Taking Human Form

Taking human form?

White Snake looked at Xu Ling and Yang Mu, their eyes full of expectation, utterly baffled. Why did they want her to hurry up and take human form? Eating a few Failed Pills and sneaking off to Zuowang Peak to steal lessons was a perfectly good life—why become human? Crawling was the most comfortable.

Too lazy to bother with the two lunatics, she turned and left.

"Hey... Big White, if you take human form, Master will let the three of us go down the mountain to travel. It's so much fun down there."

Xu Ling spoke eagerly, but White Snake remained unmoved. Fun down the mountain? Bandits ran rampant everywhere, along with heroes who supposedly had nothing better to do than subjugate demons and eliminate devils, when in truth they were collecting materials for pill refinement and artifact forging. A little snake spirit like her would sooner or later be caught and thrown into a circus to perform.

Yes, to be precise, White Snake could not yet be considered a true demon. Snake spirit was the most accurate term.

"Big White, don't go~"

White Snake twisted her body and slithered away quickly. That girl Xu Ling was the most unreliable one of all; even Yang Mu had caught her madness.

Yang Mu spoke.

"I hear Chang'an is the most prosperous place of all, where people from the Western Regions are often seen. Suzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan has a flourishing literary culture, and brilliant talents emerge endlessly at poetry gatherings. Why not... go have a look?"

White Snake stopped. After pondering it for a long while, she decided that seeing Chang'an, the most prosperous city in the ancient world, would not be a bad idea. So she nodded in agreement.

Yang Mu maintained his cool expression, though the corner of his mouth curled upward. Then he turned and departed with flair, hiding his achievement and fame deep within. Xu Ling was filled with admiration.

Having decided to take human form, White Snake found a cave on the mid-slope of Qingxu Palace's Back Mountain. She brought several sets of old clothes as spares and called it secluded cultivation. In truth, no one could get in—the cave entrance was narrow and wound on for dozens of meters, while inside lay a hidden world. Taking human form was all; it was not some life-or-death ordeal.

Taking human form was not an Illusion Technique, but a genuine alteration of the body's shape. Things like illusion techniques merely used energy to create an aura; with the right method, they could be broken.

For example, the famous ghost story Painted Skin told of an ugly monster using a painted hide to turn into a beauty and seduce a scholar. There were also Ghostly Entities that took the form of beautiful women to lure scholars, as well as monsters that had not undergone tribulation using illusion techniques to deceive scholars. Though she did not understand why they all liked scholars, they were definitely using illusion techniques. Splash on some Black Dog Blood, and they would immediately reveal their true forms.

Taking human form was also a kind of Transformation Technique. It was troublesome, but unlike illusion techniques, it did not fear Black Dog Blood—it was a real, solid transformation.

Following the instincts within her bloodline and soul, she circulated her demon spirit to alter her Bone Structure, flesh, and skin. Everything relied on instinct, requiring no intervention, much like the unconscious instinct of beasts when they hunted and fought. The first transformation was very slow, as though every bone in her body were being crushed and reassembled. White Snake felt it would take several days to complete. It was said that once the first transformation was finished, changing forms afterward would become easy and quick.

For the first few days, White Snake lay motionless in the cave.

Only after her body's cells and bones had been altered and adapted to the changes did she begin her first transformation.

A certain substance on the stalactites gave off a faint glow, illuminating the cave. White Snake's twelve-meter-long body, grown after shedding her skin through the lightning tribulation, shortened as human physical features slowly emerged. Her frame broadened, and the contours of shoulders, a waist, and hips appeared. The Snake Scales over her entire body gradually melted away and became smooth. Her snake tail slowly split apart, turning into two legs, while two more branches emerged from her ribs and transformed into arms...

The transformation was not yet complete. At present, she was merely a great snake with the outline of a human form.

Slowly, the Snake Scales became delicate skin. White Snake, sprawled on the ground, struggled to kneel with her not-yet-complete legs. Her eyes remained tightly shut as she continued to exert herself.

Her face had only tightly closed eyes and a snake's mouth. Light flowed across her skin as instinct shaped her features.

Black hair rapidly grew from her head, growing longer and longer until it fell to her waist.

After an unknown amount of time, palms and soles grew from her arms and legs, five fingers and toes emerging, while hard scales turned into nails.

White Snake, bent forward in a kneeling posture, braced both hands against the ground and twisted as she struggled to stand. Out of habit, she wanted to hiss, but no sound came out. By then, her facial features had already taken shape...

Once the details of her body had finished changing, her tightly shut eyes suddenly opened. They were still the vertical pupils of a snake. Then she closed her eyes, blinked again, and they became human pupils.

Standing on two legs felt deeply unnatural. She still habitually wanted to lie on the ground and crawl. White Snake worked hard to recall the sensation of walking from her previous life, and her legs gradually steadied.

