My Ability Pool is Superior

Alone deep in the ancient forest, encountering a coiled Black Scaled Great Snake—this in itself was a scalp-numbing scene.

Not to mention that this Great Snake’s gaze was quite anomalous.

Lu Bai stared at it thoughtfully; that inexplicable murmur ringing in his ears seemed not something an ordinary animal could produce.

Could it be this time… a Deathmatch Arena with a Demonic Creatures background?

The Black Scaled Great Snake’s vertical pupils still maintained a scrutinizing flavor.

Man and snake thus stared at each other for a while, until the Black Scaled Great Snake finally broke the impasse first.

It moved.

Ka~ ka~

Scales rubbing against tree bark, the thick snake body winding along the trunk, propelling the part above the Great Snake’s neck groove to gradually hang in the air.

The Great Snake’s snout slowly parted, spitting out a scarlet slender forked tongue, seemingly sizing up Lu Bai’s background.

After the suspended snake body extended fully over two meters, it began to slowly retract.

Seeing this, Lu Bai’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He did not relax; instead, he heightened his vigilance.

Because this Great Snake’s upper half coiled like a spring poised to strike—an unmistakable attack posture.

“Hold on.”

Lu Bai tentatively called out.

Unexpectedly, whether too lazy for communication or simply incapable of human nature, after he spoke, this Great Snake lunged at him like lightning.

At this point, Lu Bai could not possibly surrender tamely.

Instantly shutting off the surrounding light, enveloping the vicinity in darkness, and at the same time activating [Flash Time] to dodge the Great Snake’s strike.

Snakes primarily rely on smell and touch to sense prey; their vision is not absent but generally poor.

Lu Bai was well aware of this.

So he did not aim to completely block the opponent’s vision, but to confuse this Great Snake.

Thanks to the existence of [Flash Time], achieving this was not difficult.

Hiss~

The Great Snake missed, immediately retracting to the trunk while maintaining its attack posture, constantly flicking its forked tongue to sense the environment.

Judging Lu Bai’s position, it shot out again.

However, this lunge also missed.

This Black Scaled Great Snake finally froze.

It did not quite understand the current situation; it was certain it had sensed this human’s position, so why did it keep missing?

No evasion process—this puzzled the snake greatly.

Could it be some kind of nightmare spell?

So it has some ability; no wonder it dared enter the forest alone.

“How about we chat?”

Lu Bai hidden in the darkness, his voice carrying a hint of amusement.

To the Black Scaled Great Snake, this obviously sounded fearless due to backing.

It suddenly unleashed a tail sweep toward the position of Lu Bai’s voice.

The feedback was only a whoosh of air—no solid target struck.

With the final sneak attack missing, the Black Scaled Great Snake decisively sprayed a swath of deep green Poisonous Mist, swiftly retreating under its cover.

After all, Lu Bai’s performance was too anomalous; it truly could not gauge his exact background.

Watching the Black Scaled Great Snake’s tail completely disappear into the vegetation, Lu Bai waved his hand to disperse the surrounding darkness.

He could clearly sense that this Black Scaled Great Snake possessed spiritual intelligence; unfortunately, the other did not want to communicate with him.

He let out a long breath: “Snake demon?”

No sooner had he spoken than he felt a wave of dizziness.

Fortunately, this sensation came fast and left even faster.

He was not even sure if it was an illusion.

……

When he emerged from the forest, it was already evening.

Lu Bai gazed at the wisps of kitchen smoke rising in the distance and quickened his pace.

He was still clueless about this world’s situation; at least he should first find a local to ask.

Racing along the country road for four or five kilometers, he finally reached his destination… a small village.

It was not the idyllic scenery of crisscrossing fields and barking dogs as imagined.

Instead, it was somewhat desolate.

This village was about the size of a hundred households, not large in scale.

Waist-high wooden fences surrounded dilapidated low earth-and-tile houses, with sparse haystacks dotted around the houses.

The stone path connecting the village occasionally had puddles of accumulated water, muddy and damp.

Overall, it exuded a strong sense of decay.

The degree to which rural cadres would see it and immediately need to come for poverty alleviation.

Perhaps because strangers were rarely seen, Lu Bai had not stood at the village entrance for long when soon several households pushed open their house doors, their gazes looking towards Lu Bai carrying curiosity mixed with vigilance.

Not long after, the men of the households pushed their wives and children back home, conveniently closing the house doors.

An elderly person over fifty years old walked out amid the crowd’s escort, shouting righteously: “May I ask what business the young master has?”

Whether it was the numb coarse clothes full of patches on these villagers, or their way of speaking, there was no trace of any modern atmosphere.

Considering local customs, Lu Bai randomly cupped his hands: “Passing through your land, seeing that night has fallen, may I trouble you to allow this young one to stay overnight.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers began discussing in low voices.

Some even pointed at Lu Bai.

The village elder over fifty years old coughed twice, then inquired: “I wonder from where the young master has come?”

Lu Bai pointed to the mountain forest behind.

The scene instantly cooled.

“Qinggang Forest?”

“Afraid there’s something wrong.”

“Shh…”

Many villagers showed terrified expressions and hid back inside their houses, tightly closing the house doors.

The village elder’s first reaction was also to dodge away, but having already stepped out, he could only stand awkwardly in place, extremely unnaturally forcing a smiling face.

“Then which house do you want to stay in?”

Such a big change?

Lu Bai was silent for a moment, then revealed a harmless smile.

“I choose?”

“Of course, of course.”

Seeing this smile, the village elder couldn’t help but shudder, his wrinkle-filled face smiling like it was crying.

Creak~

The house door of a dilapidated house at the village head was pushed open, and a dark-skinned little girl stepped out.

Her gaze looking towards Lu Bai was full of awe and fear, yet she took the initiative to invite: “Please… please come stay at my house.”

Lu Bai glanced at her, then shifted his gaze back to the village elder.

“Is that okay?”

“Of course, of course, then this old man takes his leave first.”

The village elder was greatly relieved and turned to leave.

The dark-skinned little village girl opened the fence gate, tremblingly calling: “Come… come on.”

Lu Bai then stepped forward.

He guessed that the villagers’ attitudes had changed so drastically probably because they mistook him for some non-human existence.

……

The interior of the house was very simple.

A wooden table for eating, a small wooden stool with a slightly shiny surface from wear, and a basin of extinguished fire pit in the corner.

Further inside, without any cover, one could see the layout at a glance: next to the wood stove was a one-meter-square wooden water tank, and above the water tank hung a grayed towel.

Amid the simplicity, there was a touch of ancient atmosphere.

But none of this could really catch Lu Bai’s attention; now all his gaze was focused on the base of the wall.

That was a miniature building the size of a shrine.

At a rough glance, it seemed like a proportionally shrunk version of the entire house.

It even had interior structures, intricately detailed like a mini figurine.

Moreover, right in front of the miniature building was a porcelain bowl serving as an incense vessel, piled full of incense ash and completely burned wooden sticks.

Source: .com, updated by novlove.com