Chapter 13 - Visit the Cave of the Spirit Snake

The body of the spirit snake crawled out of the puddle. It was a full 20 meters long, and its body was as thick as a water bucket. Judging by its size, it must weigh at least over 800 jin. The scales all over its body sparkled with a silver light under the sunlight, while its skin color was black, making it look like a warrior clad in silver armor. The spirit snake nodded at Xiaojiu, indicating for him to sit on it. Xiaojiu touched the water flask at his waist. Fortunately, he had brought it today, otherwise, he would have had nothing to hold the ten-thousand-year-old stalactite juice. Xiaojiu sat on the snake's head and grasped the snake's scales. The spirit snake was extremely swift. With a single swing of its tail, it shot forward a great distance. The soybeans planted on the terraced fields on the mountain were swept aside by the spirit snake's tail as it passed. In less than a minute, they reached the foot of the mountain, and the fallen soybeans formed a straight path like a road. The spirit snake dragged Xiaojiu and darted into a cave at the foot of the mountain. The cave twisted and turned, and Xiaojiu had no idea where the spirit snake was taking him. The spirit snake swam for nearly over an hour before finally stopping. Xiaojiu took a look around the underground area. Before coming down, Xiaojiu had cast a spell to activate his Yang God eyes, so he wasn't afraid of the darkness at all. He could see everything in the cave clearly. The spirit snake had coiled up and stopped. It lowered its head, and Xiaojiu got off. Then, the spirit snake stretched out its tongue forward, signaling Xiaojiu to look ahead. Xiaojiu saw a rectangular pool in front of him. It was approximately over one meter long and perhaps around 80 centimeters deep. Inside the pool was white liquid, which resembled milk and gave off a faint, pleasant fragrance. Previously, this small pit had been filled with at least several hundred jin of the liquid, but now there was only a thin layer left. There might be less than 20 jin remaining, yet this was still an enormous fortune. When refining precious pills, the ten-thousand-year-old stalactite milk was used drop by drop. Xiaojiu quickly emptied the water in the flask and filled it up with the liquid. He took a couple of sips from the flask himself. After drinking it, he felt as if his whole body was floating lightly, and all his cells seemed to be invigorated. Even his bones were crackling. Xiaojiu quickly screwed the cap on the flask and sat on the ground to start his cultivation. While Xiaojiu was cultivating, he didn't know that his mother had been searching for him on the mountain for a long time. His mother knew that Xiaojiu usually came back early for breakfast, so why hadn't he returned this time? She thought Xiaojiu might have been delayed by something, but he still hadn't shown up even by noon. This terrified his mother, Zeng Wenxiu. She rushed to the mountain to search for him, but found nothing except a path that looked like a road for cars leading straight down the mountain. This was the mark left by the spirit snake's tail sweeping the soybeans down. Zeng Wenxiu could tell that this path wasn't made by a car or people pushing the soybeans down. It was likely the result of a large snake. Moreover, it was rather difficult for people to walk on this mountain, and there was no way a car could drive here. Zeng Wenxiu felt her heart sink. Could it be that Xiaojiu had encountered a snake and been swallowed by a huge snake? Zeng Wenxiu was actually right, but Xiaojiu wasn't swallowed by the snake. Instead, the snake had taken him into the cave. Zeng Wenxiu followed the trail all the way to the foot of the mountain and found a rock cave. However, the cave was so deep that it seemed bottomless. Zeng Wenxiu didn't dare to go down and could only stand at the entrance shouting Xiaojiu's name. Her throat became hoarse from shouting, but there was no response from below. The spirit snake had swum through the cave for over an hour, going to a place so deep that her shouts couldn't possibly be heard. By the time it was around three or four in the afternoon and the sun was about to set, Zeng Wenxiu rushed back to the village to ask for help. At this moment, Xiaojiu also woke up. He felt extremely refreshed all over. He used to feel a bit heavy, but now his whole body was light. He said to the spirit snake, "Send me back first, or my mother might be worried. I don't even know how long I've been out." He also said to the spirit snake, "Drink less of this ten-thousand-year-old stalactite. Save it