Hidden genius: Black belly snake

In the silent hours of the cold freezing night, the seemingly normal dark sky adorned by brilliant twinkling stars and the amber-colored moon suddenly ceased to exist.

And a strange phenomenon appeared instead.

Millions of shooting stars popped up out of nowhere and they were all raining down on the eastern forests bordering the Eldorian elven establishment.

But if one looked closely, these were in fact creatures of various origins, cultivators pursuing a higher dao, and experts proficient in wielding mana.

One by one several earth-shattering entities were dropping from the skies some riding on flying swords, some riding on their contracted beasts, some using magical treasures, and some even wielding wind magic.

The unexpected tribulation lightning had stirred up quite a ruckus in many parts of the land and almost every living being in the Nine countries had spotted the miracle in the skies above.

"Blessings from heaven! A great treasure has appeared! A great treasure has appeared!"

"Heaven shattering lightning! Definitely, an ancient beast has descended!"

"How could the elves be this lucky? They gained another heaven grade treasure?"

"There is no way the dwarves will let this pass, especially considering the recent tragedy."

"Stupid. Stop spouting nonsense. Our Crown Prince is already on his way. How could the treasure not be his?"

"These fools only have themselves to blame for their bad luck. They might have had a chance if his highness was on secluded cultivation."

"Hai Hai. I really wonder who would that priceless treasure fall to?"

Several onlookers longingly gazed at the sky, amazed at the dazzling scene displayed in front of them.

After all, not everyone had the chance to vie for such a priceless treasure! Only the truly powerful ones did!

Supreme experts from everywhere instantly dropped what they were doing and headed towards the eastern forests with full speed and vigor, even using precious talismans to further accelerate their arrival.

And they all had only one goal! 

Grab the heavenly treasure that had appeared on the mortal world!

Once these truly powerful Demi-Gods and Saints descended, the other not so powerful mana cultivators could only watch the show from outside.

But there was still a few minutes before these big shots arrived and so… in the meantime…

Several figures had materialized at the spot where Tang Yue had been just a fraction of a second ago.

The snake had only just barely tossed the ape into her space pearl and hadn't even managed to move from the crime scene when the ground next to her started quaking.

Just as the experts in the forest, including Charlotte, Marvin, Gale, and Ginko gathered around her or rather around the huge lightning scorched crater on the ground, an enormous quagmire centipede popped out of the quaking ground.

A quagmire centipede! This was a high-grade beast!

A beast with power and strength akin to the strongest of elves and dwarves. Its mana core was giant-sized and throbbing with energy.

Not withstanding the beast's raw power, the ground cracked and trees trembled.

The small crater instantly widened to several feet radius and the ground underneath crumbled, creating a huge hollow hole.

The experts who had gathered instantly took a step back, as to not fall inside the huge depression on the ground. 

No one standing there had the guts and the balls to face the high-grade beast head to head.

Only a saint or a Demi-god could deal with such a powerful existence.

The people gathered there could only helplessly stare at the ugly monster in front of them as it reared its head several inches above the ground.

The beast let out a loud skittering screeching noise as it swayed its slimy body. 

Several pairs of tentacle-like hairs stuck out from the centipede's body wiggling and squirming in mid-air.

While numerous eyes circled the gigantic centipede, anxiously and vigilantly watching out for the high-grade beast, ready to evade its attack, Tang Yue was long since helplessly tossed aside into the hole.

Though she was heavily injured in the process, with her previous wounds opening back up again and blood seeping out, she was still happy with the outcome.

Tang Yue hadn't quite expected this to happen.

The reality of the tribulation lightning only slowly dawned on her. 

And when she had the chance to comprehend its destructive aftermath, it was already too late.

In any case, she was also too injured and low leveled to disappear right in front of these many experts.

If the centipede hadn't shown up on time and tossed her out of the picture at that exact moment, she would have been instantly slaughtered by these power-hungry treasure seekers.

But now that it did, Tang Yue finally got a chance to flee from the terrifying danger zone without anyone noticing.

The huge pit in the ground had several small holes on the side running deep underground, probably burrowed by some other beasts.

Tang Yue without any hesitation dove into one of those holes, big enough for her to go through and small enough for potential dangerous beasts to inhabit, and quickly slithered away with whatever speed she could muster.

She was still unclear if there existed a treasure or if this whole thing was just a scam orchestrated by the system.

But whatever it might be, she had no job being in the midst of such a powerful crowd.

While several beasts and strong experts rushed into the eastern forests, Tang Yue did the opposite and was fleeing from the area at full speed.

She could distinctively hear the loud chaos and commotion erupting behind her.

There were even some agonizing shrieks, probably from people being eaten alive by the monstrous centipede, but the little snake didn't dare to look behind.

She couldn't care less about the heavenly treasure or what was happening. 

She just wanted to get the hell out of there.

As far as she was concerned, the burnt ape meat in her space pearl was treasure enough for her.

Tang Yue continued wiggling farther and farther away as if her life depended on it.