For a Rank Three Creature, killing people was all too easy. It could even annihilate the entire village in an instant.

But it hadn't done so—not out of mercy, but because it first needed to know the whole story. It was an obsession.

Now that it knew the truth and had found the culprits, it cast aside all restraint, ready to unleash a massacre.

"Celestial Master Zhang, you're quite the master of deception."

Tu Xiao'an looked up, staring intently at the Snake Flood Dragon, which had swelled to over ten meters long. It floated in the air, wreathed in a black, fiery aura—a terrifying sight to behold.

"A mere Rank Two Snake Spirit... You see your ancestor, and you still don't bow in worship?"

The Snake Flood Dragon let out a sound like a weeping lament, a shrill howl that sent a chill down the spine of anyone who heard it.

Tu Xiao'an's hair stirred in the wind as he suddenly rose into the air, floating in the courtyard. He sneered, "Since you've become a Flood Dragon, you have left the Snake Race. What gives you the right to call yourself an ancestor?"

"Snakes are lowly reptiles, unfit for polite society. Evolving into a Dragon is the one true path." It was already a Flood Dragon; evolving into a Dragon in the future was no longer an impossible dream.

As a future Dragon, it had the right to look down upon all creation. Besides, even back when it was a snake, it had five hundred years of Cultivation under its belt. It was no exaggeration to call itself the ancestor of a Snake Spirit like Tu Xiao'an.

Tu Xiao'an had no interest in debating the evolutionary path of a snake or their respective seniority. Instead, he said mockingly, "The village beauty's secret lover must have been you, right?"

"Bastard! How dare you!" the Snake Flood Dragon roared from on high. The shout carried a terrifying pressure, sending wide ripples through space itself.

Its eyes, once ice-cold, suddenly held a trace of warmth as it seemed to drift into a memory. "This Celestial Master cultivated for five hundred years at the bottom of the well in Ping'an Village and finally succeeded in my Flood Dragon Transformation. I was about to soar through the heavens, but then... I met Xiaofeng."

Xiaofeng was the village beauty's name.

"One day, Xiaofeng accidentally fell to the bottom of the well. I saved her. It was right around the time this Celestial Master had learned to assume human form."

"Xiaofeng and I fell for each other. I wanted to take her away from this rural backwater, but she refused, saying she couldn't bear to leave her aging father. Then, she discovered I was a Snake Flood Dragon and broke off our relationship, saying something about the 'Different Paths for Humans and Demons.'"

A look of contempt appeared in the Snake Flood Dragon's eyes. 'It's destined to evolve into a Dragon,' it thought. 'What are mere humans? Besides, I am now a proper Rank Three Creature, far superior to ordinary life-forms.'

'I'm far more noble than any human,' it thought, 'but Xiaofeng didn't understand. She must have read too many *Strange Tales* and couldn't accept my true identity.'

"Xiaofeng was determined to end our relationship. Fine. This Celestial Master is destined to become the most exalted Divine Dragon in the world; how could I be shackled by romantic trifles? So, I decisively left Ping'an Village. At the time, I had no idea Xiaofeng was pregnant with my child."

The Snake Flood Dragon had manifested its true form, but it still referred to itself as the Celestial Master.

'It must have assumed this identity to continue its Cultivation in the mortal world after leaving in human form,' Tu Xiao'an surmised.

"Then one day, this Celestial Master sensed something—a karmic connection forming in the shadows of fate. It was then I knew: Xiaofeng had carried my child, and she had given birth."

"I had intended to let our child keep Xiaofeng company in my stead. But I never imagined that Xiaofeng and my child would be murdered in cold blood by these ignorant villagers! What a tragic injustice! A terrible, terrible injustice!"

As the floating Snake Flood Dragon spoke these words, the black, fiery aura around its body erupted. A terrifying shockwave of Qi swept out, leaving devastation in its wake. The ground cracked and splintered as a frigid, sinister presence spread madly through the air.

