Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Iceblood Serpent

The Iceblood Serpent's roar shook the entire cave.

“KUAAAAAAAAARGH!”

Its enormous body...

well over twenty feet long...

twisted violently.

Ice fragments fell from the ceiling every time it moved.

For an ordinary person...

merely meeting those bloodshot eyes would probably be enough to freeze them in terror.

But I wasn't ordinary.

Come on.

Come at me, you damned snake.

My heart pounded violently.

But fear didn't control me.

Only one thought filled my mind.

I had to kill this monster.

Hissssss...

Hisssss....

The Iceblood Serpent didn't rush.

It flicked its blade-like tongue and watched me.

A veteran predator carefully measuring the distance between itself and its prey.

A suffocating silence filled the freezing cave.

Then...

SWOOOOOSH!

Its tail tore through the air like a whip.

I instinctively lowered myself and used my movement technique.

Void Night Shadow Step, Second Form.

Shadow Submergence.

I dropped my body so low that I nearly touched the ground.

Then...

like a shadow...

I smoothly slid across the ice.

BOOOOM!

The serpent's tail passed directly over my head and slammed into the nearby rock wall.

The impact nearly deafened me.

Rock and ice fragments exploded in every direction.

Sharp ice cut across my cheek.

I didn't even have time to feel the pain.

The next attack had already begun.

“KUAAAAAAARGH!”

The Iceblood Serpent opened its massive jaws.

Cold vapor leaked between teeth shaped like ice spikes.

Its enormous mouth suddenly appeared directly in front of me.

I twisted my body and rolled across the frozen ground.

BOOOOM!

The place where I had been standing collapsed.

The Iceblood Serpent's huge head smashed into the ground.

The thick ice layer shattered.

Fragments erupted everywhere.

"...!"

Even the shockwave alone nearly stole my breath.

If I had moved even a little later...

my body would have become nothing more than scraps mixed with shattered ice.

Still...

I had no intention of retreating.

I needed to kill this monster.

Only then would the Frost Ice Snow Lotus belong to me.

The serpent's head was still buried in the ground.

I immediately charged.

Flowing Flower Kunlun Sword.

First Form.

Clear Current Flowing Water.

I thrust the sword forward like a fierce river current.

Clear internal energy flowed through the blade.

The attack struck directly at the center of the serpent's body.

SWOOOOSH!

The sword tore through the air...

and struck between the Iceblood Serpent's scales.

CLANG!

A sound like steel colliding with steel rang through the cave.

The sword bounced away.

“Ugh...!”

A painful numbness ran through my wrist.

I stepped back several times.

Crack... crack...

The Iceblood Serpent violently shook its head free from the ice.

Cracks spread across the ground.

Hissssss.

It raised its head fully.

Its blood-red eyes locked onto me again.

Tch.

This thing is tougher than I expected.

Even though my strike carried internal energy...

the scales didn't have a single scratch.

Its outer armor was as hard as Cold Ice Iron forged in extreme winter.

Even a treasured sword capable of cutting steel might be useless against those scales.

Simply swinging my sword wouldn't work.

I needed another method.

So normal attacks really are useless.

Then...

I hadn't come here relying only on martial arts.

I knew one definite weakness of this monster.

A memory surfaced.

The hunter's trembling voice.

“The monster was about to swallow me.”

“I swung my sword purely on instinct...”

“and somehow the blade slipped between the scales beneath its jaw.”

His face had been pale as he recalled it.

“The monster screamed and pulled back.”

“That's how I managed to escape.”

Under the jaw.

The one weak point capable of ending the monster's life.

Hissssss....

I endured the horrifying sound of the serpent breathing.

My eyes focused on one place.

There.

Whenever the beast inhaled...

the scales beneath its jaw separated slightly.

Exactly where the hunter had described.

But there was no time for relief.

The Iceblood Serpent suddenly twisted.

Its enormous jaws instantly filled the space above my head.

My vision became completely dark.

Its cold, wet breath struck my face.

But this time...

I didn't retreat.

I stared directly into the darkness falling over me.

If I miss this chance...

there won't be another.

My heart felt ready to burst.

Still...

I controlled my breathing and pulled up my internal energy.

According to the circulation method of the Kunlun Blue Soul Scripture...

energy surged through my entire body like a raging river.

I gathered it all into the sword tip.

The blade trembled.

Veins bulged across my hand.

“KUAAAAAARGH!”

The monster's sharp teeth rushed toward me.

The shadow of its mouth was about to swallow my entire body.

Now!

I lowered myself and charged directly beneath its jaw.

Its jaws snapped shut on empty air.

And there...

beneath its lower jaw...

the narrow gap between its scales was completely exposed.

I twisted my waist.

Then drove my sword upward with all the condensed energy.

