Chapter 334: Human-Faced Green Snake

Elemental energy surged madly, churning the surrounding air. The wind howled as the green snake's body turned visibly transparent and ethereal. However, the human face patterned atop its head became increasingly solid and bizarre, spreading an eerie, ominous aura in all directions.

Through the White Dragon Lord's Elemental Vision, the elemental energy inside the green snake converged toward the top of its head. This caused a sharp decrease in the elemental energy throughout the rest of its body, rendering it unable to maintain its physical form.

Seeing so much elemental energy pouring into a single spot, the White Dragon Lord understood that the green snake was preparing to unleash its ultimate move!

The White Dragon Lord's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He had a premonition that the green snake's next attack would not be easy to withstand.

"Overgrown worm, I'm done playing with you!"

Since it would be hard to block, he simply had to strike the enemy down first. Who didn't have a trump card up their sleeve?

Low, mysterious incantations echoed through the air—a sound of the soul far more eerie than the ominous aura exuded by the green snake.

Although it did not know what the White Dragon Lord was attempting to do, the green snake instinctively sensed the approaching crisis. It accelerated the gathering of its elemental energy, and the human face on its head grew brighter and brighter.

But the White Dragon Lord completed his magic first.

Soul-Breaking Needle!

A needle formed entirely of soul power silently cut through the sky. It left no traces or signs, not even causing a ripple in the air, for this was Soul Magic—one of the three most bizarre types of magic in the multiverse.

By the time the green snake realized it, a piercing pain like a knife pressed against its forehead had already struck. It was too late to dodge. The Soul-Breaking Needle pierced directly into the medium housing the green snake's divided soul.

In some unknown plane, an incomparably massive green snake coiled around the peak of a solitary, cloud-piercing mountain, its posture resembling a dragon winding around a pillar.

Unlike an auspicious dragon, however, the green snake bore a pale human face on the top of its head. Its enormous body exuded an ominous, ghastly green toxic gas. Within a radius of a thousand li, the vegetation was lush, yet insects and birds were entirely absent.

Suddenly, the tightly shut eyes of the human face atop the green snake's head snapped open. It let out a miserable shriek that sounded like a baby's cry. Intense agony flared from the depths of its soul, and the green snake violently constricted the mountain peak it was coiled around.

Rumble! Crash!

Massive boulders broke off and tumbled down, crashing into the toxic, miasma-filled primeval forest below. The green snake's suffering was far from over; its enormous body thrashed violently upon the mountain peak.

With a deafening crack, the ancient, enduring summit of the solitary peak was snapped by the green snake's sheer physical strength. The snake's agonized, contorted body plummeted along with the broken mountain pillar, slamming ruthlessly into the forest below.

Yet, even after falling from such a height, the scales on the green snake's body showed not the slightest hint of damage. The gigantic serpent rolled in agony through the toxic miasma, reducing the dense woodland to an absolute mess.

Hearing the green snake's wretched cries, various animals in the distance fled back to their burrows in terror, shivering deep within their caves.

Meanwhile, inside the Colosseum, the green snake's massive elemental body collapsed and dissipated, leaving only a half-human, half-snake divine idol in free fall.

The victor had been decided. The Colosseum began to blur. The White Dragon Lord quickly used Mage Hand to catch the falling idol.

Opening his eyes again, the White Dragon Lord found himself back in the sky above Puji City.

The only difference was the small idol now resting in the White Dragon Lord's hand. Stowing the idol away, he looked down at Puji City below.

In the brief one minute between the green snake's descent and the White Dragon Lord's arrival, nearly a third of Puji City had been devastated. Swaths of houses had collapsed, and traces of flames and Rainstorm spells marred the landscape everywhere.

Survivors called out their loved ones' names across the ruins. The city authorities organized personnel to rescue buried citizens, and people continuously carried stretchers toward the tents being erected outside the city.

The White Dragon Lord's hearing was extremely sharp. The crying of children, the sobbing of women, the shouting of men, and the agonized wails of the wounded all converged into a single cacophony in his ears.

"Damned overgrown worm!"

The White Dragon Lord could not help but curse the chief culprit responsible for all of this.

Then, recalling that the green snake had already received its deserved punishment, he felt a bit better.

The principle of divine descent involved detaching a portion of the soul from the main body and sending it to the plane where the believers were calling. This soul fragment then served as a foundation to condense elemental energy and form combat power. The larger the descending soul fragment, the more elemental energy it could gather, and the stronger the resulting combat power.

Generally speaking, very few possessed methods to target the soul directly. Therefore, descending souls were usually safe. However, the green snake never expected its luck to be so profoundly terrible as to encounter an entity who researched Soul Magic.

Injuries caused by Soul Magic were catastrophic for any existence. No matter how tough a creature's external skin or scales might be, its internal organs were inevitably fragile. The same applied to a soul stripped of its protective shell.

