Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Vanishing of Fortune

Before long, the firewood was ready. The steward directed the servants to pile it at the cave mouth, and others stepped forward to scatter realgar powder across the entrance, sealing the snake den tightly, leaving only a narrow slit.

"Why leave a gap there? What if the snakes get out?" An Youyu had thought they were going to wipe them out in one stroke, so when he saw the opening, he wondered why they had left any escape at all. Wasn't that just letting the snakes flee?

The steward explained, "Young master, the gap is left so the snakes won't be driven to desperation. Though we have sealed the entrance with fire, we cannot be certain they will not choose to fight to the death. That is why we leave a slit. As long as one snake crawls out through it, we kill it. Only then can we be absolutely sure."

An Youyu thought it made some sense, but then he glanced at the ground. Just moments ago, when he had approached the cave mouth, several large snakes had been so frightened they had gone limp on the spot. Afterward, the servants rushed forward and hacked those snakes to pieces. The sight made him feel sick.

He was somewhat sensitive to the smell of blood. Alive, the snakes were one thing; they even seemed to give off a faint fragrance. But once killed, they released a strong, rank stench of snake. An Youyu pinched his nose and stepped back a few paces, then said to the steward, "Seal it up. Seal it completely. Leave not even a crack. Today I will wipe out every snake in that den, clear this mountain of its evil, and put an end to the danger forever."

The steward immediately felt that this was unwise and said, "Young master, this is dangerous. The most fearsome thing in a siege is a trapped beast. Cornered, it may go mad and often fight with several times its usual ferocity. Otherwise, it will only lead to needless harm."

"It's fine." An Youyu also felt the steward's words had merit, but he truly could not bear the bloody stench. Moreover, he remembered his own uncanny gift and was not afraid of the snakes escaping. Even if they did come out and meet him, wouldn't they still collapse in fear? So he said, "Just give the order. If anything happens, I'll bear it."

The steward's expression struggled for a moment before he forced himself to say, "Yes, young master. I'll see to it at once."

"Go on, then, go on." An Youyu waved him away impatiently.

There was no point in further persuasion. Things had already come to this, and since he said he would take responsibility, the servants only needed to do their work. In any case, their wages would not be docked.

The steward casually pointed to two men and said, "You two, seal up that gap."

"Yes, steward." The two answered, then fetched more firewood and directly blocked the slit, sprinkling realgar powder over it as well.

Seeing that everything was ready, and that all the servants stood armed with tools in tense formation around the area, the steward nodded and went to An Youyu. "Young master, all is ready."

An Youyu looked at the tall cave mouth, more than twenty feet high. It would be impossible to seal it entirely with so few men, but blocking the exit would do. Snakes crawl; they have no wings, so there was no way they could fly out, he thought to himself.

They say snakes fear realgar, and they had already scattered it over the wood. Feeling certain of success, he waved a hand and said, "Prepare the torches. I will set it alight myself."

A servant stepped forward and handed him a torch that had long been prepared.

An Youyu took the torch and looked at the snake den blocked by dry wood. He thought that if he killed all the snakes inside, he might be able to see Flower Maiden, and he would also allow the common folk below the mountain to come up and make a living freely. It would be a good deed benefiting both the state and the people, killing two birds with one stone.

Looking at the torch in his hand, he chose a place with plenty of kindling and tossed it in, shouting, "Kill the serpent demon and return this mountain to peace!"

As the torch fell into the heap of wood, and with the realgar mixed among the dry branches, a yellow smoke soon began to rise, part drifting into the cave and part billowing straight upward into the sky.

Inside the cave, the snakes suddenly began to panic. The scent of realgar slowed their movements and sent them crashing in every direction. Any crevice they found, they tried to force themselves into. Some were directly stupefied by the fumes and went limp on the ground.

Yet there were still some snakes, arrow swift in form, whose ferocity only increased. They slithered rapidly across the ground in an S-shaped pattern, and now and then one shot forth like a piercing arrow. These were also green bamboo vipers, but they were known for poison and speed. When their yang energy was stirred too strongly, they would be driven into a frenzy. They belonged to the same breed as Little Green, commonly called arrow snakes. One bite meant immediate death. At this moment, these arrow snakes mixed among the swarm were racing furiously toward the cave mouth.

An Youyu suddenly felt extremely irritable, as though his mind had gone hollow and he had lost something important. His thoughts seemed wrapped in a fog, and even his wits grew sluggish.

As the fire grew fiercer, the rock wall was coated in a thin layer of pale yellow ash, and the smoke thickened and thickened. Watching the crackling flames, An Youyu gradually began to drift, as if he could hear countless screams ringing in his ears.

Then came a sharp blast from within the fire.

The sound startled An Youyu back to himself. His eyes felt damp; when he rubbed them, his fingers came away wet. Then he sensed some strength drain from his body, as though something deeply important had vanished, yet he could not remember what it was.

