Cries of "The White Devils are coming! The White Devils are here!" spread through the town like a contagion, and panic swept through every street and alley.
The townspeople who had been clamoring just moments ago fell utterly silent. Some could only hide in their rooms, trembling uncontrollably.
"It seems the
Lei Lin looked at the town gripped by panic with a trace of speechlessness, shaking his head, though he wasn't particularly surprised.
These alien residents, in his estimation, were on average only slightly stronger than ordinary humans, while Belinda's family was a tier-five Devil White Phosphorus Snake clan. The enormous disparity in power meant an absolute imbalance in status. Under such circumstances, if the family had actually treated the townspeople well, that would have been what surprised him.
"Tell me! Where is the White River Valley?"
The blood-red glow in Lei Lin's eyes intensified as he looked at the trembling farmer and farmwife before him.
"N-noble sir, there's no valley or anything like that nearby!" At last, it was the farmer who stammered out the answer.
"Oh? Of course! How could you lot ever find that place?"
Lei Lin understood then. The Devil White Phosphorus Snake family's stronghold was nearby indeed, but it was hidden from ordinary people. With their abilities, accomplishing something like that would be trivially easy.
"According to the positioning, the target is somewhere in this area, but there's significant interference — I can't pinpoint the exact location!"
Lei Lin stroked his chin. At the ancestral stronghold of such a powerful clan, there would naturally be numerous formidable formations and abilities designed to block detection.
The accumulated ambient radiation leaked unconsciously by those powerful beings could even alter the terrain itself.
Only these scale-bearing humanoid aliens seemed — for reasons unknown — to possess a resistance to high-energy radiation that surpassed even many low-tier Wizards. That was why they could survive and reproduce here.
Or rather, the White Devil family had simply relocated them here as objects of exploitation and oppression.
"Still, as long as it's nearby, I'll definitely find it!"
Under the awestruck gazes of the farmers, Lei Lin's body rose into the air, and in the blink of an eye he was hovering above the town.
The half-moon tier five True Spirit power swept across the area in an instant.
Every resident, every stretch of terrain, even the insects and other minute creatures hidden in the cracks — everything was laid bare before Lei Lin without the slightest omission.
As the power of the True Spirit expanded, the range only seemed to grow ever wider.
"The absolute pinnacle and zenith of personal power! This sensation of having total dominion over everything beneath me! It's utterly intoxicating!"
From his God's-eye view, Lei Lin knew every detail of the surrounding area inside and out. With a single thought, he could snuff out the lives of every person in the town — and this kind of power left him somewhat intoxicated.
"Only this kind of strength can be the guarantee of true immortality!" Immortality without power was nothing but endless torment and suffering. Only freedom and eternity gained through absolute mastery — that was Lei Lin's lifelong pursuit.
"There! Found them!" With a flash of light, Lei Lin descended and looked at
"Sophia, we're going to pick up your sister. If you run into any danger, find a place to hide on your own. Don't worry about me — understood?"
"Mm! I'll do what Brother says!" Sophia nodded obediently.
The moment Lei Lin and Sophia set off, a dark figure emerged directly from the shadows of the town. It took on Lei Lin's original appearance, then draped itself in a voluminous black cloak before vanishing into the morning light.
This time, because certain unsavory methods would be employed, Lei Lin resided the same approach as last time.
The Chip-controlled shadow puppet would escort Sophia while his true body struck from the shadows.
With Sophia as proof that he had come in person, Belinda would hardly suspect anything. Especially since — a sharp glint flashed through Lei Lin's eyes…
……
"Strange… so few of them? I'd assumed Belinda's clan would be large, but it turns out there are only a few dozen members — and nearly half of those are half-breeds or have immature bloodlines…"
After passing through a patch of Nightmare Mist bordering the town, a small white valley came into view before Lei Lin.
Surrounding the valley were numerous Serpent Paths, and a terrifying Dream force radiated outward ceaselessly. In its depths, clusters of densely packed buildings could be seen.
This was clearly the home of Belinda's clan.
Although the numbers were small, the valley was bustling with commotion. From time to time, the hisses and roars of enormous serpents echoed through the air.
"It seems I've arrived at quite the opportune moment…"
With a sweep of his True Spirit power, most of the scenes within the valley were laid bare before Lei Lin. Several Devil White-Phosphorus Serpents, each the size of a small hill, lay sprawled across the ground in haphazard positions, their life signatures barely clinging on at the lowest ebb.
Amid the devastation wrought by the battle, the greater part of a noble's mansion deep in the valley had already been reduced to ruins.
And hovering in mid-air, Belinda cackled wildly, clutching an ancient mirror tightly in her hand. Her body was smeared with bloodstains, and several obvious claw marks marred her arms.
