# 435
Chapter 435 – Ten Thousand Serpents
Click!
Sensing the change in light, the entire Baili Main Tower automatically switched to night mode. Bright lamps flared, pushing back a corner of the darkness—only to explode the next instant.
It was as if an invisible hand in the dark crushed every source of light. The brilliantly lit tower plunged back into total blackness.
Darkness now ruled the world.
From that darkness, Lin Qiye walked forward, twin straight blades in his hands, dressed in a black suit.
His realm soared.
Peak River, Sea, peak Sea, Boundless, peak Boundless…
It stopped half a step from Klein.
Peak Boundless, half-step Klein.
Back on Jin-Nan Mountain, when he’d faced the Flame-Vein Earth Dragon, he’d jumped from Pond to peak Sea by hosting a soul. Now that his own cultivation had reached River, his upper limit had risen again.
Starry motes drifted off his body; he seemed a different person, every gesture radiating imperial majesty.
An Qingyu and Jialan gaped in shock.
Only the mad Cao Yuan kept giggling.
“Pressure of the Night Goddess… how is he doing that?” Baili Xin frowned at Lin Qiye’s approach, surprise finally showing on his face.
Twelve Forbidden Artifact Envoys stood motionless before the dais, their eyes grave.
The situation had slipped beyond their expectations.
“Looks like your secrets run deeper than we thought.” Baili Xin’s expression cooled. “But if you believe this alone can oppose the Baili family, you’re naïve.”
Whoosh—!!
The twelve envoys struck together; a dizzying barrage shot toward Lin Qiye in the heart of the night.
“Really…” Lin Qiye’s eyes narrowed. “Then how about this?”
His fingertip hooked. A brilliant summoning array bloomed in front of him.
A black chest thudded to the floor—one of the three “Wrath of the Evil God” boxes seized from the Church of the Ancient Gods.
The instant it appeared, Baili Xin sensed something wrong. Decades immersed in forbidden artifacts let him feel the cold, sinister power within.
“Wait—” His face changed; he started to speak, but Lin Qiye had already slapped the lid.
Bang—!
The cover弹射ed open. Inside lay an ancient, eerie black snakeskin—only four or five meters long, coiled like a rotting rope, its surface etched with cryptic patterns.
The moment the lid opened, a putrid stench flooded the hall.
All twelve envoys wrinkled their noses, covering them instinctively.
Hiss—hiss—
Clear tongue-flicking echoed. Then the withered snakeskin moved: it lifted its desiccated head, bit its own tail, and formed an ouroboros.
Hiss-hiss-hiss…
More hisses followed. One black pattern on the skin writhed free, ballooned in the air, and in seconds became a two-meter-thick monstrous python that roared forward.
A second, a third… every line on the skin became a python, squeezing outward. The chest burst apart in moments, scattering as debris.
The tail-biting skin lay on the floor like a black hole; endless serpents poured out.
Within seconds the entire floor became a sea of pythons.
Lin Qiye’s expression shifted; he vanished in a wisp of night, reappearing elsewhere as the spot he’d stood was swallowed by writhing scales.
“What the hell is this thing?!”
Baili Xin watched the endless stream, face dark.
Pythons flooded the level, surging toward the central dais, gnawing every load-bearing column—cracks webbing the stone. Others crawled along rebar toward lower floors.
A serpent catastrophe was spreading through the tower.
“Clear the snakes first—stop the spread!” The envoys switched targets, attacking the pythons.
But their scales were unbelievably hard—even Sea-realm blows barely pierced them. With such numbers, the envoys’ progress slowed to a crawl.
Lin Qiye flickered, using Night Flash to appear above the dais. Darkness poured like ink over the Wall of Sighs; invisible stone corroded into pits. His straight blade stabbed through, cold light reflecting on Baili Xin and his son Baili Jing. The younger’s face turned ashen.
“Lin Qiye, do you even know what you’re doing?!” Baili Xin growled.
“I do,” Lin Qiye answered flatly. “Avenging my brother.”
Baili Xin snorted, gripping empty air. A dazzling golden spear materialized.
The instant it appeared, Lin Qiye’s pupils shrank; he vanished.
Whoosh—!
Boom—!!!
A thick golden beam pierced the heavy floor, shot through the roof, and lanced into the night sky.
“Ultra-high-risk offensive forbidden artifact…” Lin Qiye murmured, eyes narrowed. Even half-step Klein with Nyx’s soul, he dared not take that hit head-on.
Beneath the gaping hole, Baili Xin levitated, golden spear in hand, gaze icy.
“Leo, Aries, Virgo.”
“Here!” Three envoys answered.
“Ignore the snakes—kill him first.”
“Yes!”
Among the twelve, one Klein and two Boundless tore free of the serpent tide, becoming three streaks of light.
Aries raised a ram’s horn glowing red. He pointed; a crimson ray pierced space and Lin Qiye’s shoulder—
The struck figure faded—only an after-image.
“Perfect!” Lin Qiye roared. The darkness around him came alive, crashing like a tsunami toward the three.