Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 190 - 183: Snake Blood (4/5)

Chapter 190: Chapter 183: Snake Blood (4/5)

Zhou Heng entered the Nine Mystic Trial Tower the instant the black serpent’s mouth was closing. With the attack speed of a Heaven-Opening Realm Demon Beast, what he did was indeed a huge risk. After all, this wasn’t about dodging an attack by using the Swift Cloud Radiant Step, but intentionally slamming himself towards the serpent’s open mouth.

If his reaction was even slightly slower, he would have been fatally pierced by the serpent’s fangs. This black serpent emitted a peculiarly foul odor, which probably contained potent poison. As its realm increased, the toxin was likely of the Heaven-Opening Realm grade. If Zhou Heng were bitten, his frail body would likely dissolve into putrid liquid!

But he couldn’t enter the pagoda too quickly either. Did he think this black serpent was stupid, that it would absentmindedly swallow a gust of air and shut its mouth too soon?

Zhou Heng plonked down on the pagoda’s floor tiles, feeling a cold sweat all over his body. Just a moment’s delay, even by a hair’s breadth, and the black serpent would have bitten him. Life and death hung in the balance of that instant.

It was too heart-thumping a gamble, something he’d be wise to do less in the future.

"Zhou Heng, are you alright!" Xiao Huoshui and Orchid Concubine hurried over, their faces filled with concern.

Zhou Heng gave Xiao Huoshui a reassuring smile and said, "I’m fine!" As for Orchid Concubine, he pretended he hadn’t seen her—the only thing he was interested in was spanking that woman.

With his Divine Sense reaching out through the treasure pagoda, he slightly enlarged the Nine Mystic Trial Tower, slithering its way along the black serpent’s insides to delve deeper.

He had thought about expanding the Nine Mystic Trial Tower to its limits to burst this black serpent from within, but there were two problems. One was the resultant splattering of snake blood; he wouldn’t be able to collect any of that valuable blood.

The other reason was even more pragmatic—if the tower’s expansion met resistance, it required his own power to enlarge it. In other words, it was a contest of strength between Zhou Heng and the black serpent, and what chances did he have in a brute force match-up between the Land Cleaving Realm and the Heaven-Opening Realm?

Moreover, even if the Nine Mystic Trial Tower truly expanded to its maximum, it was doubtful that it would be enough to kill such a giant serpent!

This black serpent was outrageously thick and long, capable of accommodating more than half of the pagoda, plus a Heaven-Opening Realm body is incredibly tough. Expanding it tenfold, twentyfold was trivial and unlikely to cause it to burst.

Zhou Heng held the dark, murky bowl in his hands, enveloping his body with Spiritual Power and activating all three Bloodline Powers. He was about to appear directly inside the belly of the black serpent, an equally perilous feat!

Serpents don’t need to chew food; the powerful gastric acid inside them digests everything, and the acid of a Heaven-Opening Realm black serpent was indescribably terrifying!

No amount of precautions were too many for Zhou Heng!

Whoosh, his figure flashed, and he appeared inside the serpent’s body, the Black Sword in his right hand powering up as the Sky-soaring Nine Forms emerged once again.

The body of a Heaven-Opening Realm Demon Beast was so resilient; now there was no time for him to whittle it down slowly with one strike at a time. Therefore, he went all out with his strongest technique right from the start, a series of black sword shadows fluctuating and merging into one, their might increasing a hundredfold.

Still limited to the Seventh Form, Zhou Heng instantly felt a sense of boundless exhaustion. As the Black Sword slashed out, it resembled an angry dragon swirling furiously!

Spurt—countless blood vessels within the black serpent suddenly burst, gushing blood everywhere.

Zhou Heng seized the moment to fling the contents of the bowl, his mind focusing and zipping back into the Nine Mystic Trial Tower, feeling a wave of immense fatigue washing over him. He was prepared; determined not to pass out, he grabbed a Middle Grade Spirit Stone and started absorbing from it frantically.

