A whisper of blood-red vapor, barely visible, coiled up from the ashes of the Iron-Armored Crocodile. It drifted through the water and settled over Luo Zhen's body, clinging to his scales like a shroud.
A moment later, a notification flared in his mind, cold and impersonal.
[System Alert: You have been marked by the bloodline of General Salamander. You are now being hunted.]
So the crocodile wasn't bluffing, Luo Zhen thought, a knot tightening in his gut. Killing him meant putting a target on my back.
But fear? Regret? Not a chance. The beast had it coming, and the victory was worth the price.
"System," he projected into his own mind, a channel of communication as clear as speech, "how does this bloodline mark work? How will he find me?"
[General Salamander has been alerted to the death of his illegitimate son. He will follow the trail of the mark directly to you.]
Luo Zhen's calm wavered. "You mean he can pinpoint my exact location right now?"
[Negative. He cannot lock onto your position directly. However, by tracing the Iron-Armored Crocodile's final movements, he will inevitably find this nest. From there, his senses will be able to track the mark. It is only a matter of time.]
Luo Zhen let out a slow, controlled breath. So he has to follow the breadcrumbs. He isn't omniscient. That gave him options. That gave him time.
He pushed the looming threat of the General aside and turned his attention to his loyal companion. "Ah Bao, you heard all that. The crocodile was General Salamander's son. Now, the General is coming for me."
"Then he's coming for us," Ah Bao declared, his voice unwavering despite his injuries. "I'll die by your side, Young Master."
"Knock it off with the death talk," Luo Zhen snapped, though his tone was gentle. "I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. Look, you're badly hurt. You need to find somewhere safe and heal."
Ah Bao's eyes widened in alarm. "Young Master, are you… Are you sending me away?"
"I'm not abandoning you," Luo Zhen explained patiently. "The most important thing for you right now is to recover. You can't be running all over the map with me. Besides," he added, a bit more bluntly, "in your condition, you'd just slow me down."
That last line seemed to land. "I won't be a burden!" Ah Bao insisted. "You won't have to carry me."
"I know," Luo Zhen nodded. In his heart, he knew Ah Bao was anything but a burden. A subordinate with that kind of loyalty was a treasure. And because he was a treasure, Luo Zhen couldn't drag him into a fight that would surely get him killed. It would be a betrayal of that loyalty.
He gathered all the spirit stones and elixirs stashed away in the nest and pushed them toward Ah Bao. "Take these. Find a secure place, lay low, and get your strength back."
Obediently, Ah Bao took the supplies and, after a moment's hesitation, disappeared into the murky depths.
Once he was gone, Luo Zhen flicked his forked tongue, tasting the currents in the water, and shot off in the opposite direction. He didn't stop, pushing his body to its limits, carving a path through the underwater world for two thousand miles.
He finally found refuge in a new territory, a labyrinth of deep trenches and rocky hills. He picked one at random and coiled up inside, concealed from the open water. Two thousand miles. It was a huge distance. Even with the bloodline mark, it would take the General a massive amount of time and effort to find him here.
The area was secure. It was time.
His experience and baleful qi meters had been maxed out for a while now, more than enough to ascend to the Sky Profound Realm. He had been holding back, waiting for the right moment. With a Demon General on his trail, that moment was now. He needed every ounce of power he could get.
"System," he commanded, "it's time to level up."
A cascade of notifications began to flood his mind.
[Experience and Baleful Qi reserves are sufficient. Upgrade to Mid-Stage Earth Profound Realm? Y/N]
[CONFIRMED. Cost: … XP, 1000 Baleful Qi.]
[…UPGRADE IN PROGRESS…]
[SUCCESS. Current Level: Mid-Stage Earth Profound Realm.]
He felt a surge of energy, a wave of power settling into his very being, but he didn't pause to savor it.
[Reserves at critical threshold. Continue upgrade? Y/N]
[CONFIRMED. Cost: … XP, 1800 Baleful Qi.]
[…UPGRADE IN PROGRESS…]
[SUCCESS. Current Level: Late-Stage Earth Profound Realm.]
