I looked at the glass of water in front of me that was filled with ice.

*Crunch...Crunch*

So cold...but so good.

*Crunch*

"Another glass please!" I ignored the waiter's questioning gaze as I crossed my arms. I was looking at him with a false facade of enormous power and self-confidence.

Which evaporated as soon as I got the third free glass of cold water.

"Thank you..." I said quietly as I once again chewed on the ice...

What was I doing you ask?

It was information gathering.

After departing from the sect, I soon reached the town near the snake valley. So, I went to a local restaurant for any new information about some heavenly treasures found in the valley or such...

Of course, the news about the heavenly treasure I was searching for wasn't about the Crystal Lotus but about other treasures that might have recently spawned in the snake valley.

It was a cliché for the protagonist to encounter such news about recently spawning treasures so while I wasn't the protagonist I still took some time to verify that there wouldn't be a sudden treasure quest event.

In the game, most of the time, the restaurant is a major information-gathering spot. Of course, if one is the protagonist they will trigger the special young master event.

But during this hour, while many people glanced at my table, they hurriedly withdrew their gaze after seeing the outer sect robe I was wearing.

Well after sitting here for an hour, I can gladly announce that there are no such events happening and the valley of snake is also peaceful.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

There is no sudden appearance of an overlord monster or strange occurrences that are going on in the Hundred Snakes Valley.

But...why do I feel such a sense of foreboding?

I don't want to brush it off just as my imagination as that would be a recipe for disaster. But the situation seems fine with the occasional talks that resounded throughout the restaurant. I even asked the waiter who, while annoyed also reassured me about it.

Anyway, that seems to be the tipping point for the waiter as he asked me to leave the restaurant kindly, though his smile appeared quite strained. Weird guy...

...

"I would like to purchase these gloves please." I pushed the black gloves I had selected to the old man in front of me.

Currently, I was in a store purchasing the gloves required to complete the mission. The gloves I had selected were pure black just like my heart...

"Oh. Yes. That would be 200 silver coins." The old man said after looking at my outer sect robe.

It seems that this guy's heart is darker than mine...

As if sensing my doubt the Old man hurriedly said, "These gloves are made from the spirit spiders' thread and are especially resistant to any sort of tearing. I could see that you are here to go to the valley of snakes so, these gloves are a necessity to be safe for collecting herbs."

Well, that does make sense but looking at the eager appearance of the old man, I still had a feeling of being duped.

"Okay." I paid the silver coins and walked out of the store, now my fair-skinned hand covered by black gloves.

Taking out my long sword, I was now finally ready to enter the Hundred Snake Valley.

...

The Hundred Snake Valley was quite large and consisted of several venomous snakes, hence the name.

I soon reached the outer periphery of the Hundred Snake Valley. The periphery of the valley only consisted of small trees and shrubs so it was easy to spot any predators making it easy to harvest any herbs or kill a few snakes.

Poisonous lilies were found in the periphery of the valley, so to be honest the mission itself was not that dangerous.

My plan was to first harvest the poisonous lilies and then go to search for the crystal lotus.

[Insight]

Using insight, my senses once again sharpened as my perception skyrocketed. With my current cultivation base, Insight can be opened for about two hours which was honestly a lot.

After about twenty minutes, I had already found the poisonous lilies. They were blue in color and looked beautiful but I knew that looks can be deceiving as I was the prime example of that.

I carefully put the ten stalks of poisonous lilies I had found in my bag of holding. The mission had specified five stalks of poisonous lily but with insight, I was able to find ten so I took them all.

I could extract poison from them and use it as my trump card. Thinking Like this I grinned a bit evilly but quickly covered it.

Now the main purpose of my trip, [The Crystal Lotus]