White Snake

"I wonder how Zhang Chen is doing. It's raining so heavily outside, I really hope nothing happens to him."

Wang Yizhi looked at the shredded green pepper and potato stir-fry and the boiled tomato and cabbage soup she had personally cooked, feeling anxious.

"Oh, sister-in-law, please don't worry and eat. Brother Chen might have just run into a little trouble and is a bit delayed. He might be back late. Remember how Brother Chen always carried us in CS? Don't worry, Brother Chen will definitely be back this afternoon."

Fatty Tan, who was squeezed in with Wang Yizhi and Dai Xu, finally said something nice upon seeing the scene.

"This fatty's predictions are usually quite accurate. You should eat first. I'll accompany you to wait by the lake this afternoon, alright?" Dai Xu said, patting her best friend's shoulder.

Wang Yizhi nodded and slowly began to eat the white rice in front of her.

"Don't worry, everyone. When Zhang Chen gets serious, even I'm no match for him. He'll be fine," Jia Xin, sitting not far away, suddenly spoke up.

"See, sister-in-law? This pretty boy might look a bit sinister, but he's telling the truth," Fatty Tan seemed to be holding a grudge, still upset with Jia Xin.

"Alright, I'll eat, okay? You guys are really something. I just feel bad that he won't get to eat the delicious food I made for him," Wang Yizhi said, her face flushing as she slowly started eating heartily.

Everyone at the table couldn't help but laugh.

"The weather is so unpredictable. If this heavy rain continues, we might be able to return safely."

As Zhang Chen spoke, he moved his right hand, and the rainwater outside gathered into a stream that coiled around him. Slowly, another 'Zhang Chen' appeared.

Xiao Lan, standing beside him, didn't understand what Zhang Chen meant at first. When the Zhang Chen made of water appeared, she was stunned.

"Is this a Water Clone?" Xiao Lan asked in surprise.

"Something like that. But I'm not very skilled with it; it'll disintegrate after a few steps. However, it should be useful for tricking the guy in the lake."

"Come with me to the backyard. We need to get something from the well. You can stay here, but I might be gone longer than last time," Zhang Chen said.

"I'll go with you... I'll go with you," Xiao Lan said. After what had just happened, although she had benefited, she was still afraid to be alone.

"Can you walk by yourself?"

"Yes," Xiao Lan gritted her teeth, slowly supported herself against the Buddha statue, and walked towards the backyard step by step.

"The girls from that school are truly resilient," Zhang Chen followed behind her slowly, afraid she might fall again.

"Go to the well," Zhang Chen said as Xiao Lan walked out of the temple's back door.

"You're not going to push me down, are you? Because if you do, I'll turn into Sadako and haunt you!"

Xiao Lan walked step by step with difficulty, even managing to make a joke. Zhang Chen smiled slightly upon hearing this.

"You little ghost can only be my sparring partner. We need to find something in the well, something that's very important for our safe escape from this villa."

"Heh heh, I was just kidding. What is that thing? Can you tell me?" Xiao Lan said.

"Sarira, have you heard of it?"

"Mmm, I've seen Buddhist monks talk about it on TV before. It seems sarira are formed by the power of precepts, concentration, and wisdom of cultivators. They are manifestations of the heart merging with Buddha, very rare. Those who can achieve sarira after death are all highly virtuous eminent monks. Could it be the one from before?"

"It's the one formed after the master who helped you get rid of the scales achieved enlightenment and entered nirvana."

"Then I'm truly grateful to that master. It's just that it happened so suddenly, I was quite startled. Huh? This well is full of water, how are we supposed to get down?"

Slowly, the two arrived at the well opening. Looking at the water-filled well, Xiao Lan didn't know how to get down.

"Let me see."

Zhang Chen put his hand into the well water and then smiled slightly.

"Jump down, you'll be fine," Zhang Chen said slowly, withdrawing his hand.

"I believe you." Xiao Lan hesitated for a moment, then held her breath and jumped into the well.

With a "plop," Xiao Lan, who had fallen into the well water, sank continuously but didn't panic, knowing that Zhang Chen wouldn't harm her.

After sinking about eight meters, Xiao Lan unexpectedly fell out of the water and landed on the cold, damp soil. Soon after, Zhang Chen also landed.

Xiao Lan looked up at the well water above her, greatly surprised.

"Why is there only water in the middle section of this well? The top and bottom are empty. It's so strange."

"It's probably to conceal the existence of the sarira below. I thought the sarira was just at the bottom of the well, but I didn't expect it to be a hidden world."

The faint sunlight entering from the opening only illuminated the area where Zhang Chen and Xiao Lan were. It was pitch black all around them.

The moment Zhang Chen landed, he projected his telekinesis outwards, spreading about twenty meters without touching any boundaries. However, he had a general idea of the terrain they were in.

They were currently standing in a passage no more than two meters wide, with a small stream flowing slowly in front of them.

"Xiao Lan, we need to walk against the current of this small stream. If I'm not mistaken, the source of this stream is where the sarira is located."

"It's... so dark here, and the ground is very slippery," Xiao Lan said softly.

"Get on my back. I'll carry you, you're quite light anyway."

Zhang Chen didn't mind carrying her again. After all, the underground rocky passage was very damp, and there was water flowing underfoot. Even a normal person could easily fall, let alone Xiao Lan, whose legs weren't in good condition.

"Then... thank you." Xiao Lan slowly climbed onto Zhang Chen's broad back, resting her head gently on his shoulder.

"If only it could be like this forever," Xiao Lan pursed her lips and closed her eyes.

