Chapter 80

Chapter 80

His vision blocked, Lin Juan was plunged into darkness. Cold scales gently brushed against his skin, sending tingling sensations through him.

While Lin Juan couldn't see, Ping Yunhan could. Witnessing the bizarre and eerie feeding scene before him, his eyes widened involuntarily.

The ink-black tentacles writhed, tightly constricting the white serpent's body, leaving no room for struggle. Scales sliced through the giant snake's flesh, and as the feeding progressed, an eerie purple glow flickered across the dark scales.

The white snake's struggles grew weaker and weaker. Its roars had long been muffled by the prepared tentacles until it completely ceased moving.

The white snake gradually disappeared, replaced by the increasingly massive tentacles.

From a small pool to a large mass.

The entire process wasn't particularly bloody but evoked an inexplicable sense of dread.

Ping Yunhan opened his mouth, horrified to discover he was mute.

He turned his stiff neck and saw the youth with a serpent's tail, still standing there unaware with his face covered by tentacles. Countless massive, thick tentacles carefully surrounded him, writhing and gently brushing against him just barely touching him.

The scene was both absurd and beautiful.

Noticing his gaze, the tentacles stopped moving in unison and turned toward him.

Though the tentacles had no eyes, Ping Yunhan felt as if he were being watched by some supreme entity.

Fear spread from the depths of his heart, every cell in his body screaming danger.

Escape!

Run!

His survival instinct screamed at him to flee, but his body seemed frozen in place, rigid and unable to even turn his head.

Crushing terror arrived with the threat of death. His willpower shattered uncontrollably under the gaze of this terrifying presence, his sanity slipping into the depths of madness...

"Are you done?"

A clear, soothing voice pulled him back from the edge of oblivion. It felt like an eternity had passed, yet also as if only a second had gone by. Ping Yunhan regained his senses, twitching his fingers—his body responded.

The moment he regained control of his body, he activated his superpower. A basketball-sized energy sphere vanished into nothing mid-air before even touching the tentacles.

Ping Yunhan's expression turned grave. After devouring the giant white snake, the tentacles had become an even more formidable and horrifying entity.

The tentacles heard Lin Juan's voice. It knew the centaur was brought by Lin Juan and couldn't be disposed of directly. With the white snake dead, there were no other monsters here to frame.

Not to anger the young man, the tentacles reluctantly gave up on killing the centaur. However, it had been observed feeding.

Then it would just ensure his silence.

At the junction of countless tentacles, a pair of enormous deep purple eyes opened. Ping Yunhan stared blankly into them, nearly unconscious after a single look.

The purple eyes closed again, and the tentacles gradually shrank until they were about the same size as before. Only then did the tentacle obscuring Lin Juan's vision move away.

"Why wouldn't you let me see?" Lin Juan caught the tentacle that tried to slip away as soon as it loosened and gave it a solid squeeze.

Huh?

Did it feel tougher?

The original tentacle felt softer; without the scales, its texture resembled jelly. Now it felt more resilient, no longer jelly-like. Lin Juan didn't know how to describe it—it just felt much sturdier.

He picked up the entire tentacle, weighed it in his hand, and asked suspiciously, "Why do you feel heavier?"

The tentacle quietly coiled around the youth's arm, affecting an "I don't understand" pose.

Lin Juan inspected all its tentacles, found no damage, let it wrap around his wrist, and continued scanning the area.

The giant white snake was gone.

The entire cave felt even more spacious. Some of the stone pillars were shattered, while others were still crumbling, dust falling from them.

"Cough, cough."

A faint coughing sound caught Lin Juan's attention. He made his way around the stone pillars and to the innermost area.

Inside a partially cracked stone pillar, Deng Wenruo was struggling to climb out.

"Cough."

Deng Wenruo spat out the dust in his mouth, looked up, and saw the youth approaching. His eyes immediately filled with tears: "Lin, you came to save me?"

