The giant snake seemed to sense the impending crisis. With a hiss, it spat a mouthful of crimson-purple venom at the descending Giant Sword.

But this time, the venom lacked its previous power. Against the descending blade, the mouthful of venom only managed to slightly corrode the sword’s tip before the Giant Sword landed upon the snake’s head.

The blade sliced off a small half of the giant snake’s head. Blood gushed out like a fountain. Amidst agonized hisses, the snake’s writhing body thrashed about, splattering blood everywhere.

At a glance, it looked as if a rain of blood was falling from the sky.

The blood was highly corrosive. Trees withered, and pits were etched into the earth. The air, thick with the stench of blood, was soon filled with the rolling scent of something scorching.

"ROAR..."

The hissing continued. The giant snake, despite having half its head sliced off, did not collapse as expected.

Within just a few breaths, a complete new head grew from the gushing fountain of blood, visible to the naked eye.

Meanwhile, the other, mangled half of the original head also began to heal at a visible rate.

"Dammit, it’s a mutated Two-headed Snake!"

The man’s face paled. With a loud cry, he turned and fled without the slightest hesitation.

The few remaining Xie Family Cultivators each used their own Divine Techniques and scattered, fleeing in every direction.

But it seemed they were a step too late.

Having transformed into a two-headed beast, the giant snake seemed to have undergone some kind of bloodline evolution.

Its original attacks, which consisted of simple physical strikes and venom, were replaced by an onslaught of wind and fire after its second head appeared.

The fire rode the wind’s momentum, and the wind fanned the fire’s might!

As wind and fire swept through, the fleeing figures turned to ash one after another. Even the man wielding the Talisman Treasure only managed to hold on for a few breaths before he was visibly engulfed in flames, and then... he vanished into thin air...

The valley fell silent once more. Only the several-hundred-meter-long Two-headed Snake remained, coiling in the air. Under the Demon Beast’s oppressive aura, Wangcai was nearly forced to its knees.

Chu Mu swallowed hard, not daring to even breathe, terrified of attracting the attention of the horrifying Two-headed Snake.

’It got half its head sliced off and could still grow two new ones on the spot...’

’And they’re even wind and fire heads...’

’Terrifying!’

Chu Mu no longer dared to operate the bamboo dragonfly, simply watching from a great distance.

But the next scene left him somewhat stunned.

One moment, the giant snake was still on a rampage. The next, it seemed to lose all its strength. Its raised heads fell limply, crashing into the valley and carving a deep trench in the ground.

’Is it dead?’

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow and tentatively maneuvered the bamboo dragonfly closer to observe. The result, however, was a great disappointment.

The rise and fall of its body and the Spiritual Qi converging upon it all proved that the Two-headed Snake was perfectly fine.

’Did growing two heads drain too much of its energy?’

’Is it unable to move?’

Chu Mu’s heart pounded in his chest. In that instant, countless thoughts surged uncontrollably through his mind.

After a moment’s hesitation, he couldn’t resist. He steered the bamboo dragonfly to circle once around the giant snake’s massive body.

Although the bamboo dragonfly had a Concealing Breath effect, this effect originated from an Array Prohibition. The operation of an Array Prohibition would inevitably cause fluctuations in Spiritual Qi; the only difference was how faint they were.

If the giant snake were awake, it would have been impossible for it not to notice the device circling right in front of it.

Yet, after the bamboo dragonfly completed a full circle, the Two-headed Snake showed no reaction whatsoever, as if it hadn’t noticed a thing.

’It’s fallen asleep?’

Chu Mu was uncertain, his heart more conflicted than ever before.

It wasn’t that he wanted to take advantage of its vulnerability to kill it.

He knew his own limits.

After all, the aura he perceived with his Divine Sense was very clear.

The Two-headed Snake was merely asleep, not critically injured and on the verge of death.

He had a Talisman Treasure, but activating it would create a large Magical Power disturbance. Could he guarantee the Two-headed Snake wouldn’t sense the threat?

Even if it didn’t, could he guarantee that one activation of the Talisman Treasure would be enough to kill the giant snake?

If he failed to kill it in one go, judging by the Mighty Power the Two-headed Snake had just displayed, he would certainly be the one to die.

What he wanted was... to steal something...

His gaze lingered for a moment on the pool of water behind the giant snake, then shifted to the enormous half-a-head lying on the ground.

Without hesitating for too long, Chu Mu made a decision.

With his Divine Sense, he guided the two bamboo dragonflies back to him. Then, with a wave of his hand, two more bamboo dragonflies floated out.

He rummaged through his Storage Talisman, and soon, a simple crane-like device was suspended from the four bamboo dragonflies.

Controlled by his Divine Sense, the four bamboo dragonflies flew in a square formation toward the giant snake, finally hovering over the severed, ruined head.

Chu Mu was extremely vigilant. His focus was entirely on the sleeping Two-headed Snake, and he was already prepared to abandon the bamboo dragonflies and flee the moment something went wrong.

Fortunately, the sleeping Two-headed Snake still showed no reaction. Enveloped by roiling Spiritual Qi, the snake continued to madly absorb the ambient energy.

His tense heart relaxed slightly. With a flicker of his Divine Sense, the simple crane device hanging from the four bamboo dragonflies slowly lowered a sharp iron hook.

Finally, the hook lodged firmly into a fissure in the ruined skull.

As the bamboo dragonflies struggled to take off, the ruined half-head was pulled along by their combined effort, swaying as it moved out of the valley. It finally came to a steady hover in front of Chu Mu.

