Invincible Snake Emperor

「The Tu Family’s backyard.」

Having returned from his mission, Tu Xiao’an was completely unaware of what had happened at Shanye Group.

The Snake Born Woman mission had earned him 100,000 Power of Faith in one go, and the System Mall had unlocked as a result.

A virtual screen appeared in the Gold and Silver Snake’s mind. Tu Xiao’an spoke calmly, ”Manifest, Mall.”

”DING... Congratulations, Host, on successfully entering the System Mall. Your accumulated Power of Faith will act as Points Currency for purchasing items.”

SWISH...

(1) Functional Items... (2) Creature Bloodlines & Genes... (3) Cultivation Techniques, Attributes, & Skills...

In the blink of an eye, three options appeared before Tu Xiao’an. Each one represented a different category of items, much like deciding whether to shop for furniture or clothes.

Different options, different items.

Tu Xiao’an curiously entered the Functional Items section first. Instantly, all sorts of items were displayed as images. Some were lit up, but the vast majority were grayed out, as if they hadn’t been unlocked yet.

”Enhancement Fruit: Significantly alters one’s physique, raising the body to the peak of a normal human. Cost: 1,000 Points.”

”Awakening Fruit: When a person’s body has reached its peak, this fruit can stimulate their latent potential, allowing them to become an Awakener. Cost: 10,000 Points.”

”Flying Technique: Grants any creature the ability to fly. Cost: 100,000 Faith Points.”

Tu Xiao’an glanced over the descriptions. He quickly understood that the lit-up items were the ones he could currently afford.

He currently had about 150,000 Faith Points. The Flying Technique he had won from the lottery wheel could apparently be purchased directly, and it only cost 100,000 Points.

’It’s actually pretty cheap, not too expensive at all.’

The Enhancement Fruit and Awakening Fruit were also interesting. A normal person could first eat an Enhancement Fruit to strengthen their physique, and after reaching a certain level of strength, eat an Awakening Fruit to directly become a Human Awakened.

For both humans and animals, these two fruits were like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate—a complete transformation.

’Good stuff, and not even that expensive.’

Tu Xiao’an thought about getting a few for his mom and older sister to try.

In the Mall, these were considered low-priced items. The vast majority of grayed-out, locked items were the Mall’s way of telling Tu Xiao’an, ’You can’t afford these.’

The main reason Tu Xiao’an had wanted to enter the Mall was to see if he could find a treasure that would allow him to undergo Transformation into a human form.

Based on the progression of Realms, as Tu Xiao’an’s Level continued to rise, it was possible that he could achieve Transformation directly upon breaking through to Rank 3.

But he couldn’t wait. He wanted to find a shortcut.

’Search...’

After glancing over the available items, Tu Xiao’an began scanning the grayed-out ones. They were all incredible things that couldn’t possibly exist in the real world, but the prices were equally staggering. They started at 100,000, then 300,000, then 500,000—the further down the list he went, the higher the prices climbed.

Suddenly, Tu Xiao’an’s Snake Gaze sharpened. The item he was looking for had appeared.

”Transformation Technique: Grants a false human form. Cost: 1,000,000 Faith Points.”

Note: The false form’s appearance is indistinguishable from a human’s, but it will immediately collapse and revert to your original form upon encountering a strong external force.

After reading the description, Tu Xiao’an’s heart skipped a beat. ’A false form... it’s just a skin, all appearance and no substance.’

’But even so, it’s not bad,’ he thought. Tu Xiao’an would eventually have to achieve a true Transformation by advancing his Realm anyway.

But the price left Tu Xiao’an feeling stretched thin. It cost a full one million Faith Points, while the Flying Technique he owned was only worth 100,000.

It seemed that achieving Transformation was, in the end, an act of defying the heavens.

Just like achieving Transformation by advancing one’s Realm required enduring the calamitous baptism of Celestial Thunder and Celestial Fire. Failure meant death.

