บท 24: The She-Viper
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Black geese flying high against the dark moon, as the general escaping under cover of night."
Somehow, this poetic verse came to Chi Qiaosong's mind, fittingly describing the situation at hand.
He was in hot pursuit of the python, which had been stabbed by the spirit tusk dagger. One chased after the other one, who was fast escaping. Both had ducked into the pitch-black forest in the blink of an eye.
The heavy rain couldn't dampen his adrenaline-fueled excitement in the meantime. Whether it be a spirit of the mountain or a basilisk, he was sure that he would overpower it with his martial arts and beat it to death.
[Pitter-patter, pitter-patter]
His sneakers made squishy sounds in the muddy water. The python knocked down many smaller trees as it dashed forward, trying to get away in a panic. The thick smell of blood could not be covered up by the heavy rainfall.
He was getting closer to his prey.
Chi Qiaosong's excitement had peaked, and he couldn't help but shout out, "My attack won't miss... I tell you to stop, creature!"
Then, his body leaped forward.
He reached out and grabbed the python's tail, which was a little slippery. However, it just so happened that he caught the woman's face that was at the tip of the tail, so the python could not break free from Chi Qiaosong's grasp.
He saw a big tree in front, and he quickly caught it with his legs and hung on tightly.
This time, with the help of the tree as a solid anchor, he could pull the sliding snake to a stop. The python tried to use the last bit of its strength to keep sliding forward, but its body was not under its control.
The next moment, it was swung by a force and smashed hard into the tree trunk next to it.
Immediately, it was stunned by the smash. At that moment, Chi Qiaosong quickly got up, grabbed the snake's tail, lifted it abruptly, and threw it violently over his head as if it were a whip.
The python kept twisting its body but found it difficult to escape.
With the faint illumination of light, he walked toward the front of the python and found the spirit tusk dagger that was stuck at the seven-inch spot. He suddenly stumped on it with his foot, so the spirit tusk dagger was now completely buried inside.
He continued to crush it with his foot to cause as much damage as possible with the spirit tusk dagger as it buried deep inside the seven-inch spot.
[Rumble.]
The sounds of thunder began to fade away.
The torrential rain suddenly dwindled, and soon it was just a light rain that continued to drizzle. Chi Qiaosong wiped the rain off his face as he tossed the excess water off his hair.
He grabbed the python's tail and oriented himself before he dragged the python away with great strides.
The kerosene lamp was lit.
Chi Qiaosong, who had stripped down to just his boxers, carefully observed the python that he killed with the light of the kerosene lamp.
This python was over ten meters long, and the thickest part was close to one meter. It was covered with red and white scales all over its body, somewhat similar to the common red-banded snakes that are often seen in the countryside.
The most unusual thing about it was its tail, with a huge sarcoma at the tip, pale in color.
Chi Qiaosong looked at the sarcoma suspiciously and felt that something was not quite right. The woman's face was clearly the sarcoma at the tail of this python, but no matter how he looked at it, it did not resemble a human face."
He remembered it very well.
At the time, he was sure he had seen the blurry face of a woman, with eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, grinning. But the sarcoma at the tip of the tail was nothing like what he saw. It did not look like a human face whatsoever.
Suddenly, he remembered a legend, a story that he had once heard from an old man in the village when he was a child.
In the tale that he heard, a scholar who once studied in an ancient temple deep inside the mountains had heard someone calling him. When he responded, he saw a beautiful woman smiling at him, whose face appeared above the wall.
Then the woman disappeared.
He was very pleased and thought that he had encountered a beauty. Then, however, when the old priest who often visited him at night for a chat was astute enough to tell him that his face had demonic energy and that he must have met the She-Viper.
This was a monster with a woman's head and a snake's body. Whoever answered the call would be eaten by the monster that very night.
The scholar was frightened when he heard it, but the old priest told him that all would be well. He gave him a small box and told him to put it by his pillow at night, and he could sit back and relax. Then, at night, a rustling noise was heard, and as soon as it happened, a golden light flew out of the box that was next to the pillow, and nothing more was heard from the outside.
