Declining She Mei’s friendly escort, Yin Luan and the others made their way on foot to the mountaintop.
The Great Demon hadn’t followed them up, opting instead to watch from afar. This reignited the crooked schemes in the minds of the two Little Imps.
“Isn’t she afraid we’ll run?” “Yeah, she turned us into humans first and lured us here—don’t blame us for sneaking off!”
“I suggest you don’t try it,” Yin Luan said. “For all we know, there could be a hundred Big Pythons buried under our feet right now, just waiting to swallow you two alive.”
Since the other side hadn’t followed, she had to be confident they couldn’t escape. Backing out midway—even Big Snake Snake had a limit to her patience—would surely set her off.
Rumbling thunder boomed, leaving their heads spinning in dizziness. Flashes of piercing light carried an inexplicable majesty.
Centered on the Iron Pillar, a membrane of light spanning dozens of feet enveloped the mountaintop, keeping the rain at bay. The air inside carried a scorched tang.
“Come on in,” She Mei’s voice rang in their ears. “I’ll keep time for you.”
The young maidens glanced around but saw no sign of anyone, so they chalked it up to the Great Demon’s mystical arts.
With Yin Luan in the lead, the four stepped inside one by one.
Boom——!!
The moment they entered, a terrifying bolt of thunder crashed directly onto the Iron Pillar. The roar was several times louder up close.
Ren Tan pulled out a handkerchief, tore it into pieces, and passed them to her companions to stuff in their ears. But the sound pierced through everything, thundering straight in their minds.
Dazed and reeling from the onslaught, after just the time it took one stick of incense to burn, Xiao Luo and Lily cried out.
“I can’t… I’m about to revert to my original form…”
Their legs buckled, and they slumped to the ground. Sweat poured down their cheeks in fat beads, soaking their clothes through with cold perspiration.
“What’s wrong with you two?” The Little Snake Demon couldn’t make out their words, but seeing their state, she bellowed. “Do you need some water?”
“Stop yelling—we can’t hear you!” Xiao Luo replied weakly. “The thunder’s shaken our essence energy into chaos. We can’t hold our human forms much longer…”
Thunder carried a natural suppressive force. A peal or two was nothing, but this relentless barrage was a real trial for low-cultivation Demons.
“What? You need a kiss? I’m coming!”
They held out for another half incense stick before lights flashed over Xiao Luo and Lily. They transformed into a radish and a bunch of lilies, rooted right there in the dirt.
“Impressive,” She Mei’s voice echoed in their minds. “Sprites with just a century of cultivation lasting this long? Not bad. Keep your distance next time, and you might actually pull some weight.”
Another half incense stick passed, and Ren Tan flushed beet red, drenched in sweat.
Yin Luan lunged to steady her.
“I tried the Divine Dragon Bracelet—raw power doesn’t cut it here,” the Eldest Young Lady gasped. “This trial tests some other kind of innate talent…”
“You need a kiss too? Mwah——”
Moments later, Ren Tan went down as well.
Three of the four lay fallen, with a third of the hour still to go.
“You aren’t feeling anything unusual at all?”
She Mei’s voice sounded only in the Little Snake Demon’s mind.
“My ears are a bit clogged,” Yin Luan shouted back, “but otherwise, I’m good!”
At first, seeing Xiao Luo and Lily struggle so hard, Little Snake Snake had fretted over reverting herself. But soon enough, she realized her body felt unchanged.
Within the light membrane, aside from the thunder and stray wisps of lightning power, nothing else posed a real threat.
“Strange…”
A hint of bewilderment colored She Mei’s tone.
“All creatures of the earth cower before Heavenly Might—that’s the Heavenly Path’s iron rule. How are you so utterly at ease…?”
Yin Luan breezed through the remaining half hour without a hitch. Then, bundling up the radish and lilies while hoisting the Eldest Young Lady over her shoulder, she hurried back to the Snake Cave.
The two plants and one girl were settled in the cave to recover quietly. She Mei invited the Little Snake Demon to sit with her alone.
“Mind if I get a taste of you?”
Yin Luan spoke first.
“A taste?” She Mei didn’t catch her meaning right away. “If it’ll make this chat go smoother, sure, I don’t mind…”
The Little Snake Demon leaned in for a lick.
Slurp——
Yep, no doubt about it—this was a genuine Great Demon. The sheer demonic power was unlike anything she’d sensed before. The threat she exuded outstripped even the Half-Step Void Treading Yin-Yang Woman. Just how she stacked up against a full Voidtreading Expert was anyone’s guess.
That said, the taste also revealed something off: the energy churning inside her was in disarray, like trouble was brewing.
The beautiful mature woman froze for a long moment after being suddenly licked.
She wasn’t stunned because she’d been taken advantage of, but because she’d never encountered such a bold and uninhibited “human woman” before.
Had the customs of the Great Zhou Kingdom grown so licentious in just a few decades?
Fortunately, She Mei was a worldly Great Demon, and she quickly regained her composure, flashing a seductive smile.
“That was truly an unexpected move. If I had to say, you seem rather like one of my own kind…”
“…”
The Little Snake Demon stared at her opponent, weighing her options inwardly.
She really was one of her own kind… After finally running into a Snake, she hesitated over whether to reveal her true identity.
She didn’t know much about Snake Demons, and most of her friends were equally in the dark.
The Demon Subduing Division officers and Immortals she’d encountered hadn’t delved deeply into Demons either; they focused more on how to slay them.
But this woman couldn’t be called a friend yet—she was half-coercing them into lending a hand. Coming clean rashly carried considerable risk.
“You have something weighing on you?”
She Mei’s eyes narrowed slyly, her seasoned gaze picking up on Yin Luan’s subtle shift in expression.
“Yes,” Yin Luan replied. “Actually, I had a dream where I was a Silver Snake who had taken human form.”
“A lustful snake?”
“A Silver Snake! The silver-colored kind!”
“Haha.” She Mei covered her mouth and laughed. “You little girl, you really love to joke around. I don’t sense even a trace of Demon Qi on you. Unless you’ve cultivated some top-grade Qi Concealing Technique, how could you possibly fool my senses?”
“…”
As expected of a Great Demon—she was sharp.
“Actually, I’m really curious about Snake,” Yin Luan pressed on, heedless of the other’s reaction. “Like, their innate talents, abilities, traits… Do they lay eggs or give live birth? When do they mate? How many times per session…”
“Hold on, hold on.” She Mei cut her off hastily as the questions veered into the absurd. “No need for those bizarre ones. I’m just a conservative old monster—my tolerance isn’t that high…”
“Fine, back to business.” The Little Snake Demon shrugged. “So, you—a Great Snake Demon with unfathomable power—what kind of help do you need from the likes of us?”
“Ah, Great Demon…”
She Mei let out a sigh, her tone laced with emotion.
“Once you take human form and become a Great Demon, the path to cultivating the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth opens up. But this world isn’t so kind to us Demons, is it? Human transformation is merely the first tribulation. To truly grasp the Great Dao, eight more lie ahead—each one more perilous than the last.”
“The one I need your help with is the second… the Spirit Opening Tribulation.”
