Chapter 50

While Nightingale was completely unarmed, not to mention any weapons, she was tightly bound, and was now engaged in a fierce struggle with the giant snake's head, bare-handed.

But this was in the water, which was entirely the monster's territory. Moreover, the monster's skin was extremely tough, and when Nightingale punched it, it barely reacted.

"Run, run..." Nightingale shouted while swinging her fists.

Lan Ling did not run but rushed forward, picked up Nightingale's curved sword, and shouted loudly, "Catch the sword."

Then, he threw the curved sword with all his might toward Nightingale.

Lan Ling threw it accurately, and when the curved sword was a few meters away from Nightingale, she suddenly released a burst of dragon power, trying to grab the sword from a distance.

Suddenly, the giant snake exhaled a powerful breath.

"Bang..." The breath directly hit the curved sword, sending it flying dozens of meters away and dropping into the water.

Nightingale let out a desperate cry. She was a high-level warrior, but her strength was more focused on agility and spirit, and her physical strength was quite average. She was very dependent on weapons, and now that her weapon had fallen into the water, she was even more helpless.

The giant snake tightened its grip, and Nightingale could hardly breathe. She used all her dragon power to resist the terrifying constriction, or else her bones and internal organs would have shattered.

"Run, run..." Nightingale shouted loudly.

Lan Ling stood still, drew his bow, took a deep breath, and locked onto the target with his mind.

"Whoosh..." An arrow was shot out.

Without a doubt, it hit the giant snake's head and pierced it, as the arrow was extremely hard and sharp.

However, it only penetrated less than half an inch, as the snake's skin was too tough.

Lan Ling discarded the bow and picked up a 150-pound bow.

He released his dragon power, drew the bow, and aimed at the giant snake's eyes.

At this moment, the giant snake's head was moving wildly, attacking Nightingale, and there was no pattern to its movements. The snake's eyes were very small.

It was easy to lock onto the target mentally, but to hit it was as difficult as climbing to the sky.

"Whoosh..." After locking onto the target, Lan Ling shot an arrow.

It missed the eye but still hit the snake's head, this time piercing an inch deep.

The giant snake let out a painful howl and glared fiercely at Lan Ling.

Its gaze was filled with bloodlust and savagery, as if it wanted to tear Lan Ling to pieces.

"That's what I wanted, for you to open your eyes and stare at me..." Lan Ling was delighted.

This was a rare opportunity, and the giant snake was now staring at Lan Ling, motionless.

He locked onto the target mentally, aimed at its eyes, and shot.

"Whoosh..." At this distance, even the giant snake's small eyes could not be missed by Lan Ling.

It hit directly, but at the last moment, the giant snake closed its eyes.

The arrow pierced through the eyelid and directly through the eyeball.

"Aaaah..." The giant snake roared in pain, blood gushing from its eye, and it thrashed wildly in the water.

Then, it seemed to go completely mad, bursting out of the water and rushing toward the shore, aiming to tear Lan Ling to pieces.

At this moment, the force with which it was binding Nightingale finally weakened. Nightingale, risking her arm being bitten off, reached into the snake's mouth, grabbed a sharp fang, and released a burst of dragon power.

"Snap..." Instantly, the nearly one-foot-long fang was broken off by Nightingale, becoming her new weapon.

A high-level warrior with a weapon instantly became very powerful.

Nightingale held the giant snake's fang, aimed at the snake's head, and stabbed fiercely.

"Thud, thud..."

Almost instantly, the giant snake was pierced with dozens of holes, blood gushing out, and it was severely injured.

With one eye blinded and the other instinctively closed, it could no longer see, only biting wildly and charging onto the shore, pursuing Lan Ling.

"You fool, run..." Nightingale shouted.

Lan Ling ignored the approaching giant snake, still standing in place, drawing his bow.

After taking a deep breath and holding it, he locked onto the red spot inside the giant snake's open mouth. If he hit that spot, he could pierce the snake's brain and deliver a fatal blow.

The giant snake charged at Lan Ling, getting closer and closer.

Mental lock, one second, two seconds, three seconds...

Completely locked, shoot!

"Whoosh..." Lan Ling's arrow shot out like lightning.

"Thud..." The arrow flew past Nightingale's head and hit the red spot on the giant snake's upper jaw.

The flesh there was extremely soft, and the arrow easily pierced through, stabbing half a foot deep and directly through the snake's brain.

Instantly, the giant snake died, its body slamming onto the ground like a giant whip.

Its fierce head was less than half a foot away from Lan Ling, and the naked Nightingale quickly jumped to the ground as the snake fell.

Lan Ling instantly lost all his strength and collapsed to the ground.