CRUNCH!

The entire blade stabbed deeply through the exposed gap.

“SKREEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Its piercing scream shook the cave.

Red blood sprayed across the ice.

The gigantic beast thrashed wildly.

I was still gripping the sword...

which left me hanging beneath the serpent's jaw.

BOOM!

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

The monster went berserk.

Ice walls shattered.

The ceiling cracked.

The entire cave shook as though it would collapse.

My body was thrown violently through the air as the beast struggled.

But I clenched my teeth and refused to release the sword.

Hold on!

If I let go now, it's over!

Blood poured like a fountain from the gap where the sword had entered.

Ignoring the disgusting smell...

I held onto one thought.

Kill it.

No matter what.

A short while later...

the Iceblood Serpent's struggles began to weaken.

A low gurgling breath reached my ears.

Then...

its enormous body slowly collapsed.

THUD!

The entire cave floor shook.

I pulled myself away from beneath its jaw.

Then...

I yanked the deeply embedded sword free.

My breathing was rough.

My entire body was covered in blood.

But I was smiling.

It's over.

I had defeated the Iceblood Serpent.

The monster guarding the Frost Ice Snow Lotus.

And I had done it completely alone.

The thrill of barely crossing the boundary of death...

and the exhilaration of defeating a powerful enemy...

mixed together and rushed through my entire body.

“Haa....”

I slowly calmed my breathing.

After recovering for a while...

I raised my head and looked around.

Even though the ice cave had become a ruin...

one thing still shone elegantly.

The Frost Ice Snow Lotus.

It emitted beautiful light from the frozen ground.

I wanted to run over immediately and swallow the legendary treasure.

But...

If I eat it in my current state...

I'll die immediately.

The Frost Ice Snow Lotus contained extreme cold energy itself.

If an ordinary person ate it...

their internal organs would freeze instantly.

Only a peak expert with enormous internal energy could suppress and neutralize that cold.

At my current level...

it was impossible.

But...

there's another way.

I immediately approached the Iceblood Serpent's corpse.

Holding my sword tightly...

I stabbed deep into its belly.

The moment the serpent died...

the mystical energy protecting its scales disappeared as well.

The armor that had once been harder than steel now cut apart as easily as ordinary animal hide.

After opening its stomach...

I found a small red bead inside.

The Iceblood Serpent's inner core.

I reached in and grabbed it.

Hot energy immediately spread across my palm.

The Iceblood Serpent had spent hundreds of years absorbing the energy of the Frost Ice Snow Lotus.

Inside its body...

its inner core had developed enough heat to neutralize the flower's extreme cold.

Holding the inner core in one hand...

I walked toward the lotus.

Then I carefully pulled the Frost Ice Snow Lotus from the ice.

Heat radiated from one hand.

Freezing cold from the other.

Two completely opposite energies.

The inner core first.

I need to create a foundation capable of suppressing the lotus's cold energy.

Without hesitation...

I swallowed the inner core.

Immediately...

it felt as though a ball of fire had exploded inside my organs.

Extreme heat spread throughout my body.

I instantly circulated the Kunlun Blue Soul Scripture.

Internal energy flowed from my dantian through every meridian.

The circulation managed to suppress the fire...

but the flames continued raging inside.

I couldn't endure this state for long.

Without hesitation...

I stuffed the Frost Ice Snow Lotus into my mouth.

Cold frost nearly froze my tongue.

I ignored it.

Enduring the terrifying chill...

I forced the lotus down my throat.

Then...

the impact struck.

It felt as though ice and fire exploded simultaneously inside my meridians and dantian.

“Huk...!”

Extreme cold.

Extreme heat.

The two opposing energies raged inside me like violent storms.

They collided again and again...

refusing to yield even an inch.

But eventually...

the two extremes began to harmonize.

The opposing energies merged.

And finally...

they achieved perfect unity.

The combined energy spread rapidly through my body like flowing water.

My injured organs were purified.

My unstable dantian regained balance.

But it wasn't merely stable.

The calm inside my dantian had transformed into an overwhelming fullness.

At that moment...

I understood what I had gained.

I accumulated decades of internal energy in an instant.

The amount of internal energy an ordinary martial artist might spend an entire lifetime gathering...

had entered my body in a single moment.

It was incredible.

And intoxicating.

Internal energy was absolutely essential for a martial artist to reach higher realms.

Ever since regression...

I had slowly increased mine through my awakened ability.

But there had always been a clear limit.

Deep down...

I constantly felt thirsty for more internal energy.

Today...

that thirst was finally satisfied.

Exactly one week remained until the Elders' Lecture Gathering.

One week from now...

I would no longer be the same martial artist I was today.

Now...

it's time to climb even higher.

I tightly clenched both fists.