The little snake led the way
In the end, Xu Yi drank the wine with a paper doll holding it in its paper hands. He didn't open his ghost eyes, and even the wine had a cold, eerie aura that made Xu Yi shiver...
The little paper figures noticed that Xu Yi was feeling unwell. As soon as the groom finished toasting, they offered to see Xu Yi off. Xu Yi quickly refused, then stepped over the paper figures' feet and swiftly walked to the door. After mustering her courage, she turned back to say goodbye to the little paper figures before rapidly drifting towards the small courtyard where Wu Zi had stayed...
As soon as Xu Yi floated to the small courtyard where she was staying, she pounded on the door, calling out "Wu Zi, Wu Zi" incessantly. After pounding for a long time and finding nothing, she remembered that she could just go in, so she floated in... and squatted in the corner, crying her eyes out.
Wu Zi was awakened by Xu Yi's anxious voice and saw her crying incessantly. Thinking she had been bullied, he quickly took two steps forward and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you crying so sadly?"
"Waaaaah... It's so scary, so scary... Waaaaah..." Xu Yi kept venting her fear that she had been holding back for so long, crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath.
Even Wu Zi was anxious: "Grandma, don't cry! Tell me, what happened? Were you bullied?"
"No……"
"Then why are you crying like this?"
Then Xu Yipiao sat on the bed and, sobbing, told Wu Zi about her experience that night. She talked until dawn, and Wu Zi finally pieced together the story from Xu Yipiao's sobbing words: "In other words, because your ghost eyes are unstable, you will see very scary scenes from time to time and scare yourself?"
Xu Yi felt she had said too much, and Wu Zi hadn't heard many of the details; she only heard herself scare herself. But she also felt that Wu Zi's summary was very accurate. Feeling like she had punched cotton, Xu Yi cried again in frustration: "Well, roughly... roughly like that..."
"Hmm, you can't concentrate for long periods of time, so your Ghost Eyes tend to close when you relax. It's not a big problem; you'll get better with more practice..."
"But...that's not what I wanted to say...waaaaah..."
"So what do you want to say? Grandma, it's almost dawn, and we're about to set off again. Can't you let me get some sleep, Grandma?" Wu Zi pleaded, completely exasperated.
“But I was scared…” Xu Yi said again.
"Yes, you'll get better with more practice," Wu Zi patiently repeated.
"That's not what I meant... Waaaaah..."
"So what do you want to say, Grandma?"
Wu Zi felt he had been incredibly patient... but all he got in return was Xu Yi's incessant crying... Helpless, Wu Zi listened to Xu Yi's story again... thinking to himself: Women, so troublesome. Finally, as dawn began to break, Wu Zi groggily uttered the words Xu Yi wanted to hear: "Don't be afraid, it's alright now." Then he fell asleep immediately.
He didn't hear her, so Xu Yi responded with an "Oh".
It wasn't until late morning that Wu Zi woke up. When he opened his eyes, he saw Xu Yi sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the sky. She seemed to have stopped crying. He breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly got ready before going out to say goodbye to the old man he was staying with. He then continued on his journey southwest with Xu Yi.
Xu Yi remained quiet all day, which puzzled Wu Zi. This woman had been crying uncontrollably last night, so why was she so quiet today? Are women really that peculiar?
Before Wu Zi could think further, he saw a group of woodcutters running down the mountain in a panic. Wu Zi stopped an old man and asked, "Uncle, what's wrong?"
"Snakes, snakes everywhere! Don't pull me, the snakes are coming after me!" Then he shook off Wu Zi's hand and disappeared in a few moments.
Xu Yi naturally heard it too, and stared blankly at Wu Zi with wide eyes, asking, "Should we go take a look?"
"Perhaps the snake's appearance frightened people. Let's go take a look."
When Wu Zi and Xu Yi reached the top of the mountain, they discovered it was far more than Wu Zi had imagined. The mountain was filled with the rustling sounds of snakes crawling everywhere; every few steps, they saw snakes—all kinds and colors. Xu Yi was already afraid of snakes, and seeing the dense swarms of them made her scalp tingle. She clung tightly to Wu Zi, and if she could have held onto him, she definitely would have dragged him along by the arm…
Wu Zi didn't notice Xu Yi's unusual behavior and just said to Xu Yi, "There are so many snakes here. There must be a fully formed snake demon to gather them together. Generally, these kinds of mindless snakes won't come out to scare people if the snake demon has a thought. Go find the snake demon's cave and ask him to keep these little snakes in check so they don't cause trouble for the people here."
Xu Yi hadn't heard anything before, only that she needed to go to the snake demon's cave herself. She was so nervous that her tongue was tied in knots: "I...I, can I go by myself?"
"Well, you're a ghost cultivator and he's a demon cultivator, so you shouldn't bother each other. Just go and try to persuade him. If he doesn't listen, then I'll step in."
"Huh?" Xu Yi looked resistant.
"Xu Yi, we agreed when we came out of the mountains that you would listen to me from now on."
Did I say that? I think I did. Xu Yi pursed her lips, replied with an "Oh," and then asked Wu Zi, "Then how do I find their cave?"
Wu Zi gestured to the snakes on the ground: "Ask them."
