127: Chapter 127 Slaying the Poisonous Python and Regaining the Source, Exploring the Cave and Obtaining Spirit Wood

Ye Qing moved like a faint shadow, silently sneaking towards the area shrouded in dark green poisonous mist.

The closer he got to the area, the thicker the poisonous mist filling the air became, carrying a viscous texture that seemed capable of corroding even one's vision.

Giant, slippery crawling trails began to appear on the ground, and the surrounding trees and rocks were stained with mucus emitting a foul stench.

"This big guy is quite substantial."

Ye Qing muttered to himself, pushing the effects of the "void concealment pill" to the limit, his entire person almost merging with the surrounding poisonous mist.

He arrived at a high dirt slope and looked down towards the core area where the poisonous mist was thickest.

There, he saw a black swamp spanning a hundred zhang, shrouded in dark green poisonous mist.

In the center of the swamp grew a strange, pitch-black ancient tree with twisted branches and not a single green leaf.

The trunk of the ancient tree was extremely thick, requiring more than ten people to embrace it, and the bark was covered in cracks, resembling dried-up skin.

And on one of the thick branches of the ancient tree, a behemoth was coiled.

It was a giant python over five zhang long, its entire body covered in scales the size of millstones, shimmering with a dark green luster.

Its head was triangular, with two fist-sized lumps bulging on top, as if something was about to break out from within. A pair of cold, vertical pupils, like two dark green lanterns, were vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Its abdomen was distended, clearly having just had a full meal, and it was currently lying lazily on the tree branch, digesting its food.

"A Nascent Soul Early Stage 'Green-Scaled Venomous Python'... and looking at this posture, it seems to be on the verge of a Breakthrough to the Middle Stage. If it succeeds, it will likely become a significant disaster."

Ye Qing's gaze swept over the Green-Scaled Venomous Python, quickly assessing the gap in strength between them.

"Nascent Soul Early Stage, it holds no challenge for me. However, this beast is coiled here, seemingly guarding that ancient tree? That ancient tree doesn't look like an ordinary item either."

His gaze fell upon the strange, pitch-black ancient tree.

With his keen Divine Sense, he could clearly sense that the interior of the ancient tree contained an extremely pure and vast amount of wood-attribute Spiritual Qi, while also mixed with a faint trace of the Law of poison, which originated from the same source as the poisonous python.

"This tree... could it be the legendary 'ten thousand poison soul-eating wood'? No, the 'ten thousand poison soul-eating wood' is far more overbearing than this. But this tree has clearly absorbed the poison dispersed by the poisonous python, resulting in some mutations. If it were transplanted near the Poison Source Land in the Cave Heaven World, perhaps a brand new type of spiritual wood, possessing both wood-attribute and poison, could be cultivated."

Having made up his mind, he no longer hesitated.

He slowly raised his right hand, pointed his fingers like a sword, and slashed through the air towards the Green-Scaled Venomous Python coiled on the branch.

A condensed, almost transparent Chaos Sword Qi silently streaked through the Void Realm and slashed fiercely towards the python's seven-inch mark!

The Green-Scaled Venomous Python was, after all, a Nascent Soul Early Stage Yao Beast with extremely keen spiritual perception.

The moment Ye Qing struck, it violently opened its dark green vertical pupils and let out a sharp hiss!

Its massive body sprang up from the branch like a spring, attempting to dodge this fatal blow!

However, the timing of Ye Qing's attack was extremely tricky.

It was exactly the moment it had just finished a meal and its reactions were at their slowest.

Although the Chaos Sword Qi failed to hit its seven-inch mark precisely, it still slashed fiercely onto its thick tail!

Puchi!

Dark green blood sprayed out like a fountain!

The Green-Scaled Venomous Python's tail was severed at the root! The severed tail fell to the ground, still twisting and jumping!

"Hiss—!!!"

In extreme pain, the Green-Scaled Venomous Python let out a deafening, painful hiss!

Its massive body twisted crazily, its huge tail whipping around, smashing the surrounding trees and rocks to pieces!

Its pair of dark green vertical pupils locked onto the direction where Ye Qing was hiding, filled with boundless rage and venomous hatred!

"Human! You are courting death!!!"

It let out an incoherent roar filled with murderous intent, opened its bloody maw, and sprayed a mouthful of thick, dark green venom!