He pushed onward, pouring his stored energy into his evolution, shattering one barrier after another without hesitation. He climbed through the stages, the notifications blurring together until the final threshold stood before him.
[Reserves at critical threshold. Evolve to Sky Profound Realm? Y/N]
"Yes!"
[CONFIRMED. Cost: … XP, 5000 Baleful Qi.]
[…EVOLUTION IN PROGRESS…]
[CONGRATULATIONS! Current Power Level: Early-Stage Sky Profound Realm!]
The moment the final upgrade completed, an incandescent light erupted from his body, weaving itself into a cocoon of pure gold. Inside, his form twisted and expanded. When the light finally faded, the cocoon dissolved, revealing a new Luo Zhen. He had shed his old skin and now measured a staggering eighty meters long.
"Sky Profound," he hissed, the sound deeper, more resonant. He felt the power thrumming through his new, larger body and was deeply satisfied.
Just as he was acclimating, another notification appeared.
[Major Realm Breakthrough detected: Earth Profound -> Sky Profound.]
[Bonus Reward unlocked: Bloodline Evolution Opportunity. Claim Reward? Y/N]
"Yes!" Luo Zhen confirmed without a second thought. This was the entire point of the breakthrough. This was the real prize.
[Host's previous awakening of the Nine-Infant bloodline was incomplete. This evolution will continue the inheritance process. This will repeat until the Nine-Infant bloodline is fully inherited.]
[The degree of inheritance is determined by the Host's resilience within the psychic crucible. The longer you endure, the greater the power and skills you will absorb.]
Before he could process the words, the world around him dissolved.
He was no longer in his trench. He was in a void, and before him loomed a creature that blotted out the stars: a colossal serpent with nine snarling heads, each one the size of a mountain.
The Nine-Infant.
In its presence, Luo Zhen was less than an ant, an insignificant speck of dust.
One by one, the eighteen eyes of the nine heads slowly opened, and as they did, a wave of demonic pressure, so immense it felt like a physical weight, crashed down upon him. It was an aura of pure, ancient terror.
Hold on! he screamed at himself, his entire being straining against the crushing force. You have to hold on! The longer you last, the stronger you'll be!
He lasted three seconds before his consciousness shattered and he plunged into darkness.
It was a pathetic showing, but it was an improvement. The first time he'd faced this vision, he hadn't even lasted half a second.
He woke slowly, drifting up from a black, dreamless abyss. His first thought was a question.
"System, how long was I out?"
[One day.]
"Just one day? Good." He felt a wave of relief. His greatest fear had been that General Salamander would find him while he was unconscious. Luckily, his hiding spot had held. "So, what did I get? What new abilities?"
[The Host lost consciousness during the evolution, resulting in an incomplete process. Full evolution failed. However, a portion of the Nine-Infant's power was successfully inherited.]
[New Skill Acquired: [Demonic Shadow's Advent]!]
[[Demonic Shadow's Advent]: Summon a phantom of the Nine-Infant to fight alongside you. Cooldown: Once per day. Current Duration: 3 seconds. (Note: The duration and power of the summoned shadow will increase as the Host's realm advances, with the potential to eventually summon the Nine-Infant at full power.)]
Luo Zhen's mind reeled with the implications. Demonic Shadow's Advent. A skill that let him summon a copy of that… thing? In some ways, this was even better than a simple bloodline upgrade. It was a trump card. A three-second-long god on his shoulder.
The three-second duration was laughably short, but considering the unimaginable power of the Nine-Infant, even a glimpse of that strength would be enough to turn the tide of any battle, especially at his current level. It was more than enough.
He mentally dismissed the system and pulled up his own status panel, reviewing the changes.