Xu Yi glanced at the snake slithering rapidly beneath the bushes, not daring to approach, and instead squatted down to ask, "Where are your heads?"
After a long silence, Wu Zi spoke up: "This one doesn't have any intelligence. Try asking a slightly older one."
Xu Yi swallowed hard, then turned to a larger snake and asked, "Where is your leader?"
Wu Zi rolled his eyes at Xu Yi's faint voice and instructed, "Ask louder."
"Where's your boss?" "Louder!" "Where's your boss?" "Louder!"
Finally, after Wu Zi urged him repeatedly, Xu Yi shouted, "Where is your leader?"
The air was quiet for a moment, then came hissing sounds of varying pitches and distances. Finally, they all merged together, creating a noisy, shrill sound like thousands of copper wires piercing the eardrums, giving Xu Yi goosebumps... They all formed the same two words—East.
Xu Yi rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and whispered, "East, east."
"Then let's go!" Wu Zi urged.
"Huh? Oh..." Xu Yi was extremely unwilling, but she had indeed said she would listen to Wu Zi, so she slowly walked eastward. The snakes around her knew she was going east, and kindly crawled in groups of three or five around Xu Yi's feet to guide her...
Xu Yi endured the whooshing sound of the wind rushing past her feet, taking smaller and smaller steps, while Wu Zi kept urging her from behind: "Xu Yi, hurry up, we still have a long way to go."
“Okay,” Xu Yi gritted her teeth and nodded resignedly. She had just taken a bigger step when she accidentally stepped on a small snake. Since Xu Yi was a spirit, she naturally had no physical body, and the snake didn’t feel anything and just kept crawling forward. This startled Xu Yi, who kept apologizing, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t see it.”
Wu Zi rolled his eyes from behind: "You're a spirit, you can't step on them, just float around without worry."
After Wu Zi reminded her, Xu Yi realized that she was now a ghost, floating, and couldn't step on the snakes. She felt much relieved, but looking at the dense, colorful snakes crawling rapidly and winding around her feet, she still couldn't stop getting goosebumps.
After following the small snake for a long time, they finally arrived at a cave. The entrance was teeming with snakes, intertwined and then separating, scattering in all directions. Xu Yi was so frightened that goosebumps rose on her skin... Finally, suppressing her fear, she cautiously floated over and saw a gray-white snake, thicker than a person, lying in the center of an open space at the very back of the cave. Surrounding it were layers upon layers of smaller snakes, constantly trying to get closer to the large snake, piling up layer upon layer, trying their best to reach the center. This terrifying scene made Xu Yi freeze in fear...
The giant snake in the middle opened its eyes, raised its head slightly, and looked at Xu Yi, asking, "You're looking for me?"
The snake was so long and thick that it was already much taller than Xu Yi just by raising its head. It approached Xu Yi from above, and Xu Yi felt a powerful pressure pressing down on him with each movement of the snake. Xu Yi unconsciously swallowed and said timidly, "You...you...can you control...control the little snake?"
How should it be managed?
How to manage it? Wu Zi didn't say anything? Xu Yi's mind went blank, only repeating Wu Zi's words: "No...no interference...no interference with the...common people..."
The giant snake sneered, straightening its body, which was as tall as a dozen stories: "Hmph... All things in this world have never belonged to humans alone..." Then it lowered its head and approached Xu Yi, its tone extremely forceful: "If humans can live in this world, then I can live in it too... What?" The snake's voice became even louder: "You want to drive me away?" After saying that, its vertical pupils stared straight at Xu Yi, as if it would swallow Xu Yi whole if he made a sound.
Xu Yi was so frightened that she squatted down and started crying: "I...I didn't, I didn't chase you away...Waaah..."
The giant snake looked at the little girl crying her heart out, quite surprised... He had never seen such a timid ghost cultivator. He was just speaking normally, and conversations always involved several rounds of back-and-forth. There was no reason for her to agree immediately just because she said to control her subordinates, right? So he turned around and gave her the order to leave: "You can leave now. Have the person behind you come and talk to me."
Sensing their leader's displeasure, the little snakes became increasingly hostile, baring their teeth at Xu Yi. Thousands upon thousands of snakes straightened up and hissed, the densely packed scene making Xu Yi's scalp tingle as he stiffly retreated from the cave... As soon as Xu Yi stepped out of the cave, some of the little snakes made a move to pounce, scaring Xu Yi so much that he turned and ran, crying as he ran...
When Xu Yi rushed to Wu Zi's side, her eyes were brimming with tears, and she could barely see where she was going... Xu Yi sobbed incessantly, telling Wu Zi, "The snake... the snake wouldn't leave, and... it even let the snake bite me... Waaaaah..."
"Let a snake bite you?" Wu Zi repeated, then glanced at the unharmed Xu Yi and said, "You are a ghost, a spirit. How could a snake bite you? At most, it would just scare you."
"A scare tactic?" Xu Yi wiped away her tears, looked herself over, and indeed found no trace of being bitten. She sniffed and replied, "Oh."
Looking at Xu Yi's pathetic state, Wu Zi sighed, then sighed again, before patiently saying, "Fine, I'll go with you one more time."
Xu Yi exclaimed, "Are we going again?"
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