Chapter 39: Mysterious Traces

"Hoo—"

"Getting old, getting old! I'm really useless these days. This old woman can't even hold her own against a rising star of the jianghu now."

The moment Zhang Dadan left, the old woman seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, endlessly lamenting herself while her peripheral gaze kept sizing up the young man who had fought alongside her earlier.

Watching Zhang Dadan depart, Zhou Zhen turned back with a smile and said gently, "She Po speaks too kindly. If Zhang Dadan hadn't swallowed that Martial Stone, how could he have matched you?"

At this point, his tone shifted. "Granny, I've long heard you raise many strange and mysterious little creatures. I wonder if you have any leads on the one who stole the Ice Silkworm?"

"Hahaha, you young friend have quite the sweet tongue—not at all like that stiff, merciless bunch from the Demon Slaying Division. That much is true. Now let this old woman take a good, careful look."

"To tell the truth, this old woman is also rather curious—just what kind of divine being could steal the Ice Silkworm right under our noses?"

At this, She Po's kindly demeanor vanished, replaced by a fierce, savage look.

Then again, when all is said and done—how many of those who make their way in the jianghu are truly kind at heart?

She stepped forward to where the Laoshu had been earlier, then bent down to examine the spot closely.

She dabbed a finger, picked up some dust and rubbed it between her fingers, then brought it to her nose and sniffed, frowning in thought, murmuring unconsciously to herself:

"This smell is—?"

Saying so, she suddenly popped the dust into her mouth to taste it, and her expression immediately darkened.

"Urine? Laoshu urine!"

"No, that's not right—this trace belongs to that Laoshu."

Zhou Zhen, watching She Po's whole chain of behavior from the side, found it rather strange. Were all these snake-keepers and poison-doctors this twisted?

Before long, She Po shifted her position and came to a resting-mark.

"This is—?"

"What is this?"

Zhou Zhen crouched down beside her as well, asking She Po with some curiosity.

Because that resting-mark in this spot was really far too conspicuous.

She Po paid Zhou Zhen no mind. She extended her hand and gently traced along every part of the resting-mark, as tenderly as fingers caressing a lover.

Of course, if anyone could have magnified her fingertips at that moment, they would have seen some strange tiny creatures.

As she traced along, the moment her finger passed over a faint scratch, her hand paused almost imperceptibly, then resumed as normal.

Throughout the whole process, her expression kept shifting. Finally, she shot a quick sidelong glance at Zhou Zhen and slowly uttered a single word:

"Snake!"

"Snake?" Zhou Zhen was startled, hardly daring to believe it. "Impossible? How could a snake possibly show up here, and eat both that Laoshu and the wooden box?"

Unexpectedly, She Po glared at him. "Are you questioning this old woman's years of experience? After playing with snakes for so many years, would I not know whether it's a snake or not?"

"If nothing unexpected happened, it should be a Ten Thousand Snakes. Spring sun has already arrived, so this Ten Thousand Snakes must have just woken from hibernation to hunt, happened to come across them, and swallowed them down."

"Is that so?"

Zhou Zhen gave She Po a doubtful look as he replied. He vaguely sensed something was off, but couldn't pinpoint what—after all, he didn't know much about snakes.

"In that case, let's part ways here. Each of us will search on our own."

At this, She Po stood back up and left with an air of nonchalance.

Yet inside, she was now filled with hesitation—and a trace of joy she herself couldn't quite explain.

Was it really just a snake?

Zhou Zhen folded his arms, propped his chin on his hand, and stared at the receding She Po, muttering to himself.

……

Night. The clear, bright moonlight poured like water over the woods. The bustling scene of daytime had long since faded, leaving only a mess behind.

Yet at this moment, a figure appeared—a figure that should have already left.

She Po!

It turned out She Po had never actually left. She had only pretended to depart, trying to deceive Zhou Zhen.

Now, apparently having seen Zhou Zhen leave, she leisurely returned.

As for why she came back—that requires mentioning what she had discovered today.

Even now, she was still savoring the memory of that scratch from noon.

Was that trace today really a snake? A Ten Thousand Snakes?

Yes and no.

When faced with Zhou Zhen's question, She Po had indeed answered honestly, without a shred of deception. But there was one thing she hadn't said—she hadn't revealed everything she had found.

There really were snake-like traces there, that much was true. But why did a sharp scratch appear among them?

Although at the time, pressed for time, she had no chance to think it through.

But relying on her years of research into snakes—

She discovered that, based on the body position at the time, this scratch truly existed on the body of that unknown "snake"—not something scraped by a hawk that happened to land there.

So she instinctively concealed it.

After all, the two of them were neither kin nor close; she had no reason to tell him everything.

Then she forcibly suppressed that curiosity inside her, pretended to leave, and only after Zhou Zhen had more or less gone did she return to take another look.

Lost in thought, She Po once again arrived before the trace.

Only when she saw the trace was still there did she breathe a sigh of relief. Good—the trace hadn't been disturbed.

After all, during this time she had repeatedly savored that trace in her mind, and finally she inexplicably discovered that the trace looked somewhat like a Jade Claw.

A snake-body resting-mark, and a Jade Claw…

Coupled with her precious baby's inexplicable unease today.

Could this be the trace of an Earth Dragon?

No, no, that's not right. The scratches left by an Earth Dragon couldn't possibly be this sharp.

Moreover, her precious one wouldn't feel uneasy facing an Earth Dragon — only when encountering a higher being of the same kind, or a natural predator, would it react this way.

But her precious one had been raised for so many years now; ordinary serpents were no match for it at all.

Then…

A certain premonition rising in her heart, she could hardly wait. She bent low at the waist and began examining things carefully.

Because she had once left for a time, during that period she had made thorough preparations.

So now she watched as countless tiny, densely packed insects crawled down from her body, following the scent she directed them toward, spreading out to cover the ground. Before long, they painted across the earth like ink.

Then, on the ground, they formed the shape of a mysterious long, clawed creature.

The instant she saw this mark appear, She Po's eyes went wide in an instant, her expression frozen as she refused to believe her own eyes.

Th-this, this, this mark is…

In that moment, She Po's heart began pounding rapidly — *thump-thump, thump-thump* — because this meant her guess might actually be right!

Instinctively, she glanced about left and right with a superstitious wariness, even though there shouldn't have been anyone around at present, and then decisively dispersed these Strange Insects.

No, she couldn't be so hasty.

She Po decisively shook her head. The moment she thought of how that great court, from its founding to the present, had spent who knows how much manpower and material resources, squandering close to a thousand years of time,

yet had never once found such a mysterious and powerful creature — how could she possibly encounter one so easily now?

She still needed to carefully search the surroundings for any other traces.

With that thought, she drove these Strange Insects to memorize this scent and began slowly searching.

Yet she failed to notice that, in the darkness, another person was present…

"Ten Thousand Snakes" — another elegant name for the Yanjingwangshe. "Ten Thousand Snakes" means "King of Ten Thousand Snakes."

(End of this chapter)