Encountering an 'Old Acquaintance'

Chapter 148: Encountering an 'Old Acquaintance'

"There's no other way, I have to flee first!" After casting a glance at the fierce beasts drawn over by those few wolves, Zhou Tian did not hesitate at all and immediately prepared to run.

Zhou Tian was no fool. Under normal circumstances, although those fierce beasts were formidable, he was not entirely incapable of fighting them. If Zhou Tian wanted to deal with those fierce beasts, a few strikes of his Heaven-Shattering Seal would suffice.

However, the problem now was that, due to the Wolf King's prior arrangement, the demonic power within Zhou Tian's body had long since been nearly exhausted. Right now, not only could Zhou Tian, even if he fought with all his might, at most kill a single fierce beast, but even if he genuinely managed to wipe out all these fierce beasts, he could easily imagine that if he left no demonic power in reserve, the Wolf King, lurking in the shadows and staring intently at him, would definitely never let him go.

Therefore, Zhou Tian currently found that he had no other choice besides escaping. If he stayed to face those fierce beasts, no matter how he calculated it, the ultimate outcome for him would undoubtedly be defeat and death. Since that was the case, why not take the opportunity to escape while he still had some remaining strength!

Having made up his mind, Zhou Tian wasted no words and immediately took action...

At a time like this, the earlier he extricated himself, the safer he would be. Just as those fierce beasts were charging toward him, without even waiting for them to truly draw near, Zhou Tian had already conjured a demonic cloud and taken to the skies.

Zhou Tian's plan was quite sound: neither the wolves nor the fierce beasts that appeared later possessed the ability to fly. Under such circumstances, as long as Zhou Tian flew up into the sky, he believed neither the Wolf King nor those fierce beasts would ultimately be able to do anything to him.

In reality, it was indeed just like that. When they saw Zhou Tian flying up into the sky, those fierce beasts let out a few anxious roars and then hurriedly rushed toward him...

Unfortunately, Zhou Tian's movements were relatively fast. By the time those fierce beasts reached the spot, Zhou Tian had already flown up into the sky long before. Aside from roaring wildly on the ground, those fierce beasts were completely powerless against Zhou Tian.

On the contrary, once Zhou Tian was outside their range of attack, those fierce beasts actually started fighting among themselves. Throwing punches and kicks at each other, though completely devoid of any technique, they were still incredibly powerful due to the fierce beasts' formidable strength. Even the simplest attacks, when executed by those fierce beasts, looked quite astonishing in terms of momentum.

Initially, Zhou Tian was quite happy to watch the battle of those fierce beasts from the sky. Although riding the cloud consumed a certain amount of energy, that tiny consumption was almost negligible. Now high up in the sky, not only did Zhou Tian's demonic power stop decreasing, but it had already begun to slowly recover.

However, before Zhou Tian's condition could even fully recover, the events that immediately followed caused his expression to shift drastically, and he hurriedly began to descend toward the ground.

Zhou Tian had only paid attention to the dangers on the ground and had completely failed to consider that on the night of the blood moon, all magical beasts possessing the bloodline of fierce beasts were affected, regardless of their type. In other words, whether winged or four-footed, as long as they possessed the bloodline of fierce beasts, they would inevitably go berserk on the night of the blood moon.

When Zhou Tian was on the ground, because of the presence of the wolf pack and those formidable fierce beasts, fierce beasts below that tier of strength generally would not dare to approach that area. Naturally, the only opponents Zhou Tian had seen were those few.

Yet now that Zhou Tian had actually flown up into the sky, he inadvertently attracted some winged creatures that had previously paid no attention to him.

When Zhou Tian saw a familiar-looking flock of shadows swooping toward him, after letting out an exclamation of surprise, he naturally rushed back down to the ground to hide without any hesitation.

Even more than Zhou Tian, those fierce beasts also displayed expressions of unease when they saw the swarm of shadows closely pursuing him.

Fortunately, under the influence of the blood moon night, those fierce beasts did not flee. When Zhou Tian flashed past them, those fierce beasts spontaneously helped Zhou Tian block the majority of the winged creatures diving from the sky.

"This really is a coincidence!" Watching those winged creatures fighting the fierce beasts, this was the only thought left in Zhou Tian's mind.

