It seemed that the devil white phosphorus snake bloodline carried by Lei Lin and his group caused the colossal serpents they sensed to keep their distance, making the journey across the Myriad Serpent Plains remarkably smooth.
As for those creatures devoid of any sentience, every one that emerged to harass them or treated Lei Lin's party as prey was coldly exterminated by
Perhaps, in her eyes, only those of the Myriad Serpent bloodline who had awakened true intelligence counted as "kin." These snakes, possessing no capacity for thought and driven purely by instinct, could hardly be called companions.
What was more, even among those who shared the Myriad Serpent descent, vicious fights and even outright devouring occurred between different clans without mercy.
Most of these unreasoning serpents were mere first- or second-level creatures —
As time passed, Lei Lin and his companions gradually ventured deeper into the heart of the Myriad Serpent Plains.
Bathed in the purple moonlight, the entire grassland lay in tranquil silence. On the extinguished campfire, a few bright crimson embers still glowed here and there, radiating lingering heat.
A tent near the campfire suddenly shimmered with light, and Lei Lin's figure materialized from thin air before slipping back into his phased state.
"The distance is just right — this is the spot!"
Lei Lin murmured to himself, gazing up at the moon overhead, then departed from the campsite.
Back there, he had left behind a puppet and a Chip intelligence agent — more than enough to handle any unexpected situations.
Before long, a vast marsh spread out before Lei Lin's eyes. Scattered across it were tiny pools that gleamed like pearls, strung together intermittently and dotting the grassland.
In the vicinity, Lei Lin could sense a multitude of lurking life forces, and from time to time the hisses and roars of enormous serpents echoed through the air.
In the struggle for water sources, creatures in the wild would often fight to the death.
Lei Lin had passed through this area with Belinda a few days ago. At the time, they had detoured far from it to avoid unnecessary conflict, but Lei Lin had quietly committed the location to memory.
"Hsss… hsss…"
A massive black serpent as thick as a water vat burst straight out of the marsh, its bloody maw gaping wide as though it intended to swallow Lei Lin whole in a single gulp.
"Scram!" Lei Lin's brow furrowed slightly, and the creature was immediately sent flying. Wailing in pain, it fled into the distance.
"These creatures that don't know when to back off are a real nuisance!"
Not all low-level serpents submitted to the bloodline flowing through Lei Lin's veins. The gray snake that Sophia had encountered before was simply too weak — it could only bow in submission when faced with the aura of a superior being.
But once second-tier or third-tier giant serpents appeared, and they lacked sufficient intelligence, Lei Lin would become nothing more than a delectable prey in their eyes.
"Because they all share the Bloodline of Ten Thousand Serpents, the pressure exerted by superior giant serpents has very little effect on them?"
Lei Lin let out a sudden laugh. "Now *these* are the test subjects I want!"
BOOM! A terrifying phantom of a white giant serpent tens of thousands of meters long materialized behind Lei Lin, its twin crimson slit pupils blazing like stars as it unleashed a deafening roar.
A faint aura of sovereignty radiated from the phantom serpent.
Even the mindless giant serpents began scrambling out of their hiding places, tripping over themselves in a desperate bid to flee the area.
Lei Lin was no mere half-breed. His bloodline was more than enough to suppress the greed of these giant serpents. The imperial majesty he carried — even a mere wisp of it — was sufficient to fill these mindless creatures with abject terror.
Hissing filled the air as the serpents retreated from the marsh in droves, forming a terrifying serpent tide. Enormous quantities of hybrid breeds — species Lei Lin couldn't even name — surged into view.
"Mm! As expected, they're all quite weak. Almost no fourth-tier serpents here! That makes sense — once a serpent reaches the Morning Star realm, no matter how low its intelligence originally was, it undergoes a complete transformation..."
Lei Lin's gaze swept continuously across the swarm, and his eyes finally lit up. "There you are!"
A black giant serpent, wailing in distress, was seized by Lei Lin and hoisted into midair.
Its scales were pitch-black, and its twin slit pupils were now filled with terror and desperate pleading. The energy fluctuations emanating from its body indicated it was at the third tier.
"A Horall Black Snake! A subspecies of the Komoin Giant Serpent! We meet again!"
A flicker of nostalgia passed through Lei Lin's eyes as he gazed silently at the massive black serpent before him.
Back then, his own Komoin Giant Serpent bloodline had been extracted from a Horall Black Snake. Looking back now, the Great Crimson
Perhaps, from the Great Wizard's perspective, a third-tier Warlock bloodline was already more than enough to dominate the South Coast, and he had no wish for his successor to become entangled in the affairs of the Central Continent.
