Chapter 707: I

"Cluck, cluck, cluck-cluck!"

Watching the old hen held in Tang Mu's arms, stretching its neck to excitedly peck at the "earthworms," and then looking up at the giant chicken beak that tore through the clouds again and again, pecking the snake-priest until it retreated repeatedly, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but shake his head slightly, his eyes revealing a dazed look as if a lifetime had passed.

What on earth... is going on here?

"This is a chicken I bought outside earlier, from the same stall that sold the mermen and the manor.

There was a small coop behind the kitchen in that miniature manor, raising dozens of egg-laying hens. They were just right for dealing with these snake-spirit believers, so I decided to make use of them."

Glancing at Hearing Li Ang, whose soul and body were somewhat separated and who still hadn't fully broken free from the snake-spirit's secret shrine, the lazy youth explained,

"That snake-spirit's secret shrine is actually a snake egg. The narrow passage we passed through before entering the shrine is equivalent to passing through its reproductive tract, undergoing a simple gestation, which is why our souls were temporarily 'hatched' into snakes.

As for the effect of that snake-egg shrine, it's roughly equivalent to magnifying our souls while shrinking our bodies to the extreme, then swapping the positions of our souls and bodies, turning us from humans with snake souls into snakes with human souls."

"..."

"Didn't quite catch that?"

Seeing Hearing Li Ang's still-dazed face, the lazy youth thought for a moment and then offered an analogy:

"It's like the difference between an infant and an adult. Adults perceive the world primarily through their physical bodies, followed by thought and cognition—body first, soul second. But an infant hasn't been born yet, and the body doesn't truly exist, so it's soul first, body second.

So, once we entered the snake-egg shrine, we became unborn hatchlings. By switching the priority from body-first to soul-first, we effectively became snakes with human souls."

Having said this, the lazy youth paused slightly, took out half a bag of salt he hadn't finished using, shook it in front of Hearing Li Ang, and reminded him:

"Remember? I prepared three sets of rituals before entering. The second set, made of five metals, was for stealing money from the Cat Spirit, while the first set, made of mercury, sulfur, and salt, was for controlling the soul and body.

These three materials represent the soul, the body, and the bridge between them, respectively. They were just enough to resist the effects of the snake-egg shrine. As long as I locked in the ratio between the three beforehand, I wouldn't be affected by the shrine's power."

"..."

In Hearing Li Ang's silence, the lazy youth continued:

"With that, although I couldn't directly interfere with what was happening inside the ritual, my body wouldn't be shrunk infinitely. Your bodies, however, were suppressed by the shrine, so sending a chicken in was enough to finish off that priest.

The only troublesome part was the three-headed snake crown bestowed by the snake-spirit. But since you attracted his attention from the front, I managed to summon three holy spirits whose true forms feed on snakes, used some materials to simulate their marks, and forcibly tore that crown apart.

Without the snake crown to save his life, and with his physical body suppressed to the limit by the shrine while his soul strength was suppressed by me, that priest became unable to beat even a chicken... Do you understand now?"

"..."

Roughly... understood?

Hearing Li Ang, who couldn't say he was completely confused but certainly hadn't grasped the full picture, nodded stiffly and asked:

"Tang Mu, are these... uh... rituals your primary way of fighting?"

"More or less..."

The lazy youth nodded, thought about it, and shook his head:

"But rather than a fighting style, it's more of a way for me to 'get things done.' I'm not actually good at fighting.

Unlike you, my core anomalous object is quite special; it allows me to integrate more closely with the world and strengthens the effects of these occult rituals, but it has almost no direct offensive or defensive capabilities. So, if it were an 'encounter battle,' Emma could easily kill ten thousand of me. But if it's a situation where the enemy is exposed and I am hidden, she probably wouldn't even get the chance to see me."

"..."

Got it. An old silver-tongued schemer with bizarre methods.

After labeling the lazy youth in his mind, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Tang Mu, you prepared three rituals before entering the gathering. What was the third one for? Was it to deal with that snake-spirit?"

"No."

The lazy youth shook his head:

"The snake-spirit is easy enough to handle. As long as you can succeed the position as priest and successfully trick it into coming back, it'll be quite easy for me to kill it while it's caught off guard. However... uh... wait!"

Watching the ball python, which was being stepped on by the old hen and then pecked on the head, the lazy youth urged:

"It's about to be finished. Go around from the chicken's tail side and be ready to coil onto the snake-spirit's statue at any moment to take over as the priest presiding over the ritual. I'll help you disguise yourself... Go, go! It's going to be too late!"

"Got it!"

Glancing toward the "Chicken vs. Snake" battle and confirming it was nearing its end, Hearing Li Ang ignored his curiosity, hurried around from the chicken's tail side as instructed, climbed onto the hundred-meter-tall black-and-white altar, and coiled onto the tail of the snake-spirit statue.

"Sizzle..."

Accompanied by a sound like meat frying on an iron plate, Hearing Li Ang, now in the form of a small red snake, couldn't help but show a look of pain on his face.

There seemed to be some kind of restriction on this altar. For someone who wasn't yet a priest, every step forward felt like rolling on a mountain of blades, with pain radiating from his body deep into his soul. The moment he made contact with the snake-spirit statue, he felt a chaotic sensation as if his soul were about to be ripped from his body.

However, it didn't take long for things to change.

As the old hen pecked a hole over ten meters deep and happily "clucked" while pecking the now-defenseless ball python into the clouds, the snake-spirit statue, which had been desperately "resisting" Hearing Li Ang's contact and trying to push him away, suddenly became friendly and allowed him to coil onto its tail.

And as the coiling motion was completed, as if some kind of mysterious ritual had just been finished, Hearing Li Ang's consciousness blurred for a moment, and he was suddenly connected to an incomparably vast soul.

Hmm? My priest?

Detecting something unusual, the snake-spirit, coiled outside a jade jungle, turned its head, looked at the blurry little snake on its tail, and asked with a majestic tone:

"Aren't you supposed to be presiding over the ritual? Why have you suddenly come to find me?"

(End of chapter)