Tomb raiding: It all started with shocking the archaeological team.

Hearing the rustling sounds coming from all directions, the archaeological team seemed to have a premonition, and their expressions changed drastically in an instant.

At the same time, I don't know if it was just my imagination, but the air temperature seemed to rise, so hot that even the oxygen seemed to be thin.

Turning around to look around, one sees countless fire spirit snakes crawling out from the cracks and caves in the mountain cave.

Looking out, it's like lava flowing from an erupting volcano, rapidly converging and surrounding this place from all directions.

Chen Yibai knew that the Fire Spirit Snakes were large, social animals, but he didn't expect their numbers to be so terrifying.

These fire spirit snakes vary in size, with the shortest being over three meters long. One of them is so long that it is over ten meters long, with the thickest part of its body being thicker than an adult's torso. On its huge cone-shaped head, a pair of dark green eyes gleam fiercely, like the most loyal 'tomb guardian' here, leading tens of thousands of small fire spirit snakes to drive away and eliminate any intruders who approach the Dragon Tower Palace.

The dragon-shaped skeleton we saw at the bottom of the pool in the coffin should be the enormous Fire Serpent King.

According to the saying that it takes a thousand years to grow one meter, then this Fire Serpent King, which is over ten meters long, must have lived for ten thousand years.

"What to do... what to do?"

Surrounded by these fire spirit snakes that surged in from all directions like molten lava, there was no way to escape, unless they grew wings and flew away. So the archaeological team panicked and jumped around.

If there isn't a good way to avoid danger, Wang Haichuan's words, "I would have no regrets even if I died here," might actually come true.

"I...I'm afraid of snakes..."

Yang Qingyun was so frightened that she squeezed her legs together, even making a gurgling sound. Sweat beaded on her forehead, whether from cold or hot sweat, it was hard to tell.

For Yang Qingyun, who has a natural fear of snakes, even encountering a rat snake would make her jump in fright, let alone a scene even more terrifying than the movie "Anaconda".

"Damn it, how many bullets do we have left?"

Yan Wanlei gritted his teeth and reloaded the Type 95 assault rifle in his hand with another magazine of bullets.

Even with a full supply of bullets, the gun alone wouldn't be enough to handle the situation, especially since the Fire Serpents could 'explode' at close range.

But this is the only solution Yan Wanlei can think of right now.

Even if it's a futile resistance, we should still put up a fight. Otherwise, we can't just sit here and wait to die, can we?

"Captain Yan, I have about a hundred rounds of ammunition and a grenade left..."

"I still have about two hundred rounds left..."

Xiao Hu and Qiu Jing responded at the same time.

"Grenades are out of the question!"

Upon hearing about grenades, Yan Wanlei quickly reminded them that they had already learned their lesson once; the bullets that pierced the Fire Serpent and spewed molten liquid nearly burned the special operations team half to death.

If we add hand grenades, it'll be like a rain of fire from the sky.

"All fire! Shoot the biggest one first!"

Yan Wanlei aimed the sights of his Type 95 assault rifle at the largest of the fire serpents, which was over ten meters long.

As the saying goes, "to catch the thief, first catch the king," it might come in handy.

Chen Yibai, who was standing nearby, did not participate. There was no need to worry about splash damage when shooting at long distances. Since there was no better way to deal with it, and the Fire Serpent had not yet rushed in front of him, it was indeed possible to try using 'hot weapons' first.

Da da da!!

Under the precise firing of the special operations team, 5.8mm bullets rained down on the Fire Serpent King from afar.

However, to Chen Yibai's surprise, the bullets fired at the Fire Serpent King only produced a string of sparks when they hit the Fire Serpent King, as if they had hit a steel plate, and did not cause any damage to the Fire Serpent King at all.

Instead, the Fire Serpent King raised its front half of its body, its blood-red maw wide open, and accelerated as it swooped down towards them, its eyes even more ferocious.

Done!

Yan Wanlei turned pale with fright; the scales on the even larger Fire Serpent King were incredibly thick.

Who could possibly withstand this!

"Hurry up and get to the altar!"

At the critical moment of life and death, Chen Yibai suddenly shouted.

No one understood what Chen Yibai meant, and without thinking too much, they quickly followed Chen Yibai, turned around, and ran back to the sacrificial altar.

To everyone's surprise, the Fire Serpent King rushed to the foot of the altar, its eyes still fierce, but it seemed to be wary of the altar and actually did not climb up.

At the same time, all the fire serpents crawled over and surrounded the altar, as if molten lava had already submerged their feet.

Now, only the altar remains as the sole 'pure land'.

"Mr. Chen, what's going on?"

Seeing that none of the fire spirit snakes dared to climb up, Yan Wanlei breathed a brief sigh of relief, and at the same time looked at Chen Yibai and asked in bewilderment.

Are tomb raiders also biological experts who understand animal behavior?

It shouldn't be; there must be some explanation behind it.

In fact, this is something Chen Yibai just noticed: some of the fire spirit snakes rushing in from all directions suddenly changed their routes, as if they were deliberately trying to bypass the sacrificial altar.

In addition, although the Fire Spirit Snake feeds on fire, it also has the habit of eating meat.

There must be a reason why this altar can still preserve so many sacrificial corpses.

As for the explanation, Chen Yibai looked at the Fire Serpent King, whose eyes were fierce yet wary of the altar, and guessed: "The one worshipped and offered sacrifices at this altar should be the true king of these Fire Serpents!"

"what?"

"The true king?"

Upon hearing Chen Yibai's words, Wang Haichuan exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!"

Yan Wanlei also felt that his cerebellum was atrophying and his brain's CPU was not working properly.

Previously, it was said that the Taikang clan worshipped and offered sacrifices to the mountain god Zhulong. How did it suddenly become the true king of the fire spirit snake in the blink of an eye?

"Mr. Chen, do you mean that the so-called Mountain God Zhulong is actually the true king of the Fire Serpent?"

Wang Haichuan was the first to react, looking at Chen Yibai in surprise and asking.

Chen Yibai nodded, then turned his gaze to the stone statue of the mountain god Zhulong above the Dragon Tower Palace.

The image of the mountain god Zhulong is exactly that of a human body with a snake tail, and this snake tail is the key information point.

Perhaps, the mountain god Zhulong was actually a fire spirit snake that had become a deity! And then King Kang regarded it as a god.

This aligns well with the ancient people's worship of special creatures and their view of them as deities during the Xia and Shang dynasties.

While the concept of 'becoming a spirit' exists only in myths, legends, or folk tales, it is true that some creatures do undergo mutations when they exceed the age limit.

It's like a pig; if it had a lifespan of over ten thousand years, it would have become a "spirit."

This also explains why these fire spirit snakes dare not go up to the sacrificial altar.

Because on this sacrificial altar are their king's 'food'.

Whether they are social creatures or humans, especially after they have gained a certain level of intelligence and autonomy, they all have a strong sense of class and would never dare to overstep their bounds.