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Translator: Tamon
“This is terrible! The Old Snake King is at it again!”
“The Old Snake King ate someone! Zhang Mazi and Blacksmith Zhou are gone!”
“It’s in that brook! Alert the authorities!”
The villagers ran away in terror as Wang Daniu grabbed his two kids back home where he bolted the door to the courtyard.
“You’re not to take one step outside!”
Wang Daniu spoke harshly, the fear still evident on his face.
The re-emergence of Old Snake King six months later caused havoc.
“The old Snake King eating people?” Wang Xiaoniu blinked.
He just saw the Old Snake King eating a bucket of fish outside.[How could it have swallowed people in a flash?]
“Yes! I saw it myself how a shadow lunged out of the river and dragged Blacksmith Zhou and Zhang Mazi into the deep. The two were gone before we could blink!”
Wang Daniu spoke with horror.
“But the Old Snake King was just nodding at us. How could it have eaten someone?” Wang Xiaoya jumped in.
Wang Daniu glared at her, “What’s with this nonsense?”
Wang Xiaoniu snatched his sister’s hand, coming up with an excuse. “You mustn’t lie!”
…
Xu Hei heard the commotion and looked blankly.
“Me, eating someone? How come I don’t remember?”
He didn’t even get close to the river, so how could it have been him?
He was framed!
Noticing some villagers going to the officials, he knew danger was coming and slipped away.
No authorities would be sent to hunt down when any other random animal killed a person. Xu Hei’s case was different, for he was the Old Snake King in these parts, one that had a demon vanquishing Daoist put a bounty on him, thus giving him value.
The Daoist belonged to the Celestial Monitoring Bureau, wielding great power that local officials could never slight.
Snake Catchers was a group specialized in capturing demon serpents with advanced skills and some experts wielding magic items.
They were the biggest threat to Xu Hei’s life; one official and the other civilian.
Since he was discovered, Xu Hei would leave the area and hide until spring. But curiosity got the best of him, wanting to know who killed those people.
“For it to drag two people in the water in an instant, it must be a water demon.” Xu Hei’s eyes lit up.
Over the summer, he only met one demon, that boar.
His cultivation was also stuck at the 2nd layer of the Awareness Stage, though the Demon God Cauldron inside him gathered a thicker and thicker Spiritual Energy mist.
“Never mind, escaping is more important.”
Xu Hei gave up soon after. Demon meat was nice and all, but living was better.
He might be able to beat it, but then he’d have the authorities and snake catchers to deal with.
A downpour came, followed by blistering winds.
Xu Hei reached the riverside and jumped right in, feeling right at home, being faster than on land. The water also helped conceal his scent from the humans.
That didn’t mean Xu Hei would venture far, going only twenty miles at most, enough to lose his pursuers due to the many dangerous beasts lurking in the mountains.
“Let’s lay low for now and come back next year.”
It was what he did last year.
…
It was getting dark when Xu Hei crawled out of the river.
He was now over thirty miles away from the village. [Let’s see them find me now.]
In this foreign landscape, Xu Hei used his Divine Sense to warn him of any potential dangers. He was the Old Snake King, sure, but only Snake Village’s Old Snake King.
Every beast patrolled its territory, but he reduced his, all so he could avoid humans.
…
At the scene of the crime, outside of Snake Village, the river broke out of its banks from the recent storm. The place was filled with people.
A middle-aged man wearing Daoist robes walked to the shore. He had average looks, but his gait betrayed a certain lofty air that made the officials look at him with nothing but respect as they made a path.
He was a demon vanquishing Daoist from the Celestial Monitoring Bureau.
“Daoist Chen, what do you see?” The magistrate asked.
Chen Ping held a horsetail whisk in his hand, his eyes flickering as he stared at the restless water. “A hint of demonic energy!”
The villagers were in uproar.
“I knew it, it’s the Old Snake King! He came back after half a year to plague us!”
“He’s a scourge! Every year he takes many of us before he leaves us alone. When will this end?”
The villagers lamented, cried, and blamed.
Chen Ping frowned. [The demonic energy isn’t the Old Snake King’s.]
He made a sign and his face fell.
“I’m at the 3rd layer of Qi Refining Stage, yet this demonic energy is actually close to my cultivation. Just what demon does it belong to?”
He didn’t fear a rat demon, cat demon, or any other small demon, but when it came to snakes and tigers, he’d jump ship then and there.
Your average man could squash a rat but would find himself mauled against a tiger or lion.
Cultivators weren’t any different. He could flatten a 3rd layer of Awareness Stage rat demon, but the odds were against him when pitted against something bigger.
Chen Ping stared at the water and his eyes widened, shouting, “Get back, now!”
Whoosh!
The water exploded as a shadow revealed itself, towering over thirty meters. It lunged on the officials and soldiers with savagery.
Chen Ping whipped his whisk and sent a golden light at the shadow, but it snapped with even more ferocious speed, snatching a soldier and sinking behind the water once more.
“Acursed beast!”
Chen Ping swore in outrage. The creature not only killed a person, but remained around to gorge some more. [The arrogance!]
The villagers screamed in panic as they fled for their dear lives.
The magistrate asked with hesitation. “Daoist Chen, what do we do?”
Chen Ping said, “Retreat and seal off this place. Once the water recedes, the demon will leave.”
“You’re not… vanquishing it?” The magistrate gasped.
Chen Ping’s glare shut him up.
He now knew the water demon was not the Old Snake King. He had the skill and power to deal with it, but it was a pain since it’d mean using his aces.
The aces he prepared for the Old Snake King!
“Senior Brother’s tracks end in this area. It’s highly likely that the Old Snake King ate him and the human pill he refined for ten years. His potency must still be lingering in the Old Snake King’s body.”
[I’ll get that beast for sure. It’s standing between me and my chance to reach mid Qi Refining Stage.]
Chen Ping’s eyes flashed with resolve, leaving his thought to himself.
He’d been stuck in the 3rd layer of Qi Refining Stage for ten years now, with no hope of ever reaching the next layer and becoming a mid Qi Refining cultivator.
The soldiers were quick in sealing the area.
As he left, Chen Ping noticed a youth at the village’s entrance, Wang Xiaoniu.
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