On a flat area halfway up a small hill, seven or eight young men and women were gathered on a carpet, having a picnic. The carpet was laden with food, and a radio on the ground played a beautiful melody. The young people chatted as they ate.
"Oh! We finally shook those people off. This place was off-limits. If we hadn't taken a big detour, today's party would have been ruined."
"Yeah, I heard a monster escaped from the lab and still hasn't been caught?"
"Oh, don't believe their stories. Those soldiers must have a secret operation. Do you believe it? They always use that excuse." One guy said mysteriously.
"Maybe there really is a monster, haha. But don't you think it makes our gathering more exciting, hahaha!"
...
The giant jiao moved swiftly, getting closer to the group of humans within minutes.
"Oh my god! What was that? I just saw a shadow flash through the distant woods."
"There's nothing there, you must be seeing things. Ah..." Before he could finish his sentence, a massive, blood-red mouth lunged at him. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
In less than a minute, the giant jiao had swallowed all the humans. However, the seven or eight people were far from enough for it; it needed more food.
Its cold, merciless eyes scanned the area. It turned and began to crawl down the mountain. The jiao moved through the forest like a storm, soon spotting a group of armed humans guarding the base of the hill. It quickly stopped, its eyes filled with a fierce glow as it assessed them. They wore uniform outfits with camouflaged helmets and carried a variety of weapons—none of which could harm the jiao. It hesitated for a moment before turning back toward its lair.
It understood that if it wiped out these people, its presence would be exposed, leading to more pursuers. Now was not the time for hunting; the humans were waiting for it to walk into their trap.
As night gradually fell, the giant jiao began moving again, heading down the mountain. It noticed that the soldiers had left, leaving the area surrounded by some yellow tape, which was no barrier for the jiao. It quickly broke through the fence and swam towards the plains. Within minutes, it saw a brightly lit area ahead—this must be a human settlement. Its eyes gleamed with malice, and its enormous body swiftly headed towards the village.
……
Several days had passed. During this time, Brandon's depleted energy had gradually recovered, filling his body with strength once again. The few giant beasts, including King Kong, no longer needed to hunt for themselves. The island's creatures, with their energy-rich flesh, helped them recover quickly. In just a few days, they were back to their vigorous selves.
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The spiritual energy in this area was abundant, and the speed of cultivation was far faster than in Snake Valley. After many days of recuperation and training, the few giant pythons had reached the peak of the third level in their fighting qi, just a step away from reaching the Earth level.
However, despite their strength, the giant beasts were not invincible on the island. Brandon had seen several instances where King Kong and the giant pythons returned with wounds, empty-handed.
Although the giant beasts here did not know the methods of cultivation, their prolonged exposure to an energy-rich environment had led to generations of evolution. Their physical strength had greatly increased, and their flesh was filled with energy. Brandon believed that if the island's giant beasts could cultivate, they would easily reach the Earth level by harnessing their abundant internal energy.
As a result, King Kong and the other giant beasts trained even more diligently, showing noticeably more vitality than they had in Snake Valley. It was clear that this environment was more suitable for their lives.
Outside the cave, the blood orchid, which had been wilting for a few days, regained its vitality. The abundant spiritual energy caused it to grow rapidly, slowly sprouting new shoots.
The blood orchid's growth was very slow. This particular orchid had been around for an unknown number of years. Brandon learned from an ancient scroll he got from a human that these blood orchids were at least a thousand years old. Despite so many years of growth, it had only reached about three meters in length. While in Snake Valley, Brandon had never seen it sprout new shoots. Surprisingly, after being transplanted here, the blood orchid began to thrive.
Brandon was hopeful that in such a spiritually rich environment, the blood orchid might undergo further evolution and become a true treasure of nature.
Since entering that soul space last time, Brandon hadn’t been able to go back. Despite his attempts, he couldn’t figure it out. He realized that his current strength was still far from reaching that level; the previous entry was just a fluke.
However, from the sudden memories that surfaced, Brandon noticed that faith was incredibly important for him. Even without reaching legendary strength, faith was still highly useful. Adequate faith could slowly transform both the body and soul, making it easier to achieve legendary power. However, this transformation would take a very long time, at least a thousand years. But as a dragon, living for thousands of years wasn’t an issue for him.
It seemed he needed to pay more attention to the cannibals in the future, as they were a source of his faith. If he could cooperate with the Church, it would be even better. From the underwater red dragon, Brandon learned that ever since the gods' war, the gods disappeared, and no divine miracles had occurred since. Various signs indicated that the gods had either fallen or were in a deep slumber somewhere.
Although the Church had limited power, its influence was immense, with billions of followers worldwide. The enormous faith generated by these followers was being wasted. If Brandon could join the Church, he could certainly benefit from this vast reservoir of faith. However, after some thought, he gave up on the idea. Being globally wanted, it was unlikely that the Pope would cooperate with him unless he was a fool.
Everything required strength. In the eyes of humans, he was just an outcast. Without intimidating power, he would only be hunted. Right now, he was like the fabled flesh of Tang Monk, with everyone eager to drink his blood and eat his flesh.
Thinking about this ignited a fury within him, and sparks began to fly from his nostrils.
Brandon shook his massive body and got up from the ground. He couldn’t afford to be lazy anymore. If he didn’t want to be beaten by humans and have his lair destroyed like last time, he had to train diligently. The dignity of a dragon was not to be trampled on!
Perhaps he was the most embarrassed dragon in history. Brandon mocked himself, shook his head, and walked out of his lair toward the volcano.