Chapter 231: Snake Woman

Chapter 231: Snake Woman

Upon hearing this, the Saintess rushed upstairs. Chu Ci, who didn't understand the Miao language, followed after Song Tingzhou explained it.

After a while, he came down and shook his head at Song Tingzhou, his hands moving fast: "It's not as bad as Lu Chuang's, but he's too old—there's no saving him."

Sure enough, before he even lowered his hands, cries of grief came from upstairs.

——

Two days later, Song Tingzhou's group picked up a new Saintess, and also Chi Yu, with bloodshot eyes but a determined look. However, Lu Chuang—whom Tao Ba had carried all the way to Chi Yu's village—was nowhere to be found. Like the old High Priest, he'd been left behind in these mountains for good.

"Sir, are we heading to that snake-raising Miao village next?" Tao Shiyi asked curiously.

Riding down the mountain to rejoin the main force, Song Tingzhou said in a deep voice from his horse: "Yes, we're going to check out the Miao's Gu arts and that murderous Saintess."

Tao Ba hesitated, about to suggest to Song Tingzhou: "Sir, how about we take a few guys and go, and you head back to the city to wait for our news?"

But he knew Song Tingzhou too well—it'd be pointless to argue. So he fell silent, mounted his horse, and rode beside Song Tingzhou, telling his younger brothers to put the lord's safety first.

Although the Miao people of Xiwu Prefecture lived scattered, most were near Deqing County. After the new Saintess removed the Gu worm from Lu Chuang's body—it came from a Miao branch that worshipped Nuwa—Chi Yu, the newly appointed priest, immediately knew roughly where they were.

Starting near the border of Deqing County, next to the villages by Jiangmen Prefecture, they asked around and finally determined where that Miao branch had settled.

They confirmed it because nearby villagers had also been bitten to death by poisonous snakes. But nobody suspected Gu was involved. Lingnan's mountain ranges were full of toxic miasma, so they figured those people were just unlucky to get snakebit.

Song Tingzhou led his men into the mountains. After crossing a dangerous cliff, they spotted bamboo houses scattered in the forest far off.

"Let's rest up; we'll slip in at dusk."

Just as the sun sank behind the mountain, the sound of a reed pipe and steady wooden drums came from the village clearing. Each beat seemed to send an ancient signal echoing through the forest.

The branches of the trees suddenly trembled, followed by short fluttering sounds. The flock of birds hidden in the trees was startled into fleeing, the beating of their wings perfectly blending with the drumbeats. A few swirling feathers drifted in the wind toward the ground.

Torches flickered to life in the Miao village like scattered sparks, soon merging into a bright patch. A graceful figure appeared on a tall platform made of old bamboo.

She wore a sleeveless black top and a matching short skirt that showed off her bronze waist, with silver bells on chains around her ankles, wrists, and waist.

The silver crown on her head was elaborate but had an exotic beauty. A coiled silver snake sat on top, with thick silver pendants hanging down to hide the upper half of her face. As she danced, the pendants scattered like fine stardust, occasionally flashing a pair of wild eyes that seemed to hold primal power.

She danced on the platform, while her people below sang and danced wildly. As the drums beat faster and faster, some people in the crowd suddenly froze, and then a thin black snake, as thick as a pinky, crawled out of their mouths.

The little black snakes slithered on their own toward the dancing Saintess, swaying their heads along with her dance, as if they were dancing too.

More and more Miao people below went still, and the Saintess grew covered in little black snakes. Far away, at a small burial mound in Chi Yu's village, another little black snake suddenly popped out.

But a circle of gray-white powder had been scattered around the mound. As soon as the little snake crawled out, it touched the powder. Within three seconds, it started rotting from its body outward to the head and tail, instantly turning into a puddle of blood.

At that moment, the Saintess of that Nuwa-worshipping Miao branch froze mid-dance, clutched her chest, and coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

The little snakes that touched the black blood licked it frantically, and the others swarmed toward it too. Even little snakes stained with the black blood were killed by other snakes.

Then, people below started dying instantly. From their bodies, another identical little snake crawled out and joined the swarm. Only when the blood was completely licked up did the agitated swarm settle down.

"I can feel that the servant who worshipped me is dead..." the Saintess said hoarsely from the platform. "I need more servants."

The crowd below started roaring in anger, like soulless beasts. Following the Saintess's orders, they shoved three people forward—two men and one woman—dressed in ordinary coarse cloth, probably ordinary folks who'd gotten lost in the mountains.

