Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 178 - 122: Little Black Snake
The night was as black as ink.
Several Beastmen fled through the mountain forest.
A silent black gleam flashed past, and they dropped to the ground, dead.
The lead High Rank Beastman’s body was sliced in two. The iron cage in his hand rolled to the ground.
Before dying, his crimson, bulging eyes stared fixedly at the man in dark robes stepping out from the shadows. He used the last of his strength to curse,
"Quan Xiu, you! How dare you betray our clan! If the Clan Leader finds out your true colors, you’ll die without a burial place..."
The man waved out a stream of Black Qi. In an instant, the bodies turned to dust and smoke, leaving only a few Crystal Cores that flew into his palm.
The cage opened, and from a patch of grass dotted with small white flowers, an exquisitely beautiful Little Black Snake slithered out.
"Little Qi, come here."
The man crouched down, gently receiving the Little Black Snake as it slithered into his palm. His long, slender, pale fingers lightly tapped its small head.
"Don’t go running off again."
"Daddy~ They couldn’t do anything to me. I just wanted to see where they were taking me for fun. It’s so boring staying in the manor every day~" The Little Black Snake spoke in a childish, milky voice, expertly opening its mouth to receive the Crystal Stone the man offered.
Soon, the Little Black Snake yawned. Its slender little body curled into a ball in his palm, drowsy and about to fall asleep.
A blood-soaked Beastman in black robes appeared out of thin air. He clutched a bleeding shoulder with one hand; his other arm was gone. He was a wretched sight. Kneeling beside the man, he lowered his head in terror and said, "Ni Xia, someone has broken in! I’m afraid we’ll need you to handle this..."
The man in dark robes didn’t reply. He only stroked the Little Snake gently. It was so comfortable that it exposed its silver underbelly, its slender little tail wagging happily.
"Ni... Ni Xia?"
The Beastman looked up fearfully at the man in dark robes before him.
He wore a skull mask, revealing a delicate, pale jawline. His ink-black hair was bound by a golden crown, cascading down his back. He was tall and slender, dressed in a brocade python robe of dark gold and black. His aura was aloof and noble, yet so profoundly mysterious that no one dared to meet his gaze.
Only after lulling the Little Snake to sleep did he finally speak, his tone unhurried. "Who came? To think they could injure a peak Demon King like you."
"A Pure-blooded Phoenix! That little brat is surprisingly strong... I was careless..." the black-robed Beastman ground out, his expression ugly.
"Heh, Elma, you clean up your own mess. Ni Xia has no desire to see his long-laid plans ruined because of you." A tall, slender, and bewitching man stepped out from behind a tree, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "More a hindrance than a help—that describes you perfectly, you idiot! You haven’t completed a single task Ni Xia gave you, and in the end, he has to step in personally. If the task had been given to me, that old geezer would have been dead long ago, and we’d have what we came for."
"It’s easy for you to say! That old bastard said that if he died, no one would ever be able to find the ancient tomb! That’s why I didn’t dare to strike him down immediately!"
The sky brightened, and in the distant heavens, a fiery red Phoenix descended rapidly.
"He actually managed to follow us!" Elma twisted his head to stare at the sky, his face grim.
The bewitching man gave a strange laugh. "Let me handle him. I’ll definitely kill him."
"Now is not the right time to reveal ourselves. I have no wish to alert the enemy," the man in dark robes said, his voice indifferent. He didn’t spare the approaching figure a glance.
The Little Snake, however, suddenly woke up. It raised its small head and stared intently toward the horizon.
The man paused for a moment, then finally lifted his gaze to the sky. A moment later, he looked away, transformed into a cloud of black mist, and vanished.
At the same time, countless Star Beasts underwent Demonization and went berserk. The earth-shattering chaos was like Purgatory itself.
...
It took Si Ye quite a while to deal with all the Demon Beasts.
After searching for a long time, he couldn’t find the man in black. He only found a few scattered bloodstains on the ground and cursed under his breath, "Damn it, he got away!"
Sang Luo, perched on his back, yawned. After a full day and night of exhausting travel, she hadn’t gotten any decent sleep.
