Chapter 81: Devouring and Embracing

……

A few days later, Lake Heart Island.

In order to protect the Black Snake, which had entered its Molting Period, Tang Yue brought Lv Cheng to her village and explained the matters regarding the Totem to him in detail.

Originally, she had not intended to let Lv Cheng help, because the Black Snake during its Molting Period is extremely sensitive and would harbor intense hostility toward any powerful person or creature that approached.

However, after what happened by the lake, the Black Snake's attitude toward Lv Cheng was also very strange; after thinking it over, Tang Yue decided to bring Lv Cheng along anyway.

"Ah Cheng, what did you say to the big guy that day?" Tang Yue asked curiously.

Although she could make contact with the Black Snake and achieve a certain level of communication, she could not communicate with it directly like a Mind Element Mage.

"It asked me what kind of thing I am," Lv Cheng said.

Monsters can sense his aura as a dragon, and Totem Beasts can too, though only when the distance is very close.

At the time, the Black Snake was actually attracted by the Parthenon Soul within Ye Xinxia, but after appearing, it discovered him—this strange existence.

Neither human nor dragon.

"What kind of thing?" Tang Yue was stunned.

"Could it be... you aren't human?"

Come to think of it, Lv Cheng was indeed very off; back in Bo City, she had felt that this guy's aura was very strange. Because she had been in contact with the Black Snake since she was young, she was quite sensitive to certain special existences, so her curiosity about Lv Cheng was very heavy.

When facing monsters, she had seen more than once those Servant-class monsters turn tail and run the moment they saw Lv Cheng!

Before, she had always thought those monsters were afraid of the sub-dragon on Lv Cheng, but after seeing it many times, she changed her mind.

Powerful monsters do indeed possess a certain degree of deterrence toward weak monsters, but that only happens when the powerful monster actively releases its aura.

Yet Lv Cheng's sub-dragon usually didn't even make ordinary people feel a shred of threat.

Therefore, what those monsters feared was definitely not that sub-dragon.

"What, are you scared?" Lv Cheng said.

"Scared of what?" Tang Yue smiled.

"Scared that you'll eat me?"

"I came here specifically to eat you this time." Lv Cheng raised his right hand, and a dark purple mist surged.

As the black mist dissipated, Lv Cheng's original human arm transformed into a thick, sturdy claw covered in black scales.

Tang Yue's face revealed curiosity, and she couldn't help but reach out to touch it, "You really aren't human, are you?"

This was no illusion!

It was real!

"What kind of claw is this?" Tang Yue asked in confusion.

The scales of different monsters are different; she often touched the snake's scales, and she had also touched the sub-dragon Lv Cheng had.

However, this was the first time she had touched the kind of scales on Lv Cheng's hand now, and the texture was very different.

"A dragon's," Lv Cheng said.

"A dragon?" Tang Yue was stunned.

"Could it be... you are the legendary little dragon-man?"

"Where are the horns on your head? The tail behind you? Hidden away?"

As she spoke, Tang Yue reached toward Lv Cheng's back with a curious look on her face.

"Stop!" The corner of Lv Cheng's eye twitched wildly.

He had thought Tang Yue wouldn't be afraid, after all, she was someone who frequently interacted with creatures like the Black Snake from a young age, but what the hell was this look of treating him like a novel animal?

Also, what is your hand doing?

You hooligan!

Three Pools Mirroring the Moon.

Following the arrival of Lv Cheng and Tang Yue, the calm lake surface suddenly rippled, and clusters of greenish-black mist appeared out of thin air, gradually condensing until they finally transformed into a massive black figure.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss~~~"

A low, soul-shaking roar sounded from the bottom of the lake, and a massive snake head slowly rose from the depths, leaning toward the shore.

"Big guy, I brought him to see you." Tang Yue happily leaned in and gently stroked the Black Snake's head.

"Hello," Lv Cheng raised a hand to greet it.

"Are you... a dragon?" the Black Snake asked in confusion.

The aura was similar, but something was very wrong.

"Something like that," Lv Cheng nodded.

"Are you... a Fire Dragon?" the Black Snake asked.

"Yes." Lv Cheng's gaze sharpened; the fire elemental energy within his body surged, and the black dragon scales gradually heated up, transforming into crimson scale armor.

