White Python in the Lishui River

By the Lishui River, Shen Xiu stood eye to eye with a snake.

It was an enormous white python over a hundred meters long, as thick as a water barrel. Its scales were white all over, gleaming with crystalline Silver Light beneath the moonlight.

Like river water beneath lamplight, its ripples shimmered.

The words "spiritually endowed and exquisitely beautiful" could both be used to describe this snake.

The giant python stood upright in the river, the tip of its tail raised before Shen Xiu.

Shen Xiu blinked. The white python was still there. He blinked again. It was still there.

The white python tilted its head, unable to understand what this human was doing. It could not help speaking in human words. "Stop blinking. Lord Python here is real."

Shen Xiu froze, finding it even stranger.

There was actually a giant python hidden in this river, and it could talk?

Judging by how human it was, how it understood human speech, it was probably a Great Demon above the fifth tier. Wasn't it said that evil spirits stopped beyond the outer walls, and demons could not enter the city?

Sure enough, ancient rumors were not necessarily trustworthy.

"Brother, where are you from?"

Shen Xiu had never dealt with a snake before. After thinking for a long while, that was the sentence that suddenly popped out.

The white python cocked its snake head. Thinking that this was probably human small talk, it answered, "Around Dragon Locking Well at Hongye Temple!"

That accent left Shen Xiu completely bewildered. He had no idea where Hongye Temple was, much less whatever Dragon Locking Well was.

The conversation died.

Man and snake fell into a brief silence.

After some thought, Shen Xiu asked again, "Big Snake Brother, do you know Jinshan Temple?"

"What kind of thing is that?"

"What about Leifeng Pagoda?"

"How the hell would I know? I've never been there."

The white python yawned. Its gaping, blood-red maw looked as though it could swallow the moon whole.

Seeing that the white python seemed merely frightening in appearance and did not appear interested in eating people, Shen Xiu temporarily relaxed.

If they came to blows, Shen Xiu had no confidence in facing such a colossal creature—a Great Demon that possessed human nature and understood human speech.

"Were those strange undercurrents your doing?"

"That's right. I gave you a little help. You brat keep throwing punches around in the river for no reason. They don't hurt or itch, and there's no strength in them at all. Still, sometimes they're pretty comfortable. They let me get a good night's sleep!"

Shen Xiu looked at his fists, speechless for a moment.

The white python seemed to have lost interest after that reminder. It yawned again, withdrew the tail Shen Xiu had been pounding, and slowly sank into the water.

When only its head remained above the surface, its huge pupils glanced at him once more. "Oh, right. Are you from that martial arts school up there? Tell the people there not to throw things into the river whenever they feel like it. Humans stink the worst..."

As it spoke, its massive head sank beneath the water and vanished without a trace. Looking at the dark, tranquil river surface, no one would have guessed that a Great Demon lay hidden beneath it.

Yet the white python's final words left Shen Xiu puzzled. What could their martial arts school be throwing into the river? Had the white python meant humans stank, or that the people being thrown in stank?

Unable to figure it out, Shen Xiu stopped thinking about it. He still did not know the white python's temperament, so it was not wise to dig to the bottom of the matter.

Still, whenever he practiced punching in the water afterward, Shen Xiu could not help feeling restrained, his movements stiff. After all, he was hopping around atop the head of a Great Demon nearly a hundred meters long.

He always felt as if he lacked a little confidence.

But when those strange undercurrents came again, Shen Xiu still kept punching without hesitation.

Shen Xiu did not know where the white python's true body lay, nor did he know what method his punches used to massage it.

Thinking that his fists could only scratch that Great Demon's itch, he punched even more fiercely.

As though he wished to vent all the gloom in his heart.

No one seemed to know about the Great Demon in the Lishui River. Perhaps the giant python rarely showed itself before people, or perhaps it possessed a means of concealing itself.

After chatting with it twice more, Shen Xiu learned that the giant python claimed to have lived in the city for sixty years. Shen Xiu then went to consult the city's historical records.

He discovered that there had been no records of a Great Demon causing trouble in the city during that time. On the contrary, several severe droughts in Heyang Commandery had never struck Taixi City.

Taixi City had stood out like a crane among chickens, enjoying favorable winds and rains to this day.

After thinking it over, Shen Xiu felt that although the giant python was terrifying, it probably had no intention of harming people. Instead, it strangely seemed to possess the desire to bless an entire region.

Though he did not understand it, he let down his guard around it. He no longer had any reservations when practicing his punches in the Lishui River.

During that period, Shen Xiu waited for the Wind Thunder Martial Arts Gathering.

Unexpectedly, he neither waited for Yang Jinhong's Personal Disciple nor for the gathering to begin. Instead, another piece of bad news arrived.

The heavy stone containing the true intent of a cultivation technique had been stolen, and the master of the Wind Thunder Martial Arts School had been attacked, severely injured, and left unconscious. The school fell into complete chaos, and the so-called Wind Thunder Martial Arts Gathering was thoroughly ruined because of it.

Shen Xiu felt somewhat depressed. He had imagined that, with his methods, he only needed to sense even the barest surface of the cultivation technique. After that, he could rely entirely on his own effort to grind his way upward.

Unexpectedly, he did not even have a chance to glimpse its surface now.

At that time, Shen Xiu strongly suspected that this had been the work of their school master, Yang Jinhong. Every time Shen Xiu had seen him recently, he had worn a faint smile. He had not been this amiable before.

For the moment, there was no way to know.

Then, just as Shen Xiu had expected, during an afternoon break, Yang Jinhong pulled him aside. He immediately saw through Shen Xiu's current cultivation and asked whether Shen Xiu was willing to become his Personal Disciple.

Since Shen Xiu had long considered the matter, he naturally declined tactfully.

Pavilion Master Yang was left stunned. He had never expected someone to remain so unmoved before a Mysterious Grade cultivation technique, to give it up just like that.

Yet Yang Jinhong did not make things difficult for him in the end and let him leave.

The next day, the martial arts school announced its decision. A disciple surnamed Li had become Pavilion Master Yang's Personal Disciple.

Shen Xiu had seen that disciple before. He was tall and powerfully built, clearly good material for martial arts. There was nothing surprising about his selection.

Having lost an opportunity, Shen Xiu did not find it much of a pity. He was only an ordinary person, but sometimes, there were things one must do and things one must not.

A few days later, another bombshell spread through the martial arts school: their school master had personally admitted that he had entered the Fourth Realm Return to Hiding.

Soon afterward, rumors began circulating that, to celebrate entering the Fourth Realm, Pavilion Master Yang would dye Crimson Fire Stronghold in blood and use the blood of the Crimson Fire Bandits as his celebration.

The rumor was quickly confirmed. Pavilion Master Yang decided to lead several instructors and a number of powerful disciples deep into White Tiger Ridge, ostensibly to eliminate evil in the name of justice.

The excuse was flimsy, and the action reckless.

But every ghost in Taixi City knew that Pavilion Master Yang of the Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School had a deep grudge against the Crimson Fire Bandits. The moment they met, their eyes would turn red with hatred.

They said it was to eliminate evil in the name of justice, but avenging a personal grudge was the truth.

When the list of those going out was released, Shen Xiu's name was on it. He was not surprised. In Pavilion Master Yang's eyes, his strength was among the sharpest of the sharp. It would have been strange if Shen Xiu had not been included.

But now he did not resist it either. After all, the reward Pavilion Master Yang offered was generous enough to be a condition no disciple, Shen Xiu included, could refuse.

As for danger, Shen Xiu could not say. But if it came to running, he should still be able to run at the very front.