"Grandfather, is that true? Don't scare me." I said, trembling slightly. Grandfather lifted the bedding covering the coffin, revealing many yellow talisman papers, and said with a grave expression, "I've always had you sleep in the coffin because when you sleep, your yang energy drops and yin energy disperses. The coffin is lined with talismans that seal in that yin energy, keeping it from being detected by wandering spirits and ghosts nearby. But you've reached the age of Xianming, and these talismans can no longer hold it back. Now, all we can do is pray that there aren't too many lonely spirits and wild ghosts within a hundred li." I silently watched Grandfather. I didn't believe in ghosts and gods, and though doubt lingered in my heart, Grandfather had no reason to deceive me. As he spoke, he had already planted Gongxiang all around the coffin, muttering, "Don't be afraid. Sleep as usual tonight. With Mingge Chuxian, nothing should happen." I nodded silently. After Grandfather left, I lay down in the coffin as usual. That night, I didn't sleep a wink, clutching the snake tightly. As Grandfather had said, nothing happened—but next door, at Pangzi's house, something enormous occurred. Overnight, six people in the village died for no apparent reason. They were all middle-aged men or sturdy young fellows, and after their deaths, blue snake scales grew on their limbs… The incident caused a huge uproar, and the entire village was plunged into immense panic, because people recalled the blue snake from six years ago. Hearing these rumors, despite everyone's disgust, I went to look at the corpses. Sure enough, when I saw the blue snake scales on them, the first thing that came to mind was the blue snake living in my coffin, because the scales were essentially the same color—though the ones on Pangzi's family were a bit brighter. The villagers went mad again, as it had been nearly seven years by their reckoning. That day, everyone in the village came to my house, demanding that Grandfather come up with a solution, since he was the one who had originally said that if the snake wasn't killed, disaster would strike in seven years. I was filled with terror too. Listening to the adults talk, the more they said, the more frightened I became, until I almost convinced myself that the deaths of Pangzi's family were connected to the blue snake in my coffin. I quickly ran into the room, locked the door, and climbed into the coffin. The snake was still there. The moment I saw it, I panicked, because its color had grown brighter too—in fact, it was exactly the same shade as the scales on the limbs of the six dead people. "You… you…" I stammered, my lips trembling, too terrified to speak. At first, I hadn't suspected it, because it had been with me all night, but after seeing the change in its scale color, doubt crept in. The snake seemed oblivious, crawling onto me as it always did, resting its head against my chest and gazing at me with those sapphire-like eyes. "Did… did you… kill them!" I asked, shaking. The snake looked at me, shook its head, its eyes full of innocence, then laid its head on my shoulder, utterly docile. For some reason, that gesture calmed me down considerably. I kept telling myself that this snake had been in my coffin the whole time, and I hadn't slept all night—it simply had no chance to harm the six people in the village. Outside, it was noisy; the villagers were pressuring Grandfather to find a solution. I lay quietly in the coffin, listening to the commotion, clutching the snake tightly, my heart a jumble of emotions. The villagers didn't leave until noon. Only then did I climb out of the coffin and walk to the main hall, where Grandfather sat at the dining table with a face full of worry. In just one morning, he seemed to have aged considerably. I didn't dare bring up the matter with him, silently heading to the kitchen to make lunch. When lunch was ready, Grandfather glanced at it, sighed, and said, "How can I eat at a time like this? Your troubles are just beginning, and now the village has been hit with something this big."
I silently filled Grandfather's bowl with rice and said, "Grandfather, if you don't eat, you won't have the strength to deal with those matters." Grandfather shook his head and said, "To strike a snake, you hit its vital spot. For a snake to become a spirit, it needs seven Shenghun to assist it. Six have already died, and one more person will die. If that snake truly becomes a spirit, the entire village will be finished." "One more person will die?" I asked in surprise. Grandfather nodded and said, "Yes, and it will be tonight. The six who died were all people who had injured the snake back then. As for the last one, there's no telling who the snake will target." I remembered again how when the snake had crawled into my coffin, it had indeed had six wounds on its body. Thinking of this, I quickly asked, "Grandfather, were those six people bitten to death by the snake?" Grandfather shook his head and said, "No. When a snake is about to become a spirit, it doesn't need to bite anyone to death itself. Even if it's holed up in a mountain cave, it still has ways to kill people." I suddenly stood up. I didn't suspect the snake because it had been with me all night last night, but according to Grandfather's reasoning, if it could kill without showing itself, then the problem was serious. Thinking back to all the strange behaviors of that blue snake over the past six years, cold sweat began to seep from my back. I could even be certain that those six people had been killed by that snake. "What's wrong with you?" Grandfather frowned. He had raised me, so he immediately noticed something was off with me acting so unusually. I looked at Grandfather—his hair was white, his face full of worry and exhaustion. I gritted my teeth and confessed about the snake: "Grandfather, actually, that blue snake has been in my coffin all along." "Slap!" Grandfather slammed his hand on the table, his face furious, and