Chapter 19

After escaping the sight of their ambushers, Cui Yu stopped pretending to be weak. She scooped up Li Jiangying and bolted forward at high speed. She wasn’t worried about Li Yueying falling behind. Even if the Moon Shadow Devil Venerable’s mind had regressed to that of a child, her body’s most fundamental abilities were still intact.

A gust of wind suddenly blew past. The masked Moon Shadow Devil Venerable rushed towards her Jiangying, unable to wait a moment longer.

A mere half-quarter-hour apart, and she already missed her desperately.

Caught off guard by the forceful impact, Li Jiangying nearly threw out her back. She gritted her teeth, clutching her chest, and groaned in pain, “You… be more… gentle.”

Li Yueying wrapped her arms around her waist and obediently responded, “Jiangying… I missed you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Just then, Cui Yu suddenly summoned a Demonic Beast that looked like a cross between a horse and a lion. Li Jiangying, having studied books for many days and expanded her knowledge, knew that this was called a Spirit Beast—or, if one wanted to emphasize the Devil Cultivator identity, a Devil Pet. However, most of the time, cultivators didn’t fuss over such minor distinctions in terminology.

Cui Yu’s beast had a gentle temperament. As it emerged from the pet bag, it snorted and rubbed its large head, ringed with a mane of fur around its neck, against its owner.

“Jiangying, come and ride. You’re a mortal, and Her Highness is still injured. To prevent any pursuers from behind catching up, it’s faster to ride a Demonic Beast.”

Seeing such a majestic yet gentle beast, Li Jiangying felt her heart itch with desire. She didn’t refuse much and was about to go over and try riding it.

But then, Li Yueying grabbed her waist again, refusing to let her go. “Jiangying can’t ride it!”

“Why?” Even though some time had passed since they first met, Li Jiangying still couldn’t fully understand the little madwoman’s train of thought.

Li Yueying clung to her, declaring self-righteously, “Jiangying can only ride me!”

Li Jiangying froze for a second, then began struggling madly. “You idiot!! Do you even know what you’re talking about?! Aaahhh!”

Li Yueying, utterly confident in her logic, declared, “Jiangying can only ride me!!! I’m faster than it!!!”

As she spoke, the little madwoman suddenly released Li Jiangying, threw herself onto the ground, and with a poof, transformed. The mask fell away, and shreds of clothing scattered everywhere…

Huge. An immensely huge, giant snake. Even bigger than the first time Li Jiangying had faced this serpent. The snake’s body was thicker than Li Jiangying’s waist; its length was beyond her estimation. The moment it appeared, it filled Li Jiangying’s entire field of vision.

Cui Yu’s Demonic Beast let out a terrified shriek, trembling all over, and collapsed to its knees with a thud.

Li Jiangying reached out a hand to calm her racing heart, shocked by the sudden appearance of the giant python. Then she clenched her fist, leaped up, and punched the snake on its neck, hard enough to make her own knuckles red. “Li! Yue! Ying! Change back right now! You’re too conspicuous!”

The original plan was to quickly shake off anyone who might be following, and also to avoid having passersby discover their identities on the way. Well, with a snake this huge, so much for hiding a damn thing!

The giant python’s colossal body slowly coiled and shifted. Its head, larger than Li Jiangying’s entire upper body, turned to face her. Its scarlet eyes were like two rubies embedded in a dark golden, beastly idol. Stared down by those eyes, Li Jiangying suddenly felt an inescapable sensation, as if there was nowhere left to run.

The snake demon suddenly opened its mouth, revealing a pink maw and snow-white, sharp fangs directly before Li Jiangying.

“Hsss! Hsss!” The forked tongue shot out like a whip, smack—! it lashed across Li Jiangying’s face. “Jiangying, I can carry you too!”

Li Jiangying slowly raised a hand and wiped the saliva off her face. Her eyes darkened. “I’m giving you one last chance. Change back.”

Li Yueying: “Hsss…” She emitted a sound of extreme, profound reluctance.

Li Jiangying had no choice but to sell herself out. “Change back! And I’ll hold you.”

Li Yueying: “Hsss! Wait! Even though Jiangying will favor another beast… if Jiangying says so… letting you ride another beast is… is not unacceptable!”

A moment later.

Li Jiangying folded her arms, urging impatiently, “Hurry up, we need to get out of here.”

Li Yueying said sheepishly, “I… I kinda…”

“Hm?”

“No… nothing. Jiangying, I’m changing now.”

“Wait!” Li Jiangying suddenly remembered something. She asked Cui Yu for a long robe and held it up with both hands, ready for action. “Alright, change.”

And so, with another poof, the giant python before them vanished without a trace. In its place appeared… a snake-headed, human-bodied monster.

Li Jiangying stared blankly at the creature before her. Thanks to her pre-set posture, her hands naturally lowered and draped the robe over the snake demon. Good, clothes were on. But… why was there still a long snake neck and a snake’s head attached to your shoulders?!

“Jiangying, hsss, hsss…” Li Yueying instinctively stretched her neck forward to nuzzle Li Jiangying’s cheek. Since her neck was exceptionally long right now, she could reach Jiangying just by standing still.

Li Jiangying watched helplessly as this snake-headed, human-bodied abomination tilted its head crookedly and gave her cheek a light rub. She opened her mouth, closed it again, repeated this several times, then suddenly took a deep, sharp breath. Her eyes rolled back, and she toppled backwards with a thud.

“Jiangying!”

“Miss Jiangying!”

A moment later, having been revived, Li Jiangying sat on the ground, hugging her knees, utterly despondent. She stretched out a hand to block Li Yueying from coming closer, her face turned away, refusing to let the snake-headed freak enter her sight.

“Change… if you can’t change back, don’t touch me!”

“But Jiangying, you’re touching me right now,” Li Yueying said, innocent and aggrieved.

Li Jiangying: “Just change!”

Poof…

Li Jiangying whipped her head back for a quick look and saw a snake-headed, snake-tailed, human-torso abomination. “Change!”

Blurb…

Li Jiangying looked back again, seeing a human-headed, human-torso, snake-tailed spirit. She furrowed her brow. “Continue.”

Boing…

Li Jiangying saw a monstrosity that was left side human, right side snake.

Her sanity plummeted. This scene was seared deep into Li Jiangying’s memory. She feared she would never be able to forget it in this life or the next. She finally couldn’t take it anymore. With a question carrying the spirit of a lifelong quest for truth, she asked, “How… exactly… do you manage to look like this?”

Li Yueying opened her mouth, about to whine that she didn’t know, when she saw her Jiangying let out a miserable cry, flip over, and collapse on the ground, twitching.

Li Yueying panicked. She tried to get closer to help her up, but Li Jiangying stretched out an arm to rigidly block her, shrieking piteously, “Don’t come any closer!!!”

Li Yueying was heartbroken. She had no idea the sight of her speaking with half a human face and half a snake face had inflicted such massive mental damage on this fragile mortal…

“Please… change back,” the fragile mortal finally managed to overcome that psychological hurdle. Exhausted, mind and body, Li Jiangying said weakly, “Be a snake. Just a snake, okay? And please… make it small. Please?”

“Mm! Jiangying, Jiangying, I’ve changed now!”

Li Jiangying looked towards the voice. Suddenly, she realized the abomination before her was gone. The long robe she’d just draped on it lay in a heap on the ground. The fabric suddenly bulged and moved. Following the motion, Li Jiangying saw a small black snake, as thin as a pinky finger, its eyes red, wriggling out from the pile of cloth.

She reached down, incredulous, and picked the little snake up by its tail. She held it up. “Li Yueying?”