Black Snake could not tell whether the stranger posed a threat, so he kept his body taut and remained on guard.
The mysterious man approached one unhurried step at a time, his gait easy and composed.
As the distance narrowed, Black Snake's heat sense finally detected the steady source of warmth concealed within the man's body. His shortsighted eyes also made out the newcomer's face, stirring fragments of memory. He could no longer recall the exact features, but he felt that the years must have left no mark.
The man still wore those old clothes washed pale, only now with two dark patches at the cuff and shoulder.
A grass rope was loosely tied around his waist, a string of crudely made, air-dried meat strips dangling and swaying from it.
He casually removed the roughly woven straw hat from his head.
He stopped just outside a safe distance and smiled at Black Snake.
"Rest easy, young friend. I mean you no harm."
Then his gaze shifted to the shriveled thing on the ground. A flicker of inquiry crossed his eyes, followed by surprise and faint regret.
"Tai Sui."
He calmly raised his hand.
Black Snake's vision blurred for an instant. When it focused again, a piece of strange flesh had appeared out of nowhere in the mysterious man's hand.
The man held it up before his eyes, examined it, and sniffed it.
"Neither still nor moving, seemingly dead yet alive, without form or shape. It grows within an earth vein spirit nexus, alive, yet all but motionless."
"The flood unearthed this from deep within the earth veins. A pity the rest can no longer be found."
"People all say eating it grants immortality, but that is merely a rumor. Its nature depends on the water and soil: it may be sweet dew, or it may be dove poison. How can all of it be judged alike?"
As he spoke, he broke off a small piece and put it into his mouth, carefully savoring it.
"Passable."
The man set down the Tai Sui flesh and turned his tranquil gaze upon Black Snake, observing the mist drifting off him. Those eyes seemed to have pierced through the ages, holding neither sorrow nor joy, only the detachment of one who had witnessed every vicissitude.
"Cultivators draw upon the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth to strengthen their bodies and nourish their spirits. Yet mortal flesh is frail, and leakage is inevitable."
"This leakage strikes at the very foundation. In mild cases, twice the effort yields half the result, and cultivation stagnates. Like a vessel cracked through, it can never hold water. In severe cases, the foundation is shaken, vital blood is secretly depleted, and the mind scatters. It may even shorten one's lifespan and sever one's Dao Path."
"It is one of the hidden perils along the road of cultivation. Unless mended early, even a thousand forms of diligent practice will ultimately be flowers in a mirror and the moon upon water."
"I know nothing of how demonic beasts and spirit monsters cultivate. I cannot help you."
"This Tai Sui is of limited use. In the end, you must rely on yourself to seek the great Dao of truth."
The words were far too abstruse for Black Snake. He vaguely retained only the rise and fall of a few syllables, which lingered briefly before slipping away like flowing water.
The two were complete strangers. That the mysterious man was willing to pause and offer guidance was already a rare kindness.
Sadly, though heaven's rain fell abundantly, it nourished only trees with roots. Black Snake could not recognize these healing words of wisdom. Perhaps that ignorance was the greatest sorrow of all.
Having said his piece, the mysterious man would say no more.
He simply cupped his hands in farewell.
The shadow of his straw hat covered his brow as he turned and walked into the drifting dust.
Black Snake remained silent, his vertical pupils impassive as he watched the wandering figure recede, growing indistinct.
He lowered his head and took the still-warm head of the little wild boar between his jaws. His lower jaw disengaged, and his muscles rippled rhythmically as he swallowed the food bit by bit.
The risk had been somewhat high, but the reward was substantial too. At least he could rest for a few days.
He flicked his tongue.
Sorting through the messages carried on the wind, he still preferred the cool, clean air of the mountaintop. The smell of rivers was truly hard to grow accustomed to.
Black Snake lazily slithered toward the slope, found a dry spot, and coiled up peacefully to digest his food.
He lost track of time, letting light and darkness alternate again and again...
