Black Snake woke again in parching thirst, with no telling how much time had passed.
Its nictitating membranes slid open, and it froze, staring blankly at the white mist. The snow had not melted, and the cave was dry. Where had this mist come from?
Wonderful. A new worry had appeared. Just the thing to foster growth.
GOOGLE search
It hesitated over whether to go out for water.
Yet the sluggish stiffness throughout its body was growing worse, urging it to drink at once. The torment was unbearable; sleep was out of the question.
It could not remember whether it had ever faced this trouble before. Whatever the case, it was deeply uncomfortable.
Helpless, it could only go out again. Remembering its last encounter with the reckless boar, it hoped this trip would let it drink in peace.
It slipped expertly out of the cave. The air outside was not particularly cold, and the snow could not linger. Only the shaded slopes still wore patches of white.
It chose a dry, sunny slope for its descent and searched the ice for a while. At the junction between stone and ice, a little warmth had melted a trickle of water. It lowered its head and sipped at leisure.
This time, drinking passed without a ripple of trouble or any unexpected encounters.
When it returned along the same route, the thick mist in the cave had already thinned. Without giving it much thought, it coiled up and sank into hibernation again.
On the full moon, it climbed to the cliff top as usual, raised its head toward the moon, and breathed, thinking of making its head stronger.
Some days later, it woke from thirst again...
What on earth was happening?
Damp mist filled the cave. Even its muddled brain understood that something was wrong, but it could not find the cause. There was nothing to do but let thirst drive it downhill for water.
It hurried down. There was no flowing water where it had drunk last time, so it had to find somewhere new and greedily drink a little more.
It hurried back to the cave to hibernate.
Once again, thirst woke it. It gazed at the thick mist, worried and bewildered.
It sped downhill to drink, then swept back to the cave like a gust of wind. As always, the mist grew thinner whenever it returned from an outing, only to become a white haze again after it slept.
Sleep, thirst, downhill, uphill...
Its fragmented hibernation continued until the early spring thaw. As more blood reached its brain, it finally connected the thick mist filling the cave with its frequent thirst.
Black Snake suspected that it was the source of the lingering mist in the cave. The moisture it lost had become white vapor.
Yet it knew nothing of how this happened, which left it utterly helpless.
It decided to stop sleeping altogether. If it became too dehydrated, it would not be able to shed safely and would inevitably die trapped inside its old skin.
It left the cave and reached the valley floor.
The familiar stream was still sealed beneath ice, with meltwater flowing over its surface.
After drinking its fill, it used thermal sensing to map the sunny slope, observing changes in the temperature of the rocks and air currents. A silent, moving picture formed in its mind, revealing a warm spot sheltered from the wind with ease.
It swiftly slithered over and claimed this treasure of a spot.
Coiling up, it lay dormant there, waiting for the spring wind to coax out greenery and the mountain vegetation to sprout.
Spring's chill still cut sharply; it was not yet time to hunt. Black Snake suppressed its other stray thoughts and focused on the mist and thirst that came with sleep. It had to solve this mystery, lest it inexplicably dry into snake jerky.
And it also had to... what was it again? Right, make its head grow bigger and stronger.
It seemed unable to remember its other worries.
Black Snake guessed that the white mist was the water it had lost, so it needed to undergo that loss once more and discover how it happened.
Under the gentle, warm sunshine, Black Snake struggled to control its awareness, hovering at the edge of sleep and wakefulness, trying to catch the process of moisture loss while half asleep.
The idea was light as a feather, but putting it into practice was heavy going. Its awareness could not hold steady at that threshold.
The slightest tension woke it completely; the slightest relaxation sent it plunging into deep sleep.
Dazedly, it slid open its nictitating membranes. Through blurred vision, it saw pale mist filling its surroundings. At the same time, its thirsty body needed water.
Well, that was all for nothing. Downhill for a drink...
The Lone Crag Courtyard.
Chi Ke narrowed his eyes toward a hollow in the mountains.
A mass of white mist had inexplicably gathered there, while the rest of the mountains remained clear. That patch of mist stood out sharply.
He turned and called the hunter, who was sharpening his billhook, over for a look.
"That mist appeared in a strange way."
