Chapter 4: Snake Eggs

  At this time, others flew over and asked Zhang if anything had happened. Zhang was worried that explaining too much would delay things, so he directly opened the seal and led everyone into the cave to see for themselves. As soon as they entered the cave, Zhen Tian Daoist had already escaped from the mountain cave with Zhen Yi, who had been transformed from the beast-refining cauldron. He ordered the people behind Zhang: "Prepare the spiritual water." The people obeyed and ran further outside. In an instant, Zhen Tian Daoist took his disciples and Zhen Yi away from the Ten Thousand Beast Cave.

  In just a short while, Zhang Po was busy running back and forth, worried about the injury of his master Zhen Yi. He wanted to go visit him, but he didn't even know what spiritual water was, let alone where the healing place was located. Standing still in the cave for half a day, he felt that he was really useless, and just as he was secretly regretting it, the weak white light over ten feet long suddenly flashed through his mind. Master Zhen Yi had been there before, and the giant snake should be dead by now. Going to take a look would be better than standing around idly.

  Made up his mind, Zhang Pa returned to the Lianhua Ding Mountain Cave. After entering, it was the same as before, except for a weak white light of about one meter, it was pitch black. Zhang Pa was cautious and released a fireball towards the white light, only to hear a "puff" sound, the red light flashed and disappeared immediately, the fireball went out, and the white light did not react. Zhang Pa was still worried and successively cast several attacking spells, but the white light remained motionless. Only then did Zhang Pa feel at ease, slowly and carefully approaching the white light.

  As he approached, the big snake had no wounds on its body, its eyes were wide open, as if it was still alive. Zhang Pa was frightened and scurried back to the entrance of the cave, but the big snake did not react. Zhang Pa plucked up his courage and went forward again in front of the big snake.

  The waist of the water bucket was thick and thin, with a body length of over ten feet. Zhang Pa was amazed and wondered how much food it would take to grow so big. He patted the snake's body with his hand, feeling hard, solid, and cold. Curious, he took out his dagger and stabbed it several times, but the blade curled up, and the snake scales remained smooth without leaving any scratches. Zhang Pa was overjoyed, thinking that this must be a treasure, and if he made clothes from it, nothing in the world could kill him. Even in a battle against evil, he wouldn't be afraid. Zhang Pa danced with joy, but then became sad again, thinking that such a treasure would eventually be taken away by his master after he recovered from his injuries.

  Thinking like this, I lost interest in seeing any treasure and decided to leave the cave. As I turned around, I suddenly discovered a strange place - the snake's body was glowing, but only from the abdomen down, the head of the snake did not glow. So I turned my body over to take a closer look, it was strange, the scales were all the same, why was half of it glowing and the other half dull?

  He was puzzled, and the light more than ten feet away seemed to be moving slightly. This phenomenon scared Zhang Pa so much that he jumped back, thinking it might be a big snake coming back to life. He looked carefully again, but the light didn't move anymore. Zhang Pa told himself, "Curiosity kills, what if it's a ghost? I'd lose big time." Thinking this in his heart, he walked away with his feet.

  As he approached the entrance of the cave, a sudden "plop" sound came from behind him, followed by the rolling sound of beads. Zhang's mind only had one reflection: fake corpse! He let out a loud cry and tried to run, but found that his body couldn't move. Panicked, he shouted for help, but there was no one inside the cave, who could come to rescue? In the vast hall, Zhang shouted for help while blaming himself for being too curious and waiting for death.

  After shouting for half a day, the big snake didn't come to bite itself, but the sound of rolling beads kept rising, and the sound became more and more frequent, as if the beads were also increasing. Plucking up courage to turn around and look, I was startled again. The white light, which was over one zhang long, had mostly gathered into a spherical shape at this time, with only a small segment gradually shrinking. As the light band shrank, bright round balls would occasionally jump out and merge into the larger ball, emitting a tinkling sound.

  What is this?

  Zhang was extremely puzzled, suddenly feeling that someone was watching him. Following the gaze, oh my god, a transparent and lovely little snake floated in mid-air, its eyes staring at him with intense venom. Wasn't this the same snake he had fought with Zhen Yi Shu earlier? The only difference was that it was much darker now. Zhang scolded himself, why did he have to be so curious? Was he looking for death?

  The over-one-zhang-long white light finally disappeared and turned into a large cluster of even more crystal clear spheres. The cute little snake in the air shifted its gaze to the light ball, full of kindness and auspiciousness. Zhang Pa thought he had seen it wrong, how could such a ferocious monster have a gentle side?

