18: Chapter 18, what's wrong? You have a problem with that?

"It's here!"

Su Mo stood up excitedly, staring fixedly at the anomaly.

Suddenly, a massive bulge formed on the surface of the lake, followed by an explosive "Boom."

A giant serpent, entirely dark green with a bulge on its head, burst out of the water. Although only its upper body was above the surface, it was already over ten meters tall. On its four-to-five-meter-wide head, a pair of scarlet, vertical pupils glared furiously at Su Mo.

"Where did this junior come from! How dare you come to this Seat's territory to act wild?!"

The Ink Jiao scanned its surroundings several times, but couldn't find the fellow who dared to disturb its Cultivate.

"Strange..." The Ink Jiao flicked its tongue, a flash of confusion in its scarlet pupils. "I clearly sensed someone..."

Before it could finish, it suddenly saw two thick, red-furred trees standing on the shore, looking completely out of place with the surrounding environment.

Slowly looking up, the Ink Jiao's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpricks.

"Who are you looking for? Little loach."

Su Mo looked down, a teasing smile on his large face. His thirty-meter-tall physique made the Ink Jiao look like nothing more than a slightly larger loach.

The Ink Jiao's tongue froze in mid-air. It then realized that the giant—no, the giant fox—before it didn't have a strong aura, only at the level of having just entered the third tier, while it was about to fully transform into a Jiao and step into the fourth tier.

The Ink Jiao feigned calmness, raised its head, and asked with an indifferent expression:

"Under which Demon King do you serve? Don't you know this is this Seat's territory?!"

It had seen almost all the subordinates of the surrounding Demon Kings, and with Su Mo's enormous size, it definitely wouldn't have forgotten him.

But there was truly no impression of Su Mo in its memory. It guessed he must be a newly recruited subordinate of some Demon King who had accidentally intruded into its territory.

Su Mo's heart stirred upon hearing this.

Demon King? Old Turtle didn't tell me about this!

It seems this Ink Jiao has someone above it?

I wonder how the Demon King's strength compares to Old Turtle's, and if they taste good?

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth:

"Demon King? What Demon King?"

"I just saw a lake here and came over to take a bath."

"What? You have a problem?"

The Ink Jiao was momentarily speechless, choked by this righteous reply. It took a long time to finally blurt out:

"This is this Seat's place to Cultivate; how can you just wash here whenever you want?!"

If it had encountered this in the past, the Ink Jiao would have started a fight without a second word.

But now that its transformation into a Jiao was imminent, it had to endure it to avoid complications.

Upon hearing this, Su Mo didn't leave. Instead, he sat down on the bank, his eight-hundred-yard-sized feet nearly shoving into the Ink Jiao's face.

He deliberately splashed around in the water, sending waves dozens of meters high crashing onto the Ink Jiao's face. The emerald lake water turned muddy and turbid, and countless fish and shrimp floated to the surface, belly-up.

"This is going too far!!"

Within a ten-mile radius, who didn't know the prestige of the Ink Jiao? It never expected to run into such a reckless hothead today.

The Ink Jiao could finally take no more. Its scales bristled, and it opened its bloody maw, shooting out three dark green ice spikes that struck toward Su Mo's face with lightning speed.

"Why do you snake-types all like playing with poisonous moves? Can't you be a bit more creative?"

Watching the ice spikes flying toward him at a speed as slow as a snail in his eyes, Su Mo unhurriedly assumed a punching stance.

"Boom!"

The shockwave generated by his rapid punch instantly pulverized the ice spikes, sending the dust flying back, while the remaining force of the punch slammed toward the Ink Jiao.

The Ink Jiao never expected its attack to be neutralized so easily, nor did it expect that it, a dignified third-tier Peak, would be so vulnerable before someone who had just entered the third tier.

By the time it realized something was wrong, the force of the punch had already struck its body.

"Bang!"

The Ink Jiao returned to the bottom of the lake faster than it had come up. Many of its scales were shattered, and a large amount of green blood flowed out, with faint flashes of gold visible within the blood.

"Cough, cough..." Blood gushed from the Ink Jiao's mouth, its eyes filled with horror. "What kind of monster is this! A single punch from someone who just entered the third tier was able to severely injure this Seat..."

