Chapter 73

Because vipers have a very long lifespan, if something came along and broke the tranquil days of life, even if the tranquility was restored very quickly, it would still be a topic of idle conversation for whiling away the days for vipers who had absolutely nothing else to do.

However, although humans had entered the boundary several decades ago, in reality it didn’t really cause too many waves, especially for Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda who hadn’t left the mountain until now.

Speaking of that time of the first wave of people, ie. the wave of people where the sole survivor was a member of the Zhou family, the place from which they’d entered wasn’t a good location. At that time, a Lu snake and a Huang snake were holding a partnership ceremony. These two snakes had a fated relationship and, aside from the husband’s seven older sisters and the wife’s eight older sisters who were present, there were also two snake friends, ah two friends of each partner. So it just so happened that it was crowded and bustling with noise and excitement and the partner ceremony was conducted with fervent noise and excitement when this group of humans arrived.

Both sides stared blankly. The humans looked dumbfounded to be suddenly standing amongst so many snakes. The vipers, due to witnessing this completely unexpected organism which had the  guts to dare interrupt a viper companion ceremony, were also stunned. The vipers, however, were only stunned for a moment before they turned their attention away from these humans – holy shit, when did this species appear? Holy shit, they’re so ugly!

But the humans naturally didn’t believe that these snakes, which had seen them, wouldn’t attack. They decide to strike first and gain the upperhand. The humans rushed the vipers.

How could the tomb robbers come unarmed? A tomb robber quickly took out a gun and aimed the muzzle at the Huang snake that was the closest and then opened fire.

But, sorry. Even a gun wasn’t enough to cause a viper to die. It only broke open the Huang snake’s scales. The Huang snake didn’t die but lost consciousness from the shock.

So, the vipers present were all enraged. Inside the boundary, no living creature dared raise a hand to a viper! Rage burned in the vipers, and the vipers started to attack the few dozen humans present. Although the humans at first had the strength to resist the vipers, they had also clearly heard the vipers say, “Kill these strange creatures!” When humanity is under duress ¹ , the limbs weaken. It was a one-sided massacre. It was only a matter of time before these humans were killed.

The scene was very chaotic. In that chaos, the man from the Zhou family escaped, but unfortunately by the time he escaped, he’d also gone mad.

Massacring these humans was still not enough to sate the vipers’ anger, especially for the viper couple and their relatives. With only one muscle in the vipers’ heads ² , they stubbornly waited in the same place and kept watch for ten days, succeeding in annihilating all those humans who followed. Even more, the success of these murders gave rise to the name “snake tomb”.

This was not a topic of idle conversation. For some creature, in spite of everything, to dare have the guts to disturb a vipers’ family’s marriage ceremony, this was humiliating to any viper. No viper would treat this as a topic for everyday gossip, so not many snakes would know about it. Occasionally, there would be a viper who didn’t take care not to mention it, but why would any snake believe them – how could there possibly be such an ugly creature?!

What? You’re asking, if the vipers are tasked with guarding the old tomb, why wouldn’t they be more conscientious? The reason…perhaps it was because the vipers didn’t expect such a weak creature to try to steal the things they were guarding – that’s right, in the Zhou Dynasty only a great being would deliberately stir up trouble ³ . Ji Zhao also surely didn’t expect that, after a few millennia, mankind would degrade to this state of relying on others for support and avoiding strengthening the self.

As a result, the Mo Laoda who received Mo Dayi’s report hadn’t heard of this matter beforehand and was now a little unhappy with the unusual situation which had occurred before he became clan head.

“What abnormal situation?”

Mo Dayi’s anxiety disappeared. Now he was more perplexed. “Frankly, I’m also not sure. I’m passing on a message from a male Mo snake who is only just an adult. He said that he was only sunbathing the other day, he’s not sure where, and a lot of strange creatures suddenly appeared. He hurriedly ran back to report.”

“Strange creatures?” Mo Laoda was bewildered. “How strange?”

“That’s. I don’t know either.” Mo Dayi was also bewildered.

Because vipers lacked imagination, it was too difficult for them to try to picture what the “strange creatures” really looked like.

Yin Xiaoxiao, off to the side, listened very impatiently and used his tail to draw on the ground. “Whether they’re strange or not strange, just go and take a look.”

“Clan Husband speaks right!” Mo Dayi suddenly realized.

Mo Dayi thought. “Ah, well, only…what’s to be done with you?” At this thought, Mo Laoda became a little worried. Send him to the grave room? No good, out of the question. Then the Little Idiot would have to find his own food. That’d be too much trouble! Then, should he be sent below the cliff? Mo Laoda hesitantly looked at Yin Xiaoxiao. Would Xiaoxiao be willing?

“What’s to be done with me?! Naturally, I’m going with you!” Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t feel that this was a problem at all.

Mo Dayi: “…”

Mo Laoda: “No! You’re still not an adult! You cannot leave this mountain!”

Yin Xiaoxiao’s thoughts changed direction and, without brazenly refuting Mo Laoda, he instead asked, “Heitan, can explain why vipers who aren’t yet adults can’t leave the mountain?”

Without hesitating, Mo Laoda replied, “Naturally it is because it’s too dangerous for vipers who aren’t adults.”

Yin Xiaoxiao quite coolly added, “In that case, if I follow you then I won’t be in danger. Or are you saying that you don’t think you are capable of protecting me?”

Mo Dayi vowed never to oppose Yin Xiaoxiao in this life!

Mo Laoda: “….Yes, I’ll bring you there.”

