Encountering a Snake - Chapter 27

V3C27

—Don’t even think about it.

When Liu Yan spoke, his voice was light, but Shen Jue heard it clearly and immediately began to plan. He went back to his room, took several cloth bags, and without a word, left the courtyard.

As a son, one should be filial. Without hesitation, Shen Jue navigated through the mountains, searching for traces of snakes and following their scent to find their lair.

Though Luofu Mountain was vast, there were many snakes, but few venomous ones. Most were harmless species like the common rat snakes, who mostly preyed on small animals or snuck around to steal bird eggs to eat. When hunters came to the mountain, they would hide in their holes or burrow into leaf piles, afraid of being captured and turned into a delicious soup. They were harmless creatures.

However, for reasons unknown, they had suffered calamity. The entire snake families, over a hundred members, had been scooped up by the death god from the sky, as if with a rake, and gathered into bags.

They hadn’t even had the chance to flee.

Shen Jue, unable to tell the gender of the snakes, found one nest after another in the moonlight, packing them all into cloth bags without distinguishing their species. The snakes hadn’t even had time to realize their fate before they were tangled together in the bags, fighting and writhing.

What they didn’t know was that they were facing this disaster because of a single sentence uttered by someone in the mountain: “Don’t even think about it.”

This person’s son, the one carrying the bags, had come to clear all the snakes from the mountain—regardless of their gender, they were all driven away.

Shen Jue spent an entire night relying on his keen sense of smell, packing the snakes and carrying them on his back. He ran for two hundred miles before stopping. He looked around in the night, finding a good place with mountains and valleys, perfect for releasing the snakes. He then unloaded the bags and hesitated for a moment before deciding to carry them farther. Using his powers, he ran another five hundred miles before finding a solitary mountain to release them. Nearly a thousand miles away, the snakes would be unlikely to find their way back. Whether or not they could adapt to the new environment was no longer a concern.

Filial piety was a matter of intent, and compliance required skill. For thousands of years, people had done it this way. As for Shen Jue, he had never thought of being opportunistic.

Since his father was troubled, it was the son’s job to ease the burden. What he could do was make sure there were no more snakes in the mountains (except for Yi Mo). Even if Yi Mo was unwilling to relent, he wouldn’t find a suitable partner.

In contrast to his son’s clumsy method, Liu Yan, the father, took a more skillful approach. He simply went to the well and drew a bucket of water.

The mountain well water was cool and clear. During the hot summer, Shen Jue often used the well water mixed with honey to serve his family. Sweet and cool, it was truly a simple pleasure in life.

What Liu Yan did was take a ladle of cold water and pour it over the restless black snake, calming it thoroughly.

The unfulfilled desires that had not yet fully bloomed were like a small, fragile flame, instantly extinguished without even a trace of smoke.

The black snake, drenched and helpless, coiled on the bed, looking innocent and confused. Liu Yan, standing at the bedside, coldly told him, “You’re mine.”

The black snake didn’t understand what had happened, but Liu Yan didn’t seem angry. His own agitation had been temporarily suppressed, and the snake, now calm, slithered over to him and nuzzled his hand, licking his face with its tongue.

Liu Yan looked at him and kissed his head, softly repeating, “You’re mine.”

The response was the same: the snake’s tongue licking his face.

Liu Yan had already prepared himself for a long struggle. He knew that dousing the black snake with cold water could only delay his urges for a while. Using the same method repeatedly would eventually be useless.

Every day, he pondered how to subdue this snake that yearned for offspring, ultimately cutting off its desires. But reproduction was the instinct of all animals, and over time, after several more cold-water treatments, Liu Yan realized he could no longer control the situation. The black snake’s restlessness became more and more obvious. Confined to the room, it slithered around, repeatedly trying to escape, only to be caught and dragged back. It even showed signs of growing violent, with its head turning toward Liu Yan each time, hesitating only when its fangs nearly pierced his flesh. Yet, it was clear—there was a moment of murderous intent in its eyes.

Each time its sharp teeth touched his skin, Liu Yan’s heart would chill, but in the hesitation of the snake, his feelings would warm again. Within half a month, they had endured countless cycles of warmth and cold.

