The turbid waters by the shore churned, actually forming a whirlpool.

"Splash——"

With the sound of water breaking, a massive snake head rose from the depths; Ji Yuan finally got a clear look at the true form of this giant serpent.

Its entire body was covered in blue-brown scales, and some spots on its back had even grown moss. Just its raised forebody stretched over ten meters high, and counting the part still concealed beneath the water, it was easily thirty to forty meters long!

The Big Toad had been bitten by it and was severely wounded, but this giant snake hadn't escaped injury either.

Its scales were scattered and missing in places, revealing bloody flesh beneath, and its head, especially, was so battered its jaws couldn't even close, the entire skull seeming crushed out of shape.

Even so, the giant snake kept flicking its tongue, as thick as a grown man's waist, in and out relentlessly.

The Big Toad had nearly been bitten to death.

But this giant snake was also on the verge of death.

The two were evenly matched.

Now with Ji Yuan's arrival, the giant snake still showed no intention of fleeing. It raised its head slightly, tongue flicking, and its icy eyes locked onto the figure hovering midair.

Just being glanced at by it made Ji Yuan's hair stand on end.

So he didn't hesitate. With what seemed like a blink, his Flying Boat shot forth, and he summoned the Hundred Fish Shield to float around him for some protection.

The moment he left, over a dozen Water Arrows shot abruptly from the water below, striking the spot where he'd just stood.

Ji Yuan glanced back at the scene—if he hadn't dodged just now... that one volley alone would've knocked him into the water. And if he fell in, he'd be at the giant snake's mercy, wouldn't he?

For a moment, Ji Yuan felt a chill down his spine.

Courtesy demands reciprocity.

Ji Yuan whipped out five Talismans in quick succession.

"Rumble—"

Thunderclouds gathered in the midair where he stood; purple lightning seethed, and bolts of electricity rained down one after another.

The entire shoreline turned into a thunder prison.

High-grade Talisman—Thunderstorm Talisman!

And he used five in a row.

The giant snake was right in the center of this thunderstorm. Lightning blasted over it again and again, and the waters around it conducted the electricity continuously.

Within a single breath, this already heavily wounded serpent was fried till its flesh split and bled.

It bore the excruciating pain and suddenly opened its massive maw.

"Hiss hiss" sounds echoed without end.

Then, from the water all around, dozens of jets shot upward, crashing through the robber clouds.

Ji Yuan ascended a bit higher, raised both hands, and shot out two black water drops; one dropped precisely into the gaping bloody maw of the giant snake.

The other hadn't reached when the serpent snapped its mouth shut.

But even so, one Explosive Accumulation detonated in its mouth, another blew up on its head—caught between two blasts, the snake's skull was instantly torn into a bloody mess, and its huge body crashed heavily onto the water's surface.

"Bang—"

The surface erupted in a massive plume of water.

Upon seeing this, Ji Yuan immediately shouted—

"Now!"

The Big Toad croaked, "Guah—," then instantly opened its mouth and shot out its relatively unharmed tongue.

With a single lick, it snagged the giant snake's body.

The two struggled, but the grievously wounded giant snake was slowly dragged ashore at last.

The snake looked as if it had no chance to resist; only its body still twitched, and its upthrust, waterlogged head was scarcely even a head anymore—just ragged, bloody flesh with bone sticking out here and there.

Still, Ji Yuan wasn't reassured.

Hovering midair, he threw out a Sword Talisman.

The Talisman burned aloft, spiritual qi coalesced into a water-blue Giant Sword, and it slashed down from the sky.

"Shh—"

The Giant Sword hit the serpent's body, stuck for a heartbeat on the scales, then cut through like a hot knife, sinking into the muddy bank.

The giant snake's corpse was sundered into two.

Head to one side, body to the other.

Ji Yuan, seeing this, finally relaxed.

But just as he prepared to descend on his Flying Boat to harvest the snake's body and check on the Big Toad's wounds, the severed snake head by the shore suddenly came alive, its eyes snapping open wide.

Then, bizarrely, the head leapt up of its own accord, lunging straight at Ji Yuan in midair.

"Ah—"

At the sight, Ji Yuan jerked his Flying Boat forward—even faster this time, with the Thunder Falcon Essence powering him—his form flashed instantly out of the mist.

As he glanced back, he saw the Big Toad, hauling the snake corpse, flick its tongue to intercept the airborne snake head just in time.

The Big Toad seized the head and leapt up, stuffed the massive skull into its gaping mouth, then came crashing down to the ground.

Up in the mist, Ji Yuan hovered, feeling his heart pounding like a drum.

He truly hadn't expected that—even with its head chopped off, the snake could launch a last-ditch strike.

From now on, he thought, even decapitation can't be considered reliable in life-and-death duels.

The best way is to reduce them to dust instantly!

Ji Yuan hovered in midair for a moment. Only after the Big Toad croaked twice did he pilot the Thunder Falcon Boat back to the island above.

The Big Toad still squatted at its old spot, head raised, looking around.

On spotting Ji Yuan, it croaked joyfully several times.

Even if the words were unintelligible, its happiness was obvious.

