A Thousand-Year-Old Snake Spirit Walks into a Trap - Chapter 4

At dawn, I collected my silver from Old Li and returned to Madam Liu’s house. All three members of the family were at breakfast, with a table full of delicious-looking food.

Madam Liu warmly waved me over.

“Xiaoshe, come and try these. Liu Yang went out to buy breakfast this morning.”

I looked down. Every dish was something I had admired at the market yesterday.

Something stirred inside me, but I kept it off my face and simply tried them one by one.

They weren’t as delicious as I had imagined.

When I looked up, all three were watching me, much as I had watched the performers onstage yesterday.

Anyone might have thought I was putting on an eating show for them.

I touched my face. “What is it? Is there something on my face?”

Madam Liu smiled. “No. You’re lovely to look at, so I looked a little longer. We don’t usually eat much in the morning. Take your time.”

I glanced at Liu Yang and his inexplicably burning gaze.

Why did he look so hungry?

My face grew a little warm. I put down my chopsticks.

“I’m full. Please, enjoy the rest.”

I left the dining room and went into the back courtyard to walk off breakfast. A servant hurrying along with a basin of clothes nearly collided with me.

He apologized at once. I told him it was all right.

Just as he was about to leave, I noticed the garment on top and caught his arm.

“Whose clothes are these?”

“The young master’s.”

Liu Yang’s clothes. With two cat hairs on them—hairs from that cat spirit.

During the night, I had taken her to a remote mountain forest to recover.

As for Old Li, I had decided to find a fox who used to live on my mountain. She could enter dreams. I would have her show the official who had judged the case how the cat spirit’s little mistress had died. A few nights of that should make him reopen the case.

If it didn’t, we would go to his superior, then that man’s superior, all the way up. Surely we could get justice somewhere.

The little fox loved excitement and meddling. She was perfect for the job.

I let go of the servant, watched him leave, then hurried to my room and started packing.

Something was wrong with this place.

Looking back, my spells had failed on those three more than once. I couldn’t sense any power in them, so I had assumed they were human. Now it seemed they were simply stronger than me.

Liu Yang was the masked man from last night. He had followed me all day.

They didn’t seem to mean me harm, but I couldn’t live in blissful ignorance with three beings who could crush me so easily.

Perhaps they had some other purpose.

Killing spirits to increase their own cultivation, for example.

I had very little to pack. I was ready to leave in no time, only to turn and find Liu Yang standing in the doorway. When had he got there?

Sure enough, I couldn’t sense the slightest trace of his presence. He had probably been the one outside my window that night too.

He seemed to dislike me, yet he kept watching me.

“You…” I took a step back.

He came forward, raised a hand, then lowered it again. His jaw was tight.

“Where are you going?”

“I remembered something I need to do. I have to find a friend. Thank you for taking me in, but I won’t impose any longer.” I forced myself to sound calm.

“Don’t go,” he said suddenly.

“Why?”

He opened his mouth as though to say something. His face reddened. Then he fell silent again and simply looked at me.

“I’ll come back once I’ve finished,” I added.

“My mother will miss you.”

Madam Liu had been very good to me these past few days. My resolve softened, and so did my voice.

“I’ll come back. I haven’t repaid your kindness yet. There really is something I need to take care of now.”

“All right.” He lowered his head.

Then he said nothing else. Nor did he leave.

Puzzled, I asked, “Is there something else?”

From somewhere, he produced a small bowl of porridge and held it out.

“Mother made this. Have some before you go.”

“I just had breakfast. I’m not hungry.”

“She simmered it for four hours. Just have a mouthful. Try it.”

I could only take the bowl. It was certainly thick and well cooked, but…

“Why is it red?”

Liu Yang looked at the floor. “Medicinal herbs. It’s good for you.”

I took a sip and considered the taste. “It’s good, but a little strange.”

Another sip. “What herbs did she put in it? Why does it taste a little like blood?”

He went silent again.

I tilted my head at him. “Well?”

“It’s my blood.”

The bowl fell and shattered. Porridge splashed onto my shoes.

Heat spread through me. An indescribable restlessness made me panic. It was as though I could feel spring calling.

“What did you say?”

At last Liu Yang raised his head. His eyes were faintly red.

“Dragon blood is an aphrodisiac. It really does strengthen the body too.”

I backed away. The door behind him slammed shut on its own, making my heart leap.

“…I’ve never heard of dragon blood doing that.”

“Long ago, one of my ancestors mated with a foreign race from the West. Some of their traits have been passed down.”

I tried to keep him talking so he would stop advancing.

Then I ran out of room to retreat.

His hands settled on my shoulders. One slid behind my head, holding it in place as he buried his face against my neck and drew a deep breath.

“I have enough treasures to support you. Ten thousand years of magic to protect you…”

“You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted. I didn’t know how to show it until you were about to leave.”

“I know snakes are lustful by nature. I’ll satisfy you.”

He tugged at my clothes as he spoke. I pushed against his body as he pressed closer.

“No! I’m not that lustful!”

The world lurched, and I found myself pinned to the bed.

His muscular body filled my view. I swallowed and felt hotter still.

I didn’t attach the same importance to chastity or reputation that humans did, but I had never actually considered mating with another male.

Liu Yang’s blood was so potent that it had forced me straight into heat.

My strength gave out.

Fine. I couldn’t beat him anyway.

As he moved over me, I buried my face in the bedding, unable to stop my tears. A hand slipped beneath me and lifted my chin. He bent down and kissed me.

Then came a low sigh.

“You’re so beautiful…”

I couldn’t bear it and tried to crawl away. He pulled me back with one hand and turned me over.

“Stop… stop for a moment.”

He didn’t.

I struggled, but I couldn’t match his strength. So I changed back into a snake.

He stopped moving. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I was about to curse him when he changed into his true form too.

The room suddenly became cramped.

Liu Yang hooked his tail around me and shot out of the house into the sky.

Far below, I dimly saw Madam Liu and her husband smiling fondly up at us from the courtyard.

“I can’t fly!” I screamed.

He carried me above the clouds. The blazing sun warmed my cold body.

His enormous dragon head faced my little snake head. I leaned back, wanting to cry but finding no tears. I didn’t dare struggle again. One fall and I would become snake paste.

“You’re too big! I’m just a little snake. I really can’t take it!”

“That’s no problem.”

He shrank until he was roughly my size.

He set me on a soft bank of cloud. My body sank into it, but I didn’t fall through.

Then he coiled around me again.

In our true forms, the pressure of his dragon bloodline felt even stronger. Suspended high in the sky, I grew tenser still.

So I changed back into a man. He did too.

I became a snake again. He changed back with me.

It went on like that until the sun set and the moon rose.

I passed out.

After waking, I waited until no one was around, left a letter, and fled.

Holding the letter, Madam Liu looked at her son with exasperation.

“Are you not up to it?”