Scaled Water Lizard

After some investigation, guided by the map he had obtained, Qin Shaofeng soon arrived beside a small lake. Copy URL to visit

Qin Shaofeng had actually known about this little lake for a long time, but it was the territory of a group of Scaled Water Lizards.

Scaled Water Lizards were Mid-level Three. Though they were not as formidable as the Mid-level Four demonic beasts Qin Shaofeng had encountered before, Mid-level Three Scaled Water Lizards were generally enormous, and with such size came considerable strength. Ordinary people truly could do nothing against them.

Moreover, they were herd-dwelling soul beasts. In this area on the outskirts of the Black Horn Mountain Range, they counted as one of the more powerful groups of demonic beasts.

Of course, the Scaled Water Lizards' sole weakness was their somewhat sluggish movement. With a skill like Little Li Flying Dagger, Qin Shaofeng was extremely confident.

Otherwise, he would not have set his sights on this group of Scaled Water Lizards.

However, Qin Shaofeng also understood that when facing Scaled Water Lizards, he could only try to pick off solitary ones. With his current Houtian Second Layer cultivation, not to boast too much, even facing two or three Scaled Water Lizards would not be a problem, but any more than that would be troublesome.

Besides, killing them one at a time was more convenient anyway.

At that moment, more than fifty Scaled Water Lizards were gathered by the lake's edge. Naturally, Qin Shaofeng did not dare approach rashly.

After waiting patiently for a while, one Scaled Water Lizard that seemed to have only recently reached adulthood began swaying its enormous body toward the woods beside the lake. From the looks of it, it was probably going off to feed.

A good opportunity!

At the sight, a sharp gleam flashed through Qin Shaofeng's eyes. He slowly lowered his body and quietly made his way toward that Scaled Water Lizard.

After following the Scaled Water Lizard for some distance, Qin Shaofeng finally struck when it had relaxed somewhat.

Whoosh!

With a flash of his body, Qin Shaofeng appeared directly in front of the Scaled Water Lizard. He raised his right fist, glowing with Inner Qi, and threw a fierce punch.

But what left Qin Shaofeng dumbfounded was that when his punch landed on the Scaled Water Lizard, it was as though he had struck a wall of bronze and iron. Not only had he failed to injure it, the rebounding force even left his arm numb.

Though he had already learned something about the Scaled Water Lizard's defensive power, Qin Shaofeng had still wanted to test it himself.

Yet he had not expected its defense to be so formidable, even beyond his expectations.

A punch that consumed twenty points of Inner Qi simply could not break through the Scaled Water Lizard's defenses.

"Hiss—!"

With a hiss, although it had not suffered any real injury, the Scaled Water Lizard was enraged by Qin Shaofeng's sudden attack.

Its huge mouth opened, revealing a mouthful of gleaming fangs. The Scaled Water Lizard abruptly turned its head and bit at Qin Shaofeng.

Though he had been startled by the Scaled Water Lizard's astonishing defense, Qin Shaofeng did not let down his guard in the slightest. The moment it moved, he flashed backward and dodged the bite.

However, the foul stench rushing at his face nearly knocked Qin Shaofeng unconscious.

This made Qin Shaofeng retreat several more steps, but the Scaled Water Lizard would not let him go. All four legs stomped down as it wildly swung its entire body and lunged at him.

The Scaled Water Lizard's frenzied pounce whipped up a fierce gale and carried tremendous momentum.

Qin Shaofeng was shocked. He had not expected the Scaled Water Lizard to be so powerful. Not daring to be careless in the least, he lightly swayed his body and successfully evaded the pounce. Then, seizing the right moment, he lashed out with a sweeping kick at the Scaled Water Lizard.

Smack!

A loud sound rang out. Though the strike was powerful, the Scaled Water Lizard still suffered no injury with its hard scales.

However, its body was sent uncontrollably soaring into the air.

Hm?

What was that?

In his haste, a patch of white entered Qin Shaofeng's view, and he suddenly recalled something.

Though the Scaled Water Lizard's entire body was covered in hard scales, its abdomen had only a patch of soft, white scales. That was the Scaled Water Lizard's sole weak point.

Whoosh!

Little Li Flying Dagger!

Without hesitation, the instant the white patch entered his sight, Qin Shaofeng gave a low shout. His right hand trembled lightly, and a streak of Silver Light Saber Aura instantly flew from his hand, viciously stabbing toward the white patch on the Scaled Water Lizard's abdomen.

Pfft!

The sound of flesh being pierced rang out. The strike hit its target directly.

"Hisss—!"

With a shrill roar of pain, the Scaled Water Lizard rolled over, swung its enormous tail, and viciously lashed it at Qin Shaofeng.

It still wasn't dead?

What Qin Shaofeng had not expected was that Little Li Flying Dagger, which had consumed one hundred points of Inner Qi, had failed to take this Scaled Water Lizard's life.

But Qin Shaofeng did not panic. Carefully evading the incoming giant tail, he drew the sharp sword at his waist. In the instant the Scaled Water Lizard swung its tail, he thrust the sword fiercely into the wound already opened by Little Li Flying Dagger.

Pfft!

The sound of the sword entering flesh rang out. A column of blood immediately sprayed from the Scaled Water Lizard's abdomen. Qin Shaofeng's eyes turned even more ruthless as he pulled with the sword in his right hand and slashed hard.

Riiip!

With that slash, Qin Shaofeng instantly carved a half-meter-long wound across the Scaled Water Lizard's abdomen.

Blood immediately gushed out like a pillar, spraying wildly. In the blink of an eye, a small pool of blood had formed on the ground.

Qin Shaofeng flashed away again, putting distance between himself and the Scaled Water Lizard.

