The Heaven-Swallowing Python

On the seventh night, the moon shone bright among the sparse stars.

The Thunder Blade Squad settled on the rooftop of a fifteen-story hotel beside the canal. It was the tallest building nearby, with a clear view of the surrounding area for several kilometers. More importantly, it was surrounded by water on three sides and connected to land on the fourth, allowing them to watch for movement in the water while keeping an escape route open.

Lin Zheng chose the largest room on the top floor as their temporary camp. Shen Yang set up lookout equipment on the roof, while Leng Bao and Luo Fang laid simple traps by the stairwell. Liu Xu took the first watch.

Lin Yun leaned by the window, practicing the Force Application Technique of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade over and over in the moonlight. He had mastered the second layer, but he was still far from Lin Zheng's standard of making it feel "as natural as breathing." When he stacked three bursts of force, the second sharp crack still came a fraction of a second after the first. Ordinary people wouldn't notice, but Lin Zheng could, and so could Liu Xu.

"Still practicing?" Luo Fang poked her head out of the next room. "We have to get moving tomorrow. You should get some rest."

"I'm going to bed." Lin Yun put away his blade, sat in the corner opposite her, and closed his eyes.

But he didn't fall asleep. Instead, he entered a meditative state, while his body in the Coiling Dragon World began meditating in sync. His magical power circulated slowly, and his Spiritual Force recovered rapidly through Dual World Resonance. Ever since entering the Wilderness Area, he had spent every night this way: one body resting while the other cultivated; one body accumulating fatigue while the other recovered its energy. He was making the most of every moment in both worlds.

Night deepened.

Moonlight spilled across the canal, breaking into silver flecks on the water. A few monster howls echoed from the distance on the night wind, then gradually faded. The entire Ruined City fell into an eerie silence.

Liu Xu stood at the edge of the rooftop, her hands resting on the railing as she gazed at the canal in the distance. The night wind lifted her short hair, revealing the clean lines of her profile. She had held that pose for a long time, as if watching the scenery—or lost in thought.

The scenes from earlier that day kept replaying in her mind. When Lin Zheng had coached Lin Yun in the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, he had shown a rare smile. She hadn't seen that smile in a long time—so long that she'd thought she would never see it again. But he hadn't been smiling at her. In fact, as soon as she approached, his expression had quickly turned cold again.

"Captain..." Liu Xu murmured, her voice too quiet for even her to hear.

She didn't know what she was holding on to. It had been three years. Lin Zheng's attitude toward her had gone from distant to avoidant, then from avoidance to silence. They used to talk about everything. Now all they shared were words during missions: "Liu Xu, left flank." "Liu Xu, cover me." "Liu Xu, retreat."

She wanted to tell him she didn't care about his leg. She wanted to tell him she liked him for who he was—not for his leg, his strength, or his swordsmanship. She wanted to tell him that for three years, she had waited every day for him to look back at her.

But she couldn't bring herself to say any of it. Whenever she tried to get close, he backed away, like a wounded beast hiding in the deepest cave so no one could touch him.

Liu Xu took a deep breath and forced back the moisture in her eyes. This wasn't the time to think about any of that. She was on watch, and she was responsible for the safety of the entire squad.

Her gaze sharpened as she scanned their surroundings. The canal was still as a mirror. The ruins on either bank cast long shadows in the moonlight, and the distant buildings were pitch-black, like rows of silent tombstones.

Everything looked normal.

Yet Liu Xu couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She couldn't say what it was. There was no sound, no movement, no sign of anything out of the ordinary. But her instincts warned her that something was drawing near.

She tightened her grip on her sword and fixed her gaze on the canal.

The water remained still.

Too still.

Liu Xu's pupils suddenly contracted. She finally realized what was wrong: the canal was far too still. They had killed more than a dozen Water Pythons here that day, and the smell of blood should have attracted more of them. But tonight, the water hadn't so much as rippled. Not even a small fish was in sight.

