Control the demon crow, Heavenly Serpent Palace!

That terrifying torrent of pitch-black breath stopped three feet in front of Shen Wen.

As if hitting an invisible, absolute barrier, it could no longer advance an inch, hanging eerily in mid-air.

Then, it was quietly decomposed and annihilated by the omnipresent Space Power.

Forget attacking, he couldn't even blink an eye or turn a single thought now!

Only boundless fear poured into his Soul like icy water.

A Three-Star Dou Zun, in true form, with secret technique enhancement... before the space confinement casually cast by the opponent, he was actually as fragile as a baby!

Shen Wen didn't even spare another glance at Demon Crow, who was completely "frozen" in mid-air, as if he were just an insignificant decoration.

He turned around and looked at Xiong Tao, who was struggling to climb up from the rubble.

“Are you alright?” Shen Wen asked, his tone peaceful, a world away from the coldness of a moment ago.

“Young Lord... your subordinate is incompetent!” Xiong Tao knelt on one knee, his face full of shame. He had many scars on his body, and his aura fluctuated. “Elder Shen Tian, he...”

“It’s fine, he won't die yet.”

Shen Wen raised his hand and pointed from a distance. A strand of pure Dou Qi mixed with a faint trace of the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art was injected into the dying Shen Tian at the foot of the distant mountain wall, temporarily stabilizing his injuries.

At the same time, several healing Medicinal Pills flew toward Xiong Tao. “Take these and adjust your breathing first.”

“Big Brother Shen Wen!”

“Brother Shen Wen!”

Only then did Zi Yan and Qing Lin recover from the massive shock, rushing to Shen Wen's side from both left and right, clutching his sleeves tightly.

Zi Yan's small face still held lingering fear. Pointing at the immobile Demon Crow in the air, she said angrily, “Kill this ugly monster!

He wanted to kill Qing Lin just now! He's so bad!”

Qing Lin's jade-green eyes also held tears, but more of it was anger and attachment.

Shen Wen reached out and gently rubbed the two girls' heads, saying softly, “Don't be afraid, it's over now.”

He glanced at Demon Crow, his eyes indifferent. “Killing him is easy, but before that...

I need to find out how he knew the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils were here, and who passed the information to the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python.”

There was something fishy about this.

It hadn't been long since Qing Lin's Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils awakened. Aside from those close to her, very few in the outside world knew about them.

If the information leaked, there must be an inside story.

Shen Wen took a light step, his figure blurring, and he appeared before the massive head of Demon Crow, who was firmly imprisoned by Space Power.

Even in his true form, only boundless fear and despair remained in Demon Crow's massive vertical pupils.

Standing in mid-air, Shen Wen met the massive snake pupils' gaze, a thoughtful expression suddenly appearing on his face.

“Speaking of which,” he whispered to himself, as if he had discovered something interesting, “my 'Great Universal Salvation Technique' has never been tried on a Demonic Beast's body before.”

As his voice fell, a point of pure and warm golden light quietly lit up at the center of Shen Wen's brow.

The light was not dazzling, but it carried a vast and compassionate intent that pointed directly to the Soul's Origin.

It was exactly the same as when he had converted the people of the Ice River Valley before, yet it seemed slightly different.

As if some subtle adjustments had been made for the Soul structure of a Demonic Beast.

The golden light left his body and slowly floated toward Demon Crow's massive vertical pupils, which were filled with fear.

Demon Crow's pupils contracted frantically. He realized what Shen Wen was about to do, and a silent, most shrill scream and resistance erupted from the depths of his Soul!

The Soul structure of a Demonic Beast is vastly different from that of a human, being tougher and wilder, especially for a Vicious Beast like him with an ancient Bloodline!

However, under absolute power suppression, all struggle was futile.

That point of golden light, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, gently but irresistibly sank into the center of Demon Crow's brow.

“Buzz—!”

In the next moment, Demon Crow's massive true form trembled violently, even more intensely than when his hand was severed before!

It wasn't physical pain, but a terrifying process of being forcibly "cleansed" and "converted" originating from the deepest part of the Soul!

In those massive vertical pupils, ferocity, fear, cunning... all sorts of emotions shifted, struggled, and dissipated rapidly like a revolving lantern.

Shen Wen closed his eyes slightly, carefully sensing the subtle differences in the execution of the Great Universal Salvation Technique within a Demonic Beast's Soul, as well as the majestic Soul power consumed, which far exceeded that of converting a human Dou Zun.

In the valley, there was dead silence. Only the unconscious trembling of Demon Crow's true form remained, along with the increasingly faint whimpering and hissing from the Soul's Origin.

The golden light gradually faded.

Demon Crow's massive and hideous Nine Serene Earth Nether Python true form stopped trembling, and the luster of its dark scales seemed to soften a bit.

It slowly lowered its head, those vertical pupils that were once full of ferocity and cruelty.

At this moment, only a near-empty calm remained, along with an absolute obedience toward Shen Wen that came from the depths of its Soul.

Shen Wen withdrew his hand and felt the consumption of Soul power.

Converting a Three-Star Dou Zun level Demonic Beast, especially one with an extraordinary Bloodline like the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python, indeed consumed more than a human Dou Zun.

But for the current him, it was still within the range of tolerance.

Standing in mid-air, he looked at the prostrate giant python and asked flatly, “Who passed the information about the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils being here to your Nine Serene Earth Nether Python?”

Demon Crow's massive head swayed slightly as he spoke in human tongue. His voice was still hoarse, but the previous coldness was gone, leaving only respect: “Reporting to the Venerable, the source of the information is the ‘Heavenly Serpent Mansion’ of the Northwest Continent.”

Heavenly Serpent Mansion?

Shen Wen's brow twitched slightly. He was no stranger to this name; one could even say there was some history.

Back in the Northwest, he had dealt with the Heavenly Serpent Mansion; they indeed had sensed the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

However, because of him, Huang Ling hadn't taken Qing Lin back.

He hadn't expected the problem to ultimately lie here.

“What is the relationship between the Heavenly Serpent Mansion and you?”

Shen Wen frowned slightly. In the original work, he remembered that the Heavenly Serpent Mansion, as background characters, did indeed have some connection with the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python.

Demon Crow continued his statement: “The founder of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion was a senior expert of our clan who was stranded outside and united with a human hundreds of years ago.

Therefore, the Heavenly Serpent Mansion and my Nine Serene Earth Nether Python Clan have always maintained a faint connection, considered a remote branch hidden within the human forces.

They have unique ways of perceiving and tracking snake Bloodlines, especially special snake pupils.”

“This time, it was from within the Heavenly Serpent Mansion, through some secret channel, that the information of 'the reappearance of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils and their removal by the Pill Tower's rising star Shen Wen' was passed back to the clan.

The clan's Council of Elders is extremely wary of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, so they sent me here to wait for an opportunity... to stifle or bring them back.”

After hearing this, Shen Wen's eyes turned slightly cold.

Heavenly Serpent Mansion... even if it wasn't the entire Heavenly Serpent Mansion, but certain individuals within it who had deeper connections with the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python and privately passed the information.

He couldn't just let this matter slide!

“Heavenly Serpent Mansion...” Shen Wen repeated in a low voice, a cold light flashing in his eyes. “It seems I'll have to find time to return to the Northwest.”

The small amount of sentiment he had for the Heavenly Serpent Mansion had dwindled to almost nothing the moment they leaked Qing Lin's existence to the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python, nearly leading to her death.