“How unreasonable of you!” The young man was hot-blooded by nature. Having spoken politely at first, he was now provoked to anger. Rolling up his sleeves and assuming a fighting stance, he said, “You’re being completely unreasonable! Today I just won’t go! What are you going to do about it?”

Their commotion attracted the attention of others. People by the bonfire all turned to look at them. Dou Niang, who had been talking with Xu Fu, hurriedly ran over and stood in front of Gu Baiying, asking the young man, “What happened? What are you doing, Brother Xiaofeng?”

The young man called “Xiaofeng” pointed at Gu Baiying accusingly, “Dou Niang, you came just in time. Your guest here has either gone mad or something—he insists that I go invite…” His finger turned, about to point toward the woman by the bonfire, when he suddenly discovered that the woman had somehow walked over. He was stunned for a moment, then pointed at Zanxing with firm conviction, “Invite her to dance!”

Zanxing, suddenly called out, was completely bewildered and looked at Gu Baiying, “Master Uncle?”

Gu Baiying’s face was cold as he stared at Xiaofeng, looking as if he wanted to devour him alive.

Seeing the situation, Dou Niang quickly tried to mediate, attempting to pull Xiaofeng away. As Xiaofeng was being dragged away by Dou Niang, he continued complaining as if it wasn’t enough, “Really strange! If he likes this young lady, why doesn’t he just go ask her himself? Why go through such a roundabout way? We men of Wu Fan City aren’t like this—we say what we mean. Didn’t you say they were disciples from a great immortal cultivation sect? How can they be so boring? At first, I thought he was going to give me some silver beads to bribe me, but after fumbling around for so long, he couldn’t produce anything. Is it fake? Dou Niang, have you been deceived…”

The incessant complaining finally faded into the distance. Zanxing turned back to look at Gu Baiying. The young man’s brow twitched as he said irritably, “What are you looking at?”

Mendong came over holding Mimi and sighed, “Indeed quite embarrassing.”

“You shut up, too!” Gu Baiying, having suffered a setback, was feeling frustrated.

Just as Zanxing was about to say something to smooth things over, she suddenly heard someone shouting from ahead, “The Saintess is here! The Saintess has arrived!”

She looked forward in surprise. The dancing by the bonfire had somehow stopped, and the intense competition at the wooden grids had also ceased. Those festively dressed men, women, and children all picked up the Divine Serpent Lamps carved with serpent witch totems from their sides and rushed toward the front.

Dou Niang squeezed through the crowd, carrying several Divine Serpent Lamps, and reminded Zanxing and the others, “Honorable immortals, the Saintess has arrived. When the Saintess performs the sacrifice later, raise your Divine Serpent Lamps, kneel, and make wishes to the Saintess. The Divine Serpent will choose the fortunate ones to fulfill their heart’s desires.”

Tian Fangfang, Meng Ying, and the others also rushed over from both sides. Upon hearing this, Zanxing thought to herself that according to what Yinli had said in the imperial tomb’s corridor, the serpent witches of the Serpent Witch Clan never gave anything away for free when making deals with people—it was always equivalent exchange. But from Dou Niang’s words, this Saintess of the Serpent Witch Clan seemed like a wish-granting koi fish.

Just as she was thinking this, the clear sound of camel bells came from the distance.

The bell sound was very ethereal, as if coming from the ends of heaven and earth, gradually becoming clearer with the desert wind. The clustered crowd gradually parted, and from deep within the crowd, two camels appeared.

These were two completely snow-white camels, without a single hair of a different color on their entire bodies, almost seeming to glow in the night. The two white camels’ backs were covered with bright green silk, embroidered with gold and red patterns of extreme complexity. Behind the camels was a magnificent carriage. This carriage had no coverings on all four sides, and the carriage body was made of gold, carved with various serpent patterns, while the carriage rails were inlaid with blood-red gems.

The royal family of Li’er Kingdom was also very wealthy, but this desert carriage had a different kind of magnificence from Li’er Kingdom’s decorations, carrying a wild and flamboyant beauty. Unlike the carefully maintained refinement of Li’er Kingdom’s royal court, it looked like the random accumulation of nouveau riche at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it had a kind of ghostly and gorgeous beauty.

The people of Wu Fan City frantically rushed toward the carriage, speaking various prayers and blessings, looking at the woman on the carriage with full admiration.

Dou Niang whispered, “This is the Saintess of the Serpent Witch Clan.”

Zanxing looked toward that carriage.

In the center of the carriage sat a woman in gorgeous attire. She wore golden gauze robes, embroidered with a giant python in black and gold. The python was lifelike, its scales woven from some unknown material that emitted shimmering light in the night, as if the giant python was swimming on her dress. She had long, slightly curled brown hair with no decorations, casually draped behind her head. Her face was covered with a thin black veil, only revealing a pair of eyes, elongated and naturally charming. Although her face couldn’t be seen, one could imagine how captivating the features beneath the veil must be.

This didn’t differ much from Zanxing’s mental image of a serpent witch. It would be even better if they didn’t have this flashy carriage parade.

The camels stopped about ten steps in front of the largest bonfire.