As if... something beneath the water had frightened everything away.

Liu Xu's hand closed around her sword hilt. She was about to shout a warning—

The water exploded.

A huge dark shadow burst from the water, moving so fast Liu Xu could barely follow it with her eyes. It was a snake—a ridiculously enormous one. Its body was three times thicker than the High-Level Beast General Water Python they had encountered during the day, and more than ten meters of it rose above the water. Its scales shimmered with a deep blue light in the moonlight. They weren't ordinary snake scales; they had a strange camouflage effect, shifting colors as if they were alive.

Most terrifying of all was its head. Unlike the triangular head of an ordinary Water Python, it was flat and flared like a cobra's hood. Its two vertical pupils were a bizarre gold, glowing like lanterns in the darkness with a cold, vicious light.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python—a High-Level Lord Rank monster!!

Liu Xu reacted fast. The instant the Heaven-Swallowing Python burst from the water, she drew her sword and leaped back, shouting, "Ene—"

She never finished the word.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python was too fast. Its body left a blur in the air, and its enormous head was already at the edge of the rooftop. It didn't use its fangs or its tail. It simply—

rammed into her.

Its massive head hit Liu Xu like a runaway truck.

"Bang!"

Liu Xu flew like a broken kite, crashing through the concrete parapet and tumbling into the top-floor room. Her sword flew from her grasp and hit the floor with a sharp metallic clang. Blood trickled from her forehead and the corner of her mouth, staining her Combat Suit.

If she hadn't gritted her teeth and spent most of her savings before setting out to replace the combat vest inside her suit with a high-end 9-Series model, the impact would have killed her. Even the 9-Series vest had barely kept her alive under a direct hit from a High-Level Lord Rank monster. She could feel that at least three ribs were broken, the bones in her left arm were shattered, and her insides hurt as if they had been ground to pieces.

"Liu Xu!"

Lin Zheng's voice rang out through the darkness. He was the first to wake—not because of the sound, but instinct. After three years, his body had learned to wake the instant danger arrived.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the giant serpent's silhouette in the moonlight, Liu Xu being knocked away, and blood at the corner of her mouth.

For an instant, Lin Zheng's mind went blank.

Then an emotion he'd thought long dead erupted from the deepest part of his heart—not fear or anger, but a near-mad, all-consuming urge to give his life in exchange for hers.

"Liu Xu!"

He rushed forward at a speed he could hardly believe himself. His prosthetic leg clattered against the ground, every step pushing it to its limit. His right hand had already closed around his short blade, its blue glow glaring in the darkness.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python seemed to notice the tiny bug rushing toward it. Its huge head turned toward Lin Zheng and its jaws opened, revealing two rows of serrated teeth. A foul stench hit him, making his stomach turn.

Lin Zheng didn't dodge.

He charged straight into the Heaven-Swallowing Python's open jaws. The blue light on his blade flared to its limit—the sign that he had driven the Fourth Layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade to its peak, the pinnacle of his ability after three years. In that moment, he forgot about his leg. He forgot that he was a "cripple." He forgot all the insecurity and hesitation he had endured over the past three years. He knew only one thing—

Liu Xu was there. Liu Xu was hurt. Liu Xu needed him.

"Thunder Blade! Fourth Layer!"

He swung his short blade. Four layers of force stacked together, unleashing 3.5 times the power through its edge. Blade light collided with the Heaven-Swallowing Python's scales, producing a deafening metallic crack.

One of the scales beneath the python's jaw shattered, and deep blue blood seeped from the crack. But against its enormous body, the injury was no more than a tiny scratch. At the limit of his full-strength attack, Lin Zheng had managed only to break a single scale.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python shrieked in pain. Its body suddenly coiled, and its thick tail swept sideways, whipping into Lin Zheng.

Lin Zheng went flying and slammed into a rooftop water tank, denting it badly. The impact knocked his prosthetic leg loose, and he hit the ground, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. But he gritted his teeth, struggled back to his feet, and stood on one leg, gripping his blade with both hands as he shielded Liu Xu.

