Chapter 25: The Snake Demon Devours the Villagers

Liu Family Village was separated from Song Family Village by just one mountain. Cross over the great hill to the southwest of the village entrance, and you would find Liu Family Village on the other side.

The two villages had always been on good terms, with frequent intermarriage between their families.

This time, two people had come from Liu Family Village — the village chief and his son.

The two of them were now at Old Doctor Song's home, with Village Chief Song Tiancheng also present, as the last rays of the setting sun cast a warm glow of evening light across the room.

The Liu village chief gripped Song Tiancheng's hand, his face drawn with misery as he poured out his grievances.

"Brother Song, I truly don't know what sins our Liu Family Village has committed. The Three-Eyed Lady's idol was smashed by villains, and now we're plagued by snakes and vermin. Today, we even encountered a great serpent that spoke in human tongue and devoured two of our villagers. Those who fought it were injured and still haven't regained consciousness. Others have been poisoned by snake venom, and our doctor can't keep up — we've run out of medicinal herbs too."

"I've already been to several other villages, and they all say the same — too many snakes and vermin, suffering terribly. None of them can spare a doctor, and there are no herbs to borrow either."

"Brother Song, I'm truly at my wit's end. I know dealing with the snakes hasn't been easy for you either. I won't even ask to borrow your doctor — just lend us some herbs, please."

The Liu village chief's son stood to one side, overcome with grief.

Their village was too far from the county seat — distant water couldn't quench a nearby fire. They had no choice but to seek help from the surrounding villages first.

But every nearby village was suffering just as badly from the snake infestation, and none could spare a doctor or herbs.

The only thing they hadn't yet encountered — unlike Liu Family Village — was a great snake demon that spoke human words and ate people.

Song Family Village was in the best shape of all the villages they had visited, and Old Doctor Song's home appeared to have a decent supply of medicinal herbs.

So the Liu village chief had pinned all his hopes on Song Family Village coming to their aid. Otherwise, they would have no choice but to make the long journey to the county seat.

Song Tiancheng, having heard everything, was utterly stunned, his pupils widening in disbelief.

"What? A great serpent that speaks human tongue — that's a snake demon! A snake demon entered your village and ate people?!"

The shock was not his alone. Old Doctor Song's entire family and the villagers who had gathered at the doorway to watch were equally dumbfounded.

The Liu village chief wiped away bitter tears. "That's right. Just a few days ago, it was only an unusually large number of snakes — as long as you were careful not to get bitten by a venomous one, you'd be fine. But today, this man-eating snake demon appeared. I don't know what sins our Liu Family Village has committed. Brother Song, I've told this to every village I've visited — you all need to be on guard against the snake demon too!"

Song Tiancheng stared wide-eyed, too shocked to speak.

The villagers crowded at the doorway were equally shaken.

The word "demon" was not unfamiliar to them — Xuanmo, who often wandered before their eyes, was a demon cat. But this was different. Xuanmo was a good demon, while the snake demon the Liu village chief spoke of was a wicked, man-eating monster.

The villagers instinctively felt a surge of panic.

But then something occurred to them, and they began murmuring among themselves.

"The Liu village chief says all the other villages are plagued by snakes and vermin, and they even encountered a snake demon — but here, never mind a man-eating snake demon, we haven't even seen many snakes these past couple of days, have we?"

"A few days ago, our village did have a lot of snakes. But these past two days, they've all but disappeared — let alone a snake demon. This… this must be Lord Xuanqing watching over us, right?"

"It must be! Can't you all see what's happening? The sudden surge of snakes and vermin is no coincidence — there's even a snake demon out there eating people — yet our village has barely seen a single snake. That can only mean Lord Xuanqing is protecting us!"

"Thank goodness our village has Lord Xuanqing's protection. Liu Family Village had their Three-Eyed Lady's idol smashed — no wonder the snake demon dared to enter their village and eat people."

"Lord Xuanqing bless us. I'll go burn incense for him again tomorrow."

What the villagers could figure out, Song Tiancheng had naturally figured out as well.

He had long suspected that the near-disappearance of snakes from the village over the past two days was due to Lord Xuanqing's protection — but he hadn't imagined that lurking behind it all was the shadow of a snake demon.

Liu Family Village was very close to Song Family Village. Now that a snake demon had appeared there and eaten people, there was no telling when it might wander over to Song Family Village.

But fortunately, they had Lord Xuanqing's protection. Nothing should go wrong.

