Tu Xiao'an stepped out of the small hall of the Demon Management Bureau to find the driver waiting for him at the entrance. The driver said coolly, "I'll see you out."

'So polite?'

The driver added flatly, "You can't get out of here without me."

'It seems this place is quite mysterious. An ordinary person would never be able to find it.'

Tu Xiao'an nodded. Just as they were about to leave, the driver tossed him a black cloth. Tu Xiao'an gave a wry smile and obligingly put on the blindfold.

After getting in the car and being driven to an unknown destination, Tu Xiao'an was let out. He found himself back at the same intersection with the traffic light.

The black sedan made a U-turn and sped away without so much as a goodbye.

Tu Xiao'an stood there thinking for a moment. He decided to head back to the Chen Family Mansion first to let the human-demon couple know he'd be busy for the next two days and wouldn't be returning. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

An hour later, he received a message on his phone from Leng Shuang, a manager at the Demon Management Bureau, with the specific details and geographical location of the village.

Time was short, so Tu Xiao'an didn't delay. He immediately headed for Wen Mountain Ridge, following the location provided.

Five kilometers outside the city center lay Wencheng Mountain, a vast, rolling mountain range that stretched all the way to She Mountain in Bai Town.

When Tu Xiao'an had escaped from the Shanye Group, he had followed this very mountain range back to She Mountain.

Once he left the inhabited areas and entered the mountains, Tu Xiao'an felt like a fish in water. He shot into the air and flew on his way.

'Deep in the mountains, he didn't have to worry about being seen.'

After about an hour of flying over the mountain range, just as the sun was beginning to set, Tu Xiao'an spotted a village of a few hundred residents nestled in a hollow up ahead.

Flying high above, Tu Xiao'an looked down to see a black miasma hanging over the village. A dense aura of the Snake Race enveloped the entire settlement. For a moment, it looked as if a colossal snake was coiled around the village, preparing to swallow it whole.

"This must be the place."

Tu Xiao'an knew at a glance that the village below, shrouded in a serpentine aura, was the place Leng Shuang had told him about.

'I wonder how this hidden, plague-spreading Snake Spirit compares to the Vampire Snake.'

Tu Xiao'an began his descent, looking like a Celestial God descending to the mortal realm.

The village's location was somewhat secluded, as if cut off from the rest of the world. Few outsiders ever came or went.

This was the kind of place people meant when they talked about "children of the mountains."

There were plenty of remote villages near Bai Town, but none were as isolated as this one, which seemed utterly detached from the world.

It would be incredibly difficult for anyone unfamiliar with the area to find. If not for his high-altitude flight giving him a bird's-eye view, Tu Xiao'an would have had a hard time locating it himself.

Tu Xiao'an stood outside the village, observing for a moment. 'The serpentine aura is so dense,' he thought. 'That plague-spreading Snake Spirit shouldn't be hard to find.'

His eyes narrowed, and his powerful Consciousness Power swept out, blanketing the entire area.

'I have to find that Snake Spirit's hiding place.'

'Three days? I can probably be done with this in a few hours.'

His Consciousness Power instantly enveloped the village, but a moment later, Tu Xiao'an's brow furrowed slightly.

He hadn't found any trace of the Snake Spirit.

'Strange. The serpentine aura is so thick, how can I not find its source?'

'It's like smelling a foul stench but being unable to find where it's coming from.'

'No wonder the Demon Management Bureau said they couldn't find the hidden Snake Spirit.'

'This is getting interesting. I'll head into the village and see for myself.'

Confident in his abilities, Tu Xiao'an strode into the village. The moment he entered, he felt something was off. The ground was littered with Yin Coins, but there wasn't a single living soul in sight.

A crow cawed incessantly from a withered tree, making the whole village feel like a giant, desolate graveyard, steeped in a deathly silence.

"What a village, saturated with Death Qi."

Given the village's state, an ordinary person wouldn't dare set foot inside. The weather was mildly warm, yet a bone-chilling cold emanated from the village itself.

For some reason, Tu Xiao'an felt a flicker of excitement. He felt like a Daoist arriving to exorcise a demon.

'What kind of Snake Spirit could wreak such havoc, leaving an entire village to wither away like this?'

Tu Xiao'an continued into the village. Just past the entrance, he was surprised to see a few people carrying a coffin in a funeral procession, their faces etched with grief.

As the coffin was carried past him, one of the elderly pallbearers noticed Tu Xiao'an. He looked surprised to see an outsider and couldn't help but ask, "Young man, who are you? What brings you to our Ping'an Village?"

'Ping'an Village?'

'Any fool could tell this village was anything but "ping'an,"' Tu Xiao'an thought. He quickly replied, "Sir, I'm a tourist who got lost and wandered into your village."

"Oh, a lost tourist," the old man said. Despite being in mourning, he was kind. "If you don't mind the somber occasion, you can walk with us. We're leaving the village, and I can point you in the right direction from there."

But Tu Xiao'an was here to vanquish a demon; he couldn't leave so soon. Feigning confusion, he asked, "Sir, has something happened in this village?"

"Young man, I won't lie to you," the old man said, sighing and shaking his head with an air of tragic resignation. "Our village has been struck by a strange, contagious disease. You should leave at once."

"A strange disease?"

'Shouldn't it be the plague from the Snake Spirit? It seems the villagers don't know the whole story.'

Leng Shuang hadn't given Tu Xiao'an the full backstory on the village. She had only said that it was saturated with a serpentine aura, which likely meant a plague-spreading Snake Spirit was hiding there.

That was why they had asked him, the Snake King, to intervene.

Since he had just arrived, Tu Xiao'an wasn't in a rush. He wanted to get a clearer picture of the situation first. After a moment's thought, he said, "Sir, what kind of strange disease is it? I'm a doctor. Maybe you could tell me about it."

"You... a doctor?" The old man looked at Tu Xiao'an's young, clean-cut features, skeptical that he could be a doctor. He seemed hesitant to speak.

Tu Xiao'an said, "Sir, please, just tell me what you can about this strange disease."

"Young man, it's not that I don't want to tell you. I'm just afraid the truth will frighten you."

Tu Xiao'an smiled. "Grandpa, please, go ahead."

Seeing his persistence, the old man nodded and said, "This strange disease in our village is truly bizarre. At first, when a person gets sick, it doesn't seem serious—just a few blisters on the skin. But as time passes, more and more blisters appear, growing larger and larger until they cover the whole body. The slightest touch causes unbearable, stinging pain. When the blisters burst, they ooze pus and blood. The wounds fester, never healing, and the bleeding never stops. The suffering is indescribable."

"After a few days, the person's entire body swells horribly and begins to rot. If you so much as touch them, their flesh gives way, leaving a bloody hole. Dark blood constantly seeps out from beneath their skin. By this point, they're so tormented that death would be a mercy. Every day is like living in Hell."

The old man's eyes filled with deep fear as he spoke. "The pain is more than any human can bear. By that stage, the afflicted always beg for death. But it doesn't end there. After the body has been laid out for a day or two, the blood, instead of clotting, gushes out like some kind of corrosive fluid. It sizzles as it dissolves the corpse, until in the end, not even the bones remain—only a pool of blood."

Tu Xiao'an couldn't help but draw a sharp breath after hearing this. 'This disease is that terrifying?'

'It sounds like poisoning... and an incredibly potent one at that.'