Su Qingqiu awoke in a puddle.
The surroundings were gloomy, without a trace of sunlight. Only a few glowing plants occasionally cast an eerie green light.
From the depths of the darkness came the rustling sound of things crawling, as if countless snakes and insects were on the move.
Farther away, shrill howls rose and fell, as if some kind of ferocious beast were lurking there.
Who am I? Where am I? What happened?
Before those questions could even turn over in his mind, scattered fragments of memory surfaced.
The Human Race of the Zhaoyang Empire in the Tai Xuan World, the Dahuangluo Land...
Dragon-Raising Temple... Snake Abyss... Spiritual Serpents...
Devouring evil beings... death...
Only then did Su Qingqiu realize with a start that he had actually transmigrated into a snake—one of the Spiritual Serpents in the Snake Abyss of the Buddhist Dragon-Raising Temple in this world.
"The Snake Abyss is extremely dangerous!"
If he had a face, Su Qingqiu's expression at that moment would have been utterly grim.
His predecessor had been a Spiritual Serpent, but only one that had just gained sentience, with shallow intelligence. The only things in his mind were a few simple facts that the Dragon-Raising Temple experts had instilled in him upon his arrival in the Snake Abyss.
The Dragon-Raising Temple raised Spiritual Serpents, cultivating with the Spiritual Light of the Spiritual Serpents and relying on them to deal with the remains of evil beings and the like.
But devouring evil things was no easy matter. His predecessor had been starving, and when he discovered the remains of an evil being, he couldn't resist eating a little too much.
Then the evil being's power broke through his Spiritual Light, and his soul dispersed, killing him.
At that moment,
Su Qingqiu could feel something in his stomach slowly crawling up his esophagus.
The sensation went straight to his mind. He could even clearly hear it crawling.
It was the remains of the evil being his predecessor had devoured!
If his memories were right, it seemed to be a bloody piece of beast flesh, likely a remnant that the Dragon-Raising Temple had cut from some evil being.
Su Qingqiu suppressed the urge to vomit, his mind filled with panic. "What do I do?"
He couldn't vomit. His predecessor had been unable to bear the sound and tried to spit out the piece of evil flesh. The moment he vomited, his Spiritual Light was corrupted and his soul dispersed.
This evil flesh surely contained some incomprehensible, forbidden corruption, and being forbidden to vomit was one part of it.
But letting this thing remain in his stomach would cause even worse trouble.
What should he do?
What could he do?!
Su Qingqiu was physically and mentally exhausted, his thoughts racing in circles.
Suddenly,
His soul wavered.
Then, one message after another appeared.
Name: Su Qingqiu Race: Guardian Snake Spiritual Light: 1 wisp Level: Level 1 Spiritual Serpent Abilities: Protecting the Residence, Exorcism and Blessing [Devouring Devil Zombie flesh, Exorcism and Blessing in progress...]
Then, images appeared in his mind.
—Tai Xuan World, Luo River Land
This summer, heavy rain had fallen for three days and nights. Luojia Mountain above the Luo River had been swept away by floodwaters, and a huge redwood coffin had been carried into the Luo River by the torrent.
Afterward, strange things began happening along the Luo River. Children disappeared from both banks, and the fish and shrimp in the river dwindled rapidly.
The authorities ordered the Dragon-Raising Temple to investigate, but little came of it. They found only some shattered remains of an evil being, which were eventually thrown into the Snake Abyss.
The images ended.
Another message appeared.
—Condensed one Flesh and Blood Body Refining Pill; three years of Daoism Cultivation.
Su Qingqiu's heart leaped with joy.
With a thought, a blood-red pill appeared before him.
This was the Flesh and Blood Body Refining Pill, condensed from Devil Zombie flesh. After taking it, cultivators could refine their flesh and blood, temper their bodies, and toughen their sinews and bones.
It was an extremely precious foundational pill among cultivators.
Though Su Qingqiu was a Spiritual Serpent, he could use it just as well. And since the pill had been condensed from the Devil Zombie flesh he had devoured, it was even better suited to his Spiritual Serpent body, with no need to worry about any lingering side effects.
"Guardian Snake... Protecting the Residence, Exorcism and Blessing..."
Su Qingqiu murmured to himself, carefully considering the two innate abilities of his Guardian Snake.
Protecting the Residence: Current home, first level of the Snake Abyss. Within his home, the Guardian Snake receives fixed rewards each time he trains, regardless of obstacles.