The venom shot towards the direction of Ye Qing's hiding spot like a high-pressure water gun!

Wherever the venom passed, the air hissed with corrosion, and even the space seemed to twist from the corrosion!

"Oh? You can spray poison? You've got quite a temper."

Ye Qing chuckled, his figure flickering like a ghost, instantly shifting dozens of zhang sideways, easily dodging the spray of venom.

He did not immediately counterattack, but instead watched the crazed poisonous python with interest, as if enjoying a wonderful performance.

"Come, come, whatever other skills you have, use them. Let this seat see exactly how much capability you, a Nascent Soul Early Stage poisonous python, really have."

His frivolous attitude completely enraged the Green-Scaled Venomous Python.

It let out deafening roars, its massive body like a moving mountain, lunging towards Ye Qing!

It opened its bloody maw, revealing interlocking white fangs, attempting to swallow Ye Qing in one gulp!

At the same time, its severed tail also whipped towards Ye Qing's waist like a steel whip, with a harsh whistling sound!

This lunge and sweep were its full-force attack in anger, with astonishing power!

"Now that's more like it."

The smile on Ye Qing's face remained unchanged, but his eyes became slightly more serious.

He did not dodge or evade, but slowly raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and tapped lightly towards the giant snake head lunging at him.

At his fingertip, a point of Chaos starlight flashed and vanished.

Ding!

A crisp sound of metal clashing rang out.

The Green-Scaled Venomous Python's massive body seemed to have collided with an invisible, indestructible wall, suddenly freezing in mid-air!

Its ferocious head was less than three feet away from Ye Qing's fingertip!

But that short distance of three feet was like a chasm, unable to advance even an inch further!

An indescribable, terrifying force of rebound traveled along its head and instantly transmitted to its massive body!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A series of bone-cracking sounds, like frying beans, rang out densely!

The Green-Scaled Venomous Python's body, as if repeatedly hammered by an invisible heavy hammer, had its scales shattered and flesh flying, instantly becoming riddled with holes!

"Hiss—!!!"

It let out one last desperate and shrill hiss, and its massive body, like a skeleton that had lost its support, collapsed softly to the ground, twitched a few times, and completely lost its life.

The Nascent Soul Early Stage Green-Scaled Venomous Python was dead.

Ye Qing withdrew his finger, not even looking at the giant snake corpse, and cast his gaze towards the strange, pitch-black ancient tree.

He walked to the ancient tree, extended his palm, and gently pressed it against the rough trunk.

Chaos Infant Essence seeped into the ancient tree like flowing water, carefully sensing its structure and energy flow paths.

"Sure enough, this tree has already mutated. Within its xylem, it contains a trace of extremely pure Law of poison fragments, as well as vast wood-attribute life force. If it is transplanted into the Cave Heaven World and complements the Poison Source Land, it will definitely be possible to Cultivate an unprecedented spiritual wood."

He nodded with satisfaction and began to work, preparing to dig up this ancient tree, roots and soil together.

The root system of this ancient tree was extremely developed, extending dozens of zhang deep into the ground, so digging it out completely was no easy task.

But Ye Qing had plenty of patience.

He first used Chaos Infant Essence to soften the soil around the ancient tree, then, like a master butcher dismembering an ox, carefully separated the thick roots from the soil.

This process lasted for a full hour.

When the last main root was pulled out from the ground, the entire ancient tree let out a low hum, as if saying goodbye to the land it had grown on for thousands of years.

Ye Qing did not dare to be negligent, immediately opening the portal to the Cave Heaven World, and sent this huge ancient tree, together with the large mass of soil wrapped around its roots, inside.

He planted it next to the Poison Source Land and drew a trace of the Cave Heaven Origin power to nourish its damaged roots.

After entering the Cave Heaven World, the ancient tree seemed to sense the superior environment here, its branches and leaves stretching slightly, emitting a joyful aura.

"Done! Next, it's time to deal with this poisonous python."

Ye Qing turned around and walked to the corpse of the Green-Scaled Venomous Python.

He raised his hand and made a virtual grab, and a fist-sized Yao Beast core, entirely emerald green and emitting rich fluctuations of the Law of poison, flew out from the shattered snake head and fell into his hand.

"A Nascent Soul Early Stage Yao Beast core, the quality is good. It can be used for Alchemy, or directly absorbed by the Cave Heaven World."

