Zhang Yang got furious after his wolf head had an intimate encounter with the rock. He exchanged another bottle of Primary Rage Potion in the system mall.
After drinking the potion, Zhang Yang's attributes surged by 30%. Enduring the friction against the rock, he forced his wolf head deeper into the blood hole at the python king's seven-inch vital spot.
Then came a feast—he ate and drank his fill, gorging himself.
The python king, feeling the intense pain on its body, ran even more frantically.
This made things miserable for Zhang Yang's backside.
His front half was buried inside the blood hole at the python king's seven-inch spot, but his rear half was still exposed outside.
The fur on his back had already been rubbed completely bald—like a middle-aged man with a receding hairline. It looked utterly pathetic.
Fortunately, Zhang Yang's efforts paid off.
After the surge in strength, each of his attacks now carried 2,000 jin (about 1,000 kg) of force.
Even the python king couldn't withstand that kind of power.
Before the Rage Potion's effect wore off, the python king finally stopped—not because it wanted to, but because it could no longer run.
Too much snake blood had been lost.
The hole at the seven-inch spot was simply too big.
"Ding! Successfully killed Python King (level higher than host), Evolution Points +5000."
"Ding! Task completed: Kill the Python King. Task reward: Lifespan +30 days, Evolution Points +5000."
"It's dead!"
Zhang Yang collapsed, lying motionless in the pool of blood at the python king's seven-inch spot. He was exhausted.
When the Rage Potion's effect finally ended and the backlash hit, he became even less willing to move.
He waited like that for a full ten minutes.
Only after the potion's side effects disappeared did Zhang Yang regain some strength.
"Killing above my level really does give a lot of Evolution Points, but why does it always feel like the rewards don't match the effort?"
Zhang Yang grumbled inwardly.
Although he gained 5000 Evolution Points in one go this time, the cost to kill the python king had actually been 4000 Evolution Points.
Two bottles of Rage Potion, one bottle of Healing Potion, one bottle of Antidote Potion.
Each bottle cost 1000.
So in the end, his net gain was only 1000 Evolution Points. It really felt like a loss.
Well… not a complete loss. At least he got the python king's corpse, plus the two fruits it had been guarding.
And don't forget the 5000 Evolution Points from completing the task. So overall, it wasn't a total disaster.
"System, open Level 3 Mall."
"Ding! Host has reached 50,000 Evolution Points. Mall upgrading."
"Ding! Mall upgrade successful. Please check it yourself, host."
The mall upgrade was lightning-fast, no nonsense at all.
Zhang Yang didn't have high expectations for the Level 3 Mall.
He figured it would just add a couple more types of potions.
But when he actually opened the system mall, he was shocked.
He hadn't even looked closely at the potions yet—right away, he noticed the number of items had increased dramatically.
Upon closer inspection, what had been added were… Talent Fragments.
All of them were fragments he had encountered before while grinding:
Immense Strength, Tough Skin, Iron Hide, Swift Agility, and even rare ones like Sharpness and Limb Regeneration.
Ordinary talent fragments cost 1000 Evolution Points each even at the primary level. Sharpness and Limb Regeneration were classified as rare talents and were outrageously expensive—far beyond what Zhang Yang could currently afford.
Sharpness required 500,000 Evolution Points. Limb Regeneration was even more ridiculous: a full 1,000,000.
Just looking at all those zeros made Zhang Yang dizzy.
Besides that, a Mid-grade Healing Potion had appeared above the Primary Healing Potion, but its price was equally absurd—10,000 Evolution Points per bottle, a full tenfold increase.
"This upgrade is worse than no upgrade at all. Is the system just reminding me that I'm still dirt poor?"
The only thing Zhang Yang actually felt tempted to buy was the Swift Agility fragment—because that one was insanely hard to farm. There simply weren't enough leopards around.
But right now? No way was he buying it. Judging by these prices, even a mid-tier talent fragment cost 10,000 Evolution Points. Way too expensive.
He couldn't afford it.
"System, since you're selling these fragments so expensively, can you at least recycle the ones I already have?"
He remembered the system had a recycling function.
When he got the Bee King Stinger before, there had been a recycle prompt.
"Ding! Recycling is possible. Primary talent fragments can be recycled for 100 Evolution Points each."
Zhang Yang rolled his eyes so hard he almost passed out.
Sure enough—capitalism at its finest. You sell for 1000, but buy back for only 100. A tenfold difference.
Zhang Yang closed the mall interface. Out of sight, out of mind. Looking at his attribute panel and Evolution Points total was much more comforting.
"System, how many Evolution Points to fuse this Python King?"
His current body attributes had already hit a bottleneck. To keep increasing his strength, he either had to evolve into a higher species or fuse with stronger creatures to raise his potential.
Right now, he definitely wanted to fuse. He still hadn't had enough of being a Wolf King.
(Of course, he could also evolve into an Azure Wolf, since Azure Wolves seemed to be a tier above Jungle Wolves. But he hadn't killed an Azure Wolf yet, so he couldn't evolve into one.)
"Ding! Fusing with Python King corpse requires 10,000 Evolution Points. Proceed with fusion?"
"Fuse."
Leaving the Python King's corpse lying around would be a waste. Of course he would fuse it.
This Python King was so powerful that, without exploiting its weak spot, even two of him combined wouldn't have been its match.
"Ding! Fusion initiated. Fusion success rate: 21%."
Ten thousand Evolution Points vanished. The Python King's corpse turned into motes of light and flowed into Zhang Yang's body.
Zhang Yang's face darkened. He had actually forgotten that fusion came with a success rate.
Apparently fusing different species/forms had a pretty low chance of success.
"Ding! Fusion failed."
Zhang Yang's expression grew even darker.
Fusion carries risks. Choose carefully.
This time, not only did he lose over ten thousand Evolution Points, he also wasted the entire Python King corpse.
"Ding! Fusion consolation prize: Snake King Gallbladder."
A snake gallbladder appeared in his inventory.
"This gallbladder was already mine to begin with!"
Zhang Yang felt deeply aggrieved. The system had taken something that belonged to him, given it back to him, and still called it a "consolation prize." Who exactly was this meant to disgust?
"How do I use this Snake King Gallbladder?"
Fine. A consolation prize was still better than getting nothing at all.
"Ding! Consume it."
The system replied with just one word.
Zhang Yang didn't hesitate. He took the Snake King Gallbladder out of his inventory and ate it in one bite.
It wasn't actually that big—one mouthful was enough.
Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good—slightly sweet, not fishy at all.
"Ding! Consumed Snake King Gallbladder. Clears the mind and improves eyesight. Host's vision has been enhanced. Body potential +5."
Zhang Yang heard the prompt and could indeed feel his vision becoming sharper. But emotionally, he felt very melancholic.
Just eating one gallbladder gave such good benefits. If he had actually succeeded in fusing the entire Python King, how amazing would the rewards have been?
"Damn success rate."