“That’s very good!” Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes narrowed in happiness. “Then, when are we leaving?”

Mo Laoda looked at the color of the sky to tell what time of day it was. “We’ll set off again tomorrow at dawn.”

Yin Xiaoxiao nodded his head in agreement.

Seeing Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao slithering side by side into the cave, Mo Dayi was left outside, speechless. Coming across something like this, wasn’t it imperative to manically hurry through the night to find out what had really happened? Why was Mo Laoda so aloof and at ease?

Unfortunately, Mo Dayi’s heart was once more full of distress and gloom ⁴ , but he was also unable to change Mo Laoda’s decision. Seeing that Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao hadn’t invited him to come and sleep in their cave, Mo Dayi was forced to find a place to sleep nearby outside the cave – why did he feel like life was getting worse and worse?! He had obviously been promoted, right?!

Early in the morning of the second day, they unsteadily began to slither from the mountain towards where that Mo snake said that strange creatures ⁵ appeared.

“Only, it’s really far! Isn’t it going to take a long time to get there?!” Yin Xiaoxiao said with a sigh as Mo Dayi pointed out a mountain to Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao. Heavens, that area was practically the furthest that Yin Xiaoxiao could see!

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Mo Dayi silently looked at Yin Xiaoxiao. ‘You’re lying on Mo Laoda. You really don’t have the qualifications to say this.’

“Unlikely,” said Mo Laoda. “Still, it’s best to slither a little faster!”

Mo Laoda knew that Yin Xiaoxiao very eagerly wanted to see that new creature so, after he comforted Yin Xiaoxiao, Mo Laoda suddenly sped up – completely forgetting that Mo Dayi was following behind him.

“Hey! Wait for me!” At first, Mo Dayi was stunned, then he cranked up the horsepower to slither along after Mo Laoda’s retreating figure. However, even at that time before Mo Laoda had taken the Mo Grass, Mo Dayi’s speed ⁶ couldn’t match Mo Laoda, to say nothing of the current Mo Laoda. Now, Mo Dayi could only watch in despair as Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao’s figures disappeared.

Very late at night, having hurried along his way all day, Mo Dayi finally slithered to where Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao were staying, only to see the two snakes were already sleeping very soundly. As Mo Dayi looked, he also saw food set aside for him, and the grief and indignation in his heart lessened. They’d actually remembered him – actually that was just what was left of Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao’s snacks, but it was better that he did not know this fact.

Hurrying onwards then became Mo Dayi’s life. Although Mo Dayi wasn’t the fastest of the three snakes, Mo Dayi also wasn’t the slowest! However, Mo Dayi didn’t have Yin Xiaoxiao’s cheat of being carried ⁷ so, for the rest of the journey, Mo Dayi usually desperately slithered along in the rear until he was half-dead with fatigue. Slithering on ahead, every noon, Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao went to the riverbank to cool down (mainly for Yin Xiaoxiao) and laid down for a siesta until rested enough to continue the journey. In the evening, when the sky darkened, they stopped to eat something and then went to bed because they couldn’t see and thus couldn’t continue the trip.

Once again, the sky darkened with night. Mo Laoda and Yin Xiaoxiao had stopped to rest but didn’t expect to run into Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua!

“Xiaoxiao! Why are you here?!” Hua Xiaohua shrieked.

To tell the truth, if Yin Xiaoxiao was not aware of Hua Xiaohua’s true gender, even he would have believed that Hua Xiaohua was a female! His voice was so high and piercing!

“Please, I can hear! So loud, so ear-shattering!” Yin Xiaoxiao muttered in complaint.

Hua Xiaohua nevertheless asked again, “Why are you here?!”

“…The mountain was too boring, so I left to go for a walk.” Yin Xiaoxiao lied, under great pressure ⁸ .

“You still aren’t an adult yet, Yin Xiaoxiao! Didn’t I tell you years ago that you cannot leave the mountain?” Hua Xiaohua was being driven insane. Yin Xiaoxiao was barely how old this year?! A little more than twelve years! Not twenty two! Not thirty two!

“I know I’m not an adult!” Yin Xiaoxiao innocently looked at Hua Xiaohua. “Although I’m not fully grown, Heitan is an adult! If Heitan accompanies me, will you still be worried?”

To the side, Mo Laoda and Yin Dabai silently looked at each other.

“That’s also out of the question!” Hua Xiaohua vetoed without hesitation. So what if Laoda was Clan Head?! Daring to lead astray his own son was out of the question! Not negotiable!

“Did something happen?” Yin Dabai asked, seriously.

“Why would something have happened?!” Yin Xiaoxiao widened his eyes and looked at Yin Dabai. “Dad, surely you don’t believe that I also should have come out!”

Yin Dabai looked at Yin Xiaoxiao without speaking.

Standing to the side, Mo Laoda eventually spoke, “A snake found a strange creature to the west of the mountain. Yin Xiaoxiao and I, and also Mo Dayi, are going to go there and take a look – Mo Dayi is slithering too slowly and is behind, still catching up to us.”

T/N:

Footnotes

<ol>肝胆欲裂: liver and gallbladder wants to split 脑子一根筋: used to refer to someone who is stubborn, inflexible and a bit obsessive 呼风唤雨: to call the wind and rain; metaphor for having great power; is also used as a metaphor for causing troubles for personal reasons 怨念: often used online by anime fans to express their distress and depression; also used to describe having too many feelings or passions which can cause mental health issues added for clarity added for clarity sentence restructured for clarity 毫无压力: completely lacking pressure; nowadays means its opposite: to do something under great stress</ol>