In the wall’s shadow, the silhouette of the limping leg appeared whole and sound, as if the disability were just a trick of the eye.
Suddenly, the weeds in the corner of the courtyard abruptly stilled...
The blades of grass, which had just been swaying in the wind, instantly froze, not a single tremor remaining.
Imdiately after, the blades of grass rustled and stirred on their own, and from them, a small, snow-white snake slithered out.
Its scales shimred with a cold, moon-like luminescence, but in the shadows, a few faint wisps of ethereal blue were just barely visible.
Its body was no thicker than a finger. As it moved, it didn’t stir a single speck of dust or even bend a blade of grass, slithering silently to rest beside Old Limp’s crippled leg.
The snake’s head circled his tattered shoe once before it finally raised its delicate head.
Its eyes were not the usual vertical slits of a snake, but round, amber-colored pupils. As it stared at Old Limp’s face, it seed to be sizing him up like a person would.
"Ohoho, how interesting. Your Demon Suppression Bureau gets worse with each passing year. To think you’d now recruit a brat who hasn’t even passed the five stages of Foundation Establishnt or achieved Mortal Transformation..."
A young woman’s voice, tinged with mockery and languor, abruptly broke the silence.
The voice didn’t issue from the snake’s mouth but seed to seep out of the very air, carrying a cloying chill. "Have the Demon Suppression Bureau’s recruitnt standards been thrown in the gutter?"
Old Limp didn’t even raise his eyelids, continuing to wipe his broken saber with a coarse cloth in a slow, deliberate manner. The soft SHHH of the blade against the fabric drowned out the eerie female voice. "I’m not a mber of the Demon Suppression Bureau. Just a useless old codger who works for them."
"What the Demon Suppression Bureau does or who they recruit is no business of these old bones. And I can’t be bothered to care anyway."
"TCH—"
The little white snake let out a mocking hiss, its tail-tip tapping lightly on the ground and kicking up a few nearly invisible puffs of dust.
"Old man, that’s a rather shaless thing to say..."
It flicked its forked tongue. The tongue was pale pink, but it carried a faint, raw scent. "Since you are not a man of the Demon Suppression Bureau, what is the aning of trapping here?"
Her voice took on a wronged, coquettish tone, yet the cloying chill within it only grew stronger.
"Won’t you let go? Pretty please? I was just used by those bastards from the Moon Worship Sect, the ones who deserve a thousand deaths! I only killed a few irredeemably evil scum from the Blood Saber Sect who deserved to die. I’ve never done anything truly wicked!"
"Don’t you humans believe in punishing evil and promoting good?"
Old Limp finally stopped his wiping, his murky gaze flicking to the little white snake at his feet.
His gaze contained no killing intent, yet it made the snake’s body freeze for an instant.
He didn’t reply. He simply lifted his good left leg, the movent so slow it seed he was asuring the ground, and brought it down precisely on the little white snake’s raised head.
His foot landed without a sound, yet the force was enough to make the ground dip slightly, pinning the snake’s head firmly into the dirt.
"Let you go?"
Old Limp’s voice was hoarse and emotionless. "Even if I did, you couldn’t leave. The Moon Worship Sect has set up a Spirit Locking Restriction inside and outside the city gates. Not even a fly can get out—they’re just waiting for a troublemaker like you to walk right into their trap."
"When you all start fighting, it’s the city’s common folk who will suffer."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" The little white snake’s voice was muffled from under his foot, but that didn’t stop her sharp tongue. Her body writhed, scales scraping the ground with a faint SSSHHH sound, as if she were grinding her teeth.
"The Moon Worship Sect has already gone this far, running amok and setting up formations in Cyan Yang City, and you can just sit back and do nothing?"
she said. "And to think you’re supposedly guarding this back alley of Wind Chi Pavilion! I see you’re just a righteous talker, old man. In reality, you’re nothing but a... a coward hiding in your shell! Useless!"
"How many tis do I have to say it..." Old Limp let out a long sigh that seed to dredge up the years from the depths of his lungs. "I am not a mber of the Demon Suppression Bureau. What the Moon Worship Sect does has nothing to do with ."
He applied a bit more pressure with his foot, and the little white snake let out a stifled hiss.
"As long as it doesn’t disturb this old man’s sleep, I couldn’t care less."
Old Limp leaned down, his gaunt face barely half a foot from the snake’s head. A chill crept into his voice. "You should behave yourself. Make any more trouble, and I wouldn’t mind having another jar of Snake Wine in this courtyard."
"You old bastard..." The little white snake seed infuriated. Her body thrashed violently, but the foot pinning her down felt as heavy as a mountain, making it impossible to move even a fraction of an inch.
She snapped in frustration, "I see what this is! You’re just lusting after my body! You have lecherous intentions!"
"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!" Old Limp choked as if he’d swallowed wrong, erupting into a violent coughing fit.
He subconsciously eased the pressure on the snake’s head and cursed with a laugh, "You little serpent, you’ve got a sharp tongue on you."
He revealed a single yellowed tooth, his tone still unhurried. "Dare to spout such nonsense again and ruin my good na, and this Old Limp won’t be able to resist breaking his fast tonight—I’ll skin you, pull out your tendons, and stew you into a pot of calming, mind-clearing snake soup!"
The two words "snake soup" were spoken plainly, yet they caused the surrounding air to chill by several degrees.
The weeds in the corner of the courtyard seed to recoil, curling in on themselves.
Every scale on the little white snake’s body seed to stand on end. She fell silent instantly, even her squirming ceased.
Its eyes went wide, the amber pupils filled with terror.
And so it lay there limply beneath Old Limp’s foot, as docile as a mindless, ordinary white rope. Only the tip of its tail, which occasionally trembled, betrayed the resentnt in its heart as it glead faintly in the gloom.
The dilapidated courtyard fell silent once more, leaving only the soft SHHH of Old Limp wiping his broken saber.
The sound slowed, as if he were counting the days, waiting for sothing.
...
Chu Fan was now far from the ruined courtyard and could not hear the conversation between the man and the snake.
Clutching his "enormous" earnings, his steps were light as his figure quickly disappeared into the complex shadows of the black market’s alleyways, heading back to the Seven Stars Gang Sub-Branch.
Just as he stepped through the main gate of the Seven Stars Gang Sub-Branch...
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