The man, shrouded in a detached coolness,
Entered as if it were a place devoid of life,
The noisy hall
Plunged into a sinister silence.
With a lift of his hand, the paper talisman on my lower abdomen took flight, igniting without flame.
It burned to ashes in an instant, and the oppressive weight on me
Seemed to unravel like threads being pulled apart.
The torturous, intense pain in my abdomen vanished then and there.
I jolted upright, my back drenched in sweat, as if I'd been fished out of a tank, "Is...is it you...weren't you..." thrown away?
It was too strange, I saw with my own eyes as he was locked in a Pagoda Tree Box.
And then cast into the bottomless depths of the mountain, how could this guy still... come out again...
My mother was more shocked than I was, stumbling back a step.
Her eyes rolled back, and she nearly fainted!!
"Audacious snake demon, daring to show your face, I shall act on heaven's behalf and mete out your punishment,"
the Old Taoist Nun bellowed, throwing a blood-red cinnabar talisman paper towards him, "Circle of Heaven and Earth, the Laws of Nine Chapters. As I write, all ghosts shall lie hidden."
With a casual flick of his sleeve, the talisman paper ignited again without flame.
And the flames from the paper spread to the Taoist robe.
The fire was fierce, causing the Old Taoist Nun to roll on the ground in fright, and only then was the fire extinguished.
Instead of capturing him, the Old Taoist Nun's own robe was all scorched.
She climbed up with a frightened and disheveled face, "You… who exactly are you… demon???"
The man's empty eyes carried a smile that was not quite a smile, wickedly smirking, "Demon? Which sect's disciple are you? Do you not even have this bit of knowledge? Didn't your master teach you to kneel when you see me?"
Though he spoke these words, his temper was extremely capricious.
No sooner had the Old Taoist Nun recognized him, she knelt trembling and started to apologize, "You... you are... the Snake Lord, forgive my ignorance... I apologize..."
She couldn't even finish her plea.
Blood suddenly spurted from the Old Taoist Nun's seven apertures.
The blood drained from her skin so quickly that her complexion turned frighteningly pale, like a layer of wall plaster.
She knelt there, as if turned into a zombie.
Three seconds later.
There was a "thud" of a loud sound.
The emaciated body of the Old Taoist Nun fell straight to the ground.
"Since you have so little knowledge, then off you go,"
the man vanished in the blink of an eye.
I stood there, stupefied.
This guy's temper was too erratic...
After a long while, my Second Uncle mustered the courage to approach and nudge the rigid body of the Old Taoist Nun on the ground, "Great... Master? Are you alright? Master... wake up... Su Wan is counting on you..."
"Chong Shun... it seems the master... has no breath left?" My Second Aunt walked over to check the Old Taoist Nun's breathing and then her whole arm started to tremble.
In the hall, sounds of sharp intakes of breath rose and fell.
The ghost python was truly cruel and powerful, even the highly skilled White Cloud Temple Master had fallen at the hands of the ghost python.
In the blink of an eye,
A small, colorful snake wriggled out from the nose of the Old Taoist Nun.
The snake, no larger than an earthworm, had dark green eyes filled with deep malice and ruthlessness.
Opening its fanged mouth, it fiercely struck at Second Aunt's finger, who luckily pulled her hand back in time.
But Second Aunt was still terrified.
With a scream,
She fell to the ground with a thud.
Second Uncle's glare hardened as he picked up a chair and smashed the snake dead on the spot.
The snake was left an unrecognizable mess of blood and gore.
"Mom, it's alright, the snake has been killed by me," Su Xiaomin pulled up my Second Aunt, leading her away to the side, away from the body of the Old Taoist Nun.
My mom also came to pull me aside, checking my forehead to feel my temperature, "Wanwan, that... that ghost python didn't do anything to you, did it?"