The Black Totem Snake was very powerful, without a doubt the strongest creature Mo Fan had ever seen. The Darkwing Wolf, Razortail Drake, Xuanwu Giant Lizard, and Giant Poisonous Centipede were like little bugs compared to the Black Totem Snake. They would impress him if they could survive a mouthful of poison from the snake!
Fortunately, the Black Totem Snake did not possess any evil tendencies. He did not hold a grudge against the humans despite being tortured by the Councilmen and rejected by the people. Otherwise, if the Black Totem Snake were to attack Hangzhou City together with the Silver Skyruler, the city would most likely end up in ruins. Their experts could not even handle a Silver Skyruler, and yet it was badly beaten up by the Black Totem Snake. If the Black Totem Snake turned against them, he did not even need an army. He could easily destroy the place on his own!
The victorious Black Totem Snake did not chase after the Silver Skyruler. The Silver Skyruler had various ways to keep itself alive, thus it was rather meaningless to pursue the demon bird. The totem beast raised his head proudly and uttered a blasting roar!
His voice spread a great distance. Not only did it echo through the forest in the west, but in the valleys, rivers, and woods in other directions, too!
It served as a declaration that he had defeated the dominator of West Ridge, the Silver Skyruler, while warning the rest of the demon beasts that he was residing in the city. Any trespasser would suffer his wrath!
In simpler words, he had declared ownership of Hangzhou!
——
The majestic demeanor of the Black Totem Snake prompted Mo Fan to recall the drawings in the shrine at the center of the lake.
Only those who had witnessed the Black Totem Snake's strength could tell how strong he actually was. He was just like a god, protecting the beautiful city for so many centuries!
————
As the White Magic Falcons and the Silver Skyruler flew off into the distance, the alert that had everyone in a panic was finally withdrawn.
The people in the emergency safe zone returned to their areas. The defense of West Fortress returned to normal. Many places had recalled the Heavenly Eagles Battlemages to set up defensive perimeters, to ensure that Hangzhou City was no longer in danger.
The biggest problem the humans had in the battle was the Heavenly Eagles...
The ruler of West Ridge had never left its territory before, thus the military never realized that the Heavenly Eagles, which originated from the same species as the White Magic Falcons, would betray them.
The Heavenly Eagles were the most important firepower in the air for the military. When they turned against them, the sky suddenly became free to fly for the demon birds. They could easily bypass the roadblocks that were set up on the ground.
Luckily, the Black Totem Snake had eliminated the threat before it invaded the city. Otherwise, it was horrible to consider the casualties that might have resulted from the mistake they had almost made!
——-
The crowd returned to West Fortress. No one had let their guard down after the retreat of the White Magic Falcons.
North of West Ridge was a huge forest. The demon beasts residing there had always been restless. It was highly possible that they would take advantage of the precarious situation to invade, thus they could not afford to relax after the battle. They had to improve their defensive measures, to prevent the demon beasts from finding an opening!
"Strange, normally, the demon beasts would try and invade us, just to give us some pressure. Why are they fairly quiet this time? I thought the army of White Magic Falcons fought the opening battle for them?" asked General Yun Feng, a confused tone to his voice, from where he stood on the highest observation tower on the fortress.
"I guess the Black Totem Snake has scared them away?" said Tang Zhong.
The Black Totem Snake did not just let out a few roars randomly. Not only did they realize the demon beasts in the west became fairly quiet, the fortresses in the east, south, and north were surprised when they found out that the demon beasts had withdrawn over ten kilometers from their territory!
Councilman Zhu Meng, who had not fully recovered yet, let out a relieved sigh with a complicated expression.
"Zhu Meng..." Elder Li Tian was about to say.
Councilman Zhu Meng waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, my Threat Elimination Strategy no longer includes the Black Totem Snake. Either way, he has saved us all, and made up for the grave mistake that we made. I should thank him instead!"
Councilman Zhu Meng subconsciously glanced at the Skyscraping Snake staying close to the perimeter of West Fortress.
The Black Totem Snake woke up from his nap as if he were aware of his name being mentioned. He tilted his head toward the observation tower.
His giant head stared at the crowd on the tower, before opening his mouth all of a sudden...
Councilman Zhu Meng instantly tensed. The brilliance of Magic appeared around his figure.
Meanwhile, the Black Totem Snake spat something out from his mouth.