Being struck by the Soul-Breaking Needle was equivalent to having one's internal organs pierced by a physical needle. Unbearable agony was only the baseline; the most terrifying aspect was that injuries inflicted by Soul Magic were exceedingly difficult to heal and could leave severe lingering aftereffects.

The White Dragon Lord estimated that unless the green snake possessed some special means, it would take at least a hundred years for the injury to heal naturally. This lesson would definitely leave a deep impression.

Down below, a Harpy with blood-red wings spotted the White Dragon Lord in the sky and flew upward.

"Puji City's High Tier police chief, Malu Bloodfeather, greets Your Majesty."

Since it was difficult to properly salute in midair, the Harpy simply gave a slight bow.

Given the special circumstances, the White Dragon Lord did not mind such trivial details.

"How are the casualties?"

"Not optimistic. The evil god appeared right in the middle of the night when all the residents were fast asleep in their homes. Right now..."

Malu Bloodfeather did not finish her sentence, but the White Dragon Lord understood exactly what she meant.

Without further words, the White Dragon Lord summoned a group of High Tier Ice Elementals and ordered them to join the rescue efforts. With the immensely strong Ice Elementals participating, the rescue operation became much simpler. Ruins were continuously lifted, allowing people to go in and save the trapped wounded.

Before long, powerhouses hurrying over from other areas arrived at the disaster site and joined the rescue operation as well. The White Dragon Lord left the Ice Elementals behind and teleported back to the White Tower.

After returning to the White Tower, the White Dragon Lord took out the sole spoils of this trip—the half-human, half-snake idol.

He held the idol in his hand and observed it carefully. The idol was carved so vividly and with such meticulous detail that the sculptor was absolutely at the Master level and had put in an immense amount of effort. The only flaw in its perfection was the crack on its head.

Such exquisite carving indicated that the green snake possessed a certain degree of influence in the Nordhill Plane. Without solid craftsmanship, the sincere devotion of believers alone could not produce such a magnificent statue.

Furthermore, the White Dragon Lord sensed a faint, peculiar energy lingering around the idol. This was the power of faith generated by believers praying to it.

Given its formidable strength and this genuine power of faith, the White Dragon Lord reached a conclusion: the green snake was a Demigod preparing for deification.

This complicated matters. The Gods despised false deities who stole faith; upon discovery, they would immediately send forces to execute them. However, toward a Demigod actively competing for a divine seat, they maintained a watchful or cautious stance. They might even extend an olive branch, inviting the other party to become their subordinate deity, or establish some kind of transaction.

The White Dragon Lord pondered how to trip up the green snake. Since they had already become mortal enemies, he would be more than happy to sabotage it again—preferably to death, so it could never recover for all eternity.

After mulling it over, the White Dragon Lord decided to start with its divine portfolio. Due to conflicting or overlapping domains, certain deities were born nemeses—such as the god of healing and the god of plagues, or the god of plagues and the god of diseases.

By examining a deity's doctrines, one could accurately deduce the direction of their divine portfolio and their style of conduct.

Once he uncovered the doctrines of the Church of the Green Serpent, he could find and notify a conflicting deity's church. Then, the White Dragon Lord would not even need to lift a finger; the green snake would be swamped with trouble. He would also earn a modest favor from another deity. No matter how he calculated it, this was a profitable deal.

The White Dragon Lord turned his head and glanced at the night sky outside the window.

Forget it, he would deal with this after daybreak.

The White Dragon Lord resumed his unfinished experiments. Once immersed in magic, he completely lost track of time.

Two days later, only when he retrieved the collected toxic gas from his spatial container did he finally remember his scheme against the green snake.

The White Dragon Lord immediately teleported to the main hall of the White Castle, coiled up on the throne, and summoned Hobbes to see him.

He did not have to wait long before Hobbes arrived at the White Tower's hall.

"I offer you my highest respect, benevolent King."

The White Dragon Lord raised an eyebrow. Needless to say, Hobbes was referring to the rescue operation in Puji City.

"Save the flattery and get straight to business. How is the situation being handled?"

Hobbes, already a seasoned official, did not blush or miss a beat. Standing straight, he adjusted his formal attire, which had gotten slightly wrinkled during his hurried journey.

"To answer Your Majesty, the matter has been investigated thoroughly. Due to the holiday breaks, the prison system was overly lax, and the jailers failed to inspect the items carried by a prisoner. This allowed the prisoner to conduct a summoning ritual in their cell in the middle of the night, which brought forth the otherworldly evil god and caused this severe disaster. The personnel involved have already been severely punished according to the law."

"This incident resulted in the collapse of 520 houses, 824 deaths, over 2,200 injuries, and damage to multiple other buildings."