Zhang Chen paid no attention to Xiao Lan's actions behind him, fully focused on sensing everything around him. After all, the sarira had been placed here for at least 70 years, and anything could have happened in the meantime. He certainly couldn't let his guard down.

When he had walked nearly a hundred steps, Zhang Chen's telekinesis, which had been radiating outward, was no longer confined to the small rock tunnel. It sensed a vast space.

The moment Zhang Chen stepped out of the rock tunnel, lights flickered on in the spacious room. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a large, hemispherical rock cave. As soon as he stepped in, the torches around the cave walls automatically ignited.

In the center of the cave, a spring of moderate size was continuously bubbling with clear spring water. This water then branched into eleven tributaries, flowing into eleven rock tunnels, one of which was the tunnel Zhang Chen and the others had come from.

"But it's so cold here. It's not a natural cold, but a chilling one, like being in a swimming pool. I suspect ghosts have spawned here over the years."

Zhang Chen sensed the strangeness of the enormous cave. His mind was highly concentrated, and his telekinesis scanned every corner of the cave, but he found nothing else.

"Could it be my imagination? Is it just ordinary cold? I'll go check if the sarira is here first."

Carrying Xiao Lan on his back, Zhang Chen slowly approached the spring in the center of the cave. The clear, transparent spring water flowed over Zhang Chen's ankles, giving him a very comfortable and cool sensation.

"Is this the sarira?"

In the spring, a small, white, spherical object was fixed in the center. However, around the white sphere, a small white snake, about half the size of a little finger, swam.

"Xiao Lan, I'll put you down first and see if this thing is the sarira."

"Mhm," Xiao Lan, on his back, responded softly, then slowly stood behind Zhang Chen.

"What is this little white snake? Never mind, I'll take out this white ball first to have a look." With that thought, Zhang Chen directly extended his right hand to pick up the white ball from the spring.

Suddenly, the moment Zhang Chen's fingers touched the small ball, the white snake shot up and bit the tip of Zhang Chen's right index finger.

Instantly, Zhang Chen's entire right palm went numb. This numbness also rapidly spread upwards along his right hand. In less than a second, Zhang Chen's entire right arm lost all sensation.

"Splash!" Zhang Chen immediately liquefied his right shoulder, and the numb right arm detached from his body, falling heavily to the ground. The next second, the entire arm turned pale and dissolved into a pile of white dregs.

"So poisonous? And after being bitten, the cells in my right hand died almost instantly. I couldn't even liquefy it."

The clear spring water on the ground slowly floated towards Zhang Chen's right arm, and in a short while, a new arm formed. At the same time, a white-faced scholar stood opposite Zhang Chen. He looked somewhat similar to Jia Xin, both having a delicate, fair-skinned face. However, he was dressed in a white robe, wore a scholar's cap, and had a pair of emerald green eyes that were staring directly at him.

"Zhang Chen, that's..." Xiao Lan, standing behind him, had witnessed the entire process of Zhang Chen being bitten and the poison taking effect. She was clearly quite frightened. She had also seen the small white snake from the spring swim out of the water and transform into this white-faced scholar on the ground.

"Xiao Lan, fall back, a bit faster," Zhang Chen said.

"Okay." Xiao Lan reluctantly retreated step by step towards the edge of the cave.

Zhang Chen and the white-faced scholar stared at each other for a long time, but he didn't feel any trace of a ghostly aura from him. Only the emerald green eyes revealed a hint of deadly danger.

"Excuse me..." Zhang Chen wanted to de-escalate, as the other party wasn't a ghost.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, the white-faced scholar's hands transformed into dozens of poisonous snakes. He pushed off the ground and lunged directly at Zhang Chen.

"You think I'm a pushover just because I don't show my strength? Fine, you can cut off one of my hands, but you want my life? You're asking for death." Zhang Chen was enraged. His fingernails on both hands instantly grew to half a meter. He pushed off the ground and charged towards the scholar's attack.

The exchange in the air lasted only an instant. After landing, all dozens of poisonous snakes from the scholar's hands were cut into two sections, not a single one spared. Zhang Chen's left arm was also bitten. He instantly liquefied his left shoulder and then reformed his arm using the spring water.

Zhang Chen smiled. With all the clear spring water here, he was practically invincible. As long as his brain wasn't injured, there wouldn't be major problems.

The severed snake bodies in the scholar's hands gradually turned into dust, reverting to his original fair palms. He looked at Zhang Chen and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Gah!" The scholar tilted his head back, opened his mouth wide, and spat out a long green hilt from his mouth. The scholar gripped the hilt with his right hand and slowly drew it out. Simultaneously, a cold glint emanated from his mouth.

A ** nearly a meter and sixty centimeters long, with a blade spine thickness to blade width ratio of about one to three, was held by the scholar. The cold air emanating from the blade made Zhang Chen feel an extreme sense of danger.

This was the second time Zhang Chen had faced an opponent wielding a saber. The first time, Ding Jian's "Moon" had always been a shadow in Zhang Chen's heart. In the face of that saber, he had been like an ant, completely powerless.

This time, the ** was not much different from Ding Jian's samurai sword, but the threat to Zhang Chen was much less. Zhang Chen was confident that he would not be defeated this time when facing an opponent with a saber.

The scholar seemed not to have used his saber in a long time. He gently drew the saber across the ground with his right hand, creating a deep gash in the wet surface. At the same time, the surrounding stream water froze into ice.

With a "clang," the scholar's figure vanished. A cold glint preceded him, and the slender blade was already in front of Zhang Chen...

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