Invincible Snake Emperor

Another hour passed.

Tu Xiao’an kept a constant watch on his surroundings. Inside the funeral hall, several empty bottles had accumulated at Zhao Da’s feet. The man could really hold his liquor.

He seemed immune to alcohol. To be able to down several bottles of such high-proof spirits, his tolerance could give Tu Xiao’an’s own master a run for his money.

His master, He Zhennan, was as famous for his drinking as he was for his snake-catching skills.

As for that girl, Li Qingzhao, she had unknowingly drifted off to sleep, leaning against the pagoda tree.

Her cloud of dark hair fanned out as she leaned against the trunk. Even in sleep, she couldn’t erase the misty sorrow that clung to her features.

She must be worrying about how to escape even in her dreams.

Tu Xiao’an’s Snake Gaze swept over her eyelashes, which rested like butterflies, and paused for a moment on her Haitang-pink lips. Her skin, as white as milk, seemed to glow under the not-so-bright moonlight.

So serene, she truly looked like a sleeping beauty.

The moonlight kissed her skin, and the wind toyed with her hair. In silent stillness, the scene was one of perfect beauty.

’What a carefree girl.’

Tu Xiao’an suddenly chuckled. The night wind was cold and gusty, but it carried a faint, sweet fragrance—her natural scent.

Having smelled it so often, it felt as if it had been branded into his heart.

In the midst of this quiet atmosphere, a roar shattered the silent night.

”Vile Snake, come out and die!”

Inside the funeral hall, Zhao Da, perhaps from drinking too much, suddenly shot to his feet with a roar and smashed the bottle in his hand onto the ground.

The shout and the crash jolted Li Qingzhao from her tranquil slumber.

Her sweet face instantly turned pale, and she looked as frail as a willow in the wind.

She glanced around frantically. Seeing Zhao Da’s bulging, tiger-like eyes inside the hall, filled with a murderous light, she shrank back in fear.

They said the House Snake was the killer, but looking at Zhao Da, she felt like *he* was the murderer.

His expression was the very picture of it, striking fear into one’s heart.

Suddenly...

”GAK... GAK... GAK...”

A sound like a chicken’s crow, eerie and strange, abruptly echoed through the now-shattered silence of the courtyard.

’Where is that crowing coming from?’

Tu Xiao’an was instantly on alert. A chicken crowing in the dead of night was bound to make one’s mind race.

Li Qingzhao was like a pitiful slip of paper, tossed and torn by a storm, her courage slowly being shredded by the events around her.

The wind was bleak and chilling, the night silent and pitch-black. Aside from the candlelight in the funeral hall, the courtyard was dim. The incessant GAK-GAK-GAK of the chicken-like calls filled the air, sparking bizarre and unsettling thoughts.

Inside the hall, Zhao Da’s powerful frame trembled upon hearing the sound. His expression was savage as he glanced around frantically, a hint of nervousness appearing on his face.

Seeing Zhao Da’s reaction, a strange look crossed Tu Xiao’an’s face. ’Is the House Snake here?’

”Come on, vile Snake! Come out and die! I’ve been waiting for you for a long time!”

Zhao Da grew inexplicably agitated, roaring hysterically.

Tu Xiao’an was completely baffled. ’Can’t he tell that’s a chicken? What the hell does that have to do with a snake?’

But where was the so-called House Snake? Why was a chicken crowing?

Was Zhao Da drunk, or had he lost his mind?

”GAK GAK... GAK GAK... GAK GAK!”

”GAK GAK... GAK GAK... GAK GAK!”

”GAK GAK... GAK GAK... GAK GAK!”

The courtyard and the funeral hall were now filled with the sound. As the crowing spread, a cold, murderous intent suddenly saturated the air.

”Haha, come on, you damned Snake! Let’s see if you die tonight, or if I do!”

Zhao Da continued to roar like a madman, his emotions at their peak. Hidden in the shadows, Tu Xiao’an grew even more confused. As for the girl, Li Qingzhao, she was so scared she wanted to scream, but fearing Zhao Da would discover her, she could only clamp her slender Jade Hand tightly over her lips.

She fought desperately to keep the scream from escaping.

The crowing and Zhao Da’s roars echoed each other. But then, a soaring shadow was cast upon the funeral hall’s wall.

It was the shadow of a snake.

Tu Xiao’an froze. What a massive snake shadow! It covered half of the back wall of the funeral hall.

For a moment, Tu Xiao’an worried that Li Qingzhao would be scared witless, but in the next second, he nearly fell off her shoulder.

The carefree girl had, at some point, taken out her phone and was filming the funeral hall, her alluring lips whispering, ”The House Snake is here! This is great, the House Snake is here!”

Excitement. The girl was suddenly incredibly excited, her beautiful, black-gem-like eyes sparkling as if she were on stimulants.

’House Snake?’

Tu Xiao’an sneered to himself. Judging by the enormous shadow on the wall, how could that possibly be a House Snake?

Calling it a Giant Snake wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Inside the funeral hall, Zhao Da had also spotted the massive snake shadow on the wall. His tiger-like eyes went wide, his mouth hung open, and his entire body was rooted to the spot, as if the ground were about to split open at his feet.

The sheer size of the snake shadow was overwhelming, inspiring an instinctual fear.

Everyone knew that a shadow was proportional to the body that cast it.

The atmosphere inside the funeral hall, with its five coffins and the colossal snake shadow manifesting on the wall, created a bizarre and horrifying scene.

Anyone with a weak heart would have pissed their pants on the spot.

The giant snake shadow swayed, and with one final, grating caw, it surged toward the petrified Zhao Da in a Devouring motion.

From a distance, it looked as though the massive shadow passed right through Zhao Da’s body.

Then, only a bone-deep chill and terror remained in the funeral hall as the dim light plunged into bottomless darkness.

BOOM.

Zhao Da shivered violently, then suddenly dropped to his knees. His eyes were wide, his mouth still agape, but his expression was utterly terrifying and ghastly.

Immediately after, Zhao Da’s head drooped forward. If it weren’t still attached to his neck, you would think it had fallen off and was rolling on the floor.

’This is bad. Something’s happened.’

Seeing this, how could Tu Xiao’an not understand?

A life was on the line. Tu Xiao’an wasn’t sure if Zhao Da was dead or alive. He wanted to rush over immediately, but from beginning to end, there had been nothing but the chicken calls and that massive snake shadow.

’Can a shadow kill someone?’

’How can this be? No, I can’t reveal myself yet.’

’Wait. I have to wait and see.’

Tu Xiao’an had yet to see a physical snake; just the shadow was far too bizarre.

He forced himself to calm down.

CLATTER...

Li Qingzhao, who had been filming with her phone, dropped it to the ground the moment she saw the snake shadow Devouring Zhao Da and him collapsing to his knees.

The sparkle in her bright eyes and pearly teeth vanished in an instant. She was completely stunned.

Inside the hall, in front of the coffins, Zhao Da knelt on the ground, neither dead nor alive, his head hanging low as if in repentance to someone.

Tu Xiao’an couldn’t hold back any longer. Just as he was about to fly over to check, his Snake Gaze suddenly contracted. He saw a long, slender shadow begin to slither out from a dark corner of the funeral hall.