Time passed swiftly. During the two days Ling Pengyun had guarded Azure Stone Lake, the Demon Serpent within the lake had indeed stopped coming out to commit violence, likely because Ling Pengyun had patrolled the lakeshore some days earlier.
This made Ling Pengyun secretly speculate that the Demon Serpent in the lake was probably not highly cultivated—at the very least, it could not be a Qi Training Late Stage Demon Serpent.
If the Demon Serpent's cultivation had far surpassed his, why would it hide from Ling Pengyun? When Ling Pengyun had inspected Azure Stone Lake two days ago, it could have simply burst out, slain him, swallowed him whole, and transformed him into cultivation. Would that not have been better?
To demon beasts, cultivators were like miraculous pills, capable of boosting their cultivation. Moreover, cultivators' flesh was more delicious than that of mortals; no demon beast could refuse to devour a cultivator.
At Ling Pengyun's instruction, Ling Dong entered the lake alone that day, pretending to catch fish within its waters.
To make it convincing, he wore only an inner vest of armor.
Yet even if he had worn heavy armor from head to toe, it would still have been difficult for him to preserve his life against a Qi Training Demon Beast.
Meanwhile, Ling Pengyun concealed his aura and hid inside the house closest to Azure Stone Lake, prepared at any moment to support Ling Dong, who was more than fifty zhang away in the lake, luring out the Demon Serpent.
After waiting a full half hour, there was still no movement in the lake. Ling Dong had caught quite a few fish instead.
Yet he felt not the slightest joy. His clothes had long since been soaked through with cold sweat, and his heart remained hanging in his throat as he desperately suppressed his fear of the Demon Serpent in the lake.
Not knowing where the danger lay, yet knowing full well that danger was coming—such a feeling was unbearably miserable. The fear in his heart grew without limit, and he had already imagined dozens of ways the Demon Serpent might kill him.
Second by second, time passed. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a huge black shadow flashing through the lake more than ten zhang away.
His heart shuddered. He did not dare look too closely and hurriedly turned away, immediately guessing that it was the Demon Serpent.
Yet he did not dare cry out or flee frantically back to shore. He continued pretending to fish.
The Demon Serpent was adept in water. Although this was a shallow area, it was still some distance from the shore. Ling Dong did not dare guarantee that the Immortal Elder from Azure Stone Mountain could arrive in time to stop and slay the Demon Serpent.
If he failed to do so, this water-dwelling Demon Serpent might escape and bring disaster upon the villagers of Azure Stone Village again in the future.
Ling Dong did not wish to see such a thing happen. As the Village Chief of Azure Stone Village, if too many people in the village under his management died unnatural deaths, he would not only be dismissed from his post, but might never again walk the road of power and prestige. In the end, he would remain nothing more than an unremarkable farmer.
His ancestors had all been cultivators. Though he himself was a mortal, he was unwilling to sink into obscurity. Rather than being dismissed by the clan in the future, he might as well take a gamble—let the Demon Serpent come closer before calling for the Immortal Elder's aid, giving the Immortal Elder a better chance to stop the water-dwelling beast from escaping.
The enormous black shadow moved extremely quickly. In no more than an instant, it had come within three zhang of Ling Dong.
Just as the Demon Serpent lurking beneath the water was about to swallow the delicious human "Ling Dong," who was so close at hand, in a single bite, a Black Iron Flying Sword shot over from the direction of Azure Stone Village. In an instant, it struck the Demon Serpent's head as it suddenly burst from the water.
The Black Iron Flying Sword was incomparably sharp. With one strike, it shattered the Demon Serpent's hard blue scales and pierced an inch deep into the flesh of its head.
"Hiss!" The blue Demon Serpent roared in pain.
"Ling Dong, you can retreat now!"
A somewhat excited voice came from the direction of Azure Stone Village.
When Ling Dong saw the Demon Serpent reveal itself, its thick and massive body filling his sight, he had long since been seized by the urge to flee. Now that the Immortal Elder had spoken, he immediately activated the qi and blood within his body, mobilized his Innate Perfection cultivation, and pushed off with both feet, fleeing rapidly toward the shore.
Immediately afterward, two Ice Spikes flew over from the direction of Azure Stone Village.
Yet their targets were not the Demon Serpent, but the lake water around it.
The moment the two Ice Spikes touched the water, they rapidly froze it, turning all the lake water within half a zhang of the Demon Serpent into ice and temporarily trapping it.
The Demon Serpent was not helpless either. When it realized it had been trapped in ice, it flew into a rage, shaking its head to fling away the Black Iron Flying Sword embedded in its flesh. Then it swung its millstone-thick body and directly smashed apart the surrounding ice.
After breaking free, it did not flee. Instead, it roared furiously at the young man in Daoist robes rushing toward it from the village, opening its jaws and spitting a three-inch-long water arrow at him.
The young man charging toward the Demon Serpent in Azure Stone Lake's shallows was naturally Ling Pengyun, the cultivator.
