Awe in Every Direction!
The Totem Xuan Serpent was genuinely, breathtakingly powerful — the strongest creature Mo Fan had ever laid eyes on. Wing-Azure Wolves, Giant Lizard Pseudo-Dragons, Armored-Shell Giant Lizards, Marsh Poison Centipedes — before the Totem Xuan Serpent, they were all just small crawlers. If any of them could avoid being blasted apart by a single jet of venom, that alone would count as some measure of ability.
It was fortunate, too, that the Totem Xuan Serpent harbored no deep malice. Even after suffering at the hands of Councillors Zhu Meng and Luo Mian, even after enduring the condemnation of Hangzhou's citizens, it had held no lasting grudge. Had it chosen to turn against the city alongside the Silver Dome Lord, Hangzhou would likely have been reduced to rubble. The city's finest Mages couldn't overpower the Silver Dome Lord even working in concert — and the Silver Dome Lord had been beaten to this sorry state by the Totem Xuan Serpent alone. If the serpent truly set its mind to destruction, it would need no legion. One serpent was all it would take to bring heaven and earth crashing down.
**"SKRAAAAAAAAAH——!!!!!"**
The victorious Totem Xuan Serpent made no move to pursue the Silver Dome Lord. The creature had too many means of self-preservation; chasing it down would have accomplished nothing. Instead, the serpent simply raised its proud, sovereign head and let loose a roar that shook the sky and the earth for miles in every direction.
The sound carried impossibly far — not just westward, but in all directions at once: across vast forests, open plains, and sweeping river basins, the Totem Xuan Serpent's cry echoed on long after it left the serpent's throat.
It was a proclamation. On one hand, it announced that the Silver Dome Lord — overlord of Xi Ling — had been brought low. On the other, it declared to every Demon-Beast in every corner of the world: the Totem Xuan Serpent resided within this city. Any who dared set a single foot across its boundary would be annihilated without mercy.
In plain terms — Hangzhou now answered to the Totem Xuan Serpent.
A single guardian holding the pass against ten thousand — the sight brought to Mo Fan's mind the murals he had once seen on Mid-Lake Island.
Only after witnessing the Totem Xuan Serpent in its full fury could anyone truly grasp the depth of its power. It was like a deity, watching over this ancient, storied city with its beauty like a painting.
As the White Demon Eagle Legion and the Silver Dome Lord receded together over the horizon, the city's fearful, strung-out state of high alert was at last lifted.
Those sheltering within the safety isolation Barriers returned to their districts. Defenses at the Western Fortress were restored to normal, and a large number of Celestial Eagle Mages were recalled from other positions to provide comprehensive coverage, allowing Hangzhou to settle back into calm.
The greatest vulnerability in this battle had been the Celestial Eagles.
Xi Ling's overlords had never once crossed their own territorial boundaries before — which was precisely why the military had never thought to consider the possibility that the Celestial Eagles, who shared ancestry with the White Demon Eagles, might turn traitor. The Celestial Eagles were the military's most critical aerial combat force. Once they were neutralized, the airspace instantly became Demon-Beast territory, with nothing left to stop any Demon-Beast from bypassing the layers of barriers constructed on the ground below.
Fortunately, the Totem Xuan Serpent had turned the tide single-handedly, holding every threat outside the city's perimeter. Otherwise, the losses from this catastrophic strategic collapse would have been impossible to calculate.
Everyone gathered back at the Western Fortress. The departure of the White Demon Eagles had not made anyone lower their guard.
To the north of Xi Ling stretched a vast forest teeming with Demon-Beasts that had long been restless, biding their time. They might very well try to exploit the aftermath — which was why the end of one battle was no signal to relax. Defenses needed to be reinforced to prevent the lesser creatures from looting in the chaos.
"Strange," said Military Commandant Yun Feng, standing atop the fortress's highest watchtower with a puzzled frown. "In the past, those Demon-Beasts would always seize moments like this to strike and pressure our lines. Why are they being so well-behaved now? The White Demon Eagle Legion already broke the way open for them."
"I suspect the Totem Xuan Serpent's lingering might has something to do with it," Tang Zhong offered.
That proclamation roar had been no empty bluster. Not only had the surrounding Demon-Beast Clans dared not harbor a single wayward thought — even the other three fortresses, the Eastern, Southern, and Northern, reported with pleasant surprise that the Demon-Beast Tribes they had been monitoring had all withdrawn by dozens of kilometers.
Councillor Zhu Meng, his face still not fully recovered its color, let out a quiet sigh. His expression was difficult to read.
"Zhu Meng…" Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian started to speak.
Councillor Zhu Meng waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry. My Hidden Danger Strategy will no longer include the Totem Xuan Serpent. Whatever else may be said, it saved every one of us — it pulled back a strategic situation that might well have been beyond repair. If anything, I owe it my gratitude."
Even as the words left him, his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the Sky-Scraping Serpent coiled outside the Western Fortress walls.
As if it sensed his eyes upon it, the Totem Xuan Serpent stirred from its rest. It slowly extended its head in their direction, and without even drawing itself to full height, its enormous skull had already drawn level with the watchtower where they stood.
That vast head regarded everyone gathered there in silence. Then, without warning, the serpent opened its great maw — gaping wide as the mouth of a cave.
Councillor Zhu Meng's whiskers bristled. He tensed from head to toe, the radiance of magic already coalescing around him.
But the Totem Xuan Serpent simply regurgitated something from deep within its gullet.
The mass — coated in stomach acid and thoroughly unpleasant to look at — rolled to a stop at everyone's feet. Mo Fan pinched his nose and squinted at it, a vague sense of recognition stirring.
"That… looks like a person," Tang Zhong said, visibly taken aback.
The moment the words landed, fury surged across Councillor Zhu Meng's face. He jabbed a finger at the Totem Xuan Serpent. "Oh, is that so! You dare eat a person? Today, even if it costs me this old life, I will see you brought to justice!"
His bravado was impressive, to be sure — though he made no actual move to follow through on it. Small wonder: even at full strength he was no match for the Totem Xuan Serpent, let alone wounded as he was now.
Mo Fan caught the hair-trigger reaction and couldn't suppress a wry smile. "Relax. That's Councillor Luo Mian."
Everyone turned to look more closely at the acid-soaked mass in human shape — and then it moved. Vast stretches of his skin and flesh had been eaten away by the stomach acid, yet somehow he hadn't died. He dragged himself across the ground in obvious agony, his hands barely functional and yet clamped with desperate strength around Councillor Zhu Meng's leg.
To have fallen in an instant from a resplendent Councillor to a half-digested creature barely clinging to life — the contrast was stark enough to make the sight almost unbearable. But to Mo Fan, Lingling, and Leng Qing, this was nothing more than what he had brought upon himself.
"Oh, if it isn't Brother Luo Mian," Councillor Zhu Meng said, his smile cold. "Care to explain how the Spatial Bracelet we sent Wang Xiaojun ended up in your hands?"
Councillor Luo Mian pleaded without stopping. He groveled at Councillor Zhu Meng's feet for a long while, and when that produced nothing, he dragged himself desperately toward Tang Yue. He couldn't even form words — but he knew the Totem Xuan Serpent favored Tang Yue above all others. A single word from her, and he might yet survive this terrible serpent's judgment.
Tang Yue slowly crouched down beside him, heedless of the filth, and studied Councillor Luo Mian's acid-eaten face in silence. Just as everyone thought she might relent and spare his life after all, she reached out and cleanly stripped the Spatial Bracelet from his grasp. "The honor this bracelet represents," she said, her voice edged with contempt, "was paid for with lives that were never yours to spend. It was never yours to keep."