Amidst this roar, Meng Hao's mind trembled, and the spiritual energy in his body seemed to dissipate. His expression shifted. This roar was not unfamiliar to him; on his previous visits, he had heard this very sound, which always made his blood churn and his mind uneasy.
At the same time, Meng Hao's eyes went wide. He saw a swirling mass of mist violently cascading down from the mountaintop. Through it, he spotted a python of unknown rank, about two *zhang* long, exuding a ferocious aura as half of its body emerged from a crevice.
The python appeared to be in agony, letting out an earth-shattering roar. Meng Hao coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body jolting upright. Not daring to linger, he dashed down the mountain. Even so, he couldn't resist turning his head to look back, and in that single glance, he noticed several peculiar details.
The half of its body near the cliff edge seemed to have a layer of skin peeling away. Its coiled form looked as if it were wrapped in two layers of skin. It was struggling, trying to shed its old skin.
“Shedding its skin?”
Meng Hao understood instantly and took a deep breath. He knew well that when a snake sheds its skin, it enters a weakened state, and this period of vulnerability is by no means short. For a demonic beast with a body as massive as this, the process would take even longer. Even several years might not be enough to complete it.
“No wonder I often hear this roar. It must have been shedding its skin for years!”
Meng Hao was about to look away when his eyes suddenly narrowed. He saw something impaled in the snake's body near the edge of the cliff.
Upon closer inspection, Meng Hao was stunned. It was a flying sword, looking incredibly ancient. It didn't appear magical in the slightest, yet it was deeply embedded in the python's flesh. Furthermore, it seemed to have fused with the beast, having clearly been there for an untold number of years.
What was more, where the flying sword was impaled, the python's body was visibly shriveled. A single glance was enough to reveal the terrifying power of that sword strike from years ago.
“This demonic python's cultivation has likely surpassed the seventh level of Qi Condensation, like Senior Sister Xu. It could very well be at the eighth level, or even the peak of the ninth level…”
Meng Hao's mouth went dry. He could imagine how tough the hide of this giant python must be, and from that, he could also perceive the formidable power of that ancient flying sword.
“To be able to pierce through a demonic beast of this caliber, that flying sword is truly a treasure.”
Meng Hao's heart pounded. He sighed inwardly, knowing well that with his cultivation only at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, trying to retrieve this flying sword was a fool's errand. Even a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Condensation wouldn't stand a chance.
Meng Hao shook his head and averted his gaze. Without hesitation, he dashed down the mountain. He still had important matters to attend to. As a streak of medicinal light flared, the bronze mirror in his hand grew hot, and gradually, a horde of demonic beasts began to pursue him.
After several more hours, dawn broke, and the twelve-hour limit was almost up. Chu Yun and his companion were driven to despair. They watched Meng Hao, who was sitting cross-legged in the distance. The three of them stood far apart, staring at one another.
The moment the two of them made a move, Meng Hao would instantly flee, dragging the entire horde of demonic beasts along with him. This caused their attempts to fail repeatedly; instead of catching him, they were repeatedly injured by the beasts. By now, they were utterly exhausted, panting heavily as they glared venomously at Meng Hao.
"Damn it, Meng Hao! How can a mere shopkeeper like you run so fast?!"
Zhou Kai roared, unable to take it any longer as he gasped for breath. The longer the chase went on, the more he felt Meng Hao was like a slippery eel, flitting through the mountain forests like a ghost.
"If you have the guts, stop running! And stop using demonic arts to summon beasts! Let's settle this in a direct fight!"
Not far away, Yin Tianlong was driven to his wit's end by Meng Hao. He could neither kill him nor catch him, which was driving him utterly mad. He spoke without thinking, his voice dripping with resentment.
"My cultivation is lower than yours, so I can't fight you! If you want to keep chasing, there's nothing I can do about it!"
Meng Hao swallowed a pill, panting as he spoke.
Zhou Kai and Yin Tianlong exchanged bitter smiles. In all their lives, they had never encountered anyone so difficult to deal with. At this moment, both were filled with deep regret. Had they known it would turn out like this, they would never have pursued him to steal the pill, no matter what.
As time ticked by, twelve hours quickly passed. The pill's restriction was about to vanish. Yin Tianlong sighed, feeling utterly helpless. He couldn't catch up, and if he tried to fight, the demonic beasts would interfere. Today, he had wasted a mountain of pills and lost two flying swords. If he continued this fight... especially against an opponent with such an endless array of bizarre tricks, a single moment of carelessness could leave him severely injured.
All he could do was sigh in frustration. He stood up, gave Meng Hao a long, deep look, then turned and headed down the mountain. He was truly giving up the chase.
The moment Yin Tianlong left, Zhou Kai grew anxious. The twelfth hour had arrived, and the sky was growing bright. As the seal on the pill inside Meng Hao's storage bag dissolved, Zhou Kai stomped his foot in resentment, turned, and left without a word. He had suffered far too much from Meng Hao's cunning schemes. A faint dread had begun to take root in his heart—a fear that if he didn't leave now, he might break down completely.
Seeing the two men descend Black Mountain, Meng Hao finally let out a long sigh of relief. Exhaustion flooded his body like a tidal wave. He bit the tip of his tongue to force himself to stay awake, then quickly turned and slipped away. He did not leave Black Mountain entirely; instead, he headed toward the peak. Although a python demon resided there, it was relatively safer. After all, the python demon still needed time to shed its skin, and its roar alone was enough to scare off other beasts.
Finding a small crevice he could squeeze into, Meng Hao immediately sat cross-legged inside. He looked down at his storage bag, and his heart instantly bled.
"I wasted so many medicinal pills again. Those are all spirit stones! Let me count... Thirty-seven flying swords, over forty demon cores. All of that was exchanged for one hundred and ninety-eight spirit stones. One hundred and ninety-eight spirit stones!"
Meng Hao trembled, his heart aching terribly.
"Fortunately, I held out for twelve hours! This Spirit Restricting Pill is mine!"
Meng Hao comforted himself. Although he still felt a pang of regret over the lost spirit stones, he forced himself to cheer up. After scanning his surroundings and confirming there was no danger, he immediately set to work, using the copper mirror to replicate the Spirit Restricting Pills.
By noon, Meng Hao held more than ten Spirit Restricting Pills in his hand. Only then did a faint smile appear on his face. However, the smile carried a hint of heartache; replicating the Spirit Restricting Pills consumed an immense amount of spirit stones, making them far more expensive than demon cores. He had long known that the copper mirror operated on the principle of equivalent exchange.
He gritted his teeth and swallowed one.
"Fifth-level Qi Condensation, I want to reach the fifth level of Qi Condensation!"
Meng Hao's eyes were bloodshot, filled with fierce determination. He immediately sat down and began to circulate his cultivation. His body instantly rumbled as the abundant spiritual energy within the Spirit Restricting Pill erupted, transforming into surging currents of spiritual power that spread throughout his body.
Time seemed to crawl, yet in the blink of an eye, several days had passed. Meng Hao, his eyes closed, was attempting to break through to the fifth level when he heard the python screeching from the peak of Black Mountain. The screeches grew more frequent, as if its shedding process, much like Meng Hao's own, had reached a crucial moment.