Qi Gathering Fourth Level

Bang!

The Crocodile Demon's massive body crashed into the water,

like a huge boulder falling from a great height, smashing up enormous waves across the surface.

The river churned violently,

wave after wave rippled and swept outward.

At the same time, blood welled up from the riverbed and spread in all directions.

"Did it work?!"

As the Crocodile Demon vanished,

the terrified crowd around them gradually recovered. Many stood on tiptoe and craned their necks in every direction.

But by then, the Crocodile Demon had completely sunk beneath the water, not even a shadow of it visible.

The river water grew even murkier, layer upon layer of waves surging.

"Changchuan, how is it?"

Seeing the broken bamboo pole in his son Han Dayong's hands and the empty water's surface, Han Qinhu slowly stepped forward and asked.

However,

at that very moment,

under the effects of the Spirit Eye Technique, Shen Changchuan saw that something seemed amiss in the river.

Beneath the water, dense demon power seemed to be gathering, producing visible ripples!

"Not good! Watch out!"

In an instant,

Shen Changchuan sensed an extremely intense danger.

With no time to think,

his perfected Light Body Technique was activated almost at a thought. Spiritual radiance swirled around him, making his entire body incomparably light.

Then he grabbed the nearby Han Qinhu with one hand,

and his figure suddenly shot backward,

leaving behind a gray afterimage in midair as he retreated eight or nine zhang to the riverbank in the blink of an eye.

Almost at the same time,

Whoosh!

A water arrow as thick as an arm shot out from beneath the river like a sharp arrow, sweeping through the space where Shen Changchuan and the others had been standing,

before striking the trunk of a large tree behind them.

Bang!

The tree trunk, as thick as a water barrel, exploded instantly,

sending water droplets, spray, and wood chips flying through the air.

The tree was severed at the waist, its heavy upper half creaking as it crashed down.

Not far away,

Han Qinhu, who had yet to react, stared at the scene,

cold sweat beading on his forehead as a surge of relief at surviving a calamity filled his heart.

If Shen Changchuan had not pulled him away at that critical moment, there was no way he could have survived that attack!

At the same time,

the surrounding onlookers finally realized what had happened. They cried out in alarm and retreated one after another.

Even amid their shock, the way they looked at Shen Changchuan was filled with awe.

An immortal master's strength truly was extraordinary.

No one among Great Bay Village's more than two thousand people would likely have been able to evade that attack from the river demon beast!

Their faith in Shen Changchuan deepened even further.

Not a trace of the contempt they had once held because of his youth remained.

"This is troublesome!"

Shen Changchuan paid no attention to the villagers' thoughts.

At that moment, he glanced at the tree that had been severed in half, his eyes full of wariness.

"For its innate demon art to possess such power, its strength must be at least above Qi Gathering Fifth Level!"

"Moreover, its defenses are astonishing. It has also mastered a petrification talent that can greatly bolster its defense. That was why my earlier attacks had done no more than break through a layer of its skin—they had not truly threatened it at all."

Shen Changchuan found himself in an exceedingly difficult position.

This fellow's strength was truly beyond what he could handle right now.

Just like that attack earlier—

if he had not cultivated the Spirit Eye Technique and spotted the attack brewing underwater in advance, while also having perfected the Light Body Technique so that he could activate it within a breath,

he likely would not have been able to dodge that lightning-fast strike at all!

And Shen Changchuan did not yet possess the ability to withstand that water arrow head-on.

If he were hit, death would be certain!

Shen Changchuan furrowed his brow and racked his brains,

yet for the moment, he could not think of any way to deal with that creature.

"Perhaps the only thing I can be grateful for now is that I didn't use the Golden Needle against that beast earlier!"

With no solution in sight, Shen Changchuan could only reveal a bitter expression as he consoled himself inwardly.

Judging from the results of his Golden Thorn Technique,

even if he had used the Golden Needle Dharma Artifact to assist him, doubling the Golden Thorn Technique's killing power, at most he might have severely wounded the Crocodile Demon rather than killed it.

He might not even have been able to severely wound it.

Under such circumstances,

if he had used the Golden Needle Dharma Artifact, losing the Golden Needle would have been inevitable.

Fortunately, he had been cautious enough not to use it,

or else he would have suffered a huge loss.

"Maternal Grandfather, seal off the riverbank for the time being and have the villagers avoid coming near it as much as possible."

"For now, there's nothing I can do to it."

Gazing at the river surface in the distance, which had returned to calm, Shen Changchuan pondered for a moment before speaking to the still-shaken Han Qinhu beside him.

The Crocodile Demon was hiding within the river,

where it held the advantage of terrain.

Coupled with the fact that both its cultivation realm and strength surpassed his by a considerable margin, there was simply no way to deal with it.

Furthermore, this attempt to lure it out had failed. Given the cunning of demon beasts, it would likely be difficult to draw it out again using such a simple method.

For now, this was the only option.

"Ah, that beast is actually so hard to deal with!"

Hearing this, Han Qinhu, who had gathered his wits, revealed a worried expression as well.

"But if we don't deal with that beast, what if it crawls ashore under cover of night and attacks the village?"

Great Bay Village was not far from the river that ran through the entire valley plain.

And demon beasts were far more intelligent than ordinary wild beasts.