It was only Liu Family Village that was to be pitied. With no divine protection, and too poor to hire a Martial Master, if the snake demon chose to move on, they might be spared — but if it decided to take up residence in Liu Family Village, the consequences would be dire.

A demon beast — that was not something ordinary people like them could deal with. Song Family Village was simply fortunate to have Lord Xuanqing's shelter to survive under.

But Liu Family Village's troubles were clearly beyond their power to address.

Song Tiancheng let out a sigh and patted the Liu village chief's hand in reassurance.

"Old Liu, the snake demon is something we have no power to help you with. Lending you some herbs is no problem at all. As for going to your village to help in person — that depends on whether Old Doctor Song is willing."

As village chief, Song Tiancheng could authorize lending some herbs — after all, there were no snakes troubling the village at the moment. Lending a person, however, was not his call to make.

Old Doctor Song was not a difficult man to reason with, and he agreed readily.

"I have no objections. Making a trip to Liu Family Village is no great matter."

Both Song Tiancheng and Old Doctor Song agreed without hesitation.

This actually left the Liu village chief momentarily stunned.

"This… Brother Song, isn't this too much trouble for you? If I take both the herbs and Old Doctor Song, what will you do?"

Song Tiancheng gave the Liu village chief a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"No trouble at all. Our village has nothing going on — no villagers have been bitten by snakes. Lending you the herbs and Old Doctor Song won't hold anything up."

Song Tiancheng's words left the Liu village chief even more bewildered. He had visited several villages, and all of them were suffering terribly from snake infestations.

Yet Song Tiancheng was saying not a single villager here had been bitten by a snake?

The Liu village chief couldn't help but press further. "Every village I visited said the snakes were everywhere, and many villagers had been bitten. You're telling me your village has none of that?"

Song Tiancheng shook his head with a light smile. "Two days ago, our village did have a lot of snakes, and quite a few villagers were bitten. But over the past two days, the snakes have greatly diminished — you can barely find one."

The Liu village chief was dumbfounded. This was nothing like what he had expected.

Every village he had passed through on his way here was still overrun with snakes — yet here in Song Family Village, they were gone?

No, not gone — they had only disappeared in the past two days. Could it be that Song Family Village had some effective method of repelling snakes?

The Liu village chief grew excited. "Brother Song, do you have some good method for driving away snakes?"

Hearing this, Song Tiancheng knew the man had gotten the wrong idea. He shook his head.

"We have no such method. It's entirely thanks to Lord Xuanqing's blessing."

With that, Song Tiancheng recounted, one by one, the divine manifestations of Lord Xuanqing.

The Liu village chief listened with growing astonishment.

He had lived many years, and even back when the Three-Eyed Lady's idol was still intact, he had never personally witnessed a divine miracle. There had only ever been vague rumors — things people claimed were signs of divine presence.

Nothing had ever been as vivid and convincing as the accounts Song Tiancheng described of Lord Xuanqing's divine manifestations — the kind that made you almost certain to believe without question.

Never mind the Three-Eyed Lady their own village worshipped — the surrounding villages each had their own enshrined idols, and none had ever produced stories of divine miracles this concrete.

They were all vague and unsubstantiated.

Nothing like what Song Tiancheng described — detailed, specific, and credible.

If what he said was true, the Liu village chief was almost ready to believe that the idol had truly manifested its divine power.

The Liu village chief came back to his senses and fixed Song Tiancheng with a steady, earnest gaze.

"Brother Song, you're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Song Tiancheng's brow twitched. "What kind of thing is that to say? Would I lie to you? Every one of these things was witnessed firsthand by the villagers. Say nothing else — just look around: do you see any snakes or vermin in our village right now?"

By this point, the Liu village chief was already about seventy or eighty percent convinced.

After a moment of silence, the Liu village chief suddenly said, "Before I leave — would it be possible for me to go burn a stick of incense for Lord Xuanqing?"

Song Tiancheng let out a hearty laugh. "Of course! You want to burn incense for Lord Xuanqing — would he ever fault you for that? Though I must say, you've visited our village so many times over the years, and this is the first time you've ever volunteered to burn incense for our Lord Xuanqing!"

The Liu village chief smiled. "The way you tell it, Lord Xuanqing is so efficacious — of course I want to burn some incense and seek the divine blessing."

Song Tiancheng stroked his beard with a grin. "Well, whether Lord Xuanqing can protect you once you've left Song Family Village — that I can't say."

The Liu village chief replied, "Sincerity moves the divine."