The First Immortal of Destiny-Chapter 488: Disaster of the Soaring Serpent (Part 2)_1
Just as Shen Mo was lost in confusion, a strong and familiar wave of sense flowed past him.
It’s Patriarch Zhou.
Immediately, he set up his escaping light and flew in the direction indicated by the sense.
A few hundred breaths later, Shen Mo saw two figures, one red and one yellow, on a cliff seventy miles away!
The one in the red robe was, of course, Zhou Zhiwei, the Supreme Elder of the Riverside Sect, and next to him was a woman in a yellow dress, Zhou Ru, the sixth-ranked core disciple.
"Patriarch!" Shen Mo quickly descended from his escaping light and offered a salute to Zhou Zhiwei.
Patriarch Zhou had originally presided in Dingbo City. He had left Sea State along with all other Golden Core Realm cultivators soon after Shen Mo went to explore the Heaven Patrolling Boat near the sea.
Presumably, by the time Patriarch Zhou arrived in Qing State, much of it, including the sect gate, had already disappeared.
After offering his salutation to Patriarch Zhou, Shen Mo turned to greet Zhou Ru, "Junior Sister Zhou, I am relieved to see you are safe!"
"Hmph!" Zhou Ru snorted lightly, appearing somewhat indifferent to Shen Mo’s words.
Because the Zhou family did not like Shen Mo, and because he had once severely beaten Zhou Ru during the ranking of the core disciples, she had always had a poor impression of him. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"Ru’er, you must not be disrespectful to Peak Master Shen!" Zhou Zhiwei frowned and warned sternly.
"It does not matter!" Shen Mo waved his hand and, without further pleasantries, quickly asked, "Patriarch, do you know where the sect gate and most of Qing State have gone? What is the giant snake that nestles in the Linjiang Mountain Range?"
After all, Patriarch Zhou’s Realm was there, and his years of cultivation far exceeded his own. He should have been roaming here for some time. He might know what terrible changes have occurred!
What is the fate of the people Shen Mo cares about who are inside the Riverside Sect’s gate?
Seeing Shen Mo’s turbulent emotions and his Path Heart on the brink of collapsing, Patriarch Zhou did not beat around the bush and said directly, "You need not worry too much. The disciples inside the gate have all moved into the Mountain River Dungeon in advance. They are safe now!"
Upon hearing these words, Shen Mo felt as if a huge stone in his heart had suddenly fallen to the ground.
After taking a long breath of Turbid Qi and calming his wildly fluctuating emotions, Shen Mo’s expression returned to normal, and he started to chat in detail with Patriarch Zhou.
It turned out that soon after Shen Mo left Dingbo City, Patriarch Zhou received a message from the sect. A huge, two-winged snake with a terrifying aura had fallen from the Nine Heavens and appeared in the Linjiang Mountain Range!
Faced with such a crisis, Supreme Elder Yuan Heming, Sect Master Yuan Qingshi, and others made a prompt decision to abandon the sect gate. Through the Teleportation Array, all the Sect Disciples were teleported to the Mountain River Valley, and from there they entered the Mountain River Dungeon via the rift between the Dungeon and the Outer Realm!
Fortunately, at that time, the Sound Transmission Talisman and the Teleportation Array were not yet ineffective. Otherwise, they would not have been able to go to the Mountain River Realm to escape the disaster, nor would they have been able to coordinate and organize the migration of nearly one hundred thousand Sect Disciples.
What happened afterwards proved that the decision of Patriarch Yuan and others was indeed extremely wise.
This two-winged giant snake with a dragon’s head and Dragon Body swallowed most of Qing State... Such Skill, such power, had far exceeded Class IV, and might have reached Class V or even Class VI!
In any case, even if the strength of all Golden Core Realm cultivators and Class IV powerhouses in the Red Flame Zone were combined, it would not be enough for it to swallow in one bite.
