Volume Five: Emerging Brilliance - Chapter Sixteen: The Nine-Headed Demonic Serpent

Glancing sideways at Yuan Mu, Li Chengzhu saw that he was also looking back at him. A tacit understanding passed between the two: could they have stumbled upon some supreme heavenly treasure?

This refreshing fragrance put them both at ease, and they felt their entire bodies loosen and relax. To possess such properties, there had to be a treasure ahead.

Immortal Yuan Mu was the first to stow his Rainbow Cord back into his ring, rushing forward as the vanguard. Li Chengzhu closely followed behind him.

Supreme heavenly treasures were exceedingly rare in the Immortal Realm. Unless high-level immortals above the Great Golden Immortal tier cultivated them within their own territories—taking several hundred years to mature—where else could they possibly be found? Forget heavenly treasures; even grass with the slightest bit of spiritual essence had long been dug up by cultivators. Even within Rainbow City, one could only find a few spiritual fruits that barely absorbed a wisp of spiritual energy.

Following Yuan Mu for quite a distance and rounding a bend, an immensely vast lake suddenly appeared before them. The term "Immortal-Nurturing Lake" flashed through Boss Li's mind, but he immediately dismissed the thought; the lake's surface lacked such dense spiritual energy, making it look like an ordinary body of water. However, the blood-red fruits hanging from clusters of plants along the shoreline caused Li Chengzhu's jaw to drop. This mass of vegetation stretched on for a long distance, covering nearly a mile of the lakeshore.

Yuan Mu let out a hearty laugh, unceremoniously abandoning Li Chengzhu as he teleported directly in front of the plant thicket. Even the little creature grew excited, flying up to a fruit and, too lazy to even pluck it, wrapping its little paws around it to take a greedy bite.

Li Chengzhu smiled faintly, then dashed forward with all his might.

A heavenly treasure! Those who grabbed fast kept them; those who were slow got nothing.

Looking at the red fruits hanging suspended in mid-air like tomatoes, Li Chengzhu showed no mercy, plucking them rapidly and tossing them into his Azure Blood Ring. Plundering away, he asked, "What on earth are these?"

With both hands flying in a blur and fingers forming incantations to toss the fruits into his own storage ring, Yuan Mu shot a disdainful look at Li Chengzhu upon hearing his idiotic question and retorted, "Mystic Ice Fruits. You don't even know that?"

"Mystic Ice Fruits?" Li Chengzhu was momentarily stunned, though his hands never stopped moving. "I thought they were fire-attribute spiritual fruits."

"Bah! Calling you a fool is an understatement." Yuan Mu completely disregarded Boss Li's pride. "Spiritual fruits? Spiritual fruits are a hundred thousand miles inferior to these."

"Could they be immortal fruits?" Li Chengzhu asked in astonishment.

"Spot on. These are true immortal fruits." Excitement beamed across Yuan Mu's face. "It's been so long since I last laid eyes on immortal fruits. Haha, we've struck it rich this time!"

Upon hearing that these red fruits were actually immortal fruits, Li Chengzhu grew even more excited.

Immortal fruits were indeed in a completely different league from spiritual fruits. Spiritual fruits merely absorbed a trace of spiritual energy, whereas immortal fruits were genuinely nurtured and crystallized from pure spiritual energy. Glancing around, he realized this patch of land had actually nurtured an astonishing quantity of immortal fruits, far exceeding anyone's expectations.

The little creature, which had been gnawing vigorously on a Mystic Ice Fruit, suddenly lifted its head, gazed out at the lake's surface, and squeaked frantically. It tried desperately to pluck the half-eaten Mystic Ice Fruit off the vine, but its strength was too small, and despite struggling for a long time, it failed.

Hearing the little creature's cries, Li Chengzhu looked up and saw that the previously calm surface of the lake was now churning with undercurrents, the rushing water giving the eerie illusion of being sucked downward.

Boss Li reached out, plucked the immortal fruit the little creature was clutching, shoved both the fruit and the little creature inside the collar of his large cloak, and turned to shout at Yuan Mu, who was still frantically harvesting: "Trouble!"

Immortal Yuan Mu spat fiercely onto the ground, grabbed a few more fruits to toss into his ring, and finally turned to look.

The commotion on the lake grew even more violent. A gigantic whirlpool had formed on the surface, sucking the rushing lake water down in torrents.

"Where there are heavenly treasures, there are bound to be immortal beasts guarding them. It seems that saying is true." Staring at the whirlpool, Yuan Mu furrowed his brows slightly. "Be careful. The guardian beast of immortal fruits of this grade won't be weak!"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Boss Li said resentfully, quickly summoning his Nine Heavens Great Luo Cauldron while a Meteor Sword spun and danced above his head.

"Hehe, saying it wouldn't have changed anything. Would we have stopped picking them?" Yuan Mu picked up a Mystic Ice Fruit, took a crunchy bite, and wore a look of utter satisfaction. "Delicious."

Li Chengzhu smacked his lips. Yuan Mu had a point; regardless of what kind of immortal beast it was, it certainly wouldn't abandon this countless number of immortal fruits. Still refusing to admit defeat, he muttered, "If you'd spoken up earlier, we could have set up an array, saving us from fighting it head-on."

Yuan Mu paused, turned to look at Li Chengzhu, and pondered for a long moment before speaking, "Hmm, you have a point. Remember to remind me next time."

Boss Li felt a sudden urge to beat him up; the fellow still wore an entirely innocent expression.

With a loud explosion, the lake surface burst open. A pillar of water nearly ten meters thick shot violently from the lake straight into the sky. When its momentum finally exhausted, the water column scattered down in a heavy spray. Even though the two of them were a mile away from the shore, countless droplets were still flung their way.