Clearly, obtaining this item had cost her dearly.
Before Belinda stood a middle-aged man with short platinum-white hair, his scarlet pupils brimming with frigid light, as if he wanted to devour her whole.
Terror-level fluctuations radiated ceaselessly from his body, making the surrounding void tremble, yet he seemed somewhat hesitant to act.
"A high-ranking descendant of the Myriad Serpents can actually transform into human form?"
Seeing this scene, Lei Lin was not particularly surprised. Although the ancient Komoyin Giant Serpents had no such ability to take human shape, it didn't mean the fifth-rank Devil White-Phosphorus Serpents couldn't. Moreover, the Mother of Myriad Serpents and the Serpent Women all possessed human-like forms, so even for giant serpent descendants of the Myriad Serpents, it was perfectly reasonable for them to develop the ability to transform once their bloodline power or intelligence reached a certain level.
After all, compared to the giant serpent form, some things were simply more convenient to accomplish with a human body — not to mention the difference in energy consumption.
And many humanoid hybrids had come about in exactly this way.
Otherwise, given the sheer size of the giant serpents, even if they produced hybrid offspring, those offspring would likely be monstrous creatures as large as mountains.
"Belinda! You dare come back? And covet our family's supreme secret treasure!"
The platinum-haired middle-aged man roared, the fury in his eyes enough to reduce Belinda to ash.
"That night Sophia was kidnapped, I had already strengthened our defenses. But I never expected you would bribe even Lisa, steal the key to the secret chamber… and bring so many Drunken Serpent Flowers!"
"Haha… haha…" At this moment, Belinda's face wore an undisguised grin of pure satisfaction.
"It wasn't bribery! She betrayed you of her own free will! My foolish father!"
"Your nauseating practice of maintaining the bloodline heritage to please the Mother of Myriad Serpents has long aroused the wrath of the entire family… My little operation this time was merely the spark!"
Belinda gazed at the ancient mirror in her hand, a look of obvious disgust on her face. "In truth, I could have set things in motion back when I first ran away from home. But the Eye of Judgment taught me to respect order, not to unleash bloody vengeance indiscriminately… But now… everything is different. I have no more restraints…"
"Hand over the Bloodline Ancient Mirror! I can still treat this incident as if it never happened. Otherwise, not only will you suffer the most horrific punishment, but so will your sister Sophia — just like your mother!"
A massive phantom of a Devil White-Phosphorus Serpent materialized behind him as he spoke, accompanied by an enraged roar that intensified the surrounding crimson mist, pushing it closer and closer to merging with the Dream World.
"Haha… Mother?" Belinda's wild laughter gradually turned cold. "You have no right to speak her name!"
As if struck by the provocation, a blood-red light erupted from Belinda's hand, and the ancient mirror let out a strained groan.
"No!" The middle-aged man's face twisted in shock as he struck out. A terrifying crimson giant hand materialized, reaching for Belinda. Around her, masses of dark-red tentacles appeared, spreading toward the ancient mirror.
"Heh heh… Pity you're too late!" A layer of black light erupted from Belinda's body, as if she had donned a suit of black armor that kept the tentacles at bay.
Clang! Clang! Black cracks began to split across the ancient mirror in Belinda's hands, one fissure after another, until finally it exploded with a deafening boom.
Bang! At that moment, Belinda was sent flying by the crimson giant hand. Her black armor shattered, and mouthfuls of blood sprayed from her lips — yet across her face was a look of pure exhilaration.
"Oh! No!!!" Along with a furious roar, the Bloodline Ancient Mirror collapsed into a massive black void. Faintly, the sound of a woman's wailing could be heard from within.
Layer after layer of spiritual entities emerged, taking on phantom forms of various colors before dissipating again and again. In the end, only a distant, ancient sigh lingered in the air — and then the Bloodline Ancient Mirror vanished completely.
"Do you realize — do you have any idea what you've done?!"
The muscles on the middle-aged man's face twisted grotesquely. "Just a hundred years — give me one more hundred years, and I could have purified the family's bloodline, elevated us into the ranks of the pure-blooded nobles! All because of you…"
An invisible force surged forth, dragging Belinda straight before the middle-aged man.
Without the Bloodline Ancient Mirror, there was nothing left to fear. Before the overwhelming fifth-tier strength of the middle-aged man, even a fully uninjured Belinda would have been powerless to resist — let alone now, after she had already lost most of her strength stealing the mirror and fleeing the pursuit that followed her discovery.
Crack! As if some invisible beast lurking in the void had suddenly opened its maw and bitten down.
A massive chunk of muscle and bone vanished from Belinda's shoulder, forcing a stifled groan from her lips.