Qi Induction, Fourth Level

Bang!

The Crocodile Demon's massive body plummeted into the water, like a giant boulder dropped from a great height, sending up a colossal spray.

The river surged violently, waves rippling and rolling outward across the surface.

At the same time, a plume of blood welled up from the riverbed, spreading in all directions.

"Did we succeed?!"

With the disappearance of the Crocodile Demon, the surrounding crowd began to recover from their terror, many standing on tiptoe to peer around.

But by now, the Crocodile Demon had sunk completely into the water; not even a shadow remained.

The river water grew even murkier, layer upon layer of waves churning.

"Changchuan, how is it?"

Watching his son Han Dayong's broken bamboo pole and the empty surface of the water, Han Qinhu stepped forward and asked.

However, at that very moment, Shen Changchuan, under the effects of his Spirit Eye Technique, caught sight of something unusual in the river.

Beneath the water, a dense concentration of demonic energy was gathering, creating ripples visible to the naked eye!

"Look out! Be careful!"

In an instant, Shen Changchuan felt an intense sense of crisis.

With no time to think, he unleashed his perfected Light Body Technique almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind. The spiritual light of his mana swirled around him, making his entire body feel incredibly weightless.

He grabbed the nearby Han Qinhu with one hand and retreated sharply, leaving a gray afterimage in mid-air as he pulled back to the riverbank eight or nine zhang away in the blink of an eye.

Almost simultaneously, whoosh!

A water arrow as thick as an arm shot out from beneath the surface like a bolt, sweeping through the space where Shen Changchuan and the others had just been standing, and slammed into the trunk of a large tree behind them.

Bang!

The tree trunk, as thick as a water barrel, exploded instantly, sending a sky full of water droplets and wood splinters flying.

The tree was severed at the waist, its heavy upper half groaning as it toppled over.

Not far away, Han Qinhu, who had yet to process what happened, stared at the scene, sweat beading on his forehead as a wave of relief at having survived washed over him.

If Shen Changchuan hadn't pulled him away at that critical moment, he would have had no chance of surviving that strike!

Meanwhile, the onlookers who had been slow to react finally realized what had happened; they cried out in alarm and scrambled backward.

Amidst their shock and terror, the gazes they cast toward Shen Changchuan were filled with awe.

The strength of an Immortal Master was truly extraordinary.

That strike from the river demon was something no one among the two thousand people in Dawan Village could have dodged!

Their conviction in Shen Changchuan grew even deeper.

There was no longer a shred of the contempt they had once felt due to his youth.

"This is troublesome!"

Shen Changchuan paid no mind to the thoughts of the villagers.

He glanced at the tree that had been severed at the waist, his eyes filled with wariness.

This innate demonic art has such power; its strength level must be at least the fifth layer of Qi Refinement!

Furthermore, its natural defense is astonishing, and it possesses a petrification talent that significantly boosts its durability. My previous attacks did nothing more than break a layer of its skin; they couldn't threaten it at all.

Shen Changchuan felt that the situation was incredibly thorny.

This guy's strength was truly a bit beyond his current capabilities.

Just like that strike from a moment ago, If he hadn't cultivated the Spirit Eye Technique to observe the attack it was brewing underwater in advance, and if his Light Body Technique hadn't reached perfection, allowing him to activate it in the span of a single breath, He feared he would never have been able to dodge that strike, which had been as swift as thunder!

And as Shen Changchuan stood now, he did not yet possess the ability to withstand such a water-arrow strike head-on.

Once hit, it could be said with certainty that he would surely die!

Shen Changchuan's brows were tightly furrowed as he racked his brain, But for the moment, he could not think of any way to deal with that creature.

"Right now, perhaps I can only be thankful that I didn't use the Golden Needle Artifact when dealing with that beast earlier!"

Finding no solution, Shen Changchuan could not help but reveal a bitter expression, comforting himself inwardly.

Judging by the results he had achieved with his Gold Thorn Technique, Even if he had used the Golden Needle Artifact as an aid to double the lethality of his Gold Thorn Technique, he feared it would at most only heavily injure the Crocodile Demon, failing to slay it outright.

It was even possible that he wouldn't even be able to inflict a heavy injury.

In such a situation, If he had used the Golden Needle Artifact, then losing the needles would have been inevitable.

It was fortunate that he had been cautious and refrained from using them, Otherwise, the loss would have been massive.

"Grandfather, for the time being, seal off the riverbank and have the villagers avoid coming near it as much as possible."

"As of now, I am temporarily unable to do anything about it."

Gazing at the river surface in the distance, which had returned to calm, Shen Changchuan pondered for a moment before speaking to Han Qinhu, who stood to the side, still somewhat shaken.

That Crocodile Demon hid itself within the river water, Occupying the advantage of the terrain.

Coupled with the fact that its cultivation realm and strength were a cut above his own, there was simply no way to resolve the situation.

Moreover, this attempt to lure the enemy had failed, and given the cunning nature of demonic beasts, he feared it would be difficult to lure it out again using such a simple method in the future.

"Ah, to think that beast is so troublesome!"

Hearing this, Han Qinhu, who had regained his composure, also wore a look of worry on his face.

"But if we don't deal with that beast, what if it crawls onto the shore under the cover of night and attacks the village?"

Dawan Village was not far from this river that cut through the entire mountain valley plain.

And the intelligence of a demonic beast was already far greater than that of a wild animal.

