Yun’er was married off.
No festive gongs, no wedding banquet—a concubine’s status barely surpassed that of a maidservant. Though poor, mountain folk were free people, while a concubine was little more than a man’s plaything, half-slave at best.
A modest sedan chair came for Yun’er. All she brought was a small bundle.
Her parents wept bitterly, clinging to her hands until the last moment…
The white serpent turned its head and saw a young man kneeling on the nearby hillside, wailing in anguish—Big Brother Wang, the one Yun’er often spoke of. Perhaps he was cursing his own helplessness for failing to provide Yun’er with enough to eat, hating Squire Guo for ruining an innocent girl’s life. Yet he could do nothing but watch as the sedan carried away his beloved.
The serpent’s body parted the rice stalks as it followed the sedan, accompanying Yun’er on her bridal journey.
A small hand lifted the sedan’s curtain. Through tear-filled eyes, she glimpsed the long white figure moving through the fields, and her sorrow-streaked face broke into a joyful smile…
Across the village’s stone bridge, along the narrow field paths, the sedan carried the mountain girl and her simple dream of a full stomach away from home.
As green bamboo swayed, the girl inside watched her familiar world recede into the distance. Faintly, she heard familiar voices calling her name from the village she was leaving behind. Silent tears fell off.
Perhaps she had regrets. But the memory of famine years—of chewing bitter roots and tree bark—hardened her resolve.
Maybe betraying Big Brother Wang’s love to become an old man’s concubine was wrong. But what choice had life given her? After years of hardship, she refused to starve herself to leave food for future children. She simply wanted to survive. If anyone was to blame, it was this cruel world, this merciless fate.
The white serpent followed the entire way, needing only to know where Yun’er would live. The sedan jolted along mountain paths until noon, when it reached a manor outside town.
Climbing a tall tree, the serpent watched from afar as the sedan entered through the manor’s back gate.
A concubine wasn’t worthy of the main entrance or proper wedding rites. This so-called marriage was merely acquiring a new plaything. The serpent could only hope for Yun’er’s happiness.
It remained in the tree until sunset.
When lanterns illuminated the manor, the serpent seared the location into its memory before turning back toward the Ten Thousand Mountains, silently blessing the once-carefree girl.
……
Beneath the ginkgo tree, the serpent recalled Yun’er’s smiling, tear-streaked face.
Against human fate, it could do nothing. Yun’er had chosen her path, right or wrong. But could a mountain girl withstand the scheming of a wealthy household?
Clouds came and went; the valley remained unchanged.
Yun’er’s story strengthened the serpent’s resolve to cultivate, to forge its own destiny beyond limited choices. Immortality might take centuries—millennia even. No matter. Even ten thousand years wouldn’t deter it. One day, with enough strength, it would master its own fate.
A year later.
While cultivating under the ginkgo, the serpent noticed a figure staggering into the valley—clothes torn, body bloodied, running wildly. A sense of foreboding struck.
The distant figure might have been shouting, but the serpent couldn’t hear.
As he neared, recognition came—Big Brother Wang. The serpent’s heart turned to ice…
“Snake Immortal… please, save Yun’er…”
In a flash, the serpent became a streak of white light racing mountainward, leaving a glowing scale in Wang’s hands—protection for his safe passage.
Regret. It should have stopped Yun’er back then…
A white blur tore through the forest, six-meter-long body moving faster than any horse, scaling cliffs and fording streams without pause.
On that familiar hillside, Yun’er’s parents and villagers surrounded a dying girl.
A white flash—the massive serpent appeared beside them.
All but Yun’er dropped to their knees. On her mat, the girl smiled at her old friend—so peaceful, so heartbreakingly beautiful.
The serpent’s gaze took in Yun’er’s battered body—clearly beaten with rods.
“Snake Immortal, save our Yun’er…”
The old man knelt pleadingly.
But the serpent couldn’t heal mortal wounds. Shaking its head, it watched as the hillside erupted in fresh wails—if even the immortal couldn’t help, all hope was truly lost.
Yun’er weakly waved a hand.
“Big Serpent… I want… cough… to lie on you and watch the clouds.”
Nodding, the serpent gently coiled around her, lifting her frail form as they gazed skyward together.
“Thank you…”
Her pale face smiled—so heartbreakingly beautiful.
Then Yun’er was gone. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
Life: so fragile yet enduring, so fleeting yet eternal.
On that quiet hillside, a fresh grave appeared. The serpent coiled beside the mound of newly turned earth—Yun’er had left the mountains only to return. This was her rightful place.
The battered young man Wang sat before the grave.
“Yun’er suffered in that house. That old monster treated her like livestock. The first wife abused her daily—beatings for no reason. She longed for home… but Squire Guo wouldn’t allow it.”
“Days ago… Guo tried trading Yun’er to Squire Zhao for another concubine. When she refused… the first wife had servants beat her senseless. By the time her father and I arrived… she was barely clinging to life. Only sheer will brought her home.”
The serpent’s face showed nothing, but fury burned within.
In these times, concubines were mere toys—traded, even gifted, between wealthy men. A main wife killing one warranted only a ten-tael fine. Such was a concubine’s worth.
The serpent made its decision.
Raising its head, it looked at Wang, then toward the distance before glancing back meaningfully.
Wang followed its gaze, then understood.
“You… want vengeance for Yun’er?”
Two deliberate nods.
Wang hesitated briefly before gritting his teeth and strapping a woodsman’s axe to his back.
“I’m coming too. Let’s slaughter every last Guo!”
Man and serpent moved toward town…
The white serpent feared neither killing nor karma. These people had taken Yun’er. Vengeance was its right. If one lived too cowardly to avenge a friend, they deserved rebirth as a stone. A serpent’s life wouldn’t be lived in meek submission!
That night…
The Guo manor was left with no survivors—save lowly laborers and maids. The steward, senior servants, even the first wife’s attendants (who’d tormented the helpless Yun’er)—none were spared. Every wound bore fang marks; mere drops of venom ensured death. The serpent made certain Wang wouldn’t be implicated—let them try hunting it in the Ten Thousand Mountains if they dared.
Truly, the white serpent’s wrath brought bloodshed without hesitation.
Returning to the village, Wang knelt before Yun’er’s grave:
“It’s done. I’ll… find a good woman, marry, raise children. Live properly.”