If the river demon held a grudge, crawled out of the water at midnight, and snuck into the village to attack people and livestock, it would be a tremendous disaster.

"There's no helping it. We can only assign more people to patrol at night."

"When there's time, we can also gather people and build a ring of fences around the village."

Shen Changchuan shook his head slightly.

Even if it sought revenge, there was nothing he could do.

Underwater, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that he would not be a match for that demon creature.

And the bait had only just been used. If they tried to lure the snake from its hole again, it would likely have little effect.

They could only make do with this for the time being.

"Once these days have passed, after the Spirit Grain has been planted and the village's rice fields have all been cultivated, we can use the slack period to fell the surrounding trees and reinforce and thicken the fences into wooden walls. Then we can assign people to keep watch and patrol at night."

"If it dares come ashore, I can't guarantee I'll kill it, but I at least have the ability to severely wound it and drive it back down."

Shen Changchuan spoke with faint confidence.

Though the village might be rather vulnerable before the walls were built,

its more than two thousand residents still needed to cultivate ordinary fields for food, in addition to farming the Spirit Fields.

Summer plowing had now arrived,

and Shen Changchuan could not delay the farming work by forcibly assigning them other tasks.

Everything would have to wait until the summer plowing was over.

"Then that's all we can do."

Not long after,

after settling the aftermath,

and giving instructions for the subsequent tasks,

Shen Changchuan returned to the Half-Mountain Courtyard and entered the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber.

Within the secret chamber, Shen Changchuan sat cross-legged on a stone.

He recalled the events of this battle and summarized its gains and losses.

The conclusion was that there had been no problem with his measures during the process.

The main reason was simply that he was too weak!

If he had possessed the strength of Qi Gathering Fourth Level, or even Qi Gathering Fifth Level, that Golden Needle Stab would have killed the Crocodile Demon or at least severely wounded it.

But unfortunately, he did not.

"The Peak Qi Gathering Third Layer is still far too low!"

Shen Changchuan muttered softly.

If he were still within Shen Family Manor, this would have been an excellent disguise and a good thing for him.

But in such a savage wilderness, it was no good thing at all.

Without sufficient strength,

danger could descend at any moment!

A sense of urgency could not help rising within Shen Changchuan's heart!

Thus, from then on,

he entered an even more diligent state of cultivation.

Aside from showing himself once every three to five days to inspect the planting of the Spirit Fields,

he basically remained in the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber in secluded cultivation.

More than ten days swiftly passed in this manner.

By then,

all ten mu of Spirit Fields outside had been sown with grain seeds, while the other two mu of experimental fields had also undergone rice seedling transplantation according to the planting experience he had summarized.

From then on, all that was needed was to have people patrol and inspect every three to five days, clear away weeds, and kill any insects appearing in the Spirit Fields.

As for the remaining villagers,

they had also begun cultivating ordinary fields to secure food for the coming year.

From that point onward,

so long as nothing unexpected happened for a long while to come,

until the Spirit Grain was harvested,

Shen Changchuan could act as a hands-off shopkeeper for once.

Thus,

he directly began his breakthrough to Qi Gathering Fourth Level.

"It's time!"

Within the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber,

Shen Changchuan took out the jade bottle from his robes.

Looking at the Qi Uniting Pill within, his face was full of solemnity.

After more than half a month of diligent cultivation,

he had thoroughly tempered his Cultivation Realm to perfection, and his physical condition had also reached its peak.

At the same time,

after more than half a month of accumulation,

a great deal of spiritual energy had gathered within the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber.

There was no better opportunity for a breakthrough than now!

Since that was the case,

Shen Changchuan did not hesitate in the slightest.

He opened the stopper,

poured the Qi Uniting Pill into his right palm,

and saw that the thumb-sized pill was pale red, giving off a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual charm as medicinal fragrance drifted through the air.

Shen Changchuan did not hesitate at all,

and swallowed the pill in one motion.

Then he swiftly entered a meditative state.

Within his body, the Elephant Mountain Qi Absorption Art circulated spiritual power through his Meridians, completing its cycle.

As the pill entered his stomach and was digested,

a vast medicinal power began spreading from the Dantian in his abdomen in all directions.

Shen Changchuan circulated the Elephant Mountain Qi Absorption Art with all his strength, moving and refining the medicinal power within his body.

Time slipped by bit by bit.

Beads of sweat covered Shen Changchuan's forehead.

In the air, the spiritual energy drifting from the Spirit Spring was rapidly consumed as well.

Three days later,

Boom!!!

Shen Changchuan could feel it—the bottleneck within him had suddenly burst wide open at that instant!

The mana within his body, both in quantity and quality, surged forward by a tremendous leap!

Qi Gathering Fourth Level!

He had succeeded!

Feeling the doubled Vast Mana within him rushing like a raging flood through his Dantian and Meridians,

Shen Changchuan opened his eyes, a lightning-like gleam flashing through them.

Though he had long anticipated this,

he still could not help but reveal a look of joy.

"Qi Gathering Third Level to Qi Gathering Fourth Level is a transformation from the early stage of Qi Gathering to the Qi Gathering Mid-stage."

"Now, I too am a cultivator at the Qi Gathering Mid-stage!"

Shen Changchuan clenched his fist, feeling the Vast Mana within him,

and his heart felt more refreshed than ever before!