Chapter Forty-Five: The Skull

“If I want to become stronger, then killing monsters and leveling up is definitely the fastest way,” Zhou Tian mused to himself. “But to slaughter the innocent? I really can’t bring myself to do it. Besides, the waters in this world seem deeper than they appear. If I really went on a rampage, who knows what ancient monsters I’d draw out? So, as long as I can avoid harming ordinary people, it’s best not to touch them. Actually, the way I’m doing things now isn’t bad at all! I’ve not only helped the villagers, but I’ve also received their gratitude while obtaining magic cores—a win for both fame and fortune! What’s more, since I only killed at the villagers’ request, even the temples on the continent probably won’t come after me. Legal killing—damn, I’m too clever! From now on, this is how I’ll do things! Leveling up while gaining a reputation—where else could I find a deal this good?”

As the snake village’s people gazed at him with awe and excitement, Zhou Tian, feeling rather lightheaded with pride, made a silent decision in his heart.

Meanwhile, as Zhou Tian was being worshipped by the villagers, a new “guest” arrived at the ruined bandit stronghold he had destroyed.

“What happened here?” A man dressed as a bard, surveying the skeletal remains left by Tiger Face and the other bandits, muttered coldly, as if talking to himself. Suddenly, as if possessed by madness, he stomped violently on the bones, crushing them to dust, and screamed furiously, “Are you kidding me? I’ve been hiding in this wretched place for years just to complete my mission! Things were finally starting to look up, and now these fools have all died for no reason—what about my mission? All my hard work—gone! Who did this? I’ll kill him! I’ll kill him… Yes, I must kill him!”

Muttering this with manic fervor, the man suddenly slit his own wrist and drew a magic circle on the ground with his blood.

“Great Demon God Douglas, hear my plea… (words omitted)… Summon: Hellhound!”

As the incantation ended, the magic circle shone with a blood-red light, and a massive hound, half a meter tall at the shoulder, rose from the circle.

“Hellhound, sniff the area and track down anyone who’s been here recently!”

“Woof!” After a bark, the hellhound began sniffing around. Whether by the beast’s keen sense of smell or because Zhou Tian’s scent lingered strongly, the hound quickly picked up the trails of Zhou Tian and the snakes. Barking again, it led the man in pursuit of Zhou Tian’s path.

Unaware that someone was following the trail of the bandits he’d slain, Zhou Tian, after receiving the villagers’ thanks, gave them a few brief instructions and slithered toward a secluded valley he’d chosen as his new dwelling.

About an hour after Zhou Tian’s departure, the bard-like man and the hellhound arrived outside Snake Village. When the hellhound sniffed around the village outskirts and then continued in another direction, the man cast a dark glance at Snake Village. As he turned to leave, he muttered a few spells, and, as he departed, several meteors fell from the sky.

Zhou Tian, not truly a serpent god, naturally had no way of knowing what happened in Snake Village after his departure. Upon reaching the valley, he tidied up a cave inside and settled in.

His recent experiences had taught Zhou Tian that his current strength was still woefully inadequate. This time, he resolved that until he could guarantee his own safety, he absolutely would not venture out courting trouble.

Lounging lazily on the ground, pretending to be dead, Zhou Tian sent a swarm of vipers to patrol the surroundings. They served not only as sentinels, but also as a means for Zhou Tian to hone his control over the Serpent Basin, that wondrous immortal artifact.

And so, Zhou Tian entered a sort of hibernation. Whenever he needed something, he would direct the snakes to fetch or handle it, while he lay with his eyes closed, deep in thought. If nothing unexpected happened, the day would pass quietly in this manner.

But just then, the man who had been tracking Zhou Tian with the hellhound finally reached the outskirts of the valley.

“That fellow can really hide! To think he’d hole up in a place like this—if you didn’t search carefully, you’d never find him.” With a cold sneer, the man patted the hellhound’s head and sent it away, then once again used his own blood to draw a magic circle on the ground.

About five minutes after the man arrived outside the valley, Zhou Tian was suddenly alerted by signals from his patrolling snakes.

“An attack!” At first, Zhou Tian had never imagined that he’d be ambushed in such a remote valley. Fortunately, having only recently left the battlefield, he had retained his wariness despite the change in scenery. The moment he received the warning, he instantly snapped awake.

Though he had no idea what kind of enemy was approaching, Zhou Tian immediately summoned the Serpent Basin.

Tens of thousands of venomous snakes poured out from the basin under his control, surging toward the valley entrance.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the snakes engaged in battle, and Zhou Tian, after confirming the danger, continued to send out more snakes until he was certain the situation was temporarily under control. Only then did he crawl out of his cave.

“Skeletons!” Zhou Tian swore this was the first time he’d ever seen real undead creatures. Although he’d arrived in another world, he never expected to actually encounter the undead. Recognizing the enemies fighting his snakes, he couldn’t help but feel a chill of fear.

Undead might be mere low-level monsters in games, but to someone like Zhou Tian, who had never faced them in reality, their appearance was unsettling. Never mind their actual strength—just confronting a heap of moving bones was enough to sap his courage.

“Why would such things show up here?” Looking around and seeing that his cave had no other exit, Zhou Tian had no choice but to steel himself and crawl toward the skeletons.

“If I’d known there were things like this here, I never would have chosen this place to live.” Not knowing where the skeletons had come from, Zhou Tian could only assume their appearance was linked to his arrival. Annoyed at his poor choice of residence, he began to adapt, little by little, to the fight with the skeletons.

And as he observed them for a while, Zhou Tian’s fear gradually faded.

Skeletons were not the supernatural spirits of Eastern tales. Although their movements were strange, if you regarded them as nothing more than animated bones, you’d realize there was nothing inherently terrifying about them.

You could touch and see them; their attacks were purely physical. Once he began to view them as a peculiar form of life, Zhou Tian completely set aside the idea that they were anything more than that.

With his fear dispelled, Zhou Tian calmed down and joined the battle.

“The skeletons aren’t very strong, but since they’re immune to poison, using venomous snakes against them isn’t very effective!” After observing the fight, Zhou Tian quickly realized why his snakes couldn’t dispatch the skeletons quickly. After weighing his options, he recalled the snakes outside and sent in a different group to take on the skeletal foes.