The lump covered in stomach acid rolled to their feet. Mo Fan pinched his nose. It did look somehow familiar to him...
"It looks like a person..." said Tang Zhong with a confused look.
Councilman Zhu Meng's face was instantly filled with anger. He pointed his finger at the Black Totem Snake and snapped, "You dare to eat a human! I shall serve justice today even if it means putting my life at stake!"
Councilman Zhu Meng demanded, but he did not move. He was no match for the Black Totem Snake at his full strength, let alone when he was still injured!
Mo Fan chuckled when he saw Councilman Zhu Meng's reaction. "Don't worry, it's only Councilman Luo Mian!"
Everyone immediately took a closer look at the figure that was covered in stomach acid, which suddenly began to move. Most of his skin and flesh had corroded. He was crawling on the ground painfully. He grabbed Councilman Zhu Meng's leg with his hands.
The previously well-respected Councilman had now turned into a half-digested ugly monster. Some among the crowd felt sorry for him, yet Mo Fan, Lingling, and Leng Qing all agreed that he deserved it well.
"Ah, Brother Luo Mian, may I ask why the bracelet we gave to Wang Xiaojun is currently in your hand?" Councilman Zhu Meng asked with a cold smirk.
Councilman Luo Mian pleaded with the crowd to spare his life. He begged at Councilman Zhu Meng's feet for a long time. When he realized that it was not working, he used all his effort to crawl toward Tangyue. He knew that the Black Totem Snake hugely favored Tangyue. A single sentence from her could easily convince the scary snake to spare his life.
Tangyue slowly knelt down and glanced at Councilman Luo Mian's corroded face. When everyone thought she had decided to show mercy and spare his life, she simply grabbed the bracelet from his hand and snapped, "This glory that was traded with a brave person's life does not belong to you!"
The Red Falcon Herbs that were retrieved from the bracelet were soon transported to the main quarantine zone. Despite the delay, it managed to arrive before the second batch of infected died.
Mr. Lu speedily produced the cure for the plague using the Red Falcon Herbs and distributed it among the infected. Those who were not in severe condition recovered in no time. It would take the others a few days of rest before they were allowed to reunite with their families.
The quarantine zone was filled with tears of joy. The people were extremely worn out from the torture of the plague and the invasion of the demon beasts. They had learned that they should treat life as more precious from the experience.
Little did they know, the main reason they were able to survive from the plague and the invasion was a youngster and a crossbreed Heavenly Eagle.
The heroic Heavenly Eagle was buried in some corner of the land. Similar to the Black Totem Snake who had protected the city secretly for many years, it was also considered the guardian of the city. Regardless of how petty its lineage and strength were, its contribution would be acknowledged by the people for many years.
As for the youngster that the Heavenly Eagle had carried back to West Fortress, he was still in a deep sleep even after everyone had recovered from the plague.
He was only an empty shell without a soul. However, when everything returned to normal, he was given the highest respect by the soldiers of the entire fortress.
Similar to the Heavenly Eagle, he was so weak that he did not even possess a military rank, yet he was willing to sacrifice all he had to save the city.
When the soldiers saw the cold body of the youngster lying on the stand, they clearly realized that respect was not earned by powerful status or high age, nor was it earned by having an outstanding strength. What mattered the most was the pure, innocent heart!
Something that looked extremely terrifying turned out to be the guardian of the city, yet a Magician who seemed rather friendly and gentle turned out to be the cause of the disaster!
The people had many things to learn, reflect on and remember from this incident.
Their only hope was that Hangzhou City would not experience the same tragedy again. On top of that, they also wished they were more people like Wang Xiaojun, who was willing to stand forward and face the terrifying army of White Magic Falcons despite his young age. He did not have a military rank, but he was not scared of the authorities when he clearly knew the right thing to do.
A formidable enemy was not enough to bring doom upon mankind, but the corruption of one's heart was. It would spread widely among the people and bring destruction upon humanity.
——
"Is there really no way to save him?" Lingling asked as she leaned against the ice bed which was preserving the body. Her eyes flickered with a hint of frustration.
Mr. Lu stroked his mustache with a helpless expression. He shook his head and uttered a sigh, "Some said that the highest Magic of the Healing Element has the ability to revive someone. I myself have yet to achieve such a height, but I believe someone in this world has done so. The problem is, it will only work when his soul is fully preserved. In his situation, his body is in perfect condition, yet half of his soul was taken away. Only one place in this world can save him."
