As Feng He Shou's applause ended, two attendants carried out a set of folding screens. Their paper panels screened off one entire side of the Corridor Hall from end to end, leaving only a passage for people to walk through.
After a while, rustling sounds came from behind them, as though someone had entered with clothing trailing along the floor.
Then a light came on behind the screens. A short drumbeat sounded, and the silhouette of a graceful woman appeared on the paper. With slender arms, long fingers, an upright neck, and a supple waist, she held a poised stance charged with tension.
After a moment, the drums sounded again, accompanied by a rhythmic beat, and the woman began moving through a series of beautiful, captivating dance poses.
At first, her movements were slow and graceful. But as the drumming gradually accelerated, she moved faster and faster, spinning continuously in place as her movements became powerful and firm.
The rapid rhythm lasted a full three or four minutes. Throughout it, the woman changed movements swiftly without repeating a single one. Only toward the end did she gradually slow down, finally stopping on a heavy beat and holding her final pose.
Then the light dimmed, and she withdrew. Though she had never shown her face, she left endless possibilities to the imagination.
Chen Chuan watched calmly. As a Fighter, even if he deliberately refrained from looking at the actual figure behind the paper screens, he could tell from the rhythm of its movements that the dancer was not a woman at all.
If his guess was right, this was a creature from the Convergence Zone, an unusual species called a "beauty snake" with human arms. He had seen it in illustrated reference books, and its appearance was enough to horrify an