Chapter 1874: Dark Forces

If you hadn't later, by your own power, eradicated all the flower spirits in the Myriad Flower Forest, those two flower spirits tormenting me, wanting to save their companions, would have left the dream realm early and not bothered me. But when I slowly awoke from my deep sleep, I found that the entire Myriad Flower Forest had vanished into thin air."

Xu Yang listened to Little Mushroom recount her experiences of the past few days, nodding gently. Then, he reached out and affectionately stroked her small head.

"Alright," he said. "Although the process was a bit rough, being able to meet you is still a good thing. But now isn't the time for reminiscing. Let's see your Brother Long Kun deal with this ancient great serpent first."

No sooner had Xu Yang finished speaking than Little Mushroom suddenly bounced out of his embrace, positioning herself directly between Long Kun and the ancient great serpent.

"We're all on the same side here!" Little Mushroom exclaimed. "There must be some misunderstanding! Please, give Little Mushroom some face, and you two stop fighting!"

Indeed, hearing the little one speak, everyone, including Xu Yang, wore a stunned expression. In contrast, the ancient great serpent, also in human form, didn't seem too surprised by Little Mushroom's appearance.

"You little sprout," the serpent remarked, "when we parted a hundred years ago, you had only just unlocked your third talent. Now, in the blink of an eye, you've already transformed into human form."

Little Mushroom giggled and made a funny face at the ancient great serpent, who was also in human form before her.

"Uncle Serpent," Little Mushroom chirped, "Brother Xu Yang and the others aren't bad people. Without their help, Little Mushroom would probably be a dead mushroom by now!"

Indeed, the little one's sudden intervention managed to ease the tension. The ancient great serpent, especially, who had just assumed human form, no longer seemed to possess the overwhelming urge to conquer Long Kun on the spot.

"Fine," the serpent conceded. "Since they are your friends, there's no need for me to be their enemy. However, there's one thing I don't understand: my territory is filled with dense, poisonous mist. Why did you choose to enter my domain after just leaving the Labyrinth Mountains, instead of taking the clear path?"

In response to the ancient great serpent's question, Xu Yang subtly gestured to the Old Emperor beside him. Without further hesitation, the Emperor explained to the serpent how he had been sealed within the Labyrinth Mountains. To his surprise, after listening to the Old Emperor's explanation, the great serpent's eyes widened in shock!

"So, you're saying that the source of power I inadvertently absorbed back then was actually thanks to you?" the serpent exclaimed. "Without that fortunate encounter, Little Mushroom and I probably wouldn't have had the chance to awaken our human-soul physiques."

Seeing the confused expressions on Xu Yang and his companions' faces, the ancient great serpent pondered for a moment. Then, he directly projected a soul imprint, sharing the entire memory of how he had awakened his human-soul physique with Xu Yang and the other two.

Upon receiving this shared memory, Po Xiao looked at Xu Yang in utter astonishment.

"It seems your previous assessment of the dark forces' subsequent actions is now absolutely confirmed," he said. "With this ancient great serpent's memory imprint as proof, we can now almost certainly conclude that those martial artist disciples who follow the dark forces need to rely on a large number of martial artist corpses to extract the death-infused primordial energy generated within them. Because only this specific type of power can activate the unique marks that allow energy to circulate within their bodies."

Xu Yang nodded slightly. "Yes, that must be it. And these marks are the biggest difference between these disciples and true martial artists within the Divine Martial Dao realm. True martial artists believe in martial arts and in their own strength. But these disciples believe in the dark forces hidden in the shadows of the Divine Martial Dao region. Similarly, their method of acquiring power is completely different from that of true martial artists. What I need to do is uncover the true face of the dark forces' master lurking behind the scenes."

"If everything progresses according to my judgment, I believe it won't be long before we can obtain more useful intelligence and clues from that impostor in the Imperial Palace, which will help us gradually expose the true conspiracy of the dark forces."

With this confirmation from the ancient great serpent, Xu Yang's confidence in his own judgment grew stronger. At the same time, he extended an invitation to join his team to the ancient great serpent before him.

"Since you and Little Mushroom are friends, and she's now insistent on joining my team, I wonder if you, ancient great serpent, would be interested in joining us as well?" Xu Yang asked. "I can see that your talents are equally astounding, far more than simply releasing poison-element attributes."

Xu Yang's gaze was filled with an incredibly sharp and penetrating power, creating an ineffable spiritual shock for the ancient great serpent it fell upon. The serpent, in turn, could clearly sense the formidable suppressive force emanating from Xu Yang.

"Following you might be acceptable," the serpent replied, "but compared to being the local deity in this place, I don't know what kind of improvements I could gain by joining your group."

In essence, the ancient great serpent was merely asking for benefits from Xu Yang, as it had no interest in being a free enforcer. This was something Xu Yang had already anticipated.

A faint smile touched Xu Yang's lips as his gentle gaze once again settled on the ancient great serpent.

"You don't need to have concerns in that regard," Xu Yang assured him. "I never mistreat anyone who follows me. More importantly, you know exactly where the power to awaken your human soul came from, and this time, as we return to the Imperial Palace to expose the impostor emperor, we will naturally be dealing with many more disciples of the dark forces. What you need to do now is more like placing a bet on your future. You could choose to remain in this exclusive jungle and live out your days peacefully, slowly accumulating your power, hoping to reach a stronger realm one day. However, looking at your talent, your current power level is almost certainly your limit. Of course, joining my team comes with certain risks. But if you're fortunate enough to survive until the truth is revealed, I can guarantee that the resources you'll gain will be incomparable to anything other life forms of your kind could ever hope for. From my assessment, both you and Little Mushroom have now truly transformed into human form. As long as you possess enough talent going forward to help you rapidly increase your strength, one day you too can become true Martial God-level experts."

As Xu Yang finished speaking, Po Xiao, standing nearby, silently demonstrated his powerful Grand Completion Realm strength without further words.