Drowsy, he inadvertently slipped into a light sleep. Upon waking, he started in alarm and hurriedly inspected himself. Only a few wisps of white mist curled around his body, and his thirst was mild. Only then did he relax. He could not help recalling that strange flesh, and a vague notion rose from the depths of his mind: perhaps it could curb the loss of mist.
He set off at once, searching along the wreckage left by the flood and probing every heap of driftwood on the bank.
He hunted whatever prey he encountered along the way, occasionally diving into the water to catch fish.
The sun probably rose three times.
Unable to remember how far he had traveled, Black Snake stopped searching and weighed whether it was worth continuing to waste his time.
Wild grass grew madly, nearly covering the traces of the flood's devastation, its tiny flowers blooming.
Time was gnawing away at his memory of the strange flesh. Black Snake even doubted whether he would recognize it if he saw it again. The road ahead stretched on and on. He feared he might forget even the purpose of this search, until it became nothing more than a hazy obsession.
Forget it. This ends here.
There is no such thing as failure. Hunting has always been a mixture of success and defeat, and he had grown used to it. If he stubbornly continued onward, he might even lose his way home.
He turned around and followed the route he had come, his enormous body crushing the wild grass as he began his return.
Rain was coming soon. He only hoped to return to the mountain a little earlier and breathe its cool, clean air.
Clearly, Black Snake had little concept of distance.
The mountain rain was gathering, and the wind by the river carried the smell of its water. Like a black streak of ink, Black Snake sped through the grass. Only when raindrops began falling toward evening did he scramble up a nearby hill, raising his head amid the curtain of rain and deeply inhaling and exhaling its cool air.
The rain-scented air atop the hill held a trace of the river's fishy odor. Black Snake was not picky; having anything to breathe was good enough.
The sound of rain wove a clamorous screen.
The surrounding wilderness was pitch-black, the mountains and rivers hidden from sight. Maintaining only the necessary safe distance of vigilance, Black Snake indulged in the delight of breathing freely.
The rain grew heavier and heavier.
Suddenly, a streak of blinding white light tore through the darkness, illuminating the vast world in stark white. Almost at the same instant, thunder crashed!
Black Snake felt his bones and sinews shudder and his organs jolt. His shortsighted eyes were dazzled blind, and his sense of the vibrations resonating with the earth cut off abruptly. His whole body went numb, and he learned what dizziness was.
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Then Black Snake's muscles rippled in reverse as he retched forcefully, vomiting up a mass of undigested remains and parasites.
He had no time to catch his breath.
A second bolt of lightning slammed into the little hill, bringing the same numbness and tremors.
His enormous head struck the ground as though dealt a heavy blow, and he could not stop himself from twisting, rolling, and struggling.
This sudden assault lay far beyond Black Snake's understanding. In his bewilderment, he concluded that he had been ambushed.
Primitive fury welled up within him. Enduring the discomfort, he tried to locate the threat and retaliate with a lethal strike.
Worse still, the cool energy stored within his body actually resonated with the thunder, stirring waves of prickling pain and numbness. Before Black Snake could make sense of what was happening, the third and fourth bolts tore through the curtain of rain and slammed down!
Through the dazzling light, he saw a nearby tree tremble violently.
From a high branch down the trunk to the roots, a long, narrow strip of bark was peeled away in an instant, exposing ghastly white wood.
The world rocked and spun amid his dizziness, and he almost lost all awareness of his surroundings.
He could not remember how many times the blinding light flashed. The thunder sounded muffled, and only the touch of raindrops striking his scales remained distinct. The rain gradually grew sparse, but Black Snake remained dazed.
By the time the wind and rain ceased, dawn had already broken.
The summit of the little riverside hill was a scene of devastation. Broken branches and wood fragments littered the ground, and dripping green leaves and snapped boughs covered the great black snake.
Warm sunlight dispelled the dampness, shining through the fresh, moist green leaves covering his body. Its heat evaporated their moisture and left them wilted. Warmth slowly seeped into Black Snake's body, raising his temperature and restoring his bodily functions.
His head stirred, his nictitating membranes retracted, and his vertical pupils reflected the mountains and rivers after the rain.