Zhang Feng knelt for 7 days and 7 nights before finally getting up. His eyes were red and swollen but they shone with a determined light. "Goodbye, Master. Don't worry, I will live well." said Zhang Feng quietly.
Zhang Feng got up and dusted his clothes. He looked at the sky and the moon was extremely bright. "I will rest tonight and set out tomorrow for a city. I already know the route now", muttered Zhang Feng. Gu Di had already given him a detailed map of the forest. So he knew about the way out.
Zhang Feng got up early at the morning and packed some food along with him. The 'Sky Pagoda' shrunk and entered his sea of consciousness. After packing everything Zhang Feng decided to leave the forest. Zhang gave one last look as he left for the city.
Zhang Feng travelled for hundreds of miles for the next 15 days. When food ran out Zhang Feng hunted monsters and beasts. With his strength, he could even rival an initial True Energy realm monster. Zhang Feng was travelling and soon was about to reach the outskirts of the forest. Suddenly his gaze locked got on a tree as he scanned the surroundings. "True essence fruit! Hahaha! From its colour and fragrance, it will mature within a week. I can use this to break through Condensing energy Realm smoothly. Now all I have to do is wait here." Zhang Feng climbed up a nearby tree as he waited for the fruit to mature.
After 5 days a sweet, refreshing scent emanated out of the fruit. "Almost, anytime now.... " muttered Zhang Feng as he anxiously gazed towards the fruit.
Click! The fruit fell from the tree on the ground. Zhang Feng immediately went and grabbed it. But just as he was about to grab it he felt a dangerous aura approaching him. Zhang Feng looked warily ahead as a huge serpent slithered towards him. And its eyes stayed on the True Essence Fruit in Zhang Feng's hand. It was obviously here for the fruit.
The serpent was nearly 20 metres in length and was as thick as a tree trunk. The skin of the serpent was silver-white, decorated with black patches between them. The eyes of the serpent were pure black, without pupils. "Silver Poison Basilisk!", said Zhang Feng as his eyes shrunk with solemnity. Zhang Feng punched the Serpent without hesitation. The Serpent hissed in disdain as it flicked its tail to counter Zhang Feng.
Zhang Feng retreated 3 feet backwards after the collision. His arm had a fresh red whip mark and felt numb. "Dammit! This Serpent is so strong! Killing it is impossible at my strength. It is in Mid True Energy Realm. Still, I want to give it a try. Let's test my current combat power." muttered Zhang Feng as he started running towards the Serpent with full speed.
Seeing Zhang Feng charging towards it, the serpent gave a low hiss and attacked Zhang Feng. Boom! A loud bang echoed as the battle commenced. Zhang Feng performed Wind Tiger Claw to its maximum extent. He had already practised it to the point of Great Perfection. A pair of But even after that Zhang Feng couldn't be at an advantage against the Serpent. After all the gap between them was quite big.
The Serpent's attacks grew fiercer by the passing second. Suddenly the Serpent spat out a silver glob of poison from its mouth. Faced by the sudden attack Zhang Feng's eyes flashed sharply as he maximized the full power of Floating Cloud Steps. Zhang Feng rapidly zipped around the poison and fiercely punched on the head of the Serpent. The Serpent gave a painful hiss as it slinked back and gave a vicious look. The Serpent then slithered towards Zhang Feng with at great speed. Zhang Feng displayed the Floating Cloud Steps as he too attacked the Serpent. Boom! Bam! Bang! Such noises rang through the air as both of them fought. Zhang Feng's disadvantage was getting greater and greater by the second. Every time he landed a hit on the Serpent, it didn't cause any injury. At most, the Serpent suffered from light scratches.
"This is not doing any good! I am not this guy's opponent, not to mention in a long battle! Even though my Dantian is much larger than normal ones, the energy I am spending on the attacks is not less. Even the attacks didn't cause any serious damage. I need to go all out now!" Zhang Feng quickly thought. "4-Bronze Bell Body! First Gong!" yelled Zhang Feng as his body turned hard like Bronze. The Bronze Luster made his whole person seem heroic. Zhang Feng packed a punch at the snake with a loud yell. The Serpent flicked its tail in response to the punch. A loud metallic sound rang through the air as the attacks met. Zhang Feng exerted 4-Bronze Bell Body to its utmost limit. Zhang Feng went into a frenzy mode. He rapidly attacked the Serpent with all his strength.
Slowly but steadily the Serpent was getting injured. Due to the heavy blows by Zhang Feng's Bronze Body, it suffered from minor internal injuries. But the rate at which the Serpent was getting injured was extremely low compared to the attacks and energy spent by Zhang Feng.
Flick! The Serpent once again flicked its tail as Zhang Feng got blasted away for nearly 10 metres, hitting a huge tree. Zhang Feng spat out blood. "This worm is getting out of control! I need to distract it and skedaddle from here." thought Zhang Feng as he made plans for his escape. Bam! Again Zhang Feng got fiercely beaten as he flew over in a beautiful arc, finally landing on the ground. "This bastard is toying with me! Damn! Little worm, let brother have a little more strength, I swear on your little tail, I will chop you into tiny pieces!" yelled Zhang Feng angrily.