This pseudo-Transformation, while simpler, would still make you bleed—financially.

Tu Xiao’an only had 150,000 Faith Points in total. The gap was too large. It seemed that even getting a pseudo-Transformation wouldn’t be easy.

He had to earn enough Power of Faith.

’I’ll just have to wait, then.’ Now that Tu Xiao’an had confirmed that the Mall had what he needed, and he knew the price, he felt a renewed sense of purpose.

Once he replaced the statue in the Bai Town Snake King Temple with one of himself, his Power of Faith would flow in endlessly.

’Accumulating a million shouldn’t be too difficult.’

After that, Tu Xiao’an lost interest in looking at the other grayed-out items. It was pointless, since he couldn’t afford any of them.

Exiting the Functional Items section, Tu Xiao’an turned his attention to the Creature Bloodlines & Genes section.

’Now this is interesting.’

With a flicker of his will, he entered it.

”Ordinary Bloodline, Ancient Bloodline, Divine Beast Bloodline”

All living things were divided into these three bloodline tiers. Tu Xiao’an watched with great interest. This system allowed an animal to fuse with a powerful bloodline, evolving and replacing its original one.

Since Tu Xiao’an was a member of the Snake Race, various snake bloodlines were prioritized in the display. Looking at the Ordinary Bloodline list, Tu Xiao’an was surprised to see some familiar Snake Species.

Supreme Profound Snake: 10,000 Faith Points.

Mutated Bloodsucker Snake: 50,000 Faith Points.

Mutated Chicken Crowned Snake: 50,000 Faith Points.

Mutated Devil Snake: 70,000 Faith Points.

The Ordinary Bloodlines in the Mall were essentially awakened bloodlines. They could take a common snake, fuse it with one of these bloodlines, and trigger its evolution.

Next, he looked at the Ancient Snake Species bloodlines...

Ancient Ba Snake: 100,000 Faith Points.

Ancient Hydra: 3,000,000 Faith Points.

Exotic Beast Mutated Nine-headed Serpent: 5,000,000 Faith Points.

All sorts of legendary Snake Species were on full display. Tu Xiao’an stared, dumbfounded.

However, fusing with an Ancient Bloodline required the target to already possess an awakened bloodline. If you tried to fuse it with an ordinary venomous snake, the snake’s body wouldn’t be able to withstand such a powerful genetic infusion.

It was just like in Dr. Snake’s experiments: to withstand the Giant Snake Gene, the base Snake Species had to be incredibly powerful. Otherwise, it would be unable to bear the strain and would self-destruct.

’This Mall is insane,’ he thought. The bloodline genes were simply miraculous. As long as he had enough Faith Points, he could even evolve a Divine Beast.

The only limit was his imagination.

Filled with excitement, Tu Xiao’an glanced at the Divine Beast category.

WHOA...

Divine Beast Soaring Snake: 10,000,000 Faith Points.

A full ten million Faith Points! And the fusion required a base creature that already possessed an Ancient Bloodline.

He looked at the other Divine Beast Bloodlines.

Divine Phoenix: 30,000,000 Faith Points.

Divine Beast White Tiger: 30,000,000 Faith Points.

Divine Black Tortoise: 30,000,000 Faith Points.

Divine Beast Azure Dragon: 40,000,000 Faith Points.

Tu Xiao’an didn’t look any further. The prices were astronomical, completely beyond his reach.

His 150,000 Points could probably only buy a single hair off a Divine Beast.

For now, Tu Xiao’an had only one goal: accumulate Faith Points and buy the Transformation Technique first. Everything else was a fleeting cloud. You have to walk a path one step at a time and eat a meal one bite at a time.

These genetic bloodlines were exciting to look at, but it wasn’t that simple. Even if you could afford one, you still had to find a suitable, powerful creature to fuse it with.

Otherwise, a single failure would mean all your efforts were for nothing.