Chapter 4

The dark seabed world was silent.

Only the occasional school of fish passing by stirred up weak water currents.

Ning Chuan moved like a lurking ghost, weaving between seaweed and reefs.

His snake eyes flickered with cold light in the darkness, searching for suitable prey.

Soon, he locked onto a large fish that was fast asleep.

It was a green-scaled fish nearly four meters long, with hard scales; it looked like it wouldn't be easy to deal with.

But in front of the current Ning Chuan, it was nothing.

He approached silently and lunged out like an arrow from a bow!

Death Coil!

His pitch-black snake body instantly coiled around the green-scaled fish.

The terrifying strangling power erupted!

"Crack! Crack!"

Scales shattered, bones snapped.

The green-scaled fish didn't even have time to put up a decent resistance before it died.

Ning Chuan opened his blood-red maw and began to devour.

Pure energy surged into his body, nourishing every inch of his flesh.

【Devour Strengthening activated...】

【Your muscle strength has been improved...】

【Your scale defense has been enhanced...】

【Your body size has grown...】

After devouring this large fish, Ning Chuan's body size surged by another half a meter, reaching an astonishing four and a half meters!

His pitch-black scales reflected a metallic luster in the faint light of the seabed.

He could feel that his strength had reached another level.

"Hiccup..."

He burped with satisfaction; although this wasn't a physiological phenomenon, he did feel a bit full.

Continuous hunting and devouring also made him somewhat exhausted.

He found a hidden seabed cave, coiled up, and began to rest and digest.

Tomorrow, continue.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed leisurely.

During these three days, Ning Chuan was like an untiring hunter, stirring up a "bloody storm" in this sea area.

He continuously hunted powerful predators in the sea, continuously devouring and strengthening.

His body size also surged from the initial three meters to a terrifying length of nearly six meters!

His waist was as thick as a water barrel, and his entire body was covered in thick, tough black scales, each one shimmering with a cold, ghostly luster.

Not only that, his appearance had also undergone some subtle yet significant changes.

His head was no longer the flat, cold shape of an ordinary snake, but slightly raised, appearing more majestic, with less gloom and more dominance.

On his forehead, there were two faint, tiny bumps, as if something was about to break through.

His eyes also gained a trace of indescribable agility and deterrence, beyond their initial pure coldness.

Vaguely, there was even a trend toward evolving into the legendary "Flood Dragon"!

However, Ning Chuan also discovered that the further he went, the slower the growth speed brought by simply devouring flesh and blood became.

After his body size grew to six meters, devouring sea fish of the same level brought minimal improvement.

He understood that this might be reaching some kind of bottleneck.

To continue getting stronger quickly, he would likely need higher-quality energy, or... a real cultivation method.

During these three days, besides hunting, Ning Chuan had also gradually figured out his environment.

That mist-shrouded island in the distance was undoubtedly the dojo of the Eastern Heretic Huang Huang Yaoshi—Taohuadao.

He could occasionally see some blurry human figures moving at the edge of the island.

Those people should be the disciples or servants of Taohuadao.

They also seemed to possess decent Wu Gong, walking on cliffs and precipices as if on flat ground.

Ning Chuan only watched from afar, not daring to approach.

Although the Snake Breath Technique was miraculous, he couldn't guarantee that he could deceive the perception of a peerless expert like Huang Huang Yaoshi at close range.

"How can I safely approach Taohuadao?"

Ning Chuan coiled behind a reef, his massive snake head resting on his body, his cold snake eyes flickering with thought.

"Charging in directly is definitely out; that's suicide."

"Sneaking in? The risk is too high; if I'm discovered and Huang Huang Laoxie gets angry and pokes me to death with a flute, that would be too unjust."

While thinking, he unconsciously flicked his tail, stirring up faint undercurrents in the seawater.

Unknowingly, he had swum to the sea area near Taohuadao again.

Today's weather was exceptionally gloomy.

Dark clouds hung low, pressing down on the sea surface like lead blocks, making it hard to breathe.

The wind roared, whipping up giant waves several yards high, slamming them fiercely against the reefs on the shore, emitting deafening roars.

Raindrops the size of beans began to fall sporadically, soon forming a curtain of rain.

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the dim sea surface in a pale white.

Just then, a series of unusual collision sounds, mixed with faint exclamations and light shouts, reached Ning Chuan's ears intermittently.

The sound seemed to be coming from the sea not far away.

Ning Chuan's heart stirred.

In this weather, ordinary fishing boats wouldn't dare to go out to sea.

Could it be... people from Taohuadao?

He didn't hesitate; his massive body turned quietly in the seawater and swam rapidly toward the direction of the sound.

The wind and giant waves were like daily occurrences to him and didn't pose much of an obstacle.

He carefully hugged the sea surface, revealing only a small part of his head, appearing and disappearing amidst the turbulent waves.

Soon, he saw the scene ahead clearly.

He saw a small wooden boat tossing violently in the wind and waves, like a remnant leaf in a storm, ready to capsize at any moment.

The sail had long been torn to shreds by the wind, and the mast was broken in half.

On the deck, there seemed to be figures moving, but it wasn't clear.

"Bang!"

Another giant wave hit, slamming fiercely against the side of the wooden boat.

The wooden boat let out an unbearable groan and tilted violently to one side.

"Ah!"

A crisp exclamation came from the boat.

Ning Chuan's pupils shrank.

He saw a slender figure slide off the tilted deck and fall into the cold, turbulent sea!

It was a young girl!

Even though it was just a fleeting glance, Ning Chuan was stunned by the beauty the girl displayed in that instant.

Her skin was whiter than snow, her brows and eyes were like a painting; although her hair was disheveled and her clothes were soaked, making her look a bit disheveled, it couldn't hide her peerless beauty.

After falling into the water, the girl was clearly a bit panicked, but after splashing a few times, she tried hard to stabilize her figure.

She seemed to know some swimming and even possessed some Wu Gong, slapping the water with her palms, trying to borrow force to swim toward the broken boat that was about to fall apart.

However, the waves at this moment were truly too fierce.

One giant wave after another continuously battered her frail body, washing her further and further away.

Her physical strength was being consumed rapidly.

Ning Chuan could clearly perceive that the girl's aura was becoming chaotic.

What made his heart tighten even more was that his keen perception captured a ferocious aura quietly lurking from the seabed not far behind the girl!

It was a massive gray shark!

At least seven or eight meters long, its blood-red maw was filled with chilling sharp teeth, and it was attracted by the girl's struggle in the water and the potential scent of blood.

Ning Chuan's gaze fell on the struggling girl again.

She was wearing a light green silk dress; although soaked, one could still see it was well-tailored and made of fine material.

Her movement technique, although appearing a bit clumsy in the giant waves, Ning Chuan, with his far-above-average eyesight, still saw some familiar traces.

The traces of that light and agile movement technique, the cleverness contained in her palm technique when slapping the water...

"This movement technique... this temperament..."

A thought suddenly flashed through Ning Chuan's mind, a thought that made his heart skip a beat.

"Could it be... could this girl be Huang Rong?!"