This dark, damp stretch of jungle was the absolute domain of a Rank 2 upper stage viper.
Through its cold infrared vision, the two enormous Lotus Leaf Gu ahead radiated two dense, irresistibly tempting clusters of living heat.
For a demon beast that desperately needed to stockpile fat reserves to survive the long, brutal winter, these two human cultivators sunk in deep sleep were nothing short of a heaven-sent feast.
Hiss——
The viper extended its forked black tongue with excruciating slowness, tasting the faint traces of scent in the air.
After a lifetime of slaughter, what had once been pure instinct had sharpened into cunning hunting intelligence.
It perceived with acute clarity — the prey on the left, Lin Wuxie, burned with blood vitality as violent as an erupting volcano, his life force staggering in its intensity.
The prey on the right, Lin Mu, had a restrained, seemingly frail presence.
And yet that very restraint triggered something deep and instinctive — a warning.
After a moment, the viper settled on what it judged to be the perfect hunting plan.
First, use its massive tail — thick enough and powerful enough to crush boulders — to silently bind and strangle the violently vital prey, leaving him no room to struggle or fight back.
Simultaneously, open its great maw — wide enough to swallow a water buffalo whole — and swallow the restrained, quiet prey alive in one sudden, decisive strike.
A perfect two-pronged kill.
BOOM!
Less than fifteen feet from the lotus leaves, the viper's enormous body — coiled motionless against the trunk — erupted without warning into a terrifying burst of explosive speed.
It moved like lightning.
The thick rear half of its body lashed out like a black iron whip, punching through the left Lotus Leaf Gu in an instant and coiling around the "sleeping" Lin Wuxie within, crushing and binding him in one motion.
Hiss——!
At the same moment, the viper reared its massive head high, opened its reeking, venom-dripping maw wide, and drove its two dagger-sharp fangs straight down toward Lin Mu's skull inside the right lotus leaf.
And yet —
In the precise instant those razor fangs bit savagely into Lin Mu's shoulder —
No blood sprayed. No dull thud of flesh being pierced.
Something went wrong.
Rank 2 — Jade Tendon Gu!
A force — domineering, overwhelming, amplified to geometric multiples — erupted from Lin Mu's shoulder like a detonation.
CRACK——!
A sharp, clean sound of bone fracturing rang out through the silent night.
The viper's prized, supposedly indestructible venomous fang — upon striking that terrifying counter-force — shattered on the spot.
HISSSSS——!!!
The viper let out a shriek of agony and disbelief.
The prey was not asleep.
The Lotus Leaf Gu tore apart in an instant. Lin Mu and Lin Wuxie burst into the moonlight like two predators that had been holding back for far too long.
"You're dead."
Lin Wuxie, coiled tight in the viper's crushing grip, felt his bones screaming under the immense constricting force.
But the pain only ignited something deeper — the madness and savagery within him.
His eyes, glowing with a faint eerie green, locked onto the viper.
Rather than struggling to break free, he let out a bestial roar and did the opposite — he threw his arms around the thick coiling tail and wrenched it backward, slamming it against the massive trunk of the tree they had been resting in, fighting to tie the thing in a dead knot with his bare hands.
"Get down here!"
The muscles in Lin Wuxie's arms swelled as though inflating.
With savage, brute force, he wound that slick, massive tail in reverse around the trunk — actually attempting to manually knot a Rank 2 upper stage demon beast in place.
Hiss——
The viper was a Rank 2 upper stage apex predator. Maddened by pain and fury, it launched a violent death roll and tail-whip.
BANG!
The sheer force nearly cut Lin Wuxie in half at the waist. Only a last-instant cross-guard with both arms saved him.
Even so, he was hurled away like a torn sack, sent flying into the dark forest below, snapping through countless branches on the way down. Whether he lived or died was unknown.
Lin Mu watched Lin Wuxie get sent flying. A flicker of cold appreciation crossed his eyes.
Because — the viper's frenzied tail-whip had launched Lin Wuxie clear, yes. But Lin Wuxie's reverse binding had left its mark.
Under the momentum of its own violent thrashing, the viper's heavy lower body had been caught — wedged firmly and awkwardly into the thick fork of the tree trunk.
It had lost its most critical asset: the ability to evade.
In the darkness of the night, the killing intent in Lin Mu's deep eyes surfaced fully.
