CHAPTER 479: CHAPTER 479: BLACK-PATTERNED SNOW SNAKE_1

The Heavenly Dao paused, then gave an embarrassed chuckle. "To be honest with you, Your Majesty, I guessed."

Xu Lai didn’t call him out on it, simply saying, "Is that so? It’s like you can read my mind."

"To be able to read Your Majesty’s mind is truly my honor!" the Heavenly Dao exclaimed with delight.

Xu Lai gave the Earth Heavenly Dao a deep look. It made the latter’s scalp inexplicably tingle, and he awkwardly bit into his candied hawthorn stick.

"Let’s go," Xu Lai said calmly.

"Yes, yes." The Heavenly Dao nodded repeatedly, greatly relieved that The Supreme Emperor wasn’t pursuing the matter. After all, he had many secrets. If someone were to dig deeper... I probably couldn’t hide most of them.

"Mount Haizi is quite far. Follow me."

Shedding his usual jokey demeanor, the Heavenly Dao spoke with the utmost reverence.

In the blink of an eye, the two were transported from the Dongli University campus to a snowy mountaintop in the northwest of Hua Country. The altitude here was over 4,700 meters, and the air was thin.

Because of the recent snowfall, the entire mountain range was a blanket of pure white, exuding an untainted sanctity.

About ten kilometers down from the peak lay two connected lakes of stunning beauty.

"This is Mount Haizi," the Heavenly Dao said. "Those two lakes are quite famous locally. Legend says they are two teardrops left behind by a Fairy."

Xu Lai walked closer, gazing upon the glistening surface of the water.

Despite the poor weather, there were still some road-trippers around. One car was parked by the lakeside fence, where two young women were.

One of them, a rather attractive young woman, was furtively sizing up Xu Lai.

"Song Xuan, what are you looking at?"

Her friend’s playful call startled Song Xuan. Before she could reply, her friend continued to tease, "Oh, checking out the handsome guy, are you? He isn’t *that* good-looking... Hmm? On second glance, he does have a certain charm. I’ll go get his number for you!"

"Chen Yuanyuan, what are you talking about?" Song Xuan chided her friend with a glare.

"Ooh, are you blushing?" Chen Yuanyuan said with a mischievous smile. "Should I give you two some space? You could go back to the car, get the red wine, and invite that handsome guy to tell you his story."

They were from Yanjing and had been plagued by bad luck recently; nothing was going right. A friend had told them about a temple in the country’s westernmost province with a great master who had attained the Dao, so they decided to seek his help to dispel their misfortune. They followed the national highway west from Yanjing, taking their time and enjoying the sights. When they saw the gorgeous twin lakes, they decided to stop for a rest.

"I was just wondering how that man got up here without a car," Song Xuan said, rolling her eyes. "And that little boy with him is only wearing a red bellyband, he doesn’t even have shoes on..."

At that, Chen Yuanyuan froze. There were no signs of civilization for dozens of kilometers. It was impossible to reach the mountaintop on foot in this dreadful, snowy weather.

A young man.

A three- or four-year-old boy.

Appearing suddenly in this desolate wilderness...

Chen Yuanyuan mumbled softly, "They can’t be human, can they?"

"Don’t scare me!" Song Xuan exclaimed, goosebumps erupting all over her skin.

While the two women were talking, Xu Lai acted as if he didn’t notice them just steps away. He focused on the lake and said, "Come out."

There was a small Barrier at the bottom of the lake. And outside the Barrier, a Demonic Beast guarded the lakebed.

"ROAR!"

A piercing roar shook the entire Mount Haizi range.

"What is that?"

The faces of Song Xuan and her friend Chen Yuanyuan turned pale as they grabbed the lakeside railing. In the next second, they witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives—a massive black rock surfaced from the bottom of the lake.

Their eyes widened in terror, and their legs began to tremble. They now saw clearly that it wasn’t a rock at all.

It was a gigantic snake head!

The head was as vast as a millstone. From its size, they could vaguely estimate that the snake’s body had to be at least twenty meters long, perhaps even longer!

Chen Yuanyuan collapsed into the snow, shivering uncontrollably as she stammered, "S-S-Snake... Snake..."

"Yuanyuan, let’s run!"

Song Xuan was terrified as well, but she didn’t forget to pull her best friend up and start running. She looked back at Xu Lai and shouted anxiously, "You two, run! What are you standing there for?"

Xu Lai finally turned to look at her.

His eyes were as deep as the starry sky, stunning Song Xuan for a moment even in this dangerous situation. What kind of eyes are those? They’re like a magical abyss, pulling me in.

Song Xuan shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel the strange sensation, but she stopped running. The snake from the lakebed had reared up, its body rising to stand tall like a downtown skyscraper. Its eerie eyes watched the unexpected visitors on the lakeshore as if they were already dead.

It’s definitely longer than twenty meters, probably closer to thirty. This snake has become a spirit...

Tears streamed down Chen Yuanyuan’s face. "Oh, Song Xuan, we’re going to be eaten! Our luck is the worst!"

"I lost my wallet seven times in one month, sprained my ankle three times, and on the way to find a master to dispel our misfortune, we had four flat tires. Now we’ve run into a Snake Demon and we’re probably going to die here..." Chen Yuanyuan sobbed. "We’re so miserable!"

The Heavenly Dao couldn’t help but snicker. How could anyone be this wretched? He was tempted to grant them some good fortune.

Xu Lai frowned slightly. "What are you standing around for?"

"Huh?"

The Heavenly Dao was taken aback. Before his mind could catch up, Xu Lai kicked him.

"BANG—"

The Heavenly Dao’s petite body flew through the air. By the time he managed to steady himself, he was only three meters away from the colossal Snake Demon.

The Heavenly Dao’s face turned green. He realized that The Supreme Emperor wanted him to deal with this Snake Demon!

Fight? He could certainly win. Although his own strength was mediocre, he could thrash this Golden Core Snake Demon a hundred times over. But this was a monster that Jing Ke kept as a guard! That fellow Jing Ke loved to set up intricate death traps. Who knew what other backup plans he had hidden? What if he got injured?

Besides, if Jing Ke was still inside the Barrier, his actions would expose his identity. The plan he had been plotting for thousands of years would have to be scrapped and restarted from scratch.

So, the Heavenly Dao feigned panic and said, "Your Majesty, this monster has reached the Peak of Golden Core! I-I-I... I can’t handle it!"

Xu Lai curled his lip. Act! Just keep on acting! This feigned cowardice and pitiful act was a complete disgrace to the Heavenly Dao Laws.

"ROAR!!!"

The Snake Demon flicked its forked tongue and let out another roar from its cavernous maw. An overwhelming stench washed over them, nearly causing the two ordinary humans, Chen Yuanyuan and Song Xuan, to faint. It was absolutely foul.

But the two women forgot to even cover their noses. They stared dumbly at the three-year-old boy flying in the air, their worldviews on the verge of shattering.

On a snowy day, at an altitude of nearly five thousand meters, a bare-bottomed little boy wearing only a red bellyband and holding a stick of candied hawthorn was flying in the air, confronting a massive Snake Demon whose body rose thirty meters above the water.

The two women whimpered and sobbed, feeling like the world itself had gone mad.

"A Black-patterned Snow Snake. Its gall is more delicious than a Saintly Pear, a rare delicacy. Jing Ke must have raised it for two thousand years. It’s a pity it’s on Earth; otherwise, it would have had a chance to become a Venerable," Xu Lai said with a hint of regret.