He knew Mr. Lin wouldn't abandon him!

"Your friend found me and said you were missing," Lin Juan recalled there should be another person here. "Huh? Where is he?"

"Here." Ping Yunhan in the corner waved his hand to indicate his presence.

He got up, walked to the stone pillar where Deng Wenruo was, helped crack it open, and free him.

Did I forget something very important?

Why can't I remember?

Ping Yunhan rubbed his forehead. For now, Deng Wenruo needed help; he'd deal with other matters later.

"I..." Deng Wenruo climbed out of the shattered stone pillar and sat down right there. "I followed the bishop to a cave. After entering, I saw him kowtowing by a pool. A huge white snake phantom appeared on the cave wall. I hid in the shadows, waited for the bishop to leave, and then moved in to investigate."

"The wall was just a wall, the pool was just a pool—nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Just as I was about to leave, I heard a 'gurgling' bubbling noise coming from the pool."

Deng Wenruo's expression grew increasingly fearful.

"I saw snakes, so many snakes, of various colors, almost covering the entire water surface. They stretched their necks out of the water, thousands upon thousands of slit-pupiled eyes staring at me. My body grew increasingly stiff, my thoughts more and more blocked, until I was completely paralyzed."

"After that, I don't remember anything."

"When I woke up, I was trapped in a solid confinement. Every part of my body was embedded within it. I couldn't free myself, and I couldn't make a sound. I heard movements outside. I wanted to call for help, but I couldn't. I could only stay there and wait."

In just a few minutes, Deng Wenruo was overwhelmed with despair.

He couldn't help but wonder: Will I ever get out? Will I be trapped here until I die? Who is outside? Where did those snakes go? What is the bishop's goal? What does the Holy Snake Cult really want to do...

Countless questions swirled in his mind. Deng Wenruo knew that to figure everything out, the most important thing was to escape. Otherwise, it would all be pointless.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long. The thing trapping him developed cracks. As long as there were cracks, he had a way to save himself. His superpower took effect, gradually widening the cracks and freeing his hands.

"You're saying you saw many snakes in the pool?" Ping Yunhan caught the crucial detail. "But when we entered the water, there was only one large white snake underwater."

"After making eye contact with those snakes, you turned to stone. This ability feels somewhat familiar," Lin Juan mused.

He felt he had seen it somewhere before, but couldn't recall it from his existing memories.

"It's Medusa, isn't it?" Deng Wenruo said wryly. "Anything that makes eye contact with Medusa turns to stone."

"Legend says Medusa is also related to snakes. Here, we encountered a giant white snake, while you saw a group of smaller snakes. There must be some connection between them," Ping Yunhan analyzed.

Lin Juan nodded. "Turning people to stone just by making eye contact—such an overpowered ability. I made eye contact with the giant white snake but didn't turn to stone. I noticed earlier that some of these stone pillars still have traces of life energy remaining, while others have none at all. If these pillars were once people, turning them into this state was likely to drain their life energy."

Mentioning the giant white snake, Lin Juan remembered, "I only wounded the giant white snake. Where did it go?"

A flicker of confusion passed through Ping Yunhan's eyes. "It probably ran away because it couldn't defeat you."

The tentacle, pressed against the inside of Lin Juan's arm, nuzzled guiltily.

Deng Wenruo noticed the tentacle. "You brought it along too."

Was it just his imagination? Why did the tentacle seem somewhat different from before?

The doubt flashed through his mind, but Deng Wenruo had rested enough and got to his feet. "Shall we leave this place now?"

As they tried to exit, the three discovered a problem—the cave had no exit.

They had no choice but to return to the edge of the pool.

"The only way out is through the water."

But the question was—

"Do you remember the way back?" Lin Juan asked.

Deng Wenruo said apologetically, "I was brought here after losing consciousness."

Ping Yunhan scratched the back of his head. "I was dragged here by the giant white snake and didn't get a chance to memorize the way."

