Inside the cave at the foot of the mountain, its entrance blocked by a large boulder, Zhou Changqing watched everything unfold through a crack between the stone and the cave wall.
In truth, the moment he saw the mercenary group escorting the Snake-Woman pass by, Zhou Changqing had already suppressed his aura to the absolute limit.
Yet that black-robed Snake-Woman had somehow been able to sense him clearly from hundreds of meters away!
Zhou Changqing could barely contain his disbelief.
Did he suppress his aura for nothing?
How could something be this ridiculous?
The instant the black-robed Snake-Woman's gaze fell upon him, Zhou Changqing acted without hesitation, slamming his fist into the giant boulder blocking the cave entrance.
The terrifying force sent the boulder blasting outwards with a "boom!"
If not now, when?
Executing his Rushing Thunder Steps, Zhou Changqing's body erupted with lightning as he transformed into a flash of electricity and vanished from the cave mouth.
Bang!
The massive boulder flew several dozen meters before exploding violently. Ling Sha's black-robed figure emerged from the dust, her brows furrowing as she watched the sparking, lightning-fast silhouette retreat into the distance.
Then, Ling Sha's body surged with powerful Dou Qi, and she transformed into a blue-violet shadow, giving chase.
"Return to the tribe first. I will deal with this person and be back shortly."
Ling Sha's voice echoed clearly in the ears of every Snake-Woman on the muddy path.
This left the rescued Snake-Women at a loss, and they all turned to look at the three Da Dou Shi who had accompanied Commander Ling Sha.
"The Commander is a high-rank Dou Ling; she will be in no danger. Besides rescuing you, we also have the mission of transporting water. Let's head back to the tribe. The Commander will likely return even before we do."
One of the black-robed Snake-Women nodded, then led the others eastward.
At this moment, Zhou Changqing was pushing his Rushing Thunder Steps to their absolute limit. He moved like a bolt of lightning, weaving through the mountain forest and leaving a trail of electric arcs in his wake.
He looked just like the Flash when he ran.
The falling raindrops were vaporized by the crackling electricity arcing from his body before they could even touch him.
"Damn it! What does this have to do with me? I'm not the one who captured those Snake-Women! Why are you chasing me!?"
His powerful Spiritual Perception allowed Zhou Changqing to clearly sense a figure latched onto his trail, refusing to let go.
Worse, the distance between them was shrinking, little by little.
The sheer frustration made him roar.
They were now only about five hundred meters apart, and with Ling Sha's hearing, she naturally heard the young man's shout.
Her speed didn't decrease in the slightest. With a smile in her eyes, her voice dripped with an indescribable charm, "Little brother, if you didn't run, would this sister be chasing you? The moment you saw me, you scurried off like a mouse seeing a cat. It's hard not to suspect you were involved."
"Since you claim to be innocent, why not stop? Once this sister has investigated, I naturally won't make things difficult for you. How about it?"
"Stop? Do you take me for a fool? If I stopped, I probably wouldn't see tomorrow's sunrise!"
Zhou Changqing retorted furiously, all while madly executing his Rushing Thunder Steps.
This old woman was wickedly cunning!
Did she really think he was some naive rookie who knew nothing?
Humans and the Snake-Person Tribe had a long history of deep-seated resentment. They were mortal enemies.
This was especially true for Snake-Women. Because humans often captured and sold them for sport and humiliation, they harbored an immense hostility toward mankind.
If he fell into the hands of the woman behind him, Zhou Changqing could well imagine his fate.
This was truly a senseless disaster!
And so, the chase continued, one fleeing and one pursuing, for a full ten li.
By then, Ling Sha had closed the distance to just a few dozen meters behind Zhou Changqing.
Without warning, she thrust her right palm forward. A torrent of Dou Qi surged out, forming a massive energy serpent seven or eight zhang long that lunged toward Zhou Changqing's back!
Zhou Changqing instantly sensed the fluctuation of Dou Qi behind him and knew he could no longer escape.
From the power the Snake-Woman had displayed when annihilating the mercenary group, her ability to materialize her Dou Qi, and the speed of her pursuit, Zhou Changqing knew she was most likely a Dou Ling expert.
All he could do now was fight with everything he had and see if he could carve out a sliver of hope for survival.
Just as the blue-violet energy serpent closed to within ten meters of him, he screeched to a halt, sliding a few meters before whipping around and drawing his heavy sword.