said, "What did you say?" I told Grandfather the whole story from beginning to end. This time, Grandfather was completely enraged. He raised his hand and slapped me across the face. I was young back then, and that slap stunned me. I opened my mouth and started wailing loudly. Grandfather ignored my crying and dragged me toward my room. When we reached the coffin, he threw off the quilt covering it—but the snake was already gone. "Where is it?" Grandfather asked with a cold face. I pointed to the small hole in the corner of the coffin and said, "It might have gone inside there." Grandfather fetched a hoe, pried up the coffin, propped it up with bricks, and looked inside, saying, "It's not there." "Impossible!" I quickly lay down on the ground and looked inside. Indeed, it wasn't there. The snake was gone. Grandfather looked at me with a stern expression and said, "Guihuo can be avoided, but for Yaozai, I have no solution at all. Don't bother looking. Tonight, you just wait to die!" "Grandfather, it won't harm me!" I said stubbornly. Grandfather said nothing more. He hurried outside, then came back in with a willow branch as thick as a thumb. He stripped off all my clothes and chased me around the room, whipping me while apologizing, saying, "The child doesn't understand, he has offended the Great Immortal. Great Immortal, please don't take offense, don't take offense." This whipping went on for over an hour, and Grandfather kept repeating those words the whole time. By then, I had forgotten what pain even felt like. My entire body was covered in bloody welts from the willow branch. In the end, I had no strength left to dodge and passed out from the pain. Grandfather didn't bother with me. He just tossed me onto the bed and then went out the door. In the middle of the night, I woke up again in pain. I could barely move—any slight movement would pull at my wounds. I also noticed that my hands and feet had been bound with willow branches, as if Grandfather was afraid I might run away.
That night the moonlight was very bright. Although the lights in the room were not turned on, I could still clearly see what was inside. Because I had been crying loudly before going to sleep, my throat was very dry, but at this moment I couldn't get up at all. I could only shout a few times for Grandfather with my throat wide open, but received no response at all. After a bout of whimpering and moaning, I drifted back into a dazed state. Just then, a slender figure pushed the door open and walked in. The silhouette under the moonlight was nearly perfect, and that captivating, breathtakingly sexy curve I still remember with absolute clarity to this day. "Who are you? Why did you come to my house?" I stared at the figure and asked. The figure didn't speak, only reached out and flipped on the light switch. The person who came in was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. A tight blue one-piece short dress outlined a devilishly alluring figure—curvaceous in all the right places, with a low-cut neckline that made it even more seductive. The blue fitted dress made her already fair skin look even more delicate and tender, and perfectly accentuated her slender waist. Just that figure alone was enough to leave me, only twelve years old at the time, utterly bewitched. Then looking at her face—long hair reaching her waist draped over her back, clear and bright pupils, curved willow-like eyebrows, long eyelashes trembling slightly, fair and flawless skin tinged with a faint rosy glow, her moist red lips sexy and enchanting, her nose small yet elegantly high-bridged. I swear, this was the most perfect woman I had ever seen in my entire life. Whether in reality or on television, I had never seen a woman more beautiful than her. It was a breathtaking, suffocating kind of beauty. A face that could topple cities and nations, startling the southbound geese from flight. In my heart, she was a fairy descending to the mortal world. I stared blankly, admiring her beauty, while she looked back at me with a smile as lovely as a blooming flower. Although my hands and feet were bound with willow branches, I still swallowed a gulp of saliva and said, "Fairy Sister, who are you? Did you come to find my grandfather?" "No, I came to find you." The woman's voice was like water and song, like a dream and a painting, incredibly soothing to the ears. At a loss, I stammered, "I… but I don't know you." "No, you do know me." The woman walked slowly to the bedside, reached out and gently touched the wounds on my body that had been lashed by the willow branches, and asked with concern, "Child, does it hurt?" "It doesn't hurt." I gritted my teeth and said stubbornly. The woman smiled slightly and said, "I know it hurts. How about I help you stop the pain?" Her gentle voice carried a tone that was hard to refuse. I nodded and said, "Okay, thank you, Fairy Sister." She smiled again, then suddenly bent down, extended her tongue, and gently licked my wounds. Waves of tingling numbness spread from the surface of my skin—warm, moist, and smooth. I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. That feeling was too comfortable. Although my hands and feet were bound, it didn't affect the pleasure Fairy Sister brought me at all. "Fairy Sister, can you untie the willow branches for me?" By now I could no longer feel any pain, and I just wanted to reach out and hug her. She smiled and shook her head, saying, "No, I can't untie them. I'll just help you stop the pain." After saying this, she bent down again and continued licking every wound on my body with her tongue. Strangely enough, wherever her tongue passed, all the pain vanished completely. In the end, even though I was only twelve years old at the time, I actually began to have improper thoughts. And what surprised me even more was that Fairy Sister didn't laugh at me. Instead, she looked at me with incredible seductiveness, her gaze alluring as she said, "Am I beautiful?" "Beautiful…" I said dazedly. "Do you want me?" "Yes…"