Chapter 197
Chapter 197
It was unmistakably the head of a python!
But it was terrifyingly huge.
Its head alone was the size of a large water vat. Its entire body was jet black and covered in dense scales.
Its eyes were red. In the darkness, they resembled a pair of blazing lanterns, clearly visible even through the curtain of rain.
Two long, raised, tumor-like protrusions grew on either side of the giant python’s head, almost like a pair of horns straining to emerge.
This great python demon had clearly lived for many years and attained an extremely high level of cultivation.
As long as its flood-dragon ascension succeeded, it could enter the river and transform, gaining a far longer life and far greater power.
Then it would be freer than ever!
The python’s water-vat-sized head emerged from the mountain, and it opened its mouth to roar once more.
Moo! Moooooo!
The oxlike bellow resounded across the mountains and wilderness, answering the rolling thunder above.
Everyone present stared in awe and amazement.
This was an inconceivably powerful creature.
Soon, the python demon crawled completely out of the shattered cavern in the mountainside.
It coiled around an enormous outcropping of rock, raised its massive head high, and roared at the thunder and lightning in the sky as the storm lashed its body.
Moo! Moooooo!
The water-aspected spiritual energy in the surrounding air grew even denser. Breathing felt strangely thick, giving me the illusion that I was underwater.
By the light of the lightning, everyone on Longduo Mountain’s summit could finally see its colossal body in full, even from such a great distance.
Its head was the size of a water vat, its body was more than sixty feet long, and its scales were each larger than a washbasin.
In addition to the two protrusions on its head, four more massive lumps bulged from its underside–two toward the front and two toward the rear–precisely where four claws would have grown.
It was not just me. Li Miao, Yuan Fei, and even Old Cao had never truly seen a great demon of this level before.
Everyone stared at the giant python, shaken to the core.
The creature seemed to turn its head and glance at the people on the summit. Its great red-lantern eyes were filled with pride and disdain. It knew perfectly well that these humans had come to watch its flood-dragon ascension.
It was proud because it had cultivated for so many years and was about to ascend. Drawing so many spectators was indeed something worth taking pride in.
Its disdain came from knowing that some people were rumored to ambush python demons during their ascension to seize certain benefits. Yet it did not take any of the “weaklings” on the summit seriously.
As its gaze swept across them, no one dared meet its eyes.
They all lowered their heads slightly.
Moo! Moooooo!
With another roar, the giant python slithered down the sheer cliffs on Longduo Mountain’s northern side.
“It’s starting. This is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. We need to watch carefully.”
Old Cao murmured softly.
I took several Night-Vision Talismans from my pocket and carefully held them out to the others.
“They only last fifteen minutes, so I didn’t take them out earlier. Stick them on now. They’ll let you see clearly in the dark without waiting for lightning to illuminate everything.”
“But be careful. The talismans I draw aren’t fully waterproof yet. If the rain ruins the paper or washes away the incantations, they’ll stop working.”
Woof, woof!
Heizi barked twice and stared at me as well.
I laughed and stroked its head.
“Heizi, you’re a dog! You already see better than humans at night. You don’t need a Night-Vision Talisman.”
Just then…
Boom–crack!
A bolt of lightning as thick as a man’s arm suddenly plunged from the sky.
Blazing with a painfully brilliant light, it tore past not far from where everyone stood.
This was my first time witnessing lightning from such close range.
The sheer force of nature made a profound sense of insignificance rise from the bottom of my heart. It was the instinctive reverence for heaven and earth etched into the deepest part of every creature’s soul.
Even my soul seemed to tingle faintly with electricity.
The next instant, a shrill scream rang out.
Moooo…
We leaned forward and peered down.
That bolt of lightning had actually struck the python demon, which had almost reached the foot of the mountain!
A massive wound now marred its jet-black body, which had looked as though it were forged from steel.
The flesh was mangled and charred black.
Large patches of scales around the wound had fallen away, exposing the muscle beneath.
The python demon writhed in pain, its enormous body visibly spasming.
Yet even as it screamed, it did not stop moving. It continued toward the mountain’s foot, desperate to descend quickly and enter the Chuan River.
As long as it entered the river’s main channel, its flood-dragon ascension would be considered a success!
But the python demon had barely traveled any farther when…
Boom–crack!
Another bolt of lightning plunged from the sky and struck its gigantic body.
Scales flew free and blood sprayed as it screamed.
The deluge washed every trace away almost instantly.
Moo! Moooooo!
The python demon roared with pain and fury.
Then I saw a hazy ring of faintly luminous mist spread from its body. The mist flowed along the creature’s entire length, enveloping it in a barrier.
Clearly, it had forced itself to divert some demonic energy and cast a defensive spell. At the very least, that should reduce the pain when lightning struck.
During a giant python’s flood-dragon ascension, most of its demonic energy had to transform into water-aspected spiritual energy. It would then merge with the energy permeating heaven and earth amid the torrential rain and swelling floods.
The more completely the two fused, the greater the chance of a successful transformation. A deeper fusion would also grant it greater innate potential after it became a flood dragon.
That was why legends claimed that many creatures undergoing such an ascension endured every calamity they encountered with their physical bodies alone.
This python, however, clearly could not withstand two consecutive strikes. It was probably frightened too.
With no other choice, it had diverted some of its demonic energy to defend against the heavenly lightning. In doing so, it had willingly weakened the potential and power it would possess if its transformation succeeded.
