"Let's add some points first!"
He opened Basic Destiny and went straight to upgrading his Fortune destiny.
[You spent 1 Destiny Point to attempt to upgrade Fortune. Failed.]
[You spent 1 Destiny Point to attempt to upgrade Fortune. Failed.]
[You spent 1 Destiny Point to attempt to upgrade Fortune. Failed.]
[You spent 1 Destiny Point to attempt to upgrade Fortune. Failed.]
All four attempts had failed.
"The odds of upgrading it are a little low." Shen Mo watched the messages appear one after another, feeling somewhat disappointed. "I'll use my last Destiny Point to draw a special destiny. That way, I won't spend all five Destiny Points and come away with nothing."
With that, he threw his final Destiny Point into the Destiny Vault.
"Whoosh!"
The Destiny Point vanished, and the Destiny Vault lit up.
Its glow slowly faded.
A special destiny stone, encircled by a pale blue radiance, appeared before him.
[Monster Knower (Blue): You gain the ability to discern the weaknesses of demon beasts. By spending an equivalent amount of Spirit Stones, you can deduce the weaknesses of a demon beast of your choice.]
"A blue destiny!"
Seeing its color, Shen Mo's face lit up.
Among the seven destiny tiers—gray, white, green, blue, purple, orange, and gold—blue was only mid-tier.
But for Shen Mo right now, drawing a blue destiny was nothing short of incredible luck.
After all, this was his first blue destiny!
"What can this destiny do?"
After a moment of excitement, he turned his attention to its function. "Monster Knower. Spend Spirit Stones to obtain information about a demon beast and deduce its weaknesses?"
"A guide for dealing with demon beasts?"
The ability seemed quite useful!
After equipping [Monster Knower], Shen Mo began to explore its capabilities.
As soon as he slotted the [Monster Knower] destiny into his Destiny Slot, a blank book abruptly appeared before him.
It listed only two kinds of demon beasts.
Silver-Ringed Demon Snake.
Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Python.
"The demon beasts whose weaknesses it can deduce must be ones I've encountered."
Shen Mo silently guessed as he tried to turn the page.
At the same time, a message appeared.
[You attempted to uncover information about a first-order peak demon beast, the Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Python. This will cost two low-grade Spirit Stones.]
"Two Spirit Stones."
Without hesitation, he took two of the few Spirit Stones in his Qiankun Pouch and held them in front of him.
"Whirr!"
A devouring force suddenly swept across the illusory Monster Knower book before him.
The two Spirit Stones Shen Mo had taken out were drained of all their spiritual energy.
They crumbled into dust and scattered across the ground.
[Beast: Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Python.] [Realm: First-order peak.] [Brief Description: This demon beast was born on the banks of the river by She Mountain, near Yongan Town. Ninety years ago, after accidentally eating a Qianyuan Fruit, it gained intelligence and left the ranks of ordinary beasts, becoming a demon beast. For ninety years, it endured wind and rain, cold and heat, shedding its skin once every ten years. Only after all that accumulation did it have a chance, three months ago, to grow a second head. However, its accumulation was insufficient, and the second head did not fully develop. As a result, it never completely entered the ranks of second-order demon beasts.] [Weaknesses: This demon beast is cold-natured and fears fire. A cultivator who practices fire-based techniques or immortal arts will have twice the effect when fighting it. Fire-based talismans will also work. Its second head is underdeveloped and is its most vulnerable spot. If you can cut it off, you can kill the beast with ease.]
"This is the information and weaknesses of the Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Python, deduced by Monster Knower!"
"It's incredibly detailed."
Shen Mo carefully read through the information before him, silently amazed. "So its partially grown head is actually its most vulnerable spot."
He recalled the moment he'd first caught sight of the Two-Headed Python. Its imposing presence had cowed him, and he'd been focused on escaping. He hadn't noticed any of that.
"If I hadn't run back then, and had attacked the python's head with my sword, would I have stood a chance?"
"Probably not." He thought it over and shook his head. "I hadn't even broken through to the eighth layer that morning. Even if I'd known its weakness, the gap between me and the demon beast would still have been far too great."
"Still..."
"The beast fears fire. There's no time to learn a fire-based technique or immortal art, but I can get my hands on some fire-based talismans."
"If I prepare thoroughly, I might really have a chance to kill it!"
After learning the Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Python's weakness, Shen Mo was tempted.
He still remembered that fleeting glimpse in the Spirit Field.
"That purple Vermilion Fruit was brimming with spiritual energy. Even from far away, I could feel it!"
"It must be worth a fortune. It'll certainly sell for no less than seventy Spirit Stones at the market."
The more Shen Mo thought about it, the more tempted he became.
It would be a terrible waste to give up such a prized Vermilion Fruit just because the demon beast guarding it was powerful.
"I'll see after I return to the sect. If I can get some fire-based talismans within a month, I'll come back and try to kill that Two-Headed Python."
According to the Zhao Family, the Vermilion Fruit in the Spirit Field still had more than two months before it would be fully ripe.
The Two-Headed Python had settled there to guard it, but hadn't eaten it right away.
Clearly, it was waiting for the fruit to ripen.
Shen Mo could return to the sect and prepare first. As long as he came back to Yongan Town before the fruit ripened, he would still have time!
The next morning, at dawn.
After cultivating through the night, Shen Mo opened the door and stepped outside.
The Zhao Family was shrouded in gloom.
Every clan member felt heavy-hearted.
They had assumed that with an immortal master from the upper sect coming, the crisis in the Spirit Field would be resolved.
Who could have guessed that a great demon beast, nearly a second-order one, was living in the Spirit Field—one the immortal master couldn't even handle?
The Zhao Family had some wealth, but most of it was tied up in the Vermilion Fruit trees in the Spirit Field.
Now that the Spirit Field had been occupied, no one dared enter.
The demon snakes would surely eat all the Vermilion Fruits, leaving the Zhao Family with nothing to show for this year's harvest.
The reward they had given Shen Mo was already the last of the family's readily available wealth.
They couldn't afford to spend a fortune hiring a higher-level cultivator to exterminate the demon beasts.
"Alas, all we can do is pray those beasts eat the Vermilion Fruits and leave soon."
Zhao Jiachang sighed. "The loss of this year's harvest can't be undone. What I fear is that the beasts will stay for a long time. Then we won't be able to enter the Spirit Field, and if it goes for months without spiritual water, it'll become barren and our yields will drop."
To keep a Spirit Field productive over the long term, it had to be watered with spiritual water each month, replenishing the spiritual essence in the soil.
If it went without care for too long, even a high-grade Spirit Field would eventually turn into ordinary land.
The Zhao Family owed its wealth and prosperity to the thirty mu of Spirit Fields left by their ancestor, who had once joined the River-Facing Sect.
The ancestor had entered seclusion to face life and death, and there had been no word from him for five years. Chances were, he was dead or dying. The family had already lost its strongest backer.
If the demon snakes truly stayed and left their only remaining Spirit Fields to grow barren, the very foundation that allowed the Zhao Family to survive would be dug up by the roots.
And since the family hadn't produced a single person with a talent for cultivation in decades, its decline from prosperity was all too easy to foresee.
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