Evan Parker's eyes flashed with a sharp light. A blaze of fire rose from his palm, and his body, now with all meridians unblocked, shot forward at an astonishing speed—so fast that he was in no way inferior to the "Barbed-Horned Cave Python."

Obviously, Evan Parker's actions had enraged this giant creature. Faced with this little thing daring to provoke it, the Barbed-Horned Cave Python didn't hesitate to open its huge mouth, unleashing a foul wind, intent on swallowing Evan Parker whole.

However, knowing full well that the Barbed-Horned Cave Python was a ferocious beast, Evan Parker still dared to charge forward, clearly having his own judgment.

Just as he was about to be bitten by the snake, Evan Parker suddenly came to a sharp halt, switching from charging forward to leaping upward. His figure shot up like an arrow, performing a flip that would earn a perfect score from even the harshest gymnastics judge, and landed steadily atop the Barbed-Horned Cave Python's head.

"Boom!"

Evan Parker slammed his long-prepared palm down hard on the python's crimson fleshy horn.

"...The Barbed-Horned Cave Python has skin of bronze and bones of iron, but its fleshy horn on the forehead is its weakest point—its fatal spot. If injured there, it could be killed instantly."

Fragments of knowledge from a miscellany he'd read flashed through his mind. In a very short time, Evan Parker unleashed three consecutive palm strikes with all his might, instantly depleting nearly half of his true essence.

But to Evan Parker's frustration, although the Blazing Palm caused the python excruciating pain and burned its fleshy horn somewhat, it still wasn't enough to kill it.

Writhing in pain, the Barbed-Horned Cave Python went berserk, its massive body thrashing wildly in an attempt to throw Evan Parker off.

Perhaps luck was truly against this beast. The cave wasn't wide enough for such a gigantic creature to roll and thrash freely, which instead allowed Evan Parker to remain standing atop its head.

"My all-out 'Blazing Palm' can't even break through this beast's fatal spot..."

Evan Parker's expression turned cold, but an idea came to him. He summoned the Blazing Palm again, but this time, as the flames surged, Evan Parker didn't strike with his palm. Instead, he turned his palm into fingers and jabbed downward. A pillar of fiery red flame, containing all the power of the Blazing Palm, pierced fiercely into the python's fleshy horn.

Breaking a surface with a point has always been the best way to breach defenses. For someone as highly educated as Evan Parker, making full use of his knowledge of physics gave him a sudden, clear insight at this moment.

"Hiss—"

A jet of milky-white blood spurted from the spot where the fiery pillar pierced through, and the fleshy horn on the python's forehead visibly shrank and shriveled at an astonishing speed.

At the same time, Evan Parker suddenly felt a tremendous force surge beneath his feet, and he could no longer keep his balance, tumbling down in a sorry state.

Fortunately, the Barbed-Horned Cave Python, now driven completely mad by its mortal wound, didn't even notice Evan Parker, the true culprit, falling beside it.

Summoning what little true essence he had left, Evan Parker pushed off with all his might and dashed away from the frenzied, dying python at a speed far surpassing Liu Xiang.

"I managed not to get swallowed by this beast—now I just hope I don't get crushed by its final rampage."

A quarter of an hour later, after watching the python, nearly thirty to fifty meters long, smash over a hundred deep pits into the surrounding cave walls, Evan Parker finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"This thing... is finally dead..."

The skirmish hadn't taken much time. The Barbed-Horned Cave Python had appeared as a hunter, but met its end as prey. As the victor of this battle, Evan Parker now regretfully gathered his "spoils."

The Barbed-Horned Cave Python fed on spirit stones. A creature of this size, thirty to fifty meters long, must have lived for at least two hundred years, consuming countless spirit stones. All its essence was concentrated in the fleshy horn on its forehead.

Generally, when a cultivator planned to hunt a Barbed-Horned Cave Python, they would prepare a container in advance. When breaking open the fleshy horn, they would collect the milky-white essence blood that flowed out. This was a great supplement for spiritual energy and could also be used in alchemy. While not the most precious of items, for cultivators at the Innate Realm, its value was no less than a thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

No wonder Evan Parker looked so regretful now.

However, when Evan Parker suddenly discovered that there were over a hundred enticing spirit stones scattered near the python's corpse, his mood improved considerably.

These spirit stones were the result of the python's frenzied smashing of the cave walls before its death. It turned out that the various holes in the cave walls were actually storage spots for spirit stones.

This place was rich in spirit stones, and the Barbed-Horned Cave Python had occupied it for over a hundred years. Whenever it was full and idle, it would break open the cave walls containing spirit stones. Since the supply of spirit stones here far exceeded its appetite, after a hundred years, so many holes had formed, and the spirit stones inside could be taken at will, saving the python the effort of digging for food.

Now, all of this naturally benefited Evan Parker, the one who had slain it.

Even Evan Parker himself didn't know how much time he spent before finally collecting all the easily accessible spirit stones from the holes in the surrounding cave walls.

Looking at the pile of spirit stones before him, stacked like a small mountain, Evan Parker couldn't help but feel a sense of abundance.