Who Was He?

In the mountain woods outside the abandoned relay station, a snake as thick as a wooden barrel slithered slowly along. Yet that slowness was only an illusion created by its bulk and the way its body threaded through the surroundings; in truth, its speed was astonishing.

Its scales were white as snow, and it moved without a sound. If not for the branches and dry grass it bent and the snow it compressed in its passage, it would have blended almost perfectly into its surroundings.

Snakes were creatures that hibernated and generally disliked cold environments, but this one was clearly an exception.

"Hiss..."

The great snake raised its head with a hiss, looking toward the building where firelight flickered a short distance away. It could faintly hear conversation and laughter inside, and could smell the various scents within far more clearly.

These people, so unlike the animals of the mountains, had probably entered this stretch of wilderness a little over half a month ago. Their behavior was plainly strange, so the snake had spent all this time neither hunting nor doing anything else, but simply watching them.

"Hiss..."

The aroma of meat drifted from the flickering firelight. The great snake slithered from the snow onto a rocky path, then wound around the rocks and hung from a tree jutting out of the mountainside, leaving most of its body suspended above the abandoned relay station to the right.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky that night, leaving the rest of the mountain forest dim. Even the faint firelight in the abandoned station now stood out. After holding back for so long, the great snake was hungry tonight!

Inside the abandoned relay station, Yi Shuyuan glanced nervously about, suspicion gnawing at him. Even those who noticed thought nothing of it. The fool had always been like this.

"Here. Drink."

A Gou numbly held out the bamboo tube to Yi Shuyuan, but as Yi Shuyuan took it, he also seized A Gou's arm. Startled, A Gou looked at the fool before him and found a pair of eyes staring straight into his own beneath knitted brows on that pale face.

To Yi Shuyuan, this "A Gou" still looked unmistakably young. When A Gou's body stood between him and what lay beyond, Yi Shuyuan finally showed something other than the behavior of a "fool" for the first time.

Those aren't the eyes of a fool! The thought suddenly flashed through A Gou's mind as their gazes met. Yi Shuyuan slowly lifted his head, and A Gou instinctively followed his gaze. Then his eyes flew wide, his pupils dilating.

Without a sound, an enormous white snake's head had slipped through the breach in the eastern corner of the station.

Then, as A Gou's pupils contracted violently, the snake's head shot forward like lightning. He felt as though he had plunged into an ice cellar, his body frozen stiff. At that same instant, a powerful force tugged at his right hand, pulling him forward-it was Yi Shuyuan, wrenching his arm.

The next moment, the snake's jaws engulfed the man who had been behind A Gou. Before he could even scream, the giant snake lifted him off the ground and whisked him away, leaving only muffled cries trailing behind.

When the others looked up in horror, all they saw was a pair of frantically kicking legs vanishing through the breach in the corner of the station's roof.

"Damn it, it's the Snow Python!"

"That beast actually left the icy river!"

"Everyone up! Grab your weapons!" "Careful, it's right outside!"

"What do we do?" "How can it be so big?"

"Quiet!"

The short-bearded leader roared and rose with his saber in hand. The others moved swiftly too, each seizing a weapon and looking uneasily at the roof and walls around them.

Cold sweat seeped from their foreheads and cheeks, then slowly trickled down.

In that instant, hunter and prey had traded places!

As for whether the man the snake had just carried off was dead or alive, not one of those who had been calling him a brother moments before so much as mentioned him.

Yi Shuyuan panted lightly, his heart beating impossibly fast. He could have warned them when that sense of unease first arose, but conflicting feelings had filled his heart. In the brief time he hesitated, that unease had become reality.

How could a snake that huge exist in this world? A white one?

A Gou, who had barely escaped disaster, felt as though his heart were about to burst. He lay by the wall beside Yi Shuyuan, looking up with lingering terror before turning toward the "fool" whose name he did not even know.

If he hadn't pulled me out of the way, I would have been the one who died, wouldn't I? With that thought, A Gou had already pronounced the man carried away dead.

"Whooo... Whooo..."

After a brief silence, an eerie, freezing wind crept into the station through the roof, the eaves, the gaps in the door, and every other opening. The campfire swayed ceaselessly in the cold wind, looking ever closer to going out.

"Quick, protect the fire!"

Even the leader's voice carried a tremor now. The men hurried to shield the fire from the wind with their bodies, while others frantically added wood.

