No one answered him.
Lu Chen crouched down and picked up a piece of shed snakeskin for a careful look.
The shed skin was grayish white, the size of a palm, its scale patterns clearly visible.
But what caught his attention was the faint, almost imperceptible ripple of deathly aura lingering on it—it was exactly the same as the Undead Monarch's presence.
He rose to his feet and continued onward.
The farther they went, the more shed snakeskins there were. In the end, they had to step over several layers with nearly every step. Some were astonishingly huge, several zhang long at least, clearly shed from giant pythons.
Tuoba Shan could not help saying, "Brother Lu, this place... it couldn't be a snake den, could it?"
Lu Chen did not answer, but he already had the answer in his heart.
This truly was a snake den.
And one belonging to ancient aberrant serpents.
Those young snakes had been born here, grown here, and fed by blood sacrifices here.
Just as he was thinking this, an enormous cave entrance suddenly appeared ahead.
The opening stood ten zhang high and seven or eight zhang wide, like the gaping maw of a colossal beast, pitch-black and bottomless. A cold, sinister aura poured out from within, carrying a heavy stench of blood and death.
On either side of the entrance stood two enormous stone pillars.
The pillars were covered in runes, identical to those on the previous stone platform, but more intricate and more bizarre. Every rune emitted a faint ghostly glow, as though it were still alive.
Yun Qingyue carefully examined the runes, her expression growing increasingly grave.
"These are... sealing runes," she said. "And very ancient seals."
Lu Chen's gaze sharpened. "What do they seal?"
Yun Qingyue shook her head. "I don't