Don't be afraid, fairy, I'm blind

Chapter 485: Show the enemy your weakness; take advantage of their strength

Another day passed in laughter and joy.

The gilded candlesticks cast swaying shadows in the banquet hall, and the iced sour plum soup specially made by the snake clan was bubbling with tiny bubbles in the green jade cups.

At the last banquet, it was Ji Xueruo who took the initiative to propose drinking. However, when Yu Xiaoran thought of the important event in the evening, he was unable to control his temper and actively declined the request for drinking.

Yu Xiaoran ran his fingertips across the rim of the cup. He didn't like drinking this kind of sweet water, but he felt that the sour plum soup brewed by the snake clan had a unique flavor. It was even better than the fragrant tea that he bought from the human race at a high price.

He took a sip, his eyes moving around the hall, landing on the snake scales faintly visible behind the ears of the snake women.

He couldn't help but secretly complain in his heart. It was still hot outside, but these snake women had been covering themselves up very tightly in the past three days. They would rather sweat in the heat than show more of their fair skin, as if they were on guard against him.

But this itching feeling was short-lived, because when he thought that he would be able to peel off the cloth at will after tonight, he felt hot in his heart. Instead, he felt that these snake women covered the snakes well, and all the shed flesh of the snakes was turned into sweat, like a plate of steaming and extremely tempting delicacies.

"I didn't expect that the Holy Son is so approachable and actually likes to drink sour plum soup." Ji Xueruo said with a smile.

"The snake tribe's sour plum soup is sweeter than that from anywhere else." Yu Xiaoran also smiled, but he was already having wild thoughts in his mind. He even thought that these snake women deliberately dripped their fragrant sweat into the sour plum soup when they cooked it, making this ordinary sweet water so sweet.

"Since you like it, why don't you stay a few more days?" Ji Xueruo wiped the corners of her lips with a handkerchief, her tone revealing a hint of reluctance.

Yu Xiaoran smiled even more: "I have brought the gift, but I have still disturbed the snake tribe for three days. I feel deeply ashamed. How can I continue to stay? Besides, my father is concerned about me. If I don't go back soon, I'm afraid he will be worried again."

"The love between the Holy Son and his son is truly enviable." Ji Xueruo lowered her eyelashes, but her tone could not hide the disappointment.

The matter of the new chief of the snake tribe caused a big stir, and Yu Xiaoran knew where the girl's sadness came from. He claimed to be a man who cherished women, so how could he bear to see this beautiful chief in such sorrow? He could not help but comfort her:

"The love between father and son is deep, but only my father can help me. I can't do anything for the Golden Roc Clan. But Chief Xueruo is so young, yet he has managed the Snake Clan to this point. The ancestors of the Snake Clan will definitely be very pleased."

"Saint Son, you are too modest." Ji Xueruo raised her eyes and smiled softly, and the gloomy look on her face indeed faded away.

Yu Xiaoran was even more excited when he saw this. "Speaking of governing the tribe, I remember one thing. Before I left, my father told me that a seat was vacant in Xingzhao Mountain this year."

"One seat?" Ji Xueruo's beautiful eyes slightly opened, "Is the seat so tight this year?"

"Yes, it is indeed a bit tight with so many demon tribes in Japan competing for one seat." Yu Xiaoran also sighed lightly, but lowered his voice and said, "But I can also secretly reveal some information to Chief Xueruo."

“Can you tell me…?”

"Chief Xueruo is my savior, so why can't I?" Yu Xiaoran patted his chest and said, "I have also seen many monsters send visiting cards to the Jinpeng tribe, but they are all inferior. Only the snake tribe is in full swing, so it is natural for them to take this seat."

"Really? That's great." Ji Xueruo sighed.

Yu Xiaoran raised his eyebrows slightly, "Chief Xueruo, don't be too happy too soon. The fight for this seat is not just based on strength, and favors are also an indispensable part. After all, entering the sacred mountain is nothing, and being able to stay there steadily is a real skill."

"Please give me some advice, Holy Son." Ji Xueruo frowned, looking as if she was listening attentively.

