, not just anyone could open such a gate.After his spirit returned to the竅and he stood up, Xiao Yu nearly stumbled due to instability as his body couldn't steady itself immediately. He couldn't help b...Chapter 696: White Snake

Xiao Yu stood on the steps looking at this towering pagoda, but now it no longer possessed its demonic suppression abilities. Back then, when this pagoda was first built, a powerful cultivator invited by a King of Yue had filled it with talismans and formations to give it demonic suppression capabilities; however, over time and after much wear and tear, the original demon-suppressing pagoda had collapsed, leaving only a replica.

Xiao Yu bought a ticket and entered inside. Although it wasn't peak tourist season, there were still quite a few people visiting Leifeng Pagoda, as this place was known for its tragic love story; hence, most visitors would come to take a look around.

Once Xiao Yu arrived at the interior of Leifeng Pagoda, he did not climb up but instead went down to the bottom.

Although there were still quite a few people present at the base, Xiao Yu paid them no mind and slowly closed his eyes, carefully sensing the pagoda. Suddenly, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

It turned out that within the foundation of this place, there was still some fragmented talismans left behind, but these talismans had lost their effectiveness long ago; apparently, when Leifeng Pagoda was renovated, they used its original base.

Xiao Yu nodded inwardly before once more probing underground.

However, as Xiao Yu continued to probe, beads of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead. It turned out that even though he had exhausted all the strength of his spiritual senses and probed downward with them, he still found nothing at all. Gradually, his spiritual sense was stretched to its limit; originally, Xiao Yu wanted to withdraw it back, but unwilling to give up, he could only focus entirely on concentrating, and if someone were to disturb him now, he might not be able to pull back his spiritual senses.

Xiao Yu's spiritual senses moved slowly through the mountain rocks and soil underground; suddenly, there was a loud boom. Xiao Yu’s spiritual senses jolted as they entered a subterranean space - this space was a two-meter-high cave that curved inward, and he sensed residual merit energy from its walls.

"As expected!" When Xiao Yu felt this faint merit energy, he muttered to himself.

Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, his spiritual senses disappeared instantly from the subterranean space.

Inside Leifeng Pagoda, Xiao Yu slowly opened his eyes and wiped away the beads of sweat on his forehead before turning around and leaving. Because he had already probed beyond his limit just now, he could not probe for too long; hence, once he found the place, he quickly withdrew his spiritual senses.

After leaving Leifeng Pagoda, Xiao Yu went to a quiet location and sat on a bench, silently resting.

Xiao Yu knew that it wasn't the right time to explore the underground cave, so he had to wait until nightfall.

Xiao Yu leaned against the long chair, closed his eyes and gradually restored the spiritual awareness he had just expended.

As time passed, Xiao Yu remained seated without moving or opening his eyes. It wasn't until the sky darkened that he slowly opened them.

Xiao Yu checked the time and called Wang Chengzhi to inform him of something important happening tonight, and that he would be very late returning home, so as not to worry the Wang family. After all, today was when an incident had occurred at the Public Security Bureau.

After making the call, Xiao Yu didn't leave but waited quietly until no one remained in the West Lake scenic area; then, he calmly walked back beside Leifeng Pagoda and sat cross-legged in a quiet spot.

A moment after Xiao Yu sat down, an apparition floated out of his head and disappeared in a flash.

When Xiao Yu reappeared, he had already arrived inside the cave. After feeling around for directions within the cave, he floated off towards one direction. When he reached the end of the cave, he found himself facing a small water pool about three meters across.

"This must be the passage I saw last night leading to that huge creature!" Upon seeing this water pool, Xiao Yu thought to himself.

After observing the water pool, Xiao Yu floated off in another direction. If this led to West Lake, it could only be an entrance; if he wanted to find its nest, it should be in the opposite direction.

As Xiao Yu’s wraith ventured deeper into the cave, the aura of residual vows on the cave walls grew increasingly thick and intense.

Suddenly, Xiao Yu's wraith found a large opening ahead. Before him lay a cavern roughly the size of a basketball court filled with dense residual vow energy.

Xiao Yu’s wraith began searching within this space. Suddenly, his gaze locked onto a pile of giant rocks and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Inside that pile of rocks was a white cylindrical object, about the size of a bucket in diameter, partially protruding from among the strange boulders. The part exposed had scales shimmering with light; even though it was pitch dark inside, this creature appeared vividly clear to Xiao Yu's eyes. He recognized it as a giant snake and possibly a white one, but he wasn't certain.

After all, when Zhong Kui first encountered the white snake, he was still surrounded by demonic aura, while this snake had none at all. It seemed like a creature raised in a Buddhist temple.