Zhou Tian never expected that after arriving at the Black Blood Plateau, he would actually encounter an 'old acquaintance'. The shadows that had chased Zhou Tian down from the sky were none other than the strange birds Zhou Tian had encountered on his way to the Black Blood Plateau.

The strange birds were strange precisely because, aside from a pair of wings, their overall appearance was no different from ordinary earthly creatures. With bizarre and varied shapes, had Zhou Tian not sensed that those strange birds shared the exact same aura, he probably never would have guessed that a flock of winged creatures with completely different outward appearances actually belonged to the very same species.

Zhou Tian had once wondered how, given that the influence of the strange birds was so immense—arguably not even weaker than that of the Dragon Clan—he had never heard anyone mention them before. Encountering those strange birds once more, Zhou Tian finally understood why their strength was so formidable while their reputation remained entirely obscure.

It turned out that the kingdom of those strange birds was established right here within the Black Blood Plateau. Given the conditions of the Black Blood Plateau, the outside world barely even understood its basic information, let alone knowing about the strange birds inhabiting this region.

While lamenting the fact that he had actively stumbled right into his enemy's lair, Zhou Tian had already figured out a way to conceal himself.

Fortunately, perhaps after the darkest hour comes the dawn, it was finally time for Zhou Tian—who had been plagued by bad luck for a while—to experience a stroke of good fortune. Because this flock of strange birds was not the exact same one Zhou Tian had previously encountered, they did not recognize him. The only reason they attacked Zhou Tian was because they too possessed the bloodline of fierce beasts, and seeing him within their line of sight, they launched an assault. Now, having descended to lower altitudes and spotted those fierce beasts to engage them in combat, those strange birds immediately shifted their attention away from Zhou Tian and onto the fierce beasts.

After the strange birds let out a simultaneous chorus of irritable screeches, they quickly clashed with those fierce beasts.

Although those fierce beasts possessed much greater individual strength than the strange birds, the strange birds held an absolute advantage in terms of numbers. Coupled with the enormous size of those fierce beasts—each being attacked by nearly a hundred strange birds at once—even with their decent strength, those fierce beasts found themselves struggling bitterly under wave after wave of assaults.

In less than ten minutes, those fierce beasts suffered heavy injuries due to the attacks of the strange birds, and under the continuing onslaught, they were soon entirely swallowed up by the flock.

When the strange birds took flight once more, on the ground, let alone those fierce beasts, even the strange birds killed by the beasts had been gnawed down to piles of bare white bones.

Seeing this, Zhou Tian's heart tightened involuntarily, and he hid himself even more thoroughly.

Unfortunately, despite how securely Zhou Tian had hidden, he was still quickly discovered during the search conducted by the flock of strange birds. In fact, not only Zhou Tian, but even the wolf pack led by the Wolf King failed to escape the search of those strange birds. When Zhou Tian and the wolf pack were flushed out of their hiding spots one after another by the attacks of the birds, Zhou Tian and the Wolf King exchanged a glance and could not help but smile bitterly.

The current situation could be described as having twists and turns. Having evolved into this state, let alone Zhou Tian, even the Wolf King, who had started laying out its plans long ago, never anticipated it.

The Wolf King's deployment could originally be said to be utterly flawless. The only thing it never expected was that Zhou Tian—a 'person' who seemingly had not even reached the Saint Realm—was actually capable of flying. Furthermore, Zhou Tian's flight was not the low-altitude gliding typical of ordinary Saints, but rather rising into the high skies like a true winged creature, leaving both the Wolf King and those fierce beasts gazing skyward with a sigh, wishing they could grow a pair of wings themselves.

If it were merely that, the absolute worst-case scenario would have been Zhou Tian reaping the benefits. But who could have anticipated that, in the worst possible twist of fate, Zhou Tian's ascent into the high skies would attract such a massive swarm of strange birds, and that their strength would be so formidable? In the end, not only did the Wolf King fail to achieve its original goal of killing Zhou Tian here, but it instead found itself plunging into mortal danger right alongside Zhou Tian.

Stealing a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait—had it known beforehand that this would be the outcome, the Wolf King probably never would have harbored any thoughts of seeking revenge on Zhou Tian in the first place! Unfortunately, even if it wanted to regret it now, it was already too late. Facing the flock of strange birds circling in the sky, the Wolf King's greatest ambition now was simply to escape with its life from the hands of those birds; as for any other thoughts, the Wolf King no longer dared to entertain them.

