Chapter 812: A Smile Gentle Enough to Kill

Chapter 812: Chapter 812: A Smile Gentle Enough to Kill

The Divine Dragon collapsed, its divine resonance scattering, its blessings overflowing.

Those who inherit its True Source bloodline gain innate power.

However, the True Source bloodline passed down from the Divine Dragon diminishes with each generation until it vanishes completely. Scholars have studied the cause for ages and tried countless methods, but the mystery remains unsolvable—irreversible.

Thus, all the mythical beasts that once wielded the inherited True Source bloodline thousands of years ago have vanished without a trace.

Even the Teng Snake itself, like Yunze, relies solely on the Divine Dragon’s blessings from Yunmeng Marsh to maintain its bloodline and survive.

But this is only a temporary fix. Currently, Yunze can still barely call itself a Teng Snake, but whether the next generation will remain one is known only to Heaven.

Perhaps the True Source bloodline is so overwhelmingly powerful that it simply doesn’t belong to the mortal realm—it cannot be replenished, only depleted.

Naturally, Yunze was tempted by Chu Xingchen’s proposal. First, Yun Li’s True Source bloodline was undeniably far purer than its own, and with the Divine Sea inheritance, Yun Li might just be some ancient artifact hidden away for millennia.

If there truly existed a method to maintain the completeness of the Teng Snake bloodline, that would be excellent.

Even if most of the benefits went to Yun Li, from Yunze’s perspective, it was still acceptable.

After all, if they didn’t divide it now, Yunze might not have the chance to divide it later.

Having a hot soup to drink is better than none. If the Teng Snake bloodline could be passed down one more generation, that would be good. If the method could be maintained long-term, it would be a huge profit.

Maintaining the Teng Snake bloodline was also a top priority for Yunmeng Marsh.

Yunmeng Marsh naturally leaned toward accepting first to see how things would develop, but after a moment of consideration, it suppressed all the excitement and desire in its heart.

"Since the senior is willing to discuss, I naturally understand your sincerity." Yunze bowed again, its tone humble. "However, this matter is of great importance. Please allow me a moment to think."

Regardless of what anyone said or whether they admitted it, Yunmeng Marsh was now under the protection of Yunmeng Pavilion.

Even if they could rely on Chu Xingchen’s prestige to agree on their own, they would likely have to pay a price for it in the future.

After all, Yunmeng Pavilion was not to be trifled with.

No matter how great the temptation, for the future survival of Yunmeng Marsh, they could not agree beforehand under any circumstances.

At least not until they found a suitable reason or obtained Yunmeng Pavilion’s approval.

Chu Xingchen smiled upon hearing this, showing no anger, and said calmly:

"Since it’s a discussion, of course you need time to think it over. If you decline, that’s perfectly reasonable."

Yunmeng Marsh felt a slight sense of relief upon hearing this. Whether it was just polite words or not, at least it sounded pleasant, and a smile appeared on its face:

"Thank you for your understanding, Senior..."

Before Yunmeng Marsh could finish speaking, a small demon maid hurried to the entrance, then prostrated herself before Yunmeng Marsh.

"Didn’t I say that today we are receiving an honored guest and everything else should be postponed?" Yunmeng Marsh frowned slightly, its tone still relatively gentle. "Postpone everything. Leave."

The small demon maid remained prostrated on the ground, trembling as she whispered repeatedly:

"Outside... someone claims to be Bai Xuanling..."

Yunmeng Marsh, about to rebuke the unperceptive maid, stopped abruptly, then turned its gaze toward Chu Xingchen.

Just moments ago, he had been so refined and said it was normal to take time to consider, but after only a few words of refusal, he had brought Bai Xuanling to kick down the door?

It seemed the good-cop-bad-cop routine had been planned long in advance.

Yunmeng Marsh lowered its eyes to hide the anger within. Chu Xingchen clearly intended to dominate it today—dominate all of Yunmeng Marsh.

Bai Xuanling’s arrival was likely not only targeting it but also the Yunmeng Pavilion elder present.

After all, with a living True Immortal sitting here, what could Yunmeng Pavilion do?

