After transmigrating into the body of the protagonist's childhood friend, he was targeted by a

The villagers who usually knelt and worshipped him devoutly were now looking at him with eyes he had never seen before—fear, resentment, despair…

Looking at those once-familiar faces, Yu Linzhou felt a sense of bewilderment and pain for the first time.

Zhang the hunter, leaning on his cane, staggered out of the crowd and stood in front of the villagers.

His voice trembled, "How could you say that! Snake Master has been in our village for over twenty years. In recent years, neighboring villages have been plagued by drought and locust plagues, but thanks to him, our village has been blessed with good weather and abundant harvests!"

"Without him, you would have starved to death long ago! How can you be so ungrateful!"

Someone cried out, "But he brought all this disaster upon us! We've lost people, we've destroyed our homes, we hate him! If we can't blame him, then who can we blame?"

Zhang the hunter was speechless.

The leader, having grown tired of the farce, lazily raised his hand, his fingertips gathering a dark red light once more, and aimed it at Zhang the Hunter.

"She Fengheng, I don't have time to watch your sob story. Only twenty-odd years have passed, your injuries can't possibly be healed, and you are no match for us now. Hand over your inner core; it'll be better for everyone."

Yu Linzhou stared intently at the hand, then looked at Old Zhang's hunched back, and finally closed his eyes.

"Wait. I'll hand it in."

The leader stopped what he was doing, a satisfied smile playing on his lips: "That's more like it."

Yu Linzhou transformed into human form. His right hand formed a claw, and after a moment's hesitation, he gritted his teeth and plunged it into his dantian.

The excruciating pain caused his whole body to spasm, veins bulged on his forehead, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes.

Zhang the hunter was surprised to see Yu Linzhou in this state for the first time.

He screamed, trying to stop them, but was restrained.

Yu Linzhou gritted his teeth and forcefully peeled the golden inner core out of his body.

Lin Zhixu stood beside Yu Linzhou, his outstretched hand passing through Yu Linzhou's shoulder, but he couldn't grasp anything.

The people opposite stared intently at the inner core, their greed almost overflowing.

That is the inner core of the ancient Bagua snake bloodline, a unique treasure in the world.

The leader snatched the golden inner core, examined it carefully, and then put it into his pocket with satisfaction.

He casually waved his hand, and the several men in black robes behind him pounced on the village like hungry wolves.

Yu Linzhou clutched the bloody wound in his dantian and hissed, "You promised me you'd let them go!"

The leader stopped in his tracks upon hearing this, turned back to look at him, and slowly a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth: "You believe me just because I say so? You've lived for a thousand years, how can you still be so naive? How can you take the enemy's words seriously?"

Behind them were the screams and cries of the villagers, the rooftops were engulfed in flames, some were running, some were falling, and some were calling out the names of their loved ones.

Aunt Wang who brought him eggs, Old Man Liu who was the first to visit him every Chinese New Year, and the children who always followed him around...

Without his inner core, Yu Linzhou barely maintained his human form, staggered to his feet, and spat a mouthful of blood onto the scorched earth in front of him.

Worry appeared in Lin Zhixu's eyes.

Yu Linzhou suddenly saw that Zhang the hunter had also been killed, his chest pierced by a spiritual force.

Yu Linzhou's eyes were bloodshot as he ran over, helped him up, and held him in his arms, futilely pressing one hand against the wound.

Zhang the hunter's clothes were already soaked with blood. His lips moved, and he spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. His eyes were beginning to glaze over.

"I'm sorry," Yu Linzhou's voice trembled as he gripped Old Zhang's rough hand. That hand, which had been a carpenter for twenty years, was covered in calluses and was slowly growing cold.

"It's my fault. I was too greedy... I should have left long ago, I should have died by the stream. If I hadn't been here, none of you would have died. It's my fault... It's all my fault..."

Hunter Zhang shook his head, his voice broken: "You...you don't blame the villagers, they were terrified, they had no choice."

His gaze passed over Yu Linzhou, looking at the burning village, and he tried his best to comfort him, "It's not your fault. In the past few years, there have been severe droughts and locust plagues. If you hadn't been here, the village would have been gone long ago. It's both cause and effect, it's all fate, you don't need to blame yourself."

Yu Linzhou shook his head desperately, tears falling onto Old Zhang's face. He wanted to say that it wasn't like that, that it was all his fault, that his arrival had brought disaster.

He is a jinx, a jinx that even Heaven cannot tolerate!

Zhang the hunter's breathing grew lighter and lighter, and his cloudy eyes finally settled on the branches and leaves of the jujube tree above him. Through the dappled shadows, he vaguely saw that the sky was still so blue.

"I just saw you and we have to part ways. It's such a shame. If I had a child, he would definitely be as handsome as you..." The rough hand slid from Yu Linzhou's palm and gently landed on the soil beside him.

The withered yellow leaves were blown down by the wind, covering him one by one, as if the mountain he had guarded all his life was closing its eyes for him.

The distant mountains and forests seemed to echo with mournful cries, bidding farewell to this elderly man who had dedicated his life to doing good deeds.

Yu Linzhou looked down at the wrinkled face in his arms, from forty to sixty years old, from the first gray hair at his temples to now being completely gray.

He knew that human life was very short, so short that it was just a fleeting moment in his long life.

But he never imagined that this parting would be so tragic.

Yu Linzhou raised his head and let out a roar from deep within his throat.

It was like a wild beast driven to the brink of despair, uttering its final, mournful cry.

He put Zhang the hunter down, slowly stood up, and his eyes had turned blood red at some point, his vertical pupils narrowed to slits, filled with killing intent and hatred.

His fingers began to bend and deform, his bones cracking, and his fingernails sprang out inch by inch from his fingertips, turning into jet-black claws.

Something was surging beneath the skin, like dormant blood being awakened by hatred.

He had lost his inner core and his spiritual power was exhausted, but the bloodline of the Bashe remained, and that savage power from ancient times was completely ignited in hatred.

At the cost of burning his life, he was pushed to the brink of reversion to his ancestral nature.

His body swelled rapidly, his skin was torn from the inside, revealing patches of pitch-black scales, and in an instant, he transformed into a giant black python that blotted out the sky.

His vertical pupils were blood red, and the golden vertical line on his forehead had completely turned into burning black ink.

The giant python swooped down, opened its massive jaws full of fangs, and swallowed several enemies who couldn't escape in one gulp.

The remaining people panicked and scattered, their magical artifacts and spiritual power striking the giant python's scales, but not even leaving a shallow mark.

The smugness on the leader's face had long since vanished.

He stared intently at the colossal python that blotted out the sky, his eyes churning with unbelievable fear and twisted jealousy.

This monster has lost its inner core, yet it can still revert to its ancestral form?

Why should I?!

Yu Linzhou's blood-red vertical pupils instantly locked onto his location, and the giant python's massive body swooped down at a speed disproportionate to its size.

The leader hastily retreated, unleashing the full power of his magical artifact, which shot a dark red beam of light toward the giant python's head.

The giant python did not dodge at all, and bit the pillar of spiritual energy into pieces. The moment its fangs collided with the spiritual energy, a dazzling white light burst out.

The leader was thrown backward by the shockwave.