TSMITB Chapter5

In the second half of the night, no one could sleep; they sat around the bonfire, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

Shen Que was actually quite sleepy, but his ankle was still throbbing faintly, irritating his nerves.

He kept being pulled between wakefulness and chaos, finally falling asleep just before dawn.

When he opened his eyes again, the day was already bright, and most of the fog had already dissipated.

After a quick wash, Shen Que leaned against a tree trunk like a supervisor, watching as they busied themselves packing the luggage and loading it onto the inflatable boat tied up at the riverbank.

Gang Zi handed warm milk to Shen Que. Before he could take a sip, Gang Zi bent down, grabbed him by the waist, and hoisted him onto the small boat, setting him down properly, just like he had with the luggage.

During this time, Shen Que tried several times to say he could walk himself, but no one was willing to listen to him speak.

The hum of the engine sounded again as the small boat left the shore, heading toward the unknown distance.

As time passed, the view before them gradually opened up.

The clear blue sky began to fully reveal itself. Several small, unidentifiable birds flew overhead from time to time, adding some vitality to this dead silent mountain.

Shen Que buried the lower half of his face into his collar again. Besides the fact that it was genuinely a bit cool in the morning, it was mostly because he was still holding a grudge about Gang Zi carrying him onto the boat like luggage.

Once he gets out of here, he would definitely arrange a good job for him that involves carrying things every day, Shen Que thought darkly.

“Quick, look! Over there ahead, is that a person!”

Hearing this, Shen Que immediately perked up, sat straight, and looked forward. Indeed, on the cliff not far away, sat a person whose face could not be clearly seen. From the silhouette, it looked like an adult male.

Shen Que eagerly turned and snatched the binoculars from Gang Zi’s hand before holding them up to his eyes.

Amid the dense greenery, a figure sat quietly while leaning against a large fractured rock.

His skin was pale and smooth, and his glossy long black hair was braided into small plaits, gathered and bound with slender silver chains into a high ponytail that trailed down the back of his head.

A few strands of hair behind his ear were braided into small pigtails and smoothed forward to his chest with the ends bound by silver ornaments. Two fine chains extended from the silver ornaments, each bearing a lifelike silver butterfly. Tiny silver bells dangled beneath the butterflies’ wings, producing a clear, crisp jingle with every movement of their owner.

His smooth forehead was also decorated with silver ornaments—a small crescent moon was fixed at the top of his head, connected at the front by a small silver holder embedded with a light blue gem to three or four silver rings of varying sizes arranged in layers.

His pair of light brown eyes, when viewed from a distance, seemed to faintly shimmer with a light purple hue.

Below his high nose bridge were two full, well-shaped lips, with clearly defined Cupid’s bows. At a quick glance, they looked like a light pink heart.

A navy-blue garment wrapped around him. The neckline was embroidered with intricate, dense patterns, resembling fluttering butterflies or verdant mountains. It was too far away to see clearly even with binoculars.

The only certainty was that this was an extremely pretty youth, but his calm and indifferent expression added a sense of maturity and mystery to him.

Shen Que’s heart skipped a beat; this one was grown according to his taste.

Old Qiu and the others felt their hearts skip a beat, this person looked like they had been crafted straight out of Shen Que’s personal taste.

Shen Que paid no attention to the others’ reactions, concentrating instead on giving himself a mental cue.

The more beautiful a thing is, the more dangerous it is.

And a beautiful “little poisonous mushroom” appearing in a place like this will only be more toxic.

To be able to relax so leisurely in this E’yun Mountain, and in such attire, even the most slow-witted person should be able to guess his origin.

The second before putting down the binoculars, the slightly lowered-head youth gently lifted his eyes and gazed into Shen Que’s eyes from afar.

Even though he was prepared, Shen Que was truly captivated. He raised a hand to cover his chest and lightly patted it: “I think I’ve fallen in love at first sight.”

“Hehe… there’s a term called ‘lust at first sight’, I recommend you use that next time.” Gang Zi snatched back the binoculars, offering sincere advice with a hint of speechlessness.

