Liao Tingyan had always slept like a log. Even after coming to this fantasy world and witnessing two murders, it didn’t affect her night’s sleep.
Around three in the morning, when she was in her deepest sleep, a faint hissing sound echoed in her room. The massive black snake had silently slithered in, coiling around her sleeping couch.
“Hiss—hiss—”
The great black snake hissed at the sleeping Liao Tingyan for quite some time, yet she showed no reaction. Its enormous snake head drew closer and closer, with its sharp fangs gleaming coldly just above her cheek, but she remained motionless.
The black snake: “…” Something wasn’t right. With its imposing presence, how could she not wake up? Nobody could be this unalert. Perhaps she had fainted?
The black snake wasn’t particularly intelligent. It wasn’t even a demonic beast—just an ordinary small snake that had wandered into Three Saints Mountain years ago and was nearly dead when Sima Jiao woke up, caught it, and out of sheer boredom, fed it some of his blood, allowing it to survive here.
Initially, the black snake had been patterned, only as thick as a finger and as long as an arm. Later, on several occasions when Sima Jiao went into a frenzy and harmed himself, the snake consumed some of his blood and flesh, gradually mutating. Its body grew increasingly massive, and its beautiful patterns disappeared, becoming as black as a moonless night.
There was little for it to eat here. Though it wouldn’t die, it constantly felt hungry. That afternoon, it had caught the scent of the bamboo juice Liao Tingyan was drinking and had been thinking about it ever since. Now it had snuck over at night, hoping to get some food.
With its limited intelligence, it couldn’t think of a better approach, so it flicked out its tongue and licked Liao Tingyan’s hand—when it had been desperately hungry in the past, it would suppress its fear and hesitantly crawl to Sima Jiao’s side, licking his hand like this. Sima Jiao would then carelessly scratch his finger on its sharp fangs, piercing his finger to give it a few drops of blood to satisfy its hunger.
Now, it was applying this method to Liao Tingyan.
In her sleep, Liao Tingyan felt the wetness on her hand and hazily pushed it away: “Big baby, stinky dog, don’t lick, go away!”
Her former roommate had once kept a dog named Big Baby that loved to go crazy at midnight, jumping onto her bed with the force of a mountain and giving whirlwind face-licks. But this time, when she pushed out her hand, she didn’t feel fur but something cold and slippery.
Liao Tingyan opened her eyes to see a terrifying, gaping maw above her head. The black snake’s red eyes stared at her without a trace of warmth, as if considering whether to begin swallowing her from the head.
Liao Tingyan was shocked awake, instinctively covering her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. Her heart pounded like a drum, her scalp tingling with fear—simply put, she was not doing well at all.
The great snake, however, was overjoyed. In its excitement, its mouth opened even wider, which terrified Liao Tingyan even more. Those teeth! Your teeth! Don’t come any closer! I can’t breathe!
Lying on the bed, Liao Tingyan nearly burst into tears, thinking: Is this snake brother here for a midnight snack? Couldn’t it eat more sparingly? With a hundred people total, eating one per day would last three months. At this rate of three per day, we’ll only last a month!
But she had misunderstood the black snake. It didn’t enjoy eating humans. Compared to the blood of Sima Jiao, the last descendant of the Feng Mountain clan, other people’s flesh and blood were like stone or wood to it—utterly unappetizing. Sima Jiao simply disliked having corpses strewn about, so he ordered the snake to clean up. With no alternative, the snake had to serve as a garbage disposal for the bodies.
Liao Tingyan was still experiencing her life flashing before her eyes, having gone through all twenty-some years of her existence, yet the great snake still hadn’t begun to eat her.
So, snake brother, are you going to eat me or not?
The great snake also wanted to ask: Friend, could you spare some food?
But it couldn’t speak human language, nor was it clever enough to accurately express its desire to mooch some food and drink. So the human and the snake remained at an impasse, lamp-like eyes facing bulb-like eyes, both staring intensely for a long while, each feeling exhausted and helpless.
Finally, the great snake caught a faint scent and retrieved a bamboo container that Liao Tingyan had knocked under her couch, placing it before her and swishing its tail.
