Black Snake listened to half of what Chi Ke said and let the other half slip away.
Roughly speaking, he understood it as: poison any unfamiliar threat to death and eliminate every hidden danger, even if it was an animal that walked upright like Chi Ke.
Yes, Black Snake finally knew Chi Ke's name now, and finally understood that "Snake Brother" meant him.
Thanks to years of enjoying the stimulation of lightning, perhaps his smooth little brain had been shocked into developing a few wrinkles.
After the lesson, he decided to cross the ridge and go to the meadow in the little basin. Over the years, he had grown used to entering the river to catch fish every year. Picking up frogs took time and effort, while eating big fish was easy. At most, he would fail three to five times before filling his belly, leaving the rest of his time free for basking in the sun or quietly staring into space.
What occupied his mind now was getting his head to grow a little bigger. He felt that the bigger his head, the more powerful he would be.
He wound his way down the mountain, his body crushing through dead leaves and grass with a rustling swish.
After more than ten years of going back and forth, he knew the route extremely well. Even a slight deviation did not matter. He slithered faster and faster now, following the stream for a stretch before crossing through a mountain gully. Down the slope lay the familiar river. There had been no floods these past two years, and weeds and shrubs had spread back to the water's edge. Only another rise in the water would drive them back.
He passed over a dirt slope where last year's dead grass mingled with spring's fresh green growth and reached the open pebble beach.
This stretch had a swift current, but the river was shallow and clear enough to see the pebbles and small fish underwater. The water still held a lingering chill.
It was only a few years ago that Black Snake had learned to come earlier in spring, even while the river was still cold.
Once the temperature warmed to a certain point, many unusually plump, large fish would appear. He remembered one occasion when swallowing just two in succession had filled him up. They were especially plentiful at night, but after a while, they would disappear without a trace.
So he came early every spring to wait by the river.
His gaze swept past the white waterbirds and studied the flock of wild ducks in the distance. Catching birds during daylight was harder, after all.
As usual, he first went to the deep-water bend to catch fish and fill his belly.
Every year followed much the same routine.
He entered the water and let the swift current carry him toward the bend. It saved effort and was much faster.
When he came ashore, he discovered a pile of charcoal left over from a fire.
Other beasts might not have cared, but Black Snake was particularly wary of traces left by flames. The clearest event in his memory was that mountain fire: the searing pain, the acrid smoke, and the boundless red.
He flicked his tongue to search the surrounding scents. It seemed to have been there for some time, and there was no suspicious smell.
Raising his head, he swept the meadow and surrounding slopes with his heat sense. Apart from a few small animals, he noticed nothing unusual, so he stopped the pointless search and entered the water to catch fish.
Once full, he came ashore to bask in the sun and digest. When digestion was finished, he returned to the water, repeating much the same days.
He could not be bothered to count how many days had passed. One evening, a group of people leading horses came down along the river from upstream. With darkness approaching, they chose to camp in the meadow.
Black Snake emerged from the water at dusk, and the outlines of people and livestock appeared in his heat sense.
There were adults as well as human cubs.
A group of upright, two-legged beasts was unsuitable prey. Black Snake chose to ignore them, quietly swimming toward the bank and crawling ashore before slipping into the grass to find somewhere to digest his food.
Those people dug up wild vegetables and brought them to the river to wash.
One old man noticed a wet drag mark on the beach. It was very wide and wound away into the grass. Judging by the trail, something exceptionally large seemed to have crawled out of the water, yet there were no claw marks. It was truly strange.
"Something's wrong! Come here, quickly!"
Five or six young, able-bodied men hurried to the water at his call. Staring at the wet trail, they felt their skin crawl.
Something terrifying seemed to lurk in the grass at dusk. Rumors outside claimed that monsters lived in the uninhabited depths of the mountains. From the look of things, those rumors were certainly not wind from an empty cave!
But it was already pitch-dark, and they could not continue traveling. They could only heighten their vigilance and take careful precautions.
As the night deepened, several campfires were lit beside the river.
They stayed on the dry pebble beach as much as possible, keeping away from both the water and the grass, and assigned people to take turns keeping watch.
Before the moon rose, heaven and earth were at their darkest.
These people did not notice the grass stirring nearby as a huge black shadow slipped silently into the river.
Black Snake did not care whether it was day or night. He only wanted to make the most of his time and store up more fat.
Had there not been so many people, Black Snake would have chosen to hunt those livestock first. These people feared the unknown, enormous creature in the darkness, and Black Snake likewise did not want to provoke the group and get himself injured. After weighing the situation, he made the best choice.
After supper, moonlight slowly moved down from the ridge across the river. Before they went to sleep, its cold, clear glow illuminated the entire beach.
The moonlight was bright tonight; even shadows could be seen distinctly.
The moonlight brought a little reassurance. The ink-black darkness earlier had been far too oppressive, as though some fierce beast or monster might spring out from anywhere at any moment.
In the still night, sounds could be heard from very far away.
The two night watchmen spoke quietly, frogs called all across the meadow, and the rushing water upstream sounded exceptionally clear in the silent night.
Standing on the bank and looking straight out across the river, the watchmen could actually see nothing. Viewed from above, however, a long black shadow could be seen, swaying its body as it swam quietly...
They had long since stepped into a fierce beast's hunting ground. Only their strength in numbers had kept them from being marked as prey to kill.
Those plump, large fish downstream had not appeared yet.
Black Snake was in no hurry. Based on his sense of the changing temperature, he guessed it would happen within the next few days.
After eating his fill, he came ashore through the large ditch, crushing several bumpy little playthings until their legs kicked straight out.
The earthen mounds on either side of the ditch were quite high. Coiled up on high ground, Black Snake saw a cluster of heat sources in the distance, moving closer inch by inch at an extremely slow pace.
There was a threat!
He immediately regarded those stealthily approaching heat sources as enemies. Whoever their target was, creeping about like this made them a threat. Since they had not yet entered his defensive perimeter, he remained coiled where he was, watching coldly.
Black Snake would wait until they stepped into dangerous range before weighing his options again. He believed they would do the same. Such had always been the rule in the mountain forest: judge the situation clearly, then each side withdrew. Never do what you had no confidence in.
A second group that appeared later crept toward the first bunch.
They drew closer and closer without a sound, then lay still with some distance remaining, as though waiting for the right moment.
The night was long. The moon moved over to the other side of the basin, and the bright Milky Way slowly shifted.
The two groups of uninvited guests had seriously disturbed Black Snake's hunting. Then he remembered what Chi Ke had said and regarded these troublesome people as bandits and villains.
Humans had their own reasoning for defining bandits, and Black Snake had his own standards too.
A gray pallor seeped into the eastern sky.
This was when people slept most deeply and their vigilance slackened. The figures that had lain hidden in the grass for half the night began to move, waking their sleeping companions. The group crouched low and crept toward the riverside camp.
There was no shouting. The first things to appear were arrows.
The two watchmen were struck by several arrows in succession. With two muffled groans, they collapsed into the embers of a fire that had not yet gone out...
The hidden attackers had only just risen and had not yet had time to charge when the horses in the camp neighed first. Those distinctive cries carried exceptionally far.
The awakened campers scrambled up in panic, while the attackers charged forward, cursing.
The men, women, old people, and children in the camp fell at a disadvantage under the sudden assault, but the attackers who had spent half the night lying in the grass were not faring well either. Dampness had seeped into their bodies, aching their joints. Unable to see the ground clearly in the dim light, they stepped on rolling pebbles and fell, struggling for a long time to get back up.
Black Snake watched the two sides' heat sources mingle through his heat sense and caught the scent of fresh blood on the wind.