Mo Fan listened to Tang Zhong's words, but he felt that Tang Zhong was deliberately saying this for Luo Mian to hear.
Although Tang Zhong could not be sure what relationship the traitor had with Luo Mian, it was still the same old saying: who in that position would be a fool?
After leaving the meeting room, Teacher Tang Yue said, "I'll go find the Totem Black Snake."
"I'll go with you," Mo Fan said.
"Ah?"
Teacher Tang Yue was stunned.
"No, you silly girl, you don't really think your uncle was telling the truth, do you?" Mo Fan looked at Teacher Tang Yue speechlessly.
This woman's brain was also affected by the waves.
Even if the Totem Black Snake's shedding period arrived, it would not be affected by any High-Level Mage. One must know that with its scales protecting it, Super Level magic was the only way to possibly harm it.
"The Totem Black Snake is a totem, and even more so, a monarch-level existence. Do you think a High-Level Mage poses any threat to a Monarch?" Mo Fan asked.
"But... my uncle..."
"Your uncle was just deliberately saying that to the man with the goatee."
"You mean, Luo Mian??"
Teacher Tang Yue was also a bit slow to realize, but Luo Mian had just been protecting the Totem Black Snake.
"Let's go, the truth will always come out."
Teacher Tang Yue originally wanted to understand more, but since Mo Fan said that, she also felt that the immediate priority was to move the Totem Black Snake.
Leaving the meeting room, Mo Fan and Teacher Tang Yue immediately rushed to the Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon.
The boat slowly rowed out to a small island at the center of the lake.
The shape of the island resembled a No Entry sign, with a circle on the outside, and a big cross inside the circle. The rest of it was filled with water.
As the boat arrived at the shore, Mo Fan immediately saw a man in a blue outfit keeping an eye out at the area. His eyes flickered when he saw Tangyue, but his excitement was replaced with a frown when he saw Mo Fan.
"Tangyue, we don't allow outsiders here," said the man.
"Dasheng, he's not an outsider." Tangyue urged Mo Fan to go onshore as she docked the boat.
"Does that mean, you two have already-?" The man called Dasheng was astounded. If he were only rejecting him because he was an outsider, it had now turned into pure hostility!
Tangyue blushed when she came to a realization. She blurted out, "What the hell were you thinking, he's my student!"
"Oh, oh, a student, well I guess you won't be considered an outsider then," Dasheng chuckled. His hostility toward Mo Fan quickly vanished.
"So you guys are in charge of this island. I initially thought it was open to visitors." Mo Fan was surprised when he found out that the island did not have any visitors.
In the past, the place used to be a famous attraction due to its scenery. The island was not huge. You would find yourself at the same place after barely taking any steps, but it was surrounded by the lake, and decorated with trees and plants.
"Dasheng, you can go back now. Leave it to me," said Tangyue.
"Oh, sure thing." Dasheng took the boat and left without hesitation.
Mo Fan was intrigued when he saw Dasheng leaving without any worry.
Isn't this island empty? Anything could happen when a man and a woman are left alone on it. Does he really believe we are only teacher and student?
The thoughts filled Mo Fan's mind, but as he expected, it was soon replaced with the snake's face. Goddamnit!
——
"Well, it's my turn to be on duty today, but since you're here too, it won't be too boring." Tangyue smiled. She did not seem too vigilant with Mo Fan around.
Mo Fan could not help but admit that his mind was filled with lewd thoughts. An isolated island, a man and a woman left alone. A beautiful scenery, and a taboo relationship between a teacher and a student, even though they no longer were student and teacher... Even the fear from the snake could no longer hold him back!
Tangyue placed her hands behind her. She was like a cheerful teenage girl bringing a friend to somewhere she was familiar with.
Her walking pace was slow and relaxed, and she looked amiable and gentle, unlike her breathtaking and imposing aura as a teacher when he first met her.
Mo Fan followed Tangyue and arrived before a building at the center of the cross made of green tiles and red pillars. It thoroughly displayed the signature building style around the area.
The building was decorated with antiques. As Mo Fan went inside, not only was the table filled with aged objects, even the walls had paintings of ancient legends...
The wall paintings consisted of humans, and an ambiguous demon beast.
They also depicted a village, lakes, and some weird-looking creatures surrounding the village in a circle.
Normally, Mo Fan would not pay too much attention to stuff like this. Even if he did, he would never understand what the paintings were illustrating. However, Mo Fan understood bits of the drawings when he recalled the story that Tangyue had told him!
The ambiguous demon beast was wrapped around the village. Without taking a closer look, they looked like two sets of walls protecting the boundaries of the village... But it was actually a snake!
The snake was coiling around the village like a ring. The demon beasts were scattered around the village in a circle. They were running away, implying that they were scared of the village.
The truth was, they were not scared of the village, but the snake protecting it!
The ancient drawing did not have too much detail. Without hearing the story, one would not see the ring around the village as a snake.
"Were you telling me the truth?" Mo Fan glanced at the aged walls, before looking at Tangyue.
Tangyue nodded sternly, indicating that she was not joking.
"The snake is actually protecting your village?" asked Mo Fan in disbelief.
"Mm, that's why we call it a god. This island is depicting the same tale, too," said Tangyue.
Mo Fan was stunned. He recalled the shape of the island... A ring!
It turned out that this specific island on the West Lake that had existed for centuries was already a sign!
Who knew that it would be hiding such an astonishing secret? Unfortunately, his Miss Tangyue was the guardian of the secret!...
"Is that why it appeared, but didn't destroy a single building, nor did it cause any casualties?" asked Mo Fan.