Then, he and the naked Nightingale stared at each other for several seconds before he realized he should close his eyes, but by then, he had already seen everything.

However, the demon star inside him was completely oblivious to Lan Ling's embarrassment, feeling unprecedented excitement and joy.

After the giant snake died, the dragon bloodline energy in its body slowly dissipated into the air, about to return to the world.

But the demon star spun wildly, devouring it all.

For five minutes, not only the demon star but also Lan Ling trembled.

The feeling of devouring energy was incredibly exhilarating, even giving him a sense of soul separation and floating.

It was indescribable.

After the devouring was complete, Lan Ling and the demon star seemed to be immersed in some kind of afterglow.

"Do you not think you owe me an explanation?" Nightingale said coldly.

Lan Ling immediately opened his eyes and saw that Nightingale had already put on her clothes and picked up her curved sword, now holding it in her hand.

He quickly said, "I'm sorry, I should have closed my eyes first."

"Who told you that?" Nightingale said. "Why didn't you run when I told you to? Do you know that just a little more, and you would have lost your life?"

Lan Ling was taken aback, not expecting Nightingale to be talking about this.

"But... I should have saved you," Lan Ling said.

Nightingale said, "Even without weapons, I was in a passive position but not in mortal danger. I knew that if I had a moment, I could break the snake's fang and use it as a weapon to kill it. But you, if it touched you, even lightly, you would have been torn to pieces. Do you understand?"

Lan Ling remained silent.

"Besides, what is my life worth? Your life is the hope of the Suo family," Nightingale scolded.

Lan Ling was silent for a moment, then looked up and said, "You're right. But to turn and run, I couldn't do it."

Nightingale's face trembled slightly, and she stared at Lan Ling for a while before saying, "Fool."

Then, she pulled Lan Ling up and asked, "Do you still have any strength left?"

"Used it all up," Lan Ling panted. "Are you okay?"

He saw a noticeable bruise on Nightingale's neck.

"Not a big problem," Nightingale said. "Let's find a safe place to camp. Today's hunt is over."

...

They set up camp by a shallow lake.

Lan Ling and Nightingale continued to stay in the water, with Nightingale reciting the Tranquility Sutra and Lan Ling recovering his spirit power.

At the same time, the demon star helped Lan Ling with his bloodline refinement.

Today, they had devoured the dragon power of two prey, a Blood Cloud Leopard and a Blood Horned Giant Snake. Lan Ling was very eager to know how much dragon power these two beasts had.

He asked the demon star, but it did not directly answer, saying he would know after the refinement was complete, making Lan Ling even more eager.

It was another long session of dragon power refinement.

Refining the arm's tendons alone took five hours, then refining the arm bones took three hours, and finally, refining the muscles took two hours.

Throughout the process, Lan Ling felt as if his body was burning and about to burst.

After ten hours, the refinement was complete. Lan Ling opened his eyes, and it was already dawn. Nightingale was no longer in the water but was vaguely seen inside the tent.

Lan Ling climbed out of the water and immediately took out a bow from his bag to test how much his arm strength had improved.

He first picked up a 130-pound bow, took a deep breath, and drew it.

No problem, and he could hold it steady for half a minute. Then, he picked up a 150-pound bow and drew it.

Still no problem, and he could hold it steady for half a minute. But after half a minute, it became a bit strenuous.

The result was clear: Lan Ling's arm strength was now 170 pounds, a full 170 pounds.

It was truly incredible. Yesterday, a Blood Cloud Leopard and a Blood Horned Giant Snake had increased his arm strength by 50 pounds, and that was just from two beasts.

Moreover, Lan Ling felt that the Blood Horned Giant Snake was the most important factor.

"Suo Lun, you..." At this moment, Nightingale lifted the tent flap and saw Lan Ling drawing a 150-pound bow and holding it steady.

"Did you use dragon power?" Nightingale asked.

Lan Ling shook his head. "No."

Nightingale's eyes widened in surprise. Last month, during the practical training, Lan Ling's arm strength had increased by 60 pounds, which had already amazed her.

But she did not expect that at the beginning of the second stage of training, he had increased by another 50 pounds.

Now, his arm strength was 170 pounds, and he was only 130 pounds away from the graduation exam goal of 300 pounds.

Nightingale could not imagine how Lan Ling had achieved this.

"You are truly a demon," Nightingale said, then waved her hand. "Demon, come in and help me."

"Okay." Lan Ling suppressed his excitement over the strength increase and walked into the tent.

Upon entering, he was stunned.

Nightingale was lying on the sleeping bag, facing away from him. Of course, this was not the issue; the problem was that she was completely naked.

Lan Ling's nose almost started bleeding on the spot.