  The lovely little snake lowered its body, lying on the large ball of light, turning round and round, wanting to cover the entire ball with its body. However, the little snake was too small and couldn't cover the ball. The little snake became anxious, saw Zhang Pa, opened its mouth and sucked, but Zhang Pa didn't move. The little snake was stunned, not expecting itself to be so weak. After adjusting its posture, it used all its strength to suck again, and finally, Zhang Pa was sucked over. The little snake threw him onto the ball of light, and only then did Zhang Pa realize that what he thought was a ball of light were actually many pigeon egg-sized snake eggs, each one crystal clear, shiny, round, and smooth.

  Zhang finally understood, the big snake was laying eggs. But how could a dead snake lay eggs?

  The little snake in the air threw Zhang Pa to the egg pile, strangely, the snake eggs were extremely hard and couldn't be crushed, most of the snake eggs were pressed under Zhang Pa's body, and he could even feel that the eggs were alive, with heat and pulsation. Zhang Pa smiled bitterly, the big snake was using himself as a hatching tool, amidst the fear in his mind, there was a hint of curiosity.

  The little snake wanted to do something, but the light on its body was getting dimmer and fainter, knowing that its lifespan was coming to an end. The small snake slid over each egg, sorrowfully stroking them with its light, knowing that these many eggs might die tomorrow or be taken away by humans to cultivate treasures, but it would ultimately be powerless. In despair, it looked at Zhang Pa with a pitiful gaze, as if begging for something, then turned its head to look at the crystal-like snake eggs, and a tear rolled down from its eyes. Suddenly, its dark body shattered into pieces, dispersing into tiny light spots that disappeared without a trace. In the air, only a transparent teardrop remained, slowly falling down.

  Zhang was shocked, he knew the small snake was the incarnation of the big snake's yuan Shen, but how could the yuan Shen shed tears? Zhang felt a pang in his heart and wanted to pick up the tear. He lifted his hand and found that he could move again, so he quickly got up and grasped the tear. The tear fell slowly, feeling icy cold on his skin, except for the coldness, it seemed like nothing, without any weight. Holding it up to his eyes to examine it carefully, it was neither stone nor jade, crystal clear and transparent. As he looked closer, a faint sadness flowed from his palm into his heart. Zhang knew that the big snake was mourning its child.

  Many snake eggs shone with a soft glow, quietly piled on the ground. Zhang Pa thought that perhaps his masters would discover them later and use them to refine magical treasures. He looked at the pearl tears in his hand, let out a long sigh, bent down to pick up the snake eggs. At this moment, he was no longer afraid, or rather, he was still afraid - he feared hurting the great snake.

  He first put the pearl tears into his bag, then one by one put the snake eggs into his bosom. He wanted to use his body temperature to hatch them. As for what to do after they hatched, he really didn't know.

  The snake's egg shone brighter than ever, and even after being tucked away, it still radiated a brilliant light through the clothes. What to do? What if the masters saw it? Zhang felt somewhat worried, and with a swift motion, he took out the pearl tears, small raindrop-shaped, and gently stroked them, instantly feeling a faint sorrow once again.

  His heart was slightly sentimental, but his mind suddenly rang out, and the "holes" in his body seemed to have a huge suction power, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy from outside. Zhang Pa had never experienced such a turbulent and surging spiritual energy rushing into his body along the meridians. Soon, his meridians were filled with spiritual energy, but the "holes" continued to absorb without stopping.

  His body was slowly swelling up, Zhang Pa's bitter smile, no way, being burst to death by the spiritual power, this way of dying is too legendary.

  Zhang Pa was unable to possess the legendary death method, and at the moment when the spiritual energy on his body was about to explode, a white light suddenly flashed from the Pearl Tears, sticking tightly to Zhang Pa's palm and absorbing the spiritual energy through the skin. With a place to vent the spiritual energy all over his body, it rushed towards his palm, and then transmitted into the Pearl Tears through his palm. As a result, his body wildly absorbed the spiritual energy, and the spiritual energy wildly surged into the Pearl Tears, turning Zhang Pa into a bridge, spanning between the spiritual energy and the Pearl Tears.

  After a short while, the pearl tears slowly stopped absorbing, and the external spiritual energy absorption also gradually weakened, finally stopping after filling his body. His body's meridians had expanded significantly after such a huge ordeal, barely considered a blessing in disguise for him.

  The spiritual energy stopped surging in, Zhang Pa let out a sigh of relief, it's great to be alive. He lowered his head to check his body and found that the snake eggs on him were no longer glowing. He took out a few and examined them carefully, they were still crystal clear and white, and when he checked with his spiritual sense, there was still a sign of life, only much weaker than before. Could it be because the spiritual energy had been transferred to Zhu Lei? However, the snake eggs losing their spiritual energy and no longer glowing made them easier to store, Zhang Pa felt that heaven was helping him, so he looked up and shouted, "Thank you, Heaven!" Then he returned to his hut.