“Ah…”
The young girl clearly didn’t expect someone to be standing right behind her.
Since she had her head lowered while turning, she bumped straight into him.
The person she hit didn’t budge, but she fell backward, nearly tumbling over.
“Careful!”
One hand grabbed the girl’s wrist to steady her, while the other hand caught the wooden basin.
“Are you alright?”
The speaker was a youth shrouded in a black robe.
After gently pulling her hand to help her regain her footing, he inquired softly.
“I-I’m fine.
Thank you, Young Master,” the girl whispered her thanks.
She bowed her head with polite respect, carefully pulling down her sleeve to hide the pale green scales on her wrist from view.
“What is your name?”
Yan Qingshan stepped slowly in front of the girl.
He hooked his finger under her thin, fair chin, applying slight pressure to lift her exquisite face so she was looking directly at him.
The girl was charming and lovely.
She wasn’t very old—likely not even twelve.
Despite her simple attire and petite frame, she seemed even more developed than the thirteen-year-old Xiao Yixian, her curves tracing a hint of moving elegance.
Her face was a lovely, delicate oval, like a beautiful porcelain doll or a frightened little rabbit.
This timid, pitiable appearance made one instinctively want to pull her into their arms and protect her.
Yan Qingshan’s gaze was excessively heated as he scanned her from her refined features to her slender waist, down to her tiny, delicate feet peeking out from under her skirt.
Looking at that waist that seemed as though it could be encompassed by a single hand, one couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel if it started to sway…
a mental image of a beautiful snake-woman gracefully twisting her waist flashed through his mind.
Yan Qingshan carefully lifted her sleeve.
Rows of pale green snake scales were neatly arranged on her arm.
The girl seemed extremely unwilling to show them; her cute face instantly turned deathly pale, and her small body trembled uncontrollably.
“Y-Young Master, I don’t have a name…
I’m…
I’m sorry…
I-I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The girl suddenly realized her wrist under the sleeve was exposed.
Her trembling voice carried a frantic, tearful edge, filled with trepidation and fear that she would be punished because of the scales.
Snake scales.
This was the mark of the Snake-People, a race in the Tager Desert distinct from humans.
The Snake-People were unique to the Tager Desert, possessing human torsos and snake tails, with bodies covered in scales.
Shortly after birth, a secret technique was used to infuse the soul of a snake-type Magical Beast into their bodies.
As they aged and grew in strength, this companion soul would gradually merge with them until they became inseparable, making them even more snake-like.
The girl before Yan Qingshan possessed snake scales but had no snake tail.
Clearly, she wasn’t a pure Snake-Person but rather a much rarer existence in the Tager Desert: a half-blood Snake-Person.
Half-bloods were born from the mutual hostility and conflict between the Snake-People and humans in the Tager Desert.
Human slave-catching teams often ventured deep into the desert to capture Snake-People women as slaves, while Snake-People warriors sometimes violated human women.
Whether it was a Snake-Person woman or a human woman, those who suffered such fates rarely had a good end.
Under normal circumstances, relations between Snake-People and humans rarely resulted in pregnancy.
However, nothing was absolute; there was always an extremely slim chance that a mixed-race offspring would be born.
Those who did survive either had decent living conditions or…
a very special constitution and excellent talent.
The girl Yan Qingshan was holding was very thin, barely more than skin and bones.
She was far too gaunt, and there were faint scars on her arms.
Clearly, her living conditions were poor; her survival seemed to be due to the latter reason.
Most mercenaries on the desert’s edge held an indelible blood feud with the Snake-People.
Since this girl carried Snake-People blood in her veins, the moment her scales were revealed—even without a tail—the people around her would instinctively show loathing.
This emotion was almost impossible to suppress; it was a revulsion born from the long-standing enmity between humans and Snake-People.
As a girl possessing both human and Snake-People bloodlines, Qing Lin bore the discrimination and hatred of both sides.
Truth be told, she was an entirely innocent girl.
It was because of those loathing gazes she encountered every time that this frail girl had become incredibly sensitive.
At this moment, her petite frame trembled slightly, and her cute face—which should have been cherished by many—was filled with gloom.
“Don’t worry, they are quite beautiful.
Why would I be scared?”
Yan Qingshan gently wiped away the tears from the corner of the girl’s eye.
The terrified girl froze.
Since her birth, this was the first person to say that these scales, which even she feared, were beautiful.
Yan Qingshan looked at the frail girl before him, roughly ten to eleven years old.
She was pretty and refined but incredibly sensitive and timid.
Her status as a half-blood meant life in Rock Desert City was not good; surviving this long was entirely due to her constitution and some luck.
Yan Qingshan’s goal in coming to the Tager Desert was this girl.
Half-bloods were very rare in the desert, and one who had grown this old with green scales was likely the only one in all of Rock Desert City.
