Beneath the Yun River near Heiyun Town, few savage beasts comparable to the Meridian Realm could be found.

With Han's current strength, he wasn't invincible underwater, but he could move with ease, navigating the depths without difficulty.

Even if he did encounter a Meridian Realm beast, Han wasn't particularly afraid.

The shrimp and crab warriors had shared three resource points with Han, two of which contained rare spiritual plants, hidden away and unnoticed by beasts. Han collected them effortlessly.

However, at the third location, Han found not only a pile of bones but also a strange spiritual plant resembling a lotus root.

Han scratched his head, realizing that something he had joked about with Bai Ruoyue and the others had come true.

But his wariness skyrocketed.

As expected, a pair of blood-red eyes suddenly flickered next to the lotus root, and with a surge of water, a crocodile over ten meters long emerged before Han.

His heart raced, and his spiritual senses buzzed, warning him that this crocodile was no ordinary beast.

This was most likely a rare Meridian Realm crocodile!

Han cursed his bad luck. The shrimp and crab warriors had mentioned a crocodile, but they had said it was at the Flesh Realm level.

If they weren't lying, then the crocodile must have recently broken through to the Meridian Realm.

The giant crocodile opened its massive mouth and charged at Han.

For beasts like this, unless they encountered something they instinctively feared, they never backed down. They would just charge ahead and tear apart anything in their way—brutally relentless.

From a distance, Han could already smell the rancid stench from the crocodile's mouth.

"Ugh, this filthy beast—wait, no, crocodile, you seriously need to brush your teeth!"

Holding his weapon fragment, Han didn't immediately run away.

He had sparred with his senior brothers before and understood the power of a Meridian Realm fighter. As a disciple of Taibai, his skills were certainly top-notch among his peers.

With his abilities, he could hold his ground against this crocodile.

Cultivation worked in such a way that every breakthrough made a huge difference. The stronger you were, the more benefits you reaped, and the difference between strong and weak was enormous.

Strength begets more strength, and weakness only spirals down further. This principle was unchanging.

"Whoosh!"

The water surged violently, creating whirlpools, as the crocodile swung its tail and sent a wave of water crashing in all directions.

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Han narrowly dodged the crocodile’s attack, striking its back with his spear. The crocodile roared in pain, thrashing wildly.

Its massive size, which should have made it a formidable force, was also a disadvantage. Its strength and vitality were immense, but that only made it a bigger target.

However, the crocodile’s tough scales made it incredibly hard to deal damage.

"Thud!"

Despite his best efforts to avoid it, Han was struck by the crocodile’s tail, sending him flying. His blood surged, and he felt a dull ache, but his inner armor softened the blow.

Compared to savage beasts, humans lacked sharp claws and tough scales, but they had weapons—an advantage that neutralized much of the natural disparity.

The crocodile circled back, and Han quickly swam to its back, continuing his relentless attacks as the crocodile thrashed about. Occasionally, the tail hit him, but he held on tightly to its leg, preventing himself from being flung away.

The crocodile became more frantic, stirring up the silt at the riverbed, trying to force Han off. The surrounding river stones attempted to push him away.

But Han wasn’t so easily thrown off.

The biggest difference between humans and beasts was intelligence!

Beasts were, after all, just beasts. Humans had the intelligence to hunt down even the most ferocious creatures, and with Han’s strength, he had even more room to maneuver.

The crocodile had been the undisputed king of this river region, but now, facing a "mere human," its size was a liability. The more it struggled, the faster it wore itself out.

Eventually, the strength of its thick armor couldn't hold up against Han's relentless strikes with the weapon fragment.

At the right moment, Han unleashed a burst of spiritual energy, crashing into the crocodile’s body. At the same time, he activated his ability from the Water Avoidance Pearl fragment, manipulating the water around the crocodile to slow it down.

With a sharp thrust, Han drove the weapon fragment into the crocodile's open mouth, stabbing deep into its throat and twisting the blade viciously.

"Deep throat!"

The beast bled profusely, its blood staining the water as it screamed in pain. The crocodile thrashed violently, but Han kept his grip on the weapon, moving with agility, pulling the weapon back, and thrusting it deep again.

"Straight to the stomach!"

With that, the battle was won. The crocodile was too severely wounded to retaliate and could no longer escape.

Who says you can't defeat a beast just because it doesn't have a head?!

It was clear that this savage beast was far easier to deal with than a Meridian Realm human cultivator.

Without wasting any time, Han collected the lotus root plant and took the bones, dragging the crocodile’s carcass up to the river’s surface.

"Senior Sister, look! There’s a crocodile in the sky!" Han called out as he surfaced.

When Bai Ruoyue looked up, Han tossed the beast's carcass into the air, sending a splash of water everywhere.

"A crocodile spectacle in mid-air—check!"

"Is this a Meridian Realm water beast?!" Bai Ruoyue exclaimed, shocked. "Han, have you lost your mind? You went and provoked a beast like that?!"

"Senior Sister, I didn't provoke it—it came after me!" Han protested.

Once on shore, Han pointed to the bones, saying, "I found this underwater, but I don’t think it’s a human bone."

The bones seemed unusual, especially the tailbone and the three long, sharp finger bones on each hand. But the most curious feature was the blue bone at the center of its forehead that curved upward like a horn.

"These must be the remains of a demon," Bai Ruoyue said.

"A demon?" Han bent down to examine the seventh rib closely. To his surprise, the rib glowed faintly in the sunlight.

Underwater, neither his eyes nor his spiritual sense had detected anything unusual about it.

"Did you find anything else around the bones?"

"Nothing at all," Han said, shaking his head. He’d thoroughly checked—the bones and the lotus root were all that remained.

“Empty!”

Han tapped the rib, finding it hollow. Surprised, he tried tapping the other bones, but they were solid, unlike this one.

"Could there be something inside?"

Han focused, extending his spiritual sense to touch the rib. Before he could probe further, a burst of blue light radiated from the rib, and a square jade slipped out, falling to the ground.

The rib's color returned to normal.

Han stared at the jade, recognizing it immediately.

"Could this be...?"

A jade slip?

Han was no stranger to this term.