Exorcism and Blessing: Devour foreign objects and pray for blessings to analyze them, randomly obtaining the energy, laws, information, and other things contained within.
Coming to his senses after the shock, Su Qingqiu hurriedly checked his surroundings. After confirming that this was his predecessor's snake den and that there was no danger, he looked at the pill before him again and swallowed it.
The pill was hard, nothing like the legend that it melted in one's mouth. But as soon as it dropped into his stomach, a scalding heat suddenly surged up and raced through his entire body.
Moments later, the heat enveloped every bone and every part of his snake body, scouring each inch. Layers of grime were expelled, and before long, the skin all over his body began to itch.
Molting!
Su Qingqiu's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected a mere Flesh and Blood Pill to be so effective, directly giving him signs of an impending molt.
Incredible!
According to the Guardian Snake's memories, every molt brought a tremendous increase in strength. His Spiritual Light, physical power, and size would all improve greatly.
Seizing the momentum, Su Qingqiu immediately absorbed the other reward: three years of Daoism Cultivation.
Wisps of Daoism Cultivation swiftly transformed into Spiritual Serpent Spiritual Light. The Spiritual Light inside him surged, forcing out countless wisps of black energy. They became clouds of smoke and vanished into the darkness.
This was the evil power clinging to the Spiritual Light in the Spiritual Serpent's flesh and blood. The surge had forced it all out at once.
As long as he didn't devour anything else evil, Su Qingqiu wouldn't need to worry about being corrupted by evil power for a long time.
In the end, the three years of Daoism Cultivation became three wisps of Spiritual Serpent Spiritual Light. Su Qingqiu had originally possessed just one wisp, but now it had more than quadrupled.
His spiritual world was crystal clear. He could even feel Spiritual Sense faintly emerging from his mind. Even his five senses had grown sharper; things in the darkness beyond the Snake Abyss, once impossible to make out, were now clear to him.
So powerful!
The feeling of growing stronger at such speed was truly addictive to a snake.
Generally speaking, a year of meditative cultivation was needed to transform into a single wisp of Spiritual Light. That was why Spiritual Light was so precious—and why the Dragon-Raising Temple relied on Spiritual Serpents for cultivation.
Spiritual Light was stronger than Daoism Cultivation.
"Let's try Protecting the Residence!"
The transformation of his Spiritual Light was complete, but the pill inside him was still like a little sun, roasting his entire body.
His molt was still underway.
This was the best time to train.
Protecting the Residence activated!
Su Qingqiu began training frantically in his cave.
First, his head. He repeatedly smashed it against the surrounding rock walls to speed up the molt.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Five hundred times!
Only after smashing his head more than five hundred times did the skin split completely, and the new scales quickly grew harder and smoother, glimmering faintly red.
Next was his tail!
After more than a thousand swings, when the pill's potency had already weakened by more than a third, the skin on his tail finally came off.
But he wasn't done. While the medicine still had some effect, Su Qingqiu began whipping his tail around like mad.
Each time, his tail lashed against the rocks like a whip. With the combined effects of the pill and Protecting the Residence, he could feel its strength and the hardness of his scales gradually improving after every swing.
When the pill's effects had completely worn off,
Su Qingqiu whipped his tail once more. With a crack, it struck the rock. In an instant, the palm-sized stone shot out of the cave like a cannonball, flying a hundred meters before slamming into the rock wall and shattering.
It was even more powerful than a cannonball fired from a barrel.
Spiritual Serpents from another world had Spiritual Light to support them and were no ordinary snakes. They could do things ordinary snakes couldn't, bracing their bodies with their bellies and turning their tails with ease.
"Impressive!"
"My tail's strength has increased at least threefold."
Su Qingqiu was delighted.
The Guardian Snake's strength had already surpassed that of ordinary Level 1 Spiritual Serpents by quite a bit. Now the gap had widened even further.
His body was also much stronger. After completing a molt, he had grown more than twenty centimeters, bringing his length to over a meter—more than 1.2 meters.
His sinews, bones, flesh, and scales were as if reinforced with steel. His tail in particular had taken on a glossy black sheen. After all that frenzied training, not a single mark had been left on it.
His entire tail brimmed with explosive power, as if even a slight movement could break through the clouds.
Let's set a small goal: become a dragon and see what happens!
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