A Thousand-Year-Old Snake Spirit Walks into a Trap - Chapter 3
By full daylight, people had bought what they needed and gone home to prepare breakfast.
The adults gradually thinned out, while children and youths began to fill the streets. It became a different sort of bustle.
As I wandered, I noticed some people putting up a stage. A crowd gathered. Then a group in strange costumes and elaborate face paint stepped onto it and began to sing in high, wavering voices.
From the conversations around me, I learned this was called opera.
It took me quite a while to realize they were telling a story—a story about “love.”
I didn’t understand love. All I knew was that spring was the season for mating, laying eggs, and producing offspring.
But as the characters onstage suffered and threatened to die for one another, I found myself drawn in.
Human emotions were remarkably varied. In their brief hundred years, they experienced more than I had in a thousand.
“Even the most steadfast woman can be won over by a persistent suitor! If you like someone, be brave. Don’t be afraid of rejection!”
A young fellow suddenly felt moved to share this revelation.
I turned—and met Liu Yang’s eyes. Two people stood between us.
He quickly looked back at the stage.
An older man beside the youth agreed. “Exactly. I won my wife by visiting her house every single day.”
When I glanced over again, Liu Yang was gone.
Soon another voice caught my attention.
“Something really strange is happening at Old Li’s place. They say it’s haunted!”
“Really?”
“Really. I live next door. Once I got up in the middle of the night and heard cats yowling and a woman crying over there!”
“That sounds terrifying. How’s the family doing now?”
“They’ve had two groups of Daoist priests and monks come out. Neither did any good. The whole family’s going mad. They can’t sleep at night!”
“Excuse me,” I said. “Where is this Old Li’s house?”
They looked at me in puzzlement.
I smiled. “I can catch ghosts.”
At Old Li’s house, a thin middle-aged man with an ashen face opened the door.
I got straight to the point. “I’m here to catch your ghosts.”
Bang. The door shut.
I knocked again. When they opened it, I conjured a sword right before their eyes and swept it through the air above the roof. Blackish mist coiled around the blade. With another sweep, I dispersed it.
This time, they welcomed me inside very politely.
I walked through the house and picked up a tuft of fur from a corner.
“Do you keep any animals?”
A tired-looking woman answered, “A few chickens and ducks in the back.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing else.” The man’s expression changed. “What do you mean? Is there something in our house…?”
I waved it off. “A small problem. Stay somewhere else tonight and come back tomorrow.”
“Of course! Thank you, Master. And your fee?”
That stumped me. I knew nothing about prices, so I could only put on an inscrutable air.
“Pay whatever you think it’s worth.”
They thanked me and treated me to fine food and wine for dinner. Before dark, all four members of the family fled to a nearby inn.
Late that night, I was dozing beside the bed in the main bedroom when a piercing shriek came from outside the window. A dark shape flashed past.
I darted outside in time to see it leap over the courtyard wall and race out of town.
I chased it into a bamboo grove. It was pitch-black there, but darkness did nothing to hinder my sight.
Soon I blocked her path.
She was a woman, hunched over and baring her teeth at me.
“A cat spirit with only a few hundred years of cultivation, and you think you can challenge me?”
She bent lower, shrinking into a calico cat.
Her fur bristled, her tail stood upright, and she snarled a warning through bared teeth.
“Stay out of this!”
“Cultivation is hard enough for cats,” I told her. “You’ve finally gained awareness. If you harm a human, all that effort could be wasted.”
“None of your business!”
She lunged. I dodged, only to discover that she was every bit as strong as I was.
Apparently the old tree spirit hadn’t been lying when he called me a useless slowpoke at cultivation.
I grew wary. “You haven’t taken a human life yet. There’s still time to stop!”
“What do you know? He killed my little mistress! I’m going to torment him to death!”
“Humans have their own rules. We shouldn’t interfere.”
Dodging was becoming difficult. I changed back into a snake and fought her in my true form.
After a long struggle, I pinned her to the ground.
“Tell me what happened. Maybe I can help.”
“It’s no use. I tried. They wouldn’t listen.”
The cat spirit stopped struggling and stared blankly at the dark sky.
“I went out to play and didn’t come home. My little mistress came looking for me, and that bastard assaulted her. She died because of him. She was the victim, but everyone blamed her and twisted things around. And that man? They locked him up for a few days and let him go!”
She looked at me, anger burning in her eyes again.
“I won’t let him live in peace! What could you possibly do? Human rules can’t keep people like him in check!”
She broke free and hurled herself at me again, her strength surging.
Bad. She had decided to die. She was burning through her remaining lifespan to fuel her power.
I barely dodged. Her claws opened a cut along my body, and I began losing ground.
When she attacked again, I couldn’t get out of the way. I braced myself to take the blow.
A figure appeared out of thin air and sent the cat spirit flying. She struck the ground and lay still.
I flicked my tongue and backed away.
His power was unfathomable. He could probably crush me with one hand.
The man caught my tail and pulled me back.
I promptly curled into a motionless ball.
His dry hands moved over my body. When he touched one particular spot, I shuddered involuntarily. His hand kept stroking the same place.
I couldn’t stand it. I raised my head and bared my fangs at him.
He gave a soft chuckle and covered my wound with his hand. The pain quickly faded. I watched the cut grow smaller and shallower until it vanished.
Huh?
I tilted my head at him.
A cloth covered his face, hiding his features, but he was tall and broad.
He patted my head, then suddenly swept the fallen leaves into the air. They rained down all around me, obscuring my view.
By the time I could see again, he was gone.
