"You want to eat me?" Tu Xiao'an gave a cold, placid smile. "I'm afraid you don't have the teeth for it."

"Let's see if I can't zap you to death."

Electricity coursed over Tu Xiao'an's body, conducting directly through the snake tail wrapped around his waist.

Suddenly, the fifteen-meter-long Fish Demon Giant Snake's entire body was engulfed in a dazzling white light.

"Why must you block my path? Isn't it good to cherish your life?"

Tu Xiao'an shook his head with an air of invincibility. But then, his eyes slowly widened. After the brilliant white electric light dissipated, the Fish Demon Giant Snake was still staring at him, its eyes holding the same sinister, menacing glow.

Huh...?

'This one isn't afraid of electric shocks?'

'The last one was zapped to death,' Tu Xiao'an mused. 'This is a Level 20 Spirit Monster. It must have some special abilities.'

'There's no comparison between Rank One and Rank Two.'

Indeed, the Fish Demon Giant Snake didn't charge at him. Instead, it opened its cavernous maw once more. This time, it wasn't a jet of water that shot out, but a bolt of lightning. The electricity arced through the water, and a powerful current instantly struck Tu Xiao'an, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

What the hell...

'It absorbed my electricity and shot it back at me?'

Tu Xiao'an was astounded. 'Could this be the legendary technique of turning an opponent's attack back on them? The Martial Arts Mastery from the Eighteen Chapters of the Celestial Dragon?'

While he was stunned, the Fish Demon Giant Snake twisted its body, its long tail viciously whipping Tu Xiao'an and sending him flying sideways for dozens of feet through the water.

"Ding... Human form 10% damaged."

In his peripheral vision, Tu Xiao'an saw that behind this Fish Demon Giant Snake were several more pairs of large, sinister eyes, all gleaming with a cold light. They were all the same kind of monster.

It seemed that even if he dealt with the one in front of him, several more were lying in wait.

'Damn it, are those ones in the back waiting for me to pass their little trial?'

A dark look crossed Tu Xiao'an's face. It seemed this grotto was full of Fish Demon Giant Snakes, each one stronger than the last.

'Human form damaged?'

Deep underwater, Tu Xiao'an's abilities were severely limited. At the very least, his Flame Power and Ice Frost Power were useless.

Now, even his Power of Thunder and Lightning had lost its lethality against this Rank Two Fish Demon Giant Snake.

'In that case, I might as well ditch this body. It's just holding me back.'

A sinister smile spread across Tu Xiao'an's face. 'A mere fifteen-meter monster dares to act so presumptuously before me? I'll show you what a true behemoth looks like.'

In an instant, Tu Xiao'an's human form dissolved. In its place, a thirty-meter Purple Gold Snake surged upwards through the water, looking down imperiously at the Fish Demon Giant Snake.

The ferocious glint in the Fish Demon Giant Snake's eyes transformed into one of extreme fear, and it began to tremble.

A human had just transformed into a colossal, thirty-meter Giant Snake. It was too much for the creature to process.

"Devouring!"

The Purple Gold Snake writhed, lunging to swallow the Fish Demon Giant Snake whole. As its colossal body opened its maw, it was as if darkness fell over the world.

In a single gulp, the fifteen-meter Fish Demon Giant Snake was swallowed by Tu Xiao'an without a hint of resistance.

"Ding... Host has devoured a Level 20 Fish Demon Giant Snake. Gained 500 Evolutionary Energy."

Inside the grotto, three more Fish Demon Giant Snakes were waiting for Tu Xiao'an to pass their 'trial', but the sudden appearance of the Purple Gold Snake had scared them witless.

Seeing their companion swallowed in a single gulp made them realize that they were the prey, not the Hunter.

"Come on, then! I'll devour my fill today," the great snake thought. "This Snake King wants to see just what is hidden inside this grotto."

As Tu Xiao'an's enormous serpentine body thrashed, the water churned into a vortex. He lunged fiendishly toward the three Fish Demon Giant Snakes, ready to devour them.