Earth Spike Gu!
Lin Mu slammed his palm against the trunk and poured his Primeval Essence out in a torrent.
Crack!
A massive earth spike — sharp as a refined steel spear — erupted without warning from the trunk directly beneath the viper.
It drove through the viper's soft underbelly at its most vulnerable point with pinpoint precision, nailing its enormous lower body to the tree.
HISSSS——!!!
The lethal agony of having its weak point skewered tore a deafening, soul-rending shriek from the viper.
Its upper body thrashed and writhed in frenzy — but the more it struggled, the deeper the spike bit.
Lin Mu gave it no time to breathe.
Metal Rend Leaf Gu!
"Go!"
Lin Mu extended two fingers like a blade. A streak of dark gold light flashed through the air.
Whoosh.
Smooth as a hot blade through butter.
The Metal Rend edge swept clean across the viper's gaping maw and sheared every remaining fang from its upper jaw at the root.
Fangs and flesh rained down into the canopy below. The viper's venom-spraying capability was gone entirely.
Hiss!
Even a cornered beast fights to the end. The viper's life force was extraordinary.
Lower body pinned, fangs destroyed — yet its massive upper body remained as flexible and lethal as an iron whip, still carrying terrifying crushing power.
Driven by agony and desperation, it swung its enormous head like a battering ram and hurled itself at Lin Mu with suicidal ferocity.
BOOM!
Lin Mu crossed both arms and took the blow head-on.
A savage, crushing force surged up through his arms. His blood and qi churned violently.
He was driven back three full steps and nearly knocked from the canopy entirely.
Rank 2 upper stage. Truly terrifying.
Lin Mu shook out his numbed arms. But in his eyes — not a trace of fear. Instead, a fierce, almost feverish battle-hunger blazed to life.
"But that's exactly the kind of opponent worth fighting."
In the past, Lin Mu would have pulled back without hesitation, using the Dust Escape Gu to bleed it out from a distance.
Today, he did not retreat.
He abandoned his usual hit-and-run approach entirely.
"Earth Ring Body — rise!"
Lin Mu drove his Rank 2 Primeval Essence through his Aperture in a furious surge. The aura enveloped him in an instant.
Simultaneously, the jade-green tendon lines of the Jade Tendon Gu surfaced beneath his skin, reinforcing his sinews and bones to their limit.
He held the Metal Rend Leaf Gu drawn but unreleased — like a man gripping a supreme killing blade between his fingers, waiting for the moment to strike.
Then, in a move that was entirely unlike him, he mirrored Lin Yan's most savage fighting style.
Lin Mu launched himself forward — straight into the viper's wildly thrashing skull — and closed the distance.
He was going to fight this Rank 2 upper stage demon beast in brutal, close-quarters, flesh-against-flesh combat at the top of a tree dozens of feet in the air.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
HISSSS——!
Blood sprayed across the canopy. Shattered scales flew in all directions. The dull, thunderous crashes of impact rolled out through the night.
Man and serpent slammed into each other again and again in the narrow space between the branches — biting, striking, colliding.
Ten breaths of time.
In that state of absolute focus and extreme violence, those ten breaths felt to Lin Mu like a long, brutal trial by fire.
Hah... hah...
Lin Mu dropped to one knee on the rough branch, chest heaving, sweat and blood dripping from his face.
Simultaneously driving multiple Rank 2 Gu worms at full intensity for even that brief span had drained him.
Even with the Four-Flavor Liquor Worm's purified Rank 2 upper stage Primeval Essence reserves, he felt a sharp, hollow emptiness.
"Rank 2 upper stage. Damn hard to kill."
Lin Mu gasped, reached into his storage Gu, and crushed a Primeval Stone in his fist to replenish what had been spent.
But the expression on his face was one of pure, unrestrained satisfaction.
Before him —
The Rank 2 upper stage viper that had once inspired dread in all who encountered it now had its entire upper body reduced to a shapeless, blood-soaked ruin.
Lin Mu's iron fists, wrapped in Metal Rend sharpness, had beaten it into an unrecognizable mass of pulped flesh and bone. Even the skull had been completely destroyed.
Only the lower half — skewered through by the earth spike, drenched in blood — still swayed faintly in the cold night wind against the trunk, limp and desolate.
This battle: a Rank 2 upper stage demon beast, killed head-on.