Shortly thereafter, the Sound Transmission Talisman and the Teleportation Array stopped working.
Patriarch Zhou, concerned about the sect, left Dingbo City and flew back to Qing State. However, the situation he encountered was similar to Shen Mo’s. There were many unknown areas and lethal threats along the way, forcing even him to be cautious!
After arriving in Qing State a few days later, he saw the true face of this two-winged giant snake.
He also learned the truth about the snake’s swallowing of most of Qing State from the disciples who were lucky enough to have been hunting demonic beasts in the Linjiang Mountain Range at the time.
Since then, Patriarch Zhou had been staying here, waiting for the disciples of the Riverside Sect who had been dispersed to various places to return!
As for the core disciple Zhou Ru, she had been in You State at the time of the incident. She met Patriarch Zhou upon her return. Because she was a descendant of Patriarch Zhou’s lineage and her Cultivation Realm was also good, Patriarch Zhou kept her by his side to assist him.
As for the origin of the two-winged giant snake, Patriarch Zhou knew a little bit about it.
"This snake is not actually a snake, but belongs to the class of True Dragons. It is one of the Bizarre Dragons of Ancient Times called the Soaring Serpent!
Even in Ancient Times, this Bizarre Dragon was incredibly rare.
If it hadn’t been for a fortunate coincidence that the family inheritance of the Zhou family happened to have a dilapidated book recording this dragon, Patriarch Zhou would not have known this information.
Before the means of communication were lost, he had already informed Patriarch Yuan and others about this message.
"This Soaring Serpent, a Bizarre Dragon, was a fleeting sight even in Ancient Times. Very few people have seen its true form," Patriarch Zhou said, his eyes filled with wonder, as he stroked his white beard.
"The author of the ancient book speculated that it might not be a creature of this realm... but like the Heavenly Demon, it’s a species from the Outer Zone!
"When the two realms were connected, this dragon roamed here, and its traces could occasionally be seen. When the passage closed, the Soaring Serpent disappeared as if it had gone extinct. Its shadow could no longer be seen in this realm, and only fragments of its traces remained in the ancient books..."
Listening to this discussion, Shen Mo nodded slightly. He felt that there was some truth to it.
Not only the Soaring Serpent, but perhaps other exotic immortal beasts that "went extinct" in Ancient Times are like the Soaring Serpent—not creatures of this realm, but powerful beings from other Foreign Zones.
Otherwise, why would they suddenly disappear as if an entire lineage had been broken?
"Does Patriarch know why this Soaring Serpent swallowed most of Qing State?"
"Are the immortals and mortals who have not entered the Mountain River Realm destined to perish?"
"Also... since all disciples inside the sect have gone into the Mountain River Realm to avoid the disaster, why hasn’t anyone come out?"
Patriarch Zhou shook his head and sighed, "It swallowed this small part of the world, of course, because it could gain benefits from it: either absorbing the Primal Spirit to strengthen its power, expanding its cave paradise, or merely to satisfy its appetite!
"As for the other creatures in the Qing State territory, even if they have not perished, they will never be able to escape for the rest of their lives."
Indeed, with the Soaring Serpent’s heaven-defying abilities, who could cut open its belly and save them?
The creatures it swallowed... At best, that small piece of the world would become part of its cave paradise, and the billions of creatures living on it could continue to breed and multiply within its belly!
It’s also possible that both this small world and the creatures in it have become nourishment for the Soaring Serpent to strengthen itself.
Seeing Shen Mo’s slightly somber expression, Patriarch Zhou remained silent for a long while. He waited for Shen Mo to recover his composure before continuing, "Although the disciples inside the gate have taken refuge in the Mountain River Realm and have escaped this disaster, they can’t come out now, and we can’t go in either!
"You should know that the entrance to the Dungeon is in the Mountain River Valley, which is located in the Linjiang Mountain Range... Unfortunately, it has been blocked by this Bizarre Dragon."
