What's wrong with a snake that just wants to cultivate and transform?

Hundreds of years ago, the Qing Xuan King Snake clan had struck a deal with the Manhuang Serpent. They would offer the bodies and flesh of the Spirit Snakes from their clan in exchange for the immense power of the Manhuang Serpent. This power helped the Qingxuan King Snake clan to dominate among the demon beasts.

However, creating Spirit Snakes was an extremely demanding task, and they were a crucial resource for the entire Qingxuan King Snake clan. The supply of Spirit Snakes was vital for the higher-ups in the clan to advance in their cultivation and ascend. After the Manhuang Serpent helped the Qingxuan King Snake clan clear external obstacles, irreconcilable conflicts arose within the clan regarding the distribution of benefits. The previous clan head, in collusion with the Elders, paid a heavy price to annihilate the powerful body of the Manhuang Serpent from the world and went to great lengths to completely seal its indestructible soul.

The reappearance of the Manhuang Serpent, now with a powerful body and overwhelming power, also brought with it a tidal wave of hatred.

Elder Qing Lu was petrified, his pupils trembling with fear. He dreaded that the Qingxuan King Snake clan might not escape this catastrophe.

In this crisis, the only hope was…

As he thought this, a dark figure accompanied by hundreds of large Qingxuan King Snakes raced from the forbidden area not far away.

A glimmer of hope rose in Elder Qing Lu’s heart. It was the clan leader, Qing Huang. With the aid of the Spirit Snake blood these days, he had broken through to the sixteenth stage and was now leading a group of royal soldiers to support them!

Xu Nian looked up at the dense group of snakes in the sky. Individually, they were no match for the Manhuang Serpent, Qing Yan, beside her. But their numbers could easily equal three or four Qing Yans. Though she believed in the serpent’s power, she knew that even elephants could be overwhelmed by enough ants, and locusts could devour everything in their path.

She whispered, “Can you handle this? If not, we should make a quick escape. I don’t need that supreme status you promised. Don’t forget about our trip to the lake. Remember, we need to take my wife with us.”

The Manhuang Serpent snorted disdainfully through its nostrils. “Address me as the Supreme Kunlun Qing Yan.”

“These petty beings, I never regarded them highly even hundreds of years ago.”

Xu Nian had heard plenty about Qing Yan’s past glory from the serpent itself, including how it had once held the upper hand against a group of Qingxuan King Snakes.

But when Xu Nian asked why it was reduced to just a soul, Qing Yan’s spirit became infuriated, cursing the Qingxuan King Snakes for their despicable, shameless, and underhanded tactics.

It admitted that centuries ago, it was outsmarted by the cunning Qingxuan King Snakes. And now, after hundreds of years, their cunning had only grown, while it had stagnated, hiding in the ancestral hall. Could its soul, having made no progress in all these years, outplay them now?

Xu Nian silently criticized in her mind.

In a blink of an eye, clan head Qing Huang, wearing a dark robe fluttering in the wind and looking down from above, arrived with his entourage, ready to surround Xu Nian and launch a massive attack.

Qing Huang, in his flowing dark robe, loomed above, declaring, “Old remnant soul, how dare you create chaos in the domain of the Qingxuan King Snake clan reck…”

Before he could finish the word “recklessly”…

“Hiss—”

Xu Nian watched as he gracelessly fell from the sky, crashing with a loud thud next to Elder Qing Lu on the hard green stone slab. The clan head’s form was embedded so deeply in the stone that it couldn’t be pried out.

Elder Qing Lu’s mood was like a roller coaster ride. The flicker of hope that had just ignited in his heart was mercilessly crushed, and his gaze shifted to the once-high-and-mighty Qing Huang now humiliatingly defeated beside him. There was a perverse sense of satisfaction amidst the sorrow. Sad because the sixteenth-stage Qing Huang had so easily been defeated, indicating that perhaps no one could save their clan now. The satisfaction came from seeing Qing Huang, who always looked down on him, losing face in front of the entire clan.

The King Snakes following Qing Huang, witnessing their revered leader humiliated, charged at the Manhuang Serpent Qing Yan in a swarm. But as they entered Qing Yan’s vicinity, they lost their spiritual power and fell from the sky, crashing onto the hard green stone, their dark blood staining the stones red.

Based on her knowledge from her previous life, Xu Nian surmised that without their spiritual power to protect them, the snakes, falling from such a great height and accelerated by gravity, were likely severely injured, if not dead, upon impact with the stone.

Meanwhile, the Manhuang Serpent, as if venting its anger, repeatedly plucked Qing Huang from the stone and slammed him back down. It was like making molds of the clan head on the stone, each impact more devastating than the last. After several such attacks, Qing Huang, newly ascended to the sixteenth-rank, was reduced to a bloody, unrecognizable mess, his sharp fangs broken. Trembling, he pointed a feeble finger at Qing Yan: “You…”

Before he could finish, Qing Yan slammed him back into the stone. This time, he was thoroughly embedded, beyond retrieval.

Elder Qing Lu was completely deflated, barely daring to breathe, fearing that the wrath of this ancient ancestor would turn on him.

