Chapter 684: [Strange Fruit] (Part 2)

Hu Xiaotian dared not delay too long, for the giant python might return at any moment; to kill it and escape danger he had to strike when unprepared, attack unexpectedly. Retracing the snake-shaped passage, after walking about half a li, water began to appear under his feet.

Hu Xiaotian discovered that after consuming that plant his body underwent obvious changes; his vision and perception increased manifold, allowing him to discern details of even the tiniest objects in darkness, something he could not do before.

Whether it was blessing or disaster remained hard to say, but one thing could be confirmed: those fruits of the plant had pulled him back from the brink of death.

Hu Xiaotian quickly entered the water; previously, when he jumped into the pond, he felt the water icy to the bone, but now he felt no chill at all—likely also the effect of that red fruit.

He swam a distance in the water, chose a narrow channel, dove to the bottom, held his breath, and knew that to escape the pond alive he must kill the giant python; if he rashly surfaced and startled it, he would likely end up in its belly.

Hu Xiaotian now truly realized the benefit of the Feigning Death Dog Breath-Holding Technique taught by the old beggar; without this skill he would have died countless times. He waited underwater for a full half hour without feeling the slightest suffocation, and his Feigning Death Dog Skill improved further.

He sensed the water surging toward him—a subtle change he could not miss—focused his attention, and raised the great sword with both hands. Soon after, two eerie green lights sped toward him from that direction: it was the purple giant python.

Hu Xiaotian's muscles were tensed throughout his body, his inner energy gathered in his arms, ready to strike; this time he had to land a decisive blow.

The purple giant python approached at astonishing speed, unaware of the change in the water channel, its head shooting past above Hu Xiaotian. At that moment, Hu Xiaotian exerted all his strength in his arms and thrust upward, aiming at the python's throat, seven inches in.

The heavy sword had no edge, yet under Hu Xiaotian's full-force thrust it pierced the python's tough hide and sank deep into its body. The purple giant python obviously had not expected an underwater ambush. Its momentum from high-speed swimming carried it forward, and as it thrashed, the blade sliced a blood-soaked gash over two zhang long from neck to tail, black blood spreading like mist across the water.

In pain, the python's body convulsed violently, then its tail impossibly twisted around and slammed downward with full force. Hu Xiaotian had anticipated this counterstrike; he pushed off with his feet, sliding backward several zhang, and the python's tail struck between his legs, narrowly missing his vitals; the resulting surge of water pushed him back another several zhang.

The purple giant python's body impossibly turned within the narrow water channel. Hu Xiaotian had chosen this spot to attack mainly because he thought the python would find it hard to turn after being struck, but he had not expected it to turn so easily.

In the water blackened by blood mist, two furious green eyeballs sped toward Hu Xiaotian; he raised the great sword. Feeling no fear, he knew it was now a matter of kill or be killed. With no time to fear, he pushed off with his legs, rose over two zhang, and brought the sword down hard on the python's head.

The python opened its blood‑filled maw, wishing to swallow Hu Xiaotian whole; in its view, even armed he could not match it, and countless times before it had gulped down humans together with their weapons.

The great sword smashed hard into the python's forehead, churning the pond water; the beast was struck dazed and reeling. Hu Xiaotian, after eating those fruits, had unknowingly gained considerable strength, while the python, already wounded by his ambush with a huge gash in its belly bleeding entrails, was naturally much weaker than usual. Had it been in normal condition, his blow would not yet have reached its crown before it swallowed him whole.

Hu Xiaotian reacted with astonishing speed, his movements even outpacing his thoughts; though this blow did not split the python's hard skull, he used the recoil to shoot upward, pressing his body against the top of the water channel. The python gaped its blood‑filled mouth; Hu Xiaotian heaved the heavy sword with all his might into its maw, and the beast, unable to dodge, swallowed the sword whole, the blade lodging in its throat like a fishbone. Thrashing its head, the python could not close its jaws and, maddened, lunged at Hu Xiaotian with its head.

Hu Xiaotian had tried to swim away, but he could not outrun the python's speed; it struck him in the abdomen with its head, sending his body flying backward toward the python's nest.

