The small red snake is constantly absorbing the green mist within the valley.

As the green mist converted by the red channel becomes more abundant, the red mist thickens from its initially sparse state, but in the next moment, it thins again, as if the converted red mist never existed.

Xu Ran frowned, the golden light in his eyes gradually faded, and he turned again to look at the red snake demon, focusing on the snake’s head where a snake-shaped mark was emitted from his brow.

Just a few minutes passed, and the snake’s head emitting red mist had grown larger than the other heads, and compared to the others, the red mist under its skin seemed denser, as if the blood inside was about to gush out.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

At the same time.

The heartbeat echoing in the valley rang out again, and a heart from the serpent’s heart inside its hundreds of meters-long body throbbed under the snake’s skin, stretching the serpent’s skin by several dozen meters.

The snake skin, originally part of it, now seemed to have become a cage restraining it, trying to leap out of it.

Xu Ran frowned as he watched the constantly throbbing heart, deeply puzzled.

"Are all the creatures in this valley so strange?"

At first, there were snake-like skeletal monsters resurrected from the dead, and after defeating them, another ten identical snake-like skeletal monsters emerged.

Afterward, the White Tiger appeared, followed by a red creature capable of instantly copying others’ Divine Techniques.

The earlier resurrected creatures were mysterious enough.

But now, this living one, apart from having ten snake heads, each with peculiar abilities, also seemed somewhat enigmatic.

Yet in this eerie valley, it seemed so normal.

And now.

Within the body of the hundreds of meters-long red snake demon, its heart seemed ready to jump out.

It’s a heart, after all!!

What kind of creature can survive without a heart?

Dead object?

But, the aura of this snake demon doesn’t resemble a resurrected eerie creature, rather a real living being.

Xu Ran couldn’t comprehend, just letting the innate energy in his body surge and envelop him, fully prepared.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

As the heartbeat grew louder, the constantly throbbing heart of the red snake demon seemed truly ready to leap out, upon closer inspection, the snake demon, stretching out dozens of meters, now had cracks through which the flesh under the snakeskin could be clearly seen.

As the heart’s throbbing increased, the cracks under the snake’s skin widened, eventually forming a meter-wide wound through which blood flowed visibly.

However, even with a meter-wide wound, no blood flowed out.

Eerie, indeed eerie.

The blood appeared to be protected by a thin film, preventing a single drop from leaking.

"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"

Xu Ran watched this strange scene and suddenly heard the previously still nine snake heads suddenly stretch out their multiple meters-long tongues at the same time.

Every time they flickered, red mist accompanied them.

After hundreds of flickers, all the snake heads raised the corners of their mouths as if completing some mission, soullessly staring at Xu Ran.

"Bang!"

While Xu Ran wondered what was happening.

Suddenly.

Sounds of blood and flesh exploding echoed from the valley.

Following the sound of the explosion.

The originally hundreds of meters-long red snake demon exploded like fireworks, the ten snake heads then rupturing in sequence, transforming into clusters of blood mist in the air.

The clusters of blood-colored mist gathered in the air, as if waiting for something.

"Huh?!"

Xu Ran watched this bizarre scene, his smooth forehead almost wrinkling like an elder’s skin.

This scene was too strange.

First, the heart seemed ready to leap from its body; that aside, how did those ten snake heads explode all at once, not just the heads, even the body directly transformed into blood mist.

Alright!

If you wish to die, nobody stops you.

But, when the body explodes and the blood hangs in the air, clustering without dispersing, what’s the deal?

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

In bewilderment, Xu Ran heard the light yet powerful heartbeat again, looking in the direction of the sound, he saw that the heart which had leaped out from the snake demon’s body was now floating in the air.

The heart was not large, about the size of a normal adult’s heart.

"Is it possible for such a large snake demon to have such a small heart?"

Xu Ran was somewhat puzzled.

The snake demon was so large with ten snake heads, a strong and powerful heartbeat is required to sustain such a massive body.

This heart clearly doesn’t meet that condition.

"Not right!"

Several unsettling suspicions arose as Xu Ran’s eyes glowed with golden light again, carefully observing and simultaneously recalling the snake knowledge learned from Old Xie.

Old Xie, previously a neighbor of Xu Ran’s household, controlled the planting methods of the Seven-leafed One-flowered Plant, a Snake-Catching Master, with extremely detailed dissection diagrams at home.

A snake’s heart didn’t look like this.

The heart floating before him clearly belonged to a human.

But why would a human heart end up inside a snake demon?

"Could it be that the red snake demon just now was merely preserving this heart?"

Xu Ran’s thoughts raced, replaying the scene from the appearance of the red snake demon to its final transformation into blood mist over and over.

Suddenly, his thoughts halted, and the image of the red mist absorbing the green mist kept flashing back.

"Ha!" Xu Ran chuckled coldly, "This valley is quite strange indeed!"

The heart suspended high above seemed to understand Xu Ran’s cold chuckle, suddenly pulsing.

"Thump!"

This pulse directly drove the previously suspended blood mist, all becoming denser in this instant.

The thickened blood mist, seemingly alive, madly surged toward the heart, swirling and intertwining, weaving into what looked like a scarlet cage.

In an instant.

The remaining green mist in the valley surged toward the pumping heart, transforming into red mist as it neared.

The speed far outmatched that of the earlier transformation into a small red snake.

"Hmm?"

Xu Ran also sensed something amiss, and the innate energy coating his body began slowly detaching and rushing toward the throbbing heart.

This phenomenon was unheard of; even if such an occurrence existed, it should be Xu Ran absorbing others’ aura to convert into innate energy.

Even though Xu Ran’s surface innate energy began to dissipate, it didn’t affect his body at all. After all, the Great Success’s Innate Saint’s Sacred Body was not to be underestimated.

Clearly, this heart now craved the green mist and innate energy.

Immediately, Xu Ran restrained his aura, and the dissipating innate energy instantly retracted, stored entirely within his body.

Before long.

The green mist in the valley completely vanished, the green mist present since Xu Ran entered this valley had now entirely disappeared.

As Xu Ran retracted the innate energy into his body, only red mist lingered in this valley, this aura swept across the entire expanse.

Wherever it reached, no grass could grow; the entire valley instantly lost its luster, leaving only a vibrant red illuminating the entire land, even from the cracks in the ground, red light emerged, as if molten lava flowed beneath.