Scale-Bone Snake Demon

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Scale-Bone Snake Demon
Alias(es)	鳞骨蛇妖
Species/Race	Snake demon; demon beast
Affiliation	Prisoner of the Demon-Slaying Bureau
Status	Alive; imprisoned and used as a source of demon blood and information 2 4
First Appearance	Chapter 2

Background

In the 363rd year of Great Zhou, the Scale-Bone Snake Demon breached Green Mountain Town and devoured one hundred thousand civilians. Demon Slayer Ling Feng pursued it for a thousand li, fought it for half a month, and captured it alive. It has been confined by the Demon-Slaying Bureau for a little over ten years by the time of Zhou Ping'an's assignment. 2 4

The demon claims to have lived for 3,655 years and to have exchanged blows with Great Zhou's founding progenitor. It is also described as having cultivated for more than three thousand years. 3 4

Within the Bureau prison, it is chained and repeatedly bled for body-cultivation materials. Zhang San extracts both its blood and a drop of its marrow, the latter being its essence; this extraction visibly shrinks and weakens it. 2

Appearance

The Scale-Bone Snake Demon is an immense, snowy-white python whose scales resemble white bone. 2

• Roughly one hundred zhang long. 2
• Has scarlet eyes and a bloody maw capable of swallowing a three- to four-hundred-pound pig whole. 2 3
• Its body is pierced by more than one hundred enormous steel spikes. 2
• Each spike is connected to wall-anchored chains as thick as two embracing people, leaving it unable to move. 2
• It visibly shrinks after blood and marrow extraction, and later appears emaciated after prolonged ration cuts. 2 3 4

Personality

The demon is opportunistic and manipulative when it believes it holds an advantage. It trades the Dragon Transformation Art to Zhou Ping'an for food while privately expecting the difficult technique to yield little progress, intending to swindle him for further rations. 3

Its bravado collapses under sustained hunger and captivity. When Zhou Ping'an restricts its food to a skinny chicken every two days, it becomes fawning, reveals the location of a thousand-year ginseng, and thereafter answers cultivation questions honestly for fear of being starved again. 4

Abilities & Skills

Acquired Realm Cultivation

The prison stele identifies it as a fourth-level Acquired Realm demon beast. Its cultivation of the Dragon Transformation Art is associated with no more than fifteen strands of true dragon power. 2 4

• Emits a crushing demonic pressure that nearly overwhelms Zhou Ping'an; he must endure it for an hour before adapting. 2
• Possesses enough physical mass and strength that the Bureau restrains it with over a hundred spikes and immense chains. 2
• Its combat history includes the destruction of Green Mountain Town and a half-month battle against Ling Feng. 2

Dragon Transformation Art

The demon possesses a lineage body-tempering technique, the Dragon Transformation Art, and recites it to Zhou Ping'an in exchange for two fat pigs. It states that cultivating the art to its peak can allow one to transform into a dragon. 3

• Teaches the technique orally; Zhou Ping'an spends more than two hours copying it down. 3
• Has a consummate understanding of the art and later answers Zhou Ping'an's questions about it. 4
• The art stores true dragon power in flesh and blood rather than relying on meridians or a dantian. 4
• Its cultivation is exceptionally slow without resources; the demon itself required more than three thousand years to reach its present level. 3 4

Demon Blood and Marrow

Its blood contains abundant spiritual energy accumulated over its long lifespan and is used by the Demon-Slaying Bureau for body cultivation. 2 3

• A drop of its marrow turns its blood crystal-clear and substantially increases the mixture's potency. 2
• Zhou Ping'an's immersion in its blood cleanses his marrow and meridians and opens all 360 acupoints. 3
• Repeated bloodletting and marrow extraction severely damage the demon's vitality. 2 3

Knowledge of Spiritual Treasures

The demon knows the location of a thousand-year ginseng near the capital, which it had hidden before imprisonment. 4

• Reveals the location only after Zhou Ping'an starves it into submission. 4
• The ginseng is successfully recovered by Zhang San and given to Zhou Ping'an. 4

Relationships

• Zhou Ping'an — Assigned caretaker and captor. The demon initially deceives him with the Dragon Transformation Art, then becomes submissive after Zhou Ping'an uses food rations to force out the location of spiritual medicine. 3 4
• Zhang San — Bureau handler who oversees the demon's bloodletting and formerly managed its feeding. The demon fears him intensely and calls him a devil after he demands its marrow. 2 4
• Ma Er — Demon-Slaying Bureau menial who explains that imprisoned demons may know the locations of old spiritual treasures. 3
• Ling Feng — Demon Slayer who captured it after pursuing it for a thousand li and battling it for half a month. 2

Story Role / Major Arcs

Demon-Slaying Bureau Imprisonment

The Scale-Bone Snake Demon is introduced as Zhou Ping'an's first direct encounter with a demon. Its pressure serves as a test of his resolve, while its blood and marrow become the foundation of his body cultivation. 2 3

Dragon Transformation Art Bargain

Desperate for food after being bled and weakened, the demon exchanges its lineage technique for two fat pigs. It expects the art's slow cultivation to frustrate Zhou Ping'an, but Ma Er exposes the general drawback of demon techniques. 3

Thousand-Year Ginseng Negotiation

After Zhou Ping'an sharply reduces its rations, the demon offers the location of a thousand-year ginseng. Its information enables Zhou Ping'an to obtain the spiritual medicine and eventually reach the first level of the Acquired Realm. 4

Trivia

• The Demon-Slaying Bureau keeps it alive not only for its blood, but also because old demons may know the locations of spiritual medicines and treasures. 3 4
• Its hunger is extreme: it initially considers a three- to four-hundred-pound pig insufficient, but later accepts a single fat pig as payment for a thousand-year ginseng's location. 3 4