Chapter 774: Eighth-Tier King-Rank Fierce Beast! Green-Scaled Giant Python!

May 15th, 6:23 PM.

The setting sun was like blood, and the dense jungle was dim beneath the canopy of Gao Da trees' branches.

Xu Jingming spread his Thunder Dragon Wings, flying low through the jungle.

In the soil of the ground below, the vines of the Thorn Sword Grass also extended along with him.

The sensing range of the SS-rank combat skill Heart Net was roughly around 3 kilometers.

And the vines of the Thorn Sword Grass could extend five or six kilometers; once spread out, they could also sense danger in advance.

In any case, his flying speed in the jungle wasn't fast, and after dark he'd have to retract his Thunder Dragon Wings.

At the Thorn Sword Grass's speed, it could keep up just fine.

"The Thorn Sword Grass doing some chores, like scouting the path or digging holes, is actually pretty decent.

But its attack power is still too weak — it's mainly used as a plant battle armor..."

Xu Jingming mused to himself, thought for a moment, then asked Eva in his heart:

"Eva, if I want the Thorn Sword Grass to break through to eighth-tier, how long would it take at the fastest?"

For him now, only an eighth-tier Thorn Sword Grass could be considered a help in combat.

"It would take at least a year, and just the various cultivation materials alone would cost at least tens of billions of Blue Star coins."

Eva's crisp voice rang out in his heart.

Ordinary artificial intelligence naturally couldn't transmit sound through spiritual power.

But Eva was different — she was an intelligent life, and had already developed her own spiritual power.

One could say that apart from lacking a physical body, she was no different from a normal person.

In fact, she was even much smarter.

"A year? Tens of billions of Blue Star coins?" Xu Jingming frowned.

A year from now, he didn't even know what level his strength would have risen to.

By that time, whether an eighth-tier Thorn Sword Grass would even be useful to him was still uncertain.

And tens of billions of Blue Star coins — right now, he simply couldn't come up with that much either.

"The Flower God of the Second Era once found a kind of Plant Holy Water on Blue Star.

It can greatly accelerate the growth speed of plant life — it only takes a few months to make a low-tier plant life grow to eighth-tier.

It's just a pity that in your Third Civilization era, it seems this treasure of heaven and earth has yet to be discovered."

Eva added.

The reason the Flower God had multiple ninth-tier plant lives was largely thanks to the effects of this Holy Water.

"Forget it, take it one step at a time."

Xu Jingming shook his head, temporarily extinguishing the thought of continuing to cultivate the Thorn Sword Grass.

Once he had the money later, it wouldn't be too late to cultivate it then.

"Ying ying~~~"

He continued flying for a while longer.

The Thorn Sword Grass responsible for scouting suddenly sent a wave of spiritual power, saying a powerful fierce beast had been spotted ahead.

"Oh?"

Xu Jingming grew interested.

Anything the Thorn Sword Grass considered a powerful fierce beast was at least seventh-tier or above.

"It's still early — I only need 6 hours to get back to Nisi's side.

I'll take a look, and if it's a fierce beast I can handle, I'll just kill it directly."

Whoosh—

His Thunder Dragon Wings trembled slightly, and Xu Jingming changed direction, flying toward the direction the Thorn Sword Grass indicated.

When only 3 kilometers remained to the target location, Xu Jingming directly activated the active sensing of the SS-rank combat skill 'Heart Net'.

After breaking through to mid seventh-tier, Heart Net's sensing was much stronger than before.

Spiritual power surged out wildly, and in an instant, every scene within three kilometers ahead appeared within his perception.

How many fierce beasts, how many trees — he immediately knew everything clearly.

He naturally also saw the fierce beast the Thorn Sword Grass had discovered.

He saw, in the dim jungle, a giant python coiled there.

Its body was extremely massive — the diameter of its serpentine form reached a full two meters!

Its coiled form was as tall as a three- or four-story building.

It was only because the wilderness zone's trees were tall that it wasn't extremely conspicuous.

Its snake scales were a verdant green like fresh grass, gleaming with a metallic hardness under the setting sun's light.

And its biggest difference from an ordinary python was the two small sharp horns on its head.

Rather than calling it a python, it was more like a jiaolong from the Great Xia myths.

Only this fierce beast had no claws — just sharp horns.

"This is..."

Xu Jingming's heart jolted.

Fierce beasts came in countless varieties, and many hybrid breeds were even born every year.

Even he couldn't necessarily recognize them all, but this fierce beast's features were too distinctive.

He recognized it at a glance.

"A King-tier fierce beast — Green-Scaled Giant Python!" Xu Jingming narrowed his eyes.

I didn't expect to be heading back, yet still encounter a King-level ferocious beast on the way.

More importantly, this green-scaled giant serpent's aura was only at Eighth Tier Lower Rank.

"An Eighth Tier Lower Rank King-level ferocious beast corresponds to an Eighth Tier Lower Rank Grand Master with an S-class ability, and is even stronger."

At the same tier, a ferocious beast's physique crushes ability users.

King-level ferocious beasts also crush S-class ability awakeners.

But for Xu Jingming, it was nothing special.

"Might as well try—killing it should grant plenty of ability points."

Xu Jingming retracted his Thunder Dragon Wings and landed on the ground, glancing at the sky.

Though the sun had set, it was still in the afterglow phase.

"It'll be completely dark in at most ten minutes."

Releasing a lightning-based ability then would be tantamount to suicide.

But ten minutes is enough to deal with it."

Crackling—

A dense rumble of thunder erupted as Xu Jingming, wreathed in lightning, entered the Storm Form enhancement.

Hum—

The Brilliant Jiyao Jiyao Lei Huan rotated slowly behind him like a divine halo, radiating a faint aura of danger.

"Three thousand meters is well within casting range—should be able to obliterate it directly."

Xu Jingming's gaze sharpened; the Brilliant Jiyao Jiyao Lei Huan behind him suddenly spun violently.

Heavenly Thunder Art!!

Boom—rumble~~~

A muffled thunderclap echoed from the sky.

Next, a flash of light—a golden lightning bolt, as thick as a water barrel, split down from the heavens!

Sizzle!

The lightning struck the "Green-Scaled Giant Serpent" precisely three thousand meters away.

"Hssss—"

The Green-Scaled Giant Serpent let out a pained roar, its emerald scales charred black by the strike.

In pain, it looked up at the sky, puzzled.

Lightning?

Having lived its entire life in the Wild Zone, it had been struck by lightning before—but never had any bolt caused it such pain.

Yet it paid no mind, assuming this lightning was merely unusually powerful.

But just then, another thunderbolt slammed down with lightning speed!

It had no time to dodge—the golden lightning struck its body instantly.

Puff—

Many of its scales, previously only charred, now cracked open, and bright red blood seeped out.

Something's wrong—very wrong!

This isn't natural lightning!

It's a human ability user!