Chapter 47: Snake Spirit (2)

It was not just me who was scared stiff. Su Rou, who was being led along by Old Man Jiang, had his legs go weak immediately. If Old Man Jiang had not been holding him, he would have rolled straight into the pit.

The others were much calmer, probably because they had already seen this snake spirit before.

The earth pit was quite deep. Looking down from above, it was about seven to eight meters. Inside the pit, a faint half-exposed stone door could be seen. Directly facing the stone door was a large boulder, and the snake spirit was lying on that boulder outside the door.

I finally saw what a snake spirit was. It was a giant snake. At this moment, half of its body was still buried in the ground, but the exposed portion alone was already as long as three of me combined.

The color of its body was strange. It looked white, but there were faint light gray patterns across it. Those patterns looked extremely, I could not describe it properly. In any case, it felt like they had no traceable structure, yet also vaguely resembled unfinished writing or totems.

Even more shocking was the white swelling on its head. It took up about one third of its skull, and it looked soft yet slightly firm at the same time.

“So big…” Su Rou had only just managed to say this when Old Man Jiang immediately covered his mouth. The seemingly lazy snake spirit reacted the moment it heard those words. Its huge head turned toward Su Rou, and its pair of red eyes stared straight at him. Its forked tongue flicked in and out continuously.

Snake eyes were already cold by nature, showing no emotion at all. Just being stared at like that was terrifying enough.

Even though Su Rou was still being held by Old Man Jiang, his body went weak again and he practically collapsed against him.

Its head really was as big as a winnowing basket. That was my first impression. My second impression was harder to describe. Normally, snakes give a cold feeling, but I clearly sensed that when the snake spirit looked at Su Rou, it was transmitting something like tension mixed with anger.

Su Rou had his mouth covered and could not say anything else. After a brief standoff, the snake spirit slowly relaxed again and lay back down on the stone.

“It will not attack easily because it has developed intelligence. Do not speak carelessly about what it is. This is extremely taboo. I will explain the reason later. In short, if you anger it, even dozens of lives would not be enough to pay,” Old Man Jiang instructed. He was speaking mainly to me and Su Rou.

I felt very puzzled about why we could not say what it was. It was just a snake. But since my cheap master said he would explain later, I did not ask further. I only knew one thing. My master would never harm me.

“Old Wu, what do you think?” my master turned to Old Wu. Since he was a snake handler, he must have already formed a judgment.

“I think what happened just now proves it is only using the yin energy here to cultivate. It has not been affected by anything evil. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy. You know how terrifying it is when mountain spirits and wild entities go down the wrong path or are influenced by something. Or those who give up completely and think they cannot survive their tribulation. This is your area of expertise. I only speak based on this type of situation. My ancestral records mention many such cases, both righteous and evil,” Old Wu said awkwardly. He clearly tried hard to avoid saying the word snake.

“Mm, I already had that assessment. When someone dug it out earlier, it did not attack, so I already understood. The question is, do you have a way to make it leave?” my master frowned.

At the mention of leaving, the snake spirit reacted again. Its huge head turned and looked coldly at my master.

I could not help but speak. “Master, I think it is kind of like mocking what you just said.”

I was still young and did not yet have the word contempt in my vocabulary, so I could only describe what I felt.

Old Wu looked at me in shock and turned his head. “You can sense its emotions?”

“I do not know. I just felt that when it looked at Su Rou earlier, it was nervous, and also angry,” I answered honestly.

Hearing this, Su Rou immediately went weak again and hung limply off my master like a ball of meat.

“Heh. Do you think I accept disciples randomly? San Wa Er has very strong spiritual perception. It is normal for him to sense its emotions,” my master said with some pride. He instinctively reached to stroke his beard, only to realize he had shaved it clean that morning. To cover his embarrassment, he quickly changed the subject. “Stop that. Is there a way to make it leave?”

“There is a way, but it is very troublesome. You know this. If done improperly, it may injure it. Worse, it could harm people. In our line of work, we try to avoid harming creatures of its kind. To be honest, destroying its long cultivation would be a great sin. I think we should still use the old method we discussed earlier. I will only act if absolutely necessary,” Old Wu said with concern after thinking for a moment.