But what even the Great Crimson Wizard had failed to foresee was that Lei Lin, the one who inherited his legacy, would prove so extraordinary. He had obtained the blood of the Komoin Giant Serpent directly from a Horall Black Snake, laying the foundation for his future rise to power in a single stroke.
"I owe everything I am to this path — and now I need your power as well!"
Lei Lin flipped his hand, and a dark-red test tube materialized within it. The dark-red liquid inside was constantly boiling, radiating an aura of pure malevolence.
"The
Although it had been purified numerous times, the essence still contained vast quantities of the Gluttony Monarch's imprints. Once used, the consumer would inevitably be influenced by the gluttonous desire within, gradually losing all reason and becoming either Beelzebub's puppet or a candidate for one of his avatars.
"The Purgatory World — the current balance is far too tranquil. I need a new source of chaos to shake things up!"
Lei Lin smiled faintly and poured half the solution from the test tube into the Horall Black Snake's mouth.
"Hssss… ROAR…" The Horall Black Snake, seized and held aloft by Lei Lin, thrashed ceaselessly. Rings of dark-red patterns began surfacing across its body, and even its scales cracked apart, as though some demon were writhing violently inside it.
"Go!" Lei Lin flung the Horall Black Snake into the midst of the snake swarm.
Immediately, the Horall Black Snake attacked the surrounding giant serpents with savage fury, its eyes brimming with madness while its aura surged continuously upward.
CRACK! A massive python was bitten clean through by the Horall Black Snake, then devoured in its entirety.
RIP! A fissure appeared along the Horall Black Snake's head, widening rapidly before bursting apart with a thunderous crack.
Shed skin scattered everywhere, and from within emerged a far more massive creature — a terrifying black serpent whose aura faintly approached the Fourth-level Morning Star realm.
With its power violently amplified, the Horall Black Snake consumed the remaining serpents at an even more horrifying pace. Finally, wreathed in demonic flames, a second enormous snake head sprouted from its neck and spat crimson fire.
"The demonic transformation has become even more pronounced!" Lei Lin shook his head, observing the Horall Black Snake's scales, now more grotesque and terrifying than ever.
"Hssss…" The Horall Black Snake, now transformed into a Purgatory Two-Headed Serpent, had broken through the Fourth-level barrier, yet it still dared not challenge Lei Lin.
After fixing him with a look brimming with wariness, the black purgatory serpent hissed and bolted into the far distance, leaving behind a field of carnage.
"Clever enough! Though your end won't be pleasant, ruling over the Plain of Ten Thousand Serpents — even if only for the briefest span — must be a source of pride for you, given that your original self was merely a Third-level Horall Black Snake?"
Lei Lin murmured to himself as he poured the remaining half of the solution into the swamp beneath him.
Gurgle! Gurgle! The dark-red pool bubbled with enormous bubbles, its reach expanding rapidly as a strange, peculiar scent wafted outward.
Drawn by that scent, a single gray giant rat soon overcame its fear of the snake swarm's aura and scurried up to the swamp's edge to drink greedily.
With each gulp, the giant rat's body swelled larger and larger, its eyes reddening further, as if entering a state of frenzy.
Then came more gray giant rats, and gray dust rabbits, and eventually even the giant serpents themselves.
After these creatures finished drinking the swamp water, they immediately began a bloody slaughter and devouring one another, while developing to look less and less like their original forms.
Watching this scene, a diabolical smile tugged at the corner of Rayn's mouth.
"Beelzebub! Are you satisfied with this Infernal World I've found for you?"
Just thinking about it, Rayn knew the other's longing for this world. A large world, rich in resources, and with a world spirit so chaotic it didn't reject immigration from a powerful existence like Beelzebub.
Such a world held an almost unparalleled attraction for Beelzebub!
He feared that even if the other knew this was Rayn's open stratagem, he would still be lured by the immense benefits into gambling big on this. This was the force of the greater trend at work.
"Of course, the initial power of Gluttony is still fragile and needs protection!"
With a smile, a gray Feather of Chaos materialized, and a large number of Chaos Force Crystals burned, shrouding the area around the swamp in a layer of gray light.
"With this cover, before it fully develops and grows strong, there's no need to worry about drawing the attention of the higher-ups!"
Rayn chuckled lightly.
Although the Mother of Ten Thousand Snakes was a supreme existence, it was impossible for her to know everything about every inch of the Heil Continent, let alone monitor the entire continent at all times.
Add to this the Chaos Force Rayn deliberately used, which had the wondrous effect of concealment and obfuscation. By the time she discovered it, the situation would likely already be settled.
Furthermore, the swamp here, and the creatures that were lured over, were all sacrificial pawns! Even if they were all annihilated, Rayn wouldn't feel much heartache.
"Artificially created ecosystems are always the most fragile. After my little intervention here, in the coming years, it should be more than enough to keep the