Chapter 23

"By the way, Lord Xie..." Lin Qingyue remembered an important thing, "What is my official position in the Xuanjing Division?"

Someone like her naturally couldn't be an ordinary guard.

Xie Shouzheng said: "Our Xuanjing Division judges superiority by strength and merit. With the Princess's strength... why not be the Deputy Evil-Appraising Envoy, the second in command of the division!"

Lin Qingyue asked: "Since it is judged by strength, why can't it be the main envoy?"

Xie Shouzheng was shocked: "Princess, this is not authentic, how can you snatch my position as the chief official as soon as you come? Besides, in addition to strength, we must also pay attention to merit! If one day, the Princess's merit can exceed mine, Xie Shouzheng, what if I let you have this position as the chief official?"

Lin Qingyue didn't really want to snatch his position, but after a few exchanges, she could see that Xie Shouzheng was a good person. Open and honest, and not greedy for high positions.

Xie Shouzheng was also truly dutiful, and while chatting with Lin Qingyue, he took the time to write case files, recording everything that happened in the Lin Mansion tonight for future reference.

Among them, including Shen Mo's grievances and the origin of the snake demon.

The snake demon had also been recorded in his past files.

It is said that decades ago, there was a snake charmer who was good at training snakes and traveled all over the country with a dozen large and small snakes to perform snake-training acrobatics.

Among the many snakes, the one he liked most was a mottled python. The mottled one was very human-like, could understand complex instructions, and earned a lot of money for the snake charmer.

The snake charmer also loved this snake extremely, often stroking the snake's body and nagging about trivial matters.

And the snake would docilely lean in the master's arms, its bright vertical pupils staring steadily at the master, occasionally "hissing" twice, as if responding to the master's words.

One day, when the snake charmer was walking near the wilderness, he encountered a group of bandits robbing and killing people.

At the critical moment, the mottled python rushed out of the cage, scaring the bandits until they ran away.

The slowest one was caught up by the mottled snake, strangled, and swallowed in one go.

The snake charmer was stunned by this scene for a long time.

And after the mottled snake was full, it wanted to go back to the cage to sleep like before. But its body had grown a circle fatter, and it couldn't get in no matter what, so it had to look at the master pitifully.

Since that day, every night, the mottled snake would sneak out.

After returning, its body would expand by a circle.

And every place the snake charmer went, people would go missing nearby the next day.

The snake charmer didn't dare to raise the mottled snake anymore, even if the snake was still as docile as before in front of him.

He also tried to throw the snake away, but no matter where he threw it, the snake would find its way back.

The snake charmer lived in fear every day, afraid that the snake would go mad and eat him too. At the same time, he was also worried about being discovered that the snake he raised ate people, then he would also be unable to escape disaster.

Finally one day, he met a demon catcher, and after struggling for a long time, he told the truth.

The demon catcher said: "That snake has become a demon, and has swallowed dozens of people, its cultivation is deep, and it is not easy to deal with. Fortunately, it still treats you as its master and trusts you extremely. If you want to eliminate the demon, you need your assistance from the side. Tomorrow, I will set up a demon-slaying array in the back mountain. After dark, you lead it to the array eye, and I will have a way to eliminate it in one fell swoop."

The snake charmer couldn't bear it: "Must it be killed? Is there any other way?"

The demon catcher said: "Eliminate evil completely, otherwise there will be endless troubles!"

"Then... let me consider it." The snake charmer didn't agree immediately.

But when he went back, he saw a little girl's shoe spit out of the mottled snake's mouth.

And the snake's huge body rolled over the small shoe, swimming affectionately toward the master.

At that moment, he trembled all over, and at the same time, he made up his mind to eliminate the demon.

That night, the snake charmer, who hadn't been in contact with the snake for a long time, stroked the mottled snake's body again like before, with complex emotions in his eyes.

"Dalong, Dalong..."

He called the snake's name over and over again, and time seemed to return to the intimacy of the past.

Finally, the snake charmer said: "Dalong, we haven't caught snakes in the mountains for a long time. Tonight you accompany me..."

The snakes that performed in the past were all caught by Dalong for him. Under Dalong's pressure, those snakes would become obedient.

Since discovering that Dalong was a monster, they had been hiding and hadn't gone out to catch new small snakes to train for performances for a long time.

The mottled snake naively thought that everything could return to the past.

It nodded, its huge body wriggled quickly, and it went out happily.

It swam very fast, but it couldn't swim far before it would stop and wait for the master. Clearly, it was a gloomy and terrifying vertical pupil, but when looking at the master, it was full of dependence and trust.

But that only dependence and trust ended its life.

Under the master's deliberate guidance, it walked into the demon-slaying array.

When the sudden rising flames burned its body, its first thought was not to escape, but to rush to find the master's figure, afraid that he would be hurt.

However, through the heavy firelight, it saw the master standing behind the demon catcher, crying and saying: "Dalong, go well, don't harm people in the next life..."

So, the master didn't want it anymore, and even wanted to kill it!

The huge snake body rolled and wailed in the big fire, and finally turned into coke.

The snake charmer thought that after Dalong died, his life could return to peace.

But he didn't know that after the snake demon died, the resentment was monstrous, and the soul returned to the master's side again.

That night, the huge snake shadow stood high, and the blood basin mouth fell, instantly swallowing the master.

—Master, this time we will never be separated again.

The snake demon remnant soul caused trouble everywhere and later harmed many more lives.

The original demon catcher heard the news and rushed over, regretting his improper actions back then. But he was low in cultivation, and even after exhausting his life, he couldn't completely eliminate it, only suppressing the snake demon remnant soul on Guiku Ridge.

Until later, Shen Mo was tricked by Lin Rufeng to Guiku Ridge, accidentally broke the seal, was swallowed by the snake demon, and returned to the human world with his resentment.

Xie Shouzheng wrote the last stroke and sighed: "Monsters possess strength different from ordinary people, and once they start to indulge their desires, they will cause trouble for the world."

"By the way, Princess, what did you say to Shen Mo at the end, that made him let go of his resentment so easily? And why did the snake demon say you were deceiving Shen Mo?"

Lin Qingyue smiled faintly: "Just some words to persuade him to be magnanimous and let go of hatred, similar to Lord Xie's previous persuasion."

Xie Shouzheng doubted: "Is it that simple? Then why couldn't he listen to a word when I persuaded him before?"

Lin Qingyue just smiled and didn't speak.

The next day, Liu Mansion.

Early in the morning, Mother Liu came over and said: "Your father has prepared the carriage, eat breakfast and go back!"

Liu Wanqing was very surprised: "Father still wants to drive the daughter away? Even if you know Lin Rufeng beats me to death every day, know he likes men, and it's impossible to have children with me! You still don't allow me to divorce?"

Mother Liu shed tears: "Daughter, Mother knows you are suffering. But this is a woman's fate! A married daughter is like splashed water. Even if it's a divorce, it affects reputation. Especially your father, who is still running around recently, wanting to raise his official position. If there is a divorced daughter in the family, outsiders will definitely talk, affecting your father's reputation."

"Your husband now has a handle in your hands, I think he won't dare to treat you like before. Don't worry about the issue of heirs, just adopt one from the clan later. Just endure it, life will always get better."

In the end, the father's indifference and the mother's weakness caused the married daughter to lose her shelter from the wind and rain.