After White Snake woke up, she found herself standing halfway up the slope of a towering mountain. The first thing she saw was three characters, written in strokes that raced like dragons and snakes, upon a colossal boulder seven stories tall: Shenhua Mountain.
Mount Hua rose abruptly into the vault of heaven, holding down countless peaks across the earth's axis.
A thousand peaks wound on beneath a vast sky. White Snake remembered visiting Mount Hua on Earth in her previous life, but this mountain was even taller, grander, more perilous, and more magnificent. She knew she had encountered an expert. She had originally resisted being captured to guard someone's gate, but now it seemed her luck was not bad. With someone powerful to lean on, life would be easier; even things an expert casually discarded as useless could benefit a snake like her immensely.
The woman led her two young disciples up the mountain, chatting and laughing, while White Snake followed closely behind.
Even with White Snake's severe nearsightedness, she could tell how beautiful the scenery was along the way.
Stone steps wound along cliff edges. Waterfalls large and small could be seen everywhere, and fish swam visibly through the crystal-clear pools. Steep cliffs and endless mountain ranges pierced the clouds, while strange rocks rose jaggedly from bottomless ravines. Great halls stood layer upon layer in the mountains like heavenly palaces, connected across valleys by stone bridges and long corridors. Ancient pines grew atop massive boulders or beside waterfalls. Clouds and mist curled around them, turning the emerald sea into rolling waves. When a clear breeze swept past, Stone Pavilions flickered in and out of sight amid the sea of clouds. If one sat in a pavilion with a jug of clear wine and plucked a zither, it would truly be an earthly paradise.
Raising her snake head toward the sky, she saw an enormous formation diagram slowly rotating. No wonder they had walked back up the mountain instead of flying—the sky was probably a forbidden zone for flight.
They occasionally encountered cultivators, old and young, descending the stone stairway in white Daoist robes patterned with blue. Every one of them bowed and stepped aside upon seeing the woman.
These cultivators looked very wealthy. Their clothes were embroidered with either silver thread or gold silk, and they carried treasure swords that transcended ordinary wares. White Snake felt that if she grabbed this crowd and wrung them hard, she could squeeze out two handfuls of fat.
She picked up a great deal of information along the way.
This was Chunyang Palace. The woman was named Yu Rong, the junior martial sister of the Palace Master. The little boy was Yang Mu, and the younger girl was Xu Ling, Yu Rong's personal disciple. She heard that Yu Rong alone had only these two disciples in all of Chunyang Palace; countless people had fought until their heads bled trying to enter her sect, yet none succeeded.
It seemed she had latched onto a wealthy household...
Before long, they arrived at the enormous, ancient mountain gate archway. The dozen or so gatekeepers made White Snake extremely nervous. The stone arch bore three great characters brimming with spiritual energy: Chunyang Palace. For some reason, after entering the mountain gate, she found the air here exceptionally fresh.
She slithered behind the three of them, passing many plazas where disciples trained, exquisite halls one after another, stone bridges and long corridors. After a long while, they arrived before an exquisite palace that was secluded and tranquil. It stood at the edge of a cliff, where clouds floated over the vast sea and ancient pines stood vigorous and strong.
Looking at the empty hall, occupied by only the three of them, White Snake finally understood why they had brought her back. So they really had found her to help guard the gate.
No matter what, not having to worry about becoming a money pouch, a handbag, or delicious snake stew was always a good thing.
There was no need to kowtow and serve tea, nor was there any ceremony. They had caught a snake spirit to guard the gate, not accepted a disciple—there was no need to make such a fuss.
"This hall will be your dwelling from now on. You must also patrol the nearby mountaintop shrines. I have already informed the kitchen and the internal affairs office. You may eat at the kitchen. Also, remember not to trespass carelessly, or no one will be able to save your life," Yu Rong said sternly.
White Snake nodded. Even if she did not want to, she had no choice but to nod.
Yu Rong was very satisfied to see how intelligent White Snake was. Then, without caring whether White Snake was nearby, she began directly instructing her two disciples in cultivation.
White Snake simply pretended not to understand. She found a spot in the hall, coiled herself into a disk, and secretly listened in.