"Stop adding wood! Stop!"

"Not everyone needs to watch the fire! Keep an eye on our surroundings!"

Between their frantic fumbling and the invading cold, the campfire nearly went out altogether. They only just managed to preserve the flames. Half the men guarded the fire while the other half watched the outside.

"Boss, is that still an ordinary Snow Python?"

Someone asked the question in trembling fear. Though they had caught only a fleeting glimpse, the Snow Python's size was anything but normal.

Their leader gripped his saber hilt so tightly that the flesh of his palm made faint sounds as it rubbed against it, while he did his best to steady his breathing.

Their original plan had been to lure the Snow Python into swallowing a person during its active hours. Once a snake had swallowed someone, it could neither move fast nor put up much of a fight. If they struck quickly, they could easily subdue it. But no one had imagined this snake would be so enormous, or so astonishingly fast.

"That beast... I'm afraid it's close to becoming a spirit."

Fear kept sprouting and swelling in everyone's hearts. However formidable the Snow Python might be, it was still only an unusual snake, a beast. But if it truly became a spirit, it would be one of the monsters of legend, something that struck terror into the very depths of the heart!

Yi Shuyuan clenched his fists just as tightly.

Becoming a spirit? A monster? Fear mingled with urgency in Yi Shuyuan's heart. He did not want to die! These villains would kill him sooner or later, and the monster outside certainly would not spare him alone.

What should I do?

Almost instinctively, Yi Shuyuan looked toward A Gou, who was still shaken beside him. If there was anyone among these people he could rely on, anyone worth saving, it had to be him!

At that moment, under the threat of life or death, Yi Shuyuan forced himself to calm down. His mind raced!

"Crrrack... Crrrack..."

Groans of wood straining beneath an unbearable weight came from the roof. Everyone inside held their breath and focused.

Yi Shuyuan abruptly looked up, then frowned as he scanned their surroundings. He paid particular attention to the campfire, which flickered ceaselessly in the cold draft now that no one was tending it.

Someone spoke in a lowered voice.

"It's on the roof..."

Their leader glanced left and right and said quietly,

"If it's already become a spirit, we can't keep this up. We have to..."

As the man spoke, every muscle in Yi Shuyuan's body tensed.

Before the boss could finish, the already faltering campfire suddenly went out. In an instant, the room plunged into darkness.

"Split up and run! Get out of the mountains and you'll live!"

At their leader's shout, the men scattered in several directions in an instant. Their movements whipped up gusts that swept ashes and sparks into the air, their speed beyond anything Yi Shuyuan had imagined.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Some smashed through the door to escape; others shattered wooden windows and shot out.

A Gou moved at that moment too. He hesitated for only an instant, his body reacting faster than his thoughts. Grabbing Yi Shuyuan's clothes with both hands, he tried to swing him onto his back.

But the familiar fool's strength was astonishing now. Before A Gou could lift him, the man before him caught him off guard with a pull and a shove, pressing him flat against the ground. At the same time, a dirty hand covered his mouth and nose.

At that very instant, Yi Shuyuan's clear, steady whisper reached his ears.

"Shh. Don't move. It's gone after them!"

A Gou's heart jolted, and he abandoned any thought of resisting. He stared blankly toward the fool. In the darkness he could not make out his features, but he could sense the steadiness of his breathing.

This man wasn't a fool at all!

A succession of noises came from far outside, including the sounds of trees falling and rocks collapsing. Then the sounds receded farther and farther away.

Yi Shuyuan's heart pounded. He had only had one chance, and his gamble on a counterintuitive move at a moment like this had paid off!

But just as Yi Shuyuan was secretly rejoicing, he abruptly looked toward another spot. Someone was still lying beside the extinguished campfire. The man had clearly noticed Yi Shuyuan and A Gou in the corner too, and in the glow of the remaining embers, his face turned toward them.

After waiting for several breaths, the man beside the campfire seemed about to spring up and flee. But when he saw the two figures remaining motionless in the dim corner, he slowly lowered his hands again.

Their eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. Even the campfire's remaining embers were enough for them to barely make things out, and each side could now see the other's face.

The boss? Yi Shuyuan was startled, then immediately understood. What a vicious, devious man!

The man opposite them narrowed his eyes. A Gou and that fool?

PS: After a period of preparation, my new xianxia novel is finally here. The book has already been signed, and I hope you'll give it plenty of support so that more people can discover it.