In the cozy, fire-warmed cave, Lord Pig was having the meal of a lifetime. He was comfortably settled on Xiao Bai's soft thighs, his chubby paws expertly gripping a generous portion of the Golden Carp meat. His tiny snout was slick with flavorful fish oil.
Energy +0.1Energy +0.1Energy +0.1
The constant, small influx of energy affirmed the wisdom of his hunt. The single Foundation Building-level Golden Carp had delivered a total of sixty energy points and forty experience points, a significant haul for this new world.
"A truly fine specimen! I should really eliminate a few more of those arrogant underlings!" Zhu Hao thought with gusto. However, his rational mind, powered by the newly acquired Purple Demon Pupil, checked his enthusiasm. He had no clear intelligence on the power level of the Xuanshui King, and a blind assault on a probable Nascent Soul demon was simply beneath the tactical standards of the Pig God.
Instead, Lord Pig settled into a period of strategic growth. For the next three days, he accompanied Xiao Bai on short, safe excursions, ate, drank, and most importantly, slept securely in her arms every night. His experience points soared, rapidly exceeding one thousand, though his energy reserves lagged behind at just over eight hundred.
On the third afternoon, Lord Pig was lying on Xiao Bai's lap, absorbing the glorious warmth of the sun and her affection, when the ground suddenly began to tremble violently. Boom! The vibration was deep and resonant, signaling the approach of something large and powerful.
The next moment, a monstrous creature appeared at the cave entrance. It was a terrifying hybrid beast with the immense body of a sturdy, powerful beast but three grotesquely merged white crane heads, their eyes gleaming with cold malice.
Mounted on the beast's back, atop a luxurious, exquisite saddle, was a man. He wore a silk scarf wrapped tightly around his face, but his thin, almost emaciated frame and strikingly pale, sickly complexion betrayed a deep, physical deficiency. His eyes, visible above the scarf, were feminine, vicious, and darted about like a caged poisonous snake.
"Beauty! It seems destiny has brought us together again!" the feminine man sneered, his gaze instantly locking onto Xiao Bai with a fiery, possessive intensity.
"Who are you?" Xiao Bai asked, her voice sharp with sudden alarm. She instinctively felt the immense power of the monster and the man's deeply ingrained malice towards her. She shifted, subtly preparing to defend herself and the tiny Lord Pig.
"You don't recognize me? It matters not. All that matters is that I want you!"
The man was a devoted, albeit perverse, disciple of the current National Master. He practiced the Taiyin True Skill—a sinister technique that allowed him to devour the magical essence of the Snake Clan to rapidly increase his own demonic power.
Xiao Bai, before she lost her memory, had been sent by the Snake Mother to assassinate the National Master. This man was the one she fought—the one who wounded her and caused her to fall into the waterfall. He had been ordered to hunt her down and harvest her power.
"Xiao Bai belongs to Lord Pig! What is your purpose here, you repulsive, ugly bastard?"
Zhu Hao, instantly seeing through the thin silk scarf with his Purple Demon Pupil, revealed the horrifying truth: the man's face was indeed ugly and terrifying, covered in scars and unhealthy pallor—a secret shame he went to great lengths to conceal. Lord Pig's tiny head popped out of Xiao Bai's embrace, his eyes blazing with protective fury.
The disciple's eyes narrowed. Being called ugly was his ultimate, unforgivable taboo—an eternal, raw wound. Now, having his true appearance brutally exposed by a golden piglet in front of the object of his desire, his control snapped.
"Little pig demon! You seek death!"
Rage contorted the man's expression. He raised his hand, and a blazing, golden talisman materialized, instantly launching toward Zhu Hao with lethal intent.
"Lord Pig will personally educate you in the fundamentals of decency today!"
Zhu Hao was not one to hesitate when attacked. The Flying Eight Wings erupted behind him, and he shot forward, a golden streak meeting the talisman head-on.
Laugh!
The talisman was instantly sliced in half, the eight golden blades of Zhu Hao's wings cutting through it as if it were parchment. He maintained his velocity, hurtling toward the disciple.
Ga! Ga! Ga!
The three crane heads of the massive mount roared in unison, lunging with their sharp beaks to intercept the golden projectile.
"Stupid beast! Lord Pig has no time for low-level mounts!"
Zhu Hao's figure flickered. It was a pure, rapid movement—a simple ray of light that passed through the junction of the three monstrous necks.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
A fountain of blood erupted. The three heads of the powerful beast detached simultaneously and tumbled onto the ground. The creature collapsed, dead before it hit the earth.
"Killed a Three-Headed Monster, Energy +50, Experience +50, Magical Power: Three Heads (New!)"
"Three Heads? Why would Lord Pig need that many heads? Unless, after upgrading, I get the formidable power of three heads and six arms! Intriguing!" Zhu Hao silently logged the new acquisition.
Boom!
The dead mount's carcass hit the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. The National Master's disciple flew off the saddle just in time, his eyes now radiating a deadly, focused hatred that eclipsed his earlier fury.
"You are dead!" his stern voice echoed.
