Hidden genius: Black belly snake

The cave itself was not too big but Tang Yue immediately froze as she slithered forward a few feet and looked inside from a distance, still under the cover of her invisibility.

Heaps and heaps of beast corpses were piled inside, with sizes and shapes varying greatly.

She could see some crimson bears, lava salamanders, something that had its head smashed but had a big bronze gold body, storm spike tortoises, and many beasts that she did not recognize.

And these were just at the top of the pile which was several inches high.

And there were about twenty or so piles within the cave!

A small gasp escaped Tang Yue's mouth as she tried to grasp the situation in front of her.

"Old man, this looks like a beast lair?"

[Little snake, you better run. Now. This is definitely a beast's lair. Remember I can't help you here.]

Hmmm… Tang Yue hesitated. Not that she didn't want to run but it looked like no one was currently inside the cave.

The beast or the horde of beasts were probably out and about on the island fighting and scavenging for more food.

From the looks of it, they have had the same idea as her and used this war to collect the maximum spoils that they could.

But obviously, they made a mistake. They should have left behind a member of the herd to guard their loot!!!

"Don't blame me for taking something which is right in front of me!" Tang Yue snickered and did not think twice before quickly slithering forward and looting everything in sight.

She took out her spatial pearl and swiped every single dead beast, cleaning out the entirety of twenty heaps within the span of a minute.

She was then about to turn on her heels and leave when she noticed some other things piled up in a corner.

Tang Yue hissed and decided to take a look inside as well and saw that the cave had another nook deeper inside.

There seemed to be some dead leaves and dried up twigs but when she swatted away the top layer of filth, Tang Yue's eyes flew wide.

Even within the dark and dusty cave, her eyes were almost blinded.

Heaps and heaps of brilliant sparkling gems laid in the corner as if they were potatoes and tomatoes.

"What the heck?" Tang Yue was now genuinely scared. 

She had thought that this was just the work of a war profiteer but clearly these beasts are professional hoarders! 

The previous time, she had seen a loot like this was inside the glow worm's stomach which was a freaking epic-grade beast!

And now this???

Tang Yue gulped, feeling her throat parched from such an expansive wealth in front of her.

However, one thing was clear. No ordinary beast could amass such wealth on this island filled with monstrous beasts. 

She had definitely poked a hornet nest and she needed to get out asap!

"You guys start running." She commanded the bunch of snakes and then quickly pocketed the gems as well, cleaning out the entire cave.

She then morphed into her serpentine form and slithered out of the cave at her top speed, quickly catching up to the snakes who were already running with their best speed.

"Hmmm… This won't do. We need to put more distance between us and the cave." 

"There is no other evidence so as long as we are at a safe distance we should be good."

She paused her steps and then morphed into her human figure. "Fast. Climb and coil around me." She shouted.

"Your highness!!!" Jin Wei was shocked but he would never question Tang Yue's command and quickly the couple dozen snakes all slithered around her coiling themselves on her body.

Tang Yue then cast a mana barrier around herself to protect the weaker snakes from the impact and also the invisibility spell and blew through the forest at the maximum speed which she could muster.

"Hold on guys. Just for a few minutes." She gritted her teeth and mumbled while continuing to run.

[Little snake, I also have a bad feeling about this. Keep running. You should go to the palace immediately.]

[There is a formation around the palace that won't permit anyone to get through except for snake spirit beasts.]

[You should be safe if you reach that threshold. Remember. I can't help you here.]

Tang Yue silently nodded. It was not like she could turn back and return everything took.

That beast probably wouldn't let her off even if she did that! Memories of the sadistic glow worm were still fresh in her mind.

"Old man, do you think that it is just a single beast who is residing in that cave?"

"I couldn't tell anything from the footprints. It was messy since several beast corpses had been dragged around and piled up."

[Perhaps it could be a lair of a winged beast. Best not to think about it and continue running.]

Tang Yue nodded, agreeing with the old man inside her soul. She soon crossed the forests and she could finally see the silhouette of the distant palace.

She quickly ran in the general direction and just like before, she didn't come across any beasts that blocked her path.

"Almost there!" She wiped the sweat off her forehead and sighed in relief.

Soon the forest thinned down and Tang Yue reached what seemed to be the edge of a cliff.

However, it was clear that this was not a natural cliff. The earth underneath had been scooped up to create a moat around the distant palace.

And this moat was not simply filled with water. 

The gigantic and deep moat was empty save for the million spikes that protruded from the ground beneath.

Only a winged creature could cross something like this easily.

Snakes and other beasts would have to first go down to the bottom of the ravine and climb the spikes, but they will be extremely exposed and vulnerable when doing so, ripe for the picking of a winged beast flying atop.

However, right now that problem was not there. Tang Yue saw the clear skies and decided to quickly take advantage of this.