Hidden genius: Black belly snake

The palace disappeared from her vision and instead, the familiar vast desert and the abnormal mana river appeared in front of Tang Yue.

But this time, instead of five pillars, she observed a total of six pillars, standing tall amidst the turbulent waters of the river.

"Just as I thought…" Tang Yue hissed as her emerald eyes shone with a mysterious glint. She knew exactly what she had to do now.

She swam through the mana waters and reached the center when she once again failed after cultivating for a brief period of time and was kicked out of the trial grounds.

However, she was also able to cultivate dark elemental energy and even materialize a mana core before the mind-numbing pain ensued and she was pushed out.

"What happened inside, little snake?" The old man hurriedly asked her as he was waiting for her to exit.

Hmmm… Tang Yue smiled sweetly looking at the ghost but for some reason, her smile appeared extremely sinister.

"Nothing. Nothing. Just a small observation." She chuckled.

Knowing exactly what she was talking about, he shook his head helplessly, reminding her for the nth time. 

"Little snake. This is not like your evolution skill. Please do everything in moderation." 

"Even if you are able to attain all elemental affinities, it doesn't mean that you have to." 

"And doing so might also not be the best course of action. Even the Empress did not dare to do so."

Tang Yue nodded, listening to his words obediently. However, the resolution in her eyes did not waver. 

"Your Empress was killed, old man." She reminded him.

Aish. The old man gave up on trying to talk sense into her and decided to let her do whatever she wants.

After a certain point, everyone's fate was in their own hands and their future was solely determined by the paths they chose.

It was impossible to force someone else's wishes on to another person even though it was for the sake of their betterment.

The old General knew very well that if he went all out now and forced Tang Yue to do exactly what he wanted, the end result would only be disastrous.

So in the end, he relented and decided to watch on from the sidelines, waiting patiently in case she needed some assistance.

He still had the responsibility to help her so he would of course do everything in his power to help her no matter what path she chose.

While the two of them continued discussing her plans, and the various modifications to methods of cultivation, suddenly a loud noise echoed from the palace entrance.

"Intruders?" Both Tang Yue's and the ghostly old man's eyes flew wide as they stared in the direction of the noise.

"Huh? Shouldn't the formation around the palace be untouchable? Who is strong enough to break that?"

Tang Yue immediately cast her invisibility spell and slithered as fast as she could. All her senses were on alert and her heart was pounding nervously. 

After almost facing death fighting against the dragon, Tang Yue was now more conscious about everything and adapted her fighting style quite a bit.

"Damn it. Who the hell could it be?" She hissed in puzzlement.

If they were able to enter the palace even with the formation still intact, the opponent this time was surely a terrifying figure.

And with Tang Yue currently locked into the palace, as the dragon was roaming outside, hunting for her, she didn't even dare to run outside to escape this intruder.

This was truly inconvenient. It couldn't happen at a worse time.

As she continued nervously slithering across the huge palace, a sudden thought entered her mind.

"Fucccck! Is it the dragon? That bastard came for me to finish the job??" She started sweating profusely. 

No matter how brave she was, she knew very well that facing the monstrous dragon right now was only akin to committing suicide!

As her brain was spinning fast quickly thinking about the various possible escape routes, Tang Yue paused for a moment, unexpectedly sensing a familiar presence.

"Little Blue??? But how?" Tang Yue quickened her pace and slithered to the entrance even faster.

Just as she neared the main hall, morphed back into her human figure, a big white mass dashed towards her, hugging her slender body with its huge paws. 

"Master!!! Awwwoooo!" Little Blue howled loudly, directly talking to her.

"Thank the heavens, you are alright." She sighed in relief, letting the big wolf lick her face who was now almost as tall as her. 

"Little Blue. Stop. Stop. Wait. How did you get here???"

"Master, I brought others also, and look I have wings."

"Huh?" Tang Yue softly gasped, leaning back and checking out the big wolf carefully from top to bottom.

The beast had indeed developed a pair of wings!

"But how is this possible, little blue?" She pondered, touching the sturdy fur-covered wings pensively.

"Master. I developed an affinity to wind elemental." The wolf beamed and happily filled in all the details.

It in fact revealed a big wide grin, feeling extremely elated that Tang Yue was praising it.

"Oh. Wait a second. Did you say others have also arrived with you?" Tang Yue's eyes immediately darted behind the wolf to look at the small group of spirit snakes and one smiling harpy.

"Greetings, Master" Eleana gently smiled, bowing and greeting Tang Yue.

Tang Yue grinned in delight. She looked at the wolf, the harpy, and the snakes, and her heart was suddenly filled with warmth.

She didn't think that she was going to see them all again. 

She had hoped and prayed that they would all be holed up deep inside the chasm, hiding away from the monstrous dragon, somehow surviving until she was able to take care of the beast.

Even that was an impossible situation as she didn't think that they could hide from such a powerful being.

But this… seeing them all standing here… she was utterly shocked. Just how the hell did they manage this?

"Oh. Where is Jin Wei?"