He flicked his hand, and countless tiny, glowing golden birds shot out, instantly transforming into fine, razor-sharp golden threads. These threads moved with terrifying speed, weaving themselves into a tight, golden cage that enveloped both Zhu Hao and Xiao Bai before they could react.
Meanwhile, on the mountain peak overlooking the pool, a massive, black python raised its head. It was the same messenger sent by the Xuanshui King. A gleam of light flashed in its emerald-green eyes.
"It is the murderer's scent! Stronger now, and... fresh!"
It instantly rushed toward the location, recognizing the powerful, volatile energy signature of the ambush.
Buzz!
Trapped within the golden net, Xiao Bai acted immediately. She channeled her latent magical power, aiming the jade hairpin artifact at the disciple, intending to pierce his vital points.
"Beauty, your limited skill set is well known! You dared assassinate my Master relying on this insignificant hairpin, didn't you? I want to see what mystery a small piece of jade holds!"
The disciple was still arrogant. He raised one hand, gathering his Golden Elixir-level magical power, and boldly reached out to seize the incoming jade hairpin. He intended to strip her of her weapon and then devour her essence at his leisure.
"Hm?"
Xiao Bai was initially horrified that he grabbed her weapon so easily, but before she could move again, the jade hairpin itself reacted violently.
Boom!
A terrifying, innate devouring power burst from the hairpin's core, instantly and madly latching onto the disciple's magical power.
"What in the hell is this sorcery?!" The disciple was shocked and tried to wrench his hand away, but the hairpin was firmly attached, its suction irresistible.
"Ahhh!" Xiao Bai screamed too. An immense, powerful magical force was rushing from the hairpin into her body, overloading her internal channels. She felt like she would burst, yet she, too, could not let go.
"No! Stop sucking! Stop, you cursed artifact!"
The disciple shrieked in utter agony and despair. The Taiyin True Skill power he had spent years painstakingly cultivating toward the Golden Elixir was being devoured whole, right before his very eyes. His heart was bleeding with loss. Without his Golden Elixir, he would be a useless mortal—a fate worse than death for a proud cultivator.
No matter how he roared, begged, or refused to yield, the hairpin's hunger was insatiable.
Boom!
A final, violent discharge of energy erupted from the jade hairpin. The combined magical power was too much for the surrounding golden net. The force instantly detonated the golden cage and hurled both Xiao Bai and the disciple in opposite directions.
Swish!
In that crucial, chaotic moment, Zhu Hao's figure moved. He was a streak of vengeful golden light, passing cleanly through the neck of the now-weakened, magic-drained disciple.
Laugh!
A furious, unwilling, and deeply resentful head flew high into the air, splashing blood against the cave wall. It was the National Master's Disciple, defeated not by strength, but by his own covetous desire for the cursed jade.
"Killed a Golden Elixir Cultivator, Energy +100, Experience +100, Skill: Taiyin True Skill (New!)"
"Damn! This fellow was worth a hundred points?!" Zhu Hao couldn't help but curse, instantly ecstatic. If a mere disciple was worth this much, the National Master, who was likely at the Nascent Soul stage, represented a jackpot of astronomical proportions!
His joy was cut short by a sound like tearing silk.
Hiss!
A terrifying roar of spiritual energy erupted from Xiao Bai's body. Zhu Hao spun around, and his little golden jaw dropped.
"So big! So... white!"
In a flash of blinding light, Xiao Bai had transformed, not into a human, but into her true form: a magnificent, hundred-meter-long white python, its scales shimmering like pure snow in the firelight.
The shock of the immense, unrefined magical power—the hundreds of points of the disciple's Taiyin True Skill essence—had been too much for her human form to contain, forcing her back into her original, mighty appearance. She had now reached the peak of the Golden Core Realm. Once she refined that enormous, newly swallowed magical power, her promotion to the Nascent Soul stage and subsequent stable human transformation would be inevitable.
"Xiao Bai!" Zhu Hao flew to the gargantuan white head. He landed softly between her eyes, touching her massive, scaled forehead with his furry little paw.
"I remember! Lord Pig, I remember everything now!" a powerful, relieved, and emotional voice resonated in his mind.
At that moment, the gigantic black python from the Xuanshui Cave arrived. It stopped dead, its green eyes wide with terror and astonishment. It was also a peak Golden Core demon, but when it instinctively measured the immense, roiling power emanating from Xiao Bai's colossal form, it knew it was utterly outmatched.
Then, its eyes focused on the tiny, golden pig perched casually on the white python's head. It instantly recognized the scent and the unique aura of the creature that had so brazenly killed the Golden Carp.
"That pig... that little pig is the murderer who killed Jin Lin! He must be working with this new, terrifying white snake demon!"
The black python realized the gravity of the situation. It dared not attack. It turned immediately, its massive body slithering away with panicked speed. I must return and report to the Xuanshui King! This is no simple murder; this is an act of war!
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Guys, the growth rate of this Douluo fanfic is low. I can now only release 7chs/week. I know most of u have little interest on this so I think I need to shift a new genre or a different douluo fanfic for u guys.