So much for an 'incredibly dangerous grotto'. Once Tu Xiao'an revealed his true form, any number of Fish Demon Giant Snakes would just become more Evolutionary Energy for him.

'Looks like this is a great spot to grind levels,' he thought.

Tu Xiao'an was now Level 28, and finding a place to grind for experience was genuinely difficult. He needed Evolutionary Energy, which could only be obtained from High Rank Awakened Creatures.

A single Level 20 Fish Demon Giant Snake was worth 500 Evolutionary Energy.

'This suits me just fine.'

"Ding... Host has devoured a Level 20 Fish Demon Giant Snake. Gained 500 Evolutionary Energy."

"Ding... Host has devoured a Level 21 Fish Demon Giant Snake. Gained 600 Evolutionary Energy."

"Ding... Host has devoured a Level 22 Fish Demon Giant Snake. Gained 700 Evolutionary Energy."

In a flash, all three Fish Demon Giant Snakes were devoured and in Tu Xiao'an's stomach.

His stats appeared.

Host: Tu Xiao'an. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Identity: Pseudo Snake King (Enthroned)

Level: Level 28.

Evolutionary Energy Value: 2300/5000.

Faith Points: 28,800,000

Talent Attributes: (Conscious Insight) (Dominance Ability)

Skills: (Power of Thunder and Lightning) (Flame Power) (Ice Frost Power)

Tu Xiao'an glanced at his Evolutionary Energy progress. It was filling up incredibly fast, considering he hadn't even really started grinding since the system fully rebooted.

'At this rate, if I just devour a few more Fish Demon Giant Snakes, I can reach Level 29,' he thought. 'If that happens, I'll be just a step away from attaining my Dao.'

At Level 29, the Evolutionary Energy bar would max out at 10,000.

Once that 10,000 was filled, Tu Xiao'an, the enthroned Snake King, would officially prove his Dao and face the Crossing the Tribulation.

'So close, so close.' The Purple Gold Snake swam deeper into the grotto. With a twist of its enormous body, it shot forward like a rocket.

He was, in effect, the overlord of the abyss.

But as he ventured deeper, to his frustration, he couldn't find a single other Fish Demon Giant Snake. The dim water had grown eerily quiet.

'Could they all be too scared of me to come out?'

'There couldn't have only been four Fish Demon Giant Snakes in this whole grotto, could there? Did I just wipe out their entire clan?'

On the grotto walls above, the spectacular sight of countless Water Bats hanging upside down came into Tu Xiao'an's Snake Gaze.

Faced with a thirty-meter colossal body, an overlord of the deep, how could these Water Bats possibly dare to attack? Instead, they huddled together in fear, not daring to move an inch.

After swimming for quite some time, Tu Xiao'an was surprised to realize something: he hadn't heard the mournful sound of the flute in a while.

He wasn't sure when it had stopped.

Without the flute's guidance, Tu Xiao'an, in his Giant Snake form, was like a headless chicken, completely lost.

Worse, the grotto seemed bottomless, stretching on without end.

After swimming a while longer, Tu Xiao'an's Snake Gaze lit up. Two passages had appeared ahead of him: one on the left and one on the right.

With the flute silent, Tu Xiao'an found himself staring at the two entrances, unable to decide.

Obviously, the two passages led in different directions. If he chose the wrong one, he might end up even farther from his goal.

He couldn't quite figure it out. The distance he'd swum since entering the water should have put him miles away from the Ancient Academy.

'Why would the flute's sound travel from such a great distance all the way to that little lake at the Ancient Academy?'

He was beginning to understand why, despite how strange the flute's melody was, the Ancient Academy hadn't been able to investigate its source.

It was simply impossible. Since entering the water, he had faced swarms of water snakes, Water Bats, and Fish Demon Giant Snakes, yet the source of the flute's sound had only grown more distant and illusory.

'That stuff about some Ancient Array suppressing a Rank Three Demon Spirit? It's all bullshit.'

.....................

PS: The previous Evolutionary Energy data was slightly incorrect. Please refer to the numbers in this chapter.