Liao Tingyan had always been a heavy sleeper. Even after being transported to this fantastical world and witnessing two murder scenes, it didn't affect her ability to sleep soundly at night.
Around 3 AM, when she was in her deepest sleep, faint hissing sounds suddenly echoed in the room. The enormous Black Snake slithered over silently, coiling around her sleeping platform.
"Hssss—"
The massive black serpent hissed at the sleeping Liao Tingyan for a long while without getting any reaction. Its enormous snake head drew closer and closer until its sharp fangs gleamed coldly just above her cheek, yet she remained completely motionless.
Black Snake: "......" This wasn't right. Its presence was so strong—how could someone not wake up after all this time? No one could possibly be this unguarded. Was she unconscious?
Black Snake wasn't the brightest serpent. It wasn't even a demon beast—just an ordinary little snake that had once wandered into Three Sage Mountain and was near death when Sima Jiao found it during one of his waking periods. Out of sheer boredom, Sima Jiao had fed it a few drops of his blood, allowing it to survive here.
Originally, Black Snake had been a patterned snake no thicker than a finger and as long as an arm. But after Sima Jiao went mad a few times and harmed himself, the snake consumed some of his flesh and blood, gradually mutating. Its body grew increasingly larger, its beautiful patterns disappeared, and it became pitch black—darker than the darkest night.
There wasn't much to eat here. Though it wouldn't die, it always felt hungry. That afternoon, it had caught the scent of the bamboo nectar Liao Tingyan drank and became fixated on it. Now it had crept over quietly in the middle of the night, hoping to beg for some.
Its brain was too small to come up with any better ideas. After a long while, it finally extended its forked tongue and licked Liao Tingyan's hand—when it was truly starving in the past, it would suppress its fear and hesitantly crawl over to Sima Jiao's hand to lick it like this. Sima Jiao would then casually run his finger along its sharp fangs, piercing his skin to give it a few drops of blood to stave off its hunger.
Now, it was trying the same method on Liao Tingyan.
In her sleep, Liao Tingyan felt something wet on her hand and vaguely pushed it away. "Da Baobei, you stinky dog, stop licking! Go away!"
Her former roommate had once owned a dog named Da Baobei that loved to go crazy in the middle of the night, leaping onto the bed for a "Mount Tai body slam" and a "whirlwind face wash." But this time, what she pushed away wasn't something furry—it was cold and slippery.
Liao Tingyan opened her eyes to see a terrifying, gaping maw hovering above her head. The Black Snake's crimson eyes stared down at her without a trace of warmth, as if contemplating whether to swallow her whole starting from the head.
Liao Tingyan was instantly jolted awake, instinctively covering her mouth to stifle a scream. Her heart pounded like a drum, her scalp tingled—she was completely freaked out.
The giant snake, however, was delighted. And when it was happy, its mouth opened even wider, which only terrified Liao Tingyan more. Teeth! Your teeth! Don't come any closer! I can't breathe!
Lying frozen on the bed, Liao Tingyan nearly cried. Is this snake bro here for a midnight snack? Can't you pace yourself? There are only a hundred people here—if you eat one a day, you could stretch it out for three months. But if you eat three a day like this, you'll only last a month! However, she had misunderstood the Black Snake. The Black Snake didn't actually enjoy eating humans. Compared to Sima Jiao, the last descendant of the Fengshan Clan, the flesh and blood of others were like stones or wood to it—utterly unappetizing. It was just that Sima Jiao hated leaving corpses lying around and insisted it clean up the mess. Left with no choice, the snake had to act as a garbage disposal for the bodies.
Liao Tingyan was still going through the final flashbacks of her life. After what felt like ages, she had already revisited all twenty-something years of her existence, yet the giant snake still hadn't taken a bite.
So, snake buddy, are you going to eat or not?
The snake also wanted to ask: Friend, could you spare some food?
But it couldn't speak human language, nor was it clever enough to accurately convey its desire to mooch some snacks. Thus, the standoff between human and snake continued—lantern eyes staring into bulb eyes, both parties wide-eyed and unblinking for what seemed like forever, each feeling utterly exhausted and helpless.
Finally, the snake caught a faint scent and retrieved a bamboo tube from beneath Liao Tingyan's sleeping platform, placing it before her and wagging its tail at her.