"Thunder Light Slash!"
Dou Qi erupted from his body and infused the heavy sword, guiding the energy of the Monster Core within it. The combined energies activated the weapon's inscriptions, causing countless fine arcs of electricity to flicker across the blade's surface as Zhou Changqing slashed out diagonally.
In an instant, a silver, crescent-shaped arc of lightning shot forth from the heavy sword, cleaving toward the giant serpent.
The two attacks collided, and a terrifying explosion of energy erupted.
The shockwave, powerful enough to shatter stone and metal, ripped through the area, blasting a crater ten meters in diameter and a meter deep into the ground.
The temperature within the crater was so high that the falling rain was instantly vaporized into steam before it could even touch the bottom.
Zhou Changqing used the blast's recoil to propel himself back a dozen meters.
"So strong!"
Stabilizing himself, Zhou Changqing gripped his heavy sword, his expression graver than ever before as he stared at the Snake-Woman on the other side of the crater.
His Thunder Light Slash, a high-tier Huang Class Dou Technique, was amplified by the energy of a rank-three mid-grade thunder-attribute Monster Core in his heavy sword. Yet it had only been enough to cancel out her attack, and he was even the one who was knocked back!
It had been about five months since he had broken through to the Da Dou Shi realm and arrived in Xushui City.
In these five months, he had taken up residence outside the city, spending every day either cultivating or researching weapon inscriptions. Whenever there was a thunderstorm, he would draw down lightning to temper his body.
This place truly lived up to its reputation as a tropical mountain forest that saw rain nine months out of the year.
Thunderstorms were incredibly frequent. Over the past five months, Zhou Changqing had lost count of how many he had experienced.
He was in absolute bliss.
Literally. It was both blissful and numbing.
In addition, he had forged mundane weapons that could cut through iron like mud, as well as Monster Core Armaments, which he sold at auction in Xushui City.
Just as in Wutan City, both types of weapons had become famous in Xushui City, earning him a fortune.
Holding nothing back, Zhou Changqing spent all the gold he earned on a massive amount of materials and cultivation resources.
Among these resources, aside from cultivation methods and Dou Techniques, were a considerable number of grade-three medicinal pills.
Using lightning to temper his body, supplemented by medicinal pills to aid his cultivation, Zhou Changqing's rate of improvement reached an unprecedented peak.
In just five months, his Dou Qi cultivation had soared from a one-star Da Dou Shi to a seven-star Da Dou Shi!
The strength of his physical body was even more terrifying, having been tempered to the peak of the Da Dou Shi level—almost comparable to that of an initial-stage Dou Ling!
Furthermore, the advancement in his cultivation realm allowed him to project his Dou Qi, which in turn elevated his smithing skills by a full level. He could now forge rank-three mid-grade Monster Core Armaments.
Of course, if he hadn't spent most of his time tempering his body with lightning and cultivating, his smithing skills would have been at least one level higher.
A seven-star Da Dou Shi!
Physical strength comparable to an initial-stage Dou Ling!
The combat boost from a rank-three mid-grade Monster Core Armament!
Zhou Changqing's current overall strength was definitely no less than that of an ordinary initial-stage Dou Ling.
Even so, facing the Snake-Woman before him, he felt immense pressure.
He had only watched from a distance before, but now, having personally experienced the power of her attack, Zhou Changqing immediately determined that this Snake-Woman was at least a mid-rank Dou Ling.
"Little brother, you're quite impressive, to be able to withstand a Dou Technique from this sister. For someone your age, it's truly astonishing~"
Ling Sha took a step, crossing the massive crater to stand a dozen meters from Zhou Changqing, a radiant smile on her face.
However, her slender, beautiful eyes held no trace of that smile. Instead, they flickered with intense killing intent.
From the moment she discovered this little fellow to chasing him down and attacking him, Ling Sha had been surprised time and again. Now, after seeing Zhou Changqing's face clearly, all that surprise had turned to utter shock.
The distance before hadn't been close, and with the rain obscuring her vision, Ling Sha could only judge from his voice that he was quite young, but she didn't know his specific age.
Considering he had lasted this long while being pursued by her, a high-rank Dou Ling, she had assumed he must be a high-rank Da Dou Shi who had cultivated a movement Dou Technique of at least the mid-tier, or even high-tier, of the Xuan Class.