An Unforeseen Path

The Golden Ringed Python, at the Foundation Establishment Realm, excels at entangling and fighting, and its flesh nourishes its spirit. It is 1.5 feet long and weighs 300 pounds, and it would take two people several days to eat it.

However, people's physical condition cannot be generalized. This giant python could not survive for even half an hour in the mouths of Xiao Ran and Chuyan, who were extremely weak. It turned into a pile of white bones, and even its marrow was sucked dry.

When the flames are extinguished, only empty bones and lingering regret remain.

It shouldn't have been curious enough to peek out and watch humans make fools of themselves; instead, the gecko-man slid in and gutted it.

Humans crawl like geckos, their hearts are as wicked as demons...

Xiao Ran ate and drank his fill, feeling uncomfortably bloated.

Because the digestive ability of the Qi Refining Realm is far inferior to that of the Golden Core Realm, and Xiao Ran's Dantian, which is Balanced Five-Elements Endowment, absorbs Spiritual Power very slowly, he leaned against the grill with a big belly.

She looked like a woman eight months pregnant, with a swollen belly, a rosy complexion, and slightly less dark circles under her eyes.

Chuyan ate her fill but didn't gain any weight. She was instantly revitalized, cheering and jumping for joy. Her not-so-plump figure moved like a rabbit, and her height of less than 1.6 meters made her appear graceful and elegant.

"Let's get started on the second level!"

Xiao Ran stared at her with a sullen face.

"You seem to have forgotten something, haven't you?"

Chuyan pretended to be stunned, then remembered.

How could she forget? Unable to get away with it, she reluctantly came over and gave Xiao Ran a post-dinner massage.

The original task was to massage Xiao Ran's shoulders and back, but now it's to massage his stomach with a gentle spirit-dispelling spell to promote the digestion of the python meat.

She knelt on the ground, bent over, lifted Xiao Ran's clothes to reveal his swollen belly, and pressed her ear against it.

That posture, that expression... it looked exactly like a husband kneeling on his pregnant wife's belly, listening to the baby's movements and heartbeat.

Before Xiao Ran could react, his clothes were ripped off.

What are you doing!

"Shh..."

Chuyan didn't even raise her head, feigning mystery.

"What!"

"Don't speak... I'm listening to the distribution and process of the python meat digestion so I can use the appropriate spell to help you absorb the spirit."

"Is this even possible? "Xiao Ran didn't believe it.

Is this necessary?

Chuyan raised her delicate, jade-like face.

"Ordinary cultivators don't need to do this, but you have a constitution that Balanced Five-Elements Endowment. If you use magic to forcibly digest food, your Spiritual Power will dissipate. You must formulate an appropriate spiritual energy digestion plan based on the distribution and progress of digestion."

At first glance, it seemed like a load of nonsense, a jest from Chuyan to get revenge on Xiao Ran, but Xiao Ran some thought based on his Max Level Medicine ...

Damn, that actually makes some sense! It's the Sword Inheritance Assembly now, so we can't waste our physical and Spiritual Power on resonance to aid digestion. He could only lie half-reclined, letting Chuyan stroke his belly from side to side, frowning as he listened, sometimes nodding in deep thought.

This scene was something he had once imagined—the moment of becoming a husband and father for the first time—but it came to pass in a bizarre way, with his identities switched.

Xiao Ran looked up at the sky and sighed, wanting to cry but unable to shed a tear. In his mind, various memes of him holding a big blade of grass from his past life flashed through his mind.

A scene I'd imagined, a path I'd never considered...

This applies to Xiao Ran, and it also applies to Chuyan.

Half an hour later.

Chuyan was covered in sweat and panting heavily, Xiao Ran had recovered his strength and vitality, and even his dark circles had mostly disappeared.

"Let's begin the second level."

Xiao Ran filled in the hot spring, burying the empty bones and ashes inside, thus creating a hot spring cemetery for the Golden Ringed Python, so that it could soak in the hot spring and enjoy earthly bliss even after death.

Afterwards, he and Chuyan left the Ring Mountain Road and went up into the dense thorn forest.

Each person carries a sword, cutting through thorns and brambles, moving upwards all the way.

Several miles later.

The two then encountered a Ring Mountain Road with an arrow signpost placed every hundred feet along the way, pointing to the Starting Point of the second challenge.

Facing the Clear Mist, following the sign eastward, the two walked in circles for several miles before finally arriving at the entrance to the second checkpoint.

It was a huge opening from which scalding hot, foul-smelling gas gushed out, emitting a sulfurous odor and making a rumbling, hissing sound as the hot gas turned into gas.

The second level is called the Fiery Lava Layer.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, as the name suggests, one can guess that inside the cave must be an underground lava river flowing down from the mountain.

The air was thick with turbidity, a booming sound, a hissing sound... Looking through the cave entrance that seemed to lead to an abyss, this place was truly terrifying.

Chuyan's delicate eyebrows furrowed, her calves trembled slightly, and she couldn't help but feel the urge to retreat.