The hunter scratched his head with a rasping sound, remembering something the village elders had said.
"The older generation says a place where mist rises on the mountain at noon is a treasure of feng shui. Good for a burial site. It can bless your descendants with high office and riches."
Please remember our domain,
Chi Ke smiled at this and turned his gaze toward the mist again. Gentler terrain flanked it on both sides, the snow had melted early, and the trees were taller than elsewhere. Several pines had particularly extraordinary bearing. It really did have something of that air.
"I'll take a look while gathering herbs another day. It would be a fine thing if we could clear it into an herb field."
By then, Black Snake had already reached the valley floor again.
Though it had drunk its fill, a deeper, subtler thirst had not faded. It even vaguely sensed that this strange thirst would affect its next shedding.
It had to force away its drowsiness and wait until after shedding to seek an answer.
At that moment, Black Snake yearned for a downpour from the depths of its soul. It seemed that only nature's rain and dew could quench that thirst arising from the very wellspring of life.
For now, spring's chill had not receded, and the right weather had yet to arrive.
Haste was useless. It still had to wait quietly for a time. That wait was like grass shoots lying dormant in the soil, silent and long.
It dazedly idled on the sunny slope, patiently sensing the weather's gradual warming.
It waited day after day, losing track of how much time had passed.
One day, lead-gray clouds covered the blue sky. Black Snake raised its head in anticipation, but the sweet rain never came. What fell upon its head was, instead, a snowfall.
A late spring cold snap landed like a soundless, heavy blow, freezing that almost smooth little brain stiff. Frozen snow rustled down, turning thousands upon thousands of trees white overnight. Damp and cold, it weighed heavily on the fresh greenery.
You'll never believe why I moved to... Hsinchu
My life in emojis: ️, , , ️
MeetSingles
Looking for someone in Hsinchu today
Willing to lie about how we met
Singleflirt
Looking for someone in Hsinchu today
Willing to lie about how we met
Singleflirt
Looking for someone in Hsinchu today
Willing to lie about how we
met
Singleflirt
Thick white snow gently covered its coiled body, while a small crown of snow perched atop its raised head.
The world drawn by its thermal sensing sank back into dim chaos, unable to piece together the outlines outside.
Never mind. I'll just wait a few more days.
It laid its head down, too lazy to move, and let the heavy snow bury it in this spring whose jumbled temperatures left a snake bewildered.
Lone Crag, halfway up the mountain.
Three people sat around the dining table inside the house, while the yellow dog lay beneath it gnawing a bone.
Chi Ke could not taste his food. Frowning at the snow filling the sky outside the window, he worried that the late spring cold snap would freeze the herb seedlings.
Rumble-!
The sudden crash startled all three people and the dog.
Chi Ke was so startled that his chopsticks slipped from his hand.
"Was that thunder?"
The hunter looked for a while in the direction where they usually fetched water, then shook his head.
error-free chapters]
"Not thunder. The frozen waterfall at Dripping Water Crag collapsed."
If they pricked up their ears and listened closely, they could still hear ice tumbling and breaking, slamming heavily into trees. The sounds echoed through the empty valley, then soon died away.
Then there was nothing to worry about. They went on eating while the food was hot.
All sounds fell silent as the snow came down, blurring the boundary between dusk and dawn. Outside the window, the daylight dimmed inch by inch.
By the time the work at hand was finished, deep night lay beyond the curtain.
In the morning, Chi Ke woke to the dense, rainlike patter of water dripping from the eaves. He propped open the wooden window and felt moist spring wind brush his face. Warmth had returned overnight.
His gaze happened to sweep past the corner of the wall, where fragile little grasses had already pushed aside debris and unfurled green shoots.
The wet traces among the mountains bore witness to yesterday's abrupt cold snap.
Savoring the clear morning air, Chi Ke hurried through his meal, picked up his cushion and book, and made for the great boulder to cultivate. His back was straight as a pine, his shoulders level and relaxed, his hands resting on his knees, and his feet planted firmly.
His breathing was steady, slow, and deep.
Before long, a heavy rustling rose from the woods. Black Snake slowly wriggled out, its body covered in damp, rotting leaf fragments. It slid onto the boulder and expertly coiled in its usual spot.