Returned Empty-Handed

Outside the valley, Su He felt a warning sign stir within him—this was the sense of crisis unique to beasts.

Because he had been a transmigrator, Su He's beastly instincts had always been inferior to those of other wild animals. Only after his recent evolutions had they improved slightly, and their rate of improvement was still the slowest among all his abilities.

The green snake in the valley knew he had arrived and was deeply wary of him.

That was perfectly normal. Among beasts, predators of comparable strength rarely entered one another's territory unless they intended to seize living space.

Su He stood at the mouth of the valley and roared inward, "Aang~"

I bear no hostility. I only want to make friends! He did not know whether the green snake could understand his roar, but that was what he intended to convey. They were all going to become demons—at the very least, they should awaken intelligence, right?

Hadn't the turtle evolved vocal cords precisely for communication?

Perhaps, just as evolved ears could understand crocodile roars, sounds produced by evolved vocal cords could naturally be understood by all beasts? The valley remained as silent as ever, without any response.

Even the hissing of the other snakes was meaningless noise, carrying nothing more than hostility.

"Aang~"

Me, make friends! Su He shortened the message.

There was still no reply from within the valley.

"Aang~"

If you don't answer, I'll take that as agreement. I'm coming in!

Even after Su He finished roaring, no response came. The hostility in the valley neither rose nor fell.

What a blockhead. Its reactions were worse than those ordinary crocodiles.

Su He smacked his lips, unsure what to do. He was unwilling to return just like that, but going in directly would likely provoke even greater hostility from the green snake. If they fought, things would turn troublesome—this was the other party's lair.

Su He was not afraid of snakes—as long as they did not use venom.

He hesitated, and the moment his feet moved, three venomous snakes simultaneously bit at his exposed hind legs and tail.

Su He's turtle face changed instantly. He whipped his tail and looked over. The three venomous snakes hung from his body, their sharp fangs gnawing fiercely at his skin, but—they had not bitten through.

Several evolutions had not only made his shell incomparably hard; even his skin had become tough. The snakes' bite force was insufficient to pierce turtle hide.

Venom sprayed onto his body and slid right off.

Su He immediately rubbed the venom into the grass, then swiftly returned to the lake to wash his lower body.

A quarter of an hour, then half an hour...

There was no discomfort at all where he had been bitten, not even an itch. The snake venom had failed to penetrate his skin and invade his body.

Still unwilling to believe it, Su He caught a wild chicken-necked snake, pinned down its tail, and let it spray venom all over him. It was a mildly venomous snake, the sort that could not even poison a chicken to death.

Su He did not enter the water. He kept staring at the skin soaked in snake venom, yet felt no discomfort whatsoever. He tried other venomous snakes as well, with much the same result.

Reassured, Su He crawled into the valley with the swagger of someone who recognized neither kin nor friend.

Venomous snakes appeared frequently all around him, their hissing warnings unending. This time, meaningful sounds emerged; for the most part, they were telling Su He to get out of Snake Valley.

Su He did not care. This place was Wei Long's warehouse. If not for needing something from the green snake, every last one of them would just be spicy little snacks.

Snake Valley was shaped like the character "jia." The thirty zhang stretch at its entrance was narrow and gloomy, only a little over three zhang wide. But once inside, it opened into a broad expanse as large as a football field. There was even a pond, with an Old Willow Tree growing beside it.

A massive green snake coiled atop the willow tree.

After only a few days apart, it had grown larger again. Clearly a little Green Snake, it had somehow grown to the size of a python. Yet unlike ordinary pythons, with small heads and bloated bodies, it was evenly proportioned, swaying with a strikingly seductive grace.

The green snake coiled around the willow tree, lowered its head, and flicked its tongue at Su He with a soft rustle.

Amid the hissing, there was nothing beyond hostility. It could not even spit out a complete word.

Communication was certainly impossible. Beasts had only eaten the Demon Transformation Fruit two months ago; they were not yet capable of discussing the heavens and expounding the Dao.

Being able to use simple words to understand one another's intentions was already not bad.

Su He had only come to see how the green snake had obtained Demon Arts and how it cultivated them. But in this hostile state, the green snake certainly would not be in the mood to cultivate.

