BANG!
The Crocodile Demon's enormous body crashed into the water,
like a giant boulder dropped from a great height, sending up a massive splash.
The river's surface churned violently,
and waves rippled outward in all directions.
At the same time, a cloud of fresh blood billowed up from the riverbed, spreading through the water.
"Did we succeed?!"
As the Crocodile Demon vanished from sight,
the surrounding crowd began to recover from their terror. Many stood on their tiptoes, trying to get a better look.
But the Crocodile Demon had already sunk completely beneath the water, without a shadow to be seen.
The river grew even murkier as wave after wave rolled across its surface.
"Changchuan, what's the situation?"
Han Qinhu walked forward slowly, his eyes on the broken bamboo pole in his son Han Dayong's hands and the empty surface of the water as he asked the question.
However,
at that very moment,
Shen Changchuan, with his Spiritual Eye Technique active, spotted something amiss in the river.
Beneath the surface, a thick Demonic Power was gathering, creating a ripple visible to the naked eye!
'This is bad! Look out!'
In an instant,
Shen Changchuan felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
With no time to think,
he activated his Perfection Level Light Body Technique in the span of a single thought. A glimmer of Magical Power enveloped him, making his entire body feel weightless.
Then, he grabbed the nearby Han Qinhu,
and his figure shot backward.
He left a gray afterimage in mid-air, reappearing dozens of yards away on the riverbank in the blink of an eye.
At almost the same instant,
WHOOSH!
A Water Arrow as thick as an arm shot out from beneath the river like a sharp bolt, slicing through the space where Shen Changchuan and the others had just been standing.
It slammed into the trunk of a large tree behind them.
BANG!
The trunk, as thick as a water bucket, exploded on impact.
A spray of water droplets, waves, and wood splinters filled the air.
The tree was severed at its midpoint, and its heavy upper half fell with a groan.
Not far away,
Han Qinhu, who hadn't even had time to process what happened, stared at the scene.
He felt sweat break out on his forehead, a wave of relief washing over him at having survived the close call.
If Shen Changchuan hadn't pulled him away at the critical moment, he would have had no chance of surviving that attack!
Meanwhile,
the surrounding onlookers finally realized the danger. They cried out in alarm and scrambled backward.
As their shock subsided, their gazes toward Shen Changchuan filled with reverence.
'The Immortal Master's power is truly extraordinary.'
'That one attack from the Demon Beast in the river... out of the more than two thousand people in Dawan Village, probably no one else could have dodged it!'
Their faith in Shen Changchuan deepened.
Any thought of looking down on him because of his youth completely vanished.
'This is trouble!'
Shen Changchuan paid no mind to the thoughts of the surrounding villagers.
He glanced at the bisected tree, his eyes filled with apprehension.
'A Talent Demon Skill with that much power... its strength is at least at the Qi Introduction Fifth Layer or higher!'
'And its defenses are astounding. It even has a Petrification Talent that significantly boosts its durability. My previous attack, at best, only broke its skin. It didn't threaten it at all...'
Shen Changchuan felt the situation was incredibly difficult to handle.
This creature's power was simply a bit out of his league right now.
Take that last attack, for example.
If he hadn't cultivated the Spiritual Eye Technique and spotted it preparing the attack underwater ahead of time, and if his Light Body Technique wasn't at Perfection, allowing him to activate it in a single breath,
he likely would have been unable to dodge the lightning-fast strike!
And as he was now, Shen Changchuan did not have the ability to withstand that Water Arrow head-on.
If he were hit, death would be almost certain!
Shen Changchuan's brow furrowed as he racked his brain,
but for the moment, he couldn't think of any way to deal with the creature.
'I guess I should just be glad I didn't use the Golden Needle when I was fighting that beast earlier!'
Unable to find a solution, a bitter expression appeared on Shen Changchuan's face as he tried to console himself.
'Judging by the results of my Golden Needle Technique,'
'even if I had used the Golden Needle Magical Artifact to double the technique's power, I probably would have only been able to severely injure the Crocodile Demon, not kill it.'
'It's even possible I couldn't have managed a severe injury.'
'Under those circumstances,'
'if I had used the Golden Needle Magical Artifact, losing the Golden Needle would have been a certainty.'
'It's a good thing I was cautious and didn't use it.'
'Otherwise, the loss would have been huge.'
"Grandfather, for the time being, we should seal off the riverbank and have the villagers stay as far away as possible."
"Right now, I'm temporarily unable to do anything to it."
Gazing at the now-calm river in the distance, Shen Changchuan thought for a moment before speaking to the still-shaken Han Qinhu beside him.
The Crocodile Demon was hidden in the river,
giving it the advantage of the terrain.
Coupled with its Cultivation Realm and strength both exceeding his own by a margin, there was simply no way to resolve the problem.
Moreover, now that the attempt to lure it out had failed, given the cunning of a Demon Beast, it would be difficult to trick it with such a simple method again.
"Ah, so that beast is that troublesome!"
Hearing this, Han Qinhu, who had just composed himself, showed a worried expression.
"But if we don't deal with that beast, what if it crawls ashore at night and attacks the village?"
Dawan Village was not far from the river that ran through the entire valley plain.
And a Demon Beast's intelligence was far greater than that of an ordinary animal.
If the Crocodile Demon in the river held a grudge and crawled out of the water in the middle of the night to sneak into the village and attack people and livestock, it would be a huge problem.