This bamboo tube contained bamboo sap. Suddenly struck by inspiration, Liao Tingyan tentatively pulled out another tube of the liquid. This was the most common beverage in Clear Valley Heaven—as long as you had a section of Qingling bamboo, it would continuously produce sap. Since she quite liked the taste, she had stocked up on plenty of Qingling bamboo and, consequently, had ample reserves of bamboo sap.
The moment she produced the bamboo sap, the snake's tail-wagging intensified, even generating a whooshing sound from the speed.
But wait—snakes don't express happiness or excitement by wagging their tails, do they? This giant snake raised by the ancestor seemed a bit... dog-like?
To raise a massive serpent into something resembling a dog—truly, the ancestor was in a league of his own.
Snakes don't drink with their tongues. The snake plunged its entire head into the water, so Liao Tingyan thoughtfully swapped out the container for a larger basin. She sat back on the bed, listening to the Black Snake gulp down the bamboo sap with loud "glug-glug" sounds.
Holy moly, it seemed she had narrowly escaped death. Wiping her sweat, she lay back down.
From that day onward, for several nights in a row, the Black Snake would sneak over at midnight to beg for bamboo sap. Liao Tingyan left out a basin for it, pouring several tubes of sap into it before bed each night.
"Snake bro, let's make a deal. When you come at night, just help yourself without waking me up, okay?"
Snake bro couldn't understand such complex requests and continued doing things its own way, displaying impeccable manners by always waking its hostess to greet her before having its midnight snack.
Once again roused from sleep by the Black Snake, Liao Tingyan barely managed to crack one eye open, mumbled a vague acknowledgment, then turned over and went right back to sleep.
She hadn't left her quarters these past few days, peacefully staying put—napping in the afternoon, watching the sunset, fully embracing the vacation lifestyle—and hadn't interacted with anyone else. Thus, she remained unaware that in just these few short days, over twenty members of the hundred-woman group had already been eliminated.
The ancestor Sima Jiao was the type who would stir up trouble even if no one provoked him—especially when in a bad mood. Not to mention, some ambitious members of the hundred-woman group couldn't resist making moves, practically serving themselves up on a platter.
The fastest and most numerous eliminations came from the high-ranking disciples faction led by Yun Xiyue. As their leader, Yun Xiyue naturally was the first to go.
On the third day—unseen by Liao Tingyan—Yun Xiyue brought two junior sisters from her faction to the Central Tower to request an audience with the ancestor. Had Liao Tingyan witnessed this, she would have praised Yun Xiyue's courage in facing death head-on.
Sima Jiao granted them an audience.
"What are you here for?" he asked.Yun Xiyue lowered her head meekly and softly, saying, "This disciple has come to attend to the daily needs of the Grandmaster."
Sima Jiao walked toward her. His footsteps, like those of the Black Snake, made no sound. His wide robes trailed behind him like a serpent's tail, and his gaze was as cold as a snake's eyes.
Yun Xiyue tensed, struggling not to show any reaction. Sima Jiao slowly reached out toward her, his finger hovering just above her forehead before he asked again, "Why are you here?"
Unconsciously, Yun Xiyue opened her mouth and gave an entirely different answer: "I came to become the Grandmaster's concubine. I want to bear a child with the Sima bloodline. Once the Fengshan Clan's bloodline has another successor, we can trap and kill the Grandmaster, eliminating a great threat to Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Then, the palace where my Yun Clan resides can become the master of Gengchen Immortal Mansion..."
Her face twisted in horror as she tried to stop, but it was futile. Her body seemed to have a will of its own, spilling every hidden thought in her heart without reservation.
Sima Jiao listened to her words without the slightest surprise, his expression unchanged. He merely pointed at another woman and asked, "And you? Why are you here?"
That woman, too, was filled with fear and resistance, yet like Yun Xiyue, she couldn't control herself and revealed the truth—her purpose was nearly identical to Yun Xiyue's.
Yet another person blurted out uncontrollably, "I came to seize Yun Xiyue's opportunity, to give the Mo Clan a chance to establish another palace and surpass the Yun Clan."
Yun Xiyue glared at her with hatred. If she could move, she would have drawn her sword and killed this seemingly loyal follower on the spot.
