Reborn as a Hatrack in the Mystical Land-Chapter 616 - 73: Snake Woman Priestess

Jianyue Jinhua and Yun Lang seemed to have reached an agreement on the surface, and the people at the Beast Fighting Arena breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly presenting several Beast Contracts.

Like house deeds or indenture contracts, a Beast Contract is a certificate recognized by various countries on the continent that symbolizes the ownership of a Dark Beast.

What surprised Yue Jinghua, however, was that what the Beast Fighting Arena sent was not just the contracts of five Shepherdess Snakes, but six contracts.

Five of them were for the Snake Women, and the other one was...

"Not to hide it from our guests, these Snake Women were acquired by the owner of our Beast Fighting Arena during his travels in the Northern Snow Domain, from a local trader. The old one among them, having fallen ill due to the long journey, though our master is benevolent and has already summoned famous doctors from all over to treat her, her condition has never improved. If the young lord finds the expenses of caring for a sick beast too great, you can also abandon the old Shepherdess Snake," the people from the Beast Fighting Arena had anticipated Yue Jinghua’s questions and hurriedly explained.

Indeed, this group of Snake Women originally had six members. That there were only five appearing in the arena is precisely as described by the people of the Beast Fighting Arena.

The Beast Fighting Arena had used the illness of the old Shepherdess Snake as blackmail to control the other five fiercely spirited Shepherdess Snakes.

The consistent practice on the continent toward sick and elderly Dark Beasts is to neglect them, allowing them to die.

Seemingly understanding the words of the people from the Beast Fighting Arena, the Snake Women, having regained consciousness from the Dragon King Domain, angrily glared at the people of the Yue Residence.

Fearing whether they could subdue these Snake Women hinged on the old Shepherdess Snake, Yue Jinghua pondered for a moment and decided to first inspect the injuries of the old Shepherdess Snake.

At Yue Jinghua’s request, the people from the Beast Fighting Arena had no choice but to lead Yue Jinghua alone to the beast prison of the arena.

The dark and damp cage emitted an unpleasant odor.

An ageless, withered ancient Shepherdess Snake lay in the beast prison, her dry wrinkled skin and toothless gums starkly revealing her old age and frailty.

Unlike the other Shepherdess Snakes who were topless and dazzlingly beautiful, the old Shepherdess Snake was covered with a worn, cloak-like robe.

Under the wide robe wrapped around her already rotting snake body.

The lower body of the Shepherdess Snake also had suffered some severe attack, rotting and blurred, impossible to cure despite any elixirs.

Even with the care of the five Snake Women who took turns treating her wounds meticulously, the old Snake Woman’s tail had rotted to the spine, a sight both shocking and horrifying.

Upon seeing a few unfamiliar faces brought by the people of the Beast Fighting Arena, the old Shepherdess Snake struggled to lift her eyelids. Her gaze, merely a fleeting glance, quickly fixed on Yue Jinghua’s face, a flash of astonishment passing through her cloudy old eyes.

Perceiving that she wanted to speak, Yue Jinghua dismissed everyone around.

The people from the Beast Fighting Arena did not dare to ask further and withdrew.

In the beast prison, only Yue Jinghua and those Snake Women, insisting on staying out of concern for the safety of the old Shepherdess Snake, remained.

"You, are you... that Domain Expert?" the old Shepherdess Snake, evidently an elder among the Snake Women and somewhat fluent in human language, asked.

Perhaps having not spoken in a long while, the old Snake Woman found speaking quite difficult.

Just now, the old Shepherdess Snake trapped in the beast prison had sensed a powerful domain pressure that only a Domain Expert could possess.

Fearing that the Five Snake Women had offended this Domain Expert, the elder thus spoke to stop the young Snake Woman.

"Grandma, this person is only a few years older than me, how could he possibly be a Domain Expert?" The young Snake Woman was actually the biological granddaughter of the elderly Shepherdess Snake, and one of the few in the Shepherdess Snake clan who could speak the prophecies of the Human Race.

From a young age, the young Snake Woman was endowed with exceptional talents. In her eyes, humans were lowly and despicable beings who enhanced their cultivation by plundering Dark Beasts and monopolizing places rich in Spiritual Energy.

Such opportunistic methods could indeed quickly improve one’s cultivation, but what is gained is also lost. This indirectly caused the Human Race to be much inferior compared to the Dark Beasts in comprehending the Heaven and Earth Laws.

Throughout the millennia, among the Human Race Dark Practitioners, those who comprehended the Domain and broke through the Dan Realm were few and far between, and most of them were middle-aged. How could this young man possibly be a Domain Expert.

"I am not any Domain Expert," Yue Jinghua noted that, when she disclosed her cultivation level, a glint of murderous intent flashed through the Old Snake Woman’s eyes, "but I am a Summoner."

As she spoke, Yue Jinghua drew a Five-star array in the void with her fingers.

Summoning Star Light!

The dazzling Star Light was so mesmerizing that the elderly Shepherdess Snake forced her eyes wide open.

Summoners had been extinct for a thousand years, but as an old priestess of the ancient Shepherdess Snake Clan, the elderly Snake Woman had learned about this magical Star Light from ancient texts.

The Dark Beasts’ fear of Summoners did not require hearing or seeing; that awe-like fear was deeply ingrained in their bones.

The young Snake Woman, upon seeing the Star Light, felt a shudder deep in her soul, a sensation she had never encountered before, not even when facing the terrifying demons that annihilated her tribe.

If previously her compliance towards the Dragon King Domain pressure was due to the orders from the elderly Snake Woman, now, having witnessed that Star Light Summoning Array, it was a complete reverence.

"Wuyun, do not be presumptuous," the elderly Snake Woman struggled strenuously to bow to Yue Jinghua.

"Grandma, I..." the Snake Woman named Wuyun fell silent under Liao Yuejinghua’s gaze.

"How did your snake tail get injured? And how were you captured by the traders?" Yue Jinghua scrutinized the wound on the elderly Snake Woman’s tail, where a black liquid occasionally oozed out.

Although the Shepherdess Snakes are not high-level Dark Beasts, they are a very unique branch among the continent’s Dark Beasts, being among the first to learn civilization, etiquette, and language from the Human Race.

In Yue Jinghua’s eyes, rather than calling them Dark Beasts, they were more like Half-beast People.

They have a complete clan genealogy, learning the Human Race’s writing and language, and within the clan, there is a specialized division of labor including priests, hunters, Clan Leaders, and basic class distinctions.

They live in the Polar Snow Domain, a mystical place at the tip of the North East Continent, perpetually shrouded in ice, where it is said there exists a sacred secret realm of ancient ice demons.

For centuries, the footsteps of the Human Race have rarely set foot in the Polar Snow Domain.

These few Shepherdess Snakes evidently had a high status within their tribe, within the Shepherdess Snakes, only nobles and the Clan Leader lineage were eligible to engage with the civilization of the Human Race.

"Wuyun, come help me up, while I still draw breath, I want to recount to this honorable Summoner the cataclysm our tribe experienced," said the elderly Snake Woman, followed by a violent fit of coughing.