The nearly depleted Dantian Space began to gather some Spiritual Power again, and only then did Zhou Heng get through the toughest moment, his Divine Sense strengthened a bit more by the ordeal.

Xiao Huoshui and Orchid Concubine watched from the side, neither daring to make a sound and interrupt him.

Had it been before, Orchid Concubine would surely have had ill intentions by now, seizing the opportunity to attack Zhou Heng and steal treasures. But now, she had given up; she wanted to cling to Zhou Heng’s coattails to reach higher positions and couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him.

Under the watchful eyes of the two women, it took Zhou Heng three hours just to barely replenish his Spiritual Power.

He couldn’t help but silently lament that the Sky-soaring Nine Forms truly wasn’t meant for mere mortals—it felt as though every use nearly killed him! Yet, the body of the black serpent was indeed resilient. Even wielding the Black Sword and channeling the Sky-soaring Nine Forms, he couldn’t sever its body, causing only injury. It was frustratingly strong!

That’s why Martial Artists were reluctant to fight life-and-death battles with Demon Beasts of the same realm—the difference in body strength was just too vast. It was too much of a loss!

Zhou Heng observed the black serpent again through the pagoda with his Divine Sense and could tell that its heart had nearly stopped beating, and its blood had all but ceased to flow, almost indistinguishable from a dead being.

The pill took effect!

The heartbeat of serpents was naturally slow, and now that it had been struck by this strength-dissolving medicine, it became even slower!

The time was ripe!

Zhou Heng emerged from the pagoda, the Black Sword in motion as he madly hacked away.

The serpent was essentially no different from being knocked unconscious, unable to move a muscle. Otherwise, Martial Artists above the Gathering Spirit realm could freely control any part of their body, even launching attacks if an enemy was inside them.

Zhou Heng, risking the skin and flesh of his right hand dissolving in the acid, firmly grabbed onto the area above the serpent’s body cavity, wielding the Black Sword and chopping wildly.

Even without the Sky-soaring Nine Forms, the soft flesh retracted endlessly after each cut with the sharp Black Sword; the flesh from both sides wrapped around, creating a strong counterforce that left it unharmed.

Truly worthy of the Heaven-Opening Realm, with such formidable defensive power even without channeling Spiritual Power!

It was like a pile of cotton, unable to withstand any force.

Zhou Heng snorted coldly, undaunted, he simply revved up the Black Sword, wielding the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique to enhance its lethality.

From the standpoint of martial arts techniques alone, the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique was merely an Earth Level Lower Grade, far from comparable to the Nine Nether Ice Heaven Jue or the Eight-Colored Lotus. However, when executed with the Black Sword, this Divine Sword could compensate for the shortcomings in the rank of the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique.

——The prerequisite being that the Black Sword could actually hit an opponent; otherwise, it was futile.

Now that the Black Serpent couldn’t move, every strike was solid, swish swish swish, a continuous barrage of black Sword Waterfalls unleashed.

Although the Black Serpent had an extraordinary defensive power, it ultimately suffered from its inability to counterattack or dodge, and the edge of the Black Sword far exceeded that of the Land Cleaving Realm. After more than a hundred slashes, a blood vessel in the Black Serpent finally burst, and blood gushed out.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhou Heng vehemently sucked in his breath, swallowing all the spurting snake blood into his mouth and down his throat.

He’d struggled so hard just to slice through a blood vessel of the Black Serpent, and even the Sky-soaring Nine Forms hadn’t managed to sever its body, indicating how terrifying the serpent’s defensive power was. The effects of the Sky Soothing Powder could only last one day; he didn’t have much time left!

He would drain this disgusting serpent of all its blood!

Zhou Heng, like a giant whale sucking water, frantically absorbed the Black Serpent’s blood. The creature was enormously large, and soon, Zhou Heng’s lower abdomen began to swell, looking like a middle-aged man with a burgeoning belly, his stomach growing rounder.

Suck suck suck!