Sadly, even though its demands had dropped to the absolute minimum, the Wolf King's final wish could not be fulfilled. The strange birds showed no courtesy to the Wolf King. The reason the wolf pack was able to dominate this region relied primarily on its sheer numbers. Now, the strange birds held an even greater advantage in numbers over the wolf pack, and their combat prowess had already been demonstrated by slaying several fierce beasts that were by no means weaker than the Wolf King itself. Escaping from their clutches naturally ceased to be an easy task for the Wolf King.

Under the cover of the wolf pack, the Wolf King managed to flee a mere dozen meters or so before it too was ultimately swallowed up by the onslaught of those strange birds.

In contrast, Zhou Tian—whose baseline strength was originally the weakest among the factions of fierce beasts, strange birds, and wolves—ended up being the one who lasted the longest under the attacks of those strange birds precisely because of that weakness.

The defensive power of the Luo Immortal Armor was quite astonishing. Although the number of strange birds was vast, because they utterly failed to pierce Zhou Tian's defense, they could do nothing but stare in frustration when facing him. After launching continuous waves of attacks against Zhou Tian and realizing they could do nothing to him, the strange birds simply dispersed and flew away.

The time on the blood moon night was limited, and those strange birds seemed eager to rush off and deal with other magical beasts, so they ultimately chose not to waste time on Zhou Tian, unexpectedly allowing him to escape with his life.

No matter how strong the defense of the Luo Immortal Armor was, it still required the support of demonic power. Having gone through multiple battles, Zhou Tian already had very little demonic power left in his body. Under such circumstances, while facing the swarm of strange birds looked deceptively easy from the outside, only Zhou Tian himself knew how excruciatingly difficult it truly was to endure.

Gazing from afar at the departing figures of the strange birds, Zhou Tian did not make any superfluous movements. After briefly surveying his surroundings and discovering no further matters worthy of his attention, he began recovering his demonic power while heading toward a safe location.

Where was the safest place?

Perhaps Zhou Tian hadn't known before, but on the night of the blood moon, he now knew which places were relatively safe.

He would head directly to the place from whence the flock of strange birds had come. Judging by the performance of those strange birds, they were as ferocious as ant colonies on Earth. Once their numbers reached that scale, any edible object along their path would find it hard to escape their clutches. Since that route had already been swept clean by those strange birds once, even if one couldn't say there were no other living creatures left along that path, at the very least, most of the formidable fierce beasts should have already become rations for the strange birds. By heading in that direction, the probability of encountering danger would undoubtedly be much lower.

And the situation turned out largely as Zhou Tian expected. When he traveled along the path from which the strange birds had come, he truly did not encounter any more opponents. Although troublesome matters were still quite numerous, compared to his previous encounters, the fierce beasts he met afterward posed virtually no threat to him whatsoever.

Therefore, even though the number of attacks Zhou Tian faced in the subsequent period was countless times greater than before, his condition actually slowly recovered through this continuous combat. After all, a single formidable opponent was always far more threatening than ten thousand weak ones.

...

It wasn't until Zhou Tian had traveled nearly one or two miles along that path that the blood moon night finally vanished amidst the grateful gaze of Zhou Tian, who felt like a survivor of a catastrophe.

The very instant the blood moon night vanished, the swarm of magical beasts that had still been attacking Zhou Tian immediately halted their actions. Glancing at each other in bewilderment, upon detecting the lingering scent of blood on Zhou Tian, they let out simultaneous mournful howls and fled without a word.

Zhou Tian did not pursue those magical beasts, for his attention was captivated by an entirely different matter at that moment.

Previously, Zhou Tian only knew of the terror of the blood moon night. Now that he had survived one, he finally understood why so many people still came to this place despite knowing how dangerous the Black Blood Plateau was. Furthermore, having experienced a blood moon night firsthand, Zhou Tian now roughly understood why the Black Blood Plateau boasted far more powerhouses than the outside world. While part of the reason was that the cultivation of dark practitioners was faster than orthodox methods, an even greater reason unexpectedly stemmed from the assistance of the blood moon night.

