodies were deeply buried in the swamp, then dragged away and digested by the roots of the Cyan Lotus.

On top of the lotus stem, the flower bud gradually began to bloom.

A fragrant aroma wafted through the air.

Qin Shu took a deep breath, rapidly restoring the divine sense he’d expended during combat.

The sensation was pure bliss—simply exquisite.

“Ahhhhh!” Unable to contain himself, he let out three loud cries.

Then, he continued condensing sword energy, launching further attacks on the monsters surrounding the lotus pond.

As the Cyan Lotus blossomed, the lotus pond expanded to cover an area of approximately one kilometer in diameter.

The lotus bud was as large as a water vat, capable of supporting a person sitting atop it.

Surveying his surroundings, Qin Shu could sense the Abyssal essence continuously converging on the Cyan Lotus—a passive process.

At the muddy bottom of the swamp, segments of lotus root broke away, forming individual clones that dispersed around the lotus pond. These clones manipulated the surrounding five elements’ power to fend off waves of encroaching monsters.

As time passed, the Cyan Lotus fully blossomed.

Its jade-green petals were fleshy in appearance, but this was merely the first stage of blooming—the most basic form.

To reach the second stage would require an immensely long span of time.

Within the heart of the lotus, a single Cyan Lotus core formed.

This time, only one core developed, with no extras.

However, the five lotus leaves floating on the surface emitted a subtle, multicolored glow.

Qin Shu inwardly anticipated what these five lotus leaves might evolve into.

Time trickled by. Glancing at his communicative wristwatch, he noted that a full day had passed.

The lotus petals began to wilt.

In the mud, the lotus roots also started to shrink, their cloned forms growing feeble.

The essence of the entire Cyan Lotus plant mostly converged towards the center of the lotus seedpod, focusing on the Cyan Lotus core.

A small portion diffused into the five elemental lotus leaves.

With a thought, Qin Shu spat out the Qingping Sword Pill.