If the demonic beast in the river held a grudge and crawled out of the water in the middle of the night to sneak into the village and attack people or livestock, that would be a major problem.

"There is no other way; we can only increase the number of people patrolling at night."

"During your spare time, you can also gather men to build a circle of fences around the village."

Shen Changchuan shook his head slightly.

Even if he wanted revenge, there was nothing he could do.

If it were underwater, he would, nine times out of ten, be no match for that demonic creature.

And since the bait had just been used, he feared that trying to lure the snake out of its hole again would have little effect.

This was all he could do for now.

"Once this period passes, after the Spirit Grain planting is finished and the village's rice paddies are all sown, we can use the free time to harvest surrounding timber, reinforce and thicken the fences into a wooden wall, and then assign people to stand guard and patrol."

"If it dares to come ashore, I cannot guarantee I can kill it, but I at least have the ability to heavily injure it and drive it back down."

Shen Changchuan spoke with a faint sense of confidence.

Although the village might be relatively dangerous before the wall was built, The two thousand or so people in the village, besides cultivating the Spirit Grain, also needed to farm other ordinary fields to secure their food supply.

Now that the summer plowing had arrived, Shen Changchuan could not delay the agricultural work by forcibly imposing tasks.

Everything would have to wait until the summer plowing was over.

"That is all we can do, then."

Not long after, Having finished dealing with the aftermath, And having given instructions for the subsequent tasks, Shen Changchuan returned to the Half-Mountain Courtyard and entered the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber.

Inside the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber, Shen Changchuan sat cross-legged on a stone.

He reflected on the experience of that battle, summarizing the gains and losses.

The conclusion was that his measures during the process had been sound.

The primary reason for the outcome was simply that his strength was too weak!

If he had possessed the strength of the fourth or even fifth level of Qi Refinement, the Crocodile Demon would have been dead or at least severely wounded under that single Golden Needle Stab.

But unfortunately, he was not.

"The realm of the peak third level of Qi Refinement is, after all, still too low!"

Shen Changchuan murmured in a low voice.

If he were still within the Shen Family Estate, this would be an excellent disguise, which would be a good thing for him.

But in this savage land, it was not a good thing at all.

Without sufficient strength, Danger could descend at any moment!

A sense of urgency could not help but rise in Shen Changchuan's heart!

And so, from then on, He began to enter a state of even more diligent cultivation.

Except for showing his face every three to five days to check on the Spirit Grain planting matters, He basically stayed inside the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber in closed-door cultivation.

In this way, more than ten days passed quickly.

At this time, The ten acres of spirit fields outside had all been sown with grain seeds, and the remaining two experimental fields had also undergone the rice seedling transplanting process according to the planting experience he had summarized.

From here on, it would suffice to have people keep patrolling and observing every three to five days to clear weeds and kill any insects that appeared in the spirit fields.

As for the remaining villagers, They had also begun to till their ordinary fields to secure their food supply for the coming year.

From this point on, For a long time to come, provided no accidents occurred, Until the Spirit Grain was ready for harvest, Shen Changchuan could finally act as a hands-off manager.

Thus, He directly began his breakthrough to the fourth level of Qi Refinement.

"It is time!"

Inside the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber, Shen Changchuan took out the jade bottle from his robes.

Looking at the Qi Harmonizing Pill within the bottle, his face was filled with a solemn expression.

After more than half a month of diligent cultivation, He had polished his cultivation realm to perfection, and his physical state had reached its peak.

At the same time, Through more than half a month of accumulation, The spiritual energy within the Spirit Spring Secret Chamber had also gathered in abundance.

There could be no better time for a breakthrough than now!

Since that was the case, Shen Changchuan did not hesitate in the slightest.

He opened the bottle stopper, Poured the Qi Harmonizing Pill into his right hand, And the thumb-sized pill, which appeared pale red and radiated a faint, ethereal spiritual charm, filled the air with the fragrance of medicine.

Shen Changchuan did not hesitate at all, And tossed the pill into his mouth.

Immediately, his body quickly entered a meditative state.

The Elephant Mountain Qi Absorption Technique circulated his mana through his meridians, completing a full cycle.

As the pill was digested in his stomach, A vigorous medicinal force began to spread from his dantian in all directions.

Shen Changchuan circulated the Elephant Mountain Qi-Gathering Technique with all his might, channeling and refining the medicinal power within his body.

Time slipped away bit by bit.

Beads of sweat began to gather on Shen Changchuan's forehead.

The spiritual energy drifting from the spirit spring in the air was being consumed rapidly.

Three days later, BOOM!!!

Shen Changchuan felt the bottleneck within his body suddenly burst open at that very moment!

Both the quantity and quality of the mana within him surged forward by a significant margin!

Fourth Level of Qi-Gathering!

He had succeeded!

Feeling his doubled mana surging like a torrent through his dantian and meridians, Shen Changchuan opened his eyes, a flash of lightning-like brilliance streaking through them.

Although he had anticipated this long before, He still could not help but reveal a look of joy on his face.

"The transition from the third level to the fourth level of Qi-Gathering is the metamorphosis from the early stage to the middle stage of Qi-Gathering."

"I am now a cultivator in the middle stage of Qi-Gathering!"

Shen Changchuan clenched his fists, feeling the majestic mana within his body, And his spirit felt more comfortable than ever before!