The limestone cavern was deathly silent.
Lu Chen sat cross-legged beside the giant python's corpse, his eyes closed as he regulated his breathing.
The medicinal power of the pills dissolved within him, turning into warm currents that coursed through his limbs and bones, repairing the meridians corroded by deathly energy.
The wound on his right shoulder had already scabbed over. That remnant soul mark had completely dimmed, like a hibernating snake lying dormant within the gaps of his bones.
In that strike just now, he had forcibly drained the power within the mark. Though he had successfully killed the Snake Mother, the mark had been weakened to the utmost.
For a short while, it would not cause trouble again.
But Lu Chen knew this was only temporary. That mark contained a wisp of the Undead Monarch's will, and as long as it remained, it would always be a hidden danger.
But he had no time to deal with it now.
He opened his eyes and took out the giant python's Demon Core from his Sumeru Ring.
The Demon Core was the size of a fist, pitch-black throughout, its surface flowing with a cold, ghostly gleam. Held in his hand, he could clearly feel the vast energy contained within—it was the crystallization of this Great Demon's lifelong cultivation, accumulated over thousands of years.
Late Longevity Realm.
If exchanged for lifespan, it would be worth at least two hundred years.
But Lu Chen did not rush to exchange it. Instead, he placed the Demon Core in a separate jade box and kept it close to his body.
This thing might have other uses.
He rose to his feet and walked over to the giant python's corpse.
The fifty-zhang-long giant python was treasure from head to tail. Its scales could be forged into