Of the two disciples, Yang Mu was not very friendly toward White Snake and often glared at her angrily. The little girl Xu Ling, on the other hand, was especially mischievous and would occasionally reach out to touch White Snake's Snake Scales. Suddenly no longer needing to worry about hunting or stay alert for predators, White Snake felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. This place was very quiet and very safe.
"The Dao gave birth to One; One gave birth to Two; Two gave birth to Three; Three gave birth to all things..."
The words sounded familiar. White Snake only remembered that she seemed to have heard them in her previous life. Though they appeared simple, they were actually profoundly mysterious. Outside the hall, Immortal Cranes spread their wings while clouds and mist churned. Inside the hall, a White Snake openly stole her lessons...
From then on, White Snake began her life of cultivation.
When she had nothing to do, she wandered around the palace, frightening away rats and driving off mosquitoes. Then she went to the open space before the hall to watch Yu Rong's two disciples practice. In the mornings, she went to the cliffside to perform Breath Control on the clouds and mist. Whenever she had the chance, she stared at the jade bottle sitting on Yu Rong's tea table. It contained delicious pills, though they were not something a snake of her status was qualified to eat.
Three days passed in a row before White Snake finally remembered that she ought to eat something. She could refrain from cultivating, but she absolutely could not go without food. It was an aftereffect left from never getting enough to eat when she was young.
Leaving Yu Rong's palace, White Snake slithered toward the kitchen with a jade pendant hanging around her neck.
Yu Rong had given her the jade pendant because she feared that some disciple in the palace, unaware of the circumstances, might kill White Snake with a single sword strike. White Snake was quite satisfied with this. Being alive was always better than being killed.
She slithered past mountains, waters, and small stone bridges, flicking her tongue. Before long, she followed the scent to the kitchen.
The kitchen was enormous. It had to provide meals for everyone on the mountain. Cultivators did not need to eat every day, true, but they still had to feed ordinary low-level disciples and the mountain servants. It was very lively, somewhat like a huge cafeteria. Judging by its size, White Snake guessed there were at least nearly ten thousand people on the mountain.
Under countless gazes, White Snake wound her way into the dining hall and spotted a fat uncle waving at her from afar.
"Over here! Snake, come over here~"
White Snake obediently followed the arrangement, swaying her way into the back kitchen. Another round of spectators gathered around. After this, everyone would probably know that there was now a White Snake on the mountain.
The fat uncle had prepared a large wooden basin in the back kitchen. It was filled with beast meat and bones that were difficult to process, as well as overly fatty cuts of meat.
Not bad. Fatty meat meant nothing to a snake, and it was rich in nutrients.
Lowering her head, she easily swallowed everything in the basin. She nodded at the fat uncle, then turned and headed back, leaving him clicking his tongue in amazement behind her. It was probably the first time in his life, aside from feeding people, that he had fed a snake to fullness.
When she passed a small stream, she dipped her snake head into the water and washed away the blood from the corners of her mouth.
Glancing at the Immortal Crane nearby that had flown into a tree in fright, White Snake decided she had better not steal and eat Immortal Cranes for the time being. Who knew whether someone was raising them? At worst, she could sneak some later in the middle of the night.
She crawled back to Yu Rong's palace and coiled herself atop a huge boulder beside the cliff to sleep. Guard the hall? No one would dare come steal from this place, all right? White Snake did not believe there were no formations around the hall.
Among Yu Rong's disciples, Yang Mu was rigid while Xu Ling was mischievous. The little girl could never stay still, and since a White Snake had arrived, her eyes had shone even brighter. Whenever she had nothing to do, she came to play with White Snake. Sure enough, White Snake had only just fallen asleep when she heard someone approaching.
She opened her snake eyes. With great difficulty, her nearsighted vision made out Yu Rong walking over, but... something seemed wrong.
"White Snake! How can you be so lazy? Hurry up and get to work!"
The "Yu Rong" before her scolded White Snake.
White Snake flicked her tongue a few times, then lazily lowered her head and went back to sleep.
"Aiya! You saw through me again. No fun."
The Illusion Technique vanished, revealing Xu Ling. She had merely taken on her master's appearance to tease White Snake. White Snake had been startled at first, but quickly discovered the flaw. An Illusion Technique only confused the eye; Xu Ling and Yu Rong smelled different. White Snake's tongue could easily catch the scent particles. Besides, from the infrared view, Xu Ling's small stature was especially obvious.
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