The hunting party entered the forest.
It was eerily quiet—no birdsong, no animal cries, not even a single rodent in sight. The unnatural silence made the horses and hunting dogs restless.
Up ahead, the hunters made a discovery.
The clan leader urged his horse forward and saw the hunters gathered around several strange, massive earthen pillars. These pillars were taller than a man and clustered together in varying sizes. The leader recalled seeing many such peculiar pillars along the way. The Ten Thousand Mountains were indeed full of wonders, but this place made him feel inexplicably uneasy…
On the hillside, serpentine eyes watched coldly. Once the party had ventured deep into the forest, the snake’s tail coiled around a long, narrow stone and hurled it with force!
The spinning stone arced over the treetops, skimmed past the crowd, and smashed into one of the earthen pillars with a loud clang, chipping off a small fragment but leaving the pillar largely intact.
The crowd froze for a moment, suspecting an ambush. They huddled together in tense silence but saw nothing.
Had they fled the moment the stone landed, they might have survived. But now, it was too late. The earthen pillars began to gush forth streams of black liquid…
Woof! Woof! Woof!
The hunting dogs went wild, barking madly. Two even broke free from their leashes and fled with their tails between their legs. The horses whinnied in panic. The strange behavior of the animals filled everyone with dread, and then the rustling in the woods grew louder.
Then, one of the servants screamed in agony as he looked down and saw a horrifying sight.
His shriek shattered the silence.
More thumb-sized ants surged forward!
The tightly packed group instantly scattered, running in all directions while desperately swatting at the ants crawling on them. The more they flailed, the more vibrations they created, rousing even more ants from their nests. The earthen pillars transformed into a black ocean in seconds, as an unknown species of ants demonstrated the sheer power of numbers. Within moments, the forest floor was swarming, leaving almost no safe footing.
Anyone who fell would never rise again. In mere seconds, they would be engulfed in a writhing ball of ants, their bodies dissolving away.
The white snake recalled a crocodile that had once passed through these woods—a four-meter-long beast that had melted away in no time, reduced to nothing but nutrients for the ants. Humans, with their far less resilient flesh, stood no chance.
Noticing the clan leader still galloping away on his horse, the white snake slithered silently into the grass.
The horse, driven mad by the ants’ bites, bolted recklessly through the rough terrain. The uneven ground slowed its pace, and the clan leader, unable to keep his balance, was swept off by a low-hanging branch. By the time he staggered to his feet, his horse was long gone. Hearing the distant screams still echoing from the woods, he ignored his injuries and limped onward.
If he could turn back time, he swore he would never set foot in the forest. But it was too late.
A flash of white—then a sharp pain in his head—and darkness swallowed him.
When the clan leader finally awoke, he felt as though someone was dragging him forward. He wondered if it was a servant or one of the hired hunters. If I make it back, I’ll reward them with two taels of silver, he thought. But when he lifted his head, sheer terror gripped him… Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
A massive white snake had coiled its tail around his ankle, dragging him along!
“H-Help…!”
No one answered. His cries echoed emptily through the valley, and his heart turned to ice.
Then, he was flung into the air, tumbling across the ground before coming to a stop. When he looked around, he screamed in horror—he was back in the same forest. The white snake had returned him to his doom.
The ants swarmed over the greedy intruders as the white snake slithered away without a backward glance.
……
The few survivors who escaped spread tales of the mountain’s horrors. Once again, the Ten Thousand Mountains had issued a bloody warning to mankind. Of the dozens who had entered, fewer than ten returned alive. Even the herb gatherers, who relied on the mountains for their livelihood, dared not venture in anymore. The villagers also learned that the white snake was far from mindless—it had mastered the art of using others to do its killing.
Had the village been wealthier, with more than just thatched huts, they might have built a shrine for the white snake.
Country folk weren’t as rigid as city scholars. They worshipped whoever helped them or answered their prayers—fox spirits, weasel immortals, even snake deities. Temples to such beings were common in the countryside. Why beg distant, indifferent gods when the spirit in the nearby mountains might actually respond?
The villagers grew even more fearful of the white snake.
The snake knew it couldn’t interact too much with Yun’er—it would disrupt her life. So it decided to return to the mountains.
……
The valley was serene.
An ancient ginkgo tree stood as a blessed sanctuary, while the enlightened white snake sought immortality.
Time held no meaning in the mountains. Storms came and went, seasons shifted, and the ancient tree became the snake’s sacred cultivation ground. Each morning, it climbed the cliffs to meditate, but most of its time was spent coiled on a boulder or lazily draped over the ginkgo’s branches. It shed its skin and grew again, its body now stretching six meters long.
Then, it thought of Yun’er. How was that girl doing now? Only then did the snake realize the mountain’s fruit trees had bloomed and borne fruit nine times—nine years had passed in the blink of an eye.
It slithered out of the mountains.
When the village came into view, the snake sighed. It was just as poor as nine years ago.
Perhaps fate linked the snake and Yun’er. When it reached the back hill, it saw a slender figure standing there, lost in thought. The girl had grown up—her scent unchanged. With her long hair cascading to her waist, she was undoubtedly the prettiest girl in the village, though her calloused hands betrayed her hardship. Yet… why did her brows furrow with worry?
Yun’er sensed something and turned, spotting the familiar white figure.
Just like when she was a child, she ran over and hugged the snake, laughing and crying at once, scolding it for staying away so long. The setting sun bathed them in golden light as the now-grown Yun’er clung to the snake like a little girl…
Night fell, and the stars emerged. Modern humans on Earth could scarcely imagine the breathtaking beauty of an unpolluted night sky—countless twinkling stars adorned the heavens, dazzling and magnificent.
Yun’er sat with her back against the white snake, gazing at the stars with wide eyes alongside its serpentine ones.
In truth, the snake couldn’t see the stars. Its severe nearsightedness hadn’t improved much despite its cultivation, and its infrared heat vision certainly couldn’t perceive celestial bodies. But it played along—Yun’er would never know her friend was practically blind.
Yun’er whispered to the snake.
“I’m getting married…”
“……”
The snake was speechless. How old was Yun’er now? Fifteen? Sixteen? At that age, she should be in school, studying, not marrying and bearing children. The mortality rate for childbirth at her age was terrifyingly high—but who cared?
“Big Brother Wang from the village is a good man. I like him… but I don’t want to marry him. I really do like him…”
“……”
“Last month, Squire Guo came to our village and saw me. He wants to take me as his concubine. I know concubines have no status, and Squire Guo is as old as my father—forty.”
“……”
“The village is poor. Big Brother Wang’s family is poor too. Every year, we run out of food and have to dig up roots or strip bark to survive. But Squire Guo’s family is different—they eat meat every day and never go hungry. Look how fat Squire Guo is! Even if I’d just be a concubine, at least I wouldn’t starve!”
Yun’er’s voice trembled with emotion. The snake understood—she was trying to convince herself she wasn’t wrong.
“My parents don’t want me to become a concubine. But I want to go, so they agreed. Big Brother Wang was heartbroken.”
“The day after tomorrow… I’ll be married.”
“White Snake… will you see me off?”
The snake nodded.
Under the starry sky, on the hillside, Yun’er’s sobs carried far into the night…