Lu Zhi turned abruptly and rushed into the Serpent God Tower.
Shen Qi grabbed his hand.
Lu Zhi grew anxious, "Don't hold me, let go! My brother and the others are in danger. I have to go save them."
The thought of Lu Chengxuan, Li Mei, and the others dying at the hands of foreign apostles made Lu Zhi's composure vanish.
"Alright! Calm down first. Don't you still trust your brother's abilities?" Shen Qi pulled him into his arms, stroking his hair to comfort him. "The Serpent God Tower is different from other divine towers. The old guy is still dormant, so it's not safe inside. With me here, I won't let anything happen to your brother."
Lu Zhi gritted his teeth, suppressing his anxiety to clear his mind. After a moment, he clenched Shen Qi's hand and said, "My brother is my only family. Sister Li Mei and the others are also my very important friends."
Although they hadn't spent much time together, sometimes, human emotions didn't need time to measure their weight.
"Mmm, I know. Stay close to me." Seeing that Lu Zhi had calmed down, Shen Qi led him into the Serpent God Tower.
As the pitch-black stone door was pushed open, a biting cold swept in, as if entering an ice cellar.
Puff, puff, puff—
The merfolk lamps on both sides of the dark passage ignited upon contact with oxygen, illuminating the path all the way to the corner at the end.
Lu Zhi subconsciously said, "That's not right. We're the third group to enter. These merfolk lamps should have been lit all along."
Shen Qi explained, "While the Serpent God slumbers, the tower is alive."
Lu Zhi was shocked.
Shen Qi continued, "You can think of it this way: every time a door is opened, the entrance to the passage is different. There are about a dozen possibilities."
Lu Zhi: ...
"Isn't that just a maze?" Lu Zhi couldn't believe that this Serpent God Tower was alive. From the outside, it just looked like an ancient stone tower built from stacked rocks.
As they spoke, the two had completely entered the Serpent God Tower. The stone door behind them slammed shut with a dull thud.
Lu Zhi looked back and found that the door behind them had disappeared, leaving only a black wall.
Shen Qi offered a delayed explanation, "To get out of the Serpent God Tower, you must find the heart of the tower."
Lu Zhi's worried heart eased a little. "So those foreign apostles won't necessarily run into my brother and them?"
Shen Qi nodded. "This entire Kunsa Forest, half of it is within the Serpent God Tower's domain."
Shen Qi paused, as the path ahead was blocked.
There was only one passage, with no forks or triggered mechanisms. The entire passage was extremely simple and clean, with only the faint red glow of the merfolk lamps on the walls casting a sense of claustrophobia.
Suddenly, Shen Qi condensed three red-tailed moths with his index finger. They flew towards the surrounding walls and then vanished as if sinking into water.
Lu Zhi curiously reached out to touch the wall beside him and tapped it, confirming it wasn't an illusion. But Shen Qi's moths had passed through. What was the principle behind it?
"This way." Shen Qi took Lu Zhi's hand and walked directly towards the wall on the left.
Just like when the moths had disappeared earlier, his body felt like it passed through a curtain of water. The dim passage transformed into a crystal road so bright it was reflective.
This thoroughly confused Lu Zhi. "Were those walls an illusion? But I clearly felt a solid surface."
Shen Qi said in a leisurely tone, "Yes, the strongest illusion is one that feels real."
Lu Zhi grew even more perplexed. "Are you saying illusions can actually materialize?"
"The passages we see are also illusions." Shen Qi narrowed his eyes in thought. "The old guy's strongest illusions are so potent that even he himself can't tell the real from the fake."
Lu Zhi: ...
He had always heard Shen Qi refer to the Serpent God as "the old guy." He had met the silly child Barbie Q and the obedient young boy, the Rat God.
The old guy... Could the Serpent God be an old man?
"What are you thinking about?" Shen Qi noticed the subtle shift in Lu Zhi's expression.
Lu Zhi rubbed his nose. "Mmm... I was thinking that each of the Zodiac Gods has a very distinct and unique personality."
Shen Qi glanced at him and said, "You've only met the two more normal ones."
This statement made Lu Zhi even more curious about the remaining Zodiac Gods.
"How do we find my brother and them?" Lu Zhi noticed that every time Shen Qi led him through a wall, the passage would change.
But after passing through six walls, they hadn't encountered anything. The surroundings were silent, and they hadn't run into any dangerous traps... "Hmm? Why aren't there any snakes inside the Serpent God Tower?"
Shen Qi explained, "The Serpent God Tower is built from the shed skin of the Serpent God. Its divine essence still lingers, so ordinary snakes naturally wouldn't dare to approach."
Lu Zhi was taken aback. "So we're currently inside the Serpent God's... snake skin?"
He thought about it and felt a chill. He could already imagine the Serpent God's immense size.
Drip—
In the quiet passage, the sound of dripping water suddenly echoed.
Shen Qi, walking ahead, suddenly turned his head towards a stone room that had finally appeared at the end of the passage.
Lu Zhi noticed Shen Qi's gaze turn dangerous. Before he could react, he heard foreign curses and panicked shouts coming from the stone room.
Soon, a foreign man, clutching his neck with a terrified expression, rushed out of the stone room. Upon seeing Shen Qi and Lu Zhi, he attacked them without hesitation.
Lu Zhi's expression darkened. Just as he was about to make a move, the foreign man suddenly collapsed to his knees. Flames began to crawl across the skin on his neck, and he writhed on the ground in agony.
Shen Qi extended his hand, and a red-tailed moth gracefully flew onto Shen Qi's index finger and disappeared.
Lu Zhi suddenly understood. Shen Qi's dispersed red-tailed moths had been searching for a path, not just wandering aimlessly through the passages.
This foreign man, for some reason separated from the others, had been impaled by Shen Qi's red-tailed moth. Unlucky for him.
Lu Zhi didn't dwell on it further and questioned the man, "Tell me, where are the others?"
The foreign man suddenly lunged at Lu Zhi as he approached. Lu Zhi hadn't anticipated this. In his haste, before he could even summon Manluo, the foreign man spontaneously combusted upon touching Lu Zhi.
Shen Qi then said coldly, "Darling, let me teach you something. Foreign apostles, even when threatened, will always counterattack and tear you apart as long as they're alive."
Shen Qi slowly walked to Lu Zhi's side and said calmly, "They sold their souls to the gods. As long as there's a thought of betrayal, they'll go 'boom'..."
Shen Qi smiled and made an explosion gesture. "Like this. It's messy. My method of granting death is the most environmentally friendly, isn't it?"
Lu Zhi's eyelashes trembled slightly. He pursed his lips. "I understand. I won't be soft on them."
The gods in the foreign divine realm had no compassion. These apostles also possessed no so-called kindness; they would resort to any means to achieve their goals.
Being soft on them was cruelty to oneself.
Shen Qi lifted Lu Zhi's chin and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Bite any harder, and your lips will break."
Lu Zhi licked his dry lips and hummed in response.