"If you want to build good relations with the tribes in Shenshan, you must first have connections. The Snake Tribe has left Shenshan for a long time, and the past relationship is probably no longer useful. But the Snake Tribe has done a favor to our Jinpeng Tribe, and we can't just sit back and watch the Snake Tribe. The Jinpeng Tribe has a wide network of connections in Shenshan, and as long as the elders in the tribe say a few good words..."

Ji Xueruo pursed her lips when she heard that. "Saint Son, you are joking. The Snake Clan is now just a small clan living in a corner. How dare we dream of a seat on the sacred mountain? When I looked for the lotus root heart, it was just because I couldn't bear to see Saint Son suffer."

Yu Wanyue had been sipping tea in silence, without interrupting the conversation between the two. But when she heard this, she raised her eyes slightly and focused on Ji Xueruo.

She knew very well that the girl was saying one thing and thinking another. While pretending to be weak and refusing, she did not forget to remind the Son of God of her life-saving grace. It was obvious that she wanted the Son of God to lower his conditions out of pity.

She is indeed a smart woman who knows how to make use of her advantages.

When she thought of the bad fate that such a woman was about to encounter, she actually felt a little regretful and spoke before her own son:

"Chief Xueruo, there is no need to underestimate yourself. The women of the snake tribe are all outstanding. Just considering the skill of controlling snakes, they are better than half of the monster tribes in Shenshan."

Yu Xiaoran also agreed, "Not bad, not bad. But this seat in the Divine Mountain is of great importance. Although my Golden Peng clan is willing to lend a helping hand to the Snake Clan, we should also let the other clans in the Divine Mountain see the sincerity of the Snake Clan."

Ji Xueruo clenched the cup and said, "How much sincerity does it take?"

Yu Xiaoran saw her little movements clearly, and pretended to be generous and said: "Just to deal with the seven major demon tribes in Shenshan, it will take 7,000 high-grade spirit stones. Not only will my Jinpeng tribe not take them, but I can also provide 3,000 on behalf of the snake tribe."

Ji Xueruo's expression tightened, "But even if it's three thousand high-grade spirit stones, it's not a small amount for my snake clan."

"The main source of income for the Snake Clan is the Fire Essence Mine under Snake Mountain. If the Clan Leader cannot afford Spiritual Stones, the Fire Essence Mine will do the same."

"To be honest, the fire ore has been completely mined, otherwise we would not have abandoned Snake Mountain." Ji Xueruo sighed, with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Don't worry, Chief Xueruo! You are my savior! I will definitely help you!" Yu Xiaoran suddenly stood up and said confidently, "You don't need to care about the other demon tribes, but you must take care of these seven major demon tribes. The seven major demon tribes are not short of money, they just want to see sincerity. Chief Xueruo, do you know what they are most interested in about the snake tribe?"

Ji Xueruo was slightly stunned, "What is it?"

"Of course it is - the blood of the Snake Ancestor."

All demons need to undergo baptism to awaken their bloodline when they reach adulthood, but baptism with ancestral blood is a step that most demons do not have, and relying on ancestral blood to reproduce is unique among the demons.

In order to dispel other tribes' covetousness for the blood of the snake ancestor, the snake tribe generously distributed it to some monster tribes. As expected, they found that the blood of the snake ancestor was useless to monsters other than the snake tribe.

But what even Ji Xueruo herself didn't know was that after the battle on the South China Sea Fairy Island, a rumor quietly spread among these big demon tribes - there was dragon blood in the blood of the snake ancestor.

The biggest purpose of Chief Jin Peng asking Yu Xiaoran to come to the Snake Clan was to verify what this snake blood pool was, followed by the fire ore under the volcano, and finally the demon pills of these snake girls.

However, the Snake Blood Pool was the most important holy place for the snake clan after all. No matter how stupid Yu Xiaoran was, he would not be so stupid as to ask the other party to take him to the Snake Blood Pool to have a look, and the snake clan would not agree. So they only saw the outline of the rebuilt Snake Ancestor Temple from a distance, but they did not know that there was no snake blood in the Snake Ancestor Temple.

"What do they want to do with the blood of the snake ancestor? The blood of the snake ancestor has no effect on monsters that are not from the snake clan." Ji Xueruo asked blankly.

"Whether it's useful or not has nothing to do with whether they are interested or not." Yu Xiaoran smiled, "They just want to see the sincerity of the snake tribe, that's enough."