Ah Chao counted on his fingers. If he hadn’t misremembered, the number of people Shen Que had fallen in love with at first sight was at least fifty, if not a hundred…

Old Qiu steadied his expression and said with a carefully chosen tone, “Young Master Shen, you really shouldn’t mess around with this one.”

Shen Que’s silence during the past few days of travel had nearly made them forget what this kid was really like.

During their conversation, a silver-blue, translucent butterfly quietly landed on Shen Que’s hair tip. Its two antennae flickered with fluorescence, shining on and off.

Shen Que turned to glance at the others without offering any retort. His palm rested on the edge of the boat with his fingers tapping an uneven rhythm. He slightly looked up at the “little poisonous mushroom” not far away, then stared thoughtfully at the water surface.

The river water, which was originally flowing slowly, quietly sped up without anyone noticing. The depth was also far less than before; while the strange rocks at the riverbed could be clearly seen.

Beneath the noise of the boat’s thruster operating, Shen Que faintly heard the loud sound of water falling from a height, crashing against another riverbed due to the drop.

When he looked up again, Shen Que had made a decision.

He quickly took out a small knife from his bag and pressed it against the boat’s edge; not much force was needed to pierce the hull.

“There’s a waterfall ahead. Protect the useful items and shout loudly for help in a moment.”

The group exchanged glances but asked nothing further, swiftly packed their belongings, and gave Shen Que a slight nod.

In the next instant, the blade pierced the boat’s hull, and the rapidly escaping air hissed sharply as it gushed through the hole.

The butterfly’s wings twitched almost imperceptibly as if trembling. Its two small antennae drooped slightly, attempting to fully hide itself within Shen Que’s hair.

The beautiful youth, who was originally sitting quietly on the cliff, seemed to sense something. His beautiful, jade-like face instantly became clouded with worry. He clenched his hands into fists as he suddenly stood up, turned, and was about to walk into the forest behind him.

Shen Que had punctured several holes in the inflatable boat, and air was rapidly escaping from each one with a sharp hiss. Before they could reach the waterfall, the entire boat was already precarious and ready to capsize at any moment.

Seeing that the youth was about to disappear into the mountain forest, the few people quickly exerted themselves and shouted loudly.

“Help, the boat is capsizing! Can someone save us!”

“Exaggerated.” Shen Que commented.

“Why is the boat leaking air? Which cursed soul put a controlled blade in the water? My boat is cut open, my precious life-root—it’s been with me for over ten years. My life is truly bitter, an unscrupulous boss oppressing employees…”

…Too much personal emotion, not worth commenting on.

However, no matter how loudly they shouted, the youth showed no sign of stopping at all.

At such a close distance and with such a clamorous noise, he shouldn’t be completely unable to hear anything.

“Is he a little deaf person?” Shen Que touched his chin and murmured in a low voice, starting to doubt if his decision was too hasty. He should have waited for the youth to discover them before taking action.

The youth stopped in his tracks, his expression darkening. He slowly turned, squatted down, and began rummaging through the scattered rocks on the ground.

If not for the obstruction of the grass, Shen Que might have seen a small snake curled up at the youth’s feet already, its blue-green scales shimmering brightly in the sunlight.

The youth lightly tapped the little snake’s head with his finger in a sporadic manner. “He, turned bad, schemes against me, the outside world, is indeed not good, it made him, turn bad.”

He stated in an even tone, expressing himself fluently in the Han language was still a bit difficult for him. The rhythm of his pauses was inaccurate, more like spitting out one word at a time, and his intonation was also a bit strange. His voice was as clean and transparent as a clear spring, but because the volume was too low, it carried a hint of obscurity and hoarseness. His expression was also unnaturally calm, like he was wearing a mask of superficial innocence, trying hard to conceal his true thoughts.

The little snake lifted its head to rub against his fingertip.

The youth slightly raised his eyes, taking a complete look at the chaotic scene on the dilapidated small boat.

“Should let him, suffer a little, hardship,” he gently stroked the little snake’s slippery scales. “Let your, new pet, come out.”

