Yuantian Pidao

Chapter 157 Aoki Appears
Five Immortals Mountain, high in altitude and deep in forest, where an old man walks.

He had an old face with a scar on his right cheek that looked like it had been burned by flames. He was burly with large muscles on his chest. He was covered in animal skins and held a vine cane. He looked like a wild man. Most peculiar was his thick, green hair, which contrasted sharply with his old face.

He is Qingmu Lei, born into the Qingmu family, and is the ancestor of the Qingmu family, possessing the cultivation level of the Dao Foundation stage.

“It seems that a rare treasure has truly been born here.”

Barefoot, he easily overcame all obstacles and arrived at a mountain peak. There, he sensed a faint aura of a spiritual treasure. Although the treasure had been created some time ago and had long been taken away, he still found a clue.

In the next instant, he lightly stomped his cane, and a streak of green light swept across the surroundings, merging Aoki Lei's consciousness with the surrounding vegetation.

"I'm late."

By connecting with the surrounding plants and trees, Qingmu Lei immediately confirmed his guess: a spiritual treasure had indeed been born here, and it was of the wood element, but it had already been taken away.

"It seems that the riot at Blackwater Pool was not a coincidence, but a deliberate attempt to distract me and prevent me from dealing with Five Immortals Mountain."

With his thoughts in turmoil, Aoki Lei's original doubts were resolved.

Of the four southern prefectures, Qingyuan Prefecture is the innermost, close to the heart of the dynasty, while Qingteng Prefecture is the outermost, facing the most dangerous wilderness. As the ruler of Qingteng Prefecture, the main task of the Qingmu family is to suppress the border wilderness.

As for Blackwater Dock, it is a force formed by a gathering of demons, led by a crocodile demon who also possesses the cultivation level of the Foundation Establishment stage. They are the greatest enemies of the Green Wood Clan.

The emergence of the Five Immortals Mountain Spiritual Treasure was quite a sensation, sparking a conflict among the demons within the mountain and arousing suspicion from the outside world. Although the Qingmu family was far from Qingyuan County, they still received the news.

Although they couldn't confirm the truth of the news, the Aoki family still planned to come and see, since rare treasures were hard to come by. But at that moment, Blackwater Dock suddenly attacked, which tied up the Aoki family and left them with no energy to deal with the Five Immortals Mountain.

Even the events within Changfeng County were kept from the Qingmu family's attention by the Blackwater Dock, and by the time everything calmed down, it was too late.

"Now it seems that the demon that obtained that precious item is most likely that green snake demon."

Having guessed what was going on, he took a step forward, and Qingmu Lei's figure disappeared into the distance. When he reappeared, he was already in a bamboo forest.

"Judging from the intelligence we gathered earlier, this green snake demon had some extraordinary luck. It once obtained a transformation herb and cultivated into human form, greatly increasing its spirituality. Now it seems that was indeed the case; it has even learned formations."

Outside the bamboo forest, a green light flashed in his murky eyes. Qingmu Lei saw the formation hidden in the bamboo forest. Anyone who dared to enter without knowing its strength would most likely be trapped by the formation and eventually be strangled to death.

"Some methods are not enough."

With his spiritual energy flowing freely, Qingmu Lei strode into the bamboo forest without any hesitation. At that moment, the bamboo that had been blocking his way naturally parted, making way for him to enter the depths of the bamboo forest.

"Neither human nor demon."

Upon reaching the depths of the bamboo forest, Qingmu Lei shook his head at the sight of the building that resembled a human palace yet was not quite. Just then, a snake demon responsible for guarding the Green Snake Palace suddenly opened its eyes. It was ten zhang long, its entire body covered in yellowish-brown scales, and it exuded a ferocious aura. Its true form was a mountain python with the cultivation level of a Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

Hissing, the python looked outside the palace with a hint of doubt in its eyes. It hadn't expected that someone could sneak through the bamboo forest so silently. But whoever it was, anyone who dared to spy on the Green Snake Palace deserved to die.

A murderous intent arose in his heart, and with a swift movement, the python burrowed into the ground. When it reappeared, it was already behind Qingmu Lei.

With a whoosh, it burst forth from the ground without any hesitation. The python opened its mouth wide and bit directly at Qingmu Lei.

Aoki Lei seemed oblivious to this and continued walking forward on his own.

At the same time, the python froze in place. A strand of emerald green hair had somehow gotten stuck between its eyebrows. Looking at this strand of hair, the python's eyes were filled with fear. At this moment, the strand of emerald green hair was growing wildly in its flesh. Forget about attacking, it couldn't even move.

At this moment, it suddenly remembered the green snake's instructions: if it encountered something that could easily pass through the bamboo forest formation, it should ignore it and just hide.

Regretfully devouring the soul, the python knew it was wrong, but it was too late. The moment that emerald green hair retracted, its life force completely dissipated, turning it into a dried-up corpse. It had been drained alive.

As for the death of the python, Aoki Lei didn't care at all. The reason the python was able to find him was simply because he hadn't deliberately hidden his whereabouts.

"As expected, it's not here."

Upon arriving deep within the palace and seeing the secret chamber containing only a snake molt, Aoki Lei was not surprised.

If he were the Green Snake, he probably wouldn't have stayed in the so-called Green Snake Palace after obtaining the spiritual treasure. The reason he made this trip was simply to further confirm his guess.

"If that green snake really breaks through to the Dao Foundation stage, then the situation in these four southern prefectures will truly change."

With a soft sigh, Qingmu Lei walked out of the Green Serpent Palace.

Sensing the presence of those around him, Aoki Lei walked straight out without even looking around.

There is an agreement between the human and demon races that unless a major war breaks out, beings above the Foundation Establishment stage will not launch large-scale attacks against those below the Qi Refining stage. This is mainly because Foundation Establishment cultivators are already very destructive, and if they act recklessly, they can easily create a massacre, which is unacceptable to both races.

Of course, there was another reason why Qingmu Lei left so easily: the Green Snake had the potential to break through to the Dao Foundation stage. If it went too far, it would inevitably suffer retribution in the future. As for the Mountain Python, it was purely courting death and had no one to blame but itself.

After Aoki Lei left, snake shadows emerged from the bamboo forest, their eyes filled with fear as they looked at him.

Although most of these snake demons were not very intelligent, the aura that Qingmu Lei revealed at the end made them feel fear almost instinctively.

Hissing, the snakes' tongues flickered, and some of the more intelligent snake demons began to soothe the snakes. Before long, the Green Snake Palace returned to peace, but the oppressive atmosphere lingered.

(End of this chapter)