Life was wondrous, filled with every possibility.

Though the transformation of a tiny, seemingly insignificant little spirit might appear trivial, to life and nature it was both stirring and joyous, brimming with miracles.

She unnaturally lifted both arms, curling and straightening her fingers as she tried to adapt to her new body. Her steps staggered as she worked to familiarize herself with who she was, recalling sensations she had lost long ago...

However, after taking human form, White Snake always felt that something was off. There was no mirror here, so she could only return to Qingxu Palace and take another look.

In truth, she did not particularly care what she had turned into. That attitude was perfectly normal. Even though she had been human in her previous life, she had spent more than sixty years as a crawling, cold-blooded creature that ate raw meat and drank blood, hunting and fighting. What was there left to care about? Her mindset was exceptionally calm. Even if she had become some neither-human-nor-snake monster, it would not matter. At worst, she could spend her whole life in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

She was not wearing clothes. Fortunately, taking human form inside the cave had spared her embarrassment. She put on the old clothes and shoes she had prepared in advance. The clothes were somewhat loose, and the shoes did not fit her feet. She had the distinct feeling that her feet were a little small after taking human form.

After several days, the transformation was finally complete. She had once more found the feeling of being human, yet for some reason, she was not terribly excited.

Changing forms afterward was much easier. White Snake leaped forward, and her bones and skin swiftly changed, returning her to the form of a great snake. She picked up her clothes in her mouth and quickly slithered out of the cave.

She crawled all the way back to Qingxu Palace, where she happened to see Yu Rong and her three disciples cultivating.

She used the Transformation Technique, taking human form while directly putting on her clothes. In the blink of an eye, she became human again, then put on her shoes. She pondered making magical robes when she had time in the future. Strangely, White Snake discovered that she seemed a little short, about the same height as Xu Ling.

Then Yu Rong and her three disciples, cultivating before the great hall, stood dumbstruck. Yang Mu in particular could be described as frozen stiff as a wooden chicken—he did not even notice the flying sword in his hand fall to the ground.

"What a thorough transformation," Yu Rong said in surprise.

"You should probably dress up a little..." Xu Ling said, looking her over from top to bottom.

"So pretty..." Yang Mu said only three words.

White Snake looked at the three of them, then lowered her head to look at herself, only to discover... why was her chest a little high?

"You don't know what you turned into?" Yu Rong asked.

White Snake nodded. She truly had not looked; there had been no mirror in the cave.

"There is a bronze mirror in my study. Go take a look."

White Snake leaped forward and turned back into a great snake, swiftly slithering toward Yu Rong's study. As for what she had become, it was like drawing lottery results—perhaps she had won nothing, or perhaps she had won five million. After slithering back to the study, she instantly took human form again.

Then White Snake froze.

The mirror reflected a girl...

Not very tall, around fifteen years old...

Her long black hair fell smoothly over her shoulders, and she wore white, beautiful...

Petite and graceful, with a willow-slender waist one could encircle with a single hand, delicate jade-like fingers, skin like congealed cream, a cicada-shaped brow and moth-like eyebrows, phoenix eyes paired with a slightly upturned nose bridge—she possessed an indescribable purity. Her face seemed not of this mortal world, as exquisite as a celestial maiden from legend.

There was no seductiveness, no bashful charm—only a chilly aloofness untouched by the dust of the mortal world.

She raised a hand in surprise, and the fairy maiden in the mirror raised hers as well. They were small, slender hands. To think she had become a woman... Recalling those great snakes in the Hundred Thousand Mountains that had madly approached and danced around her, she should have understood long ago that she was a female snake. Once she took human form, of course she would be a woman. Fate truly toyed with people.

She felt no discomfort, nor any particular emotion. Sixty-five years had passed. For anyone, sixty-five years was enough to change one's state of mind. She had long grown accustomed to everything in this world. It was merely a female form.

In the blink of an eye, her state of mind returned to calm.

Outside the window, it began to rain heavily. A vast white rain curtain veiled heaven and earth, and the damp air made White Snake uncomfortable. She wanted to bask in the sun.

She walked out of the study. The three, having lost all interest in cultivation, sat in the hall. Xu Ling darted forward, looking her over from left to right, her face full of curiosity. For her, this was the first time she had seen a demon that had taken human form. If she could, she would much rather reach out and pinch the person before her to see whether she was real, and find out where the snake scales were hidden.

Yu Rong felt that White Snake's clothes did not fit very well, as though she had simply thrown on a random set.

"This outfit doesn't fit."

She took out a set of enchanted robes, added several spell restrictions, and gave them to White Snake.

White Snake accepted the enchanted robes and went into a room to change. After giving it some thought, she altered the clothes according to her own ideas. Slowly, a set of white Hanfu Skirt appeared on her body. She then tore off a strip of cloth and casually tied her waist-length black hair behind her head, so it would not swing about and make her face itch.