Ji Yuan, still a bit wary, eyed the snake's corpse. The Big Toad noticed and promptly hopped over, landing heavily beside the serpent's carcass and stomping its feet.

The snake didn't respond at all. Ji Yuan finally relaxed.

He walked over to the body. Measuring briefly, he found the snake's "seven inch" (vital point), and with the Dragonfly Flying Sword made a few vertical and horizontal cuts, sliced away a huge chunk of flesh, and uncovered a deep blue Demon Pill inside.

The Big Toad's eyes widened upon seeing this.

So Ji Yuan tossed it a half-jin lump of Blood Essence, lobbing it into its mouth.

As for the Demon Pill... Ji Yuan could only accept it "reluctantly."

Leaving aside that Foundation Establishment Pills required such things, even if he didn't need it, a mid-level Tier 2 Demon Pill fetched plenty of Spirit Stones.

By comparison, using Blood Essence to heal the Big Toad's wounds was clearly more cost-effective.

"Guah—"

The Big Toad, having eaten the Blood Essence, still seemed dissatisfied. Ji Yuan shot it a glance and tossed in a pig's head.

Given this long-lost treat, the toad's unhappiness vanished from its eyes.

It gobbled it down, then hopped over to squat quietly off to one side, not making any further noise, leaving the snake corpse for Ji Yuan to do with as he pleased.

In the end, Ji Yuan carved the giant snake into several large pieces.

There was no alternative; the corpse was simply too big—without cutting, there was no way it would fit in the Storage Bag.

At the end, Ji Yuan didn't forget to go into the water and gather the snake scales it had shed. From his previous observation, these were the most valuable materials from the beast, along with its gallbladder and poison glands.

The poison gland went into the Big Toad's belly.

Judging by the way its color gradually returned to normal, not only was the poison gland non-toxic to it, it actually had a detoxifying effect.

After collecting the serpent's remains, Ji Yuan summoned the Thunder Falcon Boat again.

"Big Toad, let's go home!"

With a grand wave, Ji Yuan took the lead, launching the Flying Boat ahead.

"Guah—"

The Big Toad leapt after him, hopping from one island straight to another.

The many islets within the mist seemed like stepping stones for it.

After a while, once returned to Mist Island, the Big Toad immediately found a pit, flopped down, and ceased to move.

Ji Yuan wasn't worried; the Big Toad was badly hurt and had just eaten Blood Essence.

It would need some time to recover and heal.

Ji Yuan surveyed his surroundings, taking in the overgrown [Chicken Cage] and [Pigsty], then released Tu Yue.

Now was the perfect time for her to put her abilities to work.

He then went to check the [Cave Mansion], still blocked by stones; little had changed since his departure save for a patch of moss.

Finally, he approached the [Fish Pond].

When he'd left last time, he hadn't dealt with the twenty or thirty early-stage Spirit Fish within. Now, a month had passed; plus, the building's effects had been switched on and off by Ji Yuan, so...

Staring at the mirror-like surface, he threw in a small, bloody chunk of Spirit Pig meat.

Instantly, the whole pond erupted with splashing.

More than ten Spirit Fish flapped their tails madly, fighting for it.

'Most are now mid-stage Spirit Fish—even two at late-stage... Profit! No matter what, it's a profit!'

As for the missing ones—naturally, big fish ate little fish.

After confirming that all was well on Mist Island, Ji Yuan could relax. In the days that followed, he slaughtered the Spirit Fish, drew high-grade Talismans and crafted top-grade Spirit Gathering Pills. Once that was all done, he disguised himself and went to the nearby Markets to sell them.

Along the way he bought several batches of Spirit Piglets and Reed Chickens.

Mist Island was back in business; the much-missed [Chicken Cage] and [Pigsty] had to be up and running.

Once he finished his chores, Tu Yue had also restored the little island to its former state.

Ji Yuan went to check the [Spirit Field] as well.

Though he'd been gone a month, to medicinal plants that counted their age in years, little had changed.

The herbs were as before.

Ji Yuan had Tu Yue clear a much larger patch of [Spirit Field] nearby—as his only Level 3 structure, its effects were too valuable to waste.

So, he had Tu Yue sow the entire Spirit Field with Spirit Grain.

Plus, with the Field's automatic pest-repelling function, once planted, all he had to do was wait for harvest.

After a few days, looking at that broad and tidy Spirit Field, Ji Yuan decided he might as well have Tu Yue keep clearing more land—once it was open, he just needed to sow seeds.

In the end, both Chicken Cage and Pigsty were expanded considerably.

All these chores were left to Tu Yue; Ji Yuan focused solely on cultivation and Alchemy.

He needed to reach the Peak of Qi Cultivation quickly and then upgrade the [Alchemy Room] to Level 2; then he could aim for Foundation Establishment.

And so, a peaceful month passed quietly.

The Big Toad wasn't yet awake, but on the outside its wounds were gone—likely it would recover soon.

However, in this past month, Ji Yuan's cultivation and Alchemy improved only very slowly, making him truly feel the endlessness of cultivation.

In idle moments, he glanced at his System Panel.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

Now that everything was stable, perhaps he could develop some other System buildings... for example, [Kitchen], [Array Room], and the like.

Maybe those would bring some other benefits.

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