The Heavenly Snake Mansion lay deep within the Ten Thousand Snake Mountain Range in the southwestern Heavenly Snake Empire.
Poisonous miasma filled the region, and snakes and insects crawled everywhere. The terrain was treacherous, easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The headquarters of the Heavenly Snake Mansion stood atop the mountain range's main peak.
The main peak resembled a colossal serpent ten thousand feet long. It drew upon the surrounding terrain and formations reinforced by generations of Heavenly Snake Mansion experts. Under their protection, ordinary Dou Zun could not break in.
At that moment, a stifling atmosphere hung over the Heavenly Snake Mansion's council hall. The shattering of Venerable Hei Man's Soul Tablet had told everyone that their effort to help Hui Jiuyin seize power must have failed.
The other two Dou Zun stationed at the mansion, Mansion Master Kui Sha and Great Elder Fu Ling, had gathered everyone to discuss how to resolve the matter.
"Elder Hei Man actually died? Since when did the Heavenly Snake Empire have an expert like that?" One elder's face was filled with shock.
Hei Man had been the Heavenly Snake Mansion's Second Elder and one of its three publicly known Dou Zun experts.
A Two-Star Dou Zun might be no match for a high-level Dou Zun, but he should still have a chance to escape.
Even if escape proved impossible, he should at least have been able to exhaust his means to send some information back.
Yet the Heavenly Snake Mansion had received nothing.
Instead, several Dou Zong experts on friendly terms with the Heavenly Snake Mansion had passed the news along.
Even now, all they knew was that Hui Jiuyin's failed coup and Hei Man's death were connected to Chu Zhou.
The Heavenly Snake Mansion also had some information on Chu