Ji Xueruo's fingertips suddenly tightened, but a bitter smile appeared on her face, "Let me discuss this with the elders..."

"No hurry, no hurry!" Yu Xiaoran and Yu Wanyue exchanged glances quietly, then sat back with their wide sleeves fluttering. "With fine wine and delicious food in front of us, let's not talk about these boring matters. I'm curious about the recipe of the snake clan's sour plum soup. Why does it taste better the more you drink it?" Ji Xueruo was stunned and had to raise her glass and smile along.

……

In Yu Xiaoran's bedroom, Yu Wanyue looked at the golden feather talisman flashing in her palm and said in a low voice:

"Two hundred Golden Peng Guards have already ambushed outside the ancestral land and will take action at three quarters past midnight."

Yu Xiaoran nodded slightly, not worrying at all that the Golden Feather Talisman might be discovered by others, because it was one of the most powerful secret treasures of their Golden Peng clan.

The human race can use the blood of infants to refine a fate token, which can tell life and death from thousands of miles away. The first feather grown by the Golden Peng tribe is also called the Golden Feather of the Born. If a tribe member's Golden Feather is plucked, his cultivation will not improve at all, but he can communicate with his original body through the Golden Feather Talisman refined from this Golden Feather, and gods and ghosts will not be able to detect it.

Although this method is cruel, it brings greater benefits to the Jinpeng tribe at the cost of sacrificing the future of some individual members of the tribe.

“Remember, don’t kill if you can. The snake clan is already so poor, we can’t let any more people die.” Yu Xiaoran looked towards the dark dusk outside the palace, the corners of his lips raised in an uncontrollable arc.

"Actually... I find it a little strange." Yu Wanyue suddenly pursed her lips.

"how?"

"At the banquet, the Holy Son tested the leader of the snake tribe, but not only could the snake tribe not produce any spirit stones, but the fire ore was also exhausted. So how did the snake tribe grow stronger?"

"Stupid." Yu Xiaoran spat, as if he was quite proud of his intelligence surpassing that of the arrogant woman. "Of course, Ji Xueruo tried her best to prove her ability. Not only did she overdraw the clan's savings, she also mined all the fire ore to improve the clan's strength. Otherwise, how could she break through so quickly? Didn't you notice it when you passed by her sister's yard? Even her sister is about to break through to the Condensed Water Realm. How could it be possible if she didn't use extraordinary means? Now they are forcing things to happen, so it's no wonder that we harvested them early."

Yu Wanyue was silent after hearing this. Although she subconsciously thought the same as the Saint Son, she still felt something was wrong. Although Ji Xueruo was a promising person in her eyes, she was not sure whether she would make such a decision. But from her understanding of Fellow Daoist Liu, would she allow the head of her family to fish in a dry pond? Or... did she also think that the snake clan had reached the point where they needed to gamble everything on it?

But at this point, any further hesitation would only appear indecisive.

Why would the Jinpeng clan need to be so cautious about annexing a demon clan that hasn't even reached the perfect stage of feather transformation?

The night wind lifted the copper bells on the eaves, and the crisp sound mixed with the smell of sulfur blew into the bedroom.

At three quarters past midnight, the waning moon was like a hook.

Yu Xiaoran leaned against the vermilion lacquer pillar of the bedroom, stroking the Golden Feather Order with his fingertips. The Golden Roc Guard's voice transmission continued to come through the Golden Feather Order:
"Elder Wanyue's divination was correct, and the snake clan's restriction was successfully broken."

"We have reached the heart of the snake tribe. The snake tribe did not notice the night attack."

"The second restriction is broken, and the snake tribe's defense is as weak as paper..."

He looked out the window at the heartland of the snake tribe. More and more houses were lighting up, with a determined smile on his lips.

The entire snake clan suddenly became restless. Yu Xiaoran found the woman's scream coming from outside the window very pleasant to the ears, and planned to make the scream even louder later.

Suddenly, a sharp sound pierced the night, and the voice from the Golden Feather Order suddenly trembled: "No! They, they are--"

Yu Wanyue's face suddenly changed, and alarm bells rang in her heart. When she looked up, she saw a dark blue poisonous mist rising from the fire, wandering in the night like a green phosphorus ghost fire, and she could faintly hear a man's scream.