The Serpent just sneered in disdain after Zhang Feng yelled. Suddenly, Zhang Feng got up and patted his clothes lazily. Looking at Zhang Feng's relaxed behaviour, the Serpent got puzzled. It clearly had an advantage over Zhang Feng and was much stronger than him. Moreover, it had just fiercely beaten him. Shouldn't he panic or beg for mercy? Zhang Feng leisurely got up and turned towards the Serpent. But his gaze got locked behind the Serpent and his face turned as he tremblingly pointed towards it saying," W-What in the world is that?". The Serpent got chills on its back after hearing Zhang Feng's words. It clearly felt no one approach it. If there is something behind it, then it must be an extremely terrifying existence. The Serpent nervously lowered his head and slowly looked behind.
.....There was no one there. A dry breeze flew by as the Serpent stood in silence. It gave a loud hiss as it understood that it got fooled. It looked over and saw that Zhang Feng wasn't there anymore. Gazing ahead it saw Zhang Feng scurrying around like a mouse. It gave a deathly, murderous glare as it chased Zhang Feng. The Snake's speed was extremely terrifying. It couldn't wait to kill Zhang Feng. " Shit! ", cursed Zhang Feng as he saw the gap between them decreasing steadily. Zhang Feng rapidly began to think about his current options. Even if he died, he wouldn't beg as he had his own dignity. Zhang Feng didn't have another better technique than Wind Tiger Claw to attack. He secretly blamed Gu Di for not teaching him some high-grade martial arts techniques. " Now is not the time for that! Think about ways to escape! Think! Think!" muttered Zhang Feng.
Suddenly Zhang Feng remembered about the existence of Sky Pagoda. "I can use the Sky Pagoda to hide! Haha! Why didn't I think of it before!" thought Zhang Feng as his face broke into a grin. He quickly controlled the Pagoda in his Sea of Consciousness and summoned it. A flash of light appeared as Zhang Feng disappeared into the Pagoda. After Zhang Feng left, the flash of light disappeared as a small Pagoda fell on the ground. Although the Sky Pagoda could be moved while being in it, it took a lot of Qi to drive it. At least it was not possible to drive at Zhang Feng's realm. Moreover, the Pagoda could be seen by others outside when Zhang Feng was in it. So it exactly wasn't a safe place to hide when facing Powerhouses in future.
But the snake was just in Mid True Energy Realm so it couldn't break the Pagoda even in its wildest dream. When the Serpent arrived, it saw that there was no Zhang Feng in its sight. Only a small pagoda lied on the ground. It curiously looked at the Pagoda. Without any second thoughts, it grabbed and swallowed the Pagoda from its mouth.
Zhang Feng could see what was happening outside while being inside the Pagoda. When it saw the Serpent swallow the Pagoda, he felt afraid. "Could it be that I will remain in its stomach forever? Or will I come out from its behind (ass)? Dammit! Such humiliation! I will pay it back ten times!" said Zhang Feng as he gritted his teeth.
Suddenly Zhang Feng thought of something and his face broke out into a smile. The smile on his face looked happy and relaxing but it had an evil tinge to it. "Hehe, little worm, you might not know but you just made the second-biggest mistake in your life! Of course the first one is offending me." said Zhang Feng smugly. "If I can shrink this Pagoda, then I can enlarge it too. Not to mention, right now I'm in his body. If I enlarge the Pagoda now then....Hehe". Zhang Feng gave an evil laugh which surprisingly sounded similar to constipated coughing. " Looks like I can't laugh evilly." muttered Zhang Feng looking a little embarrassed. "That's right. I must be born righteous then. My face cannot support evil. Yes, that must be the case." thought Zhang Feng as tried to console himself.
"Now, let's begin." Zhang Feng controlled the Sky Pagoda with his mind and soon it started enlarging. Zhang Feng planned to give the Serpent a painful death. The Serpent was in a bad mood as it couldn't catch Zhang Feng. As it was slithering, it felt its stomach pain. It ignored the pain thinking that it must be something minor. But soon the pain got larger and larger as it felt its stomach swelling. Soon there was a pagoda-shaped huge bulge in its body. The Serpent trembled with fear and pain as it saw the pagoda in its body increasing. The Pagoda had swelled to such a point that it couldn't be even spat out. The Serpent gave a painful hiss as it got near to death. But the Pagoda suddenly stopped enlarging. In the Serpent's disbelieving eyes, it aw shrunk back to its original size. The snake couldn't believe its luck. As it was about to spit back out the Pagoda, it again began to enlarge again. The. Serpent nearly cried in agony. Just now, the Serpent had seen the Pagoda shrinking but now suddenly it grew back and was much bigger than the previous size. It felt its whole body tightening as the Pagoda continued to grow bigger. But again it stopped and shrunk back to its original size. Zhang Feng was smirking with satisfaction inside the Pagoda. " Don't worry! We have a lot more to go" smiled Zhang Feng.