The exact moment the blood moon receded from the sky, the crimson moonlight intertwined with the rising rays of the sun, triggering a wondrous transformation.

When the golden-red light shone upon Zhou Tian, a system prompt unexpectedly rang in his ears.

"Sensing special energy, the system is absorbing it independently... Ding, gained ten million experience points. Host level... Ding, host level cannot be increased. Experience points have been accumulated and will be automatically absorbed after class advancement."

Ten million experience points—what kind of concept was that? It was probably more than enough for Zhou Tian to rise all the way from level one to level thirty! Although for Zhou Tian at present, ten million experience points were no longer sufficient to trigger a level-up, it was still a tremendously hefty sum of experience income.

The system judged that energy to be a special energy and thus directly converted it into experience points. Although it remained unclear whether directly absorbing this kind of energy had any drawbacks, one point was certain: if a normal person absorbed this energy properly, it would undoubtedly enhance their strength.

Zhou Tian had gained ten million experience simply by surviving a single blood moon night. Even if others absorbed less experience than Zhou Tian, through accumulated experiences over the years after surviving numerous blood moon nights, as long as those special energies could be smoothly absorbed and digested—and provided they weren't trapped by bottlenecks like Zhou Tian—reaching the Saint Realm would likely take only a matter of years.

Although the existence of bottlenecks meant that ninety-nine percent of people would find it difficult to make further progress once they reached a certain level of strength, that fortunate minority could use the assistance of that special energy to smoothly propel their strength all the way to the Saint Realm, Demi-God Realm, or even straight into the God Realm.

Understanding all of this brought Zhou Tian no sense of joy; instead, it caused his heart to leap into his throat, and a deep wariness toward the practitioners within the Black Blood Plateau took root in his mind.

If his deductions were correct, the waters of the Black Blood Plateau ran far deeper than he had previously imagined. He would need to exercise more caution when operating here in the future; otherwise, should he carelessly cross paths with some super genius without a bottleneck, he might be obliterated in the blink of an eye.

Zhou Tian had never considered himself a genius; he only possessed his current strength thanks to the system's assistance. Yet the Black Blood Plateau itself acted like a colossal cheat code. Even if its capabilities fell short of the system, if certain geniuses utilized it properly, their achievements would undoubtedly soar to absurd heights. Knowing that such a group of people existed in the shadows, how could Zhou Tian not feel nervous?

The deeper he understood the Black Blood Plateau, the more cautious Zhou Tian became. After experiencing the blood moon night, far from intending to return to the spheres of influence of other practitioners, he ventured even deeper into the wild.

And once Zhou Tian penetrated deep into sparsely populated regions, the number of magical beasts he encountered decreased, but their strength practically kept increasing continuously. From high-level magical beasts to Saint Beasts, and from Saint Beasts to Divine Beasts, the magical beasts he encountered either ended up slain by him or hunted him down. Although every day was filled with tension, Zhou Tian could feel his own gains. Though he had yet to break through his bottleneck, after adventuring in the wilds of the Black Blood Plateau for a time, Zhou Tian could sense that his bottleneck had loosened somewhat, and with a bit more effort, he might soon be able to break through it.

However, before the day of his true breakthrough arrived, Zhou Tian unexpectedly encountered a group of 'old acquaintances', plunging him into trouble once more.

Calling them 'old acquaintances' was ironic, because while the other party recognized Zhou Tian, he himself could not remember how or when he had ever met them.

...Seeking subscriptions...

One day, after Zhou Tian provoked a magical beast as usual and began fighting it, just as he was about to deliver the killing blow, a water arrow suddenly shot in from afar, piercing and instantly slaying the magical beast that was already on the verge of death.

"How dare they steal my kill!" Seeing this scene, how could Zhou Tian fail to understand what had happened?

Perhaps for Zhou Tian, the minor amount of currency obtained from slaying magical beasts was not worth his attention, but the experience points gained from landing the final killing blow were something he simply could not ignore.

Moreover, setting aside the matter of experience, the other party's act was a direct provocation toward Zhou Tian. Faced with such behavior, there was no way he could swallow his anger! Thus, upon discovering someone was kill-stealing, Zhou Tian immediately looked in the direction from which the water arrow had been fired.

