Lord Serpent couldn't help but pause in surprise.

He had long known Nie Kong was a disciple of Lingyu City's inner sector, and that Lingyu City and the Yin Ruins seemed to share some ineffable, murky connection. Thus, he had only assumed Nie Kong had relied on Lingyu City's prestige to summon powerful allies from the Yin Ruins. He never imagined Nie Kong's ties to the Yin Ruins ran so deep.

After that brief moment of stunned silence, Lord Serpent’s blood-red eyes turned even colder. If the Yin Ruins were this deeply entwined with Nie Kong, what was the point of talking about maintaining harmony between the Yin Ruins and the Serpentine Clan? It was outrageous! However, with the situation having rapidly turned, he had no choice but to seriously reconsider his options.

"Nie Kong, you are a descendant of the Yin Ruins bloodline?"

On the East City Wall, Nie Qingsong and Nie Xingdong watched Nie Kong in astonishment. Regarding Nie Kong's mother's identity, Nie Qingyang had always maintained a profound silence; no amount of questioning yielded results. They had never known Nie Kong's mother was from the Yin Ruins, and that he himself was now the new husband of the Wood (Sect Master/Husband) of the Yin Ruins!

First, he was a member of the Nie family, and now, just like that, he had become the husband to the Yin Ruins Wood. This monumental shift left the two men utterly baffled. What they found even more incredible was that Nie Qingyang, aside from being kind-hearted, was otherwise unremarkable—how could he possibly marry a woman from the Yin Ruins who never married outside her clan?

If only they knew that Nie Kong and Nie Qiong were merely foundlings adopted by Nie Qingyang, perhaps this doubt would never have arisen.

"Mm."

Nie Kong knew they had myriad questions, but this was hardly the time for explanations. He merely nodded. "Clan Leader, where is the Great Elder?"

Nie Qingsong and Nie Xingdong snapped back to reality, their expressions etched with worry. "Right! Right! Nie Kong, hurry and save the Great Elder! He was struck by Lord Serpent and his life is hanging by a thread—he's down in that crater." Though Nie Shengong had been defeated easily, he remained the towering pillar supporting the entire Nie family.

"What?"

Nie Kong gasped. He followed the direction Nie Qingsong pointed, and in an instant, his figure vanished from the city wall, reappearing at the base of the wall, a hundred meters away.

"Want to save someone? Get past me first, old man!"

Almost the moment Nie Kong materialized on the ground, the black-robed elder named She Yun appeared like a phantom. A massive cloud of dark mist rolled menacingly toward Nie Kong. The giant emerald green serpent beside him also opened its maw, spewing a plume of sickly green toxic vapor from its throat.

"Seeking death!"

Nie Kong scoffed. "There are already countless nameless members of the Serpentine Clan who have died by my hand; I won't mind adding two more!" As he spoke, Nie Kong exerted his will. The 'Crimson Star Battle Form' manifested, his body instantly swelling into a giant over ten meters tall, and he stomped directly into the cloud of black mist and poison vapor. In the Lingfu Cage, even after the Gourd used over ninety different poisons, they couldn't harm Nie Kong; ultimately, it took the non-poisonous 'Tenth Grade Drunken Spirit Incense' to finally subdue him. How could this paltry bit of serpent venom possibly concern Nie Kong now?

Hiss! Hiss...

The mingled black mist and venom created a strange sound upon contact with Nie Kong's body, like cold water splashing onto a red-hot iron. Nie Kong ignored it, swinging his massive fist fiercely towards She Yun, whose face was contorted in a savage grimace. A faint golden light flickered across the surface of his fist.

"Dong Ling (Spirit Penetration)?"

She Yun whispered in surprise, but wary of Nie Kong's Flower Spirit, he suddenly retreated a hundred meters. However, the emerald green giant serpent took on the task of testing Nie Kong. Its tail, sharp as a spike, transformed into a streak of emerald light, carving a serpentine arc through the void for dozens of meters before piercing toward Nie Kong's back.

A hint of mockery crossed Nie Kong’s face. That emerald serpent was merely a Dong Ling expert; such power could not scratch his fifth-level 'Crimson Star Battle Form' in the slightest.

"Bang!"

