The Underground Palace
Variant Demon Beasts were Demon Beasts whose bloodlines had undergone beneficial mutations through chance, greatly increasing their potential. Under normal circumstances, a variant Demon Beast could advance to at least a third-tier Demon King, comparable to a human Golden Core powerhouse. If it obtained some natural treasures compatible with its own attributes, it would even have a small chance of advancing to a fourth-tier Demon Emperor.
If the golden snake before Mo Wen truly possessed a variant bloodline, it was guaranteed to become at least a third-tier Demon King someday!
"Impossible, right? How could a variant Demon Beast appear on the outskirts of the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range?" Mo Wen thought he might have seen wrong.
Even in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, where Demon Beasts were countless, variant Demon Beasts were extremely rare. Every variant Demon Beast was closely protected by its own kind.
Besides, the valley Mo Wen was in was utterly ordinary. It did not even have a low-grade Spirit Vein, so what could possibly attract a variant Demon Beast to stay here?
"Who cares what it is! I came to the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range to hone my swordsmanship. As long as I achieve that, it's enough!"
With that thought, Mo Wen hesitated no longer and swung his sword at the golden snake.
The golden snake was combative by nature and naturally refused to be outdone. It immediately counterattacked with all its strength.
And so, the man and the snake fought every so often, calling a temporary truce when they grew tired. Once they had recovered, they resumed the fight.
In terms of sheer strength, Mo Wen was actually more than a match for the golden snake. But the snake possessed extraordinary speed, putting it in an inherently invincible position. With Mo Wen's current mastery of swordsmanship, defeating it through swordsmanship alone was no easy task!
As he fought one all-out battle after another, Mo Wen's swordsmanship proficiency shot up, far faster than when he practiced alone at home.
"No wonder sword cultivators are all so combative! This feeling of my strength soaring is incredible!"
In just half a month, his proficiency in the Flowing Light Sword Technique had surged by several thousand points, putting him close to the minor accomplishment level. His Divine Sense had also grown considerably stronger and could extend beyond six zhang.
"Unfortunately, this golden snake is no longer suitable as my sparring partner!"
Over the past few days, Mo Wen had been fighting with ease and felt little pressure. Accordingly, his progress had slowed, becoming not much better than when he trained hard alone.
Mo Wen looked at the golden snake standing ready nearby, and a trace of killing intent arose in his heart. The golden snake had extraordinary potential and might someday advance to a third-tier Demon King. He could not let it live!
Humans and Demon Beasts were natural enemies! Killing a future Demon King was equivalent to saving tens of thousands of humans!
Having made up his mind, Mo Wen drew his sword and slashed at the golden snake. He put all his strength into the strike, and a ribbon of Sword Qi instantly swept toward it.
The golden snake was about to use its speed to evade the sword light when it discovered to its horror that the space around it had been firmly sealed by a powerful Divine Sense, leaving it as if trapped in a quagmire.
Faced with a crisis of life and death, the golden snake, driven by its survival instinct, violently detonated the power of its bloodline. Its golden body abruptly took on a deep crimson hue.
In that instant, the golden snake's defense and speed both broke past their limits and leaped to another level!
The ribbon of Sword Qi slashed down like a cascade of snowy waves, instantly cutting through three zhang of space.
A crimson snake-shaped figure suddenly shot out from between the snowy waves and fled toward the rear.
Mo Wen naturally would not let it escape. He immediately rose on his sword and pursued it.
Who knew what potent medicine the golden snake had taken? It was actually thirty percent faster than usual.
Even using all his strength, Mo Wen could only follow far behind the golden snake.
The man and the snake flew four or five li in moments. Then the golden snake suddenly stopped beneath a sheer cliff. Its body flashed, and it vanished into a fissure.
Mo Wen reached the cliff and found a fissure over a zhang long and as thick as an arm. After a moment's thought, he used the Purple Star Sword to chisel through the rock face, pursuing the snake along the drops of blood it had left behind.
The farther in the fissure went, the wider it became. After Mo Wen had gone more than ten zhang inside, the space suddenly opened up before him, allowing him to pass through freely. He continued deeper, and after flying a little over a li, he finally spotted the golden snake.
Only then did Mo Wen discover that the end of the fissure opened onto the wall of an underground palace.
He entered the underground palace through the fissure and found that the space inside was not very large, only about ten zhang across and a little over one zhang high.
There were three stone platforms inside the underground palace. Two were still covered by restrictions, while the restriction on the other had been broken.
A severed limb lay on the platform whose restriction had been broken.
The golden snake was coiled around the limb, licking the marrow fluid seeping from its severed end with its forked tongue.
The severed limb was a little over three chi long. Judging by its shape, it was probably the lower leg of some kind of Demon Beast, and its surface was covered in silver-white scales.
The golden snake had been gravely wounded by Mo Wen's sword, but after it licked up a few traces of marrow fluid from the limb, the presence within its body gradually grew stronger.
"So that's how it is. This golden snake mutated because of this severed leg!"
"I wonder who this severed leg originally belonged to? The golden snake only swallowed a little marrow fluid, yet it was enough to raise its bloodline to the variant level!"
Mo Wen naturally could not allow the golden snake to recover. He immediately sent a slash of Sword Qi at it.
The golden snake had already experienced the terror of Sword Qi and did not dare take it head-on. It leaped aside to avoid it.
The Sword Qi struck the scales on the severed leg, but it did not leave even the slightest sword mark.
Mo Wen paid no attention to anything else and continued attacking the golden snake with Sword Qi.
The golden snake was already gravely injured, and its movements were nowhere near as swift as before. Several breaths later, a slash of Sword Qi cut it in two, and it writhed madly on the ground.
Mo Wen did not dare be careless. He followed up with several more sword strikes, only stopping when he could no longer sense the golden snake's presence.
Only then did he have the leisure to investigate the underground palace.
Mo Wen did not know who had built the underground palace, but its builder had used the three stone platforms as array cores to set up a Spirit-Locking Array, confining a First-Tier Superior-Grade Spirit Vein to this tiny patch of land to maintain the restrictions on the three platforms.
Perhaps because of an earthquake, part of the array in the underground palace had been damaged, greatly weakening the restrictions on the stone platforms.
The Demon Beast snake must have wandered into the underground palace by accident and opened the restriction on the platform holding the severed bone, thereby obtaining a stroke of fortune that transformed its bloodline to the variant level.
Mo Wen went over to the stone platform and tried to pick up the severed limb for a closer look. To his surprise, it was so heavy that he could not lift it with his physical strength alone.
"Good grief, this severed limb must weigh several thousand jin!" Mo Wen exclaimed in admiration. Only after drawing on the True Qi within his body was he able to slowly lift it.