Chapter 305

"Cluck, cluck, cluck-cluck!"

Looking at the hen held in Senior Tang Mu's arms, stretching its head to excitedly peck at the "earthworm," and then looking up at the huge chicken beak that tore through the clouds again and again, pecking the snake priest until it retreated again and again, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but shake his head slightly, a daze like a lifetime ago appearing in his eyes.

What the hell... is going on?

"This is a chicken I bought outside before, just from the stall that sold fish and manors when we first entered."

"In the miniature manor he sold, there was a small chicken coop behind the kitchen, where dozens of hens were raised for eggs, which happened to be suitable for dealing with these snake spirit believers, so I took it and used it."

After glancing at Hearing Li Ang beside him, whose soul and body were somewhat separated and still hadn't completely broken free from the Snake Spirit secret shrine, the lazy young man explained:

"That snake spirit's secret shrine is actually a snake egg. The narrow tunnel we passed through before entering the secret shrine is equivalent to passing through its reproductive tract, undergoing a simple gestation, so the soul will be temporarily 'hatched' into a snake."

"As for the effect of that snake egg secret shrine, it is roughly equivalent to magnifying our souls while extremely shrinking our bodies, then swapping the positions of our souls and bodies, turning us from people with snake souls into snakes with human souls."

"..."

"Didn't understand?"

After looking at Hearing Li Ang's still somewhat dazed face, Senior Tang Mu thought for a moment, then made an analogy:

"This is like the difference between an infant and an adult. Adults perceive the world mainly through their physical eyes, and then through thinking and cognition; it is body first, then soul. But an unborn infant has not yet been born, and the body does not truly exist, so it is soul first, then body."

"So, we who entered the snake egg secret shrine are equivalent to becoming unborn young snakes, from body before soul to soul before body. The priority of body and soul is swapped, roughly equivalent to becoming a snake with a human soul."

When he said this, the lazy young man paused slightly, then took out half a bag of unused table salt, shook it in front of Hearing Li Ang, and reminded him:

"Remember? I performed three sets of secret rituals in advance before entering the door. The second set, composed of five metals, was used to steal money from the cat spirit, while the first set, composed of mercury, sulfur, and table salt, was used to control the soul and body."

"These three materials represent the soul, the body, and the bridge between the two, which happens to be able to resist the effect of the snake egg secret shrine. As long as I lock the ratio between the three in advance, I won't be affected by the effect of the snake egg secret shrine."

"..."

In Hearing Li Ang's silence, Senior Tang Mu continued to explain:

"In this way, although I cannot directly interfere with the situation inside the ritual, the body won't be infinitely shrunk, but your bodies were suppressed by the secret shrine. So as long as I find a chicken and send it in, it's enough to kill that priest."

"The only thing that was a bit troublesome was the three-headed snake crown bestowed by the snake spirit. But you attracted his attention from the front, so I found a way to invite three Holy Spirits whose true bodies feed on snakes, simulated their marks with some materials, and forcibly dismantled that snake crown."

"After losing the life-saving snake crown, that priest, whose body was suppressed to the limit by the secret shrine and whose soul strength was also suppressed by me, became unable to beat even a chicken... understand now?"

"..."

Roughly understand... right?

Hearing Li Ang, who couldn't say he was confused but could only say he understood six out of seven orifices, nodded stiffly, then asked:

"Senior Tang Mu, are these... uh... secret rituals your main combat method?"

"More or less..."

The lazy young man nodded when he heard this, thought for a moment, and then shook his head:

"But rather than a combat method, it's better to say it's my way of 'doing things.' I don't fight."

"Unlike you, my core anomalous item is quite special, allowing me to combine more closely with the world and strengthen the effects of these mystical rituals, but it has almost no direct damage or defensive capabilities."

"So if it's that kind of 'encounter battle,' Auntie Ai Ma could easily kill ten thousand of me, but if it's a situation where the enemy is in the light and I am in the dark, she probably wouldn't have the chance to see my face."

"..."

Got it, an old silver coin with strange and weird methods.

After defining the lazy young man in his heart, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Senior Tang Mu, before entering the ***, you prepared a total of three rituals. What was the third ritual for? Was it to deal with that snake spirit?"

"No."

The lazy young man shook his head:

"The snake spirit is easier to handle. As long as you can fill the position and become a priest, and successfully trick it back, it's quite easy for me to kill it in a situation where I have a plan and it doesn't. However... um... wait!"

Looking at the ball python that was stepped on by the hen and then pecked on the head, Senior Tang Mu hurriedly urged:

"He's almost finished. You go around from the direction of the chicken butt, get ready to coil on the snake spirit statue at any time, and replace him as the priest presiding over the secret ritual. I'll help you disguise... hurry, hurry! It's going to be too late!"

"Alright!"

After looking in the direction of the "Chicken-Snake War" and finding that it had indeed reached its end, Hearing Li Ang couldn't care about satisfying his curiosity. He hurriedly followed the direction pointed out by Senior Tang Mu, went around from the position of the chicken butt, climbed onto the black and white altar that was more than a hundred meters high, and coiled up toward the tail of the snake spirit sculpture.

"Sizzle..."

Accompanied by a sound like an iron plate frying a meat patty, Hearing Li Ang, who had transformed into a small red snake, couldn't help but show a look of pain on his face.

This altar seemed to have some kind of restriction. For him, who was not yet a priest, every step forward was like rolling on a mountain of knives, from the body to the depths of the soul. At the moment of contact with the snake spirit sculpture, there was an even more chaotic feeling as if his soul was about to leave his body.

However, not long after, the situation changed.

As the hen pecked out a huge pit more than ten meters deep with a bang, and then happily "clucked," pecking the ball python that had no ability to resist into the clouds, the snake spirit sculpture that had been struggling to "resist" Hearing Li Ang's contact and constantly trying to push him away suddenly became intimate, directly letting him coil on its tail.

And as the coiling action was completely finished, as if some mysterious ritual had just been completed, Hearing Li Ang's consciousness blurred slightly, and he suddenly connected to an incomparably vast soul.

Hmm? My priest?

After sensing a slight abnormality, the snake spirit, which was coiled outside a jade jungle, turned its head in surprise, looked at the blurry small snake on its tail, and asked with a majestic expression:

"Aren't you presiding over the secret ritual? Why did you suddenly come to find me?"