Tai Bàoli had finally made it to the thick outskirts of Tianjin Forest, it was the first time he'd ever been to this forest ever, and he had little to no idea how to track the creature he was after, but he knew he needed to figure it out quickly.
It had taken him nearly a full days worth of travel just to get here, if he couldn't find and defeat the Three Eyed Snake within the time limit this would be an absolutely huge waste of time. He could have taken an easy mission for one of the other pavilions, but he thought that wouldn't be as fun, that and this mission was offering 150 martial credits for completion, that was absolutely absurd, that would give Tai Bàoli the chance to buy nearly any low mortal grade technique he wanted.
Tai Bàoli quickly made a makeshift shelter out of sticks, branches, leaves, and some thickets of bush. He knew it was about to be nighttime, and the creatures of the forest would undoubtedly have the upper hand then. What he needed right now was a consistent and safe space to think of a plan over night, that and he was of course tired from traveling for nearly 24 hours straight.
It was crazy the enhancements he'd been receiving from both Bears Hide and E.G.S were so immense that he was actually able to begin doing superhuman feats like traveling high speed for 24hrs non-stop. He'd have never imagined being able to do that before he got the system.
Tai Bàoli really couldn't think what his life would be like without it. In just the short two months since he had acquired the system he'd gone from an unknown rural farmhand to a Flesh Training Body Refining cultivator with mastery of multiple techniques. If the him from two months ago tried to fight him from now it'd be a no contest knockout. The him right now was just a different breed.
Tai Bàoli fell asleep, and Unbeknownst to him he'd have been being watched for the last hour, a large 25 python like creature slowly rounded the small tent like construction Tai Bàoli made. The snake had a huge head filled with three glowing gold eyes, its body nearly 2 feet thick, and its head even bigger. It slowly slithered closer and closer to Tai Bàoli.
The three eyed snake slowly contracted its body into an S like shape while staring at the warm body of the sleeping Tai Bàoli. It waited.....and waited...and waited....it ended up waiting nearly two hours before finally.....
SWOOOOOSH!
It burst forward with extreme speed lunging at Tai Bàoli's unconscious body opening its mouth an unbelievably wide amount, a medium to large sized animal could easily fit into its mouth unhindered. As the snakes gaping maw bit down into Tai Bàoli a bone chilling sound was unleashed.
CCRA..A..AC.....K!
It was almost unbelievable...the teeth of the three eyed snake cracked and shattered....the snake was somehow unable to penetrate the skin of Tai Bàoli...it had even hindered itself in the process. And now? it's worst nightmare, Tai Bàoli was awake....and furious..... he quickly realized what had occurred and immediately went into action grabbing both the top and bottom of the giant snake's jaw and twisting as he stood up.
Tai Bàoli himself wasn't completely unharmed he had large puncture holes and serrations all over his body, fortunately his Bears Hide technique mastery was already high tier, meaning he had an absolutely absurd amount of resilience. Even though the three eyed snake had all the advantages there's no way it could have known that it was going to be biting down onto what was basically concrete.
Now fully awake and accessing the situation Tai Bàoli was given the screen of the Dao Beast that his was in a stalemate with.
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-Host-(Kia Jiun)
-Cultivation Stage-(Body Refining 2/9, Flesh Training)
-Strength-(3)
-Dexterity-(2.5)
-Comprehension-(3)
-Bloodline-(Great Devouring Three Eyed Snake)
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Ha! it was barely in competition with Tai Bàoli, The enhancements Tai Bàoli got from his mastery of his techniques were just too good. A normal flesh training cultivator would just be lamb to the slaughter against this creature, he'd be nothing. But because of Tai Bàoli's unbelievable mastery of the Bears hide technique the giant python could barely harm Tai Bàoli.
SWOO-AACK!?!?!
The giant pythons tail swung around smacking Tai Bàoli over and off balance, freeing its mouth up. The Dao Beast clearly felt it was outmatched and began attempting to flee the situation, trying to take advantage of the fact it had just knocked Tai Bàoli over.
However how could it flee Tai Bàoli who had mid mastery of the esoteric ghost steps technique, Tai Bàoli seemingly flickered after the beast like a phantom in the night, his speed unmatched. There was zero chance the three eyed snake could get away. Tai Bàoli quickly caught up and grabbed the very back of the great snakes tail and began twisting around.
