The Nest

Lin Yun chased the Heaven-Swallowing Python through several streets.

Although the Heaven-Swallowing Python was badly wounded, it was still astonishingly fast in the water. It fled wildly along the canal, its enormous body leaving a churning white wake behind it. Lin Yun sprinted over the ruins along the bank, nine flying knives circling him, ready to attack at any moment.

"Fast little bastard." Lin Yun gritted his teeth and sped up.

He knew that if the Heaven-Swallowing Python escaped into the depths of West Lake, he would never catch up with it. The lake was dozens of meters deep, with complicated underwater terrain and plenty of other aquatic monsters. In his current condition, he had little chance of winning a fight underwater against a wounded High-Level Lord Rank monster.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python seemed to realize this too and fled desperately toward West Lake.

A man and a snake chased each other through the night, crossing collapsed bridges, abandoned docks, and flooded streets. The canal grew wider, and the water grew deeper—West Lake was close.

Lin Yun knew he couldn't wait any longer.

He picked up speed and leaped onto the Heaven-Swallowing Python's back just as it was about to enter West Lake.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python sensed the intruder on its back and twisted wildly, trying to throw him off. Its massive body rolled through the water, sending up waves several meters high. Lin Yun clung desperately to the edge of a scale with one hand and gripped the Blood Shadow Battle Blade in the other, chopping at its body again and again.

But the Heaven-Swallowing Python's scales were too thick. The blade could only leave shallow scratches.

Lin Yun gritted his teeth. He knew he couldn't kill this snake with conventional methods. The defense of a High-Level Lord Rank monster wasn't something the Spiritual Force and blade of an Intermediate War God could easily break through.

He needed another way.

Lin Yun closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the depths of his soul.

There, fragments of the Law of Death revolved slowly in the darkness like black stars. The insights he'd gained from the Necromancy Inheritance Stele surged into his mind all at once.

Soul Attack.

It was the strangest and deadliest technique in Necromancy, one that attacked an enemy's soul directly. In the Coiling Dragon World, it was the Necromancer's trump card. In the Swallowed Star World, he had never used it before; he wasn't even sure he could.

But now, he had no choice.

Lin Yun transformed all his Spiritual Force into soul power, condensing it into an invisible spike that stabbed toward the depths of the Heaven-Swallowing Python's consciousness.

In that instant, he "saw" the Heaven-Swallowing Python's soul.

It was a gigantic, deep-blue orb of light, larger than any undead creature he'd ever seen in the Undead Realm. It was filled with savagery and madness, yet deep within it glowed a warm light—its instinct to protect, the one thing it refused to abandon even as it faced death.

Lin Yun's soul spike pierced the orb.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python's soul convulsed violently, letting out a soundless scream. The cry didn't travel through the air; it exploded directly inside Lin Yun's mind, making his soul tremble. Blood surged from his nose, his ears rang, and his consciousness blurred.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python's body suddenly stiffened and stopped struggling. It floated in the water, its enormous body swaying gently with the current as if it had lost consciousness.

Now!

Enduring the soul-rending pain, Lin Yun sent all nine flying knives out at once. They lined up in the air and aimed at the spot on top of the Heaven-Swallowing Python's head where Lin Zheng had already shattered its scales. One after another, they plunged in.

The first knife slid into the crack, deepening the wound by an inch.

The second, the third, the fourth... The knives stabbed into the same wound without pause, each one going deeper than the last.

When the eighth knife struck, it pierced the Heaven-Swallowing Python's skull.

The searing pain roused the Heaven-Swallowing Python from its daze. It let out a deafening hiss and thrashed wildly, throwing Lin Yun off its back. He tumbled through the water several times before managing to steady himself.

A fist-sized hole in the Heaven-Swallowing Python's head gushed deep-blue blood. It was on the verge of death, but it hadn't fallen. Summoning the last of its strength, it swam toward the bottom of the lake.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python moved slowly, but it kept going. Its enormous body dragged a deep furrow along the lakebed, blood pouring from its wound and dyeing the surrounding water red. It was like a dying warrior, using the last of its strength to return to some place.

Lin Yun hesitated for a moment, then followed.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python's breathing grew weaker, and its body heavier. At last, it reached a ruin on the lakebed—a submerged ancient structure that might have been a temple or palace on the shore of West Lake before the Great Nirvana. Massive stone pillars lay toppled across the bottom, water plants covered the ruined walls, and exquisite carvings were barely visible beneath the silt.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python swam to the entrance of the largest building in the ruins, but its body could no longer hold on. Its head sank slowly into the silt. Its final breath escaped its body, rising toward the surface as a string of bubbles.

It was dead.

It died at the entrance to its lair, just a few steps from its destination.

Lin Yun floated in the water, looking at the enormous python's corpse, a complicated feeling rising in his heart. It could have swum upward and escaped to the surface—that was its chance to survive. But instead, it had chosen to go down, toward the lakebed, to this ruin, until it had used up its final breath.

It had fought desperately to return here.

Why?

Lin Yun's gaze settled on the entrance to the ruin. In the darkness, he could make out a deep opening, but it was pitch-black inside, and he couldn't see a thing. His Spiritual Force told him, however, that something was in there.

A strange presence drifted slowly out of the opening, making his heart race.

Lin Yun swam toward the entrance. It was narrow, just wide enough for one person to pass through. He turned sideways and slipped inside. Beyond it lay a long passageway, its walls covered in faded reliefs. The passage was narrow, and the water barely moved. Visibility was extremely poor. Even his Spiritual Force could only reach a dozen meters.

He swam forward cautiously.

