Chapter Eighty: Unexpected Blessings

Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou squeezed into the serpent’s lair, and had barely ventured forward when shouts echoed from outside the cave.

“Uncle Wu—Uncle Wu—who killed you!”

“Third Elder—Third Elder—what happened to you!”

“It must have been your Third Elder who killed my Uncle Wu…”

“Nonsense! Didn’t you see my Third Elder has already passed away? I’d say your Uncle Wu killed my Third Elder…”

“Your Third Elder killed my Uncle Wu…”

“Your Uncle Wu killed my Third Elder…”

“…”

Listening to the noisy quarrel outside, Xiao Ding guessed that it must be the disciples who fled last night when the giant serpent appeared. Now that daylight had come, they had quietly returned to investigate, only to discover that their elders were all dead. Judging by their voices, each sect seemed to have three or five disciples present.

“Oh, Elder! You died so unjustly! I will avenge you!”

“Oh, Uncle! You died without reason! I shall repay your grievance!”

“Brat, prepare to die! There’s not a single good soul in your Temple of Divine Fire!”

“Brat, who do you think you’re talking about? Your Lanbing Sect is full of scoundrels!”

“You’re talking nonsense! We’re not scoundrels…”

“Haha, so you admit you’re scoundrels…”

“Uh… what are you then?”

“We…”

As tempers flared, the argument turned into a brawl—clashing and shouting echoed through the air.

Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou crouched in the darkness of the serpent’s cave, quietly listening, amusement in their hearts. These two sects, after the leaders finished fighting, the disciples continued the brawl. No one bothered with the facts; a single disagreement led to fists flying. Was there not a single clear-minded person among them?

After some time, someone suddenly shouted, “Stop! Stop!”

“Why should we listen to you?”

“Do you not fear that all this commotion will rouse the giant serpent?”

Instantly, everyone ceased fighting and stared at the cave entrance.

After a while, someone whispered, “Could the serpent be asleep?”

“I doubt it. With such loud fighting, even if it were sleeping, it would surely be awakened.”

“Perhaps it was the serpent that killed our elders?”

“Nonsense. The wounds are clearly from blades and swords, not serpent bites.”

“That’s odd. Why hasn’t the serpent come out?”

“Do you want it to come out?”

“No, I’m just curious. Look, there are tracks in the snow here…”

“Hmm, it seems like traces of a serpent being dragged…”

“And here are remnants of a campfire…”

“Could someone else have been here…”

At that, everyone looked at each other in confusion. After examining the tracks in the snow again, they finally concluded: the giant serpent had been dragged away by someone, and their elders—uncles, brothers—were all killed by those who came afterward…

Xiao Ding thought to himself, at last you fools have figured it out. I was worried for you! Now that you’ve found the truth, hurry up and leave; my legs are numb from crouching.

The serpent cave was low and cramped, and Xiao Ding, being tall, found it extremely uncomfortable.

“Since someone else killed our elders, let’s join forces and go down the mountain to pursue the culprits. Dragging a giant serpent, they can’t have gotten far.”

“Yes, let’s hurry and chase them!”

“Not so fast. Look at this serpent cave—do you dare go inside and take a look?”

“Are you mad? What if there’s another serpent inside?”

“There shouldn’t be. If there were, it would have come out already.”

“Why bother entering the serpent cave? What good could be found inside?”

“You never know. My master once said that wherever there are exotic beasts, there are treasures. Except for rocks and snow, the only place for treasures here would be inside the cave…”

“Now that you mention it, I’m tempted!”

“Yes, even if there’s no treasure, finding a few serpent eggs would be valuable!”

“With such a giant serpent, the eggs must be enormous…”

“Who will go in first?”

“Since I suggested it, I’ll go first…”

A few of them started to crawl into the serpent cave.

Xiao Ding silently cursed his luck, thinking, why must you crawl into this serpent cave now!

With no other choice, Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou continued deeper into the cave, hunched over.

The farther into the serpent cave, the darker it became. Fortunately, Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou possessed night vision beyond ordinary people, able to make out their surroundings even in the darkness.

The cave gradually sloped downward, and after several yards, it widened, like the mouth of a trumpet—the farther they went, the more spacious it became. Before long, they could walk upright.

Advancing another two yards or so, the passage suddenly opened up into a wide underground chamber. Faint light seeped through cracks in the stone above, and Xiao Ding could hear the rushing sound of water ahead…

This place was truly a hidden world!

Xiao Ding was excited, and in the dim light, he suddenly caught sight of a massive serpent coiled behind a large stone, identical to the one they had encountered before.

At the same moment, Yue Yurou spotted the serpent, nearly screaming in fright. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth and pressed herself against Xiao Ding.

Xiao Ding was quite startled, halting in his tracks and staring intently at the serpent…

Now, with the serpent ahead and disciples of the Lanbing Sect and Temple of Divine Fire behind, what could they do?

Xiao Ding’s head spun, yet he noticed the serpent remained motionless. Logically, the serpent should have sensed their intrusion.

Strange! Could it be dead? Xiao Ding was puzzled, carefully inching forward two more steps. The serpent still did not move. Gathering his courage, he moved even closer; still, the serpent remained still.

At this point, Xiao Ding was less than ten feet from the serpent. If it suddenly attacked, neither he nor Yue Yurou could possibly escape.

But Xiao Ding was perplexed—why didn’t the serpent move?

He moved forward again, now only three feet away, and suddenly realized something was different about this serpent…

To confirm his suspicion, Xiao Ding quickly approached and examined it closely. As it turned out, this was no serpent—it was merely a shed skin, left behind when the serpent molted.

At that moment, voices echoed from the cave entrance; the others were drawing near.

With no time to spare, Xiao Ding pulled Yue Yurou into the opening of the shed skin.

“Wow! This cave is huge!”

“I told you, there might be treasures inside!”

“But I can’t see anything, it’s all so blurry.”

“We can search slowly, bit by bit…”

“I think I’ve found something. Look—what’s that?”

“Where? Let me see…”

“Oh my, isn’t that a serpent?”

“It is! Look, it’s moving! Run!”

Everyone saw the shed skin moving, mistaking it for the giant serpent. Terrified, they turned and fled toward the cave entrance, desperate not to be left behind and eaten.

Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou, hiding inside the shed skin, chuckled quietly. It was not the serpent moving, but themselves—they were deliberately frightening the others.

Once they were sure everyone had left, Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou crawled out from the shed skin. Using the faint light filtering through the cracks in the stone, they surveyed the cave.

On the far side, they found an underground river, its waters steaming—it was warm.

“It’s a hot spring!” Excited, the two made their way to the riverbank, finding the water shallow, merely a small stream.

Following the stream upstream, they rounded a bend, and the view opened up brightly.

The stream emerged from a stone chamber, whose interior was illuminated. Within, there was a small pool, and in the center of the pool, an island-like platform rose above the water, supporting a patch of plants adorned with tiny red blossoms.

“Centennial divine treasures?” Xiao Ding and Yue Yurou exchanged smiles, speaking in unison.

Xiao Ding thought, this is truly “planting flowers with intent, none bloom; planting willows by chance, their shade thrives.”

Indeed, it is so:

All the world desires without end, scheming and striving in vain.
But fate follows its own order; what is destined comes without haste.
In the end, contention yields nothing; the fisherman gains as the clam and snipe struggle.
Thus, let desire not rule your life—peace lies in accepting what comes, as it comes.