Just as the tip of the giant serpent's tail flashed like lightning and grazed Nie Kong's spine, Nie Kong’s right hand shot out backward. His palm, huge as a cattail fan, instantly clamped down on the serpent's tail. His five fingers, radiating an intense golden glow, tore through the hard scales and sank into the snake flesh. Immediately, blood gushed forth.

In agony, the giant serpent thrashed violently. Its massive, triangular head lunged forward to bite, its speed so extreme that barely entering Nie Kong's field of vision, the distance to his head shrank to less than a meter. Its gaping maw looked capable of swallowing Nie Kong whole in the next breath.

"Whoosh!"

Nie Kong tossed his head aside and thrust his clenched left fist directly into the giant serpent's mouth. The serpent head hastily retreated ten meters, but Nie Kong’s right arm had already whipped outward simultaneously. A sphere of golden light coiled and plunged into the serpent’s body, then began to spread rapidly along its length, visible to the naked eye.

"Crack, crack..."

A series of sickening cracking sounds echoed through the air.

"Insolent!"

A thousand meters high, Lord Serpent had already noticed Nie Kong's move. He hadn't intervened, wishing only to see the appearance of the Flower Spirit that had rendered the Spirit Temple powerless. But the Flower Spirit remained hidden, and now a Dong Ling expert of the Serpentine Clan was on the verge of soul annihilation. If Nie Kong succeeded, what face would Lord Serpent have left?

"Hiss!"

A streak of crimson light shot from Lord Serpent’s mouth.

Nie Kong flicked his right arm, launching the massive serpent body away from him, hurling it violently toward She Yun a hundred meters away. Simultaneously, 'War God Star Seals' continuously shimmered forth from within his body. Facing Lord Serpent's offensive, Nie Kong dared not be careless. After the Star Seals, the resplendent, golden 'Spirit Cave' quietly manifested.

Since his spiritual power transformation, Nie Kong's Spirit Cave had also changed. The dark green 'Spirit Treasure Essence' on its surface had been replaced by a nearly transparent Natural Origin Power, making it appear entirely golden, its might far surpassing its previous state.

However, Nie Kong was surprised to realize he had still underestimated the power of this Lord Serpent.

"Hiss!"

Like a blade tearing through the air, that single crimson ray actually pierced through five layers of 'War God Star Seals,' rapidly stabbing into the golden Spirit Cave, and then exiting through the bottom of the Cave. It then split in two, branding itself onto the surfaces of the twin fists Nie Kong had simultaneously thrown out. A faint stinging sensation immediately flooded him.

After this single strike, the Star Seals dispersed, the Spirit Cave shattered, and the crimson ray swiftly retracted, vanishing back into Lord Serpent’s mouth in an instant.

Only then did Nie Kong realize that the attack upon him had been an exceedingly long serpent tongue.

"This Lord Serpent is probably not much weaker than the Lord of the Spirit Temple!"

Nie Kong glanced at the two red dots oozing dark green blood on his fists, feeling a trace of astonishment in his heart. Since the 'War God Star Seal' reached the fifth level, no one had ever managed to leave even a scratch on his body. Yet here, the Lord Serpent of the Serpentine Clan had managed to carve two bloody wounds onto his fists.

While Nie Kong was surprised, the Lord Serpent high above was even more astonished. Nie Kong's physical resilience was far beyond his expectations. With such a body, ordinary Heavenly Spirit experts should have been completely incapable of harming him, let alone killing him! Even without the Flower Spirit, the assassination attempt by the five figures like Snake Pupil back then should have failed.

At this moment, Lord Serpent finally understood how wrong their decision had been to plan a simultaneous ambush. But the Heavenly Spirit experts of the Serpentine Clan were already destroyed, and regret was useless now. For a moment, boundless killing intent surged from Lord Serpent’s large, blood-red eyes: if this person lived, the Serpentine Clan was doomed!

"Swish!"

With hardly any hesitation, his thick serpent tail poured down from the sky like a sharp giant sword. However, the moment Lord Serpent moved, the attack from Mu Xueyi's transformed 'Ancestral Heaven Divine Canopy Tree' descended. Millions of roots and branches whipped madly toward the serpentine shadow, filling the high sky with green.