"Red?" Tang Yue was stunned.

"Your dragon scales can even change color? You wouldn't happen to be a chameleon, would you?"

The corner of Lv Cheng's eye twitched, "Can you not say such low-level things?"

A Demon is an abstract yet concrete existence; before maturing, its form is not fixed.

And his situation was relatively special; he was not a normally born dragon. His body and soul did not become a dragon at the same time; it was the change in his soul that drove the transformation of his body.

The color of his dragon scales was not fixed. Under normal circumstances, the Dark Energy in his body was dominant, so the scale color was black. When he actively raised a certain elemental energy, the scale color would change along with the attribute of the power.

"In other words, your scales are actually... transparent?" Tang Yue's face looked strange.

"Not transparent." Lv Cheng changed the dragon scales back to black.

"Look closely."

Tang Yue leaned in, focusing her attention.

At first glance, it was black.

At a second glance, it was still black.

At a third glance, it was still...

"Hmm?" Tang Yue looked bewildered, unable to help but rub her eyes.

How did she just see several different colors?

"This..."

"You didn't see wrong," Lv Cheng said.

"This is not black."

"Then what is it?" Tang Yue asked, puzzled.

Several colors were flashing back and forth!

"It is darkness," Lv Cheng said.

A Demon is Yin, and the essence of Demon Qi is darkness.

Darkness will devour everything; likewise, it can also contain everything.

He possesses the power of the Tiger Talisman, so even if powers of different attributes enter his body, they can exist stably, whereas other Demons, if they absorbed different powers, would have their own Demon Qi devour these foreign elements and assimilate them.

Beep beep!

Just as Tang Yue wanted to ask more, both of their phones rang simultaneously.

"Hello?"

"..."

"Absurd!!"

Magic Association Building.

Upon receiving the news, Lv Cheng and Tang Yue hurried over.

Because the appearance of the Black Snake a few days ago was accompanied by two unrecognizable corpses suffering from poison-attribute corrosion, and furthermore, within just a few days, an unknown infectious disease had appeared by West Lake.

Therefore, Zhu Meng, who had come over from the Magic Palace to handle this matter, reasonably associated the culprit of this epidemic with the Black Snake and was currently pressuring the people of the Lingyin Judgment Court to hand over the Black Snake.

"I didn't come here from the Magic Palace to negotiate with you! Hurry up and hand over the Totem Snake! Stop shielding it!"

Inside the conference hall, Zhu Meng was throwing a tantrum, arguing back and forth with the local Councilors of Hangzhou and the leaders of the Judgment Court.

"Yo! Arguing again?" Lv Cheng's voice rang out abruptly, interrupting Zhu Meng's passionate confrontation.

Hearing Lv Cheng's voice, Zhu Meng turned his head, "Didn't I already say yesterday that we were meeting today? Why are you only arriving now?"

As an eyewitness to the appearance of the Totem Snake who had also controlled the chaos it caused at the time, having Lv Cheng come forward to participate in this matter would greatly increase its persuasiveness.

"Forgot," Lv Cheng shrugged.

"If you hadn't called me, I really would have forgotten."

Saying this, Lv Cheng walked to the only remaining empty seat at the large round table and sat down.

Seeing this, the judges in the conference room all revealed looks of surprise.

They had thought this empty seat was reserved for some big shot; how could this... whose spoiled brat is this?

"You were involved in the Totem Snake incident, you have a responsibility to cooperate with this work!" Zhu Meng said in a deep voice.

Lv Cheng had recently captured a member of the Black Vatican in the Imperial Capital, and a Blue Deacon at that; now that this guy's reputation in the Imperial Capital Judgment Court and the Magic Palace was leaning positive, he had no choice but to adopt a better attitude.

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll cooperate. A dignified Honorary Judge and Honorary Councilor, having just uprooted a Black Vatican den, didn't even have time to rest before being ordered around by Grand Councilor Zhu Meng in the blink of an eye, without even overtime pay. My life is just..."

After complaining, Lv Cheng picked up the tea on the table and took a sip.

"Where were we?"

Looking at Lv Cheng's leisurely appearance, Zhu Meng really wanted to argue with him, but thinking of his own crushing defeat at the Magic Palace earlier, he held it back.

He couldn't win the argument!

(End of chapter)