Snake Abyss, Second Layer

PS: At midnight on Saturday, I finally got a small recommendation slot. I've waited so long for this—man, it hasn't been easy.

Lingfa stood before a thick mass of Evil Qi. Within it, the vague silhouette of an enormous python could just barely be seen emerging.

Even that blurry outline was enough to make one's heart pound in terror.

It was too big.

And far too thick.

How could there be such a colossal Spiritual Python on the first layer?

One could only say, was this truly worthy of being the creation of the Hundred-Eyed Devil?

He did not dare enter. Instead, he glanced around, and only after confirming that no one was paying attention to his side did he bow and say, "My lord, have you succeeded?"

No one answered. Yet the giant python within the Evil Qi wriggled its body, then released a strand of Spiritual Light that descended upon Lingfa.

"Worthy indeed of Lord Devil. He can actually use demonic qi to imitate such pure Spiritual Light. Could it have belonged to that newly born Spiritual Python?"

"What a pity... once controlled by the Devil Master, it will sooner or later be completely tainted and corrupted."

Lingfa was secretly amazed. He hurriedly drew that strand of Spiritual Light into his body. Once the pure Spiritual Light entered him, it stirred up the Evil Qi lurking deep within his body. The two were like fire and water, clashing violently.

"Devil Master... I..." In an instant, pain twisted Lingfa's features beyond recognition. Purging the contamination of Evil Qi was practically like scraping poison from the bone to heal a wound.

His lips parted, but in the end, he still forcibly endured the pain and accepted the influx of Spiritual Light.

Even now, he did not forget to flatter him. "This servant understands. Lord Devil wishes for this servant to eliminate the demonic qi, cultivate Spiritual Light, and continue lurking within Dragon-Raising Temple. One day, I shall turn Dragon-Raising Temple upside down and make it submit beneath Lord Devil's command."

Su Qingqiu: "..."

Sure enough, corruption and depravity came from the very bones. Even after the demonic qi had been removed, this fellow's slavish nature had not changed in the slightest.

Still, he was quite the imaginative sort. Su Qingqiu had not even said anything, yet he had already spun so much out of thin air.

Of course, by choosing to bestow Spiritual Light upon Lingfa, Su Qingqiu truly did intend to impersonate the evil python. Zi Shu Mo's fate was currently unknown; he would be unable to appear at Dragon-Raising Temple anytime soon.

And Su Qingqiu could make perfect use of this period. He could even use Lingfa as a foundation to approach Yuanming and investigate exactly how many cultivators in Dragon-Raising Temple had fallen into corruption.

Then he would find a way to rip them out by the roots.

Better still, perhaps he could use those cultivators to lure in the Hundred-Eyed Devil. The taste of that fellow's true body was surely quite good.

Su Qingqiu had already regarded Dragon-Raising Temple as his own territory. Naturally, he was unwilling to let these evil demons continue wreaking havoc there.

At this moment, the Evil Qi on Lingfa's body had basically been routed. It had been rootless water, utterly incapable of withstanding Su Qingqiu's nearly ten thousand years of Spiritual Light Daoism Cultivation. Even the corner of his mental will that had already been corrupted was torn to pieces outright.

It had been a close call—Lingfa had nearly been hurt stupid from the pain.

Naturally, as that Evil Qi vanished, it was replaced by Spiritual Light belonging to Su Qingqiu, spreading throughout his body. This Spiritual Light carried Su Qingqiu's will, Spiritual Patterns, and crimson fire power.

To Lingfa, it was no different from Evil Qi. As time passed, it would cause him to gradually incline toward Su Qingqiu from the depths of his heart and soul.

Spiritual Light assimilation!

This was also why the cultivators of Dragon-Raising Temple only dared absorb the Spiritual Light spilling from the Spiritual Pythons, then swiftly convert it into Daoism Cultivation and Dharma power.

Directly absorbing Spiritual Light—even absorbing too much in one go—carried the risk of assimilation.

Some evil cultivators, greedy for faster cultivation, would forcibly absorb the Spiritual Light of spirit beasts. In the end, they would turn into neither human nor ghost, becoming demonized monsters comparable to evil demons.