He was swinging the giant snake around hoping to smack it into a tree to the left or right of them, and he was successful, unfortunately just bare bludgeoning damage to the great snakes body didn't do much harm, merely momentarily disoriented the snake. But disorienting it gave Tai Bàoli ample opportunity.
As the snake reeled back to steady it's self and get into a striking position it would find Tai Bàoli had moved directly in front of it. Tai would then swiftly leap and flip up onto the head of the creature where he'd then take out the dagger he had so long ago taking from the bandit and stab in straight down into the middle of the creatures skull with deadly strength.
Of course one stab wasn't enough but Tai Bàoli's body emanated a vicious and violent aura as he stabbed and sliced down multiple times. The great three eyed snake had been trying to fling Tai Bàoli off at first by flailing around, but Tai Bàoli was just to strong, even in the creatures death throes Tai Bàoli still held firm atop the back of the creature stabbing down dozens of times.
Eventually the snakes body crumpled to the ground. It seemed to clearly be dead, however its body still twitched and writhed, as with most snakes and pythons even after death the instinctual reflexes of the creature continued. By this time Tai Bàoli would have used his movement technique to appear a two dozen feet away bathed in the blood of the three eyed snake he huffed and heaved breathing heavily.
Tai Bàoli had never experienced something like that before, but something about did something to him....it...it....almost excited him, the vicious stabbing and slicing bringing adrenaline to his body he felt all his muscles moving.....he....he felt....alive. He had no other way to say it, this was the most alive he had felt in his entire life.
He could have died today, if his was just slightly unprepared, even just a bit, or maybe if he chose to upgrade his strength, or dexterity, or his comprehension. If he had chosen any of those instead of upgrading the bears hide technique he could be dead, he'd be the one laying on the ground writhing right now. Not the three eyed snake.
After about an hour or so the deadly body of the giant snake stopped writhing as much, when it did so Tai Bàoli leaped back to the top of its head and began carving out the creatures three golden eyes. He needed to bring back proof of completion afterall. On top of this, while Tai Bàoli carved he'd be taking a peak at his system screen and smiling uncontrollably.
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-Unlimited Experience System-
-Host-(Tai Bàoli)
-Cultivation Stage-(Body Refining 2/9, Flesh Training)
-Experience-(20)
-Upgrade Cost: 1, amount upgraded per, .1-
-Strength-(2)(+2 from Bear's Hide)
-Dexterity-(2)(+1 from Esoteric Ghost Steps)
-Comprehension-(3.5)
-Martial Arts-
-Cost to Upgrade: 5 experience per grade, per Rank)
-Esoteric Ghost Step: Mastery ~Mid~
-Bears Hide: Mastery ~High~
-Upgrading a stat requires experience, gain experience in a myriad of ways-
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He was giddy, 20 Experience was more than he had ever had at one time, he couldn't get 20 Experience even if he did the repeatable mission everyday for a month. It was extremely exciting, Tai Bàoli couldn't control the wide smile on his face. And with how he was currently covered in tons of blood it was actually quite disturbing the current sight. A large man carving a creature's eyes out while smiling uncontrollably covered in its blood.
After Tai Bàoli finished carving the creatures eyes out he made his way back to his tent like construction and put the eyeballs inside of a satchel like bag he had brought with him to hold the proof of completion. Tai Bàoli was tired and wanted to go back to sleep, however he had a sneaking suspicion that wasn't the greatest idea Tianjin Forest was known to house many different Dao Beast, many of whom could be considered quite a bit stronger than the one he'd just fought with.
Knowing that, and knowing he had made a ton of noise previously plus the stench of blood from the carcass of the great snake was still around, Tai Bàoli felt plenty of predators would begin heading this way and he did not want to be here for them.
Tai Bàoli would begin executing the Esoteric Ghost Steps at his maximum speed and traveling back to the sect. It had taken him 24 hours previously so he knew it was going to be a long day now. He was clearly going to be exhausted for a long time. Yet that uncontrollable smile never left his face, clearly he was still ecstatic.