But where is this man from the snake tribe?
Yu Xiaoran also realized that something was wrong and immediately rushed out of the hall, but the scene before him made his pupils shrink suddenly.

In his impression, these gentle and lovely snake women now had cold scales on their lips and fangs flashing coldly between their teeth. Where was the slightest bit of the expressive look in their eyes that he had seen before?

The Golden Roc Guards lying on the ground had their armor melting along with theirs, and their skin was festering like pus.

The three snake elders stood in the center of the poisonous fog. With their wide sleeves fluttering, snake shadows appeared one after another. They were actually entangled with the three leaders of the Golden Peng Guard who were in the Feather Transformation Realm.

The few surviving Golden Peng Guards were huddled together and trembling, extremely afraid of these venomous snake women.

"How could this be so..."

Yu Xiaoran muttered to himself. The expected one-sided massacre did not occur. In fact, it was the exact opposite.

He looked at the snake girls dancing in the poisonous fog, and finally realized that those snake girls whom he regarded as "weak" were far more vicious than he thought.

In a trance, that beautiful and peerless girl walked out of the poisonous fog. Her wide black sleeves were stained with faint blue phosphorescence. The faint smile on the corner of her lips remained, but it was a little more cold.

Yu Xiaoran gritted his teeth when he saw this, and the Golden Feather Order he clenched tightly left blood marks on his palm. At this moment, he understood that everything he had seen and heard in the past three days were all illusions prepared for him by the girl in front of him!

"How dare you set a trap to trap me!"

"Set up a trap?" Ji Xueruo chuckled, her eyes sweeping across the mess on the ground, "It's just a trick. The Golden Peng tribe wants to devour my snake tribe, but don't they know that snakes are poisonous?"

"Each of them has taken a top-grade anti-poison pill. They are not even afraid of the poison from the colorful spider tribe. How could they be poisoned like this by you!" Yu Xiaoran roared. Even if they could defeat the snake tribe now, they could not make up for such a huge loss.

"Yes, it is precisely because we know that the Jinpeng tribe has planned it in advance that we dare not even have the slightest fluke. I specially took you to visit for three days and visited all the snake tribes. We really had no defense at all, didn't we?" Ji Xueruo smiled wantonly, and her long hair fluttered like a fairy. "The poison of the Snake Ancestor can only be used once in a lifetime. Today, no one in the snake tribe is holding back."

Yu Wanyue stared at the determination in Ji Xueruo's eyes, and suddenly realized that the "poverty" and "weakness" he had seen in the past three days were just wounds deliberately torn open by the snakes to reveal the most tempting flesh and blood, luring them to take a fatal bite.

"No wonder the snake tribe, though weak, has been able to survive for a thousand years without being eaten. It turns out that they rely on this poison." Yu Wanyue's voice was still understated, and she even commented, "It seems that this poison also has many limitations. Otherwise, drinking so much tea would be enough to kill us several times."

"It is precisely because of the many restrictions that it is hidden so deeply. Fortunately, this secret has been kept." Ji Xueruo stood tall and did not lose face at all. Thinking back to when she was in the Jade Ring Pool, she also relied on the poison of the Snake Ancestor to kill the eldest son who had reached the Perfection of Condensed Water with the middle level of the Spiritual Platform.

Yu Wanyue couldn't help but think more highly of her. She thought she was good at hiding her abilities, but she didn't think she would fail:
"This is not a fight between you and me, this is the death of the snake clan. You have used up all the poison of the snake ancestor, thinking that you can fight to the death with the Golden Peng clan, but you don't know that you have only hurt our fur. You can't afford the anger of the Golden Peng clan next."

Ji Xueruo burst out laughing as if she had heard a funny joke, and immediately her heart trembled: "Elder Wanyue, do you think you can leave?"

"Of course I can leave." Yu Wanyue murmured, and the pressure belonging to Huayu Yuanman suddenly rose. The golden wings behind her were looming, and when the poisonous fog approached her, it disappeared like a drop in the ocean.

Ji Xueruo's smile did not diminish: "Last night, Elder Wanyue wanted to go up Snake Mountain but was not allowed. Why don't I invite you to go today?"

She turned and looked in the direction of the volcano. The red smoke column was faintly visible in the night, and her wide sleeves fluttered like a snake in the night wind.

(End of this chapter)