Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

Chapter 17: Three Stages of Demon Transformation
“Knock, knock, knock—”

"Xiaoqing, come out for dinner—"

Hong Gu killed a foot-long grass carp, dragged it with air bubbles, swam to the big bluestone, and called out gently.

Liu Qing spit out the snake core, sensing the grass carp being sent to the cave entrance, called out to Hong Gu happily a few times, and then opened his upper and lower jaws.
He slowly swallowed the grass carp into his stomach. At the same time, his elephant-swallowing talent began to take effect, quickly digesting and absorbing the food.

This is the first day of Liu Qing's blindfold period.

Since learning that Liu Qing had entered the blinding period before molting, Hong Gu has been more attentive when feeding him food. She not only selects fish with more meat and less bones in the pond, but also chooses fish of a size that suits Liu Qing's appetite.

Moreover, except for every time she went out hunting, she stayed by Liu Qing's nest all the time. Any fish, shrimp, turtle or crab that approached would be killed one by one by the overly nervous Hong Gu.

Perhaps because she could speak like a human being and was about to transform from a spirit into a demon, Hong Gu's intelligence was not only greatly improved, but she also knew a lot of things without any guidance.

For example, she said snakes have four major dangers.

The first is eating, the second is shedding skin, the third is Dragon Boat Festival, and the fourth is hibernation.

It is dangerous because the person swallows food slowly and has difficulty moving after swallowing the food, and is prone to drowsiness.

When shedding their skin, they are blinded in front and weak in the back, making them most vulnerable to attacks from other creatures. The Dragon Boat Festival is the day with the strongest Yang energy in the year, while snakes are Yin, and the Yin and Yang counteract each other, suppressing their strength to the lowest level.
The fourth is hibernation. Snakes are cold-blooded animals. When the temperature drops in winter, the snakes become stiff and have difficulty in moving. They cannot hunt and can only hibernate to reduce their body consumption and fall into a deep sleep. At this time, some old animals such as mice, foxes, skunks, etc. will specifically take advantage of the hibernating snakes.
Right now, Liu Qing is shedding his skin and eating, which is two of the four dangers. That's why she is so nervous. She even won't let Liu Qing crawl out of the nest and go out to bask in the sun.

It is said that perhaps in late summer or early autumn, the water level in the pool dropped, and the originally damp bluestone space became dry after the water level dropped.

This prevented Liu Qing from waking up every morning feeling cold and stiff, so if he was not allowed to sunbathe, then he would not.

To avoid Sister Hong Gu nagging in my ears.

On the third day, Liu Qing's originally hazy eyes became clear again, but his body felt extremely itchy.

It's time to shed its skin.

Rumbling--

Thunder roared, the sky became terrifyingly dark, and thick dark clouds covered the sky layer by layer.

Accompanied by fierce thunder, streaks of lightning slithered through the clouds.

A strong wind suddenly arose, rushing towards the earth with the momentum of destroying everything. The old locust tree on the shore was the first to be blown down, and countless ants and mice living in the tree fled out in panic.

Bean-sized raindrops fell from the sky like thousands of arrows, shooting down with inertia.

The once mighty eagle, faced with this terrifying celestial phenomenon, hid in its nest and trembled in fear. The tiger, which roared proudly in the mountains, could only hide in the cave and could not even roar a few times.

The strange itch that penetrated deep into his soul attacked Liu Qing's mind in waves, almost driving him crazy.

Liu Qing ignored Hong Gu's obstruction and rushed out of the nest like crazy.

He faced the thunder and lightning, heavy rain, and strong wind, and wrapped his snake body tightly around the rough stone wall, rubbing it violently.

He screamed sharply, his cold vertical pupils glowing red as he looked up at the sky.

The sky seemed to be enraged. The next moment, the wind was strong and the rain was heavy. Thunder and lightning poured down like a flood, determined to crush everything!
click -

Liu Qing struggled to open a hole in the snake skin.

Whoosh—the wind stopped, the rain stopped, the thunder and lightning were dark, and a ray of sunshine pierced through the haze and sprinkled on the earth.

Liu Qing took a breath, recovered his strength, and slowly and firmly pulled his body out of the snake skin.

"Yeah, it's finally over. I was so scared."

Hong Gu flapped her pectoral fins, her face full of fear.

Liu Qing looked back at his body and saw that it was now two and a half feet long, as thick as two fingers, with two black lines on the neck and a dark blue color all over.

Now, Xiaoqing's name can no longer be removed.

Having learned from the last lesson, Liu Qing took a short rest and then opened his mouth to swallow the snake skin.

Then, at Hong Gu's urging, he crawled back into the nest. The hole in and out of the nest became a little narrow again. Liu Qing planned to expand it again after the weakening period and the scales became hard.

Hong Gu gave Liu Qing some instructions, then swung her tail and dived into the water. Not long after, she surfaced again, and in the bubbles she was pulling was a fat catfish.

Liu Qing had a delicious meal.

This time when I shed my skin, the satisfaction I felt from eating and drinking was much greater than the first time. I didn’t have to eat moldy food that had been stored in advance, but instead had fresh meals every day.

At night, a few gray-black, palm-sized water rats swam stealthily to the big bluestone.

In the water celery bushes not far away, there were also several rat snakes as thick as arms, swimming towards them with their tongues spitting out.

Although Liu Qing swallowed the snake skin, the smell of the new body also attracted some enemies with a well-developed sense of smell.

Hong Gu, who had been guarding nearby since Liu Qing entered the blindfold period, now had murderous intent in her eyes.

She opened her mouth and arrows of water shot out towards the water rat and cabbage snake. After a few squeaking screams, the night suddenly became quiet.

Facing Hong Gu, whose strength has skyrocketed, how can these vulgar people be her match!
By the next morning, Liu Qing had successfully passed the period of weakness. He crawled out of the nest, once again feeling the warmth of the sun, and making comfortable snake sounds.

At the hour of You, the sun sets and the bright moon rises.

Hong Gu invited Liu Qing to inhale and exhale the moonlight together. She opened her mouth to greet the moon, and an infinite suction force suddenly emerged, pulling the moonlight towards her.
It was divided into two streams, a small one for himself, and a large one that covered Liu Qing for him to swallow.

Tonight, while Liu Qing was using the moonlight to temper his body, the source of energy of heaven and earth increased by 4 points.

There was no other reason. Today was a full moon, the moonlight was the brightest and lasted the longest. Liu Qing and Hong Gu kept breathing in and out the moonlight until the star Taibai appeared in the eastern sky, and then they stopped.

Liu Qing was overjoyed. He estimated that if he continued to absorb and exhale for another night tomorrow night, he would be able to accumulate enough Heaven and Earth Source Qi to increase his growth to the next level.

To unlock a new bloodline talent, you only need 3 points of Heaven and Earth Source Qi to get started. If you want to advance to a minor level of success, you need 9 points.

Liu Qing and Hong Gu swam together to the big bluestone. This time, Liu Qing did not go back to the nest, but floated with Hong Gu in the algae and slept in each other's arms.

After an unknown amount of time, Liu Qing opened his eyes and woke up, only to find that Hong Gu beside him had already woken up and was looking at him blankly with an inexplicable worry in her eyes.

"Sisi?"

"Xiao Qing, I had a dream last night. I dreamed that I wanted to transform into a demon. I had to pass three levels. If I passed, I would be transformed into a demon. If I failed, I would return to ignorance and be sent back to the mortal world!"

(End of this chapter)