Poisoning

He stared intently at this puddle of unknown, wretched monstrosity.

It was this very thing that had killed his mother, who had been so incredibly good to him.

Lin Xiao suppressed the anger in his heart.

The vertical pupil glanced around, and after finding nothing unusual, it closed.

The true body of this vertical pupil thought to itself that this was a highly remote mortal realm. Furthermore, having concealed its aura so thoroughly, surely no one would discover it.

Not to mention, it was currently wearing the skin of a Spirit-Devouring Beast.

As for the Nascent Soul coercion from earlier, perhaps some Nascent Soul cultivator was just passing by. Although it had restrained its aura, it wasn't particularly afraid.

This Nascent Soul cultivator must have merely been passing through; otherwise, they would have come looking for it immediately instead of remaining completely silent until now.

Thinking of the dense spiritual energy that had suddenly emerged earlier, it suppressed the hunger and thirst in its heart.

It had been over a decade. It had been a long time since it had absorbed sufficient spiritual energy.

As long as it waited a little longer, until that Nascent Soul cultivator had gone far away, it could seek out that abundant source of spiritual energy and claim it for itself. Once its injuries healed, it would be able to soar to the heavens!

Thus, it peacefully sank back into slumber.

On the cliff wall above, Lin Xiao quietly witnessed all of this.

It seemed that the entire pool of black liquid was the true body of this creature.

Seeing the vertical pupil close again, Lin Xiao waited for quite a while before silently sneaking down toward it.

When he approached within fifty meters, he saw the liquid seemingly sense something, its originally calm surface rippling slightly.

Lin Xiao did not hesitate. He directly used the Void-Stepping Art, holding a Sealing Talisman in one hand as he rapidly flew toward the puddle of liquid to attach it.

And the vertical pupil that had previously closed suddenly snapped open the moment Lin Xiao approached. It had discovered him!

This time, it wasn't just one eye that opened, but two!

When he observed from afar above the mountain pit earlier, he hadn't noticed it, but now that they were so close, Lin Xiao felt that these two eyes were larger than a grown adult!

Two enormous, ink-black vertical pupils, one on the left and one on the right, locked tightly onto the approaching Lin Xiao, as if his rapid advance had been reduced to slow motion.

Suddenly, Lin Xiao saw a head resembling a giant python rise from the puddle of liquid ahead, sticky and viscous.

Thick, highly viscous strands stretched between the head and the rest of the liquid.

Obviously, this entire pool of black liquid was the giant python's true body!

The two ink-black vertical pupils on this head stared at the approaching Lin Xiao, a hint of mockery seemingly flashing through its gaze.

The python head suddenly opened its gaping, bloodthirsty maw at Lin Xiao. Its mouth, unopened for years, was also full of pitch-black viscous matter, without a single fang inside!

Lin Xiao kept a close watch on this sudden change, but his body did not hesitate in the slightest. When he was still a few meters away from the lower half of the giant python's black liquid body, he immediately leaped forward, aiming to slap the Sealing Talisman onto the giant python!

Unexpectedly, the giant python suddenly spewed a cloud of pitch-black gas from its wide-open mouth right at Lin Xiao.

The gas was incredibly foul-smelling, making Lin Xiao's stomach churn with acid.

But he paid it no mind; in his eyes, there was only the distance between the Sealing Talisman and the giant python's body!

Braving the foul gas, he finally successfully attached the Sealing Talisman to the python's body!

The giant python froze in place, maintaining its previous posture.

It probably never expected that a mere Foundation Establishment stage human cultivator would actually possess a method to immobilize it.

The next moment, Lin Xiao felt a thought flash through his mind.

This Sealing Talisman could seal it for three years.

Just as he was thinking that he had three years to prepare to deal with this giant python, he unexpectedly stumbled the very next second, losing his footing and nearly falling to the ground.

[Beep— Warning. The host has been poisoned by the Spirit-Devouring Python. If there is no antidote within twelve shichen, vitality will be reduced to zero. Please detoxify as soon as possible.]

Hearing this system prompt, Lin Xiao surprisingly felt no fear at all.

Perhaps the poison had addled his brain, for he did not immediately think of a way to cure the poison.

Instead, he suddenly thought that since he was going to die anyway, he might as well go all out and see if he could kill this giant python that had murdered his mother.

A strong desire to kill the giant python before him suddenly surged in his heart!

His head was somewhat dizzy, and his ears were buzzing.

Lin Xiao used all his spiritual energy to forcefully control himself, keeping his body awake.

His limbs were already slightly numb, but he still forced himself to stand firm. He immediately used the Void-Stepping Art to reach the top of the mountain cliff. He gauged his distance to the Two-Phase Life and Death Array, felt it was about right, and immediately used all his strength to hurl a massive Fireball Spell at the giant python!

He guessed that this python likely had an attribute that feared fire.

A massive fireball flew from his hand and crashed with a loud boom onto the pitch-black, viscous body of the sealed giant python.

The massive fireball shattered upon impact, sending countless sparks flying in all directions.

It even blasted open a patch of black slime on the python's body, revealing the rotting, pitch-black flesh beneath!

Ink-black, viscous blood bubbled up from within!

When this blood fell to the ground, it corroded the dirt and rocks with a sizzling sound.

At the same time, the Sealing Talisman that had been firmly attached to the giant python broke apart.

It was unknown whether the giant python was hurt by Lin Xiao's attack or enraged by his Sealing Talisman.

Completely ignoring its wound, the giant python raised its massive head high and let out a hoarse, ear-piercing roar.

The next moment, the giant python's head shot toward Lin Xiao with the speed of lightning!

Lin Xiao decisively tore open a Teleportation Talisman.

Just as the giant python was about to smash into Lin Xiao, his figure suddenly vanished from the spot.

However, the giant python's reaction was extremely swift. Its body lying in the pit immediately moved, and the puddle of viscous liquid nestled at the bottom of the pit suddenly reared up into half of a massive python body.

Once the entire python body stood up, it was actually almost as tall as this hundred-meter-deep pit!

If Lin Xiao were still there, he would have seen this sight.

The python body, tens of meters long, was covered in endless slime that never dripped, as if it were all part of the giant python. Moreover, the outside of the entire python body seemed to be bound by something, making its movements not entirely smooth.

Although the python body's twisting wasn't smooth, it didn't prevent the giant python from immediately pinpointing Lin Xiao's aura. With a powerful leap of its entire body, it shot out of the mountain pit.

In the blink of an eye, it chased Lin Xiao outside the mountain pit.

Lin Xiao, who had just been teleported to the array disk of the Two-Phase Life and Death Array, hadn't even had time to catch his breath when the giant python closely following him crashed to the ground with a loud boom. It was less than a hundred meters away from Lin Xiao, landing right in the bullseye of the array!

He didn't even bother turning his head. He directly tossed a hundred spirit stones into the array disk in front of him, swiftly activating the Two-Phase Life and Death Array!

Success or failure hinged on this one move.