"I swear! I'll make you die in the most excruciating way possible..."
The middle-aged man's face twisted with rage. His carefully laid plans had been completely shattered, driving him into a frenzy of fury.
Fine snake scales instantly appeared on his hand, and then he struck out like a cannon, slamming directly into
The power of a pure-blood fifth-rank Devil White Phosphor Snake sent Belinda hurtling backward like a runaway locomotive, the sounds of bones cracking echoing from her body ceaselessly.
Some fragments of internal organs even mixed with blood as they poured from Belinda's mouth.
"You think you'll die like this? No! I'll heal you, and then repeat this process over and over again!"
A massive phantom of a white serpent emerged from the smoke, with the furious middle-aged man standing at its base.
He walked up to Belinda. A flash of crimson light passed through his eyes, and Belinda's entire body rose into the air once more, as if being crushed by tens of thousands of tons of force. Her bones shattered inch by inch, yet something kept Belinda conscious at a normal level, and an expression of excruciating pain surfaced on her face.
"Now, tell me — what kind of pain would you like to taste?"
The middle-aged man approached Belinda. On one of his palms, several small white snakes writhed into view, flicking their tongues toward her.
Humming!
At that moment, a flash of light emanated from Belinda's body, and a beast soul tattoo shimmered with radiance.
A semi-transparent phantom of a beast soul materialized directly, positioning itself in front of Belinda.
It was a humanoid beast soul, bearing the features of a serpent woman, radiating fourth-rank fluctuations. Most notably, there was still a glimmer of rationality in its eyes.
For a beast soul, this was simply inconceivable.
When Belinda faced danger, the beast soul had actually moved to protect her on its own — and had even retained some of its memories from life.
"So it's you!" The middle-aged man wore a sinister smile as he looked at Belinda. "Indeed — still protecting this piece of trash after all this time? How about I destroy you first? I'm sure our little Belinda will be very distressed..."
"You... won't... succeed..."
A halting, fragmented voice escaped Belinda's lips.
"No wonder Belinda never used her beast soul... so this is the reason." Leilin nodded in sudden understanding. As a fourth-rank beast soul master, Belinda had never once summoned a Morning Star-level beast soul, which had long puzzled Leilin.
Now, however, he could see that the beast soul's face bore a striking resemblance to Belinda's.
"Combined with this behavior of automatically protecting its master, it seems the fourth-rank beast soul on Belinda is none other than her mother. And judging from the situation, it was very likely her father's doing..."
Encountering such a thing, it was no wonder Belinda's temperament had changed so drastically, and she sought bloody revenge.
Before, she had been held in check by the teachings of the Eye of Judgment, but now she was clearly beyond all restraint.
"You dare..." Belinda nearly ground her teeth to dust, staring wide-eyed at her father.
"Heh heh heh... Why wouldn't I dare? This lowly woman was nothing more than a mixed-blood servant. I granted her supreme glory and a luxurious life. In return, isn't this what she should do... Don't you agree?"
The middle-aged man stared at the beast soul with a twisted expression. Unfortunately, once refined into a beast soul, the other party had clearly lost most of its memories and emotions, only instinctively protecting Belinda. It showed no expression in response to the middle-aged man's gaze.
"Sigh... This creation is still not quite perfect!"
The middle-aged man shook his head with regret, then suddenly snapped his fingers. "Belinda! Seal your sister over here as well. Don't you think that sounds wonderful? The process must be absolutely exquisite!"
Seeing Belinda begin to struggle violently, the middle-aged man wore a smile of triumph. "And now... let me..."
A massive amount of dark red fog formed a cage, wrapping directly around the serpent woman beast soul.
"Hiss hiss..." A warning hiss came from the serpent woman's eyes, but with only fourth-rank strength, she clearly couldn't mount much resistance.
"Beep! The melodrama stops here — isn't it about time for me to step in?"
Terrorizing black chains materialized, slashing like swords in front of the middle-aged man, separating him from Belinda.
"Who goes there?"
The middle-aged man looked up sharply, his expression one of deep wariness.
After all, he was a fifth-rank powerhouse, yet someone had managed to infiltrate this place completely undetected. The sheer ability demonstrated was enough to chill him to the core.
Then he saw a figure cloaked entirely in black, standing mid-air, a pair of frigid eyes staring directly at him.
"No! It's not coldness — it's indifference! Like an ordinary person stepping on an ant — he thinks stepping on me is the same thing!"
In an instant, having read the dismissive look in Leilin's eyes, the middle-aged man flew into a violent rage.
"Who is it? Who gave you permission to look down on me, Kende? A noble of the great White Devil race, direct bloodline of the Serpent Mother..."
A massive phantom of the Devil White Phosphor Snake surged into existence, hissing ceaselessly at Leilin, while the dark red dream power drifted even more prominently through the surroundings.