The small blue-green snake flicked its crimson tongue, turned its head to fix its wide eyes on someone on the boat, then reluctantly lowered its body. Concealed by the grass, it slithered to the cliff’s edge, hissing toward the water far below.

The next second, a giant snake head emerged from the water. A clear blue-purple ancient forbidden rune pattery circled its head.

In the chaos, someone shoved a megaphone into Shen Que’s hand. “You shout too ah!”

Shen Que paused for two seconds, then uncertainly raised the megaphone to his mouth and tentatively shouted, “Help.”

The sound was not loud, so much so that it could be ignored amidst the clamor. Gang Zi was about to mock him to avenge his boat when he saw the youth on the opposite bank look up.

The few people who had shouted until smoke was about to come out of their throats but received no response: ……?

Shen Que calmly put down the megaphone. Fortunately, he was not deaf.

The youth stood up. A gentle breeze blew by, ruffling his loose bangs, and his expression visibly brightened with a hint of a smile subtly contained at the corner of his mouth.

He cocked his toe and kicked the tip of the little snake’s tail at his feet. “How about, let your little pet, stop, he is, calling for help.”

The moment he finished speaking, the giant python ended its underwater lurking and suddenly surfaced, instantly flipping the small boat. The few people on the boat didn’t even have time to react before they were swept up by the thick snake tail, then thrown down the waterfall along with the deflated inflatable boat.

“……” The person and the snake stared at each other in silence for a moment, then awkwardly shifted their gaze.

Below the waterfall were jagged rocks. Ah Chao was hit by the giant python, which had leaped down following them, as it used its tail to scoop him up and toss him forcefully into the air. When he fell into the water, the turbulent current dragged him against a sharp, strange rock.

A sharp cry of pain nearly split their eardrums. Blood oozed into the water, spreading across the surface. Ah Chao’s right leg was slashed from mid-thigh down to his calf, the bright red flesh gaping open and quickly turning pale as it soaked in the water.

The others, disoriented after falling into the water, also choked on a few mouthfuls of water but quickly recovered after a few struggles.

Shen Que, being the closest, surfaced first. Reddish droplets clung to his forehead and hair, and the lingering scent of blood hung heavily around his nose.

He felt a pang of regret, again thinking that he shouldn’t have slashed the small boat earlier.

Shen Que spread his arms as he pushed through the water before quickly swimming toward Ah Chao’s location, but was pushed away by the massive wave stirred up by the giant python as he neared. The river water, subtly tinged with a bloody smell, invaded his mouth and nose, choking him almost to the point of suffocation.

Ah Chao’s face was deathly pale as he bobbed in the water. The pain in his leg had almost drained him of all his strength, and even his cries for help gradually became inaudible.

The giant python surfaced briefly, then quickly disappeared into the river water. While being vigilant against the giant python’s return, the others quickly paddled toward Ah Chao.

Gang Zi approached Ah Chao from behind, draped his arm over his own shoulder, and swam with him toward the shore. Without the giant python’s interference, the two quickly reached the shallow water area while struggling against the force of the current.

Underwater, a cold, slippery snake tail coiled around Old Qiu’s waist and abdomen, slowly tightening and squeezing the air out of his chest inch by inch. When Gang Zi, who was carrying Ah Chao, looked back, Old Qiu desperately controlled his facial expression, waved his hand, and urged him to leave quickly.

Shen Que immediately gripped the dagger in his hand after recovering. Gritting his teeth, he took a deep breath, and with a “whoosh,” he plunged entirely into the water.

The youth on the cliffside, who had been watching with cold indifference, involuntarily took a step forward. The silver ornaments on his body jingled. The little blue-green snake coiled on his shoulder also stretched its head out to probe the situation in the water.

When it clearly saw Shen Que holding a dagger to deal with the giant python, the little snake frantically shook the tip of its tail, slapping the youth, and incessantly let out a hissing sound.

[Don’t hurt the baby snake!]

The youth glanced at it, then looked at the giant python, which was at least four meters long, and grew even more silent.