"Before this Celestial Master achieved enlightenment, I helped this village more times than I can count! I even protected it for hundreds of years! But not only were these ignorant fools ungrateful, they murdered my Xiaofeng and my child! They all must die! Not a single one will be left alive!"

The Snake Flood Dragon was incandescent with rage. It had suppressed its murderous intent for too long. Today, it would finally erupt. This village was about to be wiped from existence.

Its terrible eyes landed on the barely conscious Jia Liu. With no power to resist, Jia Liu was lifted into the air and drawn toward the Snake Flood Dragon.

"Wait..."

Tu Xiao'an called out.

The Snake Flood Dragon's terrifying voice boomed, "You want to stop me?"

Tu Xiao'an had more he wanted to say, but after a moment's thought, he just smiled. "Be my guest."

By "be my guest," he meant: Go ahead and kill Jia Liu to vent your anger.

Tu Xiao'an had no intention of saving a scoundrel like Jia Liu. Not only would he not save him, he was perfectly happy to send him to his death.

Leaving the ground seemed to jolt Jia Liu awake. He was utterly terrified, wailing with tears and snot, "Celestial Master, don't kill me! I was wrong! I was wrong! Spare me!"

He had watched with his own eyes as the once ethereal and wise Celestial Master Zhang had become suffused with murderous intent before transforming into a horrifying Snake Flood Dragon, ready to devour him.

If Tu Xiao'an hadn't shown up, he might have already been digested into a pile of shit by now.

"This Celestial Master's child was priceless! A despicable worm like you couldn't atone for this sin even if you died ten thousand times!"

The Snake Flood Dragon roared at the sky, its killing intent erupting like a hurricane. It lunged forward and bit down. Jia Liu let out an inhuman shriek.

One of his arms was torn off by the Snake Flood Dragon and swallowed whole.

Blood gushed madly from the stump, spattering through the air. The sight was both gruesome and vividly crimson.

"AARGH!"

Jia Liu screamed with all his might as the Snake Flood Dragon ripped off one of his thighs and swallowed it down.

Blood rained down from the two wounds like a torrential downpour. It was an utterly horrifying, inhuman spectacle.

And so it continued. Jia Liu's screams were unending as the Snake Flood Dragon bit off both his arms and both his legs, devouring them one by one, dismembering him as if he were being drawn and quartered.

Tu Xiao'an watched with cold detachment. The Snake Flood Dragon could have swallowed Jia Liu in a single gulp, but it insisted on this slow and deliberate meal. It wanted to torture Jia Liu while he was still alive, a clear measure of its boundless hatred.

Compared to this, Tie San's death hadn't been so bad. It had been quite gentle, really.

In the end, it was impossible to tell if Jia Liu finally died from the pain or from blood loss. With one last heavenward roar, the Snake Flood Dragon swallowed what was left of him whole.

A true death, with no corpse left behind.

By now, the commotion at the Jia Family Mansion could no longer be concealed. The Snake Flood Dragon hovered in the air like the Demon Lord of Mayhem, exuding a terrifying, malevolent aura.

The villagers of Ping'an Village watched in absolute terror as the enormous Snake Flood Dragon cruelly tortured Jia Liu before finally devouring him. With the scene playing out for all to see, it felt like they were staring into the abyss of a nightmare. Many were so scared they wet their pants.

"A monster is loose! It's killing people! Everyone, run!"

As if shocked into action by the sight of Jia Liu being swallowed, the two hundred-odd villagers scrambled to flee the village in a panic.

If they didn't run now, they feared their fate would be the same as Jia Liu's—they would all be eaten by this monster.

"This Celestial Master will have this entire village serve as a funeral offering for my Xiaofeng and my child!" The Snake Flood Dragon hovered in the air, its black, fiery aura boiling around it like a great dragon thrashing in the sky—an image of terrifying, lawless power.

In an instant, dark clouds gathered, and the sky looked as if it were about to collapse. A suffocating pressure descended upon the entire village. Before the Rank Three Snake Flood Dragon, no one could escape.

All of them... would die.