The Three Clear Mountain, the most remarkable and beautiful peak in Jiangnan.
Walk westward for a hundred and twenty steps from the southern side of the mountain, pass through the bamboo, hear the sound of water, like the jingling of jade ornaments, joy fills the heart.
Chop down the bamboo to make way, below see a small pool, water still clear and cold.
Entirely stony at the bottom, near the shore, curled rocks rise to form islets, mounds, rocky peaks, and cliffs.
Green trees and verdant vines, tangled and swaying, unevenly scattered and brushed by.
Go further ahead, a mountain comes into view.
The mountain has a small opening, as if there is light shimmering through.
Enter through the opening, at first extremely narrow, just enough for a person to pass.
Continue for dozens of steps, suddenly it opens up, and inside dwells a snake, nine zhang and seven chi long…
Thereupon, he broke into a run.
On the way, he encountered a Taoist Temple, and he stopped.
"Save me, open the door!"
Chu Ning was knocking on the temple's doorbell made of iron.
He was just hiking to clear his mind, thinking that with the vastness of the Three Clear Mountain, there was no need to follow the well-developed tourist routes. Little did he expect to encounter a giant snake.
Along the way, he lost one of his shoes, his clothes were torn by brambles, and his cell phone—out of fright—had fallen the moment he saw the giant snake in the cave.
Finding a Taoist Temple after much difficulty, he immediately knocked on its door for help.
Long after, he finally heard some noise behind the door, and the large temple gate was pushed open, revealing a young Taoist acolyte at the entrance.
"Who are you?"
The acolyte had long hair, fastened upright with a Taoist hairpin and tied with a sky-blue headband, his eyes bright and spirited.
Chu Ning stepped toward the inside of the temple, but the acolyte gently pushed him back, and Chu Ning felt a tremendous force hitting him, causing him to stagger a few steps backward.
"Little Taoist, there's a huge snake behind me, let me in quickly so I can close the door and call the police."
Pushed over by the young acolyte, Chu Ning didn't think much of it, assuming he was just too exhausted from the long run to resist.
"There's no such giant snake."
"There really is, it's chasing right behind me…"
Chu Ning feared the acolyte wouldn't believe him and pointed to his clothes ripped by the mountain's brambles. He hadn't felt it before, but now that he stopped, he immediately felt a burning pain from the scratches on his skin.
"One must not make loud noises in front of the Taoist Temple gate; please leave quickly."
After the young acolyte finished speaking, he stepped back to close the door. Chu Ning put his hand up to block the door, now slightly angry, "How can you cultivators be so heartless, refusing to help those in danger?"
"There is no giant snake, stop causing trouble without reason."
"How can there not be?"
Chu Ning turned his head to look back, but to his surprise, he let out a gasp. The giant snake that had been on the mountain road behind him had disappeared.
"It couldn't have hidden itself, could it?"
While Chu Ning was muttering to himself, the acolyte suddenly slammed the door shut.
Chu Ning: …
About a minute later, the acolyte returned, reopened the door, and handed Chu Ning a magic peach.
"Eat this peach, then go back down the mountain the way you came."
Already tired from running, Chu Ning managed to say "thank you" before taking the peach and biting into it.
As the peach juice entered his mouth, accompanied by a sweet and syrupy essence, Chu Ning swore he had never tasted such a delicious peach in his life.
"Thank you, little Taoist, could I possibly have another to quench my thirst?"
After giving Chu Ning a deep look, the acolyte turned and walked back inside the temple. This time he didn't close the door, but Chu Ning did not take the opportunity to enter while the acolyte was away.
He guessed that the acolyte might not let him in because the masters of the Taoist Temple were not present, and perhaps the acolyte had been instructed not to allow strangers in.
Again, after about a minute, the acolyte returned with another peach, and Chu Ning thanked him once more. He ate more slowly this time.
After finishing the peach and looking at the firmly closed Taoist Temple gate, Chu Ning did not rest. For some reason, after eating the two peaches, he felt his strength had fully returned.
