He Yi-ming's speed was already at its absolute peak. The power of the Wind element was utilized to its extreme.

The reason he held the Treasure Pig close was that the Pig had once visited the enemy's lair, and he feared this great python would take a liking to it. As for the One Hundred and Eight...

Frankly, He Yi-ming did not believe there was anything in this world capable of killing him. Even if that giant python overhead tore him to shreds, he figured he could gradually restore himself.

Now that He Yi-ming had ascended to the Venerable realm, his comprehension of the Wind's power was even superior; his speed was truly like lightning. Just as the massive roar had not yet ceased, He Yi-ming, clutching the Treasure Pig, arrived at the fringe of the ashen-black dense fog.

However, at that very moment, He Yi-ming’s body abruptly halted.

A suction force, incomprehensibly vast, surged from behind him, clinging to him tightly.

In that instant, an extreme sense of dread flooded He Yi-ming’s heart, as if an invisible blade was pressed against his throat, causing every hair on his body to stand on end.

Since his experience of the strange encounter at the bottom of the lake, He Yi-ming had only felt a sensation this intense one other time.

That time, under the cover provided by Suo Ge and the Red Wolf King, the combined ambush attack from She Ru and Shi Wang had nearly cost He Yi-ming his life on the spot.

It was precisely then that He Yi-ming had felt a similar sensation.

But back then, Elder Shui Xuanjin had saved his life at the critical moment; this time, however, He Yi-ming felt utterly isolated and unsupported.

His internal True Qi spun rapidly, and his body seemed to instantly become as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Suddenly, his feet slammed heavily onto the ground, and the True Qi within him transformed into potent Earth element energy. He intended to use the Earth Burrowing technique to plunge beneath the surface.

But in the next moment, he realized this was utterly impossible.

Around him, an indescribable gale seemed to sweep up, and the endless ashen-black dense fog rolled violently toward a single point.

The immense suction force possessed a fatal threat, even scraping a layer off the very ground.

Furthermore, within the radius of the suction, there seemed to be an inexplicable power. Bolstered by this force, even his attempt to employ the Earth Burrowing technique was rendered impossible. Because any power that escaped his body was instantly destroyed by the suction, leaving no room for execution.

At this juncture, He Yi-ming’s expression changed drastically; he finally grasped the true horror of the behemoth atop the mountain.

This was absolutely not something a human could handle, or at least not something he could deal with.

Clutching the Treasure Pig tightly, He Yi-ming suddenly pressed his entire body flat against the ground.

He had discarded the dignity of a newly ascended Venerable; under these circumstances, as long as he could save his life, nothing else mattered.

When his entire body made contact with the earth, the Earth element power could finally be utilized. The ground beneath him turned like a muddy mire, and he sank straight down.

Once underground, He Yi-ming breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had mastered the Earth Burrowing technique long ago; otherwise, this time would have been inescapable.

However, just as he relaxed slightly, the hairs all over his body exploded once more.

That intense, ultimate sense of crisis reappeared.

Although he did not know where the danger would originate, his intuition clearly told him he had fallen into another seemingly inescapable death trap.

The Earth element power surrounding him boiled, spinning at an astonishing speed.

In a mere instant, He Yi-ming was moving, traversing the subterranean depths at high velocity.

Simultaneously, he pulled out one hand, where mist surged, rapidly coalescing into the shape of the Five Elements Ring.

Golden-yellow light flickered swiftly from the Five Elements Ring. The moment this light appeared, the sand, soil, and rock beneath the ground instantly turned into true flowing water, allowing him to swim and maneuver freely without the slightest hindrance.

He Yi-ming's comprehension of Earth element power had reached an extremely high realm, coupled with his special physique, which allowed him to achieve this level underground.

Yet, the crisis hanging over his heart seemed unrelenting, growing even stronger.

As He Yi-ming burrowed underground, his ears twitched violently.

At this critical juncture, He Yi-ming dared not hold back any longer; any fraction of power that could aid him, he would deploy without hesitation.

A faint "hissing" sound suddenly reached his ears. When he first heard it, the sound seemed distant, but in the span of just a few blinks, the noise grew significantly louder.

He Yi-ming was nearly scared out of his wits. Could that great python also possess the Earth Burrowing technique and be chasing him?

Fear gripped his heart, and all his strength erupted, forcing his subterranean travel speed to nearly double. Stimulated by the intense sense of crisis, He Yi-ming was exerting every ounce of effort he possessed.

Yet, even though He Yi-ming was pushing himself to the limit, the hissing sound was closing in even faster. Just as He Yi-ming estimated he was about to leave the area of Ghost Cry Ridge, the sound finally caught up to him.

