Chapter 157: The Appearance of Aomu

The Five Immortals Mountain was characterized by towering peaks and dense forests, through which an elderly man was walking.

He had an aged face, with a mark on his right cheek resembling a burn from a flame. His build was robust, featuring massive, well-defined muscles across his chest. Dressed in animal skins and grasping a vine staff, he looked much like a wild man. Most peculiar of all was his thick, verdant green hair, which formed a striking contrast with his weathered features.

He was Aumu Lei, hailing from the Aumu family. As the patriarch and ancestor of the clan, he possessed cultivation at the Dao Foundation realm.

"It seems a spiritual treasure truly was born here."

Walking barefoot, he easily stepped over all manner of obstacles until he arrived before a mountain peak. Here, he sensed a faint lingering aura of a spiritual treasure. Although this treasure had come into existence some time ago and had already been taken away by someone, he still managed to discover a few traces.

The next instant, he gently tapped the ground with his vine staff, and a sweep of green light washed over the surroundings. Aumu Lei's consciousness merged seamlessly with the surrounding flora and fauna.

"I have arrived too late."

In communion with the surrounding vegetation, Aumu Lei instantly confirmed his suspicion. A spiritual treasure had indeed been born here, and an attribute of wood at that, but it had already been claimed by another.

"It seems the previous riot at Black Water Pool was no coincidence. It was deliberately orchestrated to stall me and prevent me from sparing the energy to deal with the Five Immortals Mountain."

As his thoughts churned, the doubts that had previously lingered in Aumu Lei's mind were cleared up.

Among the four southern commanderies, Qingyuan Commandery lay innermost, close to the dynastic heartland, while Qingteng Commandery sat at the outermost edge, facing the most perilous wilderness. As the ruler of Qingteng Commandery, the Aumu family's primary duty was to suppress the borderlands.

As for Black Water Dock, it was a faction formed by a gathering of demonic entities. Led by a crocodile demon who also possessed Dao Foundation realm cultivation, they were the Aumu family's greatest enemy.

When the spiritual treasure in the Five Immortals Mountain had first manifested, the commotion was hardly small. It had triggered battles among the demons within the mountain and aroused suspicions from the outside world. Although the Aumu family was quite a distance from Qingyuan Commandery, they had still received word of it.

Though unable to verify the truth of the news, the Aumu family had nevertheless intended to investigate, as spiritual treasures were rare. Yet right at that moment, Black Water Dock had suddenly launched an incursion, effectively entangling the Aumu family and leaving them without the sufficient energy to attend to the affairs of the Five Immortals Mountain.

Even the events within Changfeng Commandery had been left unaddressed by the Aumu family precisely because of the distraction caused by Black Water Dock. By the time everything had settled down, it was already too late.

"Judging by this now, the demon that obtained that spiritual treasure is most likely that green serpent demon."

Having guessed the truth, Aumu Lei took a single step, and his figure vanished instantly. When he reappeared, he was already inside a bamboo grove.

"Based on the intelligence gathered previously, this green serpent demon has extraordinary fortune. It once acquired a transformation grass, cultivated a human form, and its spiritual awareness increased greatly. Now, it seems that is indeed true, as it has even learned array formations."

Outside the bamboo grove, a green light flashed in his cloudy, aged eyes. Aumu Lei saw right through the formation concealed within the bamboo. Anyone ignorant of its depth who rashly blundered in would, more often than not, find themselves trapped by the formation and ultimately minced to pieces.

"A few tricks, but still not enough."

With spiritual power circulating within his body and without a moment's hesitation, Aumu Lei strode directly into the bamboo grove. At that very moment, the bamboo stalks blocking his path parted of their own accord, clearing a smooth, straight thoroughfare deep into the grove.

"Neither completely human, nor fully demon."

Arriving at the depths of the bamboo grove and looking at the architecture before him—which resembled a human palace yet possessed an off, uncanny quality—Aumu Lei shook his head.

It was precisely at this moment that a serpent demon tasked with guarding the Green Serpent Palace abruptly opened its eyes. Ten zhang in length, its entire body was covered in yellowish-brown scales, and its aura was ferocious. Its true form was a mountain-crossing python, possessing the cultivation of Great Completion in Qi Refining.

Hiss, hiss, hiss. Looking outside the palace, a flicker of doubt crossed the python's eyes. It had not expected anyone to silently breach the bamboo grove's array. Yet no matter who the intruder was, since they dared to peer into the Green Serpent Palace, they deserved to die.

Intent on killing, the serpent's body coiled and directly burrowed underground. When it reappeared, it was already directly behind Aumu Lei.

Hum. Bursting forth from the earth without a moment's hesitation, the mountain-crossing python opened its massive jaws and lunged to bite Aumu Lei.

Yet Aumu Lei acted as if he sensed nothing at all, continuing his unhurried stroll forward.

At the same time, however, the mountain-crossing python's body froze in place. A single strand of verdant green hair had somehow pierced deep between its brows. Terror filled the python's eyes as it gazed upon that green hair. At this very moment, the hair was growing wildly within its flesh and blood. Forget attacking, it could not even twitch a muscle.

In that instant, it suddenly recalled the green serpent's instructions: if one encountered an entity capable of effortlessly breezing through the bamboo grove formation, do not interfere; simply hide.

Regret gnawed at its soul. The mountain-crossing python knew it had made a grave mistake, but it was already too late. The moment that strand of verdant hair was retracted, its vital aura completely dissipated. It instantly withered into a desiccated corpse, sucked dry of all life.

As for the death of the mountain-crossing python, Aumu Lei cared not in the least. The creature had only managed to detect him because he had not deliberately concealed his own whereabouts.

"As expected, it's not here."

Arriving at the innermost part of the palace and gazing upon a secret chamber containing only a discarded snakeskin, Aumu Lei felt no surprise.

If he were the green serpent, having obtained the spiritual treasure, he would most likely not have remained in this so-called Green Serpent Palace either. The only reason he had made this trip was to further verify his conjecture.

"If that green serpent truly breaks through to the Dao Foundation realm, the situation in the southern four commanderies will genuinely undergo a drastic change."

With a soft sigh, Aumu Lei stepped out of the Green Serpent Palace.

Sensing the various auras lurking in the vicinity, Aumu Lei did not even deign to look at them as he walked straight outward.

There existed a pact between the human and demon races: barring a full-scale war, beings above the Dao Foundation realm would not launch large-scale massacres against those below the Qi Refining realm. This was primarily because the destructive power of Dao Foundation cultivators was already immense; once they unleashed their might recklessly, they could easily produce scenes resembling wholesale slaughter—an outcome neither race could accept.

Of course, another reason Aumu Lei departed so easily was that the green serpent had already demonstrated the potential to break through to the Dao Foundation realm. To push things too far would inevitably invite retaliation in the future. As for the mountain-crossing python, it had purely courted its own death and could blame no one else.

After Aumu Lei left, one serpentine shadow after another manifested from the bamboo grove. The gazes they cast toward Aumu Lei were filled with utter dread.

Though most of these snake demons possessed limited intelligence, the lingering aura Aumu Lei had displayed at the end made them feel an instinctive, bone-deep terror.

Hiss, hiss, hiss. Serpent tongues flickered. A smarter snake demon began pacifying the flock, and before long, tranquility returned to the Green Serpent Palace once more, save for the oppressive atmosphere that stubbornly refused to dissipate.