Chapter 4

In the end, Yin Dabai dragged Yin Xiaoxiao out of the hole again with his fangs. Heedless of Yin Xiaoxiao’s incessant writhing, Yin Dabai began slithering back in the direction he’d come.

Hua Xiaohua smelled Yin Dabai coming closer and closer and immediately stood, pretending as though nothing had happened.

“Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, what were you doing?” Hua Xiaowi slithered over to Yin Dabai and looked up to see Yin Xiaoxiao wriggling as he dangled from Yin Dabai’s mouth.

Yin Xiaoxiao stopped squirming and looked around, then sighed internally, wondering to himself how he’d ended up in the mouth of a snake after he’d run far so far and deep into the cave.

Come on. With your small body, where could you go? Yin Xiaosi rolled his eyes behind everyone’s back. Stupid Xiaoxiao, everything was writ large on your face. Moreover, that cave you’d just crawled into was your own home. That’s why dad just let you go; it’d be impossible for us not to catch you.

Was it lamentable or laughable that there was someone with such intelligence born into this family of fools? And was this ultimately to be to the misfortune of the foolish snakes or to the misfortune of the smart snake?

“Xiaoxiao, you’re really smart.”

“It’s amazing that you were able to find where our house is on your own!”

The first sentence was said by Hua Xiaoer and the second was said by Hua Xiaosan.

Hearing Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan say this only made Yin Xiaoxiao want to cry. It turned out that by fleeing and trying to hide, he’d actually hidden himself where he absolutely should not have hidden. Was there anything more tragic in this terrible world?

Haaa. Believe me, Xiaoxiao. You will certainly encounter things even more tragic than this.

Holding Yin Xiaoxiao in his mouth, Yin Dabai felt very worn. Biting to kill was easy. But this was his son, not food. Just holding without biting down was very hard work, okay! Yin Dabai released Yin Xiaoxiao from his mouth and placed him on the ground. As soon as Yin Xiaoxiao was released, he immediately tried, futilely, to crawl away again. He’d barely gone a few meters when something blurred past him. Continuing forward, he ran into whatever it was then fell back, dizzy. Slowly, he came back to his senses and realized that what he’d run into was Yin Dabai.

Hua Xiaohua crawled over and blocked Xiaoxiao from turning and fleeing.

“Yin Xiaoxiao, why do you always try to run?!” Hua Xiaohua was very unhappy. This son was really strange. He’d actually fled after seeing his own family. Was he dissatisfied with Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai’s parenting??

Yin Xiaoxiao trembled. Such a fierce…mother? Father?

Yin Xiaoxiao snuck a stealthily peek at Yin Dabai. This silver snake should be dad, right?

Hua Xiaohua rudely struck Yin Xiaoxiao over the head. “Yin Xiaoxiao, shout for dad.”

“…..Dad.” Yin Xiaoxiao surrendered to this abuse of power.

Yin Dabai immediately stretched his head out towards Yin Xiaoxiao. Yin Xiaoxiao, seeing this massive snake before him, swallowed and took a quiet step back. “….Mom.”

And then…

Hua Xiaohua burst into loud guffaws. Yin Dabai’s body began to darken; while last time it’d been out of jealousy, this time it was out of affront.

“Xiaoxiao, you did that on purpose.”

“It was definitely on purpose!”

…..Apparently Hua Xiaoer and Hua Xiaosan were basically twins even though they had each hatched from different eggs.

"

"

“I am your father!” was roared by Yin Dabai!

Yin Xiaoxiao blinked in response. This one was dad. And that one was dad. Then he himself, oh, and these four are all…what?

Yin Xiaosi sized up Yin Xiaoxiao with a strange gaze and thought everything over….

Slithering over to Yin Xiaoxiao, Yin Xiaosi calmly asked, “Xiaoxiao, do you have your inherited memories?”

Very calmly and collectedly, Yin Xiaoxiao replied, “What’s that?”

And then all present, aside from Yin Xiaosi and Yin Xiaoxiao, became decidedly not calm and collected.

“No wonder Xiaoxiao ran as soon as he saw us.” Yin Xiaoyi suddenly realized.

“This is impossible, right?! How can this be possible?!” Hua Xiaohua was absolutely astonished. “In all these years, such a thing has never happened.”

Yin Dabai looked Yin Xiaoxiao over carefully, then sniffed him again. Finally, he was sure that he really was his and Hua Xiaohua’s son. But if that was the case, then how could he have no inherited memories?

Thus, this evening, the whole snake family circled Yin Xiaoxiao and gave an overview of these inherited memories so that Yin Xiaoxiao would also have a basic understanding.

It turned out that it wasn’t as simple as Yin Xiaoxiao had thought. In fact, these were actually not ordinary snakes!

They existed to guard this mountain range. This was the command carved into the depths of the soul of each snake. Perhaps it was because of this command that, compared to the snakes of the outside world, they had what was called inherited memories. Every snake born in this mountain range had inherited memories. However, what was inherited weren’t strange skills, or anything like that, only their mission.

"

"

They were to dedicate their lives to protecting this mountain range, especially this mountain. From these memories, the snakes knew that the heavens had bestowed upon each snake a 200 year lifespan, given them their poison, and allowed male-male pregnancy. The price paid was that snakes with these inherited memories could not leave this mountain range, and that each snake couple, both male-male and male-female, only had one chance to give birth.

“Has a snake with inherited memories ever tried to leave the mountains?” Yin Xiaoxiao asked.

“Some have. But all who try to leave the mountains, without exception, lose their way and die after seven days. No snake knows what causes these deaths,” Yin Dabai explained.

It was as though this mountain range was enchanted so that those with inherited memories were unable to leave, while other creatures, even other snakes, without inherited memories could come and go freely.

“So, Xiaoxiao. You were obviously born in this mountain range and you’re definitely my and Yin Dabai’s child. You also have venom. So, why don’t you have inherited memories?”

Ah, yes. In this mountain range, only snakes with inherited memories had venom. Normal snakes were all harmless, and venomous snakes preyed on non-venomous snakes.

Yin Xiaoxiao innocently met Hua Xiaohua’s eyes. However, in his own mind he already had a theory. Since Yin Xiaoxiao’s soul was that of a human, not a snake, and since he had not been reborn in the normal manner, then it was only normal that his brain would not have any of these inherited memories, right? That’s right, right? Right.

There were tens of thousands of vipers in this mountain range. Most lived in the mountain where Yin Xiaoxiao was born. The vipers were divided into eight clans, ranked from strong to weak based on toxicity. They were: the Mo ¹ snake clan, the Hong ² snake clan, the Lan ³ snake clan, the Yin ⁴ snake clan, the Bai ⁵ snake clan, the Hua ⁶ snake clan, the Huang ⁷ snake clan, and the Lu ⁸ snake clan, with the Mo snakes as the strongest and the Lu snakes as the weakest. However, even the weak venom of the Lu snake clan was still ten times more toxic than that of the most venomous snakes outside the mountains. And the eight clans often intermarried, so couples like Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua were common among snakes in this mountain.

Among vipers, the Mo clan snakes were the most venomous. And the most venomous of the Mo snakes was the emperor. Huh? How to tell whose venom was strongest? It was very simple. In fact, the body of the Mo snakes weren’t entirely black. The majority of the Mo snakes had mottling. As a result, it was said that whoever’s body was both the largest and the most uniformly black was the most venomous and, thus, the strongest.

Footnotes

<ol>墨: ink 红: red 蓝: blue 银: silver 白: white 花: banded 黄: yellow 绿: green</ol>