By this point, the situation had evolved into a war. Yi Mo and Liu Yan were locked in a constant struggle, turning their conflict into a never-ending torment.

They were the center of the whole battle, while Xu Mingshi and Shen Jue, watching from the outside, were powerless to change anything.

Days slowly drifted into a state of torment due to this small matter.

Actually, Liu Yan wasn’t completely helpless. If he truly decided to be ruthless, he could take the snake to a snowy mountain to live, and that would be the end of it. The cold and snow would cause Yi Mo to hibernate instead of experiencing the spring’s surge.

Liu Yan had considered this idea, and every time he thought about it during Yi Mo’s violent outbursts, he quickly dismissed it. He wanted to live his days with him, not trapped in a cold, desolate place while Yi Mo slept through life.

Or perhaps, he thought, it might be better to fulfill his wish.

As Liu Yan thought this, the calm of his heart, built over three hundred years, was suddenly disturbed by a wave of emotions—feelings that had seemed impossible now swirled like a huge whirlpool, pulling him under with bitter, dark waters, drowning his rationality. All that was left were two words, unrestrained: No!

No!

Liu Yan held the snake tightly in his arms, as though trying to merge them together, so there would be no separation, no more worries.

His agitation and improper force only made the black snake more violent. It broke free from his embrace and rushed toward the door, as if escaping a cage, like a bird freed from its cage or a fish returned to the sea. There was no hesitation, only a desperate yearning for freedom. The instincts of the animal were strong enough to break any obstacle in its path. At this moment, Liu Yan’s emotions were the obstacle.

Behind him, a hand reached out and easily grabbed the snake. The black snake turned, knowing who it was, but its anger was even greater due to the repeated hindrances.

Liu Yan carried him back inside, feeling empty and unsure of what to do, even questioning whether his persistence was right. He looked at the snake and realized Yi Mo had become just an ordinary snake—

An ordinary snake, one that wanted to mate with another.

Liu Yan’s mind was a mess, and he didn’t even realize the strange calm in his arms. With his eyes closed, he spoke to the snake, no longer Yi Mo, but still his Yi Mo.

He said, “Don’t look for a female snake, okay?”

He said, “I’ll give you little snakes, don’t look for others, okay?”

He laughed bitterly at himself, feeling absurd, yet unable to stop the absurdity from continuing.

He said, “Yi Mo, I’ll give you little snakes, don’t look for others.”

He said, “Don’t look for others.”

He finally voiced a request he had kept buried in his heart many years ago, back when he was Ji Jiu, married with children, and unable to say it to Yi Mo.

“Don’t look for others.”

“You’re mine.”

He lowered his head, opening his eyes with a bitter sting, and faced the rising snake head with sharp fangs. The fangs flashed before his eyes, and immediately a sharp pain shot through his neck.

The black snake, which had been holding back its fury for days, finally revealed its sharp fangs and sank deeply into his flesh. It could not understand the human’s feelings for him, and naturally could not reciprocate those feelings. In that moment, he didn’t even feel like he was hurting him; instead, it was a form of self-defense. After a violent tremor, the person who had been bitten stiffened, losing all speech and motion.

The door was wide open, and Shen Jue, who had entered with tea, clearly saw the scene. Xu Mingshi, who had been tending to the flowers in the yard, walked to the window and looked through the wide-open window. He saw the black snake’s fangs buried in Liu Yan’s neck, the blood continuously flowing and soaking the collar.

Before they could react, Liu Yan, having come to his senses, let out a small laugh and said, “You won.”

He said, “You won.” Then, Liu Yan released his grip.

The black snake immediately wriggled out of his embrace and swiftly slithered toward the door without looking back.

Shen Jue walked over and used magic to stop the bleeding, then said, “Father, there are no more snakes in the mountains.”

Liu Yan took a long time to respond, staring at him for a moment, then said, “Then you take him to find them.”

Shen Jue shook his head, “I won’t go. If he wants to find them, he will.”

“I’m not worried he won’t find them,” Liu Yan said, taking the white cloth he handed him to wipe off the blood. He spoke slowly, “I’m afraid he’ll go too far and not be able to find his way back home.”