"There's nothing to be done about that. We can only add more people to the night patrols."
"When we have time, we can also gather people to build a fence around the village."
Shen Changchuan shook his head slightly.
Even if it sought revenge, there was no way around it.
Underwater, he was ninety percent certain he was no match for the Demon.
And since the bait had just been used, trying to lure the snake out of its hole again would likely have little effect.
This was the only option for now.
"After this period passes, once the Spirit Grain is planted and the village's regular rice paddies are tilled, we can use the free time to cut down surrounding trees and reinforce the fence into a wooden wall. Then we can assign people to stand guard and patrol."
"If it dares to come ashore, I can't guarantee I can kill it, but I'll at least have the ability to injure it severely and drive it back."
Shen Changchuan said this with a hint of confidence.
Although the village might be in some danger before the wall was built,
the more than two thousand villagers also needed to cultivate their ordinary fields for sustenance, in addition to the Spirit Fields.
The summer planting season had arrived,
and Shen Changchuan couldn't delay the farm work by forcing assignments on them.
Everything would have to wait until after the summer planting was over.
"I suppose that's the only way..."
...
Not long after, having dealt with the aftermath and given instructions for the subsequent tasks, Shen Changchuan returned to the Half-Mountain Courtyard and entered the Spiritual Spring Secret Chamber.
Inside the secret chamber, Shen Changchuan sat cross-legged on a stone.
He replayed the battle in his mind, summing up its gains and losses.
The conclusion was that his own actions during the process had been sound.
The main reason for the failure was simply that he was too weak!
If he had the strength of the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer, or even the Fifth Layer, the Crocodile Demon would have been at least severely wounded, if not killed, by that Golden Needle Stabbing attack.
But unfortunately, he wasn't.
"The Qi Introduction Third Layer Peak Realm is, in the end, still too low!"
Shen Changchuan murmured to himself.
If he were still in the Shen Family Mansion, this would have been a good disguise—a benefit to him.
But in a Barbaric Land like this, it was anything but a good thing.
If his strength was insufficient,
danger could strike at any moment!
A sense of urgency welled up in Shen Changchuan's heart!
And so,
he began to cultivate with even greater effort.
Aside from making an appearance every three to five days to check on the planting of the Spirit Fields,
he spent almost all his time in secluded, arduous cultivation within the Spiritual Spring Secret Chamber.
More than ten days passed quickly like this.
By this time,
outside, the ten plots of Spirit Fields had all been sown with grain seeds, and on the other two experimental plots, the rice seedlings had been transplanted according to the cultivation experience he had summarized.
From now on, all that was needed was to have people patrol and observe every three to five days, clearing weeds and killing any insects that appeared in the Spirit Fields.
As for the remaining villagers,
they began to cultivate their ordinary fields to secure their food for the coming year.
From this point on, for a long time to come, assuming no accidents occurred, until the Spirit Grain harvest, Shen Changchuan could finally be a hands-off manager.
And so,
he began his breakthrough to the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer.
"It's time!"
「In the Spiritual Spring Secret Chamber,」
Shen Changchuan took out the Jade Bottle he carried.
Gazing at the Qi Union Pill within the bottle, his expression was grave.
After more than half a month of diligent cultivation,
he had polished his Cultivation Realm to Perfection and brought his physical condition to its peak.
At the same time,
after accumulating for more than half a month,
the Spiritual Qi inside the Spiritual Spring Secret Chamber had also built up considerably.
There was no better time to break through than now!
Since that was the case,
Shen Changchuan didn't hesitate in the slightest.
He uncorked the bottle,
and poured the Qi Union Pill into his right hand.
The thumb-sized Elixir was pale red and emitted a faint, almost imperceptible Spirit Charm, its medicinal fragrance wafting through the air.
Without any hesitation,
Shen Changchuan popped the Elixir into his mouth.
He immediately entered a meditative state.
Inside his body, the Xiangshan Qi Absorption Technique began to circulate his Magical Power through his meridians, completing a full Circulation.
As the Elixir was digested in his stomach,
a potent Medicinal Power began to spread out in all directions from his Dantian.
Shen Changchuan focused completely on operating the Xiangshan Qi Absorption Technique, channeling and refining the Medicinal Power within him.
Time ticked by, moment by moment.
Beads of sweat formed on Shen Changchuan's forehead.
The Spiritual Qi emanating from the Spiritual Spring was also rapidly consumed.
「Three days later,」
BOOM!!!
Shen Changchuan felt the bottleneck inside him suddenly shatter at that moment!
The Magical Power in his body, both in quantity and quality, surged forward, rising by a huge margin!
Qi Introduction Fourth Layer!
Success!
Feeling the doubled Magical Power rushing like a torrent through his Dantian and meridians,
Shen Changchuan opened his eyes, a sharp, lightning-like glint flashing within them.
Although he had anticipated this beforehand,
he couldn't help but reveal a joyful expression.
"Going from the Qi Introduction Third Layer to the Fourth Layer is the transformation from the Qi Introduction Early Stage to the Qi Introduction Middle Stage."
"I'm now a Cultivator of the Qi Introduction Middle Stage!"
Shen Changchuan clenched his fist, feeling the vast Magical Power within his body.
His Heart Spirit felt an unprecedented sense of elation!