"I’ve hit the jackpot!"

Staring at the ruined head, which was nearly half the size of Wangcai, Chu Mu couldn’t hide his excitement!

Judging from its aura just now, the Two-headed Snake had to be at least at the Middle to Late Stage of Tier Two!

And the bloodline of this Two-headed Snake must be extremely special.

Otherwise, how could an ordinary Demon Beast not only survive having half its head sliced off but also grow two new ones without even being seriously injured?

’Half the head of such a Demon Beast...’

’I’ve made a killing!’

At this moment, he didn’t have time to think too much. He shoved the half-head into a brand-new Storage Talisman, recalled the four bamboo dragonflies, and turned to flee.

But after taking just a few steps, Chu Mu subconsciously stopped.

He turned his head to look back at the valley. In the end, greed triumphed over caution.

He patted Wangcai, signaling for it to leave on its own first. After Wangcai was a good distance away, he began to sneak cautiously back toward the valley.

Finally, Chu Mu stopped on the western slope of the valley.

From this position, he could see the entire valley clearly with his naked eye.

The coiled Two-headed Snake, the pockmarked ground, the splattered blood, and behind the snake... the deep, dark pool.

After roughly estimating the distance, Chu Mu cautiously crept a little further forward. Only then did he release two bamboo dragonflies. They rose into the air, one on the left and one on the right, and flew straight toward the pool behind the giant snake.

Things went smoothly. Before long, the two bamboo dragonflies submerged beneath the water’s surface.

At the same time, the scene within the pool was clearly projected into Chu Mu’s mind.

From the outside, the pool just looked like an ordinary body of water several tens of meters wide, with nothing unusual about it.

But inside, it was a whole new world.

The pool, tens of meters wide, wasn’t very deep. But at its bottom, there was an underwater channel leading into an unknown darkness.

’The water isn’t flowing, which means the water in the pool is balanced with the water source on the other side of the channel...’

Chu Mu was lost in thought. He didn’t try to pilot the bamboo dragonflies any further; this distance already exceeded the limits of his Divine Sense control.

All he could do now was let the bamboo dragonflies follow the current, and he could then review the images recorded by the Memory Stone.

With a thought, he released his control over the two bamboo dragonflies. They immediately plunged into the deep, dark underwater channel.

Chu Mu looked at the Two-headed Snake, which was still motionless. The unease in his heart dissipated slightly.

His actions were stealthy, but if the Two-headed Snake were awake, it would have been impossible for it not to notice.

’Since there’s still no movement, it means the Two-headed Snake is... in a very deep sleep.’

A sudden disturbance appeared in his Divine Sense Perception. His brow furrowed. Just now, he had lost contact with one of the bamboo dragonflies!

’Is there another Demon Beast in there? Or was it an accident?’

Chu Mu pondered.

The first possibility could basically be ruled out.

Two tigers cannot share one mountain. This was true even for ordinary tigers, let alone Demon Beasts.

A Demon Beast’s sense of territory was ingrained in its bloodline. This Two-headed Snake would never allow another Demon Beast in its domain.

’Then it must have been an accident?’

Chu Mu looked toward the pool and waited silently.

He had lost contact with one of the two bamboo dragonflies, but the other one was still there.

A moment later, a ripple disturbed the calm surface of the water. Then, the emerald-green dragonfly shot out from the water and appeared in his line of sight.

The image Sealed by the Memory Stone was incredibly clear.

The channel was deep and dark, stretching for over a thousand meters. At its end was another pool of water.

However, this pool... was located inside a grotto.

The scene in the grotto was clearly visible in the footage.

On the bank of the pool, the marks left by the giant snake were clear. On the far wall of the cave were stalactites of various strange shapes.

’This is impossible...’

Chu Mu was puzzled, but then he seemed to see something. The image froze, and his pupils contracted!

"This is..."

In the image, at the corner of the pool near the cave wall, a single drop of milky-white liquid could be seen coalescing on the tip of a peculiar stalactite. It then dripped slowly into a stone basin on the ground below.

A thin layer of the milky-white liquid had already collected in the stone basin. When the drop fell, it created hardly a ripple before merging with the accumulated liquid.

’Is that... Spiritual Milk?’

Chu Mu’s heart hammered in his chest, his attention completely fixed on this single frame.

The answer was clear. Although he hadn’t paid too much attention to his Alchemy Skill, he still possessed the basic knowledge of an Alchemist.

This milky-white liquid was Spiritual Milk—Bell Stone Spiritual Milk!

A moment later, he snapped his head up and looked at the sleeping Two-headed Snake.

He thought he finally understood why this giant snake could grow two new heads after suffering such a grievous injury!

That was Bell Stone Spiritual Milk!

In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, Bell Stone Spiritual Milk was known as a Body Tempering Holy Medicine!

’If it’s eating Bell Stone Spiritual Milk like dessert every day, can it even fully absorb the medicinal effects?’

’This kind of natural treasure doesn’t have any negative side effects.’

’The unabsorbed medicinal properties would accumulate in its flesh. Day after day, this Two-headed Snake has practically become a Bell Stone Spiritual Milk snake!’

’This time, getting half its head sliced off must have happened to trigger its special bloodline. Under normal circumstances, it probably would have died for sure.’

’But with the medicinal effects of the Spiritual Milk accumulated day after day, it was likely a blessing in disguise—a rebirth from destruction!’

...