Lush grass spread beneath drifting emerald clouds; mountains folded over rivers, and travelers were few along the ancient road.
Wearing a straw hat and carrying an ancient zither on her back, she headed south. After great difficulty, she found a river channel that still held water and immediately jumped in to conceal herself. Returning to her true form as a giant snake, she slipped along the riverbed, constantly shifting between great rivers, hiding by day and traveling by night beneath the starry sky.
At dawn, a thin mist drifted across the river.
Village women and old ladies fetching water at the riverbank had to wade farther into the channel, for the water level had fallen and the river had become shallow.
They lowered wooden buckets into the river and filled them, then laboriously lifted them, ready to carry them home on shoulder poles for cooking and watering vegetables.
A splashing sound came from upstream. Curious villagers raised their heads and stared. The river mist obscured their view, and they could not tell whether it was a large ship or something else. With the water level so low, they had not seen a large ship in a long time.
Gradually, someone sensed that something was wrong. The sound was exactly like a stranded giant fish thrashing about!
A strong wind scattered the mist...
Clang! A bucket hit the ground, spilling water everywhere. The villagers on the bank stood frozen in shock.
Splash, splash, splash~!
The river was too shallow. A vicious white serpent, half floating and half submerged, emerged from the water. Churning the River Water, she swam over the shallows toward the deeper waters downstream. As she passed the bank where the villagers stood, she even turned her head to glance at them. Her lantern-sized eyes and ferocious snake mouth