He had to find a way to make it lower its guard.

Aang~ Little snake, you're very pretty.

Su He flirted with it.

"Sha!"

The green snake suddenly spat out a cloud of dense mist, then flicked its tail, spreading the mist until it engulfed both itself and Su He.

Su He immediately held his breath and shut his eyes.

Green Snakes were not venomous, but this one clearly could not be judged by common sense. Su He himself had evolved teeth, so why could a Green Snake not evolve deadly venom? Su He lowered his head slightly and strained to listen in every direction.

Whoosh! A snake swept through the green grass.

It's coming!

Ordinary Green Snakes had always fed on insects and earthworms; they had little fighting power to speak of. Su He wondered what abilities this green snake on the verge of becoming a demon possessed, to dare start a fight so directly.

It was clearly a timid snake by nature, yet it had charged in so recklessly. It would not even exchange a single word, attacking the moment they met.

He had miscalculated.

He should have observed it for a few more days.

Suddenly, the mist trembled. The green snake wrapped around Su He like a hemp rope and tightened with all its strength.

It could not tighten him at all.

It squeezed again, but there was still no reaction. Su He's shell showed no sign of caving inward. High-quality meat had not been eaten for nothing.

This little snake was quite strong. Su He suspected it could constrict even a cow to death alive, but today, its enemy happened to be Su He.

What Su He feared least was a contest of toughness and strength.

If he had not still wanted to understand Demon Arts from the green snake, he would have bitten through its neck in that instant. A snake that had already digested most of a Demon Transformation Fruit was a great tonic even without the dice's enhancement.

This little snake had suddenly obtained a Demon Transformation Fruit and begun evolving. It was utterly unaccustomed to fighting with such a huge body! If it had been Su He, he certainly would not have been so rash. Were the thousands of venomous snakes outside just sitting around to eat for nothing?

Why fight alone when you could brawl as a group? After failing to constrict him several times, the green snake swiftly retreated, slipping away to who knew where.

Su He listened quietly.

"Splish~ splash!"

A faint sound of water breaking came from the lake surface. The green snake had entered the water.

Sure enough, it had no experience. What snake went underwater to fight a turtle?

With his eyes closed, Su He crawled toward the pond from memory, entered the water, and opened his eyes.

The underwater scenery was rather beautiful. The bottom was entirely stone, and the water especially clear and cool. In the center of the small lake was a fissure, a natural tunnel. The opening was enormous, two zhang long and one zhang wide.

There was no sign of the green snake underwater. It had likely escaped through the tunnel.

Su He paddled after it.

The tunnel twisted and turned, with strange rocks lining both sides. Snake skins of varying sizes hung from those rocks; the green snake had likely been shedding here over the past two months.

He followed the tunnel onward and emerged through an opening. The scene before him suddenly opened up—it was Listening Sea Lake.

This tunnel connected Listening Sea Lake with the small lake in Snake Valley.

The green snake was nowhere to be seen, nor was there any scent of the Demon Transformation Fruit. It had probably remained underwater and swum far away, preventing its scent from rising to the surface.

It had been a failed visit, with nothing gained.

Of course, that was not entirely true. If the green snake remained unwilling to cooperate, then Snake Valley would make a fine place to settle. It was far better than the pill furnace Su He had prepared.

Su He got his bearings and swam toward Crocodile Beach. The tunnel entrance was not far from Crocodile Beach; he and the green snake were true neighbors in every sense.

Green Snakes were timid. For the next day or two, it probably would not dare return to Snake Valley. He would go again in a few days, bringing a gift this time. Courtesy calls for reciprocity—if he could get along so well with Old Crocodile, could he really fail to build a relationship with the green snake?

As long as he shamelessly showed up time and again, the green snake would eventually grow accustomed to him and stop treating him as an enemy.

Su He swam toward Crocodile Beach. While he was still ten li away, an intense stench of blood drifted over.

Something had happened at Crocodile Beach. Su He cautiously accelerated, and as he drew near, he could hear crocodile roars rising and falling one after another.

Looking up, he saw Crocodile Beach in complete chaos. Two groups of crocodiles were fighting without end, their blood dyeing the entire stretch of water red.