Yuan Fei sighed in astonishment.
“What an incredible technique! To form such an enormous defensive spell in an instant… How vast must its reserves of demonic energy be? Even if a great demon like that stood still and let us attack however we pleased, we probably couldn’t break through its defenses.”
Old Cao gave him an exasperated look.
“Brother Yuan, are you thinking about picking a fight with that python flood dragon? Even if it didn’t use any demonic energy and fought as nothing more than an animal, it’s over sixty feet long and weighs well over ten tons. It could crush you to death without trying.”
I nodded too.
“Exactly, Uncle Yuan! I once watched an American movie on Lianghe Television called Anaconda or something like that. It was about a group of scientists exploring the Amazon rainforest in South America.”
“They ran into an enormous green anaconda, but it was only twenty or thirty feet long and about as thick as a barrel. It was also just an ordinary animal. Even so, it nearly wiped out the entire expedition. Rifles could barely hurt it, and in the end, they had to blow it up with a whole pile of gasoline drums.”
Giant pythons were extremely difficult to deal with!
Even ordinary green anacondas twenty or thirty feet long preyed on crocodiles, jaguars, and other large animals in the wild. Old Cao, Li Miao, Yuan Fei, Heizi, and I together could probably kill one, but only barely.
As for something more than sixty feet long…
If you saw it in the distance, you should turn around and run for your life!
And this one was a demon that had cultivated for hundreds, perhaps even a thousand years. The vast density of demonic energy within it defied imagination.
If we truly fought it with spells, the dozens of practitioners gathered here would not be enough to fill the gaps between its teeth!
I only dared come watch because I knew it was undergoing its flood-dragon ascension and would never create additional trouble for itself by attacking insignificant humans like us.
Otherwise, there was no way I would have come anywhere near this spectacle.
It could genuinely get me killed!
After Old Cao and I shot him down, Yuan Fei crossed his arms and pouted.
“Fine, fine. I get it. Do you think I don’t know how powerful a python flood dragon is? A single tiger could kill me. How would I ever dare fight something like that? You’d probably need fighter planes, artillery, bombs, or something to handle it…”
We continued watching the python demon.
By then, it had successfully crawled and slid down Longduo Mountain’s steep northern face to the ground below.
An enormous volume of water suddenly surged from beneath its body, seemingly from nowhere, and formed a distinct flash flood and mudslide.
The raging current tore up rocks, trees, and weeds while supporting the creature’s immense body. Together, they thundered toward the equally swollen Chuan River.
Several low mounds, groves, and rice paddies that had not yet been flooded were instantly swallowed by the smaller flood the python had summoned.
Then the third bolt of heavenly lightning finally descended!
Boom–crack!
This bolt was as thick as a grown man’s thigh.
It emitted an eerie blue light and looked terrifying beyond words.
I had no doubt that if it struck a person, they would be reduced to ash in an instant–the kind of ash that left no trace whatsoever.
The lightning slammed squarely into the python demon again. It punched through the mistlike barrier of demonic energy and instantly vaporized the entire defensive layer.
Then it struck the python demon with devastating force!
This blow was far more vicious than the first two.
The lightning was much more powerful too.
Squelch!
A strange sound that made my scalp prickle rang out.
Every scale along a section of its back at least twenty feet long had been blasted away, exposing the smooth snake flesh beneath.
Even that flesh had been burned pitch-black, and the blood flowing from it had darkened as well.
The creature looked utterly wretched!
Moooo…
This immense python demon, so powerful and seemingly invincible in our eyes, was as fragile as a tiny earthworm before the might of heaven and earth.
Its entire body was covered in wounds, and it was barely clinging to life.
Fortunately, it had chosen not to pursue the greatest possible innate potential after its transformation. It had diverted some of its demonic energy to create the protective mist barrier instead. Without that protection, the third lightning bolt alone would probably have killed it on the spot.
A strange thought suddenly rose in my mind. If the legend of Fallen Flood Dragon Slope near Lianghe Town was true, had that python demon from the Ming Dynasty failed because it had pursued perfection too fiercely?
Perhaps in this world, taking a step back sometimes opened up a far broader path.
If I faced such a choice one day, what would I choose?
Would I pursue the absolute limit of perfection like the legendary python demon at Fallen Flood Dragon Slope and die without regret even if I failed?
Or would I act like the python demon before me? The moment I realized perfection was impossible, would I “wisely” give up on a flawless transformation and settle for less? After all, successfully becoming a flood dragon was surely better than dying on the spot!
Moooo…
The python demon gave one final roar. The raging flash flood beneath it bore its broken, miserable body forward until it finally entered the Chuan River.
It could not truly be said to have swum in under its own power. It had almost no strength left. The flood and mudslide, carried by the water-aspected spiritual energy it had gathered, had simply swept it into the river.
Then its colossal body vanished beneath the surging floodwaters of the Chuan River.
It was gone.
“Did it succeed? Did it make it?”
Yuan Fei slapped his thigh in excitement, jumping and shouting without the slightest concern for appearances.
I was intensely curious too.
It was not just the few of us. The dozens of practitioners who had gathered on the summit to witness the ascension all erupted into commotion.
Even through the torrential rain, I could hear waves of whispered speculation and animated discussion.
Using the last moments of my Night-Vision Talisman’s effect, I stared fixedly at the place where the flash flood had carried the python demon into the Chuan River. I did not dare look away for even a second.
Had it… succeeded?