Chapter 23: An Ancient Beast! (2/2)

His head buzzed for quite some time. Eventually, Meng Hao slowly opened his eyes, and they glittered like they had before. A burst of popping sounds rang out. He seemed to have grown a bit taller, and though his skin was still dark, a new air emanated from him.

“The fifth level of Qi Condensation.” Meng Hao took a deep breath, then smiled. He had reached the fifth level of Qi Condensation. Now he could practice the Wind Walking technique. That, combined with flying swords, would give him much greater speed both in movement and attack. It was completely beyond the fourth level.

“Dry Spirit Pills really are beyond ordinary,” said Meng Hao, looking down at the two Dry Spirit Pills in front of him. “But, they still have their limitations. Perhaps after consuming a lot of them, they will become less effective, just like the pills in the past. I wonder if I will be able to use them to get to the sixth level of Qi Condensation.” As he contemplated this, his expression suddenly changed. The roars of the Demonic python now carried a tone of misery. Booming sounds rang out. Meng Hao leaned forward, and he looked outside of the fissure.

As he looked, his pupils constricted and his hands clenched into fists.

Not far away on the mountaintop, was a white-robed youth, extraordinarily beautiful, as if his perfect body was a blessing from heaven. A golden flying sword rotated around him, and the wind blew furiously around as he battled with the Demonic python.

It was none other than… Wang Tengfei.

He smiled calmly, and his kind, amiable eyes made him seem like the sun. He seemed to glow, as if he could eliminate all the shadows around him.

When he attacked, he seemed perfect, as if the Heavens approved his each and every movement.

Around him were at least nine others, one of whom was Shangguan Xiu. He flicked his sleeves as he took the lead in battling the Demonic python. As for the others, all of them had Qi Condensation levels of the seventh level or higher. All were strangers whom Meng Hao had never seen before. They surrounded the Demonic python, preparing to kill it. Booming sounds rang out, and the python let out astonishing roars.

Meng Hao stared at Wang Tengfei, not moving a muscle. But deep in his eyes was a dark look that slowly grew, replacing any mildness until it filled his eyes.

After a short bit of time, the Demonic python’s roars grew more and more miserable, and wounds covered its body. Blood splattered everywhere. This truly was its weakest state. The surrounding Cultivators attacked even fiercerly. Wang Tengfei smiled, as perfect as ever, his eyes filled with an indiscernible excitement.

He had waited for this day for a long time.

Suddenly, from to peaks of nine surrounding mountains, shining silvery light coiled up and linked together to form a spell. The spell ever so slowly filled the air, then broke into countless silver threads which then turned into a silver fog that shot down toward the ground. It seemed that they were preparing to seal the Demonic python.

But, just then, the python looked up toward the Heavens and let out a roar which resounded out over the black mountain, shaking everything. Suddenly, on top of the python’s head appeared the ghostly image of a beast.

The creature was bright red, with enormous wings and a hideous-looking head. Its sharp claws glittered, and it had a long tail. The instant the phantom appeared, the swirling winds in the sky seemed to change colors, and astonished expressions appeared on the faces of everyone present. Only Wang Tengfei’s eyes appeared more excited. Fortunately, the ghostly image appeared for only a moment, then disappeared.

When the ghostly image disappeared, the Demonic python shot out of the deep fissure, its body sleek and smooth. It let out a frightening roar and spit reddish mist out of its mouth, an attack which then shot out in all directions. The Cultivators couldn’t avoid it, not even Wang Tengfei, and they could only watch helplessly as it enveloped them, then shot out into the distance. Because of the attack, when the silver fog fell from the sky, it didn’t just fall down upon the Demonic python, but Wang Tengfei and the others as well.

As the silver fog descended upon them, Meng Hao’s heart began to thump wildly. Before, he had seen a sword sticking out from the Demonic python’s body. But as of now, the sword was nowhere to be seen. Without the slightest hesitation, he leaped up and, moving faster than he ever had in his life, jumped onto a flying sword and shot toward the top of the mountain and the large fissure.

“Go! Go! Go!” Meng Hao said under his breath. Without any regard for safety, he charged into the fissure-like cave, ignoring the strange odor which filled the air. As he moved deeper into the cave, he saw a massive snakeskin, stuck into which was the small, primitive-looking sword.

Without even a pause, he grabbed the sword, his heart thumping, face flushed with excitement. Just as he was about to leave, his eyes widened. Despite his extreme level of excitement, he was still able to gasp in shock. The thing really was a python skin, but it was also something else, something shockingly frightening that Meng Hao had never before seen in his life.

It was … the corpse of a creature. A massive, shriveled corpse, several hundreds of meters long. The black mountain seemed to be hollow inside, and the creature’s corpse filled more than half of it.

Also visible were two gigantic, mostly disintegrated wings. Despite being dead, the creature’s massive, hideous head was incredibly frightening. This creature looked the same as the ghostly image which had just appeared, and now it was clear that the so-called Demonic python was actually the creature’s tail.

“A tail that becomes a demon!” said Meng Hao, stupefied. “What Demonic beast is this?! If it’s a Demonic beast… it must have a Demonic Core!” He clenched his jaw. Based on his experience collecting Demonic Cores, it wouldn’t be located in the creature’s belly. Most Demonic Cores were located in the head. He dashed toward the horrific-looking head, and with a swipe of the primitive-looking sword, split it open. Sure enough, inside was a shriveled Demonic Core. He grabbed it, and was about to leave, when suddenly his heart began thumping even harder. From his current position, he could see that beneath the head of the creature’s corpse was a skeleton.

Who knew how many years the skeleton had lay crushed under the head. Next to the skeleton was a golden-colored bag of holding.

Blood boiling, Meng Hao suddenly had the feeling that his destiny was thick in this place. He had acquired the sword, the Demonic Core and now a golden bag of holding. He snatched it up, then shot out of the cave like the wind, and then down the mountain, filled with incredible excitement.

“I’ve struck it rich! This time, I’ve really freaking struck it rich!”

Meng Hao had only been inside the cave for the space of about ten breaths, and in ten more, he was gone from the mountain. The moment his shadow disappeared, a shape began to descend from the silver fog that hung in the sky. It was a person wearing a white robe; Wang Tengfei. With a flick of his sleeve, he floated down slowly. He looked around for a moment, then sped toward the cave.