Chapter 48: Snake Spirit (3)

But the next moment, the headache was like a tide that was about to drown me. Old Master Jiang looked at me, and the next moment, something was shoved into my mouth. It was a ball-like thing, with a sweet and bitter taste and a hint of mint. It wasn’t too bad.

I was about to chew it a few times and then swallow it, after all, I had a hundred and twenty-five percent confidence in the old man.

But I didn’t expect him to glare at me and yell, “You little glutton, do you want to swallow it all? Hold it under the tongue and wait for it to slowly dissolve, then slowly swallow it, and then sit down and rest.”

I almost swallowed the meatball in my mouth when he yelled at me, but luckily I coughed a few times to calm myself down, and then I obediently held the meatball under my tongue and sat down to rest. It was really exciting, sitting down to rest in front of a huge snake.

Seeing that I had done as he said, the old man ignored me and looked at the snake spirit. He spoke, and his voice was strange. It was not loud, but it was like thunder, and it was endless. The kind of power was terrifying.

“You left here because I sealed you, and you are here because of that.

It was such a simple sentence, but the words “how, how, how” kept going around in my ears… At least ten seconds passed before the voice gradually stopped.

I didn’t dare to feel the snake spirit’s specific emotions, but I could roughly feel the snake spirit’s heart-pounding, surprised feeling. I wanted to tell my master, but I found that he had already closed his eyes. Needless to say, it was obvious that he was communicating with the snake spirit himself.

I was furious and cursed him in my heart. He was obviously doing it himself and was having fun, but he was tormenting me, the poor little child. He was shameless, but I dared not say anything.

After a moment, the old man opened his eyes and continued, “You have sown the seeds of your own karma by being greedy here. When the day comes that this place suffers a disaster, can you avoid the consequences? Are you not afraid that the thunder will roll in? Are you not afraid that you will die and your efforts will come to nothing?”

When the old man said this, the snake spirit actually began to tremble. It suddenly began to nod its head, as if bowing to the old man, or as if begging for something. In short, I couldn’t specifically understand this emotion. I only knew that it was scared and seemed to be begging.

The old man was silent, closing his eyes, as if he was thinking or feeling. After a long time, he opened his eyes and said, “I will seal you, but the day of the thunder disaster, the day of the departure of the dragon, is not something I can control. The disaster of the day of the departure of the dragon is originally also determined by heaven. I hope you can control it as much as possible and spare the world from the disaster. But remember, you must not leave the snake spirit here. There are plenty of big rivers and streams. Even if it is more difficult, you should go there. I swear here that if you do not follow what I say, my seal will be completely invalid.

The snake spirit nodded repeatedly, as if agreeing with what the old man said.

I found it interesting. Even the soft meat was not so scared. It knew how to communicate with people. The big snake with a soul seemed not so scary.

After a while, the old man’s expression calmed down. He took out three incense sticks from his bag, lit them respectfully, and inserted them into the ground. Then he bowed respectfully a few times, and then looked at the snake spirit not far away and said loudly, “Enter the river to become a dragon, enter the sea to become a dragon. One day, you will surely achieve the right result.”

This was the first time, and then he repeated it eight more times, making a total of nine times.

I don’t know if it was my imagination, but I could see gratitude in the snake spirit’s originally cold eyes. Was it worth it to say such a few words? Anyway, I don’t understand the reason.

Next, the snake moved. As I expected, it easily pulled itself out of the ground. It was longer than I thought. I originally thought it would be about 7 or 8 meters long, but when it was fully out, I found that the snake was at least 10 meters long.

Everyone was a little scared, except for the old man Jiang and the old man Wu. At this time, the old man Wu spoke: “It’s going to move. Everyone, make a path and don’t disturb it.”

At this point, the old man Jiang and the old man Wu were undoubtedly the pillars of the community. As soon as the old man Wu finished speaking, everyone retreated to the sides.

The snake spirit slowly crawled out of the hole. The huge body undoubtedly gave people a suffocating pressure, but everyone was calm and watched it slowly crawl. When it reached the old man, it stopped and suddenly raised its upper body and opened its mouth wide.

I saw it and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Master!”

But the old man shook his head to indicate that it was alright. As a result, the snake spirit only nodded slightly to the old man, then lay down again and slowly crawled.

The strange thing was that it didn’t wander around at all, but crawled in the place circled by the curtain. I don’t know where I got the courage, but I slowly followed it, watching it climb down the small cliff and then disappear.

“It’s gone, Old Jiang. I can’t help with the rest. You’ll have to handle it yourself.” Old Wu suddenly said to my master as he watched the snake spirit crawl away.

“Hmm.” My master, who rarely did so, nodded solemnly to Old Wu, then took me and Su Rou’s hands and walked straight back.

At this time, the meatballs that my master had stuffed into my mouth had completely dissolved and I swallowed them with my saliva. Needless to say, the meatballs really worked. After a short while, my head stopped hurting. After a while, my head was surrounded by a cool and refreshing feeling, which was indescribably comfortable.

“Master, what did you just give me to eat? My head feels so much better now.” I was naturally eager to show my appreciation for the benefit, and I was also curious.

“You’re lucky. I only have a small bottle of the stuff you ate. It was made by a friend of mine… Anyway, it’s the best for clearing the mind. It’s not easy to find now because some of the best, vintage wild herbs are hard to find.” Old Master Jiang answered quickly, but he was a bit vague in the middle, but I didn’t care.

I just said, “Master, so you didn’t make it?” In fact, in my heart, old man Jiang was already omnipotent.

“There are different skills for different professions. Do you think I’m a god? I can’t match him in the art of making medicine. He’s the one who has the skill.” The old man was talking to himself at the end, and I didn’t care much about it. In short, I, a little kid, hated taking injections and even hated taking medicine.

Since I wasn’t interested, I didn’t ask, and the topic ended there. In the meantime, we walked back to the big pit, and Old Master Jiang stared at the stone gate of the big pit and didn’t say a word.

The crispy meat couldn’t stand the silence and went to bother Ding Xiaogong, asking him some strange things about snakes. I, as a disciple, of course, shouldn’t leave my master at this time.

But after all, I am a child, so after a few minutes of silence, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I didn’t care about interrupting my master’s thinking. I finally asked, “Master, why can’t you let us say that the snake spirit is a snake?”

“Humans are the most intelligent of all creatures, and naturally have the pride of the most intelligent of all creatures. Those who correct the way are most eager for a human seal of approval. If you say it is a snake, you have inadvertently sealed it as a snake. It will be difficult for it to become a dragon in this lifetime even if it practices diligently. If you say it is a snake in front of it, you will have violated its greatest taboo, and the anger it will feel will be unbearable for ordinary people.” Old Jiang looked at the stone gate and thought hard, but came up with no results. He simply gave me an answer to my question.

These are taboos. It would be good to know more about them. I study metaphysics, and I am destined to encounter many strange and weird things in the future. It would be good to take the time to tell me more about taboo things.

“So, Master, were you just trying to make it a dragon?” I was curious.

“Yes, but my sealing is only an external cause. It may be possible to become a dragon, but it is extremely difficult to become a dragon. In fact, ordinary people can also seal it, but the effect is far inferior to that of those of us who practice Taoism. Moreover, I have sealed it nine times, which is the greatest blessing I can give it. Whether it will become a dragon or not depends on it.” Old Jiang answered quite directly, and also made it clear that the path of cultivation is full of difficulties and dangers.

“Master, why is it buried in the ground? Won’t it suffocate?” I finally asked the question I was most curious about.