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"Master, how long will it take for these black marks to disappear?"

They treaded slowly and cautiously through the snow, neither daring to touch the poison residue. Where Mother Poison had crawled, the blackness wasn’t made of carefully concocted deadly poison, but rather traces of toxins expelled from her body. Nevertheless, it was extremely lethal.

To Chen Qing, such a thing seemed overpowered for the second version because even in death, the miasma it formed could destroy an entire region, or even spawn a new copy.

"If there isn’t a Magician to conduct specialized research and purification, it would naturally take... at least a hundred years..."

"Cough..." Shen Qi was caught off-guard and stared at Chen Qing in astonishment.

A hundred years?

Just crawling over an area would require a hundred years to recover? That’s dangerously excessive. No wonder the King of Qin sealed the ancients; the haunting entities that emerged were more terrifying than the next...

"Actually... it’s just a hundred years under current circumstances.

.." Chen Qing found himself at a loss for words. A hundred years was based on the current strength of the world, but once the Earth Spirits revived, everything in the world would evolve in a short time. The strength wouldn’t be the same, and even the purifying power of ice and snow would be much stronger than before.

If the third version came about, it would be an entirely different story.

"You young one, seem to know quite a lot..."

A heavy voice echoed from afar. Shen Qi’s scalp went numb; he didn’t dare lift his head. Almost instantly, his body warned him not to look up, or the consequences would be severe.

Chen Qing lifted his head and looked in the direction of the voice.

Typically, snakes can’t see far, nor can they hear sounds; they perceive the world through thermal sensing and the smells in the air.

But clearly, the creature before them had long overcome its innate deficiencies.

Chen Qing had set that serpent-like Demons, unless they transformed into humans, were generally the most difficult to communicate with.

He approached to determine just how different the current Celestial Serpent was from the one he had designed.

He wasn’t afraid of a surprise attack. Against such a monster, he was naturally no match in a direct fight, but he was confident in making a full retreat. He refused to believe that under the current strength of the world, the opponent would recklessly pursue him at any cost.

The giant serpent stared at Chen Qing, its large snake pupils were fixed but devoid of agility, though it was, in fact, incredibly shrewd.

Their lineage had become increasingly rare; it had been hundreds of thousands of years since it last saw its kind.

Since the Reincarnators took away the most potent powers, many rules of the world had changed.

For instance, a Celestial Serpent with immense destructive power would normally avoid coming to this world.

Arriving too early would make them a target for early extermination; too late, and they would become a delicacy on someone’s table or material for medicine.

Serpents who ascend have long lives, which gives them an advantage.

If one attempt fails but they manage to escape to the beyond or hide somewhere in this world, waiting for the next cycle always presents opportunities.

Many of their predecessors had found excellent fortunes in this world; to his knowledge, one ancestor even became an Otherworldly Demon Statue, an inviolable disaster in the entire domain.

But since those people arrived, their kind, especially the Poison Mother Lineage, faced particularly severe targeting. They were almost always met with a death blow on sight, often at any cost.

This made the risk-reward balance of this world ever lower. After narrowly escaping in the last cycle, it had sworn never to return.

But...

The giant serpent’s pupils revealed a hint of helplessness. Its innards were failing day by day. Serpents have long lifespans, especially those evolved, but... all things eventually age, and without continuous evolution, this is the outcome.

The growth of the Poison Mother Lineage was incredibly cruel, and they suffered much more than ordinary Celestial Serpents.

To die in such a way... was unacceptable to it.

It had not left any offspring and had not found one of its kind for hundreds of thousands of years.

No other creature would mate with a Mother Poison; only a Poison Spirit could withstand it, but.

.. it could no longer find a Poison Spirit.

In its memories, there had been one which chose to remain in this world as it left. It didn’t know if the other was still alive, but Poison Spirits were small and could easily hide, thus having a better chance of survival than their Poison Mothers.

So... carrying the desire to procreate and to extend its life, it ultimately broke its original vow and came here.

"Elder..." Chen Qing approached and gave a slight bow, his eyes clear and exploring as he looked at the other.

The giant serpent quietly observed him. This one had the scent of a Reincarnator, which was a trait it loathed the most. But he was different from the Reincarnators it had met before; they were either fearful of it or came with murderous intent, as if they were natural enemies.

It was the first time it encountered one who showed it kindness.

"Why have you come here?" the giant python looked at the other.

This guy shouldn’t have come especially to kill himself; in the current world, there was no one who could kill him yet.

"The city that Senior is besieging now belongs to me, as I received a distress signal and came here," Chen Qing raised his head to face the other: "May I ask why Senior is besieging this place?"

"Isn’t it natural for demons to lay siege to the cities of the Human Race?" the giant python sneered.

"Demons are bloodthirsty, but not foolish. With Senior’s abilities, if you wanted to slaughter the city, you would have done it long ago.

Since you didn’t, it’s clear you are aware of the consequences.

Yet, knowing the consequences, you still besiege this place, which suggests there is something in the city that Senior covets very much, right? "

The giant python fell quiet; it indeed dared not slaughter the city, for there were barriers left by powers that it feared within the city.

The strength of these barriers was not particularly high, but their number was not small.

If it completely disregarded them and destroyed this place, it feared it would provoke a full-scale manhunt!

Reincarnators held great hostility toward creatures like it, but competition here was fierce, and unless necessary, they would not truly hunt to the death. Just like it had done in the past, by keeping a low profile, had it not managed to scrape by and survive?

But if it destroyed a city they went to endless lengths to seize, and also killed their people, that would be different.

"Do you know what’s inside?" the giant python looked at Chen Qing.

"I can guess some of it..." Chen Qing nodded: "For a Senior of your type, the most demanding thing is a Resentful Spirit with potential. The more formidable the Resentful Spirit, the better the quality of poison produced, and if you can make a living Poison Spirit, then that’s the best."

"You are quite informed; many Reincarnators nowadays don’t even know what we want." The giant python smiled. When a snake smiles, it looks as if it wants to devour someone, which made Chen Qing’s skin crawl.

But then, the giant python changed its tone, speaking eerily: "You are quite informed, yet you do not know what is inside. It seems the distress signal provided you with limited information."

This snake is clever... thought Chen Qing.

"Senior’s insight is piercing. Indeed, I don’t know what is inside. Would Senior be willing to disclose some information?"

"What good would that do for me?"

"The reason Senior hasn’t personally gone in to capture it is because that thing is hiding among the crowd, and due to Senior’s own traits, unless you make up your mind to slaughter the city, you cannot ensure the survival of the Human Race inside while capturing the Resentful Spirit, is that right? "

"So what if it is?"

Shen Qi, who stood behind Chen Qing, was utterly bewildered. A demon, actually restrained because of the lives of the Human Race?

This would be taken as a joke by most who heard it...

Chen Qing, however, was not at all surprised and continued: "Senior provides information, and I will exert effort to... try my best to force that thing out."

"Force it out..." the giant python looked at Chen Qing with a grin: "Just with you?"

Chen Qing frowned; his own energy was as strong as it could possibly be, nearly rivaling the Dragon King, yet the other believed... he was not qualified?

What the hell was inside...?

"Enough..." the giant python suddenly sighed: "There are no other ways now. Although I don’t think you can defeat it, there’s at least some hope. Come here, and I’ll tell you some things about it."

"Just tell me its name, Senior," Chen Qing said indifferently.

Upon hearing this, the giant python shook its head: "Its name... is unreadable!"

Chen Qing: "....."

A name... unreadable? Could it be...