The phantom that appeared was an extremely beautiful young woman. Her green hair carried a slight curl, drifting ceaselessly through the air as if it possessed a life of its own.
Her eyes were even more captivating—shimmering like rippling water—and combined with her exquisite, bewitching features, they gave Leilin an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Especially once the phantom had fully materialized, the bloodline inside his body immediately surged with fear, as though encountering a natural predator. Yet there was also a strange sense of intimacy that made him want to throw himself into the girl's arms without a second thought.
"A Primordial Serpent Woman?!"
His mouth was filled with bitterness. From the single word "kinsman" she had uttered earlier, he had already guessed at the truth.
The woman's temperament and appearance bore a subtle resemblance to that of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, leaving a deep impression on him.
The Primordial Serpent Woman also carried the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' bloodline—arguably even more direct than that of the Comorin Giant Serpents—but all in all, they were bloodline kin, connected in some way.
"Kinsman! Tell me, what did you come here seeking?" the green-haired serpent woman asked. Her tone carried a strange, bewitching quality that made Leilin instinctively want to answer her question.
"Warning! Warning! Main body's bloodline showing unstable fluctuations—emotional interference detected!" The Chip's cold reminder pulled Leilin out of the enchantment at just the right moment.
But he no longer dared to look at her directly, especially not into the serpent woman's eyes.
"Legend has it that Primordial Serpent Women can command any serpent species. Now it seems that's no exaggeration…"
A mere spirit-like apparition had nearly ensnared him. If the real body—a genuine serpent woman who had reached the rank of Radiant Moon Wizard—were to come in person, he would probably have no choice but to submit.
"Your bloodline appears to be remarkably pure, and your body is shrouded by an especially peculiar power…"
The serpent woman phantom bit her own finger.
"Who exactly are you?" Leilin's voice was low.
"I was once human. I've had several names, but I've forgotten them all…" The phantom smiled, speaking as though the words concerned someone else entirely.
"Are you the soul projection of a Primordial Serpent Woman Warlock?" Leilin ventured.
According to his intelligence, the ancient Quicksand Organization had once been home to a serpent woman warlock who had apparently undergone the Atavism process, transforming into a true serpent woman of terrifying power that even ordinary Radiant Moon Wizards could not match.
"No! She has long since perished completely. I am merely a phantom formed from scattered memory fragments that drifted and evolved over an immense span of time…" A trace of melancholy crossed the green-haired girl's face.
"Even so, to form a spirit of this magnitude, there must be a terrifying radiation source nearby!"
Leilin's eyes lit up. He thrust his hand toward the velvet cushion!
A massive black claw materialized, sweeping aside the fur and metal to reveal what lay beneath.
It was a layer of white feathers. When he pushed the feathers aside, an intense bloodline resonance immediately surged outward.
"It can actually block both radiation fluctuations and bloodline auras!" Leilin swiftly gathered up the white feathers, then fixed his gaze on what lay in the depression.
It was a fragment of broken bone—a phalanx from some humanoid creature.
Even after countless ages, a terrifying majesty and radiance still emanated from it, giving Leilin an almost irresistible urge to drop to his knees.
"A creature that reached the fifth rank at maturity—even a single finger bone can radiate for this long after death, and give rise to something like this!" Leilin glanced at the green-haired serpent woman.
The remains of a fifth-rank creature—its value to the Blood Condor went without saying. No wonder that creature had guarded it so carefully, layer upon layer, and used aura-concealing feathers to hide it.
"What did you come here for, my brother?" the green-haired serpent woman spoke again.
Leilin pondered for a moment, then decided to be honest: "I'm looking for something that can accelerate bloodline growth—something like a strand of serpent woman hair…"
"That can help you far more than serpent woman hair!"
The serpent woman smiled faintly. The finger bone flew into the air and landed in Leilin's hand.
"You… why are you helping me?"
Feeling the wild, jubilant surge of his own bloodline, Leilin knew the serpent woman bone joint in his hand was the genuine article—and that it held extraordinary benefits for him.
But he did not accept it immediately. Instead, he asked the question that weighed on his mind.
"I have persisted for far too long… I don't know whether it's been centuries or even a millennium, and I can never leave the radiation range of this finger bone…"
The serpent woman glanced at him. "Do you know what that kind of existence feels like?"
Leilin fell silent. Such suffering could indeed drive a wizard to madness—or even to the point of seeking death.
"As soon as you take the finger bone away, deprived of the environment it has constantly irradiated, I will gradually dissipate…" The girl's figure grew more and more transparent, yet a smile of liberation appeared on her face.
"Wait—how can the bloodline shackle of a Comorin Giant Serpent warlock be broken?"
As the girl's image faded to reveal the wall behind her, Leilin blurted out the question.
"Only Mother can answer that…"