The entire hall instantly went dead silent, every single old beastman turning their head with a sharp, judgmental glare, fully expecting to see a lower ranking lord rushing in with frantic apologies.

Instead, they saw Qin Mo.

The ’beautiful snake king did not rush. He strolled into the grand, imposing hall with slow, perfectly measured steps, his long dark hair flowing loosely behind his shoulders. He wasn’t wearing the heavy, suffocating royal robes the elders expected.

He was wearing the loose white linen shirt, the casual charcoal-grey trousers, and the flat, black rubber flip-flops he had received from Lin Wan that morning.

A distinct, rhythmic *thwack... thwack... thwack...* sounded through the silent, grand hall as the soles of his flip-flops casually slapped against the polished obsidian floor.

The gathered elders completely froze, their minds going entirely blank.

They stared at his feet, then at his loose, light clothing, and then up to his flawlessly handsome face.

The sheer absurdity of the situation should have made him look ridiculous, but because Qin Mo’s natural aura was so cold, dominant, and inherently supreme, the casual clothing had the exact opposite effect.

The loose linen fabric highlighted his lean, lethal frame far better than any heavy armor ever could.

The casual, relaxed nature of his clothes made it look as though the entire grand council meeting, a gathering that the other elders treated with absolute, terrifying seriousness, was nothing more than a minor, insignificant amusement to him.

He looked like king who was completely confident in his own supreme power that he didn’t even need to bother putting on shoes to look down on them.

Qin Mo ignored the dozens of staring eyes, walking straight to the empty high chair at the front of the right-hand row. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He pulled the heavy ironwood chair back, his flip-flops letting out one final, crisp *thwack* against the stone before he elegantly sat down, crossing one long leg over the other in a completely relaxed, modern posture.

The sharp nosed Fox elder swallowed hard, his own heavy, suffocating fur collar suddenly feeling incredibly hot, itchy, and thoroughly ridiculous compared to Qin Mo’s clean, breezy white shirt.

He tried to clear his throat to find his voice, but under Qin Mo’s cool, indifferent gaze, his words caught in his throat.

"Your Highness..." the Chief Bear Elder finally spoke, his deep voice carrying a trace of severe hesitation as he stared at the snake king’s bare ankles. "You... your attire today is quite... unique. Is this a new form of battle garment from the southern regions?"

Qin Mo rest his chin on his knuckles, his pale, silver-tinted eyes sweeping over the sweating elders with a look of pure, lazy superiority.

"This?" Qin Mo murmured, his voice smooth and perfectly calm. "No. My female simply prefers me to look comfortable. Is there a problem with the dress code of this hall, Chief Elder?"

A sudden, invisible ripple of his high-grade King-level pressure leaked into the room, instantly choking out the competing auras of the other clans. The temperature in the hall seemed to drop by several degrees within a second.

"N-No! Absolutely not!" the Fox elder stammered out hastily, his pompous attitude completely vanishing as he broke out into a cold sweat under the pressure. "The... the clothing is exceptionally vivid! Most efficient for the warm weather!"

The other elders immediately nodded their heads in frantic agreement, completely suppressed not by heavy armor or ancient robes, but by a man in loose linens and beach sandals.

For the rest of the three-hour meeting, not a single elder dared to raise their voice or look down on the southern territory.

Every time Qin Mo slightly shifted his foot, causing the rubber sole to click against the floor, the entire council of high-grade lords would jump slightly in their seats, their respect for the mysterious, effortlessly handsome snake king reaching an all-time absolute high.

.....

The peaceful quiet of the early afternoon was suddenly broken by a sharp, ripping sound coming from the rear courtyard.

It was followed by a collective, incredibly high-pitched gasp from three very distinct baby voices.

"Ah! Big Brother, you broke it!" Xiao Rui squealed, his round blue eyes widening to the size of small saucers as he pointed a chubby white paw at the training yard.

Xiao Chen stood in the center of the lawn, his tiny body completely frozen. He had just discovered how to make his sharp, translucent baby claws go "shhh-tup" out of his paws with absolute precision, but his excitement had gotten the better of him.

