Lineir quickly stored the core in a pocket, and headed down to the river to wash his hands. Once there, he quickly dunked his head underneath and waved his arms about letting the water scrub them clean. This quickly filled the water with grey scraps of fleshy worm meat as Lineir emerged and walked back, scrubbing his eyes with the back of his hands and smiling. It was great to be clean and the monster core would certainly help his cultivation, at least according to Mei. The energy inside could increase the rate of absorption temporarily saturating his meridians and his veins. In doing so he could either absorb it slowly and completely to permanently help his cultivation speed or he could use it as last ditch source of energy when he was in a pinch. Doing so would waste the core, but it might save his life, and unless you're undead, you must be alive to cultivate!
The harmony of the blue water, drifting lily, and shining sand of the far shore could not be more beautiful.
Truly like a painting, Lineir thought. Lineir was actually reminded somewhat of the feeling he got when he looked at Mei back when he first met her in his mind. At that moment, Lineir scrubbed his eyes. Then again. While he did this, Mei exhorted the majesty of such a fine day,
"Absolutely perfect, even in my world, this moment of rare peace is like finding sapphires in the ocean. Disciple...why are you rubbing your eyes, are you blinded by such beauty?" Lineir however, was very confused. Something was wrong with this perfect harmony of nature in front of him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it definitely was throwing him off. Finally, he figured it out.
"Say Mei-Mei, you don't think the movement of that lily is a little strange? The current is rushing towards the west, where the waterfall is. However, isn't that lily in fact, not moving with the current at all but insteads heading towards us?" Mei was silent, she in fact had not considered this, it was very strange indeed.
"That is indeed strange, I can't believe I didn't notice this, the vista in front was really just too good, like gazing at the Far Shore. Now that you mention it though...I feel like I remember something.." At that moment, the lily accelerated, now it couldn't even be said to be drifting. It was without a doubt moving completely perpendicular to the current, and coming straight for Lineir. Mei began to ponder,
"How strange... that should be impossible, unless this is some sort of special lily, but I don't think so. Actually, it seems to be an ordinary Eight Throated Water Lily, it is odd that it is by itself, they usually appear in groups unless some great current manages to shift them apart...!!" Mei alarmed cut off her own sentence.
Lineir began to back away as the lily came at him even faster. Mei started shrieking in his head, "run. Run. RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!!!!!!!!"
About thirty meters away, the lily came to an abrupt halt. A dark shadow seemed to fall over the water around it, but there were no clouds in the sky. At that moment, the dark shadow became more and more solid and with a huge splash a great plume of water shot up in the air and a giant purple serpent's head snaked up, neck stretching out and up and up, and came to look down at Lineir. The visible portion of the beast was at least 50 meters long.
"A False Water Serpent ..., a peak fifth tier magical beast. Disciple I'm sorry, I should have payed more attention, but your luck is truly broken. Fate itself must have decided that it is time for you to reincarnate. I fear running now will do you no good." Mei's voice was soft in contrition. This was mostly her fault, she should have known better than to let her disciple clean himself in the river covered in worm guts. He was practically offering himself up as a free meal.
Lineir refused to give up, he turned and vigorously tried to reach the safety of the trees. However, he was at the banks of the river, and that short stretch might as well have been the divide between heaven and hell. The False Water Serpent rushed through the water with incomprehensible speed, it was as if a ship was riding a tidal wave, the long neck cutting the smooth surface like a prow. Instantly the head lunged up, stretching out of the water, casting a shadow over Lineir.
SSSSSSHHHHAAAA!!!
He looked up and hastily dodged back as it crashed down in front of him, a great expanse of scaly purple covering his escape path on the right. As he tried to switch to the left, the immense head, many times the size of his entire body slithered through the sand and grass on his left. In front of him was a massive coil of the great serpent about five meters in diameter. The head rearing up behind him stared down and hissed. He was surrounded. This hiss was tremendously loud and horrifying. Not only did Lineir's hairs stand up all over his body, but they vibrated from the power of it. Lineir hacked fruitlessly at the scaly coils surrounding him, but to no avail, they were just too big. Mei apologized endlessly,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Like the descent of night, shadows billowed everywhere on the ground as the mouth covered the sky and fell upon Lineir who surrounded by the coils, had nowhere to run.