Hidden genius: Black belly snake

"Where is Jin Wei?" Tang Yue asked, seeing the bunch of snakes slithering in front of her. 

She wanted to talk to the clan elder about the other snakes back in the chasm as obviously the full population was not yet in front of her.

However, weirdly, as soon as she mentioned the name, the smiling faces in front of her suddenly changed and their expressions turned solemn.

Tang Yue had a bad feeling. "What happened?" She asked again.

And since it was her, they did not dare hesitate to answer her any longer. One of the snakes immediately morphed into his lamia form.

"Greetings, your highness." A middle-aged man bowed. "This humble servant is called Jin Nuhen. I am elder Jin Wei's son."

Tang Yue nodded and waved her hand at him, signaling him to stop with the formalities. "What happened to Jin Wei?"

"Your highness…" Jin Nuhen lifted his head and bitterly smiled. "The clan leader was not fortunate enough to survive."

Tang Yue's eyes slightly widened but she was also not that shocked. 

In reality, these many people surviving, not to mention Little Blue and Eleana, was in itself a big deal.

In front of that monstrous dragon, even she was but an ant. How could the other snake spirit beasts survive with a seal on their soul and body?

She paused for a moment, the image of the old man crossing her mind.

She couldn't shake the bitter feeling in her heart even though she hadn't known him for a long time.

The man had religiously worshiped her and blindly believed and followed her, but in the end just like she had feared she was not strong enough to protect him facing an opponent several times more powerful than her.

Tang Yue sighed, the heaviness in her heart still remaining. "What happened to the others? Only these many survived?" She asked the most difficult question.

Her hands were clenched tightly and she dreaded hearing the answer. 

If only she had not shown up here, perhaps they would have all continued living their lives more peacefully. 

The thought that she had let down so many people who believed in her and worshiped her made her tremble.

Her emotions were too obviously written on her face and Jin Nuhen couldn't help but feel warm that the Empress they served cared about them deeply.

"Rest assured, your highness. Everybody else is safe." He immediately bowed and answered her, the snake's words bringing tremendous relief to her heart.

Tang Yue sighed softly. "Are they all still in the chasm?"

"Yes, your highness." Jin Nuhen nodded.

Tang Yue paused for a minute, engrossed in her thoughts, patting Little Blue absentmindedly.

"Alright, let's do this first. There are several tunnels from the palace running under the ground."

"I am not sure how you guys managed to safely fly all the way over here." 

She turned to look at Eleana wondering if the harpy, the blessed good luck harbinger, had something to do with it and then continued shaking her head.

"But we can't count on that again. Make yourselves familiar with the palace and the tunnels under the ground."

"See where all the tunnels lead to and if any of them lead to the chasm or at least near it."

"Let's first bring all our brethren back to the palace. This is the only safe palace in the entire island at least for the time being."

Jin Nuhen nodded, but he looked troubled. "Please forgive me, your highness. It was my decision to not bring everybody along with us."

"Perhaps if we had done that, then we would all be here by now and we wouldn't have had to trouble you."

"Please forgive this humble servant's foolishness."

"No." Tang Yue shook her head. "On the contrary, what you did was indeed the right decision."

"It would have been too risky for the entire clan to travel together. You did the right thing."

"I will appoint you as the new clan leader for now. Bring everybody back here as soon as possible."

Jin Nuhen nodded gratefully, and the group of snakes immediately busied themselves.

Tang Yue sighed again, thinking about the old man. "I am sorry I let you down." She muttered and then turned towards Eleana.

"You two come with me." The wolf and the harpy followed Tang Yue and the three of them walked back to the other end of the palace where the trial grounds were.

She paused standing near the circle, where the formation was etched onto the ground.

"Try entering the trial grounds." Tang Yue crossed her arms and muttered.

"Master, trial ground?" Little Blue tilted its head, with a confused expression on his face.

Eleana on the other hand bowed and then walked over to the center of the circle, her figure disappearing in a flash the very next second.

"Just as I thought… Since you guys are bound to me by soul, you are able to enter the palace and you are also able to enter the trial grounds."

"Not bad. Not bad at all." Tang Yue clicked her tongue. "Little Blue come here and stand here. It will help you." 

She patted her thigh and called the wolf over who happily wagged his tail and ran where she pointed, only to be absorbed by the trial ground.

She didn't want to force the wolf to train hard. So she simply decided to show him this once and then later on leave it to the beast's discretion if he wanted to enter the training area or not.

"Hmmm… Who am I forgetting?" Tang Yue hissed before she lightly chuckled and summoned out Little Plum.

"Master!" The blob of fire happily danced up and down before morphing into its lycan form and licking her face and neck.

"Little Plum. Be a good boy and go there and stand. It will help you." Tang Yue smiled and used the same words to lure the other wolf as well into the training grounds, who also disappeared with a whoosh the very next second.contemporary romance

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