The rain had stopped.
The floods that had ravaged several southeastern provinces gradually began to recede, and the warm sun shone upon the earth once more.
As the water level fell, vast stretches of dead trees and muddy land were exposed. The bleached corpses of all kinds of creatures gave off a pungent stench beneath the blazing sun. Crows began carrying out their duty of clearing away the carrion, but there were far too few of them—a drop in the bucket. For a hundred li around, there was no human habitation and few birds or beasts. One great flood had turned the southeast into a wasteland.
A clear, enormous snake trail wound across the muddy ground in an S-shape toward the distance.
Bai Yujun carried a book case and two weapons on her back as she twisted her way onward. Turning her legs into a snake's body kept her from sinking into the mud and made travel much faster.
As the floodwaters gradually receded, Bai Yujun prepared to return to Mount Hua.
After the flood, there was no way to find roads, nor was there any need to. She only had to travel in a straight line. She could still roughly tell the direction, but there were no planes, trains, or carriages—only her own two legs. The journey was long, and who knew how many months it would take to return to Mount Hua.
Along the way, she saw countless human tragedies. After seeing enough, she became numb to them. Nothing more than partings in life and death, families scattered and homeless. Different races had different ways of thinking. After all, in some people's eyes, snakes were no different from food. Drawing blades whenever they met was commonplace. Didn't humans always describe wicked people with the words "hearts of snakes