Chapter 85: A Group Battle Against a Second-Rank Spirit Beast

While in a cultivation trance, drawing Wood Qi from the environment, An felt an additional heaviness in the particles.

Reducing his cultivation speed, he began drawing the particles into his body, concentrating them near his dantian. Without letting them pass inside, he gathered the particles into a clump and began dividing and filtering them.

When he finished, he expelled all the impurities and kept only pure neutral Wood Qi and Death Qi.

'The process takes too long. I'm wasting too much time and energy just gathering all the particles into one clump before filtration... What if?'

He began drawing in Qi particles again, but this time he started filtering the particles themselves. The moment they entered his body, he began the filtration process, and by the time a particle reached his dantian, the division was complete. 'So the cultivation speed decreases... About the same level as when I was at Hope Peak. But the mental strain is too great... I won't be able to sustain this for long.'

Without opening his eyes, he continued cultivating this way for five hours.

"Ugh! I can't take anymore!" Opening his eyes, he fell back onto the cold cave floor.

'The pain is too intense... About the same level as when I first started cultivating...' Lying there, rubbing his temples, he pondered. 'After five hours, the result is about a third of a normal cycle on the Outer Floating Island. Now I need to run a cycle with the first method and see which one ends up being more convenient and faster...'

With difficulty, he sat back up on the cushion. He removed his blue outer robe and tossed it aside. Left in his shirt, he lifted it and untied his spatial pouch. Placing it on the robe, he began pulling out bottles of wine.

'Hmm... Ah! That corner is perfect for storage!' Examining the cave walls and finding a suitable spot, he activated a Qi Blade and hurled it.

BOOM!

Dust immediately rose, and a hole a little over a meter deep formed in the wall.

"Mhm!" Seeing the result, An nodded and created another blade.

'Now a spot for fermentation!' He threw it next to the first hole.

BOOM!

'Ugh, looks like I should have rested a bit longer. My head hurts even more now. Sigh...' After creating both holes, he pulled two vials from his pouch: one with an Eternal Ice pill, the other with an Eternal Fire pill.

Tossing the pills into the holes, he wrapped the wine bottles in Qi and sent them in as well.

He took the bottle he had set aside, opened it, and took several sips. 'At least there's some effect, even if minimal...' Holding the bottle of wine he had made from second-rank Milk Cherry fruits, he felt the few sips helping to restore his mental state.

His wine had this effect due to the essence of the fruit it was steeped in. But due to his inexperience in winemaking, his brew had lost over 70% of the fruit's original potency.

'Sigh, if the wine weren't so delicious, I might have just eaten the fruit raw. But there are too few of them. And the wine is too good...' After taking a few more large gulps, he stoppered the bottle and sent it to join the others in the storage hole.

Closing his eyes, he began meditating and recovering.

After spending over three hours recovering, he began a new cultivation cycle. But this time, he gathered Qi particles inside his body into massive clumps and only then began filtering them. 'The mental strain is clearly less, but the speed suffers too much.'

After eight hours, An opened his eyes. 'This method, while not painful, has terrible speed...' Holding his head, which had begun to hum quietly, he calculated that over eight hours of cycling, he had lost nearly half his efficiency.

'Although this cycle variant is worse than the previous one, it's not by much. I can alternate them two-to-one. Even though efficiency will drop significantly, I'll have more energy for Qi training and soul cultivation...'

Finally settling on a solution, without standing up, he activated Qi in his hands and began creating and modifying small dancing clumps of energy on his palms, transforming them into different elements and manipulating them. Using only the minimum Qi required, so that his mental recovery outpaced the expenditure from energy manipulation, An began his Qi training.

….

At the base of a massive canyon, a group of forty people had cornered a giant serpent against a cliff. The creature was nearly a hundred meters long, with strange fin-like appendages near the middle of its body that helped it maneuver its tail. On its head were three pairs of red horns, and in its mouth were four rows of sharp, crooked teeth, though without the fangs typical of snakes.

Having driven it to the cliff, the disciples in blue and white robes channeled all their strength into maintaining massive energy shields.

Suddenly, two swift tail strikes hit the same shield.