Displeased, the White Dragon Lord snorted out two streams of white mist. Because of a few individuals' negligence, three thousand casualties had occurred.

Seeing that the White Dragon Lord was in a foul mood, Hobbes hurriedly reported two pieces of good news.

"The God of Justice and Light dispatched two teams of clerics to Puji City to provide free medical healing. Combined with the personnel from other major temples, Puji City currently has ample medical resources. The White Castle has also emergency-dropped a batch of marching tents, winter coats, and a large amount of food..."

The White Dragon Lord's expression softened slightly.

"Well done. What did the Kingdom of Pavlan say?"

"The Kingdom of Pavlan wrote back to thank the Yafiavi Kingdom for the warning. However, that evil god's church must have caught wind of the news and gone underground. So far, they have only caught a few small fry and some deluded commoners."

"Write back and tell the King of Pavlan that due to the attack on Puji City, the White Castle will intervene in this matter. We will dispatch personnel to join forces with the Kingdom of Pavlan in investigating this."

"Understood!"

Hobbes exited the main hall, leaving the White Dragon Lord alone to think.

Who should he send?

The White Dragon Lord suddenly realized that when it came to fighting, he had quite a few Legendary Rank powerhouses under his command. But when it came to finding someone who could both fight and handle administrative matters, there were very few. Gurgalu counted as one, and Willy counted as another. Other than those two, there was no one else.

After thinking it over, the White Dragon Lord decided to send Willy. Having suffered a heavy blow in Puji City, the green snake would definitely act with much more caution and would not dare to descend so easily again. Even when a deity personally descended, their projection only possessed Legendary Rank strength, so it stood to reason that the Church of the Green Serpent would not have any truly formidable experts either.

This task posed no real danger, making it the perfect opportunity for Willy to gain some experience.

Hmmm... Just to be on the safe side, he would have him take Hogg Riverclaw along. The gnoll had just complained last time that his bones were about to rust.

With the matter decided, the White Dragon Lord summoned Willy and Hogg.

Willy lived inside the White Castle, so he arrived a step ahead of Hogg.

"Brother, you were looking for me?"

"Yes. You know all about the Puji City incident this time, right?"

Willy nodded.

"Mhm. An otherworldly evil god descended, and you drove it away, Brother."

"I only drove away the evil god's projection. The true body is still hiding in some unknown plane. Because it suffered a huge loss in Puji City this time, there is no possibility of reconciliation between us. Therefore, I have decided to uproot its faith in the Nordhill Plane entirely."

The White Dragon Lord lifted his head from the throne, staring deeply into Willy's eyes.

"I have decided to entrust this mission to you. Can you do it?"

Willy looked rather excited.

"I can't guarantee anything, but I will absolutely give it my all!"

A smile played on the corners of the White Dragon Lord's mouth as he gave a slight nod.

"Very well. Then heed my command, Willy Aldrich."

Willy stood tall and straight.

"In the name of the King of Yafiavi, I appoint you as the kingdom's ambassador. You will head to the Kingdom of Pavlan and take full charge of handling the matters concerning the evil god's church."

"Understood!"

The gnoll, Hogg Riverclaw, happened to walk in and see this scene, feeling somewhat puzzled.

What kind of act were these two brothers putting on?

Others might not know, but as one of the White Dragon Lord's most trusted, favored, and earliest followers, Hogg Riverclaw fully understood the relationship between the four dragons.

In the eyes of outsiders, the White Dragon Lord was the King of Yafiavi, but in the eyes of the other three dragons, he was still the same older brother as before. This could easily be seen by how the other three dragons' attitude toward him had never changed.

Blood brothers could ignore red tape and formalities, but as a follower, Hogg could not.

"My respects to you, esteemed Master!"

"Hogg, Willy is taking up the post of kingdom ambassador to travel to the mainland and investigate the evil god's church incident. You will assist him on the side."

"Understood!"

"Your primary task this time is to figure out the doctrines of this evil god's church. It would be best if you could acquire a complete physical copy. Your ultimate mission is to eradicate everything related to the evil god's church in Nordhill."

"Understood!" they both replied in unison.

Willy and Hogg departed together. The White Dragon Lord returned to the White Tower to study the evil god's toxic gas he had just brought out. For snake kin, poison was undoubtedly a crucial weapon. If the White Dragon Lord could neutralize the green snake's venom, he would be able to completely ignore one of his opponent's major trump cards.

In another plane.

Within a forest permeated by pale green toxic mist, the Human-Faced Green Snake lay among the trees, crushing a massive swath of timber beneath its body.

Suddenly, the human face atop the green snake's head opened its eyes. It had received a message sent by its believers in Nordhill, which included intelligence on the White Dragon Lord.

The piercing pain radiating from the wound in its soul scorched the Human-Faced Green Snake's heart, which was burning with a thirst for vengeance.

"Amos!!!"

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