From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

With most of his time spent sleeping, Li Yi had begun to vaguely sense changes in his body.

An urge to shed one's skin arises deep within the body.

It knew that this was a sign of growing strength.

Having been in this world for so long, Li Yi still doesn't understand how beasts embark on the path of cultivation, but the signs on his body are impossible to hide.

After eating until he was about 70% full, Li Yi returned to his cave and went to sleep.

Such a simple life passes by quickly.

Five years have passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, Li Yi woke up from a month-long deep sleep.

It was starving, feeling an unprecedented hunger, and slowly crawled out of the cave that had been expanded several times but was still no longer a good fit.

At this moment, Li Yi had grown from one meter in length to ten feet (3.33 meters), and it had long since become the overlord of the area within a mile.

In Li Yi's perception, this molting was truly unusual.

At the end of its tail, which is covered with jet-black scales, a unique scale has grown.

Although all the scales appeared to be completely black, Li Yi could clearly sense that this black scale was unusual.

Slowly, Li Yi's body emerged from the mud as a blurry outline, his brown-yellow eyes looking around.

This time, Li Yi was not overwhelmed by his instinctive hunger. He remained rational and used beetles to catch toads.

After changing locations several times, Li Yi swallowed a total of about ten toads.

This hunt lasted an unprecedented amount of time, which made Li Yi realize a fact.

This food is no longer enough to fill my stomach.

And this is all that's in the territory I occupy; as for the deeper parts of the swamp, I have no idea.

Just as Li Yi was pondering, in the dark night filled with torrential rain and lightning, another dark figure slowly appeared in Li Yi's eyes.

That was another black-scaled crocodile. It appeared to be larger than Li Yi, and several incurable wounds were left on the scales on its back.

This adds a touch of ferocity to it.

It silently approached Li Yi, opening its mouth as it did so.

This is a signal that they are about to seize territory!

If Li Yi retreats, it means that it has indeed chosen to give up and will be driven out of this area.

But would Li Yi do that?

It could clearly sense the other party's chaotic and undeveloped intelligence, even though it had grown to be larger than Li Yi.

But it didn't undergo that crucial transformation!

For beasts to become powerful, they must embark on the path of cultivation. First, their intelligence must be awakened, a process that is extremely difficult for them.

Li Yi is clearly an anomaly.

When the two were within a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of each other, Li Yi opened his mouth wide and spat out a series of black water bullets, which slammed into the opponent's black scales with a bang!

A hissing sound of corrosion came, and a white mist dissipated in the rainstorm in the blink of an eye, but it kept emerging again.

The other party felt pain and instinctively swayed from side to side, but Li Yi continued to open his mouth and spit out more water bullets.

boom!

Once a large hole was visibly corroded into its scales, Li Yi pounced on it and used the scale at the end of his tail to slice open its abdomen.

This is a long and grand feast.

To deal with this opponent, Li Yi had to slowly drag it back to his cave, moving it little by little.

It took Li Yi five whole days to pile up the remaining scales and bones outside his cave as a silent deterrent.

As drowsiness overcame him, Li Yi followed his instincts and fell into a deep sleep.

This time, a full six months have passed.

During this time, Li Yi woke up several times, each time for hunting, though it was always very careful.

In the past six months, Li Yi has grown faster than expected, and he has also discovered a key piece of information.

The dark blue centipede was coiled up somewhere on the edge of its territory.

Its cave is much deeper and more hidden than its own.

Moreover, it discovered itself, having tried to hunt it several times, but had managed to escape each time.

Protecting yourself should be your top priority.

In half a year, Li Yi underwent two transformations, and three unique scales grew on its tail. They were arranged closely at the top of Li Yi's tail, along the spine.

On this day, everything was perfectly peaceful.

Li Yi slowly emerged from the mud.

At this moment, it had grown to a size of 1.5 zhang (approximately 3.3 meters), but it was still a juvenile. Its head was facing one direction, and its eyes were looking curiously.

In that direction, Li Yi discovered a subtle yet incredibly clear fragrance.

The fragrance lingered, constantly stirring Li Yi's instincts.

Li Yi could vaguely sense that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was slowly converging in that direction, and something magical was slowly unfolding!

Suddenly, a dense crawling sound came from beside me.

Li Yi quickly closed his eyes, becoming one with his surroundings.

Li Yi slowly opened his eyes after the crawling sound passed by.

That was the dark blue centipede that had been coveting him.

In their previous encounters, Li Yi had already sensed that it was still a little short of developing sentience.

That's precisely the point; it will probably take decades or even centuries.

However, if it were to swallow itself, this process would be drastically shortened.

Now there is a second, even better option: the fragrance in the air, like a lighthouse.

It followed its instincts and swam quickly toward that place.

Li Yi used his brain, which he hadn't used in a long time, thought carefully for a moment, and slowly followed.

Along the way, it encountered many creatures drawn by the scent. In this boundless swamp, the creatures were mainly snakes, crocodiles, and all sorts of poisonous insects.

The natural environment here makes it impossible for 99% of life to survive.

The rest are all species with strong resistance to toxins.

A black python slithered through the swamp, leaving a long, winding trail in the black mud that was extremely conspicuous.

Normally, it would instinctively hide its tracks, but now, overjoyed, it has forgotten most of its survival instincts and is dominated by another instinct called desire.

This is the tragedy of beasts that lack intelligence.

It swam around, then suddenly opened its mouth wide and swallowed a huge toad.

But the next moment, three black water bullets exploded on its body, rapidly corroding its fine scales and soon revealing large patches of flesh and blood.

In the swamp, the black python writhed in agony, splashing mud and water all around it.

Suddenly, a huge black shadow darted out from the side, its short, thick limbs swinging rapidly, and it bit down precisely on the seven-inch spot of the struggling black python!