Zhongshan Shenzhu Chi

Zhongshan, at noon.

Instead of cultivating in the Luo River, the giant serpent climbed to the highest point of Zhong Mountain and looked down upon the earth.

Most of the landscape is covered in green hills and clear waters.

"The road is hard, the road is hard, many are the forks in the road, where am I now...?"

"That's great, is there more?"

The giant snake was murmuring when it was suddenly interrupted by a spirited female voice.

A day ago, after being glared at by it, the woman toned down her behavior considerably, but she still hadn't changed her unruly ways.

She always wanted to test just how much attack a snake scale could withstand. However, she refused Huai Nian's suggestion to give her a scale so she could go play elsewhere.

As for the woman's identity, the giant snake also figured it out.

It was the woman who stood between Xia'an City and Zhongshan when he took advantage of his dragon transformation to grow horns.

Her name seems to be Zhao Ying.

She has done me a favor, and as long as she doesn't threaten the lives of the people of Zhongshan... let her play her game.

"And then? And then? What's the next line?" Those twelve words were exactly to Zhao Ying's liking, though they had a somewhat heavy, somber feel to them.

Zhongshan Shen must have a twist in his mind.

"Hurry up, why did you stop halfway through writing the poem!"

"This poem was not written by me. I simply recited it as I felt it." The giant serpent stood upright, its head and body upright, gazing at the vast and boundless world like a rock.

"Then why haven't I heard anyone recite it in Central Continent? If they had, those Confucian scholars would definitely have come to me to show off."

"Hmm...it's probably because they don't have a legendary poet as their ancestor."

"Huh?" The question made Zhao Ying's brain freeze.

To attain immortality through poetry and prose, one must possess an extraordinary level of spiritual cultivation.

And why is it the ancestor?

"I don't remember the next sentence very clearly either..." The giant snake raised its head, its eyes sparkling with memories.

Thirty years of snake life have buried many things from its past.

A forty-year-old may not remember what they did when they were ten, and a fifty-year-old may forget what they were like when they were twenty.

It's not a person, it still remembers, but the old photos are all covered in dust.

Only at this moment.

My emotions surged like waves, washing away the dust. The old photo was a little yellowed, but I could still make out the people in it.

Only then will it be moved to recite the poems that have been etched into its instincts.

"What does 'Ancestor' mean?" Zhao Ying asked directly, upholding the spirit of asking questions when she didn't understand.

"The ancestor of the human race, the immortal poet of wine."

"Qinglian Jushi" (青莲居士).

The giant snake recalled the entire poem.

The next line is: "There will be times when the wind and waves will be strong, and I will set sail to cross the vast ocean."

"I will carve the entire text on the mountain stone, and after you memorize it, it can be passed down through the world."

Having said that, the giant snake moved its tail like a knife and carved the entire poem "The Road to Shu is Hard" on the rock, signing it as "Qinglian Jushi" (the hermit of the blue lotus).

"Truly, truly, what a spirit!"

"Truly worthy of being called the Immortal Poet of Wine."

As Zhao Ying looked at the sharply defined, rugged strokes of the poem, the magnificent and imposing aura between the lines struck her heart.

As I looked at the sky, I sat down cross-legged and gazed at the heavens, thinking of myself in the human world.

Completely unaware that the giant snake had already gone far away.

To reach the location of the Black Serpent God from the top, one must traverse almost the entire Zhongshan Mountain.

Hundreds of miles away, in just a quarter of an hour, the giant snake had arrived at the foot of the valley.

The Golden Crow chicks are nowhere to be seen; they must have gone to spar with the Evil Frog.

These two, one water and one fire, are Zhongshan's trump card in the event of a future drought.

The giant snake swam into the valley.

The birds in the treetops continued to sing without any panic, and the doe feeding her calf simply sidestepped the snake's path.

The crimson snake slithered past the fawn's fur, but the fawn showed no fear; instead, it stuck out its tongue and licked the fur.

As we entered the depths of the valley, the giant snake raised its head, facing the rock face.

"Mother."

"A-Nian, is something wrong?" A giant eye opened on the rock wall.

His vertical pupils were scarlet, and the area beneath his eyes was pitch black.

The only discordant element was at the corner of the eye. Those fine lines, like blood vessels, pierced the dark, hard rock veins.

Cold and gray.

"I'm lost." The giant serpent stared into the rock vein that had invaded the mother's eyes. "I don't know which way to go next."

"But you know the path is right beneath your feet. The only dilemma now is whether or not you should move forward." The snake god lowered his gaze, his voice gentle yet profound.

"If I continue down this path... Zhongshan and even Yongningzhou will only have one god left," the great serpent whispered.

"Just before I could see Zhao Ying clearly through the threads of cause and effect, Zhong Shan told me that the existence that was extremely important to me would perish prematurely."

"Mother, He is talking about you."

"You will die."

"The stronger I become, the less time you have left."

"But if you don't become stronger, will I not die?" The snake god opened his eyes, half of his vision filled with Huai Nian, and the other half with the sky.

"I interfered with the cycle of Heaven and was punished by the Mysterious Stone Tribulation."

"That sun should have risen from Zhongshan and set back in the far west. But I have imprisoned it for three hundred years, making it have a home but unable to return."

"Isn't this a sin?"

"Zhongshan has stood guard over Yongning for countless years, finally witnessing its own legend. If it is because of me..."

"Mother," the giant serpent suddenly spoke, interrupting the serpent god, "is there a way to save you?"

"No, Anian," the snake god whispered, but his tone was resolute.

"Mother, I know what kind of destiny I bear. In the future... perhaps time can be reversed, and you can be resurrected."

"Would you do such a thing for an ant, or for tigers?"

"Won't."

"I also think you wouldn't reverse the timeline for something like this." The Serpent God lowered his eyes, looking at the Red Serpent's heterochromatic golden and silver eyes. "Similarly, in the end, you won't reverse the timeline to resurrect me."

"Zhongshan is very clever; what it values ​​is your heart that respects nature."

"In your heart, you and Zhongshan are interdependent yet independent. As for Zhongshan, you respect the glory, disgrace, rise and fall, birth, aging, sickness and death that happen to Him, and He gives back to you everything He has."

"You two are a match made in heaven, fellow Daoists and close friends, do not let each other down."

"Mother..." The giant snake lowered its head and rested it against the rock.

"Do not worry about things that have not yet happened, and do not feel guilty that you have the power but cannot bring me back to life."

"All living beings in the world, even immortals, will one day perish."

"Life and death may just be a cycle of reincarnation."

"What if I were to be reincarnated as your child?"

"Oh, I forgot, you don't have a partner yet... What do you think of Zhao Ying?"

"Mother, stop making a fuss." Huai Nian looked up, her eyes full of helplessness.

"I think it's fine..." The snake god's voice suddenly sounded a little aggrieved.

"I have no plans to transform into human form for the time being."

"That's a pity... She'll be very useful in the future, like going from Yongning to Zhongzhou and so on." The Serpent God murmured to himself, pondering the various thoughts in his mind.

Huai Nian listened quietly.

"ah--"

"What's wrong?" the mother suddenly exclaimed, and the snake abruptly raised its head.

"You just said you know what kind of being you are?"

"I really don't know what kind of thing I gave birth to... Tell me?"

"It doesn't matter, Mother. I and He are just two identical flowers blooming in different worlds."

His name is Zhu Jiuyin.

My name is Zhu Chi.