"After all these years, they still haven't changed their pathetic tactics," Sima Jiao mocked, watching their expressions before bursting into laughter.
"The Sima Clan has only me left. If I die, Gengchen Immortal Mansion will fall with me. Palace Masters, lineage leaders—all of you, the entire Gengchen Immortal Mansion—will die with me. Do you understand?"
The three women trembled as if witnessing the terrifying future he described. But they never got to see it, for as soon as Sima Jiao finished laughing, he casually sent them to an early demise.
Three life-lanterns in the lamp pavilion extinguished at once, followed by several more under the heavy gazes of the onlookers.
"This soul has already dispersed," said a woman with a grim expression. Two of her disciples had just died—disciples she had painstakingly selected and nurtured!
She said bitterly, "The Grandmaster... Sima Jiao, does he truly have no restraint at all?!"
"Hmph, what restraint does he have left now? If he weren't still recovering and unable to leave Three Sage Mountain, he would probably..." The old man didn't finish, but everyone understood his unspoken words, and silence fell over them.
Liao Tingyan noticed the missing people when she went to fetch water. Living here required water, and within this grand palace, she had found only one source of running water where everyone drew from. Counting repeatedly, she realized over a dozen people were missing, sending a chill down her spine.
Aside from the two on the first day, she hadn't encountered any more murder scenes. She wasn't curious about this place, nor about the Grandmaster or the others—she was just here to enjoy a solitary vacation.
As it turned out, lacking curiosity was a good thing. Without realizing it, she had managed to survive several days."Why aren't you dead yet?" A somewhat familiar senior sister asked in surprise when she saw Liao Tingyan fetching water.
Though the words were unpleasant, it was rare for anyone to speak to her after several days, so Liao Tingyan still replied, "I'm ashamed to say I've been keeping a low profile, so I haven't encountered any dangers."
The senior sister gave her a disdainful glance, turned her head, and walked away, unwilling to engage further.
Fine. They were all so ambitious, of course they'd look down on a slacker like her.
Who cared about them anyway? She was going to keep lying low.
However, life was unpredictable. Even if a salted fish didn't want to flip over, there were always external forces that would make it flip.
That night, Liao Tingyan woke up. Not because of the Black Snake, but because of stomach pain. This feeling was all too familiar—menstrual cramps. Back in the modern world, she'd suffered from them too, sometimes so badly that without ibuprofen, she'd be completely incapacitated. She never thought that even after transmigrating, she'd still have to endure this pain—not only worse than before but without ibuprofen either. What utter bullshit.
Why would cultivators still have to deal with periods? And why would they hurt this much?
The pain was excruciating, as if an electric drill were relentlessly boring into her stomach, digging like a well.
Fortunately, the pain only lasted a short while before subsiding. Covered in cold sweat, Liao Tingyan sat up and realized she wasn't actually menstruating.
Were female cultivators' bodies this weird—just the pain without the blood? Full of questions but with no answers, she even began to wonder if she'd eaten something bad.
At the foot of a mountain not far from Three Sage Mountain, near Gengchen Immortal Mansion, a figure sat waiting in the shadows of the trees. But after a long wait with no movement, the figure snorted coldly. "No reaction to the summons, no messages sent—do you really think just because you've latched onto Gengchen Immortal Mansion's Patriarch, you can escape our control?"
"Fine. Let's see how much longer you can endure the Bone-Corroding Poison!"
Liao Tingyan, of course, knew nothing about this. Since the pain didn't persist, she dismissed it. Until three nights later, when her abdomen erupted in agony again—this time even worse than before. She barely lasted a moment before passing out from the pain.
Before losing consciousness, she thought, This is definitely not period cramps!
That night, the Black Snake came as usual for its drink, only to find Liao Tingyan collapsed on the ground, vomiting blood and unconscious.
Though not the brightest, the snake knew this wasn't normal. It nudged the barely breathing woman with its head, but there was no response. After hesitating and swaying its head, it finally coiled around the unconscious Liao Tingyan and slithered back to the Central Tower.
Sima Jiao sat on the highest floor of the Central Tower, gazing at the scattered lights in the distant mountains. Hearing movement behind him, he glanced back.
"Little beast, what have you brought back?"
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