Si Ye patrolled the entire area once more. After confirming that no Demon Beasts had escaped, he found lodging in a Southern city. He took a heaven-grade room at an inn, with two separate beds.
"What’s the situation in the Southern region now?" Sang Luo asked him.
Many border cities had been attacked by Demon Beasts, but strangely, from what she had seen on their journey, most cities in the Southern region were largely unaffected. It was completely different from the rumors, almost as if someone was deliberately manufacturing a crisis behind the scenes.
"Not long ago, the Southern region did indeed experience a vicious battle. But the situation has mostly stabilized now. Many Demon Beasts took the opportunity to flee to the borderlands."
"What about the Soaring Snake Clan?"
The Soaring Snake Clan was the oldest and most powerful clan on the South Continent. Sang Luo had specifically looked into it before; out of every ten Beast Emperors in the Southern region’s history, seven had come from the Soaring Snake Clan.
Unfortunately, the Soaring Snake Clan had difficulty conceiving heirs and had been in gradual decline. Not a single pure-blooded heir had been born in a hundred years.
Even Quan Xiu was merely a half-blooded Soaring Snake.
Even the current Beast King of the Soaring Snake Clan was a mixed-blood Soaring Snake, powerless to contend for the title of Beast Emperor of the Southern region.
The situation in the Southern region was complex, with several factions vying for power in the shadows. For now, however, the Soaring Snake Clan’s foundation, built over ten thousand years, was substantial. Other clans found it difficult to challenge their power, and they remained the undisputed hegemon of the South.
Could such a vast and powerful clan be so easily annihilated?
Sang Luo didn’t believe it.
And the truth was indeed as she had expected.
"The Soaring Snake Clan suffered a considerable blow, but they are far from being wiped out. Street gossip is always exaggerated; you can listen, but don’t take it seriously." Si Ye put the map away into his storage space. "However, I did hear that some time ago, someone took advantage of the chaos to trespass into the clan’s ancient forbidden grounds. The seals were broken, and everything inside was taken."
"To prevent a mass escape of Demon Beasts and to capture this fugitive, the major Beast Kings of the South have joined forces to seal the entire Southern region. No one can get in or out."
"Oh, right. Do you know of a person named Quan Xiu?"
"I do. It’s quite an interesting story, actually. The old Clan Leader was ambushed in the forbidden grounds but managed to escape with his life. I heard his only heir, the half-blooded Soaring Snake Quan Xiu, was also there. He supposedly took a fatal blow for the Old Beast King and was on the brink of death. But luckily, he was saved, and because of it, he earned the Old Beast King’s immense trust. The Soaring Snake Clan is currently in the process of transferring power, so there’s a good chance he’ll be the next Beast King." Si Ye raised an eyebrow at Sang Luo. "You seem very concerned about the Soaring Snake Clan. And this Quan Xiu... Do you know him?"
"...I was just curious. Asking casually."
Sang Luo seemed a little down. She pulled the covers over her head and went still.
Si Ye waited for a moment. Seeing that she had really fallen asleep, he too lay down to sleep in his clothes.
Early the next morning, while Sang Luo was sleeping soundly, Si Ye woke her. "Are you hungry? The morning market has opened in the alley north of the inn. I hear the food there is delicious. Want to go get something to eat?"
Sang Luo hadn’t been hungry, but now that he mentioned it, she suddenly was. She got out of bed and went with him to the morning market.
The sky was just beginning to lighten, and there weren’t many people yet. The two of them found a good spot to sit.
The food of the East Continent really suited Sang Luo’s palate. Her appetite whetted, she ordered a bowl of steaming wonton noodle soup and finished everything, down to the last drop of broth.
Seeing how heartily she was eating, Si Ye ordered another bowl for her. Sang Luo ate until she was stuffed, letting out a small burp with half a bowl left. He casually finished off the rest for her and handed her a cloud-brocade handkerchief to wipe her mouth.
Si Ye watched her for a moment, then cleared his throat and said,
"So, uh, my business here is done, and I’ve brought you to the Southern region as promised. I should be going. Let’s part ways here."
