Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Inside an island that was deeply hidden in one of the many pocket spatial rifts of the world, a palace stood tall and erect at the dead center.

There was a huge moat around this palace, previously made of sharp deadly earthen spikes but now it was simply bald, with the land inside the moat completely ravaged and turned upside down.

Weirdly, an enormous dragon flew around this moat, circling the palace as if it was not satisfied with something.

Its big, sharp, and sinisterous eyes kept searching, darting here and there, eying everything keenly.

But not having found the thing it was looking for once again, it went back after a couple of hours.

This had by now become a routine of sorts for the beast. 

It came over, soaring above the moat, and looked around every day even if its search ended up ultimately fruitless.

"Hmph. I don't know what tricks you used, but I will find you one day or the other, you puny pest!" The dragon let out a loud roar, making all the beasts on the island tremble, before returning back to its lair for the day.

It was the uncrowned unrivaled King of this island, an Emperor among other Emperor beasts, but yet, a tiny idiotic snake managed to outwit it.

Just how the hell did this happen? The dragon coldly snorted, unable to wash away its embarrassment.

At first, it had thought that Tang Yue had died, but the more it mulled over the fight and thought about the things that had happened, it couldn't shake off a certain doubt at the back of its mind.

What if the snake was still alive and what if its eggs and treasures were not returned because of that?

It was a nagging feeling and doubt that it just couldn't let go, so the dragon continued to meticulously eye the palace and the moat surrounding, along with the neighboring forests.

Its territory which had only involved that small patch of forest had suddenly widened to include everything in the vicinity of the moat and the palace.

Though it couldn't directly step into the palace itself, it believed that it was only a matter of time before it attained enough power to break the barrier around the palace.

It would then be able to obtain a humanoid form and it would rightfully take its place in the palace, as the true ruler of the island.

As the dragon took one more lap around the palace and disappeared into the distance, several meters underneath the moat, deep into the ground, was a stone tunnel, partly made of marble and partly made of rocks.

More importantly, a part of this tunnel was broken, more like nicked and through this hole, coarse sand was slowly leaking into the hollow empty interior of the tunnel.

And next to this small ever-growing pile of sand, laid a tiny two-inch piece of blue flesh with two clear emerald eyes bleeding and broken.

Tang Yue laid still, only barely alive. She would have died without even a trace of her left behind if not for this underground tunnel that extended out of the palace.

The dragon's last attack had blasted her body into smithereens and a part of her was tossed atop this tunnel which was buried deep down.

Tang Yue did not quite understand how it all worked.

Probably her blood that had splattered everywhere splashed onto the tunnel as well, thereby partially opening up the barrier for her to enter.

But at the same time, a part of the dragon's attack also landed on the tunnel, hence breaking it open, forming a  crack on the surface through which the sand seeped in.

Luckily for her, this tunnel was a part of the palace in itself and hence, the barrier worked, masking her presence and the sliver of life that she was desperately clinging onto.

Ding. +1 health recovered.

A lone notification rang, making Tang Yue inwardly laugh at her own plight. 

Even with the barrier provided by the palace, she was only alive right now thanks to the weakest skill in her arsenal.

[Lesser regeneration] - Passive skill, Able to regenerate and recover completely over a period of time, provided vital organs are unharmed.

The skill might be weak but it was also terrific in its own way.

In reality, she had lost more than half of her vital organs but yet she was somehow alive, just barely holding on and she was grateful for it.

If it was before, she would have celebrated for pulling one over the terrifying dragon, but the current her had no mood to celebrate.

She was nothing short of miserable at the moment thinking about Jin Wei and the others. 

For the first time, people had believed in her and she couldn't even protect a few dozen snakes.

At least if they hadn't met her, they could have leisurely continued to live inside that chasm as they had been doing all these years.

But now because of her…

Tang Yue shuddered at the very thought of it. 

If only she had known about it before, known about the beasts on the island, she would have never dared to cross paths with the dragon.

She hoped and prayed that the dragon assumed her to be dead and that it had forgotten about this unfortunate incident.

Otherwise, if it held onto the grudge… it would probably only rest after combing through the entire island for other serpentine spirit beasts and massacring them…

Tang Yue didn't want to think about this but in truth, it was her reckless behavior that had ultimately lead to this current situation and it pained her greatly.

For a long time, it had been just her surviving in this cruel world, but now things were not the same.

There were people, beasts who depended on her, relied on her, and trusted her. She simply cannot act recklessly anymore even if it was the only way to become stronger.

If she ever got out of this alive, she resolved to do things differently and not act without more than adequate preparations.

She was not alone anymore…

An entire week passed by in a blink and Tang Yue slowly and steadily recovered.

Her previous body hadn't yet fully regenerated, but she had recovered more than enough to once again consume solid meat.

"Let me try this now." Tang Yue touched one of the spatial rings and pearls scattered around her, taking out a beast corpse.

This was the crimson bear's corpse that she had collected previously.

She pulled her head back and chomped down on the meat, swallowing it down. There was a sharpness in her emerald eyes that was not present before.

Her actions were clean and decisive without any shadow of a doubt. 

She hadn't wanted much before except maybe for strength and power that would help her protect herself and her loved ones. 

But now… things were different. She wanted more. She had a deep-rooted determination and purpose to want everything. 

She didn't want to run and hide again no matter the strength of the enemy. She wanted to be at the top with nothing even standing a chance against her.

She wanted to stand where Medusa had once stood, but this time she wouldn't allow anyone to take her down.

Tang Yue silently licked her lips and chomped down on the meat again. 

It took her the entire day as she was still weak but she persisted and finished assimilating the bloodline, even with throwing up a couple of times.

Ding. 100% Crimson Bear bloodline absorbed

Ding. Bloodline Evolution has been initiated

"About time." Tang Yue hissed.

A familiar sensation assaulted her body and her serpentine figure started to twist and turn.

Her body was enveloped by a bright beam of light and a sharp pain laced with an electrifying tingling sensation spread across her limbs.

Wave after wave of mystical energy enriched her small figure and after a few seconds, her body was once again broken down and reconstructed from top to bottom, sucking in the atmospheric mana energy like a tornado.

After a few minutes, the next series of notifications started ringing one after the other.

Ding. Congratulations. Bloodline Evolution completed.

Ding. Congratulations. 50000 Experience points have been rewarded.

Ding. Congratulations. Strength has upgraded

Ding. Congratulations. New Skill obtained.

[Fierce Roar] - Active skill; Unleashes a roar that reverberates strength and power; Boosts all the attributes 100 times for 10 seconds.

Tang Yue quickly closed off all the notifications as she didn't care about them right now.

Thanks to the evolution, she had now completely recovered and regained her former body.

She morphed into her humanoid form and opened her status menu to check on her attributes.

______________

Body constitution: Golden-tier Saint Body; Divine Lotus Constitution - Layer1

Mana constitution: Golden-tier Saint Core

Soul constitution: Silver-tier Demi-God Soul

Mental constitution: Silver-tier Saint Mind

______________

"Phew." She sighed in relief, only after seeing that her divine lotus constitution was still intact even after losing almost three-fourths of her body.