Changes in the Mountains

In the herb garden at the foot of the mountain.

The herbalist, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, lay on the ground, his rough hands tightly gripping a countryman's leg, refusing to let go.

"These are my... these are my herbs! You can't take them...!"

"Yours? Is this mountain yours? This is our territory, how dare you come here to steal medicinal herbs, this is my diligently cultivated herb garden!"

The lean man kicked hard, trying to make him release his grip, but the herbalist held on tight. This herb garden was the lifeline of his entire family.

"You're talking nonsense! These are mine, cough cough... Don't touch them!"

The other two, finding the situation amusing, pulled out the herbs. The herbalist finally let go of the lean man's leg and lunged towards the herbs, attempting to stop them from taking the medicinal materials with his own life. He shielded the two most valuable herbs with his arms, refusing to back down no matter how much the three of them kicked and hit him.

The White Snake arrived at the herb garden and saw this scene: the familiar herbalist protecting the herbs, and three men cursing and beating him.

Stealing herbs?

It seems they misunderstood me, but is it really worth fighting over a few common herbs...

Finally, the White Snake, who had been watching the commotion, decided to intervene. The lean man's face was flushed red, veins bulging, and he had gone mad. He pulled out his cleaver, used for clearing paths, and swung it at the herbalist's back!

The cleaver was heavy and not particularly sharp, but even so, it cut a bloody gash across the herbalist's back.

The other two were stunned. As ordinary mountain folk, they had never thought of killing someone. The lean man's madness had frightened them, leaving them gaping and unsure of what to do.

"What are you afraid of! There's only us here, who will know? Are you two going to do it or not?" The lean man wanted to drag the other two into it, so they wouldn't betray him later.

"You... you you..."

"What you! Are you going to do it or not?"

"Behind you...!"

Behind me? The lean man habitually started to turn his head, when suddenly a foul wind assailed his nostrils, making him uncomfortable. His neck tightened as if being choked, followed by intense pain!

Serpentine predatory attacks are incredibly fast, capable of launching four strikes in the blink of an eye. Research has found that snakes can withstand forces of 30G when charging at prey, meaning thirty times the acceleration of gravity. In contrast, even the most elite fighter pilots, rigorously trained by the military, would lose consciousness at speeds exceeding 10G. This illustrates the immense power of a snake's attack.

The White Snake possessed front fangs, two sharp, pointed teeth located at the front of its upper jaw. They were normally folded away and would extend when it opened its mouth. Upon biting its prey, the muscles around the venom glands would contract, injecting venom.

In reality, the White Snake's venom wasn't particularly potent, but even the weakest venom would be fatal if it bit the neck.

The snake's body reared up, its mouth clamped tightly around the man's throat. The lean man's eyes widened in terror, his hands desperately pulling, but he could only twitch uncontrollably. After only five or six breaths, his struggles weakened, and he finally collapsed. The snake venom had already entered his brain through the artery; even an immortal elixir would be useless.

Releasing the lean man, the White Snake raised its head and looked at the other two.

The two men, realizing what had happened, were terrified and scrambled away, fleeing in a panic. They ran, crying and shouting, disappearing into the forest in the blink of an eye. The White Snake did not pursue them.

It was the first time it had killed a human, and there were no particular psychological reactions, such as guilt. It was a very calm experience, as indifferent as killing any other prey. After twenty years of living by instinct, its humanity had long since faded.

The herbalist looked at the White Snake in terror. Only now did he remember that the White Snake before him was a venomous beast...

The snake's tail coiled around the lean man's foot and dragged him away. It remembered a forest far down the slope, near a large anthill two meters high. Those ants should enjoy a readily available meal. If the ants were poisoned to death by the snake, tens of thousands of them would die, which would also reduce the pressure on the surrounding animals, as there were simply too many ants and they were too powerful.

As for eating the man, it decided against it, finding the idea too disgusting.

Arriving near the anthill, it gave a gentle push, and the body rolled to the front of the two-meter-high anthill. The violent tremors alerted the ants, and in an instant, a black mass swarmed out.

The White Snake stayed at a distance, observing the ants and contemplating the disappearance of life.

The corpse was rapidly decomposed by the ants at a visible rate. Flesh and blood gradually vanished, leaving behind a stark white skeleton. Then, even the skeleton was gnawed away bit by bit by the ants. The process of a person going from existence to nothingness unfolded before its eyes.

Returning to the herb garden at noon, the White Snake found that the herbalist spoke much less.

From then on, his gaze towards the White Snake held a new expression of fear, and he spoke less and less until he stopped speaking altogether. Perhaps he thought the lean man had been eaten that day. The White Snake didn't mind.

The weather gradually grew colder. Migratory birds from the north, flying to the Hundred Thousand Mountains to spend the winter, brought a rare liveliness to the forest.

After the herbs matured, the herbalist dug them up and left. The small herb garden gradually fell into disuse, and the White Snake returned to its former life, diligently cultivating itself every day.

As its cultivation progressed, its hunting frequency began to decrease. Normally, snakes could go a long time without hunting after eating their fill, typically feeding once every ten to fifteen days. Gradually, this interval extended, and now it hunted only once every twenty days. This was good news for the birds and beasts in the vicinity.

It cultivated every morning, and when the sun rose, it would find a place to rest. When its body temperature dropped, it would bask in the sun to raise it, as snakes are cold-blooded animals whose body temperature changes with the environment. When its body temperature was low, it needed to regulate it promptly.

Time passed slowly.

The following year, the White Snake did not see the herbalist come to collect herbs.

Gradually, the struggles within the forest began to erase the traces of human presence...

The surrounding area became the White Snake's territory. Other wild beasts no longer fought or clashed with the White Snake. Whenever a wildcat encountered it, it would observe from a distance before turning and leaving. The big cat wasn't foolish; it clearly understood its hunting limits. As for the hawk that always circled overhead, it too gave up on the White Snake. Its five-meter length had already become a threat to it.

The happiest of all was the departure of the annoying honey badger.

It remembered an encounter with the honey badger, after which the world changed. That little creature was like a wind-up toy, relentless and impossible to get rid of. It would approach and nip occasionally. Even after being chased for nearly five kilometers, it couldn't shake it off, acting like a stubborn pig that feared nothing. After this incident, the White Snake finally understood what true shamelessness was. It finally managed to escape by jumping into a pond.

It turned out that honey badgers weren't fearless creatures without brains. Upon seeing that its opponent had reached a length of five meters, this shameless honey badger fled overnight. Yes, it abandoned its comfortable burrow and vanished without a trace, leaving the White Snake, which had wanted to strangle it, deeply frustrated.

After that, it only saw the herbalist once. He just came to take a look and then left.

The White Snake didn't know that rumors had already spread outside about a giant White Snake in the mountains that had achieved sentience. There were even rumors that the White Snake had a rooster's comb on its head. The legend claimed that the White Snake enjoyed eating people, causing this area to become sparsely populated once again.

Legends of spirits and monsters were common in the rural mountains, such as foxes achieving immortality and collecting golden clouds.

Slowly, people began to say they had seen a giant White Snake in the mountains, swallowing clouds and exhaling mist atop the mountain peaks. Some also claimed to have seen the White Snake transform into a dragon and ascend during thunderstorms. Tales of mountain spirits and monsters brought rare entertainment to the ordinary folk.