My master fell silent for a while, then said, “Alright. Let us do that.”

I could not hold back anymore. “Master, how exactly are we doing it?”

Do we need to bring a Liberation truck to haul it away?

“Hmph. Negotiation,” my master said as he rolled up his sleeves, looking completely like a street thug.

Seeing my disdainful expression, my master grabbed my sleeves and rolled them up as well. “Think you can run away? Stay here and back me up.”

As expected, he was bullying a child again. Back him up, fine, but why my sleeves? I only had this one good white cotton shirt, and my cheap master had already crumpled it up.

“Pay attention to its emotions. Then I will not waste effort,” he muttered into my ear. He handed Su Rou to someone else and took a step forward with me.

The moment we stepped forward, the snake spirit reacted. With a loud rush of movement, it raised its body. Even more strangely, the scales around its neck actually lifted slightly.

Only a small ring of scales, yet it looked extremely imposing. I almost blurted out, “Master, this is a dragon. This is a dragon.”

But I held it back in the end. I could not embarrass my master. I had to hold steady.

It raised its body higher, now closer to the edge of the pit. The confrontation became extremely tense. I also noticed its buried body was writhing, causing the earth to tremble. It looked like it was about to come out.

I kept thinking of Dong Cunrui bravely blowing up a bunker, trying to use that spirit to steady myself. I almost became him mentally before I finally managed to calm down.

My master, however, was completely calm.

He chuckled and said casually, “Negotiation with you is a good thing. It means we treat you as an equal. What is this attitude? You do not want to admit it yourself?”

His tone was light, but I could feel from the strength of his grip on my hand that his whole body was tense. As expected, veins on his neck were slightly bulging.

Looking closer, I could feel a powerful aura coming from my master. That aura directly suppressed the pressure from the snake spirit, making me feel much more at ease.

Indeed, although the snake spirit did not lie down, it also stopped trying to force its way out. I was very confused about how it could be buried in the ground and still breathe. That made no scientific sense. But I also noticed the soil covering its lower body was already loosening. It could come out at any moment.

At that moment, I felt its emotions calm down. It was no longer as hostile as before.

So I whispered, “It was treating us like class enemies just now. It has calmed down. Master, you can continue talking.”

My master gave a low “Mm,” staring at the snake spirit with burning eyes. His gaze was steady and unyielding as he said loudly, “We want you to leave this place. You are cultivating here, and you must also sense that something underground is not right. It may bring disaster to the world. If you leave, we can deal with what is below. That will also count as a form of merit for you. What do you think?”

The snake spirit gave no response, at least none visible on the surface. I focused carefully on its emotions, but they felt extremely complex and blurry this time.

“Country bumpkin, close your eyes. Calm your mind. Put all your attention on sensing it. In your mind, there must only be the thought that you are communicating with it. Only this thought. Do it now,” my master whispered into my ear.

In truth, he was already teaching me the simplest Daoist cultivation requirement, visualization. But at that time, he did not make it explicit. That was my master’s style. Just do it. No need for long explanations that create pressure.

At his words, I immediately closed my eyes. But calmness was very difficult for a child like me. I could only rely on the Mind-Calming Mantra. I took a deep breath and silently recited it in my mind. After repeating it several times, my mind gradually became clear and empty again.

At that moment, I desperately imagined the snake spirit. Then I pictured it sitting in front of me as we roasted corn and talked.

The image in my mind was a little strange. A giant snake sitting with me roasting corn, but I was only seven years old, and that was the only situation I could imagine that felt like a proper conversation.

Gradually, I began to feel its emotions more clearly. It was extremely strange. It had not spoken a single word, yet I somehow knew exactly what it was thinking, as if we were truly communicating.

I suddenly opened my eyes because my head felt like it was about to explode. I said to my master, “Master, it said it cultivates on its own, and all beings have their own karma. What does this have to do with it?”