Chapter One: Chance Encounter

  A patch of yellow land, no grass grows, the sun-baked ground emits waves of heat.

  It's so desolate here that even birds don't want to fly over, let alone people.

  It was on such a desolate and barren land that a small figure appeared, walking forward with difficulty.

  Ye Yun wiped away her sweat, and the sweat on her hands evaporated instantly. Her dry lips cracked open, not even bleeding.

  If she doesn't find an oasis soon, she'll die of thirst here.

  Ye Yun felt deeply desperate, exhausted and parched, almost unable to hold on.

  No! No way! She absolutely can't die here!

  A green shadow appeared before his eyes.

  It's done, she's hallucinating now. Ye Yun rubbed her eyes, but the mirage of the oasis still existed.

  Never mind! Even if it's an illusion, she has to try again, this is her only hope in front of her now!

  A thread of desire for survival made her quicken her pace.

  The oasis in front of her was gradually becoming real, and a surge of hope rose up in Ye Yun's heart. Was it really?!

  I don't know where the strength came from, Ye Yun rushed over quickly, almost in one breath rushing into that thicket, and finally found a nearby small pool of water, which was still quite clear.

  Ye Yun knelt down excitedly and was about to take a sip when she heard the sound of some reptile spitting venom from above her head.

  Can't she just have a sip of water in peace?

  Water flowed slowly down her fingers, Ye Yun quickly turned around, and the bloody basin was already in front of her eyes.

  She dodged the snake's strike with her agile body, reached out and grasped the snake at its weakest point, seven inches from its head, and flung it away.

  The snake's body hung down and had already fainted.

  At this time, cutting out the snake's gallbladder and eating it would be a great tonic. However, Ye Yun was not interested in this.

  Just as she thought of pulling out the poisonous tooth and throwing it away, her stomach let out a fierce protest, Ye Yun swallowed hard, her mouth was so dry that there wasn't even any saliva left.

  The snake gallbladder is of no interest, but the snake meat is a delicious dish!

  Yè Yún looked around, found a relatively sharp stone, and was about to start roasting the snake meat when she discovered that this less-than-one-meter-long little snake was somewhat special. The snake's body sparkled as if it had golden powder on it, shining brightly, while its head was slightly rounded at the mouth. Upon closer inspection, it didn't look bad after all.

  Just as she was staring at it absent-mindedly, the snake's body suddenly moved.

  Ye Yun grasped it with a seven-inch grip, and her eyes emitted a hungry glow. "Don't worry, I'll roast you to perfection. I won't waste your beautiful body."

  "No! No! Don't kill me!" A voice cried out as the snake's body continued to struggle.

  "Huh?!" Ye Yun looked around in disbelief, but there was no one. Could it be that the sound came from the snake she had pinned to the ground? "Can you talk?"

  "I'm no ordinary snake, if you kill me, at most you can only eat a few bites of meat. If you don't kill me..." The snake stopped writhing, seemingly thinking about what kind of conditions could move Ye Yun.

  The snake can speak, this is quite strange, not killing it may be able to fulfill her wish and so on? Ye Yun's eyes rolled over, deliberately raised the stone and shouted: "Who will believe your nonsense, snakes can talk, you are a snake spirit. I'll kill you now, for the people's benefit!"

  Just as the stone was about to fall, the snake suddenly shouted: "I can fulfill one of your wishes. Any wish is possible!"

  That's exactly what she wanted to hear. A glint of sharpness flashed across Ye Yun's eyes, and her hand hesitated for a moment, seemingly hesitant: "Why should I believe you?"

  The snake saw Ye Yun having doubts and hurriedly made an effort to offer treasure: "The water you just wanted to drink, is actually poisonous."

  Ye Yun raised an eyebrow and glanced at the water pool beside her, "Is that so? How am I supposed to know you're not deceiving me?"

  "You don't believe me? Then throw this silver plate in and try it." The snake's mouth opened, spitting out a silver plate the size of a one-yuan coin, its surface translucent, but nothing special could be seen.

  "This is just something that was spat out from a snake's belly... Ye Yun looked at it with disgust, 'You actually still had something hidden in your stomach.'"

  "I told you I'm not an ordinary snake! Hurry up and throw the silver plate in, then you'll know I wasn't lying." The snake urged, being pressed on its vital spot, it had no strength at all, the feeling of being helpless was really unbearable.

  How dare you be arrogant when your life is in someone else's hands? Ye Yun glared at the snake, and it immediately shut up obediently, not daring to urge again.

  Ye Yun found a relatively hard tree leaf and gently lifted up the silver medal.

  Who knows if this snake's saliva is poisonous? What if she gets poisoned after skin contact?

  The snake looked at Ye Yun deeply, this girl still has a lot of heart.

  Ye Yun used a leaf to lift the silver plate and threw it into the water pool beside her. The silver plate fell into the water pool, and soon a piece of black foam floated up.

  Ye Yun's heart skipped a beat, this is even more toxic than sulfuric acid! Then she just stretched out her hand, why was her hand okay?

  The snake seemed to see through Ye Yun's thoughts and said, "Don't worry, from now on just don't touch anything sour and you'll be fine. When we get to a place with clean water, wash up thoroughly and the toxic components will be washed away."

  It turns out that this water will only react when it encounters acidic substances. The silver medal was actually corroded so thoroughly because it had been stained with the snake's stomach acid.

  If she had just drunk that water, the water and stomach acid in her stomach would have reacted, and now she would probably be a puddle of dead water.

  The snake carefully observed Ye Yun's expression, seeing her show a convinced look, and immediately made an effort to take credit: "If it wasn't for me reminding you just now, you would have been dead long ago!"

  Ye Yun's eyes dropped slightly, her gaze fixed on the snake, her tone light: "Oh? Is that so?"

  Her eyes were piercing, as if she could see through everything. The snake couldn't help but feel a little guilty, but he didn't want to admit it. "Of course! You see, you just wanted to drink water, and if it weren't for me, you would have swallowed it down already."

  "So you're saying you're still my lifesaver?" Ye Yun continued along her words.

  "That's right! Look at how you're treating your lifesaver now." The snake's voice was tinged with resentment, its eyes darting occasionally towards Ye Yun's hand that grasped it.

  How can you seize the seven inches of your lifesaver and want to make it into a roasted snake skewer to eat?

  Ye Yun smiled and looked at the snake's dejected expression (Hey! Are you sure it has an expression?): "You dare say that just now, before I was poisoned to death, you didn't want to bite me first and hide in your belly to slowly digest?"

  The snake's voice was trembling with a hint of weakness, "Absolutely, nothing like that happened..."

  How did she guess so accurately?

  "Anyway, I'll keep my promise to you and won't go back on it. As long as you don't kill me, I'll fulfill one of your wishes!"

  "Alright. Deal!" Ye Yun threw away the stone with one hand and released the snake from her grasp with the other.

  The snake suddenly gained strength, immediately raised its head and stared at Ye Yun with a suspicious look, "You just let me go like this? Aren't you afraid I'll change my mind and run away?"

  Run away?

  Ye Yun laughed, "You also know you can't beat me. Since you can talk, it means you've cultivated to a certain stage. As a creature like you, shouldn't you attach great importance to promises? If you want to achieve enlightenment, with this bad record, the Bodhisattva might not necessarily appear."