The news was already public. The Skyscraping Snake did not trample a single building, nor did it kill a single person. As a matter of fact, for a gigantic beast like it, it would have to specifically position itself to avoid trampling on the ant-like humans.
Tangyue nodded.
"The government knows about your village, and knows it's your god, so they have decided to hide the truth?" asked Mo Fan.
Tangyue continued nodding.
"But...don't you think...it's...it's..."
"It's terrifying, and if it were to lose control, it would bring utter destruction?" Tangyue giggled.
"Mm, it's able to appear and disappear in the busiest district without anyone noticing. I believe if it were made public, the people of Hangzhou City, or even the entire nation, would go mad. After all, your village might be familiar with your god because it's protecting you, but the others would only be overwhelmed with fear of unknown. This fear is enough to drive people to do some crazy shit..." said Mo Fan.
Mo Fan was a Magician who had been through a lot recently, and it was fairly rare for him to be afraid of something.
Even he was left with a great shadow looming over his heart after seeing it, let alone the ordinary people who did too. Surely many were admitted into the hospital after for traumatic shock?"
"We're rather confused, too. The situation seven days ago was, in fact, the first in many years. We have no idea why it would appear out of nowhere. Normally, it would only do so when it sensed a huge threat in the city. I've brought you here because I want to know more details from you. Yo were present when it all happened. Did you notice anything out of place, like what it was looking at..."
Mo Fan recalled the scene, but he could not remember anything out of place, because the entire situation was extremely weird to him!
If there were anything in particular, he could only think of how the snake was staring at the building he was in. It looked like it was staring at his floor, right at him.
"I feel like it was watching me," said Mo Fan honestly.
"Are you sure?"
"Not really, its eyes were so huge. Maybe something in the building was making it feel uneasy. I couldn't really tell," said Mo Fan.
Meanwhile, Mo Fan was wondering if it had anything to do with the Demon Element.
The power granted to him when he demonized was outstanding. If the Skyscraping Snake were a guardian, could it be that it had appeared after detecting the restless demon blood in his body, but left straight away when it realized that he did not pose any threat?
But, it still did not make any sense to Mo Fan. Even when he demonized, his strength would only be comparable to a Commander-level demon beast.
The Skyscraping Snake's level was surely higher than the Commander-level. It was not necessary for it to show itself.
Maybe, there was, in fact, something in the building that he was in?
Tangyue fell into deep thought. She was not worried about how the Skyscraping Snake had shown itself in front of the public, but rather the reason why it had appeared!
"So, is the snake like a guardian?" asked Mo Fan in a serious voice.
"Mm. It used to look after a village, but that was thousands of years ago. Now it looks after a city, and the city is called Hangzhou," said Tangyue.
Mo Fan opened his mouth wide. It stayed open for quite some time, although he knew the story he still needed to act a little bit as if he could not find a word!
Who would have thought that such a gigantic beast that had brought such fear to the people, turned out to be the guardian of the city? It was definitely the unbelievable witnessing the totem beast!
"Why haven't I heard of it before?" said Mo Fan.
"You must have heard of totems, right?" Tangyue went up to another wall and pointed at the painting on it.
"Totems... it sounds rather familiar. A long time ago, human tribes had their own flags, and the flags were drawn with Totem Guardian Beasts... Are you telling me that the snake is one of them?" Mo Fan immediately came to a realization.
The textbooks of his History classes did mention the term totem before. In ancient times, humans worshiped these totem beasts in exchange for the peace of their habitat. These totem beasts were not real demon beasts, nor were they Summoned beasts. They were rather a unique existence, one that did not have the lust to kill humans, but were willing to coexist, or even protect them.
Unfortunately, these Totem Beasts had only existed in legends thousands of years ago. With Magic becoming a part of humans' daily lives, they had learned to protect themselves. They only had contact with Summoned Beasts instead of Totem Beasts...
"It's an ancient Totem Beast. Our people have been protecting it, while it protects the city. Many of the Magic Associations are still rejecting them, as they were afraid of their overwhelming power. Besides, most of the Totem Beasts are now history, thus the remaining few will rarely show themselves. Humans no longer accept them. I believe only a few people like us are protecting the Totem Beasts," Tangyue sighed softly.
"A Totem Guardian, I didn't know Miss Tangyue also held such a special identity. How about your role in the Magic Court?"
"The two don't conflict with one another. The Magic Court is well aware of its presence. By the way, the Head of the Magic Court is my eldest uncle..."
"..." Mo Fan was left speechless. It appeared that his Miss Tangyue was even more extraordinary than he thought. Putting her identity of a Totem Guardian aside, her identity as the niece of the Head of the Magic Court was enough for every renowned family, association or the military to treat her with due respect.
"On that note, why were you at Bo City?" Mo Fan recalled an important question.
With her rather formidable background, it did not make sense to send her to a small place like Bo City.
"It's because there might have been a group of Totem Guardians like us hiding in Bo City, too," said Tangyue.
A thought crossed Mo Fan's mind when he heard the words.
If he remembered correctly... Xinxia did mention to him that the people of Bo City were the descendants of some guardians appointed by an ancient emperor. But, weren't they protecting the Underground Holy Spring? Why would the Underground Holy Spring have anything to do with the Totem Beasts?
"So does that mean, the Black Vatican didn't choose Bo City as the victim of their calamity randomly just to get their revenge from the society?" Mo Fan finally grasped the true intention behind the Black Vatican's attack.
"We did suspect that they were targeting the Totem Beast that had been lost, but we eventually found out their other goals... unfortunately, I wasn't told to keep going with the investigation."