Chapter 1797: The Ruler

Signs of disturbance were beginning to emerge deep within the earth, often indicating the awakening of some life form hidden beneath the surface.

For someone with Xu Yang's extensive cultivation experience, the crisis hidden within such signs was impossible to miss.

Xu Yang's eyes suddenly sharpened. His footwork accelerated by several levels, and he instantly appeared beside Qing Ya, kicking the young girl, who lacked practical combat experience, dozens of meters away.

Qing Ya initially didn't understand, thinking Xu Yang was just bored and teasing her. Just as she was about to scold him, she noticed a massive, inexplicable bulge rising from the ground right where she had been standing.

Simultaneously, the terrifying aura emanating from the bulge, capable of decaying and withering life, greatly startled Qing Ya.

"What is that thing?"

No sooner had the girl spoken than the mysterious object buried beneath the earth suddenly emerged, revealing itself to be a massive snake head with reddish-brown skin.

While it was called a snake, its head was comparable in diameter to that of an ancient dragon.

Its entire head resembled a massive boulder. The biggest difference from an ordinary snake was that this enormous creature showed no sign of flicking its tongue.

However, the neck connecting this massive head was extremely thick, resembling the build of an ancient sky-devouring python.

But Xu Yang quickly noticed another detail: only its head and neck were above ground; its tail remained buried deep within the earth, out of sight.

Every part of it, from its head to its body scales, seemed to possess a terrifying attribute capable of devouring life force.

Moreover, every time this enormous creature exhaled a breath, that breath, when locking onto the three individuals' aura, would instantly devour all life force in its vicinity.

This instinctive ability to devour life force, even after Xu Yang witnessed it firsthand, left him deeply moved.

"I have to admit, the civilization of the Main Continent has indeed been continuously developing over time; it's just that the direction is wrong. However, the energy intensity nurtured within this entire civilization system is continuously increasing. Looking back at the Main Continent hundreds of thousands of years ago, when did such a bizarre and terrifying life form ever appear? Perhaps the existence of this creature alone is enough to classify this surrounding jungle as one of the Empire's three forbidden zones."

Xu Yang had such thoughts, but he didn't immediately attack to subdue the snake-headed monster. Instead, he wanted to continue observing to see if the creature had any other reactions.

As expected, the creature seemed in no hurry to kill Xu Yang and the other two. Instead, it looked at them as if they were toys, calmly scrutinizing them for a while.

"You three are truly strange, to dare to enter my territory and not yet be reduced to dry bones; it genuinely astounds me."

A creature capable of human speech was undoubtedly a terrifying beast that had lived for tens of thousands of years.

Xu Yang smiled and looked up at the enormous creature.

"To be honest, your existence also greatly surprises us. I've never seen a being of your strength possess this terrifying instinct to devour life before. But coincidentally enough, if there truly is a type of person in this world who can completely counter you in terms of attributes, then it would be the three of us."

The reason Xu Yang said this was naturally because he possessed the most powerful Ancient Tree of Life within him, capable of generating life force. Furthermore, after comprehending the Grand Dao of Life and Death, in his current realm, the Golden Light Tai Chi Totem within him never stopped operating.

As long as its operational rhythm wasn't disturbed, Xu Yang would possess eternal life force. Even if he stayed by this enormous creature's side for hundreds of thousands of years, it would absolutely be impossible for it to wither away Xu Yang's life. In other words, Xu Yang was the ultimate counter to this snake-headed monster.

Since the creature possessed such formidable strength, it naturally also came with extremely high intelligence and perception. It quickly noticed that as long as Xu Yang stood beside Qing Ya and Long Kun, the life force within them, which was tending towards decay, would rapidly recover. And Xu Yang himself, the life force he generated, would hardly diminish at all.

"It seems you must be an envoy sent by the Master; otherwise, there should be no one in this world with such powerful abilities as yours, capable of remaining alive in my presence."

When the words "the Master" came out of the enormous creature's mouth, Xu Yang immediately became excited. To be called "the Master" by such an epic monster, clearly, the person or force represented by these words must be closely related to the will of the Supreme God.

Xu Yang was incredibly clever. A thought suddenly struck him, and he decided to follow the clues to uncover more important information.

After a brief moment of thought, he spoke to the enormous creature with a half-smile.

"Since you already know my identity, you should be even more aware. Your actions in recent years have displeased the Master. He never issued any command for you to turn this place into a true death zone. I can tell that you are tormenting all surrounding life forms for your own amusement."

The snake-headed monster burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"If I didn't choose to take root opposite that damned fellow, I'm afraid there would be no place for me in the entire Ancient Martial God Realm."

Indeed, Xu Yang achieved his goal. From the snake-headed monster's words, Xu Yang quickly deduced that on the other side of this central passage—that mysterious area which was snow-covered during the day and had raging waters at night—there also existed an ancient beast almost identical to the snake-headed monster before him.

Very satisfied with this outcome, Xu Yang decided to continue using this method to extract more secrets from the creature.

"Now, I have another question for you. Do you know why the Master allowed you fierce creatures to live until now, what was his specific purpose?"

The snake-headed monster scoffed almost without thinking.

"We are merely meant to serve as the life vessels he envisioned. Because as long as species like us, blessed with unique life talents, continue to exist, then no one in this world will ever find the Master's true hiding place. He can continue to be the underground emperor of the Ancient Martial God Realm."

When the enormous creature revealed this secret, Long Kun and Qing Ya, standing nearby, instinctively showed expressions of shock and exchanged glances. Xu Yang, however, had undoubtedly already uncovered one of the most crucial attributes of the Supreme God's will.