There was only one thought left in Zhou Heng’s mind. But after a while, the ruptured blood vessel of the Black Serpent started to heal itself, and the flow of blood slowed. He quickly wielded his sword again, slashing open the blood vessel once more to makes the blood surge wildly.

His stomach continued to swell, but with his current cultivation level, and having been tempered by the Gold Devouring Clan’s strength, he could control and prevent his stomach from bursting, even if it bloated by tens of times.

Zhou Heng truly became the biggest fatty ever, so big that if he were an ordinary person, they couldn’t even dream of standing, let alone walking!

The outpour of snake blood gradually slowed — not because the wound was healing, but because Zhou Heng nearly drained it.

Zhou Heng himself was also reaching his limit; his stomach could expand only so much before bursting. If it actually burst from the snake blood, it would be the case of greed leading to swallowing more than one can handle, killing oneself in the process.

Although the Black Serpent was large, its blood was the essence. Despite its size and quantity, no matter how much there was, it couldn’t bear Zhou Heng’s intense consumption. In the end, like squeezing toothpaste, Zhou Heng had to suck hard to extract a bit of blood, which no longer gushed out on its own.

"Go!" Zhou Heng flung out the Black Sword, stabbing it into the opened blood vessel, as he himself dashed into the Nine Mystic Trial Tower.

Given the Black Sword’s dominance, slaying a Demon Beast whose blood had almost been sucked dry shouldn’t pose a problem!

"Zhou Heng, how did you become like this!" Seeing Zhou Heng’s belly almost big enough to fill the entire floor of the tower, both women showed expressions of extreme astonishment — this was too exaggerated!

Zhou Heng dared not to even speak for fear that snake blood would spray out if he opened his mouth.

He barely sat down and ran the Moonshadow Heart Jue, immediately starting to refine the snake blood.

From the moment he swallowed the first mouthful of snake blood, he knew that this was indeed a medicinal serpent, one that had consumed ample Spiritual Medicine to elevate its cultivation level to the Heaven-Opening Realm! Yet, more of the medicinal properties had accumulated in its blood, slowly transforming into the Black Serpent’s strength.

If he had come here a hundred and eighty years later, this Black Serpent might already have reached the Mountains and Rivers Realm! Had that been the case, Zhou Heng would have had no choice but to pass through directly, without daring to harbor any thoughts of slaying it.

This also proved that the Black Serpent was likely not bred by Ma Buqian but had come here no more than two or three hundred years ago. It grew into a local tyrant by devouring Spirit Grass continually!

Zhou Heng’s thoughts swiftly shifted in his mind, but he immediately cleared them all, focusing solely on refining the blood’s medicinal properties.

His entire body was steaming, expelling nonessential liquids from the snake blood through high-temperature evaporation, releasing them outside his body. During this process, his stomach finally began to shrink.

One day, two days, it took a full three days for Zhou Heng’s stomach to shrink by two-thirds, but having absorbed countless essences of Spiritual Medicine, his strength accumulation had reached the Peak Second Layer Heaven of the Land Cleaving Realm.

He set out to break through to the Third Layer Heaven of Land Cleaving!

Since the Black Sword had been thrown out to slay the Black Serpent, Zhou Heng had to rely solely on his own strength to continue the Land Cleaving. With the ambition of swallowing the sky within his heart, what did it matter that he was without the Black Sword — he would reign supreme over his own world!

Let it open!

Zhou Heng’s Divine Sense coalesced into form, punching towards the sky and earth, continuously dancing in the Dantian Space.

Boom boom boom, the ground was forcibly depressed by his blows, creating an ever-growing distance from the Chaotic Sky above, while the continent’s area also kept expanding, spreading towards the boundless horizon.

Unfortunately, a minor breakthrough in realm could only triple the size of the Dantian Space, restricted by the limits of the Realm. Soon reaching its limit, to expand further would mean entering the Heaven-Opening Realm!

With Zhou Heng’s current power, he simply couldn’t shake such a barrier. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)