He wanted to see who had dared to steal his kill; if the perpetrators weren't too difficult to deal with, Zhou Tian didn't mind teaching them a lesson.

Yet who would have thought that when Zhou Tian turned his head, before he—the victim of the kill-steal—could even say a word, the other party underwent a drastic reaction...

"Zhou Tian!"

"Eh! How do they know my name?" Looking at the team of snake-men dressed like a small mercenary group not far away, Zhou Tian suddenly heard them shouting his name and naturally wore a puzzled expression.

Zhou Tian could swear on his life that he did not know those snake-men. Yet for reasons unknown, upon laying eyes on Zhou Tian, they glared at him with intense malice, as if seeing their sworn enemy, and without another word, immediately launched a frenzied assault against him.

"Water Arrow!"

"Fireball!"

"Wind Blade!"

"..."

Originally, when facing such a small mercenary group that dared to attack him, Zhou Tian certainly wouldn't have minded wiping them all out completely.

However, once he truly exchanged blows with them, Zhou Tian made a startling discovery...

Utilizing entirely basic-tier magic, by all accounts, those people's strength should not have seemed strong at all. Such was Zhou Tian's initial assessment after observing their attacks, and even before their onslaught landed on him, he had already decided to annihilate this mercenary group afterward.

Although Zhou Tian still couldn't recall who they were, given that these mercenaries held such immense hostility toward him, he could easily guess they were undoubtedly his enemies. Since they were enemies, it didn't matter if he couldn't remember their identities; he only needed to slaughter them.

Yet when their attacks finally struck him, Zhou Tian was directly startled.

"Are you kidding me? What kind of beginner magic packs this much power!" Clearly, they were merely the most basic spells, but when they impacted Zhou Tian, the explosive force they unleashed thoroughly shocked him.

There were no deafening sounds, nor did their appearance differ in any way from ordinary elementary magic. Yet these few seemingly ordinary basic-tier magic attacks caused Zhou Tian to suffer quite a bitter lesson due to a moment of carelessness.

Before the enemy's spells crashed before him, Zhou Tian hadn't even had time to figure out what was happening before he was blasted flying by their magic. If not for the protection of the Luo Immortal Armor, Zhou Tian might very well have been obliterated under their assault.

It was a completely ordinary attack, but Zhou Tian estimated its power had reached at least the level of a small forbidden spell. He had no idea how the snake-men before him cultivated, but their method of attack was truly bizarre to the extreme.

Recovering his wits, Zhou Tian naturally did not dare to harbor any further carelessness. With a solemn expression, he immediately summoned his Heaven-Shattering Seal.

Because the enemy's numbers were small and their strength exceptionally formidable, Zhou Tian abandoned any intention of testing each other's combat power. The moment he engaged, Zhou Tian drove the Heaven-Shattering Seal with all his might, smashing it directly toward the snake-men.

The Heaven-Shattering Seal instantly expanded thousands of times, resembling a colossal mountain as it rapidly descended upon the snake-men.

Normally, given that Zhou Tian had already deployed the Heaven-Shattering Seal—and at full power—the offensive might of the seal should have made it completely impossible for those snake-men to resist.

Yet the ultimate outcome turned out entirely different.

As the Heaven-Shattering Seal descended toward the snake-men, they spotted it, and just as the seal was about to crush down upon their heads, those snake-men simultaneously unleashed several basic-tier spells directly at the seal.

Under the full-force joint attack of the snake-men, the descent of the Heaven-Shattering Seal was slowed down by the obstruction of their magic. However, even forbidden spells could not halt the attacks of the Heaven-Shattering Seal, so naturally, it wouldn't be easily blocked by such means. Although its speed was slightly reduced due to their onslaught, under Zhou Tian's control, the Heaven-Shattering Seal continued its descent toward the snake-men.

Yet at that exact moment, those snake-men cast another round of basic-tier magic at the Heaven-Shattering Seal...

Because casting basic-tier magic lacked the complexity and lengthy incantations of forbidden spells, those snake-men had more than enough time to cast multiple spells during the interval before the Heaven-Shattering Seal reached their heads.

While the power of the Heaven-Shattering Seal was formidable, Zhou Tian's personal cultivation was ultimately limited, preventing him from unleashing the seal's full potential. Under such circumstances, the power of the snake-men's basic magic was surprisingly potent, and through several consecutive rounds of interception, they managed to block and repel the Heaven-Shattering Seal—an artifact that even forbidden spells could not stop—by sheer force of accumulation.