He also carefully peeled off the poisonous python's poison glands, fangs, and that tough snake skin, and stored them in the Cave Heaven World.

As for the remaining flesh and bones, they were directly thrown to the Cave Heaven World to be decomposed and absorbed, turning into the purest energy to nourish itself.

After doing all this, he clapped his hands with satisfaction.

"This trip has been quite a gain. Not only did I get another poison-attribute Yao Beast core, but I also got a mutated spiritual wood. The foundation of the Cave Heaven World has deepened a bit more."

He looked up at the sky and found that the sun had set in the west, and it was getting late.

"Let's stop here for today. Find a safe place to rest for the night, and continue exploring tomorrow."

He identified the direction and flew towards a hilly area with higher terrain at the edge of the swamp, preparing to find a place there to spend the night.

Three moons of different colors slowly rose again, shedding fantastic radiance.

The night in the Black Miasma Swamp was even more dangerous than the day.

Various nocturnal venomous insects and Yao Beasts began to become active, and the air echoed with intermittent hisses and low roars.

Ye Qing settled in a relatively dry and hidden cave, set up simple concealment and protective Restrictions, and then sat cross-legged.

He did not rush to Cultivate, but sank his mind into the Cave Heaven World to check the harvest of the day.

In the Cave Heaven World, the mutated ancient tree had been successfully planted next to the Poison Source Land.

Its root system was slowly extending towards the Poison Source Land, greedily absorbing the pure poison Origin.

And the Poison Source Land, because of the addition of the ancient tree, seemed to be activated, and the fluctuations of the Law of poison it emitted became more active and pure.

"Sure enough, a benign symbiotic relationship can be formed between the two. Given time, this Poison Source Land will definitely be able to evolve into a more perfect 'Poison Domain'."

Ye Qing nodded with satisfaction and took out the Yao Beast core of the Green-Scaled Venomous Python.

He thought for a moment, and did not directly swallow or refine it, but buried it at the root of the mutated ancient tree.

"Let this ancient tree slowly absorb the poisonous essence and life force within the Yao Beast core. This way, it can adapt to the environment of the Cave Heaven World faster and accelerate its growth."

After doing these things, he withdrew from the Cave Heaven World and began to close his eyes and regulate his breath, recovering the magic power and mental energy consumed that day.

Early the next morning, Ye Qing left the cave and continued his journey of exploration.

He was like a diligent miner, tirelessly traveling through the Black Miasma Swamp, looking for all valuable resources.

He found a small patch of "Ink Crystal Iron Ore" exposed on the surface. Although the quality was not high, it had a large reserve, and after swallowing it all, the area of the Cave Heaven World expanded by several hundred zhang.

He discovered a "Millennium Stone Milk" hidden behind a waterfall, containing pure water-attribute Spiritual Qi, which he carefully collected, preparing to use it to Cultivate water-system spiritual plants in the Cave Heaven World.

He also found a few pieces of "Lightning-Struck Wood" the size of a fist, containing faint thunder power, on a scorched land struck by lightning. Although the grade was not high, it was more than enough to refine some low-grade thunder-attribute Talismans.

He was like a moving natural disaster. Wherever he passed, any resources with a bit of value were scraped clean by him and sent into the Cave Heaven World.

This "locusts crossing the border" style of looting, if seen by other Cultivators, would probably make their jaws drop.

But for Ye Qing, this was just standard operation.

"The growth of the Cave Heaven World requires massive resources. If I'm not diligent, how can I afford such a large family business?"

He comforted himself while laboriously prying a "Mother Earth Stone" the size of a millstone, containing pure earth-attribute Spiritual Qi, out of a ground crack and sending it into the Cave Heaven.

Just as he was preparing to end the looting of the day and find a place to rest, his Divine Sense suddenly captured an unusual energy fluctuation several miles ahead.

That energy fluctuation did not come from a Yao Beast or spiritual object, but... carried a unique aura of artificial Restrictions.

"Eh? In this wilderness, how could there be Restriction fluctuations? Could it be... an Immortal Cave of some forgotten ancient Cultivator?"

Ye Qing's heart moved, and he immediately became interested.

He restrained his aura, and like a ghost, quietly sneaked towards the direction of the Restriction fluctuations.