Chapter 35: Winter gone, spring comes—another year

Seeing those eyes across from him, Xie Yixuan gasped—this is way too scary, right?

It was actually the librarian shelving books nearby; he had been listening to their talk, engrossed, and accidentally bumped into them.

The librarian walked out from the other side, showing an embarrassed smile.

"How strange—during summer, I also encountered a weird snake-related incident in the library."

Xie Yixuan, hearing this, showed a curious expression: "What strange thing?"

"Well, that's a long story."

"At first we thought someone was playing a prank, but after installing surveillance, guess what—it turned out a snake had knocked these books down."

After hearing the librarian's account, Xie Yixuan and his companion stared dumbfounded, somewhat unable to believe: "Is there really such a weird thing?"

Xie Yixuan looked the librarian up and down: "You wouldn't be trying to fool us, would you?"

The librarian, without any image, rolled his eyes: "I'm not that bored to mess with you. If you don't believe me, you can check the surveillance footage—I still have it."

Xie Yixuan instantly became interested: "Come on, let's go take a look."

After watching the footage, the two finally believed what the librarian said.

Xie Yixuan's companion clicked his tongue in amazement: "Hey, it's really strange—it feels like the snake is reading books, and what it's reading are things like the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and the Muscle/Tendon Change Classic, these ancient texts."

"You say it doesn't mess with all those books, so why does it specifically target these kinds?"

The friend muttered to himself, but there was no movement around him; he nudged Xie Yixuan beside him: "Why aren't you speaking? You're not usually fond of these spooky, mysterious things."

He turned his head and saw Xie Yixuan staring fixedly, wishing he could press his eyes against the screen.

Xie Yixuan's heart surged with shock; the more he watched the snake, the more familiar it seemed.

The snake in the surveillance was exactly the same as the one he had seen a few days earlier in the deep mountains! Apart from a slight difference in size, the one in the footage looked a bit smaller.

It might be due to the angle, and after so much time, some growth is understandable.

"This snake is exactly the one I saw earlier in the deep mountains!"

Now it was the librarian and the friend's turn to be surprised: "You're not joking, are you? How could there be such a coincidence?"

Xie Yixuan had originally wondered whether he was hallucinating, but the surveillance footage before his eyes confirmed once again that the snake was definitely not an illusion.

The snake in the surveillance footage is absolutely the same one he saw last time in the deep mountains!

The librarian and the friend looked at each other.

No matter how you look at it, this is utterly bizarre.

A snake, from the library in the city, ran to the deep mountains thousands of miles away—or perhaps it belonged in the mountains all along, and for some unknown reason came to the library.

According to the librarian, after installing the surveillance, that snake never came back.

Later, he began to doubt whether all this was his own hallucination, but whenever he watched that footage, he knew it had truly happened.

Xie Yixuan walked out of the library, still feeling somewhat dazed: "Why does this snake seem interested in these kinds of ancient texts? There are so many places it could stay, yet it chose this one."

His companion, hearing his muttering, thought Xie Yixuan was about to go mad from cultivation, and slapped him hard on the back of the head.

"You, stop overthinking—maybe it's all just coincidence. Besides, who's ever heard of a snake really reading books? Maybe it's just gotten used to that spot and refuses to move."

"Besides, snakes all over the world look pretty much alike—maybe you're just seeing double, and these two aren't the same snake at all."

His companion chattered on beside him, but Xie Yixuan didn't hear a word; that experience in the deep mountains might become a mystery he'll never solve in his lifetime.

The police searched the mountains several times but found no one; in the end the case fizzled out, they could only resign themselves to giving up—although the animal-smuggling case was closed, the poachers' deaths remained an unsolved mystery.

Ye Qin had no idea how much influence he had on Xie Yixuan and those police; by comparison, his life was like a calm lake, only occasionally rippling faintly.

Every day, aside from cultivation, there was nothing else.

As the sun set and the moon rose, the long winter finally passed; under the sun's rays, the ice and snow melted, and vibrant green once again appeared on the mountaintop.

The tenacious little grass pushed its head out the moment the ice and snow thawed—a sign that soon the whole mountaintop was suffused with vigorous green.

Ye Qin was wholly immersed in cultivation, paying no attention to outside changes, until one day a faint fragrance drifted through; he followed the scent and suddenly discovered that its source was actually at the cave entrance,

He saw that the cave entrance was overgrown with dense vines, almost completely covering the cavern, forming the most natural barrier.

Amid the lush greenery, a nameless white flower could be faintly seen blooming leisurely.

"So it's already spring?"

"There's not a hint of New Year's atmosphere; the first year of my rebirth just passed like this."

It might be because Ye Qin, in the deep mountains, heard no firecrackers, or because modern authorities strictly ban fireworks, suppressing the New Year's flavor.

Plus, with his round-the-clock cultivation, he didn't notice any fireworks either.

Truly, it bears out that old saying.

"In the mountains there is no cyclical calendar; in the human world, days and months are long."

All of his past life, to Ye Qin, was like fleeting clouds; sometimes he wondered whether he was a human reborn as a snake.

Or perhaps his human life was merely a beautiful dream beyond reach.

Just like Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly, or the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou.

He has now fully adapted to serpent life, and this perspective of seeing everything as huge objects has long become second nature.

You have to know that at first he could barely crawl, but now his speed is such that he leaves hardly more than a blur.

Not to mention the force of his tail now—he can snap medium‑sized trees; all these changes are entirely due to cultivation.

All one can say is that the world is impermanent; his former self could never have imagined that in this life he would tread a path with no precedent and no successor.

Ye Qin let out a faint sigh, and at the same time a strong sense of crisis welled up in his heart.

Although his flesh continually grew stronger and his form changed, Ye Qin could feel that his lifespan had not increased at all.

The lifespan of an ordinary small‑to‑medium snake is only a few years—meaning at most he has just one year left to live!

"One year… I must make rapid progress this year, but I don't know what realm I need to reach to improve my lifespan."

"Time is a bit rushed."

Ye Qin came to the highest point of the mountaintop, from where he could almost see the whole panorama—truly a view that makes all other mountains look small.

During this time, he has been cultivating here continuously.

The whole mountain is verdant, like a coiling azure dragon; the dragon lies within it, its head pointing exactly at the cave where Ye Qin is, the view is expansive, truly a fine terrain.

As the sky gradually darkened, the sunset fell upon the sea of clouds, and night drew its curtain.

The entire mountaintop was draped in dark, heavy colors, most of its outline obscured, leaving only a huge shadow that, at first glance, resembled an ancient giant.

At some point, the moon hung high in the azure sky, generously showering countless silver glints; the mountains and forests that had fallen into darkness once again gained light.

The clear, cold light speckled the mountaintop, silver gauze flowing downwards, welcoming those with affinity.

Ye Qin is clearly its fated serpent.

He stretched his whole body out like a straight ruler, allowing his entire serpentine form to better receive the baptism of moonlight, occasionally turning over.

After doing all that, he again rose to stand upright, though his head was slightly bent.

From afar, he looked as if he were worshipping the moon!

(End of chapter)