This container held bamboo juice. Liao Tingyan suddenly had a moment of clarity and tentatively took out another container of bamboo juice. This was the most common beverage in Clear Valley Heaven—as long as one had a section of spirit bamboo, it would continuously produce bamboo juice. Since she enjoyed drinking it, she had brought plenty of spirit bamboo and consequently had a good supply of bamboo juice.
As soon as she brought out the bamboo juice, she noticed the snake’s tail-wagging frequency increased, even generating audible whooshing sounds.
But wait, don’t snakes express happiness and excitement through means other than tail-wagging? How was it that the Ancestral Master’s giant snake behaved somewhat like… a dog?
To train a giant snake to act like a dog—the Ancestral Master truly lived up to his title.
Snakes don’t use their tongues to drink; they submerge their entire heads in water. So Liao Tingyan thoughtfully provided a large basin for it and returned to her bed, listening to the black snake guzzling bamboo juice with loud slurping sounds.
Goodness, it seemed she had just escaped death. She wiped her sweat and lay back down on her bed.
From that day forward, for several consecutive nights, the black snake would sneak over to enjoy bamboo juice. Liao Tingyan would leave a basin out for it, filling it with several containers of bamboo juice before going to sleep.
“Snake brother, can we make a deal? When you come at night, just drink by yourself without waking me, okay?”
The snake brother didn’t understand such complex meanings and continued his ways, remaining very polite—always waking up its host to greet her before enjoying its midnight snack.
Once again awakened from her dreams by the black snake, Liao Tingyan reluctantly opened one eye, perfunctorily making a couple of acknowledging sounds before turning her head to go back to sleep.
She hadn’t ventured out at all these past few days, just peacefully staying put, taking afternoon naps, watching sunsets, and fully embracing the vacation standard. She hadn’t interacted with others, so she was unaware that in this short time, more than twenty members of the hundred-woman group had already been eliminated.
The Ancestral Master Sima Jiao was the type who, even if unprovoked, would cause trouble when in a bad mood. This was especially true when some ambitious women in the group eagerly approached him, practically serving themselves up.
Among them, the Palace Master faction led by Yun Xi Yue was eliminated the fastest and in the greatest numbers. As the leader, Yun Xi Yue naturally was the first to go.
On the third day, unseen by Liao Tingyan, she led two fellow disciples from her faction to the central tower to request an audience with the Ancestral Master. Had Liao Tingyan witnessed her behavior, she would surely have praised her courage in facing death.
Sima Jiao received them.
“Why have you come?” he asked.
Yun Xi Yue lowered her head delicately and submissively, replying, “This disciple has come to attend to the Ancestral Master’s daily needs.”
Sima Jiao walked to her side. Like the black snake, his footsteps made no sound. His voluminous robe dragged behind him like a snake’s tail, and his gaze was as cold as a snake’s eyes.
Yun Xi Yue tensed her body, striving not to show any abnormality. Sima Jiao slowly extended his hand, lightly touching her forehead with one finger, then asked again: “What have you come here for?”
Yun Xi Yue involuntarily opened her mouth, answering completely differently from before: “I came to become the Ancestral Master’s concubine. I want to bear a child with the Si Ma family bloodline. Once the Feng Mountain clan’s bloodline has another continuation, we can trap and kill the Ancestral Master, resolving a major threat to the Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Then our Cloud lineage’s palace can become the rulers of Gengchen Immortal Mansion…”
Horror flashed across her face as she tried to stop, but she had no control. Her body seemed to have its consciousness, revealing every hidden thought in her heart exactly as it was.
Sima Jiao listened to Yun Xi Yue’s words without surprise, his expression unchanged. He merely pointed to another person, asking, “And you? Why have you come?”
That woman, similarly filled with terror and resistance, couldn’t control herself either. She told the truth, with reasoning similar to Yun Xi Yue’s.
The third person uncontrollably confessed: “I came to steal Yun Xi Yue’s opportunity, to obtain a chance for the Mo family to establish its palace and surpass the Yun family.”
Yun Xi Yue glared at her hatefully. Had she been able to move, she would likely have immediately killed this seemingly loyal follower with a sword.
“How is it that after so many years, they still use this unimproved strategy.” Sima Jiao spoke mockingly, watching their expressions before breaking into laughter.