"That's..." Belinda's vision was bathed in crimson as she looked at the dark-clothed figure, finding it somewhat familiar.
"Wait... He seems to be the same person who took Lord Belcrak away back then... Perhaps it's just a similar bearing, but why would he suddenly appear here?"
"Heh heh heh..." At that moment, the black-clothed figure in mid-air let out a cold laugh, its chill sending shivers through everyone present.
"A fifth-rank Devil White Phosphor Snake — if made into a beast soul, it would surely be quite formidable even among fifth-rank beast soul masters, wouldn't it?"
"A beast soul? You actually have that thought? You dare to use a direct descendant of the great Serpent Mother as a beast soul?"
The middle-aged man's eyes went wide, clearly shocked by Leilin's audacity. On the Heil Continent, the bloodline of Ten Thousand Serpents naturally held supreme dominance, and precisely because of their identity as great serpents, they harbored intense revulsion toward the practice of capturing snakes to refine into beast souls.
The direct bloodline of the Serpent Mother was an absolute taboo that could never be violated. Any beast soul master found to be using Ten Thousand Serpents bloodline — regardless of how they obtained it — would be hunted down to the death.
Therefore, on the Heil Continent, even beast soul masters never dared to use Ten Thousand Serpents bloodline as beast souls. By extension, even many snake-type beast souls had vanished entirely.
Even on the other continents, to avoid provoking the vast forces of the Heil Continent, beast soul masters who employed snake-type beast souls were exceedingly rare, and they often concealed their practices.
Under these circumstances, Leilin's words were truly shocking.
"You're dead! You're dead! The Serpent Mother, and every bloodline descendant on the Heil Continent — they will all be your mortal enemies..."
The middle-aged man roared. "For daring to offend our noble bloodline — I, Kende, shall deliver the judgment you deserve!"
"Hmph! Enough talk!"
Leilin smiled coldly. A sinister pressure radiated from his body, even giving them a faint sense of a sovereign's aura.
"The power of dreams — it's useless against me! Stop wasting your effort!"
Leilin beckoned with his hand, and the vast dark red fog that had previously surrounded his body condensed directly into his palm, forming a dark orb of light.
"Fourth-rank Dream Spell — Chain of Dreams!"
The dark red chains shot out like a spider's web, sealing off the surrounding space entirely, while the rest lashed out like venomous serpents, striking toward Kende.
"You can wield dream power, and with this kind of ability?!"
Kende's expression changed drastically. "Who exactly are you? From the Scorpion race? Or the Dream Spirits?" The other party's mastery of dream power was clearly superior to his own. Kende could already feel Leilin competing with him for control of the dream ritual array. A terrifying possibility immediately surfaced in his mind.
Both of these races were ones he knew of that could harness dream power, and among the bloodline of Ten Thousand Serpents, besides the Devil White Phosphor Snake, there were no other kin who could access dream energy.
"That's none of your concern. You just need to obediently die and have your soul extracted — that will be enough!"
The dark red dream chains transformed into a spider's web, enveloping the middle-aged man within.
"Is that so? We who have inherited the Serpent Mother's bloodline — how could we possibly lose to a coward who hides his face!"
Crash! Kende's body erupted, and then a massive white phantom surged forth, shattering the dream chains outright.
"Hiss hiss..." The white figure towered into the sky, radiating tremendous pressure. It was none other than an enormous serpent whose body stretched over tens of thousands of meters.
The great serpent bore white scales lustrous as jade, covered in an ethereal, dreamlike sheen. Its scarlet vertical pupils were filled with fury and savagery, locked straight onto Leilin.
Compared to it, Leilin's figure was as tiny as an ant.
"Not a Morning Star killer move — it's a natural physical transformation!" Leilin murmured, blue light continuously shooting from his eyes. "This kind of physical augmentation is terrifying! As expected, only the true form can bring out the opponent's maximum combat power!"
At the same time, Leilin grew even more impressed with the ancient wizards.
They had actually managed to forcibly simulate the true form through a Morning Star killer move configuration, even achieving the same augmentation effects — this must have required an enormous amount of effort and dedication!
The fifth-rank Devil White Phosphor Snake's immense pressure forced even the observing family members to fall to their knees.
"Too weak! Too weak! This Devil White Phosphor Snake family is far too weak!"
Leilin surveyed his surroundings.
Although his spiritual sense detected dozens of life signatures, clearly many had lost their combat ability — presumably the work of Belinda's Drunken Serpent Flowers earlier.
But even without that, these mostly fourth-rank, aged and young individuals were not worth a second glance from Leilin.
"Still, fortunately, there's this Devil White Phosphor Snake — it barely meets the standard!"
Leilin looked at the white giant serpent before him, a smile blooming on his face.