From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

The marshland was bathed in yellowish sunlight, the sun hanging high in the sky, yet the large willow tree still exuded an eerie aura.

Li Yi was perched in the tree hollow, his large mouth tightly gripping the brown crystal, his eyes closed, as if he were one with the swamp beneath him.

If you look closely, you can see wisps of brown energy flowing out from the brown crystal, seeping into Li Yi's massive body through the gaps in his scales.

At this moment, the white python was also cultivating, but it was coiled on the canopy of the large willow tree, using the power of this spiritual tree to isolate itself from most of the influence.

Because it is using the newly acquired purple fragments for cultivation.

As magic power was injected, a little bit of pure purple flame shone brightly. The white python carefully controlled everything, refining it with magic power. Only after a long time did it feel at ease to swallow it whole.

After several rounds of training, the white python gained a deeper understanding of the purple flame.

This is the foxfire of the Flamebreath Fox Clan. The purer the bloodline of a Flamebreath Fox Clan member, the purer the foxfire they condense will be; otherwise, it will be very mixed.

This is the result determined by both bloodline and cultivation method, not by a single factor.

The white python originally thought that the intense, bright purple flame contained the light of dawn, because within its knowledge, the cultivation path in the swamp only contained three kinds of light and mixed swamp energy.

The rosy glow of dawn carries a noble purple hue, making it the rarest of the three types of rosy glow, and possibly the source of the purple flames.

But it was wrong. The purple flames came from the fragment of the magic artifact itself. If the Flame Breath Fox Clan used this to cultivate, it would resonate with its bloodline and cultivate purple foxfire as well.

The flames were indeed composed of a kind of glow, but it was not the glow of dawn, but rather the most intense glow of midday.

Noon is the time of day when the sun is most dazzling, bringing the most intense rays of light. However, due to the swampy environment, this most brilliant and intense light is absorbed the most by the layers of toxic swampy vegetation.

The remaining portion that fell onto the surface of the swamp could no longer support the cultivation of living beings.

But the Flamebreath Fox Clan took this path.

The white python lowered its head, its two vertical pupils, one red and one blue, flashing with purple light. After pondering for a moment, it could only come to a vague conclusion.

This is due to the inheritance and bloodline of the Flame Breath Fox Clan. Their ancestors probably had some kind of secret, and other creatures probably could not refine the midday glow like they could.

Even with the purple fragments, he could only extract a wisp from the sun, which would vanish in an instant.

Sensing the faint traces of midday's glow, the white python realized that it too might lack this glow that was blocked by the poisonous barrier.

Dawn, noon, dusk—obtaining any one of these and refining it into one's own flame bloodline will raise the white python's cultivation to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage.

Once the moonlight enters the water and reaches equilibrium, the foundation-building stage can be reached.

But what if all three types of radiant light were combined? How powerful would the flames it forged then be?

The white python tilted its head and pondered for a long time before finally looking towards the tree hole.

Inside the tree hollow, Li Yi closed his eyes and slowly swayed his massive body as he crawled out. Then, with a brown crystal in his mouth, he wagged his tail and burrowed into the mud.

Its spirit penetrated deep into the realm of cultivation, merging with the swamp, but it could only vaguely glimpse that swamp energy of returning to its original state, yet it could never touch it.

In the end, it realized that it might be due to the willow tree itself.

As a spiritual tree, it naturally possesses the effect of protection and repels the energy of the swamp. Li Yi, being in it, was naturally isolated from some of his senses.

The moment Li Yi's black scales came into intimate contact with the swamp mud, and his entire body sank into the swamp, everything became clear.

Layers of earth-based poisonous barriers dispersed, and a strange green wood-based wind howled and flowed to the other side, revealing the rarer parts of the swamp's energy as if peeling back layers of a cocoon.

A pure black droplet appeared before Li Yi's eyes.

Its surface, apart from being an extreme black, was devoid of anything else; its curved, mirror-like structure clearly reflected the phantom image of Li Yi's soul.

It was at this moment that Li Yi finally understood the water phase within the swamp's energy.

Such is the nature of swamp water, which is highly toxic and filthy. In swamps, there are no pure and clear streams or lakes.

No, it doesn't exist. Any environment in a swamp is bound to be polluted.

Li Yi's illusory soul's eyes lit up, and then it suddenly leaped up, opened its mouth wide, and swallowed the black droplet. The next moment, everything distorted.

After a moment of disorientation, Li Yi returned to reality, opened his eyes, and looked at the deep silt around him, a myriad of thoughts surfacing in his mind.

It slowly closed its eyes again, its body falling freely into the depths of the swamp like a cone. During this time, wisps of pure black liquid seeped from the surrounding swamp, directly merging into the black scales covering Li Yi's body.

These highly toxic liquids had no effect on Li Yi whatsoever; however, they absorbed into the black scales at an extremely slow rate.

However, Li Yi quickly found a new method to guide the black venom on the surface of the scales to the seven black scales on his back.

These seven black scales were as clear as mirrors. After the black venom flowed onto their surface, it seemed as if they had fallen into another world, disappearing from the surface of the black scales and dripping into them.

The road ahead is now completely clear!

Feeling the heavy black energy surging within his body and sinking directly beneath the yellow mist, Li Yi was finally overjoyed.

After a while, Li Yi felt he had reached his limit and quickly surfaced.

Silently opening its eyes, Li Yi looked around. The tranquil state of cultivation gradually faded, and it began to be wary.

All indications suggest that the ancient, strange insect may not have died and is probably still wandering somewhere, but no one knows what it has become.

Having clearly seen the path ahead, Li Yi had many things to do, the most important of which was to try to find it and kill it while it was weak.

Turning his head, Li Yi saw the white python bending its tail, seemingly beckoning him past.

After a spiritual exchange under the big willow tree, Li Yi roughly understood what the white python meant. He then looked at the sky and, seeing that noon was approaching, decided not to leave for the time being.

The sun gradually brightened and became dazzling, its rays blazing like sharp swords trying to pierce the hazy poisonous barrier, but the ubiquitous yellow poisonous barrier of the swamp absorbed it instead.

By noon, the light had dimmed slightly.

Perhaps swamps are inherently dark.

Seeing that the time had come, the white python swam onto Li Yi's back, slightly opened its mouth, and purple fragments floated between its pupils.

Li Yi raised his head slightly, his body remaining motionless.

The next moment, the poisonous barrier above spun, tore apart, and spread out in layers, opening a circular skylight overhead, making the sunlight here even more intense.