With such a massive wound in its abdomen and blood flooding the ground in moments, the Scaled Water Lizard struggled only a few more times before falling completely silent.

System Prompt: Congratulations, player, for killing one Third Layer of the Houtian Realm Scaled Water Lizard. You have gained 8 experience points!

"Phew! It's finally dead!"

Looking at the Scaled Water Lizard lying on the ground without any further sign of struggling, and hearing the system's notification, Qin Shaofeng finally let out a breath of relief. Then he smiled faintly.

"As expected, killing monsters above my level is far more satisfying. Eight experience points from a single one—at this rate, it won't be long before I advance to the Third Layer of the Houtian Realm."

After muttering a few words, Qin Shaofeng smiled slightly. His gaze could not help but turn toward the distant lake, his eyes brimming with excitement.

An hour later, as another Scaled Water Lizard fell, a system notification sounded, and Qin Shaofeng smiled happily.

System Prompt: Congratulations, player, your experience has reached the requirement for advancement. Player Qin Shaofeng has advanced to the Third Layer of the Houtian Realm!

Level: Third Layer of the Houtian Realm, 2/3000

Inner Qi: 900/900 (the Third Layer of the Houtian Realm possesses 300 Inner Qi; Yi Jin Jing provides a threefold bonus)

Talent Spiritual Root: Body of Thunder

Skills: Fiery Golden Eyes, Yi Jin Jing, Little Li Flying Dagger

War Beast: Hundred Spirits Demonic Fox

Equipment: None

Quest: None

Points: 130

Title: Lord of Lanjiang City

Hearing the system prompt, Qin Shaofeng summoned his Attribute Interface. After looking it over for a while, he grew excited once more.

"Mm, the Third Layer of the Houtian Realm. My Inner Qi has suddenly reached nine hundred points too. That means I can use Little Li Flying Dagger several more times. Reaching the Houtian Fifth Level in three days won't be difficult!"

As Qin Shaofeng looked over his Attribute Interface, the light in his eyes kept flashing. However, he did not make any further preparations to hunt demonic beasts.

It was already late, and after fighting continuously for several hours, Qin Shaofeng was rather tired.

Even though advancing had instantly replenished his Inner Qi to its full state, mentally, Qin Shaofeng could no longer hold on.

Thus, after hesitating for a moment, Qin Shaofeng began searching for a place to rest.

Very soon, Qin Shaofeng found a safe cave. After setting up a few warning traps around it, he caught several wild rabbits and began roasting them.

While eating roasted rabbit meat, Qin Shaofeng reflected on the events of the day.

He had risen from the Houtian First Layer to the Third Layer of the Houtian Realm. To others, that would have been extremely abnormal.

By comparison, Qin Shaofeng was only mildly satisfied.

He already had a system and could even level up by killing monsters. If he still advanced slowly, even Qin Shaofeng himself would find that unacceptable.

Besides his level, other things had changed as well.

The most significant change was that the skills Qin Shaofeng possessed had begun to level up too.

Fiery Golden Eyes: Level 2, 731/1000. God-grade Active Skill, the renowned ultimate art of Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong. Its current level is 2. It can inspect information on characters no more than three levels above the player's level and has a certain chance of discovering the target's weakness. It can also inspect any other object; the level of objects that can be inspected depends specifically on the player's level. Each use consumes 10 points of Inner Qi.

As the skill Qin Shaofeng used most often, Fiery Golden Eyes was now not far from reaching Level 3.

By comparison, the information obtained by Level 2 Fiery Golden Eyes was far more detailed than that of Level 1. Even the chance of discovering weaknesses had steadily increased.

Furthermore, Level 2 Fiery Golden Eyes not only allowed Qin Shaofeng to see more clearly, but even when fighting demonic beasts, it allowed him to clearly see their attacks and evade in time.

The reason Qin Shaofeng had been able to kill so many demonic beasts so smoothly today was largely due to Level 2 Fiery Golden Eyes.

Little Li Flying Dagger: Level 2, 123/1000. God-grade Active Skill. Little Li's divine dagger reigns supreme beneath heaven; once a dagger is thrown, it never misses! Its current level is 2. Within ten meters, against opponents within the player's own realm, every shot will hit, a hundred shots, a hundred hits. Once activated, all Inner Qi will be exhausted.

(Note: It may also be activated by consuming a small amount of Inner Qi, though its attack power will weaken accordingly. The minimum consumption is 100 points of Inner Qi.)

Besides Fiery Golden Eyes, Little Li Flying Dagger, also a God-grade Skill, had risen by one level and reached Level 2 as well.

Moreover, Level 2 Little Li Flying Dagger had not only increased its attack range from three meters to ten meters, but its power had also risen considerably.

Before Qin Shaofeng advanced to the Third Layer of the Houtian Realm, when he used Level 2 Little Li Flying Dagger against the Scaled Water Lizard and consumed the same one hundred points of Inner Qi, the result had been entirely different.

With Level 1 Little Li Flying Dagger, even if he struck the Scaled Water Lizard's abdominal weak point, he could at most severely wound it and could not kill it outright.

But with Level 2 Little Li Flying Dagger, a single hit could directly claim the Scaled Water Lizard's life.

The only fly in the ointment was that Qin Shaofeng's current Inner Qi was enough to use Little Li Flying Dagger at most nine times.

Speaking of Inner Qi, Qin Shaofeng could not help but complain about Yi Jin Jing, this Saint-grade Skill.

Both Fiery Golden Eyes and Little Li Flying Dagger were God-grade Skills, yet what left Qin Shaofeng speechless was that both God-grade Skills had already reached Level 2.

On the contrary, Yi Jin Jing, this Saint-grade Skill, had not leveled up at all.