Under the impact, the heavy sword burst out through the python's left cheek. The gravely wounded beast, blinded by hatred, charged at Hu Xiaotian heedless of everything. Hu Xiaotian had hoped to flee into the pond, but instead the python slammed him into the deep water channel; the heavy blow did not injure him too severely, and he sped at full pace toward the python's nest.

The python pursued desperately from behind, but its severe injuries had clearly reduced its speed, so it could never close the distance to Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian crawled out of the water channel and, along the muddy snake burrow, ran desperately toward the python's nest. Though he had endured successive life‑and‑death struggles, he felt not a trace of fatigue—whether it was the will to survive unleashing his potential or the effect of having eaten that strange fruit. The python then crawled into the burrow, its movement there markedly slowed, for earth's resistance is far greater than water's, and its belly had been almost completely sliced open.

Hu Xiaotian fled back to the python's lair, only to see the beast growing ever slower, evidently nearing exhaustion. Gladdened, he picked up the long blade he had found earlier and resolved to make a final stand against the python.

The python's eerie green eyes remained fixed on the spot where that plant had grown; upon finding the plant gone, it instantly fell into a frenzy, its speed surging as it heedlessly plowed through its own entrails spilled across the ground. Reaching the spot where the plant had been, it desperately rammed its head into the mire, trying to find the red fruit—but not a fruit, not even a leaf remained.

Seeing the python madly thrashing in the mire, Hu Xiaotian knew the red strange fruit was of immense significance to the beast.

The python's writhing in the mud grew weaker and weaker until its body stiffened, completely motionless.

Worried the python might be feigning death, Hu Xiaotian swung his long blade to sever the entrails spilling out, then hacked at its body; the blade left not a mark on the python's hide—instead, it bent the edge itself.

Hu Xiaotian kicked the purple python a few times; seeing it still unmoving, he plucked up courage, approached its head, and raised his fist—peng! peng! peng! —three punches that cracked bone, yet he felt no pain. He stared at his fist in puzzlement, skin unbroken, wondering how he could have shattered the python's hard skull with bare fists—truly astonishing; could the thing he had just swallowed really be a rare immortal fruit, granting him doubled strength?

Hu Xiaotian shook his head, to be discussed later; he pried open the python's jaws and drew the heavy sword from its mouth. Instinct told him the python hide would be valuable, but hauling such a heavy load was no easy feat. He decided to leave for now and, after meeting Zhou Mo and the others, consider returning to skin the python.

Retracing his route, he re‑entered the pond; his feelings were beyond words—having escaped death, he felt blessed and fortunate, though he did not yet know what he now looked like.

A pink glow drifted in the water; Hu Xiaotian saw the jellyfish again, hurried to increase his distance, but it still caught up—yet this time, upon nearing him, it did not attack. He managed to surface smoothly.

Hu Xiaotian climbed ashore; the distant sky showed a hint of fish‑belly white, dawn approaching, day about to break. Having just been able to see in a pitch‑black cave where not five fingers could be seen, he now found his vision more than doubled in this light, and his hearing picked up mountain breezes, leaves landing softly, grass swaying, even the faint stir of insects in the blades—there seemed to be no one around.

Hu Xiaotian first thought of Tang Qingxuan, wondering how she fared; the scene from yesterday—after taking an aphrodisiac she had stripped naked and flung herself into his arms—remained vivid. He sighed inwardly, 'Surely I am a true gentleman; faced with warm jade and fragrant perfume, she threw herself at me, yet I restrained myself—even more than Liu Xiaohui.'

Where had Tang Qingxuan gone? Another worry: where were her clothes? Hu Xiaotian went to the spot where last night she had stripped and jumped into the water to save him, finding her garments gone—not even a scrap of cloth remained. He searched the vicinity and finally found a tattered robe in the grass, clearly hers, but she had torn it off so recklessly in her frenzy that it could hardly cover her; it seemed Tang Qingxuan had simply walked off wearing her own clothes.

Hu Xiaotian naturally did not care about a set of clothes; compared to having snatched back his life, what were garments or face? He came to the pond's edge, glanced at his reflection in the water, and saw his skin had turned brown‑black, like smoke‑scorched skin—though not as dark as an African's, it was hardly different from an Indian's.

Hu Xiaotian sighed, guessing it was all due to that red strange fruit; although it had detoxified him, it had also disfigured him—walking out like this, he doubted many would recognize him.