At this moment, however, it appeared that the creature hadn't noticed Xiao Yu's arrival and remained motionless.

"A guest has arrived; why isn't the host welcoming him" As Xiao Yu's shadowy form floated in mid-air and gazed at the giant snake, he slowly spoke.

Roar.........

The moment Xiao Yu finished speaking, a high-pitched sound echoed within the cave. With the sound, the white giant snake suddenly straightened up from amidst the stone piles, revealing a head as large as a basin floating in mid-air, vigilantly gazing at where Xiao Yu's shadowy form was.

Being able to come here silently and feeling someone's presence only until he spoke made it very tense for it.

"You..... Who are you What business do you have coming to my abode" This giant python, looking at Xiao Yu floating in the air, opened its mouth as a telepathic message entered Xiao Yu’s mind.

"Bai Suzhen" After hearing that it was a female voice, Xiao Yu frowned slightly and asked questioningly.

"Who are you How do you know me" Upon hearing Xiao Yu's questioning tone, the giant snake glanced at him with puzzled eyes.

As he looked at this giant python, its head’s lines were very delicate, and despite the intimidating size, it didn't appear vicious but rather had a unique beauty to it.

Hearing what Bai Suzhen said, Xiao Yu thought to himself: Indeed, it is Bai Suzhen. But then why is she still here Logically speaking, after the Leifeng Pagoda lost its function of restraining demons, she should have been able to leave long ago.

"Hehe, Bai Suzhen..." After confirming that it was indeed Bai Suzhen, Xiao Yu chuckled and his ghostly form instantly transformed into a figure wearing a black winged hat, broad shoulders, holding a judge's pen and soul book, with a demon-slaying sword at the waist.

Seeing this change in Xiao Yu, the giant snake head clearly showed an expression of surprise, muttering: "T-th-the Celestial Master"

"Bai Suzhen, why haven't you left yet The restraining tower should be completely ineffective by now," seeing Bai Suzhen's form, Xiao Yu softly asked his puzzlement.

Hearing Xiao Yu's question, the white snake sighed and began to tell him her story.

It turned out that back then, Bai Suzhen was sealed under Leifeng Pagoda when a great calamity of heaven and earth occurred. The pagoda protected her from most of the calamity but also lost all its magical power due to this event, rendering it unable to suppress demons.

The demon-suppressing tower, being an earthly object, couldn't withstand the entirety of the calamity either; hence, half of it still fell upon Bai Suzhen.

However, thanks to the protection provided by the tower, the calamity was significantly weakened. As a result, she didn’t perish during this great calamity.

Though she survived, the calamity left her demonic aura completely depleted, leaving her with nothing but intelligence like an ordinary python. She could no longer transform and lived in a cave beneath Leifeng Pagoda. Due to the thinness of primordial qi there, she couldn't advance in cultivation.

By chance, she noticed that some karmic energy was gathering around her; as time passed, more and more accumulated. When she was trapped under Leifeng Pagoda, a monk made her study Buddhist teachings to diminish her demonic aura, so over time she could control this karmic energy. However, there wasn't enough for her to transform again, thus she stayed here for centuries.

During these years, she lived in the cave and occasionally went to West Lake at night when bored. It was last night during one of these outings that Xiao Yu found her.

Afeter hearing the white snake's story, Xiao Yu looked at it and sighed; a thirty-meter-long white snake! Thankfully, it seldom goes out, otherwise being seen and killed wouldn't be difficult, even dissection might happen since she now has no cultivation level. Modern firearms would find eliminating her not too hard.

Of course, ordinary firearms have little effect against her due to her thousand-year-old scales which hardened immensely over time—missiles might once have been useless against them. But now that all her demon power is gone, the resilience of her scales has decreased somewhat; nonetheless, it's still not easy for regular firearms to penetrate.

After hearing the white snake’s story, Xiao Yu told her about some matters in modern society and promised to bring her back with him if he could return to the cultivation world since staying here is too dangerous both for herself and others.

"Thank you, Master Celestial!" Hearing Xiao Yu's words, the white snake repeatedly thanked him.

Earlier, she had heard from Xiao Yu that almost all cultivators and the cultivation world disappeared after the great calamity of heaven and earth, and now nobody knew what happened to them.

The white snake’s home was in the cultivation world; back then, it came to the secular realm out of gratitude but didn’t return afterward. However, 'every sip and every bite is predestined'; if it hadn't come to the secular realm, it might have perished long ago under the great calamity.ly stepped in front of him and warily watched the situation ahead."Liu Changfu, what are you doing What if I don’t leave"Chu Guoqing had a grim face as he stared at Liu Changfu and asked sternly."Ha h...