Thus, it hadn’t taken much effort to find her.
Feeling the heartwarming warmth from the palm stroking her face, the girl’s small, scarred soul was instantly illuminated.
She instinctively tilted her head slightly to let more of her face feel his palm.
Opening her eyes, which faintly radiated a strange allure, she timidly murmured, “Young Master!”
“Is there anyone else in your family?”
Yan Qingshan spoke as softly as possible, showing an indescribable gentleness and patience, for fear of startling this pitiable “little rabbit” of a girl.
“N-no, there is no one left.
After mother died of illness, I was alone.
Fortunately, Big Sister Xue Lan was willing to give me clothes to wash, otherwise…”
The girl grew a bit lonely when mentioning her family.
After her mother died, few people were willing to associate with her because of her half-blood status.
Even though she worked hard and washed the clothes very clean, not many were willing to give her their laundry.
Fortunately, there were still kind people in Rock Desert City.
A few old regular customers who knew her mother were willing to look after her, which was the only reason she had barely survived in the city.
“It’s alright.
From now on, why don’t you follow me?”
Yan Qingshan gently cradled the girl’s face, staring into her watery eyes.
They leaned slightly toward green, and deep within the pupils, three extremely tiny green dots were hidden.
After undergoing that Lion Heart Baptism in the winter, Yan Qingshan had not only used it to break through to become a Middle Dou Zhe but had also gained some special powers.
Yan Qingshan was not purely Wood-attribute.
Most people actually have hidden talents, but compared to the primary attribute, these other talents are too inconspicuous to be developed. This chapter was copied from novelping . com without permission.
The only exception is generally Alchemists—possessing a sliver of Wood Qi within their Fire, combined with naturally superior Soul Perception, allows them to become noble Alchemists.
Yan Qingshan’s talent was somewhat similar; he was born with Lightning within his Wood.
However, that sliver of lightning power was far too weak.
Forget practicing a Qi Method; even practicing Lightning-attribute Dou Techniques was a stretch.
But perhaps the heavens were favoring him.
The Blue-Maned Scorpion Lion used for the Lion Heart Baptism was a rare Lightning-attribute Magical Beast.
It wasn’t uncommon to awaken special talents when using the essence blood of a Magical Beast to practice a secret technique.
Yan Qingshan’s internal lightning nature had grown stronger, and he had gained a pair of ‘Lightning Pupils.’
The lightning power within his eyes was the strongest part of his body.
The accumulated lightning nature allowed him to gather lightning in his eyes to briefly open the ‘Lightning Pupils,’ greatly enhancing his vision and providing an innate deterrent.
Ordinary people looking into his eyes would be intimidated and instinctively avert their gaze.
“So strong!”
Yan Qingshan stared into the girl’s eyes for only a moment before he instinctively turned away.
The blue light in his eyes faded, and his body swayed, nearly falling over.
“Young Master, are you alright?”
The girl immediately grew anxious.
Her tender face was full of worry as her small hands strained to support Yan Qingshan, fearing he would collapse.
“I’m fine!”
Yan Qingshan shook his head to clear the fatigue.
Recalling the scene just now, those somewhat eerie jade-green pupils caused one to lose themselves involuntarily.
Even using his Lightning Pupils, he couldn’t resist them; in that brief instant, they had drained the lightning power he had accumulated over many days.
“Are you willing to follow me?”
Yan Qingshan spoke again, though this time he didn’t dare to look into her eyes casually.
“Young Master!”
Hearing Yan Qingshan’s words, the girl instinctively showed joy.
A strange glow appeared on her cute face, and her nose twitched slightly.
Within those jade-green pupils, three tiny green dots silently emerged once more.
“What, are you unwilling?”
Yan Qingshan ruffled the girl’s hair and smiled warmly.
This simple gesture instantly filled the girl’s withered heart.
“Young Master, I would be willing for a lifetime.”
She murmured softly.
Although it was only their first meeting, the warmth brought by his palm had nourished her soul.
The youth looked at her with joy and a bit of the heat she had seen on other uncles, but crucially, there was no loathing.
One had to know that even her mother and Big Sister Xue Lan, who was very good to her, would instinctively show a look of rejection every time they saw the green scales—even if it was just a sliver, it made the girl increasingly sensitive.
“A lifetime, then it’s a promise.”
The youth lowered his head happily, not expecting this “kidnapping” to go so smoothly.
He reached out and tapped the girl’s small nose, making her smile shyly.
She displayed a charm filled with a strange allure, and her small hands proactively wrapped around Yan Qingshan’s arm, refusing to let go, for fear that he would leave her behind.
As the sun set over Rock Desert City, a large hand held a small hand, and their shadows gradually grew long, and longer.
(End of Chapter)