The green and red snakefolk's trap

"The Green Snake crouches, the White Snake hides~"

"Dappled scales lie hidden among the tumbled stones~ ah, we trouble no cultivators from immortal sects, only catch mortal creatures out in the wilds, hey..."

A boy walked through the mountains in coarse hemp clothes, a bow on his back and arrows in a pouch, carrying a fork and a basket. The rain had stopped only three or five days ago, yet he was already up in the hills.

Three generations of the Xu Household had made their living catching snakes, beginning with Xu Xuan's grandfather, Xu Mugen. By Xu Xuan's generation, there was no longer any need to venture into the mountains to catch snakes for a livelihood.

Decades earlier, however, Xu Mugen had gone into the mountains alone to catch snakes and been bitten by the venomous fangs of an Iron-Thread Green Snake roaming Black Mountain. Xu Xuan's father, Xu Sansheng, had waited two days, then refused to heed anyone's pleas any longer. With a bow on his back and a fork in hand, he went up the mountain.

He lay in wait in the mountains for three days and nights without eating or drinking, and at last the Iron-Thread Green Snake appeared. He pinned its head down with a single arrow, slit open its belly, took its gallbladder, and skinned it to make a mourning robe for his father before carrying his father down the mountain on his back.

For a time, the story was praised far and wide.

The Xu Household's fame soared. Seizing the opportunity, Xu Sansheng rode that rising tide into the trade in snake gallbladders, snake medicines, and mountain produce. In little more than ten years, he acquired three estates, dozens of mu of fertile land, and countless tenant farmers.

With the Xu Household firmly established, there was no need to continue such a dangerous occupation. Yet Xu Sansheng laid down a family rule: every descendant of the Xu Household had to go into the mountains to catch snakes on the Dragon Boat Festival and Qingming, both to honor their ancestors and to temper their courage and fighting spirit.

Should some towering calamity strike in the future, even if the family fortune collapsed, their courage and skills would at least keep them from starving.

Xu Xuan surveyed the deep grass and dense woods around him, the green mountain haze blanketing the slopes. This was precisely the sort of hiding place snakes and insects loved.

Suddenly, his ears twitched at what sounded like a rustle. Turning toward it, he saw a green tail shoot into a clump of wormwood with a whoosh. He had seen it clearly, and delight filled his heart. What a fine serpent! Think I'll let you escape? Watch what this young master can do.

He immediately set off, parting the grass and following its trail in relentless pursuit, bounding straight over several low rises.

Before he could find the snake again, he heard a moan as faint as a drifting thread, a soft, choking sound that came and went. Startled, Xu Xuan thought, How could there be such a sound here, in these desolate mountains full of jagged rocks?

He steeled himself and followed the sound. Beneath an old, crooked pine, he found a woman curled up on the ground. She was enchantingly voluptuous, but her lovely face was now pale and drawn as she clutched her calf and wailed.

Xu Xuan approached for a closer look and hurriedly asked, "Young lady, how did you come to be all alone in these wild mountains?"

Tears filled the woman's eyes. "I... I was bitten by a serpent in the grass," she said shakily. "The pain is killing me!"

At the word "serpent," Xu Xuan stamped his foot in alarm. "Oh no! What are we to do, here on Black Mountain? The one I was chasing just now must have been an Iron-Thread Green Snake. Its venom is as fierce as venom comes!"

Hearing this, the woman was so frightened that her soul seemed to fly beyond the heavens. Every trace of color vanished from her pretty face.

Grief welled up within her, and she pleaded through choking sobs, "What a bitter fate I have! I refused to obey my parents and marry that wastrel who spends his days fighting cocks and racing hounds, so I risked my Life Force to flee into the mountains, hoping only to find a way to survive. How could my luck be so wretched that I ended up here, doomed to die in a serpent's jaws? Heaven, why are you so heartless!"

Her lament, like orioles calling and swallows weeping, stirred Xu Xuan's heart, and a surge of heroic courage rose within him. He looked again at the half-exposed calf beneath her silken skirt, snowy white as jade, marred by two tiny, horrifying fang marks. Instantly casting every rule of propriety between men and women beyond the ninth heaven, he blurted out, "Young lady, don't be frightened. Let me... let me suck out the poisoned blood. Perhaps that will save your Life Force!"

The young woman was overjoyed. "Sorry for the trouble, young sir."

Xu Xuan immediately stepped forward and bent to suck at the snakebite on her leg.

For a moment, his heart became an unruly ape and his thoughts a galloping horse.

He failed to see that the young woman whose face had been drained of color now wore an expression as cold as frost.

"Young sir, you have saved me, and I have nothing with which to repay you. I can only offer myself to you in marriage."

