Fighting the Green Python

Tao Qiu smiled and greeted him.

Instead of snapping rudely at Tao Qiu as usual, Black Rabbit gave him a complicated look, glanced toward Green Python's territory in the distance, and then roared at him.

"It's been a little lively over there lately. Be careful."

With that, he carried his prey away in his mouth without saying anything else to Tao Qiu.

Green Python had always kept to herself and rarely ventured out. She was usually quiet, too. If not for the fresh scent she left that could be smelled upon entering her territory, people might have believed she had died long ago.

But starting the month before last, Green Python's howls had occasionally rung out from the woods next to Black Rabbit's territory. Every now and then, frightened mutated monsters had even fled into his territory.

Later, Black Rabbit had seen mutated snakes slither out of Green Python's territory more than once, skirt around his territory, and head toward Snow Bird's valley.

It had nothing to do with him, and he could easily have turned a blind eye.

But in the end, he had come to warn Snow Bird.

If not for the bit of friendship he shared with Snow Bird, he wouldn't even have given him today's warning. He still remembered how Snow Bird had snatched the fruit from him.

Tao Qiu watched Black Rabbit's retreating figure, his gaze deepening.

Two nights later, a silver moon hung high overhead. Tao Qiu and the cubs ate a late-night snack and admired the moon at the cave entrance.

Third Cub looked at the tomato, then at the moon, and said to Tao Qiu with a smile, "Chirp, chirp."

"The tomato is round, and the moon is round."

Tao Qiu added, "And our whole family is together."

Tao Qiu and Third Cub looked at each other, smiles in both their eyes.

Second Cub swallowed a bite of tomato and shivered at the chill. Puzzled, she asked, "Chirp chirp, chirp chirp?"

"The tomato is sweet and sour. Is the moon, too?"

Eldest Cub said, "Chirp chirp."

"You can't eat the moon."

"Chirp chirp, chirp chirp?" Second Cub protested.

"You've never eaten it, big brother. How do you know?"

Eldest Cub thought for a moment, then explained, "Chirp chirp chirp, chirp chirp, chirp chirp."

"If you could eat the moon, it would have been eaten already. But it's still there."

"Chirp." Second Cub only half understood. It seemed to make sense, but it didn't entirely answer her question.

Suddenly, Second Cub thought of something and turned to Tao Qiu, her eyes full of anticipation. "Chirp chirp chirp, chirp chirp."

"Daddy, fly up into the sky and bring the moon down. I'll taste it and see if I can eat it."

Tao Qiu chuckled. "Although your dad is very strong, I'm not strong enough to pluck the sun, moon, and stars from the sky. The moon is too high up. Even if I flew as high as I could, it would still be very, very far away."

"Chirp." Second Cub was dejected. It seemed her wish to taste the moon could never come true.

Tao Qiu patted her shoulder to comfort her.

Who hadn't had fanciful ideas as a child? When he was little, he had wanted to turn into Ultraman and fight monsters, only to be born a monster himself in this life.

Life was unpredictable...

As the night grew deeper, the bird cubs grew sleepy, so Tao Qiu took them back into the cave to rest.

Once again, Tao Qiu jolted awake from a dream. This time, however, it wasn't because of unease. He had sensed a real threat in the waking world.

That completely undisguised aura.

Green Python had come.

"Chirp chirp."

This time, Third Cub wasn't the only one awake. Eldest Cub and Second Cub opened their eyes too. Trembling with instinctive fear, they hid in Tao Qiu's embrace and called softly for Daddy.

The aura was drawing closer and closer. Clearly, she didn't intend to give Tao Qiu much time to react.

After placing the cubs in their nest and telling them to protect one another and stay inside the cave, Tao Qiu hurried outside.

The bird cubs cried, calling for Daddy over and over.

Tao Qiu didn't look back.

Chapter 27: Fighting the Green Python

A wind rose in the middle of the night, and dark clouds covered half the moon, greatly reducing visibility. But to Tao Qiu, it made no difference.

He flew to the low mountain at the valley's entrance and looked down.

The enormous Green Python lay coiled at the mouth of the valley, her translucent, jade-like scales reflecting a cold light in the moonlight. Her head was raised, her golden slit pupils fixed on Tao Qiu. She unleashed her full imposing aura, hoping to intimidate her opponent.

Tao Qiu refused to be outdone. He assumed the bearing of an aerial hunter, showing no sign of retreat or fear, even though he didn't intend to fight to the death tonight.

He didn't ask why she had come, because he knew what she wanted.

Green Python had no intention of begging, either. Leaving aside whether Snow Bird would give her what she wanted simply because she asked.

Even in a trade, one party would be stronger than the other. Only by making the other party wary of her could she ensure the trade was fair to some degree.

If she won, Snow Bird and everything in the valley would be hers, and she could have Snow Bird grow her a steady supply of fruit.