"UGH! The artifact! It's starting to crack! If this keeps up, the shield will break!" A pale-faced girl with sweaty hands held a small wooden shield artifact, looking at the disciples beside her who, like her, were channeling all their Qi into the artifact in her hands.

With pale faces and tired eyes, their entire group looked toward a separate squad of four.

All four held weapons in their hands, their muscles tensed, ready to spring into action at any moment. They watched the hundred-meter serpent intently, searching for an opportunity for a swift and decisive attack.

"Hssss! Hsssss!"

Hissing in fury, the serpent began raising its upper body, preparing for another assault.

Seeing this, the cultivator at the head of the small squad raised his sword above his head.

"Now!" He had barely spoken when he shot forward, and the other three followed without a moment's hesitation.

"Eternal Darkness! Second Form!" Swinging his sword, a wave of energy burst forth, devouring the light around it and hurtling toward the serpent with a terrible screech.

"Cold Dawn! Central Strike!" In the air, dozens of sword-shaped icicles formed, radiating a bone-chilling cold. The moment they took shape, they flew toward the serpent in the direction indicated by the caster's sword tip.

"Century Imprints! Palm of Truth!" Opening both palms, Qi shot out in the form of projections of red, burning hands.

"Spear Current! Unbroken!" Rushing forward and abruptly dropping into a stance, she wound up.

"Ugh!" With all her strength, she hurled the spear straight at the creature's heart.

The spear began accelerating continuously, shooting like an arrow from a bow toward its target, dragging behind it a massive wave of concentrated energy in the shape of a cross.

"Hold formation!" One of the cultivators responsible for the shields, seeing the terrifying energy trailing behind those four attacks, shouted at the top of his lungs for the people beside him holding the serpent in place to brace for the massive impact.

BOOOM!

The first to strike was the black wave of energy. Slamming into the serpent's heart, the immense force staggered the creature backward.

Throwing its head back, the serpent began screaming in pain, realizing that the black energy had stuck to its thick scales like a glue and was now slicing them with hundreds of sharp black blades.

Feeling the energy cutting through its scales and skin, the serpent went berserk with rage and pain. It opened its mouth to spit venom onto the wound, but out of the corner of its eye, it spotted an icy cloud of dozens of swords flying toward it. Without a moment's delay, they plunged into the already shattered scales, precisely where the first attack had landed.

"SSKKKREEEE!"

Howling in pain, the serpent felt its broken scales, now offering no protection, begin to freeze and crumble along with its skin and flesh.

Losing its mind from the agony, the serpent began raising its tail to swing wildly around, trying to do something, anything.

"HISSS!" Suddenly, two massive palms made of fire energy slammed into its head. The moment they struck, the fire, as if enchanted, began seeping into every opening it could find: unsealed pores, gaps between scales, under the eyes, into the nose, into the mouth, into the gums.

Penetrating deeper and deeper, the fire showed no signs of slowing or dying out. Instead, it blazed hotter and hotter, as if fueled by the beast itself.

Before it could even orient itself, the serpent suddenly felt a sharp pain in its chest. Its breathing immediately caught in its throat.

Lowering its head, still wreathed in raging flames, it saw through the red haze that something was protruding from its now-exposed heart.

"GRAAAA!!!"

Losing its mind from pain and despair, the serpent dug its two massive claws into the ground, burying them slightly, and raised both its head and tail into the air, forming a U-shape.

"Prepare yourselves! Everyone, activate your shields!"

"We need to retreat! Fall back!"

"No! Activate shields at maximum!" Directly beneath the serpent, under its rising head, Mo Fan saw the disciples forming the encirclement wanting to retreat and shouted with all his might to stop them.

'If they retreat, this beast might escape! When will I get another chance to slay a second-rank beast!'

Hearing his command, the disciples with artifacts hesitated slightly but stopped and began pouring everything they had into their artifacts, hoping they would hold.

"Get ready!"

"Everyone, brace yourselves!"

Seeing the head and tail frozen at their apex, Mo Fan turned and looked at the three behind him. "We need to reach its belly! The closer to its body, the safer we'll be!"

He immediately sprinted toward the serpent, trying to get as close as possible. The three followed without a moment's hesitation.

