The Snake That Collected Trash

After wandering through Mount Hua's countless palaces and pavilions for several days, she finally figured out the general situation.

Chunyang Palace was said to have been founded by some great immortal from the Immortal Realm. It was the Tang Empire's Nation-Guarding Divine Sect, with deep foundations, countless masters, and many ascended immortals—the undisputed number one sect under heaven.

It was roughly divided into five lineages: the Jade Void Lineage led by Sect Master Li Xiangyan, and the four fellow disciples of the sect master's generation—Gu Cangyu's Golden Void, Jiang Li's Lingxu, Qi Yun's Purple Void, and finally Yu Rong's Qingxu lineage. They each guarded a peak in ordinary times, and the White Snake was located at Qingxu Palace.

Nearly everyone in the world dreamed of entering Chunyang as a child, cultivating immortality, seeking the Dao, and living forever. Yet talent set the limits; fewer than one in ten thousand who came to the mountain could enter. Those who passed through the gates were all outstanding figures of the world, the sort whose spiritual energy burst from the crown of their heads so fiercely that even a coffin lid could not hold it down.

As the foremost righteous sect, Chunyang Palace was deeply respected by all. Filled with Righteous Aura, virtue, and uprightness, its disciples traveling down the mountain would surely draw their swords to eliminate evil whenever wicked cultivators, demons, or monsters brought disaster upon the mortal realm. Most importantly, the people of Chunyang Palace cultivated single-mindedly and had little interest in worldly affairs. That was why mortal emperors revered Chunyang as the Nation-Guarding Divine Sect.

A sect devoted to transcending the mundane and becoming immortal, while also enthusiastically eradicating evil—such a fine sect was simply a blessing for those in power.

The White Snake felt that she had latched onto a thigh, and not just any thigh, but one thick with leg hair and sturdy as iron. This was the Nation-Guarding Divine Sect. Who would dare come up the mountain and make trouble? It was simply the finest blessed land for loafing around and waiting to die. Mm, she also had to flatter them properly, lest she be kicked down the mountain with one foot.

Thus, Yang Mu and Xu Ling discovered that the lazy White Snake had become much more diligent lately...

There were not even rats in the forests surrounding the palaces, let alone stinkbugs. Whenever the White Snake slithered through an area, the lingering scent of a serpent terrified the rodents into fleeing their homes. A White Snake meant only to guard the main hall actually went to the trouble of tidying up the surrounding environment.

Including Yu Rong, there were only three people in the palace belonging exclusively to the Qingxu lineage, plus one snake.

Though she had supposedly been caught and brought back to guard the gate, she was really just a pet for pleasing the eye. She did not need to stand guard every day, so with nothing to do, the White Snake began pondering how to speed up her cultivation.

Immortal mountains and blessed lands held many opportunities, such as the rich scent of Spirit Pills and Elixirs drifting downwind from Lingxu Palace.

The Lingxu lineage specialized in making medicine, refining pills, and drawing talismans. Their medical skills were superb, and they were Chunyang Palace's dedicated peak for medicine and alchemy. Anyone who thought Lingxu disciples could only refine pills and could not fight was mistaken. Pill refinement required solid foundations, and since they spent their days making medicine, refining pills, practicing healing arts, and saving lives, they had friends everywhere. They could get their hands on any sword techniques or treasured items they wanted, and they were rolling in wealth.

The White Snake had set her sights on the Lingxu disciples precisely because they were rolling in wealth. Those people were incredibly well-off. As long as she came here to pick up some trash, there would definitely be benefits. It was like playing a game: high-level experts did not care about junk, but that junk was treasure to a low-level character.

Before Lingxu Palace's main hall, a giant gourd-shaped pill furnace stood atop a lotus stone dais. The furnace was carved all over with arrays, with bronze bells hanging from its eight corners. The White Snake had no idea why bronze bells were hung on a pill furnace. She stared at it for a long while without making heads or tails of it, then familiarly passed through the main hall toward the rear courtyard.

The two disciples guarding the hall acted as though they had not seen her.

News that Martial Uncle Yu had brought back a White Snake quickly spread across Mount Hua. At first, everyone had assumed it was some rare exotic beast, only to find that it was an ordinary White Snake. They soon lost interest.

There was no need to stop her, either. She was only a pet snake. At most, she would pick up some Medicinal Dregs in Lingxu Palace and eat them.

