Chapter 11: The Abandoned Temple (1)
Brandon opened his eyes wide and worked hard for a while. He felt his throat began to feel itchy again and the temperature began to rise. He sneezed suddenly again, but there was nothing except the smell of sulphur.
It seems like it was really an illusion, Brandon comforted himself. But the doubts in his heart could not be dispelled. There is no way that the strong odour of sulphur in the surrounding air isn't real.
He touched his throat and felt that it was warm, as if there was heat brewing inside, like a volcano that was ready to move, as if it could emit sparks at any time. What is there in my throat? Is it because of that snake gallbladder? Could it be that the lizard is no longer a lizard, and the snake is no longer a snake? Brandon began to look at himself.
Although it was night now, to Brandon, it was as clear as a day. The originally yellowish green scales had now gradually turned yellow, the green had slowly faded, and the original yellow scales gradually became brighter again. As a result, the yellow and green colours that were originally used as protective colours had now slowly turned into warning colours.
There seemed to be a force in this world, and now Brandon's strength had begun to be recognized by this force. Brandon was now a highly dangerous creature.
The scales all over the body became thicker and the arrangement became closer. The surface seemed to be coated with an oil film, making it smooth and shiny. The coin-sized scales clung to the body like steel plates, obviously possessing strong defensive capabilities.
He had clearly surpassed the fourth level of the golden bell in his previous life. Mysterious patterns appeared on each scale, which were clear and complicated. It seemed that there were endless mysteries hidden inside, making people scared after looking at them. Now Brandon's body length had exceeded two metres, reaching the length of an adult monitor lizard.
The structure of the whole body appeared more compact, and the claws seemed to have evolved, appearing extremely hard and sharp, showing a metallic sheen. Brandon scratched the limestone wall and actually made a clear, fine mark. He couldn't help but secretly wonder, wondering what would happen if these claws slid onto the flesh.
Brandon swung his giant tail, making a whirring sound in the air. He felt his strength, which was obviously more than doubled than before. If I faced that giant snake now, I would definitely not be as embarrassed as last time, Brandon thought to himself.
He found that his body shape had not changed much, just a slight adjustment. The hind limbs became thicker, and the head, which was originally much larger than the average monitor lizard, seemed to be a little bigger. After these subtle adjustments, Brandon's entire lizard body became more ferocious and lethal.
Not long after he got excited, he immediately remembered the issue of blowing smoke from his mouth. Like a basin of ice water, it quickly extinguished the fire that had just started burning in his heart. Brandon had never seen, nor heard of, a person practising Golden Bell Breathing Smoke, not even Patriarch Bodhidharma, who was said to have mastered the Golden Bell to the twelfth level.
Brandon was puzzled, this question stuck in his chest like a thorn. It was still dark outside, and he didn't know what time it was. Ever since he turned into a lizard, he had no idea about time. He only knew roughly whether it's day or night. Brandon felt no sleepiness in his heart and took out the bear legs that he had smoked last time. It tasted like chewing wax and he swallowed it in three mouthfuls.
Since the fire was gone, Brandon had made a new one, and he was now familiar with the method, much easier than last time. Anyway, this is already the case. I don't want to think about it deeper! The more Brandon thought about it, the more confused he became. He began to give up on himself and his mind began to deviate from the subject matter. Since he couldn't figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it.
In the future, when I encounter an enemy that I can't defeat, I will just blow on it and choke it to death. Brandon's heart amused itself. Putting his worries aside for the time being, Brandon took a nap.
It was already dawn, and Brandon stretched out and walked to the pool in front to take a bath.
Let's get ready to explore this area.
Brandon ran down the hillside quickly. Brandon slightly estimated that it was about twenty metres per second. If he ran 100 metres, it only took him about five seconds, and even this is when he was not using his full strength. He felt slightly proud.
The rising sun shone on Brandon's pale yellow scales, emitting a pale golden halo, and the crystal dewdrops fell from the broad leaves like pearls, smashing into small crystal beads on the ground in the early morning. The jungle was often at its most enchanting.
Soon Brandon ran to the swamp. Through the dense thatch, he found a purple antelope not far away. Its whole body was lavender, with several small white stripes arranged vertically on the body.
The twisted horns were purple-black and huge. The tip of the horn pointed straight to the sky, showing its powerful lethality. The colour of the head was very rich, just like the facial makeup painted by primitive African tribes. It seemed both mysterious and weird!
This purple antelope was swaying its tail and munching on the fresh and tender plants that were especially abundant on the swamp. These plants growing near the water were like the wild rice seen in the previous life.
The purple antelope skillfully picked out the white and tender fruits from the water plants. These crisp textured, refreshing, and water-rich fruits were obviously one of the purple antelope's favourite foods, and the vast tracts of plants on the edge of the swamp seemed to the purple antelope to be an inexhaustible granary, which it happily searched for.
Those freshly grown fruits were delicious to eat. However, upon observation, this purple antelope, which seemed to be enjoying itself on the surface, was actually always on guard. It had a pair of ears standing upright, constantly adjusting its direction, and vigilantly paying attention to the movements around it.
The area of activity was always kept at a distance of more than ten metres from the water's edge, not too close to the water's edge. This was to guard against the habit of predatory creatures that liked to hide in the nearshore area and sneak attack on water collectors.
However, what the purple antelope didn't notice was that behind a thick bush of thatch less than twenty metres away from it, a pair of malicious eyes were quietly looking at it.
Brandon lay there silently, adjusting his breathing, and peered through the cracks in the thatch at the purple antelope that was eating not far away. He secretly thought that such a big antelope could probably be eaten for three or four days.
The grass tips occasionally swayed slightly, and there was a faint wind blowing from the direction of the swamp.