"GRAA!" With a thunderous roar, the serpent slammed its head and tail downward.

The moment the tail, shrouded in Qi, struck the ground, everything around simply exploded under the immense weight.

Trees, rocks, even the earth itself launched into the air from the impact.

"AAGH!"

"My arm! Aaah!"

"H-hold on! This isn't over yet..."

The second strike followed, several times more powerful.

The disciples who had held on after the first strike couldn't withstand the devastating force of the second, and their defenses crumbled.

"Shields! Sh-shields!"

"Legs! AghAA!"

From the massive shockwave, shields began cracking among those still standing. Many disciples, disoriented by the second strike and having disrupted the Qi flow to their artifacts, were lifted and carried away with the wave of earth and debris.

"GRAAAA!"

Raising its bloodied head, still burning in some places, the serpent, in its rage, had overexerted and dislocated its lower jaw.

"This is our chance! Aim for the heart!" Mo Fan, seeing through layers of dust and debris how the serpent had raised its head and twisted its body, unintentionally exposing its heart wound, didn't waste a moment.

Navigating through the dust, he aimed his sword directly at the creature's heart. Not taking his eyes off the beating organ, completely focused on his target, afraid of missing the moment, he activated his Qi.

"Black Dragon Step!" Channeling energy into his legs, he used a movement technique.

With the technique activated, he accelerated several times over like an arrow and, channeling Qi into his sword, shouted "Phoenix Thrust!"

With a sound that tore through the air, the sword shot from his hand in a straight trajectory, flying directly at the beast's heart.

Trying to reset its jaw, the serpent sensed the threat.

Turning its nearly blind eye, still wreathed in blazing flames, it saw the little pest had launched a sword with a glowing tip straight toward it. Seeing where the sword was heading, the serpent froze in fear, realizing it couldn't do anything in its current state.

"HRAAA!"

Feeling a sharp, burning pain that instantly spread throughout its body, its eyes bulged from the unbearable agony.

"Mo Fan! Watch out!" Behind him, the ice-sword-wielding girl shouted, seeing the serpent's tail thrashing in convulsions.

"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!!" Beside her, the girl with red eyes and hair, her burning hands clenched into fists, began shouting at the disciples who were still holding their artifacts in a death grip and maintaining the shields.

"We have to help him!" A spear-wielding girl shot past them toward Mo Fan.

Exchanging glances, the two nodded and ran after her.

"Enough! Why won't you just die!" Standing beneath the massive, writhing corpse, Mo Fan watched the serpent with a sweaty back.

'My energy is almost depleted... I didn't think I'd use my breakthrough pill to the eighth layer so soon! But I have no choice! I have to do everything to break this beast!' Pulling a pill from his ring, Mo Fan tossed it into his mouth and closed his eyes.

His face immediately flushed pink. All fatigue vanished instantly. Feeling his dantian and body, Mo Fan was surprised. 'I'm overflowing with energy! This is exactly what I need!'

He looked at the serpent, concentrated, and channeled all the new energy from the pill into his throat.

"Dragon's Roar!" His throat vibrated, and waves of energy began pouring from his wide-open mouth.

The sonic wave was so deafening that within a ten-meter radius, everything beneath his feet exploded, turning to ash.

Whoosh!

The directed sonic wave, launched from his mouth at hypersonic speed, crashed into and bored through the wound where the heart had been.

Once inside, it showed no mercy, tearing muscles, vessels, and organs apart through sheer speed.

Exiting the other side of the beast, it shot into the sky above the massive canyon, pushing the crimson clouds aside.

"Hsssss..." With its head raised above the ground, the serpent immediately lost its breath. Its eyes began to darken rapidly, and without even a chance to scream from the pain and the rage that had accumulated and was spilling over, it began to fall, crashing to the ground.

"Ugh!" Grabbing his head, Mo Fan tried to stay on his feet. After using that technique with all the energy in his body, he had exhausted all his Qi, leaving only scraps.

'I can only use this technique once... But once is enough to defeat a creature equal to a Foundation Establishment cultivator... What else could I expect from my system!' With a satisfied but crooked smile on his face, Mo Fan, holding his head, watched as the upper half of the serpent buried itself under its own weight.