Seeing the water arrow fired by the Demon Serpent, Ling Pengyun gripped the Black Iron Shield in his left hand and raised it before himself. With a wave of his hand, he controlled the Black Iron Sword that had been flung away by the Demon Serpent, stabilizing it before sending it once more to strike at the blue Demon Serpent.
This Azure Scale Water Python has the same cultivation as I do—both of us are at the Qi Training Middle Stage. With my strength alone, I fear it will be difficult to keep it here. Should anything change, it will certainly flee by controlling the water!
It seems I can only use the three Fire Arrow Talismans given by the Lineage!
You cannot catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. If this Demon Serpent escapes today, slaughtering it in the future will surely be fraught with difficulties!
With a thought, Ling Pengyun immediately made up his mind. He slapped the Storage Bag at his waist with his right hand, calling forth three Spirit Talismans flickering with crimson spiritual radiance. He infused them with spiritual power and flung them out.
Stirred by the spiritual power, the three Spirit Talismans transformed into three Fire Arrows five feet long and blasted toward the Azure Scale Water Python in the shallow waters of Azure Stone Lake.
At that very moment, the water arrow launched by the Azure Scale Water Python struck Ling Pengyun's Black Iron Shield solidly.
"Clang!"
Though the water arrow was blocked, the tremendous force transmitted through the Black Iron Shield halted Ling Pengyun's charge, forcing him to stagger several steps back before he could recover.
Elsewhere.
In the shallow waters of Azure Stone Lake, when the Azure Scale Water Python saw three Fire Arrows with powerful auras rushing toward it, its expression changed drastically. Those three attacks were enough to threaten its life.
It was too late to dive into the water. The three Fire Arrows were too fast; it could only block them.
It hissed, spiritual light flashing around its body as it formed three Water Shields in rapid succession before itself.
Only after the three Water Shields stood before it did it feel safe enough to dive into the water.
Seeing that the Azure Scale Water Python intended to flee, Ling Pengyun changed his hand seal with one hand. The Black Iron Flying Sword attacking the Azure Scale Water Python sped up by another thirty percent, and in the span of a breath, it struck the Azure Scale Water Python's head once more.
This strike was another thirty percent stronger, and the Black Iron Sword sank nearly an inch and a half deep into the Azure Scale Water Python's skull.
"Hiss!" The Azure Scale Water Python roared in pain again. Yet aside from casting Ling Pengyun a resentful look, it used no other means and continued diving into the water.
It understood perfectly well that the three Water Shields it had summoned could not completely block the three Fire Arrows.
The reason it had summoned the Water Shields was only to delay the Fire Arrows for a short while and give itself a chance to escape.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
High in the air, the three Fire Arrows struck the three Water Shields standing before the Azure Scale Giant Python.
Though the three Fire Arrows had been transformed from Spirit Talismans, they were exceptional among Tier 1 Middle Grade Spirit Talismans. All had been crafted by the Ling Clan's First Rank High Grade Spirit Talisman Master, Third Elder Ling Yunfeng. Each Fire Arrow possessed power equivalent to a Qi Training Sixth Layer cultivator unleashing the Fire Arrow Art at full strength. Thus, their power was formidable, and the three Water Shields summoned by the Demon Serpent shattered in a single strike.
Yet the three Fire Arrows still retained thirty percent of their power. With no Water Shields left to obstruct them, the three Fire Arrows, guided by Ling Pengyun's divine sense, slammed viciously into the Azure Scale Water Python's massive body.
The scales on the Azure Scale Water Python's body were blasted apart, and three wounds several inches wide appeared upon its body.
As the attack landed, the Azure Scale Giant Python successfully dived into the lake in the very next instant.
Though severely injured and wracked with pain, it hated Ling Pengyun to the bone. But now that it had suffered grave wounds, it did not dare linger. It hurriedly swayed its body, controlled the water, and fled toward the depths of Azure Stone Lake.
"Damn it!" Ling Pengyun, who had just reached the lakeshore, cursed inwardly when he saw the Azure Scale Water Python escape beneath the water. The worst outcome had still come to pass.
He had spent three Fire Arrow Talismans worth nine Spirit Stones, yet still allowed the Demon Serpent to escape. He truly could not accept it.
This made him hesitate over whether he should risk diving into the water to pursue the Azure Scale Water Python, which had been severely wounded by the three Fire Arrows.
My cultivation is not high. If I go deep underwater, my strength will surely be greatly reduced!
Though that Demon Serpent is evenly matched with me, it has suffered grave injuries and its strength has also greatly diminished!
If I let this Demon Serpent leave today, it will certainly act far more cautiously when it commits violence in the future, and slaughtering it will become even more difficult. Besides, even if it escapes this place, I will have wasted three Fire Arrow Talismans for nothing and achieved no success. I truly cannot bear it!
Whether for Azure Stone Village or to avoid wasting those three Fire Arrow Talismans, he was determined to slaughter that Demon Serpent today.
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