Lingling blurted out, "Where is it? Tell me!"
Mr. Lu hesitated for a moment, before replying, "The Parthenon Temple."
A thought crossed Mo Fan's mind. The Parthenon Temple?
It was the second time he had heard the name. It sounded like a sacred place in a different country. He recalled that Tangyue had mentioned the same name when he asked her how he could possibly save Xu Zhaoting's life in the past.
What kind of place was it? The highest temple for the Healing Element?
If the Healers there could possibly wake Wang Xiaojun up, couldn't the government of Hangzhou City ask them a favor to save the kid's life?
"Shouldn't we send him to the Parthenon Temple, if we know there's a chance he could be saved?" asked Lingling.
Mr. Lu waved his hand and spoke, "I don't know about the details, but I'm sure that it won't make any difference, even if we brought Wang Xiaojun there. They do have the ability to resurrect one's soul, but they are very strict about it, and they don't welcome visitors. Even the President of our country's Magic Association wouldn't convince them to save the kid, let alone the city's government."
"So there's no way we can help him?" said Mo Fan.
"We'll leave him in sleep for now. Maybe a miracle will happen. His soul might recover slowly. No matter how slim the chance is, we'll take care of him," said Mr. Lu.
—————-
West Lake...
Su Causeway had a totally different look. Except for the path that was filled with fallen leaves, the place was crowded with visitors. Many people had visited West Lake after the incident, hoping they could see the Black Totem Snake in person.
The Black Totem Snake had suddenly become a tourist attraction, gathering a huge number of tourists here. They completely forgot that the city had just gone through a red alert crisis.
Unfortunately, the Black Totem Snake never showed himself after the battle. The visitors only found themselves staring at the lake's water.
The news about the Black Totem Snake spread wildly. The people now knew that Hangzhou City had a guardian, explaining why a city that had existed for such a long time had suffered the lowest number of invasions.
When everything returned to normal, there were elderly taking a walk on Su Causeway, couples having dates on the benches and families visiting the city enjoying themselves beside the lake. As the fear that loomed over the city totally disappeared, the city regained its peace... It was all up to the residents to not take the peaceful time for granted.
"Here, this is for you," Tangyue softly swiped her hair, giving Mo Fan a stunning smile.
Mo Fan received Tangyue's gift with a confused look. He slowly opened up the wrapping.
"What is this? It's hard and black?" said Mo Fan.
"It's what you asked for," said Tangyue sternly.
Mo Fan could not help but mumble in his heart, What I want is you, why are you giving me instead?
"It's the Black Totem Snake's scales. You can use it to forge a set of armor!" said Tangyue.
"Oh, right, just these much? I was planning to forge a few sets of them," said Mo Fan, who was checking out the scales, which only seemed to be enough for a single set of armor.
"They aren't scales you can just find, and the scales that peel off during the ecdysis are incredibly hard to refine. I've tried very hard to find a good blacksmith, and this is all I get? Give it back if you're not happy with it!" Tangyue said with a long face.
The materials required to forge magic armor was rather unique. It needed to have a special element inside it in order to be eligible for forging, refining, and enchantment, and had less than a one percent chance to appear. The scales that the Black Totem Snake peeled off basically did not contain this special element...
If the whole skin that the snake had shed was eligible to be forged into armor equipment, they would have produced them in bulk. Magical equipment was incredibly scarce, not only because they were difficult to produce, but because the material was very hard to find, too!
"I'm happy with a set of armor," Mo Fan chuckled. He would not dare reject Tangyue's gift!
"Snake scale is a special material, especially the Black Totem Snake's... I suggest you look for a talented forgemaster at Dongfang Oriental Tower. Not every forgemaster can handle the difficulty of forging a set of armor with these scales," advised Tangyue.
"Mm, I've stayed in Hangzhou for too long. It's time for me to go back to school!" said Mo Fan with a relaxed smile, placing his hands behind his head. He was excited to see Ding Yumian and also chill in his position as chief
"You've done a lot this time. Hangzhou's Enforcement Union has proposed granting you a rather unique title," Tangyue said with a giggle.
"What title?" asked Mo Fan immediately I am already the chief of the fire institutte.
"You will know it once you arrive at school, and you're welcome Chief," Tangyue replied with a mysterious smile.