When the Heaven-Shattering Seal was deflected upward by the impact of the snake-men's magical assault, Zhou Tian himself coughed up a mouthful of blood due to the backlash.

This was absolute the first time since obtaining the Heaven-Shattering Seal that Zhou Tian had his all-out attack blocked by someone. While inwardly shocked, Zhou Tian did not hesitate for a second to turn and sprint away in the opposite direction of the snake-men.

Running into Zhou Tian had been an accident for those snake-men, and naturally, they hadn't made any prior arrangements in the vicinity. Stopping Zhou Tian wasn't impossible, but it required the snake-men to accomplish it through pure strength; if they lacked that strength, they simply wouldn't be able to hold him back.

Seeing Zhou Tian attempt to flee, the snake-men reacted swiftly, instantly shifting their targets and unleashing magic once more at the fleeing figure in the distance.

Within seconds, Zhou Tian, who had already started running outward, sensed a surge of magical aura closing in from behind. Unless a miracle occurred, if he didn't alter his running trajectory, he would inevitably be struck by the snake-men's attacks. However, if Zhou Tian wanted to change direction now, his speed would inevitably be affected, and if he failed to break away in time and was overtaken by those terrifyingly strong snake-men, he would certainly meet a grim fate.

In that split second of decision, Zhou Tian gritted his teeth and abandoned any thoughts of dodging. Powering the Luo Immortal Armor to its absolute limit, he chose to take the enemy's attack head-on.

Just as before, relying on the formidable defense of the Luo Immortal Armor, while the enemy's magic failed to injure him, Zhou Tian was blasted flying by the impact.

This result came as no surprise to Zhou Tian. Having prepared in advance, the moment he hit the ground, Zhou Tian simply rolled, patted his backside nonchalantly, and resumed his escape.

Undoubtedly, Zhou Tian's reaction was something those snake-men had never anticipated. They never imagined that their attack would fail to stop him and instead act as a propulsion force aiding his getaway. Had they known this would be the outcome, they probably wouldn't have cast that final spell.

Since the event had already occurred, regret was useless for the snake-men. Exchanging a glance, they said nothing further and immediately gave chase in the direction Zhou Tian had fled.

One fleeing and the others pursuing, the two parties quickly left the location of their initial encounter...

...Seeking subscriptions...

"What on earth are these guys?" After Zhou Tian escaped, those relentless snake-men continued to pursue him closely from behind without letting up. Seeing the gnashing of teeth on their faces, it was clear they harbored a deep, burning hatred for Zhou Tian. Puzzling over it for a long time, Zhou Tian still couldn't figure out when or how he had offended such a tenacious group of enemies.

Moreover, Zhou Tian knew his own limits. Having now advanced to the highest rank of snake-grade existence and possessing high-tier magical treasures like the Heaven-Shattering Seal, his combat prowess was unquestionably a hundred times stronger than before. Given his current strength, if he still needed to flee upon encountering that group of snake-men, then based on his past level of strength, had he truly offended them back then, he would have been killed by them ages ago, long before he ever made it this far.

"Come to think of it, I don't recall ever having much interaction with the beast-folk either! The only real time I dealt with them was back when I was teleported to the Beast Empire. But..." In Zhou Tian's memory, he hadn't encountered a terrifying team of snake-men like this one during his time in the Beast Empire. However, a sudden realization struck him, causing him to freeze for a moment as a suspicion formed in his mind.

While Zhou Tian hadn't encountered such a formidable team of snake-men back then, he and the elves had indeed committed a deed in the Beast Empire that still brought a twinge of guilt when he looked back: they had wiped out a snake-men tribe together with the elves.

The main reason Zhou Tian remembered this incident was because of a momentary soft-heartedness on his part back then, when he secretly spared a few young snake-men he had discovered, which ultimately drew a encirclement campaign from the Beast Empire. If not for holding the system as his trump card, he almost would have fallen into the hands of the beast-folk.

That incident had been a turning point in Zhou Tian's personality. While he could forget most of his experiences in the Beast Empire, the affair of the snake-men tribe was etched firmly in his memory.