"There's no need for that, my lady. For men like us, acting bravely in a righteous cause is simply our duty. How could I do something so vile as demand repayment for a kindness? If the elders of the Ning Household heard of it, they would never spare me."

"Those words have already stirred my heart, young sir. Truly, I..."

"Ah!"

The young woman cried out in pain. Fierce, frosty baleful intent instantly flooded her limpid eyes, and she kicked Xu Xuan away.

Looking at the dagger embedded in her abdomen, she felt a searing agony surge through her. Even her voice turned shrill, and fine snake scales appeared across her face.

"What have you done?!"

Xu Xuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Meeting the woman's uncanny snake eyes, he sneered. "Let me enlighten you. My Xu Household has caught snakes for generations. Had you come wearing a different skin, perhaps you could have had this flesh and blood of mine today. Unfortunately, the snake stench on you was far too pungent... That blade is coated with my family's special snake medicine. Before long, all your organs will rot. As for your skin and flesh, I, Xu Xuan, will gladly accept them."

Shock, fury, and fear seized the woman. Layer upon layer of scales erupted across her face, and she threw back her head with a shriek. "Hua Hong! What are you waiting for?!"

"What? There's another one?!"

Xu Xuan's face blanched. A vicious gust swept toward him from behind. With no time to turn, he hurriedly raised his bow to block it, only to meet a blow of immense force. A sharp crack rang out, and the wooden bow that had accompanied him for years snapped in two.

He was hurled sideways into an old pine with a heavy impact that sent needles showering down, then tumbled head over heels down the slope.

Hua Hong appeared, holding a dark Steel Whip. Murderous intent lay naked in his slit pupils as he cast a cold glance at the poisoned Huaqing on the ground.

Huaqing pressed a hand over the wound in her abdomen, yet gave a grim, piercing laugh. "You want to kill me? That attack aggravated your old injury again, didn't it? Do you think killing me will let you survive alone? Dream on!"

A savage gleam flickered several times through Hua Hong's slit pupils. He raised his Steel Whip, then lowered it. After a long hesitation, he finally put it away in bitter resentment.

Abandoning Huaqing, he turned and pursued Xu Xuan down the slope, intent only on swiftly catching the mortal to feed on his blood and flesh and mend his injuries.

Huaqing's heart tightened at the sight. She could no longer spare the time to stabilize her injuries, terrified that Hua Hong would devour their prey first and recover ahead of her. If she remained wounded then, she would surely become the food on his plate.

Gritting her snake fangs, she struggled to her feet and followed him down the slope.

Yet when the two descended the steep slope, one after the other, they found only jagged rocks and rampant weeds below. Xu Xuan was nowhere to be seen.

"This is bad!" Huaqing cried, stamping her foot. "That mortal comes from an established family. If we let him escape like this, there may be no end to the trouble!"

Hua Hong snorted and snapped, "Stupid woman! You couldn't even subdue an unarmed mortal. What use are you!"

Huaqing lashed her snake tail, plowing a deep furrow in the ground, but did not argue with him. Instead, she bent low and flicked her long, scarlet forked tongue through the air several times with a hiss, then followed the faint, elusive trace of blood.

Hua Hong dared not delay either. Carrying his rod, he hurried after her.

Clutching his chest, Xu Xuan felt as though several ribs had broken. The pain was intense, and a fierce light flashed in his eyes.

Those two can't be demons of any real ability. At most, they're minor monsters. Otherwise, they would have eaten me already instead of resorting to tricks. As long as I can escape, I can gather friends and allies and attack them with fire. We'll surely capture and kill them. My family's fame as demon slayers will begin with me.

His father had always said Xu Xuan had ample magnanimity but insufficient toughness. Now was his chance to prove himself. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and his steps grew ever lighter.

Before he knew it, he had reached the foot of Black Mountain.

He was just about to cross the mountain.

The two snakes had already caught up behind him.

Xu Xuan looked back, frightened almost out of his soul. My life is over.

Hua Hong narrowed his slit pupils and said coldly, "Catch him and leave, quickly. Delay will only invite trouble."

"Get the antidote first," Huaqing said.

"Stupid woman, don't ruin this."

"Hua Hong, are you planning to kill me here?"

With their prey right before their eyes, the two demons let down their guard and actually began to quarrel.

Cowed by the aura of the two demons, Xu Xuan dared not move a muscle.

Just as despair darkened his heart, he suddenly saw the slit pupils of the red-bodied snake monster contract. Without a word, Hua Hong retreated with his rod in hand.

Seeing this, Huaqing had no idea what fit had seized him. But the next instant, a voice sounded beside her ear, making her scalp prickle. "Senior brother, senior sister, since you're here, why not stay for a chat?"