Chapter 23 — Ice Blood Serpent
The Ice Blood Serpent’s monstrous roar shook the entire cave.
Kuaaaaaaaaah!
Every time the colossal body of the Ice Blood Serpent — easily over twenty meters long — writhed, fragments of ice rained down from the ceiling.
Just meeting the monster’s bloodshot red eyes would be enough to make an ordinary person freeze in terror.
But I was no ordinary person.
‘Come at me, you oversized snake.’
My heart was pounding as if it would burst, but I refused to be consumed by fear.
The single-minded determination to kill this monster filled my mind completely.
Shiiiiiiish… Shiiiiiiish…
The Ice Blood Serpent took its time.
It flicked its blade-like tongue and observed me, like a seasoned predator measuring its prey.
Just as a suffocating, icy silence enveloped the cave—
Shwaaaaaaaaak!
The Ice Blood Serpent’s tail whipped through the air like a lash.
I instinctively lowered my body and executed my movement technique.
Void Step, Second Form — Shadow Vanish.
I dropped my body so low it nearly touched the floor and glided across the ice like a shadow.
In that instant, a deafening explosion tore through the air as the serpent’s tail grazed above my head and slammed into the nearby rock wall.
Kwaaaaang!
The impact was so loud it made my ears ring. Rock shards and ice fragments burst outward like a hailstorm.
Ice shards sliced across my cheek, drawing blood, but I didn’t have time to feel the pain.
The serpent’s next attack was already coming.
Kueeeeeeeeeek!
The Ice Blood Serpent opened its maw wide, revealing its predatory instincts.
Frosty breath leaked between its ice-pick-like fangs as its massive jaws hurtled toward me.
I twisted my body sharply and rolled across the ice floor.
Kwaaaaang!
The spot where I had been standing a moment ago caved in completely.
As the serpent’s enormous head smashed into the ground, the thick ice layer shattered, sending fragments exploding in every direction.
“…!”
The shockwave alone was enough to steal my breath.
If I had been even a little slower, my body would have been reduced to nothing but scattered flesh among the ice debris.
Even so, I had no intention of retreating.
I had to kill this monster to claim the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus.
I immediately leapt toward the Ice Blood Serpent, whose head was still partially stuck in the floor.
Flowing Flower Sword, First Form — Clear Stream, Flowing Water.
Like the powerful current of a river, I thrust the sword forward with force.
The trajectory of my sword, infused with clear inner energy, aimed straight at the center of the monster’s body.
Shwaaaaaaaa—!
The sword strike sliced through the air and dug into the gap between the serpent’s scales, but—
Kaaaaang!
With a metallic clang, the tip of my sword was repelled.
“Ugh…!”
Feeling the stinging pain in my wrist, I retreated several steps.
Ujijijijik—
The Ice Blood Serpent violently shook its head, pulling it free from the ice floor.
The cracks it had made in the ice spread rapidly in all directions from the impact.
Shiiiiiiiiish.
Having fully freed its head, the monster turned toward me again, its blood-red eyes glowing fiercely.
‘Tch, it’s much tougher than I expected.’
Even though I had struck with inner energy, the serpent’s scales didn’t have a single scratch.
The monster’s outer shell, covering its entire body, was as hard as Frigid Ice Iron tempered in extreme cold.
Even a sword capable of cutting through steel would be useless against that scale armor.
Simply swinging the sword wasn’t enough.
To subdue the Ice Blood Serpent, I needed a different approach.
‘As expected, ordinary attacks won’t work… In that case.’
I hadn’t come here relying solely on martial arts.
I knew one clear weakness this monster possessed.
“…It was the moment the monster tried to swallow me… I swung my sword instinctively, and it accidentally lodged into the gap beneath its jaw. The monster screamed and recoiled… That was the only reason I managed to escape.”
The hunter’s trembling voice from my previous life echoed clearly in my mind.
The spot under the jaw — the only vital weakness that could sever this monster’s breath.
Shiiiiish… Shiiiiish…
Enduring the horrifying sound of the Ice Blood Serpent’s breathing, I fixed my gaze on a single point.
‘…There it is.’
Every time the monster inhaled, the scales beneath its jaw parted slightly.
That was exactly the spot the hunter had mentioned.
But there was no time to feel relieved.
The Ice Blood Serpent’s body suddenly twisted, and its massive maw instantly covered the space above my head.
Everything before me turned dark, and a suffocating pressure gripped my lungs.
The monster’s cold, damp breath washed over my face.
Yet this time, I didn’t retreat.
I stared straight into the darkness rushing toward me.
‘…If not now, I won’t get another chance.’
My heart pounded wildly, but I steadied my breathing and raised my inner energy.
Following the circulation method of the Kunlun Azure Soul Scripture, my inner energy surged through my body like a raging current. I concentrated that flow at the tip of my sword.
The sword tip trembled, and the tendons in my hand bulged.
Kueeeeeeeeeek!
The Ice Blood Serpent’s razor-sharp fangs descended right before my eyes.
The instant the shadow of its enormous maw tried to swallow me whole—
‘Now!’
I lowered my body and dove straight beneath the serpent’s jaw.
The monster’s fangs snapped shut on empty air, and right below its gaping maw, the parted scales under its lower jaw were clearly exposed.
