Chapter 21: Intense Battle with the Blackwater Serpent King!

Feeling a surge of inspiration, Ye Lian decided to rename her spear.

The equipment rankings updated instantly.

‘Still in first place?’ She glanced at the leaderboard.

The only weapon listed was her Wind King Spear.

Given how overpowered Mu Ling was, she should’ve had a decent weapon too.

‘It’s way too obvious if I’m the only one on here… Luckily, the rankings don’t show who owns the items.’

Closing the leaderboard, Ye Lian started browsing through the new modules.

This half-finished game kept changing every so often.

By now, it had many of the features one would expect from a typical game.

‘Artifact Rankings?’ She scrolled a bit and came across a list that caught her interest.

The moment she opened it, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Someone had actually made the list!

‘[Hengdao: Silence] huh… There’s a high chance that’s Mu Ling’s artifact.’

Connecting it to Mu Ling’s terrifying leveling speed, Ye Lian was almost certain she was the owner.

‘This game makes it way too easy to leak information. I really need to be more careful.’

The last thing she wanted was for her identity as the Moon Demon Emperor to be exposed and end up being hunted by every player.

‘Lying low is the real strategy.’

After closing the artifact rankings, Ye Lian glanced at the level leaderboard—and her eye twitched uncontrollably.

While she was busy slacking off and refining her weapon, Mu Ling had already reached level 15.

“That hacking brat!” she cursed, slamming the panel shut.

She immediately picked up her pace and headed downstream.

The pressure Mu Ling exerted was enough to force her into speeding up her own leveling grind.

If Mu Ling knew that her obsessive grinding had actually spurred the Moon Demon Emperor into action, she might’ve coughed up a mouthful of blood.

That was definitely not the kind of attention she wanted.

***

After walking downhill for over twenty minutes, Ye Lian was surprised she hadn’t encountered a single nightmare creature along the way.

That was unusual.

Her senses heightened with caution.

A little farther ahead, she spotted a waterfall.

The roar of water was deafening.

Below it was a massive pool.

No—more like an underground lake.

As far as the eye could see, the water rippled gently.

At the far end were several cave openings where the water flowed out, keeping the lake’s level stable.

‘Figures there’s no proper exit here.’

After observing the area for a while, Ye Lian let out a disappointed sigh.

It was possible to follow the water out, but the danger would increase dramatically.

There was no need to take that kind of risk unless she was truly desperate.

‘This area has no monsters, the temperature is a bit low, and the slope going down is steep—around a sixty-degree angle.’

‘The surface is slick and hard to navigate.’

‘Well, hard for humans, anyway. For monsters, it’d be a lot easier.’

‘Logically speaking, this is the lower stream, so it should be full of monsters.’

‘If something seems off, there’s probably something hidden.’

Ye Lian stayed still, calmly analyzing the situation.

Though she was already a powerful Demon Emperor, she was still in her growth phase.

There was no need to take unnecessary risks.

‘Considering how low the monster and item levels are around here, even the best loot probably won’t be all that impressive anyway.’

‘It’s worth the gamble.’

As a professional player, Ye Lian naturally had a bit of a gambler’s instinct.

But she only gambled when she had data and conditions to support her decision.

‘Dragons do not dwell with snakes. I refuse to believe something ridiculously strong would show up in such a barren place.’

Gripping her spear, she sprinted downward, completely unaffected by the slippery ground.

It was as if she were running on solid land.

As she reached the lower level, she simply leapt forward and landed with a graceful ease.

Just as Ye Lian steadied herself, the surface of the water began to tremble violently, as if something massive was about to emerge.

“I knew something was off here,” she said with a calm smile, looking completely composed.

The surface of the water gradually bulged upward, then suddenly burst open with a loud splash—a giant black head the size of a bullet train’s nose shot out, glaring at her with blood-red eyes.

‘Blackwater King Serpent. Level 8. That’s about the strength I was expecting. It’s a killable target.’

Though, she added silently, it’ll take some effort.

“HSSSS!” The Blackwater King Serpent opened its mouth wide and let out a piercing screech.

***

In the next moment, vapor in its mouth condensed, and almost instantly, it fired a high-pressure stream of water.

Ye Lian had seen this move before—on that giant crab.

But this was different.

The serpent’s water stream was real—fast, violent, and deadly.

There was no room for carelessness.

She immediately kicked off the ground, dodging in a flash.

In the blink of an eye, the high-pressure jet struck the exact spot she had just been standing.

Water exploded outward, sending shards of rock flying.

Had that hit her directly, she would’ve been seriously injured—maybe even knocked out.

Of course, that was just an estimate.

Ye Lian wasn’t stupid enough to “try it and see.”

She wasn’t some kind of masochist.

The serpent missed its mark and fired again.

A second stream of water shot toward her at high speed.

“Tch. This thing’s not coming ashore. It’s got the range advantage over me like this.”

Ye Lian dodged easily, her gaze shifting toward the crater left by the earlier blast.

A sizeable hole had formed in the ground.

Steadying herself again, she locked onto the Blackwater King Serpent.

One hand extended outward, compressing the surrounding air.

A translucent sphere formed in her palm.

The serpent looked over at her just as she fired—an air cannon shot out like lightning.

The blast landed before the serpent could react, producing a resounding boom on impact.

Its enormous head snapped backward from the hit.

But the damage was minimal.

The blast hadn’t even pierced its scales.

If anything, it only enraged the creature.

“Just as I thought,” Ye Lian muttered, unfazed.

Air cannons were good for close-range bursts—over long distances, the power dropped off sharply.

“HSSSS!” The serpent shrieked again.

This time, instead of shooting another water blast, it charged straight toward her.

The lake surface churned violently in its wake, ripples spreading outward.

“Perfect.”

Ye Lian held her spear at the ready, battle intent radiating from her.

The serpent suddenly opened its mouth wide and launched itself like a bullet.

It was hard to believe something so massive could move that fast.

Faced with this sudden charge, Ye Lian remained utterly calm, like a machine.

In that moment, everything seemed to freeze in her eyes.

She could see the exact trajectory of the serpent’s attack—and even its potential follow-up moves.

She saw through everything.

Then, the frozen moment vanished.

The Blackwater King Serpent shot forward, its stinking breath rushing toward her.

Ye Lian lightly tapped the ground with her toe and leapt high into the air, narrowly avoiding the serpent’s first strike.

It missed, and its enormous body slammed into the ground, cracking it open.

Suddenly, it twisted its body and flung its massive tail upward, aiming to swat her out of the sky.

But Ye Lian had already predicted this move.

She fired another blast of compressed air and used the recoil to propel herself away at high speed.

The serpent’s tail missed, but the force of the wind still knocked her back even farther—right above its head.

“Tough luck!” she yelled, gripping her spear with both hands.

Using the momentum from her fall, she shot downward like a bolt of lightning.

The serpent frantically shook its head, trying to dodge the incoming strike.

But it was just a fraction too slow.

The Wind King Spear slashed a deep, bone-revealing wound across its upper jaw and right eye.

That eye was destroyed on the spot.

A furious, bloodcurdling screech tore from the serpent’s throat.