Host: Luo Zhen
Race: Serpent (Peak-Grade Mutated Spirit Species)
Species Name: Thunder Lotus Serpent
Innate Bloodline: Thunder Lotus
Innate Abilities: Quad-elemental magic (Water, Fire, Ice, Lightning), Flight
Attack Skills: Azure-Flash Thunder Drill, Thunder Lotus Flame (Rank-3 Beast Fire)
Summoning Skill: [Demonic Shadow's Advent]
Defense: Dark-Gold Body (Demon Core Rank)
Utility Skills: Stealth, Poison Dart, Constrict
Experience: 1038 / 8000
Astral Qi: 0 / 1000
Realm: Early-Stage Sky Profound
Just as I thought, he noted, seeing that the "Baleful Qi" metric had been replaced. To advance in the Sky Profound Realm, he no longer needed to accumulate negative energy. Now, he needed "Astral Qi"—a form of pure Yang energy. Another resource to hunt for.
Suddenly, a piercing shriek tore through the water outside his hideout, followed by a deafening explosion.
BOOM!
The rock around him atomized, the shockwave washing over him. His Dark-Gold Body absorbed the impact without issue, but his sanctuary was gone. He dismissed the status panel and surged out into the open water.
There, hovering in the churning chaos, was a powerful, half-humanoid creature. Its upper body was that of a man with two muscular arms, but its lower half was the thick, powerful tail of a green salamander.
Luo Zhen's blood ran cold. In the world of demons, only those who had successfully forged a Demonic Core—only Demon Generals—could take on a hybrid form like this.
And given the salamander's features, there was no doubt who this was.
"You pathetic snake," the creature snarled, his voice a low growl. "I knew I'd find you here."
"General Salamander, I presume?" Luo Zhen asked, already running a scan.
Name: Azure Profound Salamander
Race: Salamander
Power Level: Mid-Stage Demon Core Realm
Skills: [Unknown. User's realm is insufficient to view details.]
Info: One of the three Demon Generals of Blackwater Lake.
"Hmph. Now that you know who I am, you can kneel and accept your death," the General commanded.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Luo Zhen replied, his entire body tensed for battle, "but I don't think you're up to the task."
"Insolent worm!" the General roared. He thrust an arm forward, and the water itself obeyed his will. Dozens of razor-sharp blades of pressurized water materialized out of nowhere, converging on Luo Zhen from all sides.
The water blades struck his scales with a series of thunderous impacts, like a string of underwater mines detonating all at once. When the turbulence settled, Luo Zhen remained untouched, his dark gold scales gleaming without a single scratch.
The General's eyes widened. "Impossible. You're unharmed?" He had put his full power into that attack, expecting to shred the Sky Profound snake to pieces. But not only was Luo Zhen alive, he was completely unscathed.
"Impressive," the General sneered, recovering his composure. "It seems I underestimated you, snake."
Luo Zhen flicked his tongue, a shiver of delayed fear running down his spine. The General's power was terrifying. If not for his Dark-Gold Body, that single attack would have been the end of him.
But taking a hit wasn't his style. It was his turn.
He opened his jaws and unleashed a massive, basin-sized ball of his Thunder Lotus Flame. "Let's see you handle this!" he yelled.
The ball of fire exploded outward, transforming into a crackling web of lightning and flame that surged toward the General.
General Salamander's brow furrowed. He could sense the unusual power in Luo Zhen's attack. But instead of retreating, he crossed his arms in a strange, circular gesture. A thick, shimmering green barrier materialized around him, encasing him completely.
The net of lightning and fire slammed into the barrier, erupting in a violent sizzle. The two forces battled, the Thunder Lotus Flame desperately trying to burn through the General's shield. The green barrier flickered and dimmed under the assault, clearly at a disadvantage against the raw power of the beast fire.
But the General's demonic energy was immense. He simply poured more power into the barrier, reinforcing it as quickly as the flames could eat it away. Luo Zhen's attack couldn't break through. The two forces were locked in a perfect stalemate.
Luo Zhen watched, his confidence beginning to crack. Ever since he had acquired the beast fire, it had been his ultimate weapon, an instant-win button that had incinerated every enemy he'd faced.
He had never seen anyone withstand it like this.
This was one of the three Demon Generals of Blackwater Lake. For the first time, Luo Zhen realized his fire might not be enough.