"There was a flying centipede hidden in the box!" The old man who told the story revealed the secret under the eager gazes of the children, who were filled with fear and anticipation. "This flying centipede loves to eat the brains of snakes, and the She-Viper was killed by it! "
"Wow!"
There was a commotion among the kids, all of whom wanted a flying centipede.
He, too, remembered wanting one for a long time.
"So..."
Chi Qiaosong poked the sarcoma on the snake's tail and wondered to himself, "Is this the She-Viper? Is it the face of a woman that was meant to beguile its victims?"
Not all legends can be fully believed, but they are not necessarily baseless.
"But, is it a spirit beast or some kind of evil demon?" He was puzzled but quickly assuaged himself. "Actually, there is no need to worry about that. What is the difference between a spirit beast and an evil spirit?
The She-Viper ate people. The Mountain Drum, when given the opportunity, may also want to eat people.
Therefore, the correct solution for any magical creature, even plants, was to chop them up to fertilize the fields. All the treasures of heaven and earth would only be maximized by using them for farming! "
He had already decided to use this She-Viper to fatten his land.
But the She-Viper was too big and would take a long time to dismember. So he simply found the gall of the snake and cut it out to be kept carefully. Then, he threw the snake's body next to the greenhouse.
He took a shower and decided to wait until tomorrow to deal with everything.
A puff of smoke came out of the Chinese pipe in Mr. Chi's mouth.
Mr. Chi inhaled the smoke into his lungs and then exhaled. Then, he said very seriously, "The reason few people are living in the mountains is because of these dirty things... I didn't believe in this nonsense when I was younger. That was why I settled my household halfway up the mountain."
"Never mind that you didn't believe it, big brother. I didn't either. After living here for so long, I haven't seen any dirty things except coyotes."
The second uncle took a knife and carefully made an incision, following the lines of the snake's scales. They were going to peel off the skin of the She-Viper in one piece.
The snake skin was too tough to be used for fertilizing the fields but could be made into a batch of soft armor that would fend off ordinary swords and spears. It would likely be possible to sell each piece of the soft armor for a few hundred dollars.
Even if they were not sold, they could be saved as family heirlooms.
Raising his head, he continued, "But now I have to believe that the situation Qiaosong encountered last night was too dangerous. It's the same as the story says. Qiaosong could have been bewitched by the She-Viper!"
"I'm afraid I can't be bewitched by a face like that... Second uncle, you didn't see it... How can I describe it? It was uglier than a ghost!" Chi Qiaosong told them.
He thought that if the She-Viper wanted to bewitch him, it should at least look a little bit more tempting.
This hideous face could not even attract a ghost. Even prisoners who had been jailed for more than ten years would not be attracted by that.
"I didn't see the face, but I did see that giant sarcoma. It was really... It was really unattractive, but I'm afraid that if it had magic, it might enthrall you."
Mr. Chi nodded in agreement, "Once you are enthralled, you won't know anything. They can do whatever they want with you."
Listening to what his father and the second uncle had to say, Chi Qiaosong was a little scared. Thinking back to last night, he felt that it was possible that he could have been bewitched by the demonic aura of the She-Viper. Otherwise, he would not have mistaken the sarcoma as a woman's face.
Perhaps it was because the She-Viper's skill was not enough.
Although the sarcoma resembled a woman's face, it was not a face of beauty.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: perhaps it was not because the She-Viper's skills were not enough, but that it was blocked by the internal skills of the Purple Cloud Serenity that he had cultivated!
The inner skills focused on the cultivation of Qi. This Qi was holier than holy and had the ability to resist evil and enchanting hallucinations.
"Ahhh!"
It was now that he became afraid. If he didn't comprehend the energy fluctuation, there was no telling what danger he might have had to face. This made him pay even more attention to the Purple Cloud Serenity.
The next day was busy.
The three of them quickly skinned the snake, chopped it up, and stepped into the muddy field to bury its remains there.
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