Snake scales were the mark of the Snake People Race, a race distinct from humans that was unique to the Tagor Desert. They had human bodies, snake tails, and scales covering their bodies.
Not long after being born, members of the Snake People Race had the soul of a snake-type magical beast infused into their bodies through a secret technique.
Moreover, as they grew older and stronger, the snake-type magical beast serving as their companion soul gradually fused with them until they became inseparable. This made them increasingly snake-like.
Yet she had snake scales but no snake tail. Clearly, she was not a Snake Person, but an even rarer existence in the Tagor Desert: a Mixed-blood Snake Person.
In the Tagor Desert, the Snake People Race and humans were hostile toward one another. Human slave-catching teams ventured deep into the desert to capture Snake People women as slaves, while Snake People warriors also violated human women.
Whether Snake People women or human women, those who suffered either fate usually met with miserable experiences and endings.
Normally, Snake People and humans could not conceive children together. However, nothing was absolute. There was always an exceedingly small chance that a mixed-blood child of the two races would be born.
Generally speaking, such children struggled to live past the age of two. Those who survived either came from fairly well-off families, or... possessed unusual constitutions and exceptional talent.
Qing Lin, whom Xiao Yi Xian was holding by the hand, was tiny and thin, only slightly better off than skin and bones. There were faint scars on her arms as well. Clearly, her family circumstances had not been good. The reason she had survived seemed to be the latter.
Most mercenaries on the edge of the desert bore deep, irreconcilable grudges against the Snake