But when Qing Yan’s terrifying vertical pupil fell on him, Elder Qing Lu trembled uncontrollably, like chaff in the wind. “Supreme Kunlun Qing Yan, may I ask what you need?” He had overheard Qing Yan’s conversation with Xu Nian and was showing timely wisdom.

Unexpectedly, the serpent’s tail struck him hard, hitting several more times in a fit of rage. “My name is not for a despicable, dirty demon beast like you to call.”

After the tail moved away, Elder Qing Lu was left with multiple fractures, his body oozing blood, and his once handsome face now grotesquely disfigured. If not for his resilient body as a fifteenth-rank demonic beast, he would likely have been dead.

Elder Qing Lu lay in agony, unable to comprehend why his lifelong dedication to the Qingxuan King Snake clan had led to this disaster. Maybe he had been unlucky with the calendar when making decisions.

After venting its anger, the Manhuang Serpent finally remembered its purpose. With a powerful swipe of its tail, it killed the barely breathing Qing Huang and then turned threateningly to Elder Qing Lu.

“Enough. Your clan head is dead. Let my offering succeed as the new head of your clan.”

In Qing Yan’s eyes, having his offering take over as the clan head of the Qingxuan King Snakes was the greatest humiliation for them, given his newly regained strength.

Elder Qing Lu hadn’t expected such a motive behind the serpent’s ferocious arrival. He looked at the now lifeless Qing Huang and shuddered, feeling for the first time fortunate for not having rivaled Qing Huang and becoming a behind-the-scenes Elder instead.

Elder Qing Lu weakly spoke up, “I have no objections, but the council of Elders…”

The high-ranking snakes above fifteenth-rank usually didn’t involve themselves in clan affairs, focusing on cultivation and ascension. The council of Elders, composed of these high-ranking snakes, rotated the clan head and main Elder every ten years through drawing lots. The rest devoted themselves to cultivation.

Elder Qing Lu had thought finding the lost Spirit Snake of their clan during his tenure was an auspicious sign. Little did he know it would bring such a disaster upon them.

He thought the Manhuang Serpent would be somewhat deterred by his words, but it grew even angrier, sweeping its thick tail around, causing secondary injuries to the already wounded clansmen, many of whom died on the spot.

The Manhuang Serpent’s enraged voice shook Elder Qing Lu so violently that he coughed up blood. “Those deceitful, ancient beings are still alive? It seems I need to pay them a visit.”

Elder Qing Lu’s heart raced, understanding the implication of its words. He quickly clarified, “No, no, the previous clan head and Elders all perished in a great battle with the cultivators a hundred years ago. Even the Spirit Snakes were… Now, we, the remnants of the Qingxuan King Snake clan, have relocated to the Eastern Sea secret realm.”

Upon hearing this, Qing Yan narrowed its large vertical pupils and burst into a booming laughter. “Hahaha, they died well, indeed! To think that they, who had plotted so meticulously against me, eventually all perished at the hands of those contemptible humans they despised. How utterly satisfying!”

The sound waves from the gigantic serpent’s laughter were so intense that Xu Nian had to cover her ears, fearing she might go deaf.

Seeing how the situation had turned utterly in their favor, Elder Qing Lu, with a twisted expression, tried to ingratiate himself with Xu Nian: “Clan Head, what are your orders now?”

Xu Nian looked at him with disgust and said nothing. She then hurried over to the pulverized body of Qing Huang, using a small stick to fish out his high-ranking storage bag with intricate patterns. She used several cleansing spells and rain talismans to clean the blood, thinking that as the clan head of the Qing Xuan King Snakes, he must have possessed many valuable items. She excitedly stored the bag for later rummaging.

Suddenly, Xu Nian remembered something and turned back abruptly.

Elder Qing Lu’s resentful, unwilling, and poisonous gaze hadn’t had the chance to retract and was caught directly by Xu Nian. His expressions froze on his face, grotesque and fierce.

Xu Nian approached him and extended her hand.

Elder Qing Lu had seen her looting Qing Huang and understood the situation. He didn’t expect her to be so shameless, plundering even the living. With a heavy heart, he handed over his storage bag filled with treasures accumulated over the years to Xu Nian, his heart brimming with spreading murderous intent, contemplating a way to kill this snake.

As if reading his mind, Xu Nian suddenly smiled, a hint of murderous intent flashing in her black eyes: “By robbing you like this, Elder, are you already harboring resentment in your heart, plotting how you might seek revenge against me?”

Elder Qing Lu felt a chill run down his spine, a sense of unprecedented danger enveloping him. His voice became even more ingratiating: “How could that be? This is just a small token of my respect for our new clan head. Besides, you need me to communicate with the council of Elders. Otherwise, it will take much effort for them to recognize you as the new clan head, right?”

Xu Nian thought for a moment, then slowly retracted the blade she held. She threatened, “You make a good point. I’ll spare you this time, but don’t let there be a next time.”

As she spoke, numerous agile green snakes appeared, crawling over the bodies of the dead or injured King Snakes, stripping them of their storage bags and treasures, gathering them at her feet.

Elder Qing Lu watched this scene, his vision darkening as he nearly fainted from rage.