Suddenly he felt mentally drained, strangely weary.

"Aah!"

From the snake den engulfed in flames, a swift arrow of a snake suddenly shot out and flew into the servants surrounding the mouth. It bit one of them hard in the neck. A piercing scream rang out, and panic broke among the crowd, waking An Youyu from his daze as well.

"Young master, this is dangerous. Leave at once!" The steward ran to An Youyu's side and seized him, trying to drag him away.

Swish, swish, swish.

Several more arrow-like snakes blasted out of the fire, biting a few more servants. Amid cries of agony, those servants staggered down to the ground and after a few convulsions lay still.

"No!" Seeing the men he had brought bitten to death, An Youyu's heart also lurched in panic. Though his mind was no longer clear, he still remembered the strangeness of his own power. He shouted, "Everyone, come close to me. Within three yards of me, no beast can keep its head up. Quickly!"

At this, the others rushed toward him in a scramble. Though no one had ever spoken of An Youyu's condition before, that did not mean they knew nothing of it; they had merely been forbidden to spread it around.

Seeing everyone gathered beside him, An Youyu felt somewhat relieved. But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw dozens more arrow-snakes burst from the flames. Again a chorus of screams rose up, and by then only a handful of the people gathered around him could still stand.

"Impossible." An Youyu froze. How could this be different? Why were the snakes attacking him now? Looking at the servants fallen on the ground, grief surged through him. "Impossible! How could this happen?"

The steward saw that things were going badly and felt An Youyu could no longer be relied upon. He grabbed him and tried to pull him away while shouting, "Everyone, protect the young master and run!"

Several men rushed to seize An Youyu, intending to drag him out.

At that moment, An Youyu somehow found a burst of strength and shook them off. Another arrow-like snake, accompanied by the whistle of wind, shot straight toward him. The servants nearby were bitten dead on the spot and collapsed to the ground, several snakes already crawling over their bodies.

"Young master, run!" By now, only the steward and An Youyu remained standing.

The steward knew a bit of martial skill, and by protecting both himself and An Youyu, he had managed not to be bitten to death like the others. He also knew that if they fled, they might survive, but that was not the best choice.

If An Youyu died here, then even if the rest lived and returned, they would still be executed by the An family. In these chaotic times, merely finding a way to survive was already fortunate enough. Lives were cheap, especially when one had a family to feed. Unless one was willing to abandon wife and children and run alone, there was only one choice: save An Youyu, or die with him.

No one knew where An Youyu found his strength. The steward had tugged at him countless times, yet could not budge him. An Youyu only stared at the blaze in disbelief, unable to understand why the uncanny power around him had vanished.

If he lost that mysterious aura, was he still himself? He found the idea almost impossible to accept.

Using sword qi to fly through the air, Wang Yuanfeng had hastened forward. Though he had lost the Little Reviving Pill and many flying arts could no longer be used, the pure sword qi alone had greatly increased his speed. Seeing the yellow smoke at the snake cave grow denser, he could already make out people lying on the ground from afar, and two figures struggling there. With his keen sight, he could tell one of them was An Youyu, and he silently cursed that he was too late. The fire had already spread to the surrounding mountain slopes; if it was not stopped, the entire mountain would burn.

Alarmed, he quickened his pace and shot forward like an arrow.

Wang Yuanfeng stood before the blaze, looking at the fire already crawling up the mountain. He prepared to cast the Water-Calling Dragon Art, but it did not respond. Only then did he realize that, without his inner elixir, he could not use the spell.

He then thought to summon rain through a ritual and call upon the Dragon King to extinguish the fire, but after sensing inwardly, his mind returned to his spiritual platform, where not a single water-associated deity could be found.

He sighed inwardly. The order of heaven and earth in this world was incomplete; there was not even a heavenly realm. Where, then, would there be a divine office in charge of rain? It was not like his previous life, where the Three Realms were properly ordered and complete; one only needed to know the rites and the method of summoning the gods.

At that moment, several snakes crawled toward Wang Yuanfeng. In his eyes flashed a thread of sword qi, and the snakes seemed to see something terrifying. They scattered in all directions, fleeing as though desperate to avoid him.

An Youyu, now shaken and mentally disordered, was babbling incoherently. Then he saw the snakes that had crawled near Wang Yuanfeng all flee at once, and his eyes instantly reddened. He broke free of the steward and lunged wildly at Wang Yuanfeng.

"You stole my power. It was you!" Seeing that phenomenon around Wang Yuanfeng, he knew it was the very same as his own. The moment his own power vanished, the same thing appeared there; it felt as if what had belonged to him had run off into another man's body. Running forward, he shouted, "Give me back my power!"

"Young master, heh, heh..." At that instant, the steward let his guard slip. Just as An Youyu broke free, he had only managed to cry out two words before a flying snake bit his throat. With two hoarse gasps, he fell dead on the ground.