A flicker of bewilderment lingered only for an instant in the Eldest Young Lady’s eyes.
“As long as we wake Mother,” she said, “we can figure everything out.”
“That’s true.”
The Little Snake Demon stepped aside, allowing Ren Tan to approach the bedside. She opened the wooden box and retrieved the Soul-Reviving Pill that the Ghost King had given them.
This pill contained pure medicinal power, which Yin Luan, Xiao Luo, and Lily—the three non-human spirits—could all sense.
But this time, none of them felt tempted to sneak a taste. Beyond the medicinal energy, the pill harbored a peculiar force that left an unsettling sensation.
According to the Ghost King’s description, the Soul-Reviving Pill was refined from dozens of rare herbs, several of which grew only in the Barbaric Wastes—ingredients even she found exceedingly difficult to obtain.
It was precisely because of these complex components that its effects were nothing short of miraculous.
Ren Tan gently pried open the lips of the woman on the bed, placed the pill inside, and pushed it down with a surge of inner energy.
Yin Luan, Xiao Luo, and Lily watched tensely, fearing the pill might prove ineffective.
Suddenly—
Ding—!
A shrill, piercing noise rang out in everyone’s minds, like someone scraping two pieces of metal relentlessly against their eardrums.
The sound grew louder and louder. Ren Tan and the others clutched their ears in agony, but Yin Luan merely frowned as she observed the woman on the bed.
After a while, the noise gradually faded. When everyone looked toward the bed, they saw no change in Mother Ren.
“It failed?”
Xiao Luo frowned.
They had risked everything to obtain this Soul-Reviving Pill. If it did nothing at all, they would be furious enough to spit blood.
“No,” Yin Luan shook her head. “It did work. Her soul is showing faint fluctuations, though they’re extremely weak. For someone of profound cultivation, their soul is unimaginably powerful. In theory, the difficulty of full recovery is far greater than for an ordinary person.”
In other words, it wasn’t that the Soul-Reviving Pill lacked potency; it was Mother Ren’s unique constitution that demanded more time to assess the results.
“As long as it’s working,” Xiao Luo breathed a sigh of relief, “let’s step out for now and give Ren Tan some private time alone with her.”
Though the Radish Spirit was the shortest among them, she was far more attuned to social cues and human emotions than the others, whose ample bosoms resembled apples, steamed buns, or even large melons.
The Eldest Young Lady disliked showing her vulnerable side in front of others. The best course now was to give her space.
Everyone offered a few words of comfort to the Eldest Young Lady before leaving the rest of the time to the mother and daughter.
~~~
After a long, arduous journey by boat and carriage, Little Snake had finally settled down in the village to rest and recuperate.
As temperatures rose, she adjusted her schedule—staying up late, rising early, and napping through the midday heat to avoid the sun’s fiercest rays.
There was no helping it; snakes feared the cold, but they also dreaded the sun!
In contrast, Xiao Luo and Lily thrived in this weather. Every day, they bounded about with boundless energy, rushing here and there on who-knows-what errands.
“So hot,” the Little Snake Demon groaned, sprawled in the shadow of the eaves, listlessly flicking her tongue. “Summer Solstice is still far off, and I can barely stand it already. How am I supposed to survive when it arrives?”
“Luo City is in the north,” Ah Man explained with a smile as she passed by the doorway, having overheard Little Snake’s muttering. “The summers there are much more bearable than here.”
Ever since leaving the Fisher Village with Ren Tan and the others, she had blossomed into a much more outgoing young woman. Part of it was seeing the vibrant world beyond her home; the rest came from finding a place where her skills truly mattered.
“That said, the weather has been unusually warm these past few days.” She glanced up at the cloudless blue sky blazing under the midday sun. “I suspect the Plum Rain Season is almost upon us.”
The Great Zhou Kingdom was a land of rivers and lakes. Every year around this time, ordinary folk lived in constant trepidation.
Floods were coming.
This year felt especially ominous. Winter had lingered late, and summer had arrived early, hinting at a particularly rainy season ahead.
According to the Eldest Young Lady’s plan, they would wait until the Flood Season passed before taking the waterways to the Royal Capital of Luo City for the Summer Festival.
“It won’t affect us here, will it?” Little Snake asked worriedly, listening to Ah Man’s description.
“We should be fine,” she replied. “Just keep an eye out for landslides or falling rocks, but since we don’t need to go hunting in the mountains, we usually avoid any real danger.”
“Oh…”
Yin Luan knew little of such matters.
In her previous life, she had never lived in rural areas. After reincarnating into this world, her path had taken her mostly through cities, where others handled her needs. She had experienced little of the common people’s hardships.
In truth, for the Great Zhou Kingdom at least, this world’s productive forces were not particularly advanced. Bustling cities with brick walls were still rare; most people lived in self-sufficient clusters of villages.
Fortunately, she was just a snake and didn’t need to ponder such complicated issues.
But that didn’t stop someone from dragging her off for some intensive “tutoring.”
“This is Elder Li. I’ve studied poetry and song, chess and calligraphy, painting and morals, etiquette and manners under him since I was little,” Eldest Young Lady Ren said as she introduced a teacher in his sixties, his hair and beard entirely white. “I don’t expect you to master it all. Just learn how a proper young lady should interact with others. Elder Li, thank you for your trouble!”
“You’re too kind, Eldest Young Lady Ren,” the elder replied, stroking his beard with utter confidence. “I can see Miss Yin has a keen aptitude. In less than a month, she’ll master the essentials of etiquette and become a true lady of refinement!”
“What are you doing? Why grab me like this? I’m perfectly proper! I tell everyone I’m a pure and innocent girl! No, I don’t want lessons…”
Her protests fell on deaf ears. Eldest Young Lady Ren was dead set on taming her friend’s wild streak.
Otherwise, once they reached the capital, what if the little snake demon couldn’t resist giving pretty girls a lick? It would spark an absolute disaster.
Luo Royal Capital was nothing like other places. No matter how powerful the little snake demon might be, she couldn’t possibly handle every situation.
The Demon Subduing Division, the Forbidden Martial Army, the Great Zhou Kingdom Royal Family, and all those hidden factions—they were no pushovers.
With everything reasonably arranged, the group each had their own tasks. Days passed in leisure, yet never without interest.
Boom—
A thunderclap roared, followed by fat raindrops pounding the earth, officially ushering in the rainy season.
Roads turned slick and treacherous; even the scouts rarely ventured out for intelligence. Everyone huddled indoors—some cracking melon seeds while hashing out plans, others sprawled on the floor as the teacher droned on about ladylike etiquette, again and again.
“E-Eldest Young Lady!”
A subordinate’s frantic voice shattered the rainy calm.
“O-Our batch of supplies was… was…”
“Calm down,” Ren Tan said with a frown. “Take it slow. What happened?”
“Our batch of supplies got robbed halfway there!”
“Robbed by who? I triple-checked the route—it should’ve been secure. Even my brothers couldn’t have spotted it that fast.”
“Not robbed by people,” the subordinate gulped, his voice tense. “By… a bunch of snakes!”