The Saintess sat up straight, and the people spontaneously cleared a path, raising their Divine Serpent Lamps above their heads and kneeling.

Xu Fu finally found Dou Niang and knelt together with her.

Zanxing’s group naturally wouldn’t kneel. The serpent witch Saintess got down from the carriage, barefoot, and with her back to them, slowly walked to the bonfire. Only then did Zanxing see clearly that the Saintess also held a staff in her hand. This staff was about as tall as a person, with a silver body twisted into a snake-like shape. The staff head had two snake heads—one blue snake and one red snake—slowly flicking their tongues with eerie vertical pupils.

The surroundings gradually became quiet.

The men, women, and children of Wu Fan City all fell into silence. Only the fierce wind from deep in the desert made the fires sway slightly. The blue snake seemed to open its mouth, and suddenly, except for the bonfire in front of the Saintess, all the fires were extinguished.

The world was instantly plunged into darkness.

Zanxing’s hand gripped tightly onto the Panhua Stick at her waist. Mimi uneasily rubbed her feet. She could feel Tian Fangfang’s deliberately suppressed breathing and the tension of people around her hidden in the darkness.

In this pitch blackness, the Divine Serpent Lamps held high above the heads of Wu Fan City’s people were particularly bright, like countless bright stars floating in the night sky, making this dry and vast desert seem like a pearl lamp city in an ancient forbidden land.

Those serpent totems swayed slightly with the flames in the cloth lamps. The Serpent Witch Clan’s Saintess raised her staff and waved it toward the sky above.

“Boom—”

The originally vigorous bonfire, as if receiving some mysterious power, instantly grew dozens of times larger, shooting up into the sky. In this raging fire, the shadow of a giant python faintly appeared. This shadow was enormous, seemingly capable of swallowing elephants, making people appear as small as ants. It first slowly coiled in the night sky, then let out a long howl, riding the wind into the nine heavens, accompanied by lightning and light, startling both gods and ghosts.

The people all prostrated themselves on the ground, devoutly kowtowing.

The Serpent Witch Clan’s Saintess also slowly knelt, placing the serpent staff in front of her, lightly touching the ground with her forehead, chanting under her breath.

After an unknown amount of time, the sky-high bonfire gradually calmed down, and the serpent shadow circling above the desert also disappeared. The Saintess stood up again, the red tongue of the serpent staff flicked, and all the extinguished bonfires lit up again.

Zanxing looked at the Divine Serpent Lamp in her hand. This serpent lamp seemed to have been drained of some kind of power and had somehow gone out.

The two snow-white camels called out softly. The Saintess withdrew her staff, walked back to the carriage, and got on without saying a single word from beginning to end. Without anyone pulling the reins or giving commands, the two camels seemed to already know where they were going, turned around on their own, and headed back in the direction they came from.

Zanxing and the others had neither knelt to pray nor called out to stop the Saintess. The serpent witch Saintess also seemed not to have seen them. At the moment when the magnificent carriage passed by them, the woman on the carriage, whether by coincidence or intention, slightly turned her head and looked at Gu Baiying.

Gu Baiying stared at her indifferently.

She looked for quite a while, until the distance became too great, then turned back and withdrew her gaze, disappearing into the desert’s edge along with that magnificent carriage.

For some reason, Zanxing suddenly felt an ominous premonition in her heart.

Meanwhile, Dou Niang and Xu Fu rubbed their knees and stood up, looking at Zanxing and the others. Dou Niang smiled, “Were the honorable immortals frightened? What appeared in the fire just now was the Divine Serpent. When the Saintess performs the sacrifice and the Divine Serpent manifests, it will bless Wu Fan City with favorable weather and peace for the people in the coming year.”

Meng Ying asked, “Why does your Serpent Witch Clan’s Saintess cover her face with a veil?”

“It’s always been this way,” Xu Fu explained. “Serpent witches don’t let others see their faces.”

This explanation wasn’t particularly problematic. Legend had it that the serpent witches of the Serpent Witch Clan were people who communicated between the heavenly and human realms, a group that existed outside the three realms, so being mysterious was natural.

It’s just… that woman’s final glance at Gu Baiying seemed quite meaningful, no matter how you looked at it.

Mu Cengxiao turned his head and asked Gu Baiying in a low voice, “Master Uncle, that serpent shadow just now…”

“No demonic qi—not Mo Sha. No monster qi either—not from the demon race,” Gu Baiying answered.

Mendong wrinkled his small face, “I told you it’s all paranoia. Maybe we did encounter a serpent witch from the Serpent Witch Clan. Why don’t we find a way to meet her later? She might even help us return to Gufeng Mountain sooner.”

“But I didn’t sense any spiritual power either,” Gu Baiying interrupted him, his gaze carrying some deeper meaning.

No spiritual power meant that the appearance of the serpent shadow had nothing to do with cultivation level. So, how did it appear—magic tricks?

Dou Niang, unaware of the various thoughts in this group’s minds, only smiled and asked, “Did the honorable immortals make any wishes to the Divine Serpent during the sacrifice?”

“Make wishes?”

“Those favored by the Divine Serpent will have their wishes come true tonight,” she answered with a smile.