That was right—the White Snake had come to eat Medicinal Dregs and Failed Pills. This was where she had to thank snakes for their powerful ability to swallow and their terrifying digestive capacity. Anyone who understood snakes knew they could swallow prey much larger than their mouths. The White Snake herself could digest skin, fur, bones, and scales. The process could last several days or even more than ten days, showing just how powerful her digestion and decomposition abilities were.

She slithered outside the alchemy room, ignored the Lingxu disciples who had gathered out of curiosity, came to her designated spot, coiled up, and waited quietly.

Whether refining pills or making medicine, failure came easily. The resulting waste could not be consumed, especially Failed Pills, which were poisonous and could easily cause poisoning reactions. They were generally collected, registered, and then thrown away. Now, however, they had a new use: feeding a snake.

The older disciple responsible for managing the waste glanced at the newly delivered Failed Pills, registered them with a brush, and set them aside.

The White Snake opened her jaws, aimed at the dozen or so Failed Pills in the porcelain dish, and inhaled sharply. The pills flew into her mouth, after which she coiled up and continued waiting leisurely.

The White Snake had carried a snake's swallowing ability to glorious new heights.

The cultivator smiled in satisfaction. This White Snake was somewhat useful after all; it saved him the trouble of disposing of Failed Pills himself. This stuff had no real use, so he truly did not understand what good eating it could do.

Failed Pills and Medicinal Dregs were useless to humans and contained toxins, but to the White Snake, they were great tonics. Toxicity was relative to humans, after all. Besides, she could distinguish by scent which ones were edible and which ones were poisonous.

She had been mooching Failed Pills and Medicinal Dregs at Lingxu Palace for nearly a month now, and the White Snake's cultivation had soared by leaps and bounds.

Two female cultivators walked into the hall and took out two pills of rather poor quality to tease the snake.

"Big White, these are for you~"

She secretly curled her lip, but obediently slithered forward and opened her mouth to swallow the pills. Poor quality meant insufficient medicinal efficacy, yet to her, they were already premium tonics. After all, who would eat waste dregs if they had pills?

"Your Snake Scales are so beautiful~"

The two female cultivators commented on them with sparkling eyes fixed on her scales. The White Snake ignored them completely, showing them no favor whatsoever just because the two beauties had given her pills. In any case, neither of them would pick a fight with a wild beast.

After waiting for another two batches of Failed Pills and a whole box of Medicinal Dregs, she ate everything and wriggled away.

Her cultivation had risen rapidly lately. The Failed Pills, Medicinal Dregs, and half-finished pills from those female cultivators had all worked wonderfully. After absorbing them, her entire snake body felt clear-headed and invigorated.

If she encountered the Grey Wolf demon now, she would not need snake venom or water. The White Snake dared guarantee that she could strangle him to death on the spot.

She slithered back to Qingxu Palace.

Without even looking at the two children still training hard, she coiled herself around an ancient pine at the cliff's edge, remaining motionless as she digested the tonics in her belly. Strands of medicinal power seeped through her blood vessels and spread throughout her entire body...

Unexpectedly, this digestion took an entire day.

The next day.

When the White Snake woke, she felt a tight, constricting sensation all over her body. It was time to shed her skin.

While practicing her sword, Xu Ling caught sight of the great snake wound around the ancient pine from the corner of her eye and sensed something strange. She stopped practicing and stepped forward to inspect it. One look gave Xu Ling a fright.

"Master... Master, something happened..."

The girl shouted as she ran toward the rear courtyard. Yang Mu had no idea what was going on, but after looking at the White Snake, he too felt that something seemed wrong.

Yu Rong was seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion, cultivating. Hearing the cries, she had no choice but to open her eyes.

"Master, something happened! Big White is dying!"

"Mm?"

Xu Ling's vision blurred, and her master instantly brought her to the ancient pine by the cliff.

"Master, look! Big White's whole body is dull and has lost its shine—even her eyes have turned white..." Xu Ling pointed at the White Snake, her voice tinged with tears.

Yu Rong raised a hand to signal Xu Ling to calm down, then carefully swept her gaze over the snake. Drawing upon her years of knowledge, she made a judgment of the situation. After looking over the White Snake once, she found that her life force was still present. Strangely, compared to when she had first brought her back to the mountain, that life force had become even more vigorous. Had something happened during these past days while she had been cultivating in quiet meditation?