Twisting my waist, I drove the sword upward with all the condensed energy I had gathered.
Kwaaaaaajijik!
The entire blade pierced deep into the gap between the scales.
Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!
A piercing shriek shook the entire cave.
Red blood sprayed across the ice, and the Ice Blood Serpent’s massive body thrashed violently.
In the midst of that chaos, I clung to the embedded sword, hanging beneath the monster’s jaw.
Kwaang! Kwa-kwa-kwaang! Kwaaaaang!
The monster rampaged wildly.
Ice walls shattered, and the ceiling cracked.
The entire cave shook as if it would collapse.
My body was flung into the air with every violent shake, but I gritted my teeth and refused to let go of the sword.
‘I have to hold on! If I lose my grip now, it’s over!’
Blood gushed out like a fountain from the gap where the sword was lodged.
Enduring the sickening metallic stench, I held onto one single thought.
—I will bring you down. No matter what.
A short while later, the Ice Blood Serpent’s frenzied thrashing gradually weakened.
Its labored, gurgling breaths reached my ears.
And finally, the monster’s enormous body slowly collapsed.
Kuuuung—!
The cave floor trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
I pulled myself free from beneath the fallen serpent’s jaw and yanked out the deeply embedded sword.
My breathing was ragged, and my entire body was drenched in blood.
But a smile had formed on my lips.
‘It’s finished.’
The Ice Blood Serpent — the monster that had guarded the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus — had been slain by my own hands.
Without anyone’s help. Solely with my own strength.
The dizzying thrill of crossing death’s threshold and the electrifying sense of achievement from defeating a powerful foe surged through my body at the same time.
“Huu…”
I took a deep breath to calm my mind.
After steadying my breathing for a moment, I looked around.
Even in the ice cave that had been turned into ruins, there was one existence that still radiated a noble light.
The Frigid Ice Snow Lotus, blooming brilliantly on the ice floor.
I wanted to rush over immediately and swallow the legendary spiritual herb.
But—
‘…If I consume it in my current state, I’ll die instantly.’
The Frigid Ice Snow Lotus was the very essence of extreme cold.
An ordinary person who ate it would have their organs freeze solid and die on the spot.
Only absolute masters with immense inner energy could suppress and neutralize its freezing qi.
It was an impossible realm for my current level.
‘…But there is another way.’
I immediately approached the corpse of the fallen Ice Blood Serpent.
Gripping the sword tightly, I plunged it deep into the monster’s belly.
The moment the Ice Blood Serpent lost its life, the mystical power in its scales also vanished.
What had once been harder than steel now became as soft as ordinary beast hide and was easily sliced open.
After cutting open its stomach, a small orb emitting a faint red glow appeared.
It was the Ice Blood Serpent’s inner core.
I reached out and picked up the inner core.
A hot energy seeped intensely into my palm.
The Ice Blood Serpent that had grown for hundreds of years by absorbing the energy of the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus.
Inside its body was an inner core capable of neutralizing extreme cold.
Holding the inner core in one hand, I walked back toward the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus.
Then, with my other hand, I carefully plucked the flower from the ice floor.
In one hand, the scorching heat of the inner core.
In the other, the flesh-piercing cold of the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus.
Two completely opposite energies flowed into me simultaneously.
‘The inner core comes first. I need to create a foundation capable of suppressing the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus’s cold.’
Without hesitation, I swallowed the inner core.
Instantly, an intense fiery energy erupted inside me as if a ball of flames had exploded within my organs.
I immediately began circulating the Kunlun Azure Soul Scripture.
My dantian’s inner energy spread through my meridians all the way to my extremities.
The circulation suppressed the fiery energy, but the restrained flames still writhed inside me.
I wouldn’t be able to endure this state for long.
Without delay, I stuffed the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus into my mouth.
The freezing frost numbed my tongue, but I paid it no mind.
Enduring the extreme cold, I forced the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus down my throat.
And at that moment—
A shock as if ice and fire had exploded simultaneously slammed into my meridians and dantian.
“Ugh…!”
Extreme cold and extreme heat.
The two polar energies raged inside my body like twin storms.
They clashed fiercely, battling for dominance without yielding even an inch.
After a violent struggle between two mighty forces, they eventually reached harmony.
The two energies merged into one and finally attained perfect unity.
The harmonized energy spread rapidly through my body like a flowing current.
My damaged organs were purified, and my unstable dantian regained complete stability.
But it wasn’t just stability I gained.
The tranquility within my dantian was a perfect fullness that left no room for instability.
In that instant, I realized what realm I had reached.
‘I’ve accumulated decades’ worth of inner energy in a single moment.’
The amount of inner energy that an ordinary martial artist would need an entire lifetime to accumulate — I had gained it in an instant.
It was astonishing… and at the same time, exhilarating.
Inner energy — the absolute necessity for a martial artist to advance to higher realms.
After my regression, I had slowly increased my inner energy through my awakened ability, but there had always been a clear limit.
There had always been a thirst for more inner energy deep in my heart.
But today, that thirst was finally quenched.
There was exactly one week left until the Great Assembly of Elders.
One week from now,
I would be an entirely different ‘martial artist’ than I am now.
‘Now… it’s time to climb even higher.’
I clenched both fists tightly.