“The Si Ma family has only me left. Once I die, Gengchen Immortal Mansion is finished. Palace Masters, Lineage Masters—all of you, the entire Gengchen Immortal Mansion, will die with me. Do you understand?”
The three women trembled as if glimpsing the terrifying future in his words. However, they ultimately didn’t see it, because after Sima Jiao finished laughing, he casually gave them all an early departure from this world.
In the Lamp Hall, three life lamps were extinguished at once, followed by several more flickering out under everyone’s somber gaze.
“This soul has already scattered,” said a woman with a troubled expression. Her two disciples had perished—disciples she had carefully selected and nurtured!
She resentfully asked: “The Ancestral Master… Sima Jiao, does he truly have no restraint?”
“Hmph, what restraint does he have now? If not for the fact that he hasn’t fully recovered and cannot leave Three Saints Mountain, I fear…” The old man didn’t finish, but everyone understood his unspoken words, falling silent.
Liao Tingyan discovered the decreased number of people when she went to fetch water. Living here, they all needed water, and she had found only one source of fresh water in the great palace where everyone gathered to collect it. Counting heads, she realized that over a dozen people seemed to be missing, which made her somewhat uneasy.
Apart from the two people on the first day, she hadn’t witnessed any more murder scenes, as she wasn’t curious about this place, the Ancestral Master, or the other people—she had merely come to enjoy a solitary vacation.
Proof that lacking curiosity was a good thing—she had unconsciously survived for several days.
“How are you still not dead?” asked a vaguely familiar senior sister who spotted Liao Tingyan fetching water, expressing her surprise.
Though the question wasn’t pleasant to hear, it had been days since anyone had spoken to her, so Liao Tingyan still answered: “I’m embarrassed to say, I’ve kept a low profile and haven’t encountered any danger.”
The senior sister cast her a disdainful glance before turning away, unwilling to converse further.
Well then, they were all very ambitious, so naturally they looked down on a backward element like her.
Who cared about them anyway? She wanted to continue lying low.
However, life is unpredictable. Even if a salted fish doesn’t want to flip itself, external forces will eventually cause it to turn.
That night, Liao Tingyan woke up. Not because of the black snake’s disturbance, but because of stomach pain. This feeling was very familiar to her—menstrual cramps. In the modern world, she would also get these cramps, sometimes so severe they were unbearable without ibuprofen, leaving her completely incapacitated. She hadn’t expected that even after transmigrating, she would still suffer this pain—not only worse than before but without ibuprofen. It was simply too much.
Why would immortal cultivators still be troubled by periods? And why would period pains be so severe?
She was in agony, feeling as if an electric drill was constantly boring into her stomach, like digging a water well.
Fortunately, the pain only lasted for a while before subsiding. Liao Tingyan got up, covered in cold sweat, only to discover she hadn’t started her period.
How strange was the physiology of female immortal cultivators—stomach pains without menstrual bleeding? Full of questions but finding no answers, she even began to wonder if she had eaten something bad.
At Gengchen Immortal Mansion, not far from Three Saints Mountain, at the foot of a peak, a figure sat waiting in the shadows. After a long wait with no movement, the figure snorted coldly: “No response to the summons and no message sent back. Perhaps after climbing onto Gengchen Immortal Mansion’s Ancestral Master, she thinks she can escape our control.”
“Fine, let’s see how many more times you can endure this bone-corroding poison!”
Liao Tingyan knew nothing about this. Since the pain hadn’t persisted, she had dismissed the matter. Until three nights later, when agonizing pain returned to her abdomen—this time even more severe than before. She barely held on for a moment before fainting from the pain.
Before losing consciousness, she thought: This isn’t period pain!
The black snake came over, as usual, that night to mooch some drinks but found Liao Tingyan collapsed on the ground, vomiting blood, unconscious.
Though not intelligent, the snake knew this wasn’t normal. It nudged the barely breathing person with its head, finding no response. After hesitating and swaying its head, it finally bound the unconscious Liao Tingyan and crawled back to the central tower.
Sima Jiao sat at the highest level of the central tower, gazing far into the distance at clusters of starry fires among the mountains. Hearing movement behind him, he turned his head to look.
“Little beast, what have you brought back?”