Hidden genius: Black belly snake

"Her ending was a bit… She was blasted into smithereens." Jin Wei explained. "This was the place she was captured and killed, her regime coming to an end."

Tang Yue gulped nervously at the thought of the opponent, who could have blasted someone called 'The Great Empress' into nothingness.

And these people were also calling her 'The Great Empress'…

Chances were that he or she was still alive and would most probably come knocking at her doorstep if the news about her ever spreads.

Tang Yue shook that frightening thought out of her mind and decided to focus on the things in front of her first.

"So what happened after that? Do you know who killed her?"

Jin Wei shook his head helplessly. We only know the vague details. "Please follow me, your highness."

The elder bowed and then started slithering, still in his lamia form, as he hurried down towards the small waterfall in the back corner of the cave.

Tang Yue as well followed behind him.

Behind the waterfalls, there seemed to be another cave of sorts, but this one was much smaller.

Jin Wei quickly slithered and took one of the torches on the outer cave walls, intending to light up the small inner cave.

Tang Yue patiently waited for the elder to do his work. She was still trying to process everything.

Meanwhile, she tried to probe the old man if he knew about all of this. "Old man, did you about this Medussa Empress?"

[Yes, little snake. This was exactly why I warned you. Her majesty went out of control, even though I advised her against it.]

[She massacred several millions just to gain more and more power.]

[In the end, several powerful people combined their strengths together and brought her down.]

[They were also severely injured in the process, but her majesty was the only one who was completely destroyed.]

[Even her soul was blown up. Do you understand now? You are to never massacre!]

Tang Yue chuckled. It looked like she was the villain in this story but she didn't mind it.

"Ok. Alright. Alright. Old man, I won't go on a killing rampage. At least not without proper reason and definitely not without the strength to back it up."

"By the way, how are you related to this Medussa person?"

[That's none of your business, dumb little snake. Why don't you pay attention to things around you first.]

The old immediately chewed out Tang Yue.

She giggled inwardly, jotting down that this issue was a trigger point for the old man.

Not that she was planning to avoid it, she was rather planning to bring it up again and again.

Thanks to him manipulating her and Charlotte, she was now stuck in a bothersome love triangle, for which she was probably going to suffer a lot after getting out of this island.

She still needed to pay him back for that.

Tang Yue immediately missed the two lovable idiots in her life and sighed lightly.

The elder had by now placed several torches in the small cave, completely illuminating the place.

Tang Yue couldn't help but gasp as she craned her neck and looked around.

The small cave walls were completely filled with scribblings, or rather archaic drawings, most probably depicting historical events.

There was a giant beast that looked half serpent and half dragon and flames were spewing out of its mouth destroying millions and millions of people.

Even the details of her ability was engraved on the rock, with the serpent eating various other beasts and gaining their horns and tail.

In the next section, five heroes stood in front of this beast and they all had various weapons in their hand all pointing to the snake-dragon hybrid beast.

The next figure showed the beast crying in pain and it shattering into a million pieces.

Tang Yue now understood that the elder Jin Wei had in fact told her this sequence of events as a story.

After killing the beast, the five heroes apparently slaughtered all the remaining members of the snake and even hunted down various snake eggs which Medussa had stored for safekeeping.

This was the final killing blow that had completely obliterated the bloodline.

They were still doubtful that some eggs were missing so they sealed and isolated this part of the world as a precaution.

"How vicious?" Tang Yue hissed. 

They had complained about Medussa being wicked but they turned around and did just the same thing. 

"Ha Ha… the hypocrisy…"

She observed the various depictions and finally nodded, pondering about a very important question.

"How are you guys still alive then?"

Jin Wei bowed and mumbled. "Your highness, they couldn't completely eradicate all of us."

"Our Great Empress's bloodline runs in our veins as well."

"We could have restored the former glory of our Serpentine Empire but the Gods who killed our Empress predicted this as well and placed a curse on the island, sealing our bloodline abilities."

He pointed to the black tattoos covering the pale blue skin and explained. They looked like runic designs.

Tang Yue wondered if these could be removed at all. "So I assume this is also the reason why your cultivation is not progressing much?"

The elder nodded. "Yes, your highness. This is indeed the reason why we are unable to step outside of the Emperor realm."

Mmm. Tang Yue nodded. "Is this all the records of history that you have?" She asked. There were still some things that were unclear to her. 

For instance, if this entire island was cursed, then what about the Nine countries on the shores of the ocean? How was she not cursed and her bloodline is unlocked?

Jin Wei understood her confusion. 

"The Great Empress's royal palace is at the center of this island. There might be more secrets and answers to your questions there." He suggested.

"Oh! I see. Have you ever been there?" Tang Yue hissed curiously.

"Your highness, please forgive our incompetence." 

"We have been trying but because of the curse we have never even been able to get out of this chasm, let alone reach the inner areas of the island." Jin Wei bitterly smiled.

"That's alright." Tang Yue waved her hand. She knew that these snakes had it hard and it must have been difficult for them to survive on this island.

They had already helped her enough and she didn't expect anything more.

"Wait a second. So how did you guys know about me then? That I was coming here?" Tang Yue remembered this point and asked the question suddenly.

"Ahh…" Jin Wei embarrassedly scratched his head. 

The man actually didn't know. He saw that Tang Yue was a Saint realm expert and instantly started fawning over her.

Even after bringing her down, he had only guessed about this bloodline attribute.

In reality, he was ready to bend over and serve anyone powerful that came along their way and showed kindness to them.

After having suffered badly on the island, they were really that desperate. Generations after generations of snake spirit beasts lived and died within this small chasm, without even daring to step out once. Such was their fate.

So when he saw that Tang Yue was powerful and she was also a snake spirit beast, he decided to leave everything to fate and fell on her feet.

He knew that basically he was begging Tang Yue to get her permission to ride on her coattails but he was the clan leader.

So he had a responsibility to others that he could not shirk from. 

So even though they were only a burden, he still shamelessly begged Tang Yue, asking her to take them as her subjects.

And now… he was stammering… unable to explain this.

Tang Yue chuckled, noticing that something was weird. It was not that difficult for her to figure out though.

Jin Wei's face and his embarrassed expressions told her everything!

"Did you just make a guess?" She asked him, sighing helplessly.

"Yes, your highness." Jin Wei honestly admitted and then morphed into his human form, falling down on her feet.

"Please forgive our impudence, your highness. Take your anger out on me if you wish, but please accept my clan members as your subjects or even servants." 

"We will forever be grateful to you. We will never betray you. Please rescue us from this misery." He pleaded.

So the entire clan was in on it when they bowed in front of me collectively, chanting 'All Hail the Empress'?

Fuck! Tang Yue was speechless. She understood their desperation but still, this was an elaborate scheme to guilt-trip her.

She shook her head and waved at the elder to stand up. She didn't plan on punishing them for this, but she still warned him.

"It's alright. But make sure that this is the last time you try something like this."

"If I find out that you are hiding something else from me, then mark my words. I will slaughter every last one of you even if that is the last thing that I do."