Chapter 173: I Believe Your Bullshit

Time rewound slightly—when Li En was still enjoying his post-homecoming slumber, at the second watch of night, the industrious serpent had already begun its new day's labor.

"Dear little Elserna, you're so pitiful—your beloved uncle has come to visit you."

Humming a tune, the cheerful serpent went to see its former colleague.

It even dragged behind it rotten straw and dried chrysanthemums, preparing to offer them as funeral offerings to its "old friend."

It did not take the normal passage, but simply plunged straight downward.

Like an invisible phantom, it wandered through the underground ocean of rock, strata, and monsters.

The walls of the underground ruins, sealed by divine power, meant nothing to it.

It glided through chaotic underground caverns, watching the struggles of adventurers and monsters, even kindly giving a collapsing team a helping hand.

It passed through the labyrinthine layers of the underground ruins, admiring the trail markers left by elite pathfinders, appreciating the not-so-ancient texts in the great bookshelves (to it), and even "kindly" carving out "more interesting" openings in dead ends, sparing explorers the frustration and disappointment of hitting a wall.

It glided through the underground lake and plain zones, admiring the wild beauty of ancient beasts, riding atop a frenzied rhino-beast as it chased a pitiful herd of black deer, crossing volcanoes, snowfields, and insect nests. It casually sealed off several extraplanar entrances—preventing surface invaders from encountering foes too bizarre, and stopping cunning extraplanar detourers from "skipping" the arduous paths.

It glided through

"Dear little Elserna, are you well? Did you miss me?"

Finally, it reached the deepest depths of the underground ruins—this depth far surpassed the lowest point of Morsodilka.

This was a secret realm unreachable by normal passages, the core and origin of the entire underground ruin complex, densely covered with traps, divine marks, and beastly signatures.

They not only bound "Elserna," but also siphoned its immortal power and essence as part of natural law—until a new Beast King emerged as its replacement, it was truly eternal and indestructible.

Outside, those divine marks, beastly signatures, and magical arrays transformed this power, life force, and bestial nature into new life, pouring it into the ruin world.

"Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you miss me?"

The serpent slithered merrily about; the dangerous traps and divine seals meant nothing to it.

Since it "did not exist," how could these things trigger?

Yet its cheerful muttering, its conscious fluctuations, echoed throughout the entire region.

"Did you miss me…"

The rock walls and ground began humming cheerfully.

"Did you miss me?! Dear little Elserna."

Even those divine seals began trembling and chanting.

"Did you miss me? I've missed you to death!"

The material plane, the shadow plane, the high-dimensional layers—all joined in harmonious song.

The entire world—air, earth, even souls and divine energy fluctuations—transformed into the serpent's cheerful face, its elongated mouth grinning widely.

"Elserna, little darling, I've come to play with you!!"

"Shut up!!!"

Finally, the deeply sleeping Beast's consciousness was forcibly awakened.

At the moment it awoke, the entire underground ruin—and even Huicheng above—trembled violently; the expected earthquake was crushed beneath the serpent's weight!

"Who—who? Save me, I'll give you anything you want."

The deep voice echoed around the seals; Elserna, still half-asleep, made a heartfelt promise—the very promise it had long dreamed of.

"I can sign my real name in a contract. I can grant you a kingdom, even the chance to become a deity." Reason slowly returned; though the moment was destined to be fleeting, it swiftly made its vow.

This promise was genuine—anyone who reached here knew the value and credibility of a Beast King's true-name oath. Elserna was no devil; if anyone truly freed it, its promises of kingdom and divinity were fully redeemable!

"Tsk tsk tsk, poor little Elserna, begging on its knees—wah wah wah, so pitiful, so pitiful. Call me Grandpa, and I'll save you right away." But instead of a savior, it met a cheerful visitor.

"Serpent? Serpent. SERPENT!!!"

The next instant, the entire crust trembled.

The earthquake could no longer be suppressed—the entire underground ruin endured a potentially lethal quake, while Huicheng above experienced a minor 3–4 magnitude tremor.

A young knight still fast asleep was jolted awake, shattering his wooden bed beneath him.

"Traitor!"

"Die!!"

"Serpent! How are you still not dead?!"

"Damned traitor! Liar! Bastard!"

"I%￥&"

The Beast King's former elegance and dignity vanished—here stood only a pitiful victim, wildly cursing the serpent's entire lineage.

"Tsk tsk tsk, every time I listen to a dying dog's howl, it's so entertaining. Next time I visit, shall I bring you a slang dictionary? You need to update your curse vocabulary."

"……&*."

In response to the serpent's cheerful laughter, only mad curses erupted.

The ancient Beast King had been corroded by rage; perhaps it wasn't without humanity—it simply refused to acknowledge it, refused to let other beasts share its authority.

As Elserna went mad, the entire underground ruin stirred to life.

Amid its frenzied struggles, countless "nests" and "murals" erupted with monsters; the transformation mechanism operated at full speed, frantically producing more beasts.

Around the serpent, glowing points were forcibly gathered into form—new, powerful offspring were violently activated, attempting to expel the unwelcome visitor.

Clearly, the cost was immense; to retaliate against the serpent, to vent its fury, the deranged Elserna had thrown caution to the wind.

But before those glowing points fully formed, Elserna's roar grew fainter as its stored power for breaking free was fully activated—sealed in place, it was dragged deeper into slumber.

Its revival was inevitably delayed.

As for the serpent that caused all this…

"Sssss (I never left.)"

The next instant, it returned to the roof of Li En's house, hearing Li En's complaint.

"Serpent, what did you do?!"

"Ha, I did nothing—just took a little stroll."

As always, the truth—serpent proudly swished its tail.

"I believe you, you old bastard—you're a rotten liar!" And Li En believed not a word.

Meanwhile, in the "distance" the serpent saw, the city's survival rate was rapidly rising—Li En now had more time to grow.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I've always stood on humanity's side—I just did you a huge favor. Ungrateful little human." The serpent, watching Li En's fury at the sudden changes, grew even more delighted.

"I believe you, you old bastard!!"

(End of Chapter)