It decisively took out the Spiritual Plant and Spirit Medicine it had collected earlier and stuffed them into its mouth to recover from its injuries.

These Spirit Medicine were intended for when it crossed the Lightning Tribulation to transform into a Jiao. Now that they were being used to recover from its injuries, it would have to endure the transformation hard.

However, as long as the green hills remain, there is no need to worry about firewood; it had to save its life first.

After swallowing them, it took one last unwilling look at the blurry, massive figure on the lake surface, then swam toward the escape tunnel it had prepared long ago...

Su Mo stared at the lake surface and waited for a long time. When the Ink Jiao didn't surface, he stretched out his hand and kept stirring the lake water.

A huge whirlpool was stirred up on the lake surface; logically, the Ink Jiao should not have been able to endure it.

"Did I beat it to death with one punch? Am I really that awesome?"

Su Mo immediately decided to dive down to check the situation. He took a deep breath, and his massive body slowly sank into the lake. When his entire body was submerged, the water level rose by several centimeters.

The lake was shaped like a funnel, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The depth of over two hundred meters meant Su Mo didn't feel crowded inside.

After his physique was strengthened in all aspects, he could see clearly underwater. Coupled with the sunlight refracting through the surface, the visibility at the bottom of the lake was surprisingly good.

"Where did this little loach run off to..."

Su Mo muttered to himself as he strode across the lake bed. Each step stirred up large amounts of mud and sand, causing groups of plump figures to flee rapidly.

Suddenly, he discovered a hidden cave entrance behind a cluster of water weeds. After measuring it, the size of the entrance matched the Ink Jiao's size, so this must be its nest.

Arriving at the cave entrance, some shattered scales stained with blood were scattered in the silt. Nearby, many bold small fish, shrimp, and crabs were licking the blood on them, only scattering when Su Mo approached.

After confirming this was the Ink Jiao's nest, Su Mo directly reached out his large hand to grab the edge of the cave, his arm muscles slightly bulging.

"Crack!"

The entire cave entrance was forcibly ripped open, revealing the scene inside.

The cave wasn't deep; one could see the end at a glance. Su Mo took a look, but the Ink Jiao was nowhere to be seen inside, only some remaining blood and scales.

"It ran away?!"

Su Mo narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the interior of the cave.

He suddenly noticed that a stone slab at the deepest part of the cave had a slightly different color from the surrounding area. He extended his index finger and poked it gently.

The stone slab flipped over, revealing a deep tunnel. The water was flowing into the lake in an unnatural trajectory; it looked like an underground river.

Seeing this, Su Mo was immediately somewhat disappointed. The Spiritual Fruit given by Old Turtle had been digested quickly, and the white porridge was struggling to keep up with his needs.

It could be said that for the past three days, he had been in a constant state of hunger. He had come to the lake hoping to use the Ink Jiao to fill his stomach, but unfortunately, it had run away.

Su Mo helplessly surfaced. With a wave of his large hand, he scooped up a handful of fat fish and stuffed them into his mouth. The taste made his eyes light up.

"The taste is not bad, but it's not very filling. It seems I still need to eat things rich in Spiritual Qi."

He beckoned, signaling Hearts Eye to bring Su Su over.

Hearts Eye hesitated on the bank for a long time, not daring to enter the water. Su Mo had no choice but to help her, scooping her over with one hand.

The little one was very excited to see so much water for the first time. She swam several laps around Su Mo using a doggy paddle. Suddenly, she seemed to have discovered something and dove down with a splash. When she surfaced, she had a fish the size of her head in her mouth.

The fish tail was thrashing violently, and it looked like it was about to escape from Su Su's mouth. Su Su looked at Su Mo and squeaked anxiously.

"Not bad, you caught a fish the first time you went into the water."

Su Mo grinned and reached out to support Su Su's entire body in his palm.

It was the first time ever that Su Su didn't ask Su Mo for white porridge to eat with it, which surprised him quite a bit.

But soon, he felt a sense of relief that his daughter had grown up.

...

Meanwhile.

Just as Su Mo's family was enjoying their long-lost peaceful life, the Ink Jiao, covered in wounds, arrived at a magnificent Immortal Cave.