He had launched a ferocious, tiny leap at Long Zhan’s favorite leather training dummya premium, heavy-duty gear item that the Dragon Lord had personally brought down from the Northern Peaks.

Now, a massive, jagged tear ran directly across the thick leather chest of the dummy, dropping bits of dried mountain grass stuffing onto the clean green lawn.

"I... I didn’t mean to!" Xiao Chen babbled proudly but with a sudden hint of panic, his fluffy silver-striped tail tucking tightly between his hind legs. "I just wanted to practice my tracking scratch! Daddy Zhan said a fierce leopard warrior needs to be strong!"

Xiao Jue trotted over from the shade of the porch, his small silver-striped tail swaying with a hilariously serious, dignified air.

He looked at the ruined dummy, then back at his trembling brother, his tiny face settling into the expression of a highly advanced military commander analyzing a total battlefield disaster. "This is bad. Daddy Zhan loves this dummy more than his heavy iron boots. When he sees this, he will definitely make us practice our running drills for three whole hours."

"Three hours?!" Xiao Rui whimpered, his round body tumbling backward onto the grass in pure despair. "My legs will completely melt! We need to hide the body! We need a tactical distraction!"

Xiao Jue’s eyes flashed with a sudden, brilliant spark of mischief. He gathered his two brothers into a tight circle, their three fluffy heads bumping together as they whispered in low, urgent baby tones.

"Listen to me. We are natural born hunters. We don’t run from the enemy; we redirect the blame. Remember what Mother said about using our camouflage? We just need to tell a single, perfectly coordinated story."

Ten minutes later, the heavy glass doors of the mansion were pushed open. Lin Wan walked out onto the rear porch, carrying a small, beautifully polished wooden bowl filled with her favorite milky popcorn.

She wore her comfortable modern lounge robes, her cool eyes sweeping over the yard until she spotted her three sons sitting in a neat, perfectly straight line at the kitchen island just inside the open patio.

They looked exceptionally clean, their glossy white coats perfectly groomed, and their large blue eyes blinking up at her with an expression of absolute, 100% pure innocence.

Before Lin Wan could even set her popcorn down, Long Zhan’s thunderous voice suddenly boomed from the side path as he strode into the courtyard, wearing his new stretch denim jeans with a loose black tank top, not necessarily new, as it has always been in the Wardrobe in his room, just that he hasn’t worn it yet.

"Alright, you little rascals, it’s time for our afternoon—WHAT IN THE HEAVENS HAPPENED TO MY DUMMY?!"

Long Zhan’s jaw dropped in comedic horror as his eyes landed on the ripped leather and the scattered stuffing.

He aggressively clutched his dark hair, his violet eyes flashing with pure heartbreak. "My premium northern hide! I brought this across three mountain ridges! Who did this?!"

The three triplets instantly straightened their backs at the kitchen island, their tiny paws pointing with synchronized, absolute precision toward the hallway behind them.

"It wasn’t us, Daddy Zhan!" Xiao Chen babbled loudly, his high-pitched voice sounding incredibly frantic. "We were sitting right here eating our sweet roots the whole time!"

"Yes! It was an elite stealth infiltration!" Xiao Rui chimed in eagerly, his fluffy tail letting out an energetic thud against the wooden stool. "We saw it with our own eyes! A giant, slippery silver snake tail came sliding out of the grass, went *whoosh*, and completely sliced the dummy open with its sharp scales!"

"The trajectory of the cut perfectly matches the curvature of a high-grade reptile ribbon," Xiao Jue added smoothly, his voice carrying that serious, tactical tone. "Daddy Mo was clearly testing his close-quarters combat agility while you were sleeping, Daddy Zhan."

"What did you just say, you little brutes?"

Qin Mo’s smooth, freezing voice suddenly cut through the air as he glided down the stairs, wearing his loose white linen shirt and the flat black flip-flops.

His pale, handsome face was a mask of serene, doting affection for Lin Wan, but his silver-tinted eyes turned incredibly cold as he looked at the three lying snowballs. "I have been in my study translating scrolls for the past two hours. My tail would never touch such a crude, ugly piece of common northern leather."