Little Snake’s usual milky, babyish tone was already enough to make one’s entire body tingle with numbness and itchiness, but compared to the person on the platform, it was like comparing a minor sorcerer to a grand wizard.
That voice felt like someone lying beside the bed, murmuring sweet nothings right in your ear, utterly captivating the heart.
Forget the men—even they, a group of women, nearly went weak-kneed and flushed red just from listening.
“You bald whore,” Yin Luan pointed at the figure on the platform and shouted. “You’d better show yourself right now! Dare to steal our things? Just wait to be trussed up like a hog, thrown on the fire, basted with oil and salt, and roasted till well done!”
“Oh?” The figure teased with a laugh. “Want to eat me? That’s not the way of humans—sounds more like something a demon would do.”
With those words, she leaped lightly down from the high platform, drifting softly to land right in front of them. All the black snakes nearby immediately slithered far away, huddling together in terror.
Once they saw the woman’s face, Xiao Luo and Lily’s bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
It perfectly matched her voice—this was a young beauty brimming with irresistible allure.
She had a sharp, tapered face, almond-shaped eyes, willow-leaf brows, and full crimson lips. Her waist was so slender it seemed it might snap with a single squeeze, while her ample peaks were as grand as melons. She draped herself in a gauzy veil that was half-real, half-transparent, revealing tantalizing glimpses of her charms with every swaying step, stirring the deepest desires.
Of course, the two little sprites weren’t shaking because of her beauty. They weren’t into women, so even someone this stunning would only earn them a few extra glances.
“You… you’re also…” “…a snake demon?”
The beautiful woman’s looks, her bearing, her seductive grace—it was all too otherworldly for a human. Combined with the surroundings, the phrase “snake-scorpion beauty” instantly sprang to mind.
And if she was a demon capable of such a flawless human form, that meant… she was a Great Demon.
The beautiful woman flashed a seductive smile, her brows and eyes blooming like peach blossoms in spring, intoxicating to behold. The two little sprites couldn’t help but stare, entranced.
Then…
“Hiss!”
Her delicate lips parted slightly, and a long, forked tongue—longer than an arm—shot out, licking across Xiao Luo’s face twice.
A vision of seductive beauty, yet harboring such a monstrous tongue in her mouth. Anyone faint of heart would have fainted dead away on the spot…
“Nice flavor,” the beautiful young woman withdrew her tongue, still savoring the taste. “You’ve eaten something exquisite, haven’t you? That’s far beyond what your realm should handle. It’ll take you three to five years just to digest all that essence building up inside you.”
Xiao Luo froze stiff with fear.
The “something exquisite” she meant had to be the Mythical Goat from before. She truly hadn’t digested all that essence yet—and unlike the monster next to her, whose belly somehow emptied itself the next day no matter what it devoured, she couldn’t do the same…
“So fierce… so crude,” Yin Luan stepped in front of her companions, eyes fixed on the woman. She snorted. “Don’t stick out that tongue, or I’ll really lose my temper!”
The Little Radish Spirit was her emergency rations—no one else got to touch her!
“Snake Demon Lady, Snake Demon Lady,” Lily cowered behind them, clutching her head and pleading. “Don’t eat me—I taste really bitter…”
“Eat the one next to me instead,” Xiao Luo came back to her senses and hurriedly pointed at Yin Luan. “She tastes absolutely delicious, I swear!”
The two sprites hadn’t even thrown a punch yet, and they were already begging for mercy.
The Little Radish Spirit, in particular, showed not a shred of an expert’s poise. She’d never cowered like this, not even aboard the Ghost King Ship.
But they couldn’t be entirely blamed. A Voidtreading Expert might be formidable, but they were still human. A Great Demon, on the other hand, dominated them on a fundamental level of life itself. A primal terror, rising from the depths of their bloodline, would surge within the two little sprites.
Unless facing a demon of equal tier, this bloodline suppression was nearly impossible to resist.
“Indeed, very delicious,” the beautiful woman’s gaze roamed over Yin Luan appraisingly. “And I know you’re the strongest in this group—the one hiding your power the deepest.”
“Who are you? Do we know you?”
Being eyed like that gave Yin Luan the creeps. She instinctively glanced toward Ren Tan, hoping the Eldest Young Lady could take charge.
But the Eldest Young Lady remained unconscious, with no sign of stirring…
“You probably don’t know me,” the beautiful woman extended her hand, a small red snake materializing in her palm. She explained at a leisurely pace. “But I know you all.”
“You lot met up this spring, didn’t you? Near Nine Li City, in the Long River Mountains—the anomaly at Fisher Village, the carp transforming into a dragon. Spot on, right?”
It was completely accurate, but how could she know these secrets…
Before Yin Luan could press further, the beautiful woman provided the answer.
“Snakes are everywhere in the mountains. While you were locked in battle with those treasure seekers, one might have slithered past unnoticed and caught the whole show.”
“You say… the snake is your eyes?” Yin Luan asked in great confusion. “How is that possible? Just because it saw something doesn’t mean you did. An ordinary snake—could it possibly store memory images? Do they have that kind of intelligence?”
“You can choose not to believe me,” the beautiful woman chuckled. “But I do indeed possess this ability. Go ask around. Has She Mei ever deceived anyone?”
Ask around? Was she known in these circles?
Yin Luan glanced at the two sprites, but they both shook their heads, indicating they had never heard of this figure.
“That’s perfectly normal,” She Mei said. “I’ve been sleeping for several decades now. Plenty of people think I’m dead.”
“Sleeping?”
“That’s right,” the beautiful woman replied. “Don’t you know snakes hibernate? I have hibernation periods too, and once I fall asleep, it’s for a very long time.”
So that’s how it was…
A sudden realization dawned on Yin Luan.
Snakes hibernated, so perhaps she had lost her memories due to some accident during her own hibernation?
She had never considered that possibility before…
“Thank you… No, wait—you robbed our goods and captured our people. What’s your real purpose? Confess!”
Yin Luan had grown extremely interested in the Big Snake Snake before her.
If she could capture her and study her thoroughly, she might gain a deeper understanding of herself and unravel the secrets bound to her body.
“Naturally, to kill and seize your goods—to take every last treasure you obtained from the Divine Dragon.”
She Mei spoke as if she were only joking.
“What? You want to rob us?” “Impossible! You’d have to kill me first if you want my treasures!”
Xiao Luo and Lily flipped their attitudes in an instant, adopting fierce expressions as if ready to fight to the death.
“Life can be lost, but treasures can’t be handed over…”
Yin Luan realized that the people around her always seemed to have their quirks.
She thought for a moment before addressing She Mei.
“If you truly wanted to rob us, you wouldn’t have wasted so much breath talking. The treasures we obtained may be priceless, but for a Great Demon like you, they can’t hold that much appeal, can they?”
When she had traveled west with Senior Sister Zou Lian, they had encountered a dying Millennium Bamboo Spirit. Even on the brink of death, it had filled Peak Innate Senior Sister Zou Lian with dread.
This Great Demon called She Mei could only be even more formidable.
Even if she coveted their possessions, why go to such lengths to complicate things?
“Oh? I wouldn’t have expected someone with such an ample chest to have a sharp mind as well,” She Mei said with narrowed eyes and a smile. “I did deliberately lure you here… As for how things develop from here, that will depend on your abilities.”