"Please come in." Yunmeng Marsh’s tone remained gentle. It adjusted its composure, then looking at Chu Xingchen’s slightly surprised expression, inwardly cursed his excellent acting before continuing, "Senior Bai is also here? Then we should receive you together. This makes it seem like Yunmeng Marsh doesn’t know proper etiquette."

"What if I didn’t know she was coming either? Would you believe me?"

"Please don’t tease me, Senior. Everyone in the world knows your relationship with Senior Bai is far from shallow."

The demon maid withdrew immediately upon receiving the order.

Chu Xingchen didn’t bother explaining further, instead gazing quietly toward the entrance. He understood that Bai Xuanling’s arrival likely meant she had something important to discuss with him face-to-face.

Yunmeng Marsh didn’t pursue the topic further, instead following Chu Xingchen’s gaze toward the entrance, feeling both nervous and curious.

What did the world’s only living True Immortal, the former "Living Yama" Bai Xuanling, actually look like? Was she grinning ferociously? What kind of presence did she truly have?

They didn’t wait long.

A woman in white casually stepped into the hall.

The woman’s expression was somewhat playful, her face showing little emotion, yet she carried an air of innate authority without anger. Her exquisite features went without saying, and she didn’t constantly emit pressure—instead, one couldn’t sense any pressure at all.

But when Yunmeng Marsh truly looked at Bai Xuanling, its heart trembled for a moment—Bai Xuanling’s eyes were like a still pond without the slightest ripple.

As a Teng Snake, seeking fortune and avoiding calamity was one of its instincts.

The instant Yunmeng Marsh saw Bai Xuanling’s eyes, its instinct to avoid calamity swept through its entire being, as if warning that one more glance would mean never needing to avoid anything ever again.

It hastily lowered its head.

Chu Xingchen rose from the seat of honor and said with some resignation:

"I guess you’re not here to deliver any good news, but please start with the less bad ones first."

Bai Xuanling’s lips curved into a smile at his words, but she didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her gaze to Yunmeng Marsh, studied it for a moment, and finally said with amusement:

"A true form that’s a Teng Snake? How rare. I apologize for the intrusion. I see I’ve somewhat frightened you, but as everyone knows, I’m a kind person, so there’s no need to be so tense."

Yunmeng Marsh had countless complaints in its heart, but only one phrase came to its lips:

"Thank you, Senior."

Bai Xuanling smiled and nodded, then turned to Chu Xingchen and continued:

"No good news at all. Let me start with the less terrible ones."

Chu Xingchen sighed softly upon hearing this.

A satisfied smile appeared on Bai Xuanling’s face as she said:

"Boluo already knows about our ability to monitor the movement of spirit veins."

Chu Xingchen nodded. "That’s within expectations..."

Bai Xuanling tossed a formation ritual diagram freshly recorded from her spatial ring to Chu Xingchen and said:

"Boluo has a ritual diagram we’ve never seen before. It can be driven by blood qi, with almost no spiritual energy fluctuations, making it hard to detect. Yet it has detection effects and can identify concealed auras at my level."

"You must prepare for the worst: they might not need any spirit veins at all. Just piling up blood qi could be enough to activate their so-called grand formation."

"If they intend to do this, gathering blood qi would mean mass slaughter in an instant."

"I don’t know if Boluo let me discover this on purpose, trying to provoke us into making the first move."

"Now, you need to have a plan."

Chu Xingchen smiled helplessly at his words:

"They’re truly like something stuck to the bottom of your shoe that you can’t shake off—always coming up with new tricks to disgust people."

Bai Xuanling raised an eyebrow slightly:

"Who says not? Do you have any fresh tricks to disgust them back?"

Chu Xingchen’s face showed a gentle smile.

Seeing this, a satisfied expression also appeared on Bai Xuanling’s face.

But when Yunmeng Marsh saw the expression on Chu Xingchen’s face, it couldn’t help but shiver.

The Teng Snake’s instinct for seeking fortune and avoiding calamity was telling it.

This gentle smile was somewhat deadly.