Within the Great Void Spiritual Pivot, in the territory of Nether Valley, a lush forest stretched across the mountains. Cool mountain wind rustled through the grass and trees, while faint sounds came from within the woods. A spring flowed somewhere in the distance, like broken jade trickling through a secluded valley, making the mountains seem all the quieter and lonelier.
Several small beasts of unknown species seemed to have been startled. They hurried out of the nearby bushes and scattered in all directions. Immediately afterward came the sound of clothing rubbing against scales from behind the bushes, accompanied by swaying grass. A head first poked out from the tall grass nearby, followed by the upper body of a young woman. A long snake tail emerged after it, swiftly winding out of the forest.
Snake Princess crawled out of the woods and stared wide-eyed at the lush surroundings.
She had put away her frightening heads in advance, transforming into a human upper body. Her appearance was no longer as terrifying as before. She had also imitated the simple, elegant clothing of the female disciples from Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. If not for the long tail trailing behind her, she would have looked almost indistinguishable from a human.
She was afraid she would frighten everyone—after all, it had been many years since she had returned.
But... she had searched for a long time and still could not find the village from her memories.
Snake Princess raised her upper body and strained to look into the distance beyond the vaguely familiar mountainside.
It should have been here—she still remembered the shape of this slope. From this angle, she remembered the outline of the distant mountain. On the way here, she had even found the mountain spring and drunk from it. She had also