Regarding snakes, those limp, slippery, and scaled creatures, Lu Zhi felt neither dislike nor fondness.
However, being surrounded by so many sent a chill through him, causing the hairs on his arms to prickle. In that instant, it felt as if he had stumbled into a serpent's den; the very air felt cold and unnerving.
Shen Qi stood beside Lu Zhi, "They won't attack you."
Lu Zhi: …Really? I feel like you're just trying to comfort me.
Shen Qi chuckled lightly, taking Lu Zhi's hand and leading him further in. The venomous snakes coiled on the roadside slithered away, but they were still omnipresent.
It was midday, and the surrounding woods were dense, their leaves obscuring most of the sunlight. Dappled rays pierced the canopy, preventing the deep forest from being entirely dark.
This was Lu Zhi's first time in such a vast mountain forest. There was virtually no path underfoot, and he relied on Shen Qi to lead the way, preventing them from getting lost.
Lu Zhi observed his surroundings with curiosity. He occasionally spotted snakes coiled around trees, along with strange insects and plants he'd never seen before. Peculiarly shaped birds also flitted past. After an unknown amount of time, they traversed a section of winding, intertwined hillocks, and the dense, rugged path ahead suddenly opened up.
The thick forest became sparse. Below a steep, sunken slope lay a patch of remarkably straight pine and cypress trees. Their leaves were still silvery-white, and their trunks and branches gleamed. Each tree was exceptionally tall. In the sunlight, their leaves shimmered like sheets of silver.
When a gust of wind blew, they produced a rustling sound, much like wind chimes.
The fallen silver leaves drifted towards a large lake in the center or carpeted the ground, creating a breathtakingly beautiful forest scene.
What amazed Lu Zhi the most was the lake at the heart of it all; the bottom was covered in yellow water plants, which, reflecting the blue sky, made the lake a collision of gold and blue, stunningly beautiful.
"It's so pretty," Lu Zhi couldn't help but exclaim.
If the timing were different, Lu Zhi would have loved to linger and admire the scenery.
But soon, Lu Zhi realized something, let out a soft sound, and turned to Shen Qi beside him. "Wait, aren't we going to Kunsha Tower? I don't see any tower."
After all, a tower should be a prominent and magnificent structure, right? This place, as far as the eye could see, only offered a lake and tall, straight trees.
Shen Qi suddenly raised his hand to cover Lu Zhi's eyes, then slowly moved it away. "Look closely at the lake's surface. What do you see?"
Lu Zhi blinked, his dark eyes fixed on the calm, clear lake. Suddenly, apart from a fleeting gleam reflecting off the mirror-like surface, his vision was uncontrollably drawn solely to the lake. The silver leaves scattered on the ground, in that fleeting moment, transformed into countless scales, and the lake itself became the pupil of a serpent's eye.
"Hiss—" Lu Zhi’s mouth fell open in shock at the sudden revelation, stammering, "You you you you couldn't possibly be telling me that this entire mountain is the transformed body of the Serpent God, right?"
"You guessed correctly," Shen Qi narrowed his eyes. "That old Serpent God is quite lazy. After awakening, he has always chosen to slumber in Kunsha Forest."
Lu Zhi gazed at the lake. The golden-blue water was the Serpent God's serpentine pupils, and the silver leaves blanketing the ground were its incredibly beautiful and hardened scales.
Just its head alone was the size of a small mountain. If it were to awaken, how enormous would it be?
"I think it's best to let the Serpent God continue sleeping," Lu Zhi said earnestly. "Didn't the Rat God say that their time to awaken hasn't come yet? They'll wake up naturally when the time is right. Disturbing someone's sleep is a very bad thing, don't you agree?"
Shen Qi curved his lips. "You are right."
Lu Zhi frowned. "That's not right. If you say the Serpent God is still sleeping, then what about the snakes in Kunsha Tower?"
"Remember Ma Wei?" Shen Qi posed an example. "There are always those who are ambitious and want to usurp power. Stirred up by some instigation, they foolishly sell their lives to others."
Lu Zhi was startled. If Shen Qi was right, then these must be the Serpent God's guards, who, while the Serpent God slept, were doing evil deeds in its name?
However, Lu Zhi didn't want to dwell on this now. His sole purpose for coming here was to find his brother. "Let's not discuss this for now. Take me to Kunsha Tower first. My brother's safety is the most important thing."
Shen Qi, however, suddenly bent down and scooped Lu Zhi into his arms, cradling him. "Spatial abilities cannot be used in the Serpent God's domain. Hold on tight."
The moment Lu Zhi's arms wrapped around Shen Qi's neck, he was suddenly propelled forward by Shen Qi, truly flying. They soared above the lush treetops, reaching Kunsha Tower in an instant.
It was an incredibly tall structure, integrated with the mountain. Outside its grand entrance stood two twelve-meter-tall stone pillars bearing serpent totems.
"There's blood!" Lu Zhi's sharp eyes spotted bloody footprints on the stone steps outside the entrance.
Shen Qi set Lu Zhi down, his gaze falling on the blue residue on the stone pillars. Upon closer inspection, one could see that within the blue, there was a trace of red.
Here, Lu Zhi bent down and dipped a finger into the blood, saying to Shen Qi, "This blood isn't dry. The injured person must have gone in not long ago… What are you looking at?"
Lu Zhi noticed Shen Qi's peculiar action. He was reaching out to touch the blue energy residue on the stone pillar. That was likely a trace left after using supernatural power. Moreover, upon careful examination, this blue energy fluctuation resembled the energy from the ring of the foreign apostle who had escaped from the Rat God's temple.
Shen Qi's eyes grew colder as he stated, "The God of Prophecy, Lilith Combattel."
Lu Zhi blinked in surprise. "Are you referring to the deity of this group of foreign apostles? The God of Prophecy? One who can see the future?"
Shen Qi turned his head to look at Lu Zhi, his silvery-gray eyes emanating a chilling glint that made one's blood run cold. He slowly said, "What prophecy did she see that would lead her to send people here after a thousand years?"
Lu Zhi's heart rate inexplicably quickened as long-forgotten memories flooded back.
Prophecy, the existence of prophecy, was about seeing future events and wanting to change them.
If what was known as transmigration memory was actually the 'future prophecy' seen by a Lu Zhi who hadn't lost his memory, it would explain his supposed 'transmigration memory.'
Furthermore, if Lu Zhi altered the future of the 'book,' and the God of Prophecy in the foreign divine realm saw the 'altered future' and wanted to correct it, what would be happening in the present timeline?
The more flustered Lu Zhi became, the calmer his mind grew. He rapidly recalled the contents of the 'book' and then looked up sharply at Shen Qi. "I, I know! They want to kill my brother!"
In the 'book' that Lu Zhi had seen, Lu Chengxuan was assassinated by a group of transcendent beings at this very point in time. All his guild members died saving him, leaving only him, half-crippled, to survive!