Tu Xiao'an inwardly gloated. He'd captured a loyal believer, and with hardly any effort at that.
He continued to use his Consciousness Power to communicate with Li Shun.
"This Snake King sees that this statue is ancient and dilapidated, which is not conducive to my manifestation. I have co to tell you that this statue must be replaced."
Li Shun was taken aback. The Snake King had manifested just to tell him to replace the statue?
He didn't dare to overthink it and quickly replied, "I will obey the Snake King's command. I'll have soone remake a new statue tomorrow."
"It cannot be made in the old style. It must be made in my true form."
"True form?"
Li Shun understood imdiately. The current statue enshrined in the temple was the Snake King's transford human form, but legend said that no one had ever truly seen the Snake King's true form.
An image then appeared in his mind: a Gold and Silver Snake soaring upwards with a domineering air. It was so sacred and noble that one couldn't help but feel the urge to submit and worship it.
"Carve it in this image."
That was the last thing Li Shun heard from the Snake King. He was so excited he could barely contain himself. What a glorious honor it was to be able to do sothing for the Snake King.
His more than ten years at the Snake King Temple had not been in vain. The Snake King had finally seen his loyalty.
Faith Points: 32,510.
'Things are going more smoothly than I expected,' Tu Xiao'an thought. 'This Li Shun is way too easy to fool. He didn't even question my order to replace the Snake King statue.'
At that mont, group after group of people entered the Snake King Temple to kowtow and make wishes. The scene was magnificent. Many even ca to ask for Snake King Water to drink.
They thought that since the Snake King Water was so miraculous, perhaps drinking it could even extend their lives.
This put Li Shun in a difficult position. The Snake King Water was just water with a bit of antivenom added. If you weren't poisoned by a snake, what was the point of drinking it?
anwhile, Tu Xiao'an watched his Faith Points skyrocket. 'At this rate,' he mused, 'unlocking the System Mall is just around the corner.'
But Tu Xiao'an's happiness didn't last long. The large crowds of believers who ca in after, kowtowing, didn't provide him with a single Faith Point. It seed all their faith was being credited to the Snake King statue.
The believers who ca later hadn't seen his manifestation as the Snake King; they had only heard about it secondhand. As a result, it had squat to do with him.
'Ah, Li Shun,' he sighed inwardly. 'I hope you can work a little faster.'
Getting his own Snake King statue made was imperative, and it had to be done quickly.
Since that was the case, Tu Xiao'an couldn't be bothered to stay in the Snake King Temple any longer. He couldn't just manifest as the Snake King every ti a new batch of tourists arrived. That would be ridiculous.
'Am I, the Snake King, so cheap that I'm just here for tourists to gawk at?'
'This isn't a zoo.'
Just as Tu Xiao'an was preparing to leave quietly, a woman in her early twenties entered the temple, inadvertently catching his attention.
The woman's face was weary and travel-worn, as if she had suffered so major blow. Her features, however, were strikingly beautiful—the kind of petite and exquisite beauty that could make one's eyes light up.
She made people want to protect her.
As soon as she entered, she looked heavy-hearted and devoid of any will to live. She knelt before the Snake King statue and kowtowed several tis, her head hitting the ground with solid thuds. Her lips moved, but not a single sound escaped.
She seed terrified that soone might overhear her wish, praying cautiously and silently in her heart.
Tu Xiao'an's Snake Gaze was fixed on her, as if branded onto her skin. It wasn't her beauty that attracted him—after all, he was a snake now. All the beautiful won in the world were off-limits to him.
What drew his attention was that the mont she entered, Tu Xiao'an sensed a unique aura of the Snake Race from her.
'Just as humans have human Qi and Demons have Demon Qi, how could a person have the aura of the Snake Race?'
'Could this woman be a Snake Demon in disguise?'
Previously, Tu Xiao'an wouldn't have believed such things, but now he was a firm believer. If Rank Two Awakened Creatures could speak human language, then it wasn't impossible for Rank 3 Awakened Creatures to take human form.
But if she were a Rank 3 Awakened Creature, Tu Xiao'an would have to turn tail and run. He couldn't afford to provoke such a being.
However, this was just a montary speculation, which he imdiately dismissed.
Although the woman had the aura of the Snake Race, it wasn't strong. Her human aura still accounted for eighty percent of it.
'She's definitely human.'
So, that raised a question.
Why would a young woman have the aura of the Snake Race?
A more plausible explanation would be that she had been living with snakes for a long ti and had picked up their aura.
For example, maybe she kept a snake as a pet.
But Tu Xiao'an quickly dismissed this idea as well. The snake aura on the woman felt innate, not like sothing from an external source.
At that mont, the woman was continuously kowtowing to the Snake King statue. As she did, tears stread down her face. Her beautiful eyes shimred with tears, yet they were devoid of light, as if shrouded in darkness.
People ca and went in the temple, but she seed as if she had been abandoned by the entire world. She was a beautiful flower, yet she was wilting and withered.
Clearly, this was a woman with a story. So misfortune must have befallen her, leading her to co to the Snake King Temple to pray all alone.
Suddenly, Tu Xiao'an's Snake Gaze sharpened. He had only just realized that the woman before him was pregnant. Her abdon was slightly swollen, almost unnoticeable unless one looked closely.
'She looks about three or four months along.'
For a pregnant woman to have the aura of the Snake Race was even more incomprehensible.
'Could her prayers at the Snake King Temple be related to this?'
'Or has she been... entangled with a snake?'
Usually, people who ca to pray at the Snake King Temple had so connection to snakes. For example, soone might have accidentally killed an innocent snake and co to pray that its vengeful spirit wouldn't haunt them.
Or perhaps people in the snake business would co to pray for prosperity and Big Money, seeking the Snake King's blessing.
These were all normal reasons. Those who ca praying for a child had basically co to the wrong place. They should have gone to the Guanyin Temple.
There was sothing strange about this woman. Tu Xiao'an's curiosity about the snake aura on her only grew.
This snake aura seed innate, as if it was coming from inside her body.
Suddenly, Tu Xiao'an took a sharp breath. He connected the dots to a terrifying possibility. His Snake Gaze narrowed, and his Consciousness Power abruptly enveloped the woman.
The Formless Consciousness Power scanned up and down her body like an X-ray. It was like clairvoyant sight; her internal organs were all clearly visible.
After a long mont, Tu Xiao'an retracted his Consciousness Power, his brow furrowed. He was completely dumbfounded, muttering to himself, "How can this be... This is terrifying."
What had he seen? Inside the woman's abdon, he saw countless dark, writhing shapes, densely tangled together.
This was the source of the snake aura on her. She was pregnant, but not with a child. She was carrying a belly full of snakes.
A Snake Embryo.
Even for Tu Xiao'an, who had experienced many strange things, this made his hair stand on end. It was difficult to accept.
A woman as beautiful as a flower, about to beco a happy mother, was carrying a nest of snakes in her womb. It was enough to completely shatter one's worldview, to make their world crumble.
Her look of utter despair from the mont she walked in... she probably already knew this horrifying truth.
In modern tis, as soon as soone gets pregnant, they go to the hospital for all sorts of check-ups. An X-ray of her belly would have revealed everything.
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