They knelt on the platform, forced to open their mouths. The Saintess made strange sounds, as if beckoning something. From deep in the forest, a giant python emerged—thicker than a man's waist and about thirty feet long.

The Saintess cut her wrist with a silver dagger, ignoring the agitated snakes, and collected her blood in a pottery jar the size of a human head. She stirred inside the jar with the dagger for a moment, then placed the jar before the giant python and made a respectful "please" gesture.

The giant python slithered toward the platform, making all the Miao people jump back. It extended its forked tongue, coiled around the entire jar, swallowed it without chewing, closed its eyes, and showed a satisfied, almost human expression.

Then it lazily spat out three little black snakes, each about the size of a thumb. The Saintess fed these three little snakes with her own blood, then made them crawl to the mouths of the three outsiders on the platform.

The three—old and young alike—were terrified out of their wits by this bizarre scene. They shook their heads frantically, but struggling was futile. The little snakes slowly crawled from their legs up to their chests, about to slip into their mouths at any moment. Suddenly, torches lit up all around the village, surrounding the entire stronghold.

The Saintess warily looked into the forest, raising her hand to drive all the little snakes into the hosts' bodies. But from the forest came the low, clear sound of a night flute. This drew the little snakes in a different direction, heading toward the trees.

The Gu-casting Saintess on the platform hardened her gaze and cut her wrist again, using her fresh blood to attract the little black snakes. But then thick white smoke rolled in from the forest, carrying a strong stench into the village. Not only did the little black snakes madly crawl toward the smoke, even the giant python became restless.

Seeing that the little black snakes raised with her heart's blood were about to leave for good, she finally hardened her heart and summoned the mother Gu from her people below.

Again, little black snakes crawled out of their mouths. The Miao people infected by the Gu worms all fell to the ground in pain, as if they had aged a decade in an instant.

"Now is the time!"

From a distance, Song Tingzhou and the others had been waiting for the mother Gu to emerge. Otherwise, all these lives would certainly die tonight.

Chu Ci and Chi Yu set fire to another pile of herbs. This time, the little black snakes hesitated no longer, like moths darting toward a flame, all recklessly plunging into the fire.

Xue Lang had already fearlessly charged into the village and was locked in battle with the giant python. He was indeed of the mountain demon bloodline; larger than an ordinary wolf and immune to Gu poison.

Other soldiers surrounded the area, each holding a strong bow, nocked with burning oil arrows, and shot at the giant python. Tao Shiyi led with a blade in hand, engaging the python in close combat, while Tao Shi rescued the three innocent civilians and had the Miao people on the ground bound.

Tao Ba stayed to guard Song Tingzhou. The Saintess on the platform had strange methods that demanded vigilance.

The Saintess from Chi Yu's tribe stepped forward, facing the snake-controlling Saintess with a face full of anger. The two Saintesses exchanged rapid words in the Miao tongue. Even though Song Tingzhou understood some of it, he couldn't follow clearly.

Behind them, Chu Ci and Chi Yu had already burned all the Gu snakes to death. Chi Yu ran over, shocked by what he heard of the two women's conversation. Knowing that Song Tingzhou understood some Miao, he acted as interpreter and briefly explained the situation.

Song Tingzhou's brow furrowed deeper. "You mean this Saintess named Feng She was forced to plant Gu by their High Priest?"

Chi Yu was equally stunned. "Yes, I heard from our village's High Priest that Feng She's branch is the most skilled at planting Gu. Some Gu have been cultivated for hundreds of years, passed down through generations. But not only their branch among the Miao practices Gu-casting. Everyone follows the tribal rules and rarely uses Gu lightly." He couldn't understand why the High Priest of Feng She's village would do such a thing.

Song Tingzhou hadn't expected such an answer. He asked, "Then where is the High Priest of their tribe now?"

Regardless, the Saintess Feng She was guilty of ordering Lu Chuang to kill many people. There might be "servants" like Lu Chuang in other villages. Today, both Feng She and the High Priest had to die.

Chi Yu looked warily at Feng She and asked her something in Miao. Under her silver crown, Feng She's eyes stared gloomily at Song Tingzhou and the surrounding soldiers. She smiled coldly for a moment, then said something, abruptly crouched on the platform, lifted a bamboo plank beneath her, and jumped down.

The platform was hollow underneath!

Chi Yu rushed over and suddenly realized, "That's a well below. No wonder—the wells in various Miao villages should be connected by underground rivers!"

