Opening the Spirit World

This water snake was larger than the one he had just encountered, its body round and thick as a chimney.

With a single violent thrash of its massive body, a powerful current surged toward him.

Though Li Ziran did not know the Snake Women's level, this one was definitely no ordinary creature. Her Iris's ability to see through the Transformation Spell was even stronger.

Li Ziran was a little dazed. What exactly was this thing?

His first instinct was to retreat, but a voice in his mind told him not to move.

He noticed something strange. This powerful Snake Women seemed not to have noticed him—or perhaps her vision was unbelievably poor.

Her thick serpentine body slowly swam around Li Ziran, yet she did not strike him with the fatal blow of a python.

Li Ziran could clearly see her orderly, fine scales reflecting a faint blue glow in the pool, while the current drifted slowly past them.

Weak eyesight was a common flaw among aquatic creatures. In waters with extremely low visibility, many creatures naturally abandoned vision, relying instead on smell and the sensation of their skin to locate prey.

Li Ziran held his breath hard, pressing his entire body tightly against the water weeds without moving an inch.

His judgment was correct.

Though the water snake lingered nearby, she could not lock onto her target. After circling through the weeds several times, she slowly swam away.

Li Ziran let out a long breath. In that instant, it felt as though he had walked through hell once; even beneath the icy water, he seemed to have broken out in a cold sweat.

Only after the water snake's body had completely vanished from sight did Li Ziran lightly kick with his hind legs, gliding a short distance on the water's recoil.

He needed silence, needed to avoid causing ripples as much as possible.

After kicking twice in succession, Li Ziran knew he was safe for the moment. But he did not dare rest in the slightest and began speeding up. He had to find the slave group as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, a streak of black light flashed past.

A powerful scaled body wrapped directly around Li Ziran's slender frame, coiling around him layer by layer like a winch. Terrifying constricting force pressed inward from the outside, crushing toward his internal organs.

In an instant, Li Ziran felt his throat tighten, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

[Snake Constriction]

The water snake used its long, slender body to capture prey by coiling around it layer upon layer, constricting until it suffocated.

Li Ziran understood at once. The Snake Women did not act alone. They were truly a social species.

Though he had escaped one Snake Women's encirclement, he had fallen into another's trap.

More precisely, from beginning to end, he had never escaped the Snake Women's encirclement.

Li Ziran knew the laws of survival well, and precisely because of that, he was afraid. Countless examples had told him that once caught in a Snake Women's constriction, there was almost no chance of escape.

He desperately tried to undo his belt and release those Ram-headed People, but both hands were locked tightly by the snake's body. The more he struggled, the tighter she constricted.

Creak!

He could hear his bones reaching their limit. In only a few seconds, his bones would be crushed apart, and his entire body would become a heap of mangled flesh.

He was doomed!

At this moment, he was actually trembling!

This snake had struck too decisively, at too perfect a moment, suppressing every method he had cleanly and completely.

She was an outstanding hunter.

Li Ziran had to admit it, but now he was the prey.

He was afraid. He could not help remembering the days when he had first appeared on the Wasteland, when he had first become a slave.

With no family or friends in sight, there was nowhere to seek help.

He had considered death before, more than once.

The Wasteland—no, the Red Soil Continent—was originally a naked animal world.

Here, one either ate others or was eaten. He was merely one link in the food chain.

Though he had long understood that, when this moment truly arrived, he was still afraid.

"Is this how I die?"

Li Ziran muttered softly in his heart. He had already given up resisting. There was no helping it; the rules of survival told him there was no way out.

He understood his situation better than anyone.

Li Ziran closed his eyes. He could hear his bones popping and cracking, hear the electric hiss of the snake's body scraping against his skin, and see the long, thin snake shadows constantly gathering in the distance, along with the faint sounds of forked tongues flicking out.

"This should be my final sound! A person getting to live two lives isn't a loss!"

A smile rested on Li Ziran's lips. Perhaps giving up now was exactly the right time.

Silence!

Oppression!

Darkness!

Endless darkness, as though he had sunk into a bottomless abyss, coldness invading his soul.

"So cold... so cold... so cold..."

Li Ziran shivered. He could not help shivering. This cold could not be resisted. Right now, he only wanted warmth, just a little.

He did not want to die, nor did he like this icy coldness.

Yet there was nothing around him but blackness. Only blackness. And if there was anything else, it was endless cold.

The cold scraped away at his soul layer by layer like a blade, without end.

"Gulubalam!"

A voice suddenly appeared within that frozen world, young and gentle.

"Who?" Li Ziran asked.

"Gulubalam!"

It was still that voice, so weak it was almost inaudible.

Li Ziran could not understand it or make sense of it, but that voice stood out in the icy world like a cluster of flames.

He knew this feeling well. It was exactly the same as when his master had first transmitted spiritual power to him.

"Gulubalam!" Li Ziran unconsciously chanted. In that instant, warmth returned faintly, and the cold binding him melted swiftly as if spring had arrived.

"Is this... spiritual power transmission?"

As a Witch Doctor, no one understood what he was feeling better than he did. That incantation was like a spiritual tether, with an endless stream of spiritual power flowing into his mind.

"Gulubalam!"

Li Ziran called out again. This time, he opened his eyes directly. He was still underwater, still wrapped in that long, thin water snake, his bones still creaking at their breaking point.

But everything was different. He seemed to see a transparent sphere lodged within the python's body.

"Gulubalam!"

This time, it became clearer, like a ribbon. Li Ziran reached out casually, and the ribbon sprang up along his fingers, slid down his slender arm, and drilled straight into his mind.

In an instant, it was as if a great red-copper bell had been struck inside his mind. Waves of spiritual power bloomed, as though carving out a blank space within the absolute darkness of his consciousness.

He saw blankness—blankness like paper, blankness like clouds.

"Is this... the Spirit World?"

Li Ziran could not believe it. In that brief instant, it seemed as though countless streams of inexhaustible spiritual power had converged upon him, opening up an independent world.

His master had told him that the Spirit World had no color. Only after opening it would one understand what color it was.

At this moment, Li Ziran seemed to understand.

But now, his Spirit World had opened.

"Could that just now have been the mysterious Devouring Curse?"

Li Ziran opened his eyes. The terrifying constricting force around him had already vanished completely. With a light struggle, the water snake that could have crushed him instantly loosened like a woman's waistband. He twisted his waist a few times and easily broke free.

Without his support, the long, thin water snake sank directly toward the bottom.

At some point, this terrifying hunter had already become a corpse.

"What happened?"

Li Ziran's mind was completely muddled. What had happened in that instant just now?

Just now...

He felt as though he had eaten a full meal. He pointed his wand forward, and an emerald-green tadpole script naturally formed. In the blink of an eye, a small Transformation Spell array had already been drawn.

Now free from the canvas restraints, he could directly cast the Transformation Spell with the aid of immense spiritual power.

He raised his wand and pointed it ahead. The water snake that had just left was immediately enveloped in blue light, rapidly transforming within a membrane into a green-skinned frog.

So strong!

Li Ziran cried out inwardly. From preparing the Transformation Spell to casting it, everything had been instantaneous.

His abilities had risen by a huge margin, yet what confused him was that he had no idea how they had improved.

And—

Had that truly been the Devouring Curse just now?

The Devouring Curse worth 3.7 gold coins?

Who had taught it to him?

Li Ziran abruptly lowered his head toward his waist. The one-eyed frog was currently lifting its head and looking at him.