Neither Li Chengzhu nor Yuan Mu dared to blink, hastily casting protective spiritual energy shields around themselves. When the water droplets struck, they hit like clear glass, slowly sliding down along the contours of their protective shields.

As the curtain of water fell, Li Chengzhu finally saw the appearance of their foe clearly.

It possessed an incomparably thick body that stood upright, covered in overlapping reverse scales. The earthy-yellow scales closely resembled those of a fish, layered like mountain peaks all the way up to its neck. Its four thick and powerful claws featured sharp, retractable tips that seemed to harvest enemies' lives with every flex. Further up, a multitude of triangular heads branched out from its neck, their countless inverted-triangular eyes radiating a murderous glare as they looked down disdainfully upon Li Chengzhu and Yuan Mu. Opening its mouths, forked tongues darted in and out, hissing menacingly.

"A snake?" Li Chengzhu shivered all over. Fuck, how could there be such a colossal snake? And with so many heads? No, snakes don't have claws. What on earth is this? A chill shot from the soles of Boss Li's feet straight to the top of his head, sending a jolt through his entire body.

"A Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon?" Yuan Mu was equally shocked. Although he knew the guardian beast's strength wouldn't be trivial, he hadn't expected it to be the legendary Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon. They would need to rethink their strategy now.

"What? A Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon?" Boss Li turned his head to look at Yuan Mu. There were many things in the Immortal Realm Li Chengzhu had never even heard of, so he turned his gaze toward Yuan Mu, hoping for an explanation.

"A Nine-Head Fiend Flood Dragon, an eighth-tier lower-grade immortal beast." Yuan Mu felt his own body trembling as well.

Those few words sent Li Chengzhu's heart plunging into an icy abyss.

An eighth-tier lower-grade immortal beast! Translated into the grading system of immortals, it possessed power roughly equivalent to the early stage of a Golden Immortal. A mere Fusion-stage rookie paired with a late-stage immortal probably didn't even qualify to be stuck between this creature's teeth.

Even as Li Chengzhu was thinking, the Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon thrashed its body and slithered rapidly across the lake toward them.

"What do we do?" Although Yuan Mu was arrogant, he knew he couldn't beat it, though he could still manage to escape. But the Mystic Ice Fruits—with so many immortal fruits, who knew how many lifetimes it would take to see them again? Could he just give them up like this?

Hearing this, Li Chengzhu reached out, plucked a few nearby Mystic Ice Fruits, hurriedly stuffed them into his ring, and roared, "Run!" He then drove his Meteor Sword and flew outward at top speed.

Immortal Yuan Mu looked at the Mystic Ice Fruits beside him, then at the rapidly approaching Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon, and finally turned to look at Boss Li, who was flying away at high speed. With a heavy sigh, he cast his flying sword and closely followed behind, his eyes still lingering with reluctance upon the countless immortal fruits.

Boss Li stepped upon his immortal sword. The Meteor Sword was already renowned for its speed, and driven to its absolute limit by him now, its velocity reached a peak. Although Yuan Mu lacked a top-tier immortal sword and relied solely on a high-grade flying sword, his cultivation base was much higher than Li Chengzhu's, leaving their speeds roughly matched.

Pinching incantations, Boss Li flew forward without a moment's rest, a rumbling sound echoing closely behind him. Driven by alarm, he looked back over his shoulder.

That single glance nearly froze his heart: the Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon was in hot pursuit, its speed actually a fraction faster than theirs. Thick trees before it were flattened like tender blades of grass, knocked down in sweeping rows. Those nine gigantic snake heads stared down at the two men with utter contempt, their forked tongues flicking in and out with increasing speed.

Was this the strength of an eighth-tier lower-grade immortal beast? Li Chengzhu gritted his teeth fiercely, channeling the immortal spiritual power within his Nascent Soul to elevate his speed to yet another level. In the blink of an eye, Yuan Mu was left even further behind.

"Ungrateful bastard!" Immortal Yuan Mu cursed indignantly. Glancing back, he saw that the distance between himself and the Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon had closed to less than half a mile. One of the massive jaws of the Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon had already snapped open, and the rapidly gathering fire-attribute spiritual energy in the surrounding air made Yuan Mu feel deeply uneasy.

In the blink of an eye, a gigantic, vibrant red spiritual energy orb had formed within the snake's mouth. Thrusting its head forward, the creature spat out an energy blast three meters in diameter.

Immortal Yuan Mu gritted his teeth and violently swerved to the side. Immediately after, a wave of intense heat washed over his back accompanied by a deafening boom, the shockwave sending him stumbling sideways. In that brief instant, the distance between him and the Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon closed even further.

Hearing the explosion behind him, Li Chengzhu turned his head and saw Yuan Mu struggling frantically to evade the Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon's attacks. Those snake heads acted like heavy artillery pieces, lowering their crowns and bombarding the fleeing Yuan Mu with fierce intensity.

Red, white, silver, green, yellow—every single head fired a spiritual energy blast of a different color. A jolt went through Li Chengzhu's heart as he suddenly recalled the Qilin immortal beast he had once encountered; that creature had also been able to unleash fire-attribute spiritual energy balls condensed from the Five-Element Heavenly Fire, bearing a striking resemblance to the scene before him. The only difference was that the spiritual energy blasts unleashed by this so-called Nine-Headed Fiend Flood Dragon vastly surpassed that Qilin in both variety and sheer destructive power.

Immortal Yuan Mu was being beaten to the point of having zero room to counterattack, forced to rely entirely on his utmost limits just to dodge the onslaught.

For an immortal to be reduced to this state was truly humiliating; a faint blush stained Yuan Mu's aged face.