Chapter 120: The Ferocious Beast in the Pool Reveals Itself!

At the same time, Wang Chen felt himself swept by the mighty waves onto a stretch of placid water. Spreading his limbs, he swam upward toward the surface.

With a loud splash, Wang Chen emerged from the water, gasping for fresh air. “Where have the waves taken me now?” he wondered, surveying his surroundings. Before him lay a tranquil pool, dotted with a few small islets overgrown with lush aquatic grass.

He turned in the water, glancing toward a nearby fork in the river channel. The river he had been following split at that point—one branch continued along its original path downstream, while the other poured its waters into this very pool.

Wang Chen paddled toward one of the small islets. It was too risky to linger in the water; better to find solid ground. Once he climbed ashore, he took a careful look around, pondering his next move.

The islet he now stood upon was separated from the river’s main course by most of the pool. There seemed little point in swimming back. In terrain such as this, keeping away from the water’s edge meant avoiding danger. It might be wiser to cross from one sandbar to the next, heading for the forest, and from there search for a path that would rejoin his original route.

Just as he was about to set this plan into motion, the placid surface was suddenly disturbed by a swift shadow. A pale pink, elongated shape shot toward Wang Chen’s face. His pupils contracted as he bent backward in an iron-bridge arc, narrowly dodging the attack. Thanks to his enhanced vitality, he could now perform such a maneuver with ease.

He didn’t spring up immediately but rolled aside, quickly regaining his footing to avoid a second assault from the mysterious attacker.

“What was that?” Wang Chen’s gaze sharpened as he peered into the pool. A flash of green flickered at his fingertips, and the Forest Gale staff appeared in his hand.

“Lightning Barrier!”

Sparks danced at the head of the staff as three lightning barriers materialized and hovered protectively around him. With his defense in place, he prepared to scout for the enemy. A blue-green gleam flashed in his eyes.

He activated the Leaf Veil technique, searching beneath the water’s surface for any visions he could seize. Yet as his mystical sight touched the water, he felt a surge of resistance—a force pushing back. He was astonished; this was the first time the Leaf Veil had ever met such opposition. Did the beast lurking below possess a skill to ward off magical probing?

A sense of unease crept over him. Though he still faced the pool, his steps began to retreat, and he cast a cover for himself. Wisps of white smoke poured from the Forest Gale staff, shrouding him and spreading from the islet into the pool.

“If you won’t come out, then stay hidden,” Wang Chen thought. The Five-Mile Mist, as it was called, obscured the vision of enemy units, providing the perfect chance for his retreat. With such an unknown adversary, there was no need to risk everything. The secret realm teemed with deadly beasts; there was no reason to pit himself against this one.

While Wang Chen slipped away through the mist toward dry land, ripples began to spread across the pool. The water churned, and in moments a great wave rose, crashing toward him through the smoke.

“So the earlier tidal wave wasn’t a fluke—there’s definitely something monstrous beneath the water,” Wang Chen thought, sprinting for the shore. The wave, though powerful, was smaller and covered less ground than the first, and with no vegetation to hinder him, he managed to escape its reach.

But the mist he had conjured was entirely swept away, leaving him exposed. At that instant, the pale pink appendage struck again, its angle so cunning that Wang Chen failed to dodge in time. It struck him squarely, and the three lightning barriers flaring around him burst in a flash, then shattered and faded.

But Wang Chen did not flinch. With a snap of his fingers, a colossal stone hand erupted from the sandbar, seizing the elongated form and pinning it fast. He had secretly prepared the Dense Radiant Veil beneath the mist for just this move.

At last, he could see his foe clearly. The pale pink appendage was studded with small fleshy orbs, its surface unnervingly resilient as it distorted under the stone hand’s grip.

“A tongue?” Wang Chen wondered, uncertain. Judging by its length—over ten meters—whatever lurked beneath must be massive.

As he pondered whether to fight or flee, the tongue suddenly became slick with a viscous secretion. The stone hand could no longer maintain its grip, and inch by inch the tongue began to slip free.

Seeing his chance to wound this beast slipping away, Wang Chen made a quick decision. “Even if I don’t wish to fight, it’s clear this thing won’t let me leave. Let’s see who prevails!”

A flash at his fingertips, and the Flame Python Blade appeared in his grasp. He raised the blade high and struck down at the tongue.

The sharp blade sliced into it, but the tongue was so elastic that it merely stretched, absorbing much of his force. Still, he managed to carve a bleeding wound into the flesh. The tongue trembled violently with pain, sending ripples across the pool.

Without hesitation, Wang Chen continued his assault, hacking again and again at the tongue. Though he could not sever it, he left it covered in gruesome gashes.

At last, the beast beneath the water could bear no more. With a mighty leap, it burst from the pool, lunging at Wang Chen.

Its true form now revealed—a hulking, three- to four-meter-tall monster, its shape reminiscent of a monstrous toad.

“Good!” Wang Chen shouted triumphantly. Yes, if the beast chose to face him while he wielded the Flame Python Blade, its timing could not have been worse.

He gripped the blade with both hands, spun, and released a sweeping arc of blazing fire, a crescent-shaped wave rushing forward.

The toad monster’s eyes glowed with an eerie light, and a wall of water surged from the pool to block the oncoming flames. With a hiss and a burst of steam, the fire and water collided, shrouding the area in white mist.

The toad landed safely, crashing down on the stone hand behind Wang Chen. Sand and dust flew as the beast’s bulk crushed the stone hand to rubble, and the battered tongue was finally freed, snapping back into its mouth.

Wasting no time, the beast readied itself to leap back toward the pool. But Wang Chen had anticipated this and was ready.

“Binding Spell!”

A point of light shot from the tip of the Forest Gale staff, embedding itself in the monster’s body. Instantly, the toad’s movements grew stiff and sluggish.