The Totem Beast

"So it appeared, and yet it didn't damage a single building — no casualties at all?" Mo Fan said.

The reports were already public. Throughout the Sky-Scraping Serpent's entire appearance, it hadn't set foot on a single structure, hadn't killed a single person. In truth, for a creature of that size, crushing the ant-like humans beneath it would have been virtually inevitable — unless it had deliberately positioned itself somewhere deserted.

Tang Yue nodded.

"The government knows your people exist, and knows it's your god — so they covered up the truth?" Mo Fan pressed.

Tang Yue nodded again.

"But... don't you think it... it..."

"It's terrifying — and if it ever lost control even slightly, the destruction would be beyond measure. Is that what you're getting at?" Tang Yue gave a sad, quiet smile.

"Yeah. It can appear at will in the most densely populated parts of the city and vanish without a trace. Even if this became public knowledge, every resident of Hangzhou — the whole country — would be against it. Because whatever unbreakable bond of protection exists between your village and that god means nothing to outsiders. All they see is the unknown, something that inspires sheer, visceral terror. And that kind of fear drives people to do all sorts of reckless things..." Mo Fan said.

Mo Fan was no ordinary mage — he'd seen things that would make most people's heads spin, and on top of that, his personality was such that most things simply didn't frighten him.

And yet even he had been shaken to his core, left with a shadow that still lingered. He could only imagine how many others who had witnessed the Sky-Scraping Serpent that day had ended up bedridden in a hospital.

"We worry about it too. What happened seven days ago has never occurred before, not in all our years of watching over it. We have no idea why it appeared there so suddenly. As a rule, it only emerges when it senses a threat serious enough to truly unsettle it. Part of why I brought you here was to learn the specifics from you directly. You were on the scene — did you notice anything unusual about it? Whether it seemed to be watching something, looking at something in particular..." Tang Yue said.

Mo Fan thought back to that moment, and honestly couldn't identify anything out of the ordinary — because the entire incident had been bizarre from beginning to end.

If he were forced to find something strange amid all that strangeness, it would be this: the Sky-Scraping Serpent had appeared to fix its gaze on the building he was in. Almost as if it were focused on his floor specifically. Almost as if it were staring directly at him.

"I had the feeling it was staring at me," Mo Fan answered honestly.

"Are you certain?"

"Not entirely. Its eyes are enormous — maybe something in that building unsettled it. Either way, I couldn't figure out what." Mo Fan said.

*Could it have had something to do with my Demonization?* he wondered inwardly.

The power of Demonization was fearsome beyond measure. If the Sky-Scraping Serpent truly was a guardian deity, could the savage demonic blood inside him have drawn it out — and then, once it determined the source posed no real threat, caused it to simply leave?

But the theory didn't quite hold up. Even at full Demonization, his power topped out at the Commander tier.

The Sky-Scraping Serpent was clearly above the Commander tier — there was no reason a creature of its standing would descend from the heavens over a single Commander-level threat.

Perhaps the building simply housed something else entirely.

Tang Yue sank into deep thought. The issue that weighed on her wasn't the fact that the Sky-Scraping Serpent had appeared before the eyes of the world — what truly troubled her was the reason it had appeared at all.

"So... that serpent. Is it really a guardian deity?" Mo Fan asked, dead serious.

"Yes. It used to watch over a single village — but that was thousands of years ago. Now it guards an entire city. That city is Hangzhou." Tang Yue said.

Mo Fan opened his mouth, and for a long moment, no words came.

Who could have imagined that a creature of such impossible scale — a titanic serpent that commanded both awe and terror — was the guardian deity of this very city? That had to be one of the most unnerving secrets in the world.

"How has none of this ever been heard of before?" Mo Fan asked.

"You know what a totem is, right?" Tang Yue crossed to the far wall and gestured at the markings etched into it.

"Totem... I've heard of it, I think. Ancient human tribes used to have their own banners — flags painted with totem guardian beasts. Are you saying that enormous serpent is a Totem Beast?" The realization hit Mo Fan all at once.

He'd come across the concept in history books. In the distant past, humans had offered reverence to Totem Beasts in exchange for peace and safety in their settlements. These creatures were not true Demon-Beasts, nor were they summoned beings — they were something else entirely, a category unto themselves. They harbored no desire to slaughter humanity. On the contrary, they were willing to coexist, even to protect.

But Totem Beasts had passed into legend long before the last thousand years. In the modern era — an age of flourishing magic, where humanity had developed its own means of self-defense — only summoned creatures remained in common understanding. The age of the Totem Beast had faded into myth.

"It is an ancient Totem Beast. Our people have guarded it for generations, and it in turn guards the city. Many magical organizations today fear the sheer power that Totem Beasts possess, and a number of authoritative bodies remain opposed to their existence. Add to that the fact that Totem Beasts have been steadily sealed away by the passage of time — they can no longer walk openly in the world, nor are they accepted by people any longer. Those of us who remain are probably among the last Totem Guardians in the country." Tang Yue let out a soft sigh.

"Totem Guardians — I never would have guessed you had such a unique background, Tang Yue. What about your position as a Tribunal Agent? How does that fit in?"

"The two don't conflict. The Tribunal is aware of the West Lake Totem Beast. And the Chief Adjudicator happens to be my uncle..."

"..." Mo Fan was left momentarily speechless. His teacher Tang Yue was turning out to be far more remarkable than he'd ever imagined. Setting aside the Totem Guardian identity, just being the niece of the Chief Adjudicator meant she could walk through practically any door in the country unchallenged — Noble Clans, magical associations, the military — they would all have to treat her with the utmost courtesy.

"That said — why did you go to Bo City in the first place?" Mo Fan suddenly remembered what felt like a very important question.

Given Tang Yue's standing in Hangzhou, her heading to a small place like Bo City seemed entirely out of place.

"Because Bo City may also be home to a group of Totem Guardians like us," Tang Yue said.

The moment those words left her mouth, something sparked in Mo Fan's mind.

*Xinxia had mentioned something like that — that the people of Bo City were descendants of guardians serving some ancient sovereign...* But what they guarded, if he recalled correctly, was the Earth Sacred Spring. What did the Earth Sacred Spring have to do with totems?

"Then what you're saying is that the disaster in Bo City wasn't the Black Church simply picking a random city to wreak havoc on?" Mo Fan felt as though he might be closing in on the real reason behind the Black Church's assault.

"We initially suspected they were after another totem that had been lost — but over time we came to realize they had entirely different motives... Unfortunately, I was taken off the investigation before I could pursue it further," Tang Yue said.