Only when scales, nearly identical to his own snake scales, began appearing on Lingfa's forehead did Su Qingqiu finally stop.

"Go back!"

"Cultivate well. If anything arises in the future, I will notify you through the Spiritual Light."

"Remember: be wary of Yuanming. Watch his schemes in secret."

A cold, slick thought surfaced in Lingfa's mind. He blinked, and his pupils instantly turned into snake eyes before swiftly fading away.

"Yes!"

Lingfa answered with utmost respect.

At that moment, he felt as though his entire body brimmed with explosive strength. The abundant Spiritual Light within him nearly allowed him to step back into the eighth rank.

He was even more astounded by the Hundred-Eyed Devil's power. He truly could not imagine just how much pure Spiritual Light the Hundred-Eyed Devil possessed, to pour it so recklessly into his body.

If all of this were converted into Daoism Cultivation and Dharma power, would it not amount to over a hundred years' worth?

"Monitor Yuanming? So that fellow truly isn't of one heart with Lord Devil."

"Master, oh Master—if I don't pull down your underpants every day to see what color they are, then I'm no good disciple of yours."

Lingfa returned to the group with his head held high, only to discover that Lingli had not yet returned.

At this moment, Lingli was staring blankly at the huge white python before her.

This thing clearly looked vicious and seemed to dislike her immensely. Its Spiritual Light constantly sent out broken, crude thoughts: things like, "No secondhand goods," "I don't take junk," and "Idiots have no snake rights."

Yet it had genuinely chosen her.

Helpless, Lingli could only conclude that this white python named Er Sha was genuinely a little stupid.

Er Sha: "..."

You think I wanted to choose you?

If I hadn't chosen you, the big shots deep within the Dragon Bone would've whipped me to death.

It was clearly a one-in-three choice, so how was I the one unlucky enough to get hit?

Sigh, just like Boss always said: life is unpredictable; the large intestine wraps the small intestine, the small intestine wraps shit, and you need paper to wipe your ass!!!

It was simply unbearable.

Deep within the Dragon Bone, seeing Er Sha so unwilling that he was practically miserable down to the root of his tail, yet left with no choice but to cultivate Spiritual Light with Lingli, Su Qingqiu nearly burst into pig-like laughter.

Generally speaking, Spiritual Pythons would never cooperate again with someone who had already cultivated Spiritual Light.

The reason was that cultivators like Lingli were covered in the aura of the previous Spiritual Python. To other Spiritual Pythons, that made them secondhand goods—a player!

Unless there were special circumstances, they would absolutely never choose one.

Having drawn the grand prize, Er Sha was naturally filled with reluctance.

As for why Su Qingqiu had made San Sha choose Lingli, he had his own considerations.

He wanted to cultivate the Spirit Snake faction within Snake Abyss, but he would not abandon Dragon-Raising Temple's monks either.

Controlling the Spirit Snakes while also controlling the cultivators who received the Spirit Snake Spiritual Light—advancing on both fronts—was the true kingly path.

When the time came, if every cultivator in Dragon-Raising Temple cultivated Spiritual Light originating from the Spirit Snakes under his command, would he not become Dragon-Raising Temple's emperor emeritus in every sense of the word?

For now, Lingli was merely an experiment. He wanted to see whether Spiritual Pythons could be forced to make a choice.

And the Spiritual Pythons on the first level had basically all fallen under his control. In other words, every new disciple of Dragon-Raising Temple would have to pass through his hands to cultivate.

As for Dragon-Raising Temple's upper ranks—the Yuan Generation, the Mu Generation, and even the eminent monks above them—what their circumstances were, what the Spiritual Pythons whose Spiritual Light they cultivated were like, where they had all gone, and so on... those questions would need to be explored step by step.

Perhaps the second level of Snake Abyss could provide the answers.

"Once this cultivation of Spiritual Light is dealt with, it'll be time to enter the second level. Snake Abyss... let me see what secrets lie hidden even deeper within you."

Su Qingqiu's gaze fell upon the seal beneath him.

The rejection from the Dragon Bone of the first level, along with the seal's summons, prevented him from leaving this place for long.

He could only coil here.

But now, there was no need to endure any longer. It was time to go in!