Without waiting, he jumped down as well.

Song Tingzhou and the others quickly gathered around. Chu Ci was about to jump too, thinking that if Chi Yu was infected with Gu, he could at least use poison to suppress it and bring him back for Chi Die's treatment.

But Chi Die stopped him, gesturing frantically: "Don't jump! Chi Yu is the strongest warrior of our tribe. Without her giant snake, Feng She is no match for him!"

Her branch was the most militarily capable among all the Miao. Chi Die herself only knew how to neutralize Gu and treat illnesses; she was physically weak. But Chi Yu, trained as the next sacrificial priest, was the strongest fighter in their lineage and even among all the Miao. Feng She couldn't defeat him.

Indeed, within less than a quarter of an hour, Chi Yu dragged Feng She out of the well.

On the other side, more than a dozen soldiers were injured. The giant python was covered in cuts and wounds. Xue Lang seized the opportunity to pounce and bite its weak spot—the seventh segment—while the soldiers rushed in together.

Feng She, pinned down by Chi Yu, wept tears of blood and cried, "No!"

With a loud thud, the snake's head was chopped off by multiple blades, blood splattering across the entire square, and everyone's body was stained with a bit of snake blood.

The giant snake, headless, struggled on the ground for a while before twitching and gradually becoming still.

It was not yet dawn, and everyone began to clean up the battlefield. Chu Ci and Chi Die tended to the wounded.

Song Tingzhou walked towards Feng She with his blade, asking a few questions about the High Priest. Seeing that he could get no useful information from her, he ended her life swiftly and cleanly.

They rested on the spot until dawn, when the sky was barely light. Song Tingzhou took all the people of Feng She's Miao village back to the prefectural city. Except for a few elderly and children, almost all of them had been infected with gu by Feng She.

The entire village still hid many snake pits and gu insects refined by Feng She. If they hadn't acted decisively last night, confronting Feng She would have caused even more casualties.

Except for Chu Ci, who was very interested in two of the gu insects and wanted to keep them for study, all the other poisonous creatures were burned. To prevent any omissions, Song Tingzhou burned down the entire mountain village.

Despite their anger, the Miao people dared not speak out after their homeland was destroyed. They hated Song Tingzhou deeply, but were outnumbered and afraid to resist.

Song Tingzhou did not care what they thought; his concern was how to integrate the Miao people into Yu society.

Unlike the gentle and friendly Zhuang people, it would take who knows how long to gradually win them over willingly. The best course now was to compel them to work.

It would be better to find a piece of vacant land in the suburbs to build houses and reclaim land for them. The younger ones could even go to work at Wan'er's workshop.

However, the language barrier was currently the biggest problem. It seemed the Yao village matter would have to be put on hold for now, and a school should be established first.

Thus, traveling day and night, Song Tingzhou still had to ponder how to settle these Miao people along the way. He finally returned to the prefectural city by the end of April.

Hundreds of Miao people were still being held outside the city under guard by garrison troops. Song Tingzhou had no time to go home first; he led his men to the government office and ordered the officials below to allocate a piece of vacant land in the suburbs to these Miao people.

Baoxiu Mountain in the northern suburbs was suitable—the terrain was gentle, and after some leveling at the foot of the mountain, it could be directly paved with concrete. First, build a batch of thatched houses that could be quickly erected for them to live in. Later, the rest of the Miao people from Chi Yu's branch would also move near the prefectural city.

The total population of the Miao people in Xiwu Prefecture did not exceed five thousand, making them the smallest among the three ethnic groups—Zhuang, Yao, and Miao—and thus easier to arrange at any time.

Settling them in the suburbs had two advantages: first, they would be closer to the city and could more smoothly integrate into the ordinary people of Yu; second, it would also be convenient for Song Tingzhou to observe them.

After all, there was still a vicious High Priest whose whereabouts were unknown. But according to the information Chi Yu had gathered from these Miao people, that priest shared some similarities with the Strange Taoist that Meng Wan had once encountered, though it was still hard to tell whether they were the same person.

In the government office, led by Registrar Qiao, these Miao people were temporarily housed in nearby civilian homes for a few days, with expenses borne by the authorities.

The remaining miscellaneous matters no longer required Song Tingzhou's worry. Having not been home for nearly a month, after giving instructions on various official affairs, he immediately left with Chu Ci and the snow wolf to head home.

"Is Wan'er not at home?" "Mother, are you saying someone came looking for me, and then Wan'er followed that person to the Yao village?"