The passage seemed endless. The farther in he went, the colder and clearer the water became. He didn't know how long he had been swimming when the space ahead suddenly opened up.

Lin Yun surfaced and found himself in a vast stone chamber. Cracks in the ceiling let moonlight stream through, casting broken patterns of light across the shadowy water. A raised stone platform stood in the middle of the chamber, untouched by the water.

Lin Yun climbed onto the platform.

Then he saw a plant.

It grew right in the center of the platform, emerald green and crystal-clear, giving off a faint glow. The entire plant was only about the size of his palm. Six leaves circled its crown, each one as thin as a cicada's wing, with green light flowing through its veins. In the middle of the leaves lay a round red fruit. Its surface was smooth as a mirror, gleaming enticingly in the moonlight.

Lin Yun held his breath.

He had never seen a plant like this. It didn't resemble any species on Earth. It was more like something... from a legend.

He crouched down to study it carefully. The six leaves circled the red fruit in a pattern so perfect that it looked like a work of art, painstakingly sculpted by hand. The fruit's scent was faint but refreshing; just one breath of it left him feeling invigorated.

Had the Heaven-Swallowing Python fought desperately to return here just to protect this plant?

Lin Yun reached out and gently touched the red fruit. It trembled slightly, and a warm energy flowed from his fingertip into his body, making him feel as if his blood were boiling—as though a hungry beast had caught the scent of blood.

His pupils contracted sharply.

This fruit...

Lin Yun took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He didn't know what the plant was, what side effects it might have, or how long the Heaven-Swallowing Python had guarded it. But this wasn't the time to investigate.

He took a sealed box from his backpack and carefully dug up the entire plant, roots and all, placing it inside. Its roots were shallow, reaching only through the thin layer of soil on the platform. It seemed the plant didn't need many nutrients.

After putting the sealed box in his backpack, Lin Yun took one last look around the stone chamber.

Moonlight poured through the cracks and broke into silver patches across the water. The faded carvings on the walls appeared and disappeared in the shifting light, as if telling a forgotten story.

He didn't know what the plant was, but he knew that anything a High-Level Lord Rank monster would fight to the death to protect couldn't be ordinary.

Lin Yun turned and dived into the water, swimming back through the passageway.

By the time he emerged from the ruins, the Heaven-Swallowing Python's corpse had sunk into the silt by the entrance. Lin Yun glanced at the giant serpent, then used his telekinetic power to cut it open. He packed away its intact scales, skin, gallbladder, and other valuable materials before swimming toward the surface.

The moment he broke through the water, he gulped down the fresh air. Moonlight fell across West Lake, breaking into silver patches on its surface. The ruins along the shore lay silent in the night, as if keeping watch over something.

"Lin Yun! Lin Yun!"

Shen Yang's shouts came from a distance. The other members of the Thunder Blade Squad had followed the lakeshore to search for him. Lin Zheng was at the front, leaning on his blade and limping along, his face full of worry. Luo Fang was supporting Liu Xu, whose face was pale, but whose eyes kept searching for something.

When they saw Lin Yun surface, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"You brat!" Shen Yang ran over and hauled him out of the water. "You scared us to death! You chased it alone—you trying to get yourself killed?"

Lin Yun gave a bitter smile. Soaked through and utterly exhausted, he dropped onto the ground and looked up at the sky, letting out a long breath.

"I killed it," he said.

Lin Zheng walked over, leaning on his blade, and looked down at him. "Where's the corpse?"

"On the lakebed, by a ruin," Lin Yun said. "It was too big to bring back. I only took the gallbladder, scales, and skin." He pointed to the enormous bundle of python skin, rolled up like a small hill, and several hundred intact scales beside it. The scales were as exquisite as works of art, their camouflage patterns shifting in the light.

He took the gallbladder from his backpack. Under the moonlight, it was as big as a human head, deep blue all over and glowing faintly.

Lin Zheng looked at the materials and fell silent for a long time.

"The gallbladder, scales, and skin of a High-Level Lord Rank Heaven-Swallowing Python..." His voice was hoarse. "You made more on this trip than the rest of us put together."

Lin Yun shook his head. "If the captain hadn't stood in front of it, if Sister Liu hadn't drawn its attention, and if everyone hadn't kept it occupied, I couldn't have killed it alone. We'll split these materials according to the rules."

He paused, then added, "Besides, I found something else at the bottom of the lake."

Everyone turned to look at him.

Lin Yun took the sealed box from his backpack and opened it. Under the moonlight, the emerald plant gave off a faint glow. Its six leaves circled the red fruit at its center, beautiful enough to seem unreal.

Everyone held their breath.

"What is that?" Shen Yang asked, eyes wide.

"I don't know," Lin Yun said. "But the Heaven-Swallowing Python fought desperately to return there just to protect it. I found it in its lair."

Lin Zheng stared at the plant for a long time before finally speaking. "When we get back, we'll find someone to identify it. Until then, don't tell anyone."

His gaze swept over everyone. "What happened today is classified. No one is to speak of Lin Yun being a Spiritual Master, or of this plant."

Everyone nodded. They understood what kind of trouble would come if any of this got out.

Lin Yun put the sealed box away again, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.

His Spiritual Force was almost completely depleted, and he had barely any soul power left. He felt as if he had been hollowed out. But the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python was dead, and Liu Xu had survived. The wall between Lin Zheng and Liu Xu had finally crumbled, too.

And he had obtained that mysterious plant.

This night had been worth it.

He touched the sealed box in his backpack, and his consciousness gradually drifted into sleep. This time, he really needed to rest.