The Youquan Mountain Range was named "Youquan" because there were countless springs within its depths, most of them bottomless, as though they led straight to the netherworld.
Moreover, these springs varied in size. The large ones spanned dozens of meters, while the small ones were no bigger than a palm. Any spring that was both large and deep usually had magical beasts living beneath its waters.
Therefore, one had to guard against sneak attacks from aquatic magical beasts when drawing water.
Leian understood the danger well. Whenever he was thirsty, he only took enough water to drink and never dared to casually enter the water to wash himself.
Just like this time. He had merely lingered by the water's edge for a little longer before disturbing the magical beast beneath the surface. As he turned to leave, it suddenly burst from the water and launched a sneak attack.
Fortunately, Leian was cautious enough to notice it immediately and evade.
It was a giant snake as thick as a millstone, with a massive triangular head. Its pitch-black body bore striking silver rings at regular intervals.
Leian recognized its origin at a glance—a level-nine magical beast, the Silver-Ringed Poison Python!
The Silver-Ringed Poison Python was a darkness-element magical beast and ranked among the more formidable snake-type magical beasts. Even among those of the same level, it was stronger than lion- and tiger-type magical beasts.
More importantly, the fangs of a Silver-Ringed Poison Python carried an extremely potent venom. Once bitten, anyone below the Saint Realm would certainly die unless a level-nine Light Archmage used a Purification Spell to remove the poison.
"Hisss—"
At that moment, the Silver-Ringed Poison Python seemed to have already regarded Leian as food. Its scarlet tongue flickered in and out, while its fist-sized gray eyes gleamed with chilling light as they locked firmly onto him.
"It pulls this crap almost every time I come for water. What a damn nuisance!"
Leian's face darkened as he slowly drew the longsword from his back. Destruction Battle Qi surged wildly within him, and a layer of purple-black radiance spread across the long blade.
The Silver-Ringed Poison Python's venom was far too terrifying. It was not a suitable opponent for a sparring match, so he intended to end the battle quickly.
As Leian moved, the Silver-Ringed Poison Python raised its head as well, its coiled body taut like a drawn bowstring.
Suddenly—
"Whoosh!"
With a piercing rush of wind, the Silver-Ringed Poison Python attacked. Its vicious triangular head shot toward Leian like an arrow.
At the same time, its jaws parted slightly, and two streams of gray air shot from the tips of its raised fangs like twin arrows aimed at Leian's upper body.
Before the streams of air reached him, Leian smelled a foul stench. He frowned, held his breath, and slashed out with his longsword.
"Swoosh!"
The instant the blade descended, a sharp whistle rang out. The two gray streams of air abruptly shattered in midair. At that moment, the surrounding space seemed to come under pressure, crushing down toward the Silver-Ringed Poison Python's triangular head.
The Silver-Ringed Poison Python immediately sensed that something was wrong. Terror appeared in its cold eyes for the first time. It tried to dodge, only to feel as if it had fallen into a swamp, unable to move.
"Pfft!"
A bizarre purple-black sword light flashed, and the Silver-Ringed Poison Python's head split into two in an instant. Its heavy body then smashed viciously into the ground.
"Whew—"
Leian exhaled a breath of stale air, satisfaction appearing in his eyes. He could clearly feel that his control over the power of heaven and earth through that strike had become increasingly refined.
In the realm of "momentum," he was on the verge of reaching mastery.
The reason he had improved so quickly was inseparable from his experiences over this period.
Nearly two years had passed since Leian entered the Youquan Mountain Range. From the moment he set foot within it, he had searched everywhere for magical beasts to fight.
At first, he used level-eight magical beasts for practice. From those skilled in speed, to those possessing immense strength, and finally to those possessing both strength and speed, he had fought them all.
After battle after battle, his combat experience rose rapidly, and his understanding of "momentum" deepened more and more.
Once level-eight magical beasts could no longer provide him with experience, he shifted his target to level-nine magical beasts.
The Silver-Ringed Poison Python was not the first level-nine magical beast Leian had killed. In fact, even level-nine magical beasts found it difficult to stir his interest now.
Recently, he had been spending more of his time searching for a suitable magical beast pet.
Setting aside a mount for himself, any magical beast left beside his parents as a guard first had to be small enough. At the very least, it needed to be something they could take with them.
Second, it could not be too weak. Finally, it preferably needed to look relatively friendly.
The three requirements did not sound difficult, but even now, Leian had not encountered anything suitable.
After all, the vast majority of powerful magical beasts were huge. There were smaller ones, such as rodent-type magical beasts, but the Youquan Mountain Range was not the Dark Forest. Rodent-type magical beasts were exceedingly rare here, and they were usually very good at hiding. Leian had only encountered a few level-seven Shadow Mice, none of them worth wasting a Master-Servant Contract Scroll on.
"Do I have no choice but to enter the core region?"
After casually digging out the Silver-Ringed Poison Python's magic crystal core, Leian looked into the distance and silently weighed his options.
As far as the eye could see, mountain ridges rose and fell without end. Ancient trees as thick as millstones stood everywhere, their enormous canopies blotting out the sky and sun, making every place seem perilous.
By location, the place where Leian currently stood was already the central region of the Youquan Mountain Range. Under normal circumstances, even level-nine experts rarely set foot here.
If he went any farther, he would reach the true core region.
The core region was a paradise for Saint Realm magical beasts. Leian considered himself invincible beneath the Saint Realm, but he still did not dare casually enter the territory of Saint Realm magical beasts.
However, traveling along the edge of the core region would not be too dangerous.
With that thought, Leian changed direction and set off once more.
Spring passed into autumn, and in the blink of an eye, another half year went by. According to the Byron Calendar, it was now late autumn of the year 9884.
Though it was the season when all things withered, the depths of the Youquan Mountain Range remained lush and green. Leian strolled through the forest of giant trees.
Over the past half year, he had not found a suitable magical beast. However, two more level-nine magic crystal cores had been added to his Interspatial Ring, and this could not help but make him consider exploring the core region.
"Should I go take a look?"
Leian silently pondered. Just then, a black shadow suddenly flashed not far off to one side.
"Hm?"
Leian raised a brow and suddenly stopped. His gaze shot toward a completely different location. Through layers of branches and leaves, a black shadow flickered in and out of sight.
At that moment, the black shadow seemed to sense Leian's gaze and changed position again. Yet no matter how it hid, Leian could always cast his gaze upon it immediately.
"Come out. Your concealment is useless against me!"
Seeing that the black shadow appeared unwilling to give up and was preparing to change positions again, Leian smiled faintly and called out.
If he was not mistaken, the black shadow should be a level-nine darkness-element magical beast. It also seemed rather small, which pleasantly surprised him.
Before you continue