The tentacle nestled close to Lin Juan lifted one of its tips and pointed at itself.

Lin Juan grabbed the tip of the tentacle. "You remember the way?"

The tip of the tentacle bent downward in a nodding motion.

"Alright, then we'll follow it."

The three entered the water, and with the tentacle leading the way, they soon returned to the cave where they had started.

As they emerged from the water, Lin Juan saw the ground littered with dead snakes.

Multicolored and sprawling everywhere, the sight made their scalps crawl.

Deng Wenruo’s face paled. "These are the snakes I saw."

"When we came here earlier, there were no snakes," Ping Yunhan said, puzzled. "Did they hide?"

"Maybe it's because of that giant white snake," Lin Juan guessed.

The tentacle shrank back slightly. After devouring the giant white snake, it could process more complex thoughts. It knew that when Lin Juan and the others had arrived earlier, the smaller snakes had stayed hidden out of fear, sensing the pressure it had unintentionally emitted.

"How am I supposed to get across?" Lin Juan sat by the pool's edge. With the ground covered in snake corpses, was he supposed to swim across them?

If he really swam across, his tail would be done for.

"Ping and I will clear a path," Deng Wenruo volunteered.

Not only did Lin Juan not want to wade through a field of snake corpses, but the others didn’t want to walk directly over them either—what if some snakes weren't quite dead and decided to bite?

The two used their superpowers and cleared a clean, wide path.

Deep within a nest underground, the giant white snake, sensing its *fenshen* had been devoured, let out a roar of fury.

Damn it!

It wouldn't let any of them escape!

Its massive body thrashed, causing the earth to tremble violently.

Lin Juan stumbled, bracing himself against a tree trunk. "An earthquake?"

The Holy Snake Cult had felt the tremor too. The bishop’s face turned pale. "Our god is angry."

"How could this be?" Several priests asked anxiously. "Was the last offering not satisfactory?"

"Someone has shown disrespect to the god," the bishop turned and said sharply. "Find the God-forsaken ones and show them no mercy!"

After returning, Lin Juan noticed that several scales around his tail were faintly turning dark.

At first, he thought it was his imagination, but upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn’t. The scales near his waist were indeed turning darker.

A problem that hadn’t appeared for so long had emerged just after visiting that cave. Lin Juan couldn’t believe it had nothing to do with that place.

As Lin Juan examined the scales on his waist, the tentacle slithered over. Seeing scales similar to its own color, it pressed against them affectionately, nuzzling.

Just like it.

I like these.

So much.

Lin Juan, tickled by its rubbing, pinched the wriggling tentacle with two fingers and moved it aside. "Don’t touch randomly."

The tentacle obediently stilled.

Lin Juan had no idea how a body full of tentacles managed to arrange itself in a sitting pose, but seeing its respectful pose, he found it amusing and flicked its tip.

The flicked tentacle wriggled excitedly from side to side.

He touched me!

The sudden earthquake sparked widespread panic, especially after the Holy Snake Cult declared they would capture the God-forsaken ones. The air grew tense.

The royal palace, however, seemed unaffected.

After finishing a day’s royal duties, Lin Juan lay on his bed, once again thinking of Yan.

Where exactly did he go?

The night deepened.

White mist surged, and the tentacle pressed against Lin Juan’s body began to grow uncontrollably.

It spread downward from the bed, gradually covering the entire room, and showed no signs of stopping.

Lin Juan woke up feeling squeezed, his vision filled with palm-sized, jet-black scales.

Smooth and sharp.

Huh? He blinked.

What the—?

His mind was still foggy from sleep. It took him a moment, then Lin Juan abruptly sat up.

Below him, around him—everywhere his eyes darted—were tentacles covered in scales.

And he was coiled in layer upon layer by these tentacles at the center.

As if he were a precious treasure guarded deep within a monster's lair.