"Come on!" His voice was hoarse, his eyes burning with a near-mad light.

Shen Yang, Leng Bao, and Luo Fang rushed out at that moment. Shen Yang raised his sniper rifle and fired at the Heaven-Swallowing Python's eyes. The bullets struck its scales without leaving even a white mark. Leng Bao thrust with his spear, only to have the python's tail knock him away. Luo Fang slashed at its body with her short blade, but the blade skidded right off its scales.

To the Heaven-Swallowing Python, a High-Level Lord Rank monster, attacks from ordinary War General Rank fighters were less than mosquito bites.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python seemed enraged. Its entire body rose from the water, revealing its full form—a massive thirty-meter-long serpent whose scales shifted in color beneath the moonlight, like a moving hill. Its vertical pupils fixed on Lin Zheng as it opened its jaws, revealing two rows of serrated teeth.

Lin Zheng stood in front of Liu Xu, supported by one leg, covered in blood, the short blade trembling in his hands. But his gaze didn't waver.

"Come on!" he shouted again, his voice even hoarser than before.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python launched its final attack. Its head crashed down like a meteor, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow Lin Zheng whole.

Just then, a streak of silver light cut through the night sky.

Not one streak, but nine.

Nine flying knives shot out of the darkness, each with a piercing whistle. Like nine shooting stars, they flew straight toward the Heaven-Swallowing Python's head. They were so fast that even the python couldn't dodge them all.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—"

Three knives plunged into the python's left eye, and two into its right. The remaining four buried themselves in its forehead and lower jaw, sinking deep into the cracks in the scales Lin Zheng had shattered. Deep blue blood gushed out. The Heaven-Swallowing Python let out an unbearably shrill howl and thrashed wildly, its thick tail smashing the concrete rooftop to pieces.

Everyone froze.

They turned toward the direction the knives had come from. Lin Yun stood at the window, his arms slightly outstretched. An invisible pressure emanated from him—the unmistakable aura of Spiritual Force unleashed at full power.

"A Spiritual Master..." Shen Yang murmured, his eyes wide.

"And not an ordinary one." Luo Fang's voice trembled. "That control... that power..."

Leng Bao said nothing, but his pupils contracted sharply, and his grip on his spear tightened until his knuckles turned white.

Lin Zheng stood still, watching the nine flying knives circling in the air. Shock flashed through his eyes, but he quickly collected himself. Whatever Lin Yun's identity, whatever strength he had kept hidden, the most important thing now was to survive.

"Lin Yun!" he shouted. "Can you kill it?"

Lin Yun stared fixedly at the Heaven-Swallowing Python. There was no panic in his eyes, only a calm and composure far beyond his years.

"That'll be difficult!" he said. "It's going to run!"

The Heaven-Swallowing Python sensed the deadly threat. Its eyes were blind, but as a High-Level Lord Rank monster, its senses far surpassed those of ordinary monsters. It knew the human standing at the window had the power to hurt it. The monster's instincts gave it one clear command: flee.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python coiled its body and slid over the rooftop's edge, crashing heavily onto the street below. Its thirty-meter body wriggled rapidly through the ruins, fleeing toward the canal.

"It's running!" Shen Yang shouted.

"I'll chase it. Find somewhere safe to hide," Lin Yun said calmly. He leaped out of the window, his shield holding him aloft under the force of his Spiritual Force. Nine flying knives circled around him as he streaked into the night like a silver streamer, pursuing the Heaven-Swallowing Python.

"Lin Yun!" Liu Xu struggled to sit up, but the pain made her collapse again.

Lin Zheng pressed her shoulder down. "Don't move. Trust him."

His gaze followed the direction Lin Yun had disappeared in, and a complicated look crossed his face. Fifteen years old, a Spiritual Master at War God Level... How many secrets was this boy still hiding?