His vision blurred, and the earth behind him abruptly broke open. He Yi-ming acted decisively. Without even turning his head, he thrust the Five Elements Ring upward and shot out of the ground like a flying arrow.

The moment he burst into the air, the strange, powerful suction force immediately followed him like a shadow.

He Yi-ming could not fathom how the thing on the mountaintop managed to lock onto his position. If it relied on sight or hearing, He Yi-ming absolutely did not believe it.

But no matter what he did, he seemed unable to shake off this spirit beast's surveillance.

Mid-air, He Yi-ming twisted and darted toward the distance. In just a few blinks, he was back at the exact spot where he had stood originally.

After fleeing desperately for half a day, he had been sucked right back to his starting point in an instant.

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. The Five Elements Ring in He Yi-ming's hand began to spin again, and he himself underwent a transformation.

The True Qi inside his body instantly converted into Wind element power; he seemed to suddenly transform into a ball of wind, the unrestrained, uncapturable, pure breeze.

His body floated upward, and with the Five Elements Ring clearing the path, he actually managed to tear a gap in the massive suction field and escape its pull.

This maneuver, which seemed simple, had cost him his absolute utmost effort.

The Three Flowers power within the Five Elements Ring, combined with his Wind Flower, meant he had deployed his cultivation techniques to their absolute limit, leaving nothing in reserve.

Having finally shaken off the deadly suction, He Yi-ming’s expression shifted before his feet even touched the ground.

The power absorbed by his Baihui point instantly converted into his nearly depleted True Qi, forcing him to abruptly change direction in mid-air, landing ten zhang away in a certain spot.

The moment his feet landed, the area he had just left erupted violently, and a colossal serpent tail, thick enough to require several men to encircle, surged up from beneath the earth.

This serpent tail shot straight toward the heavens, like a pillar holding up the sky, radiating an imposing majesty that compelled reverence.

He Yi-ming stared at the enormous tail, his mouth filling with bitter realization.

The tip of the serpent tail seemed to flash, and vast power converged there. The sheer magnitude of this power instantly caused He Yi-ming's expression to darken profoundly.

He vaguely sensed that this serpent tail could also accumulate energy and, like the breath attacks of other spirit beasts, unleash the gathered power to assault its enemy.

He Yi-ming had witnessed quite a few spirit beast breath attacks. But in terms of sheer destructive power, compared to the energy this serpent tail was currently concentrating, they were like mere fireflies next to the sun—utterly incomparable.

Whether it was the Red Wolf King, Shi Wang, or even the giant bear belonging to Xiong Wuji, their power was fit only to shine the shoes of this serpent tail.

He Yi-ming's heart tightened; he instantly understood that relying on his own strength alone, he likely could not withstand the strange "breath" power accumulating in this serpent tail.

In that moment, his mind instantly calmed.

The immense pressure drove him into a mystical state.

He tossed the Treasure Pig far away first. Regardless of victory or defeat in this battle, if the Pig were dragged into it, its life would be severely impacted.

Then, he stood with his feet shoulder-to-shoulder, and the Five Elements Ring in his hands dissolved instantly into mist.

His hands formed a mysterious mudra, moving slowly yet surely upward toward his head.

Simultaneously, within his Dantian, that mysterious Pagoda Power was already stirring, flowing upward along the meridians of his body.

He Yi-ming possessed two powers that did not originally belong to him: the fire power from the Nine Dragons Furnace and the Heaven-Overturning Seal derived from the Pagoda Power.

Retrieving the Nine Dragons Furnace from the silver ring was currently impossible, so his only recourse was to activate the Heaven-Overturning Seal.

However, his hand mudra was only halfway raised when he heard an incomparably grand, almost earth-shattering roar erupt from beside him.

"ROAR..."

This massive roar jolted He Yi-ming out of that profound, esoteric state; the Pagoda Power within his body instantly dispersed, returning to his Dantian.

He Yi-ming turned his head, his face filled with disbelief.

That roar had come from the mouth of the Treasure Pig.

At that moment, the snow-white Treasure Pig, which resembled a small dog, lay prostrate on the ground. All the white fur on its body stood erect, and its eyes shone with an unprecedented brilliance.

Around it emanated a terrifying aura that made even He Yi-ming’s skin crawl.

The serpent tail paused slightly, swaying left and right a few times, before finally, under He Yi-ming’s tense gaze, slowly retracted back into the earth.

Slowly, that intense sense of crisis vanished inexplicably.

He Yi-ming immediately understood: the giant python on the mountain peak had abandoned the pursuit; he had narrowly escaped the serpent’s jaws.

He turned and stared blankly at the Treasure Pig, his expression layered with profound contemplation.