"The cave entrance hasn't been this noisy in previous years... Do we really have to go in?"

Xiao Ran patted her cowering head and comforted her:

"Don't worry, even if we fail, we won't die; at most, we'll get injured."

Chuyan shrank back suddenly, even more frightened.

Why would I get hurt while carrying a sword? I only fell in love with women because I was afraid of getting hurt Sword Succession!

When she was young, she lived in the palace. Because of her high talent for cultivation and her naturally keen senses, she could hear the sharp screams of her father's newly acquired Imperial Concubine, her Imperial Brother's newly acquired crown princess, or even the newly entered palace maids at night, casting a shadow over her young heart.

One day, she asked her Imperial Brother, "Do women feel pain after they get married?"

My Imperial Brother joked that if I didn't want to feel pain, I could only marry a woman.

Then one day, she saw Lingzhou Yue Zhouyue in the crowd, a man even more handsome than any man, and from then on, she embarked on a path of no return...

Now.

Seeing that she was about to back out, Xiao Ran didn't bother to explain anymore. He simply grabbed her small shoulders, gave a jolt, and jumped into the turbid air, entering the cave together.

Ah! It's so hot!

Who the hell set this level?!

Xiao Ran's vision went black, and even his clothes were burned.

Because this underground magma river is a magma conduit, completely filled with scalding hot magma, with no air at all!

It only comes into contact with the outside world at the cave entrance, spewing out turbid air.

Unexpectedly, his first time entering the hot path in his life was at the Sword Inheritance Assembly... another path he had never imagined.

It almost burned him half to death! Fortunately, Chuyan reacted quickly and immediately conjured a Spiritual Power shield behind him, protecting the two of them.

Xiao Ran saw that his clothes were gone and his skin was slightly burned.

He quickly swallowed a few healing pills given to Lin Yunzi, which barely helped him recover from the burns and prevented him from looking so disheveled.

The clothes were unwearable, so I had to change into the set that had just been dried.

Chuyan turned her back, put her hand on her chest, and said with no small amount of pride, "Thanks to me, otherwise you would have been burned to death in this rocky path."

Xiao Ran was changing clothes and didn't hear clearly.

"What district?"

"Rock Road!"

Chuyan spoke clearly, her little face showing confusion as she looked at the dark, scalding flow of water that filled the entire riverbed.

"I remember that the rocky path of the previous Sword Inheritance Assembly was only half lava and the other half was turbid air, where Magma Swallowing Beast were lurking. How come it's a rocky path full of lava now?"

Xiao Ran finished dressing, turned around, and seemed to have heard the name of some terrible monster.

"What beast?"

"The Magma Swallowing Beast".

Chuyan's face twitched slightly as she enunciated the word again.

Xiao Ran had only heard of the Gold-Swallowing Beast.

"There are such mythical beasts?"

Chuyan explained, "The Fiery Lava Layer tests your endurance to the limit. Although the Magma Swallowing Beast are very dangerous, you can actually kill them to obtain their cores and replenish your Spiritual Power while continuing to walk through the lava... Now, not only is this place full of lava, but even the Magma Swallowing Beast are gone. Does this make sense?"

Xiao Ran thought for a moment and explained, "That makes sense. The elders anticipated that we would cooperate, so the difficulty is definitely different from trying it alone."

Chuyan suddenly realized what was happening, and angrily stomped her little feet in mid-air.

"Then we suffered a loss in the first round!"

Xiao Ran nodded, deliberately using this as an excuse, "I did suffer a loss, so I killed a Golden Ringed Python while climbing the wall, and after passing the level, I also dug up the sect's earth vein spring... So don't be nervous, there might be Magma Swallowing Beast in this level."

Chuyan shook her head.

"It won't happen again. The Magma Swallowing Beast can only hang upside down on the rock wall; it can't survive in lava."

Xiao Ran was also helpless; hadn't this become a complete test of endurance?

That makes sense. The first level tests your wall-climbing skills, the second level tests your endurance to the limit, and the third level Sword Fence Layer, will test your sword heart and swordsmanship.

Fortunately, I replenished a lot of Spiritual Power after the first level, otherwise I would have been defeated at the start of the second level!

In the first stage, he and Chuyan can each act independently and clear the stage alone.

In the second challenge, given the depth of his Spiritual Power at the Qi Refining Cultivation Level stage, he probably wouldn't be able to walk more than a hundred feet before being scalded to death in this rocky path.

We have no choice but to stick together for warmth! The question is, in what way should we stick together?

Negative distance is certainly desirable, as it saves space and allows for the movement of a shield with the smallest possible size.

But he didn't want to take advantage of Chuyan, so he said righteously:

"Let's lie back to back, forming a shuttle shape. You activate the smallest protective shield, and I'll use my strength to create a passage while guiding the way to avoid some extremely hot rolling stones."

Chuyan was taken aback, tilting her head up in confusion.

"Why stand back to back? Wouldn't it be more Spiritual Power to hug each other like a ball, using a reverse spiral to roll and climb?"