Yet...

Although he had roughly guessed the truth, Zhou Tian himself found it difficult to accept his own deduction. How much time had actually passed since then? Could the little runts he spared back then have grown to this terrifying degree already? If all of this was true, how was Zhou Tian supposed to face himself, having struggled through hardships and arduous cultivation just to attain his current level of strength?

Cultivating far longer than them, and with the system acting as a cheat device to accelerate his growth, the snake-men behind him had somehow still caught up to his progress. Not only had they elevated their strength to his tier, but through bizarre combat methods, they had even acquired the ability to block the Heaven-Shattering Seal. Instead of defeating them, Zhou Tian was now being hunted down by them.

Of course, if everything proved true, Zhou Tian would still not regret his past decision. Yet while he felt no regret for sparing those snake-men, he felt an even deeper sense of apprehension toward the bizarre nature of the Black Blood Plateau.

When Zhou Tian spared those snake-men, they were helpless little toddlers, whose minds were merely slightly more resolute than average children, and any adult could have easily wiped them out.

Yet those unremarkable snake-men had cultivated to their current level of strength in such a short span of time. To claim they achieved this purely through self-cultivation was something Zhou Tian wouldn't believe for a million years. Even if they swallowed pills every single day and trained twenty-four hours a day, it shouldn't have been possible to elevate their strength to this realm so rapidly. Leaving aside the existence of bottlenecks, the time required to accumulate cultivation in ordinary circumstances alone made it impossible for them to possess such power in such a brief period.

The only plausible explanation was that the snake-men owed their current cultivation to the assistance of the blood moon night.

Zhou Tian had already experienced the power of the blood moon. Theoretically speaking, if those snake-men had never encountered a bottleneck and had arrived at the Black Blood Plateau shortly after he spared them, it was entirely possible for them to grow to this extent under the influence of the blood moon.

Though uncertain whether his deduction was correct, once he temporarily treated his hypothesis as reality, Zhou Tian immediately understood why those snake-men held such intense hostility toward him.

Did Zhou Tian spare those snake-men?

That's right; strictly speaking, Zhou Tian could be considered their savior. But what did that prove? Before sparing them, Zhou Tian had practically slaughtered their entire tribe. Their friends and families had all perished at Zhou Tian's hands; even if he had shown a momentary spark of mercy, those snake-men had every reason in the world to seek vengeance against him.

Zhou Tian understood their behavior and harbored no resentment. Instead, he felt a sense of pride that the snake-men he once spared could grow to such heights. While many people had committed foolish acts like his own, virtually no one else possessed his 'foresight' to intentionally spare such genius-level figures.

Of course, such thoughts were merely self-deprecating comfort. When faced with the threat of those snake-men, Zhou Tian could not simply ignore it. Even though he had fallen into a disadvantageous position, he was still constantly scheming on how to counterattack.

Fighting those snake-men head-on gave Zhou Tian not a single shred of a chance of winning. After all, they held the advantage in numbers, possessed formidable individual strength, and utilized sharp combat techniques. If the snake-men remained grouped together, Zhou Tian estimated his probability of victory was well below one percent.

Therefore, if Zhou Tian wished to counterattack, the first thing he needed to consider was how to separate those snake-men.

Scatter them?

How was that any different from fighting them head-on? If he could pull that off, Zhou Tian could simply annihilate them directly without needing to resort to redundant tricks.

Lure them into separating?

Glancing back at the trailing snake-men, Zhou Tian quickly dismissed that notion.

Ever since he spared them all those years ago, they had undoubtedly lived and grown together. To survive and reach their current level of strength in a place like the Black Blood Plateau required not only talent and luck, but also immense caution. Otherwise, lacking their current power in the past, they would have long since perished due to carelessness. Having already crossed paths with them, those snake-men naturally understood that unless they pooled their efforts, they stood no chance of blocking the Heaven-Shattering Seal. Thus, barring absolute desperation, there was zero possibility of those snake-men separating.

With every option proving unfeasible after prolonged contemplation, Zhou Tian failed to formulate any viable strategy.

It wasn't until he was blasted flying by those snake-men for the umpteenth time, inwardly cursing himself for not mastering a few more skills, that inspiration suddenly struck, giving him an idea on how to coax those snake-men into separating.