for refining pills in the future. The way you've been drinking it is such a waste." The spirit snake seemed to understand and nodded. Xiaojiu noticed some grass growing beside where the spirit snake slept. The grass was thriving and lush green. Xiaojiu slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Damn it! Isn't this Longting Grass?" It was really effortless to obtain it. Xiaojiu's sudden slap on his thigh startled the spirit snake. It had no idea what this human was up to. Xiaojiu even crouched down and plucked a few blades of grass from the place where the snake had spat and put them in his bosom. Xiaojiu communicated with the spirit snake using his Yang God, saying, "When you move around underground, keep an eye out for the Blood Ganoderma growing in extremely yin places. If you find it, let me know, or pick it and leave it here." The spirit snake nodded and said it would look for it. Knowing that the item was for refining pills for it, the spirit snake also became interested. What Xiaojiu didn't know was that the exit of the snake cave was already surrounded by people, all of whom were carrying ropes and preparing to go down and search. Under the guidance of the spirit snake, Xiaojiu traveled through the cave for another over an hour. Just as the people above were about to go down, they heard a swishing sound from below. When they shone their flashlights down, they saw a huge snake head, which scared several of them so much that they let out a scream and fled in a hurry. The snake didn't know there were people above, so it stopped at the cave entrance and signaled for Xiaojiu to go up. The people at the cave entrance all ran away, shouting that there was a huge snake below. Zeng Wenxiu initially ran away with them, but then she thought of her son still being down there and turned back. Just then, she saw Xiaojiu standing at the cave entrance. She was so angry that her whole body was shaking. She grabbed Xiaojiu's ear and started dragging him back. As she walked, she asked, "You little rascal, where have you been?" Xiaojiu could only tell a lie, saying he had gone to the forest farm. He then asked, "What were all of you doing here just now?" Zeng Wenxiu said angrily, "I've been looking for you all afternoon and couldn't find you. I thought you had been carried away by a huge snake, so I called people to help and wanted to search for you in the cave. But they said there was a huge snake below, and they all ran away." After the two of them had walked for a while, they saw that all the villagers were waiting for them. Seeing Zeng Wenxiu dragging Xiaojiu, everyone said, "Aunt Zeng, Xiaojiu is right here. Didn't you say he was carried away by a snake?" Zeng Wenxiu said, "I'm sorry. I was wrong. I thought Xiaojiu had been carried away by a snake. This little rascal went to play at the forest farm. I searched for him all afternoon but couldn't find him. He just came running over when he saw so many of us here." "Thank you all for your help this time. When I build my house, I'll invite you all to have a few drinks," she added. Everyone said, "It's okay. We're all from the same village. As long as Xiaojiu is safe, that's all that matters. Aunt Zeng, keep an eye on him in the future. He's so young, don't let him run around." They also said that the huge snake they had just found might be the snake spirit in the mountain that the ancestors had mentioned. It was said that it didn't bite people or eat livestock, otherwise, it would have been killed long ago. The village head told everyone not to go there and disturb the snake spirit in the future. After all, it was said that the ancestors had seen it. No one knew how long this snake had been cultivating in the mountains, and it had always lived in peace with the villagers. The village head told everyone that even if they knew about it, they shouldn't spread the word. Forget about what had happened today and don't cause trouble for the village by disturbing the snake spirit. It was said that this snake was very spiritual and had once saved the villagers in a flood. So everyone should be grateful and not tell others about this casually. Everyone nodded and told the village head to rest assured that they wouldn't say anything. And so, this matter was settled, and everyone went back home. Zeng Wenxiu took Xiaojiu back home. This time, Zeng Wenxiu was really frightened, and she decided not to let Xiaojiu go to the mountains in the future. Although Xiaojiu had some abilities, after all, he was still young and didn't know much. If something really happened to him, as his mother, she would have no way to regret it.