Li Yuan ca to the edge of the giant snake’s corpse, pointed at a white pattern on its head, and said:
"Look here, doesn’t it seem familiar?"
Everyone leaned in to check after hearing this, but they all shook their heads, indicating they hadn’t seen it before.
"Mr. Li, isn’t this just a snake pattern that sowhat resembles a flower? What’s so surprising about it? Could it be we’ve seen it before?"
A robust young man in his teens spoke up.
Li Yuan glanced at him and replied grumpily:
"You? Of course, you haven’t seen it. Even I only saw it twenty years ago."
"Twenty years ago?"
The crowd looked puzzled upon hearing this.
"Can a snake live that long?"
"Are you dumb? This is a Snake Demon, it might have lived for hundreds of years already, what’s twenty years to it?"
"No, no, the real question is if the village chief really saw this thing twenty years ago, how did he survive?"
"I don’t know, maybe he hid back then. If it were and I encountered such a monster, I wouldn’t dare show myself either!"
A few half-grown lads chatted away, causing Li Yuan to shake his head in exasperation.
Yet, among the won and children who arrived, there were many elders who, after hearing his words, displayed thoughtful expressions.
Li Yuan didn’t keep them in suspense any longer; he timidly reached out to touch the big snake’s head and looked at Pei Laoliu, saying:
"To be honest with you, Immortal, I did see this thing ten years ago, but it wasn’t this big back then."
"It was a stormy night when a traveler passed by our village, seeking a place to stay."
"It was pitch dark outside and the rain was heavy. We saw he wore strange clothes and kept dozens of venomous snakes, with an unknown background. How could we let him stay long, so we drove him away."
"I rember it clearly, there was a small black snake resting on the man’s shoulder, with a white pattern on its head resembling a flower."
As Li Yuan spoke, those old people also showed expressions of realization, clearly recalling the situation back then.
Soone interjected:
"Yes, Immortal. I was puzzled at the ti, wondering how a traveler could pass through this remote place. Perhaps he was a mountain bandit or a fugitive being hunted by the court. If we sheltered him, wouldn’t we bring trouble upon ourselves!"
The rest nodded in agreent.
While they might not rember the snake’s appearance, the man from back then left a deep impression on them.
Li Yuan continued:
"Seeing that no one was willing to host him, and as if he was avoiding sothing, the man left in the night."
"Unfortunately, that night the storm was too fierce, and a landslide, unseen for many years, occurred in the mountain. The man was buried alive under it."
He shook his head and sighed, speaking with a tone of lant:
"We didn’t expect such an incident to occur. Later, when we went to check, we found his bones under the dirt and set up a grave for him, buried in the woods behind the village."
"The pattern on this Black Snake’s forehead is exactly the sa as the one I saw back then, presumably left by that man..."
Li Yuan glanced at the Black Snake’s corpse, feeling a little fearful.
"Now it’s beco a demon and devoured several lives in East Origin Village; it ca back for revenge!"
With these words, everyone felt their hair stand on end, subconsciously stepping a bit away from the snake’s corpse.
"You young ones were just running around with bare butts back then, how could you rember this? Only the elderly in the village know."
Li Yuan cast a grumpy glance at the lads who were chattering happily earlier.
The few of them lowered their heads now, not daring to speak further.
Pei Laoliu’s heart was also filled with complex emotions after hearing this story.
He knew the villagers of East Origin couldn’t entirely be blad for what happened initially.
After all, it was an outsider, claiming to be just passing through this deep forest, which was quite odd.
The villagers were understandably cautious about letting him stay overnight.
Who could have predicted that the man would be so unlucky to get caught in a landslide and be buried alive in the mountains?
At least the villagers had the decency to gather his remains.
In such a situation where both parties were strangers, it was considered quite generous to do so.
But that’s only how the villagers saw it.
For that little snake, its owner died in the forest because of the villagers’ callousness.
Being an animal, it didn’t understand human affairs, only knowing cause and effect.
Now that it had cultivated into a demon and ca back for revenge, it was just part of the cause and effect, without any wrongdoing.
If anyone is to bla, it’s simply the different stances of both sides.
In any case, with matters settled and the man-eating snake now vanquished, the villagers of East Origin Village could finally rest easy.
This monster had consud many people, so by drinking their blood, others by swallowing them whole. Nobody dared to eat its corpse, so it was discarded in the woods for the wild beasts.
Later, they all left the village together, heading to the secluded grave among the forested mountains.
They burned so paper for the man, perford a simple ceremony, and then departed.
Gradually, everyone’s spirits lifted from sorrow, and they were happy to once again venture into the mountains for hunting.
Of course, they were pleased, but those animals that had barely enjoyed so peaceful days were about to have bad luck.
This is how the world works—nothing is perfect.
...
By the following morning, Pei Laoliu, having stayed another night, woke up feeling invigorated.
He originally intended to look for the opportunity left by Zhang Jian.
However, he couldn’t decipher the map described by Zhang Jian, nor could the villagers of East Origin figure out what location was depicted on it.
With no other option, finding this opportunity in vast East Origin Mountain, which reportedly stretches over a hundred thousand miles, was like searching for a needle in a haystack according to the villagers.
Even searching just around East Origin Village was an impossible task.
To understand where this so-called opportunity lies, the key is this map.
"Immortal, although we can’t understand your map, perhaps the scholars in Han Yue City might. You might as well go and see if you can find any useful clues,"
Li Yuan suggested while looking at the map.
Pei Laoliu pondered briefly, then nodded.
There was no better plan; he was determined to find this opportunity since it was a cultivation technique he had pursued for a long ti. How could he just give up?
If this were when he first arrived, it might have been different.
But after encountering that Black Snake Demon, he realized that monsters really existed in this world.
This ans that cultivators might truly exist here, too.
With that, Master Liu beca even more eager for the map.
Moreover, unable to return to Water Blue Star, he was curious about seeing this world’s great city.
So he decided to set off, heading to Han Yue City.
"Immortal, it should take about seven days walking south to reach Han Yue City. The path has many mountains and few roads, with hardly any other villages, making the journey difficult. I suggest a villager familiar with the way should accompany you as a guide,"
Li Yuan proposed.
Pei Laoliu smiled; he knew Sword Control Technique.
What would take ordinary people several days, he could cover in just a mont; it wasn’t as difficult as described.
But before he could speak, Li Qiang, who was next to him, quickly ran over and said:
"Immortal, I once went to Han Yue City with my father. I would be honored to guide you, please take with you!"
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