If she lost and died, so be it. If she survived, she would have the standing to trade with Snow Bird.

That might have made her sound overbearing, but that was how she did things. She didn't care about right or wrong; she only cared about the outcome.

In any case, she was nearly at the end of her road.

The wind stopped, and the full moon revealed itself in its entirety.

Moonlight fell, turning night into day. Two figures charged at each other at the same time, moving so fast that the naked eye could see only blurred afterimages.

"Hiss—"

"Screech—"

Tao Qiu and Green Python's enormous bodies collided. Tao Qiu thrust his blade-sharp talons at Green Python's eyes. She closed them in time, and his talons missed her eyeballs, scraping off only a few scales. Tiny droplets of blood sprayed out.

Green Python opened her great maw and bit at Tao Qiu's foot, trying to drag him down, but he dodged in time.

When that failed, Green Python swept her long tail at Tao Qiu, trying to knock him down. He quickly climbed higher and dodged it.

After a round of probing attacks, the two sides fell into a brief stalemate.

The good news was that Green Python couldn't reach Tao Qiu's flying height.

The bad news was that Tao Qiu couldn't easily get close enough to attack again. If Green Python caught him in her coils, her enormous body would surely crush his bones and flesh to pieces.

The cubs were still waiting for him at home, and Tao Qiu didn't want to drag this out.

He immediately rose higher, then circled Green Python. When he thought the time was right, he twisted and spun his wings, shooting his sharp outer flight feathers at her.

Green Python instinctively closed her eyes and mouth to protect her vulnerable spots. Her tail rose, ready to strike at any moment.

The flight feathers arrived first. The sound of them cutting through the air and clanging against her scales interfered with some of Green Python's senses. Tao Qiu arrived immediately afterward, his talons mercilessly tearing off more scales as blood sprayed everywhere.

"Hiss—"

Green Python let out an angry cry of pain and lashed her tail with all her strength. Tao Qiu retreated as fast as he could, but the tip still caught his right talon.

As a ground fighter, Green Python's strength was no joke.

Even though Tao Qiu's dodge had dispersed some of the force, his talon still felt as though it had broken. The pain made him flap about in midair for several seconds, his body tilting wildly as he nearly lost his balance and fell.

Green Python grew vicious. She thrust the front half of her body upward and opened her mouth to bite Tao Qiu. Several curved fangs were as sharp as daggers. Once they sank into prey, they could lock it firmly in place and drag it back to be constricted to death!

Enduring the pain, Tao Qiu shot upward. His talons narrowly brushed past Green Python's snout, and he was almost bitten.

With a thunderous crash, Green Python fell back to the ground. But she didn't give up. After coiling around, she leaped up again, forcing an attack despite having no advantage in the air.

Green Python was far crazier than Tao Qiu.

After several such exchanges, Green Python had exhausted a great deal of her strength, and Tao Qiu had been driven back to the valley entrance.

Any farther back was the valley itself, and Tao Qiu's bird cubs were still in a cave inside.

Tao Qiu gritted his teeth, let out a piercing cry, and turned to fly into the valley.

Seeing this, Green Python followed without hesitation.

As soon as she entered the valley, Green Python smelled the fresh fragrance of fruit, countless times stronger than that of the red fruit she had sent the little snake to steal.

That meant it really was just as the little snake had said: that rare fruit was everywhere inside!

At that thought, a deeper madness and killing intent surfaced in Green Python's golden eyes.

But before she could go farther into the valley and see exactly how much fruit there was, a figure both strange and familiar appeared in the air ahead of her.

Green Python looked up, and when she saw the figure clearly, she froze.

Well-defined features, long arms and legs...

A human!!!

No, no, no. This wasn't a human—or rather, not the kind of human she had known before.

She had seen many humans and eaten quite a few. She knew humans could only run on the ground. They didn't have wings like this fellow, nor could they fly.

Then this long-haired "human" with enormous feathered wings was undoubtedly...

"Hiss."

"Snow Bird."

It was the first time Green Python had spoken that night. She was shaken to her core, yet her tone was so calm that even she was surprised.

"Chirp."

"It's me."

Tao Qiu stood in Green Python's path, holding a pile of bamboo tubes in his arms.

He had deliberately placed the bamboo tubes filled with rotten mashed radish near the valley entrance, just for this moment.

He had also deliberately lured Green Python into the valley. Although the time had come when he had no choice but to use his human form, he still didn't want too many mutated monsters to know about it.

Green Python looked at him, a hint of coldness flashing in her eyes.

"Hiss."

"Looks like you have quite a few secrets."

Over the past few days, Green Python had been grateful countless times that, after discovering Snow Bird had taken away that stinking mutated plant, she had grown curious because of the fruit he had snatched before and called a little snake over to investigate.

Otherwise, she would never have known that Snow Bird had so much fruit that, to her, was more important than her own life.