Although the acolyte had told him to go back the way he came, Chu Ning did not plan to descend the same way—what if the giant snake was waiting on that path?
Such a large snake was something he had never seen before in his life; it could have even become a spirit.
The Taoist Temple was situated midway up the mountain; Chu Ning chose to descend from the opposite side.
On the way down, Chu Ning's face was a picture of resignation.
By thirty, Chu Ning led his company to go public, achieving financial freedom. His days were spent checking stocks and hooking up with female internet celebrities.
The poor can only look on, but he could walk their walk.
Yet the more he played, the more he found it all dull.
Especially with those voluptuous top streamers—what the fans didn't know, he was all too aware, was all fake flattery and deception.
He started to grow tired of this corrupt lifestyle; life wasn't just about the women before his eyes, but also the countryside and scenic nature.
This time, seeking a new path, he wanted to experience the untouched beauty of the wilderness, never expecting to encounter a giant snake.
As it turned out, sticking to the mundane was reliable, playing the sophisticate carried risk.
After cautiously making his way for dozens of minutes, just as the farmlands at the bottom of the mountain came into view, Chu Ning let out a long sigh of relief.
But just then, a dark shadow flew out of the fields, a gaping maw coming straight for him.
"I really ****ed your mother******"
Chu Ning never imagined that the giant snake would be lying in ambush in the fields.
What grudge do I have with you?
I'm not Xu Xian, I never screwed you over.
In the last moments, knowing he couldn't run away, Chu Ning clenched his teeth and slid in a last desperate tackle.
And then, he died.
...
...
"Where am I?"
Chu Ning groggily opened his eyes, looked around, and inexplicably thought of those extremely shabby online images of old rural houses with a fridge.
The house made of yellow mud, a straw raincoat hanging on the wall, and to the left of the wall was a clay stove.
Bare poverty!
Chu Ning sniffed the musty smell coming from the blanket covering him.
Was I rescued by the villagers at the foot of the mountain and brought to their home?
In the next moment, a flood of information filled Chu Ning's mind, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
When he regained clarity, Chu Ning's expression was complex.
He hadn't died in the jaws of the snake, or perhaps he had died. Anyway, that wasn't important. What mattered was that he now found his soul transmigrated into the body of a fifteen-year-old boy.
The boy was also named Chu Ning.
An orphan.
His father had been a martial master and an arrest officer of Daning County.
Unfortunately, the boy's father hadn't been an arrest officer long and hadn't made much money before he drank too much at a floating brothel, tripped over his own feet, and drowned in the river.
Leaving behind him, his only son, and an elderly woman.
The elderly woman was his father's great-aunt who had raised his father, also an orphan. Once his father became a martial master and an arrest officer, he bought a house in town and brought his great-aunt there.
Since the boy's father died, and the boy himself was frail and frequently ill, although the great-aunt took care of him, being advanced in years, she couldn't do much work. Their home grew poorer daily, subsisting only on the savings the boy's father had left.
After five years of living off the savings, they were practically depleted, and life became harder. Then, drought struck, a lot of villagers' crops failed, food prices soared, and the family no longer had money to buy food.
The original Chu Ning had passed out from hunger, and that's when his soul was transmigrated.
Chu Ning got up from the bed and walked to the door, only to see the bare ground of the courtyard. The only spot of green was where a hunched figure was squatting down, pulling weeds.
For some reason, Chu Ning felt a pang in his heart.
In the modern world, you don't trample on the lawn to protect the grass.
But here, not trampling meant perhaps one day needing to pull grass to stave off hunger.
The bare ground wasn't devoid of grass; it was already eaten.
Perhaps hearing some noise, the bent figure turned her head, revealing a face marked by hardship and wrinkled from the sun, with greying hair and chapped lips. Yet in that moment, the old woman looked happy as she said, "Xiao Ning, you're awake".
"Mmm".
"You should go back to bed and rest a bit more. Once great-aunt finishes picking the weeds and cooks them, we can eat."
"Great-aunt, I don't want to eat grass."
The old woman paused, "Alright, great-aunt knows, next time I'll pick something different for Ning'er."