The dawn after the serpent's appearance was clouded and grey, a heavy mist clinging to the mountains like ancient sorrow. Green Lantern Village sat nestled in the valley below, still and watchful, its thatched rooftops slick with dew. But peace was an illusion.
Smoke curled faintly from three separate homes. The village elder, an old man with hollow eyes, greeted Lu Xuan and Su Xue with a quiet nod as they descended the worn path into the square. Behind them trailed a small group—sect disciples sent alongside them: Ming Zhao, a sharp-eyed strategist; Fei Yan, quiet but fierce with her twin sabers; and Yao Lin, the girl in yellow robes, known as the "Yellow Bond." Mysterious and soft-spoken, Yao Lin seemed to sense changes in qi before they happened.
Lu Xuan also recalled the young girl he had saved two days before when they first arrived at Green Lantern—Mei, the daughter of a sick farmer, who had unknowingly wandered into the cursed boundary line. She now followed her mother, both of them silently bowing as he passed. The girl clutched a dried flower he had handed her that day, eyes filled with a quiet, reverent awe.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" the elder rasped. "Something stirs beneath our soil."
Lu Xuan's crimson eye flickered. "You mean the serpent?"
"The beast is a guardian," the elder said. "But its stirring means the seals are weakening. Strange sickness has gripped our children. Crops rot overnight. Men dream of fire and teeth."
Su Xue exchanged a glance with Lu Xuan. This was not just spiritual imbalance. It was a creeping infection of qi—something ancient reawakening.
They followed the elder through winding alleys until they reached a long-abandoned shrine. Inside, talismans peeled from walls and the floor sagged with age. But beneath the altar was something more—a sealed gate made of obsidian and inscribed with forgotten glyphs.
"This was not built by us," the elder murmured. "The first villagers feared what lay below. They locked it away."
Lu Xuan stepped closer. The glyphs shimmered under his touch.
The seal resonated with his qi—no, it recognized it.
Su Xue placed a hand on his shoulder. "If this connects to your past… you may be the only one who can open it."
"Or keep it shut," Lu Xuan said quietly.
They opened the gate.
Darkness spilled forth—not just the absence of light, but a suffocating presence, like a thousand forgotten voices whispering at once.
What lay below was a vast cavern hollowed by time and sealed by runes of old. At its center pulsed a corrupted spirit root, half-alive, its energy poisoned and chaotic. Wrapped around it were bones—human, beast, and something else. A knot of malice had taken root here.
From a coiled shadow near the root, the ancient serpent slithered forward again—its obsidian-scaled body glowing faintly. It turned its gaze to Lu Xuan, bowing low. The others stepped back in awe.
"It is you once more," the serpent spoke. "I remember... your first breath. You bore the Immortal Demon God Body. You carried the hunger that created and destroyed."
Ming Zhao whispered, "Immortal Demon God Body... that's a myth. A body that can't die and only grows stronger by devouring?"
Yao Lin's gaze narrowed, golden irises shimmering. "Not a myth," she murmured. "He's wearing it like a second skin."
Mei, the girl Lu Xuan had saved, had crept down behind them, drawn by the familiar warmth she had felt before. Her presence brought a soft contrast to the heavy air. She clung to her flower still.
Lu Xuan walked to the edge of the root. "This is the source. This is what's killing the land."
Su Xue frowned. "If you devour it, can you purify it?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he sat cross-legged and placed his hand on the root.
The energy fought back—feral, venomous—but Lu Xuan's body surged with black and gold light. The Devouring Skill opened like a vortex.
The cavern shook. The corrupted qi screamed as it was torn away, consumed by an entity born for such chaos.
Veins of corruption burned away. The spirit root pulsed once, then flickered gently into calm.
Lu Xuan opened his eyes. His aura was sharper now, clearer, no longer just consuming—but refining.
Breakthrough: Foundation Establishment → Mid Foundation Stage
Outside, the sky lightened. Birds returned to the trees. The fog began to lift.
The elder, who had waited above, wept when he saw the change. "You have done what none could."
Su Xue gave a soft smile, but her eyes were wary. Not of Lu Xuan's power, but of its ease. It grew fast. Too fast. As if the world itself was *feeding him*.
That night, as villagers held quiet celebrations, Lu Xuan and Su Xue sat by a riverbank. The serpent coiled beside them in silence.
"They see you as a savior now," Su Xue said, watching lanterns float downstream.
Lu Xuan didn't answer immediately. "What if I was never meant to save? What if I only… undo?"
She looked at him, then smirked lightly. "Then I'll just have to nag you until you become a decent person."
He chuckled. A rare sound. "Terrifying."
Nearby, Yao Lin stood watching them under the lantern light, her expression unreadable. The serpent gave her a slow glance. "She knows more than she lets on."
Their eyes met, and something passed between Lu Xuan and Su Xue—unspoken, but growing.
Far away, in a fortress carved into a mountain of bone, a woman with crimson eyes opened her fan and smiled.
"He awakens."
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**End of Chapter 16**