As the sun sank in the west, it gradually disappeared into the clouds. The fading glow of the heavens spread from the edge of the sea of clouds like flames burning outward, before giving way to the deepening night.
The rare birds and exotic beasts in the surrounding mountain forests gradually quieted down and returned to their nests to rest. The burbling of the nearby mountain spring thus became increasingly clear, and the sound of its waters flowing over the stone slabs stirred some yellowed memories in Snake Princess's dazed mind.
She remembered a small village, several mountain peaks, and a group of ignorant country villagers. She remembered the pastries and rice wine they had offered on a stone, the children picking fruit in the mountains, and the spring flowing down from the hills.
The pastries had been delicious, and the spring water had been sweet. The children... she had not seen them for many, many years.
She was not even sure how much of those memories was real, how much had been hallucinations brought on by eating poisonous fruit back then, and how much had been beautified again and again in nightmares and hallucinations during all those years of sleeplessness inside the Demon Suppressing Tower.
The great serpent lowered her heads and saw a large platter of fruit placed on the table in the middle of the pavilion. True Person Yuan He pushed the platter forward a little. That detestable old man wore a detestable smile and was looking over at her.
"These are the fruits you like. These past two days, I gave you less food because I used a new medicine on you, and its effects were unusual, leaving you hungry. The period is over today, so eat your fill."
Snake Princess's several heads circled the platter,