Legend of Fu Yao

Meng Fuyao flipped over and laid down by the pile of fire. Zhan Beiye waited until she was fast asleep before taking off his robe and carefully draping it over her.

Lord Yuan Bao carefully kept his four strands of hair that were wasted and held them in his palms. Sad and lonely, he sat on a stone and stared at the crescent moon. Moments later, he let out a long sigh, frustrated at the lack of proper communication.

“Squeak-”

The night darkened, and all the animals gradually fell asleep.

Ji Yu and ten elite warriors of Black Wind Horses slept in a semi-circle facing the thick forest, protecting Zhan Beiye and Meng Fuyao who laid in the center of the formation. Meng Fuyao slept on a bluestone, behind which was a pond, followed by a mountain that was almost impossible to climb over. Zhan Beiye specially picked this campsite, which was the safest as it could fend off enemies coming from three different directions.

After a day of intense trekking, everyone was overwhelmed with fatigue and fell into a deep slumber.

The crescent moon, which resembled a hook, projected a greenish-blue luster on the center of the pond. Ripples vaguely emerged, spreading out in waves.

The waves gradually became more violent, disrupting the pale reflection of the moon. Almost immediately, some objects – with shapes yet to be seen – slowly emerged from the pond.

Under the pale moonlight, in the pond where a cliff was near, an eerie shadow gradually rose.

From afar, the shadow seemed to have a body and a head, with four distinct limbs. Though the shadow silently rose, it kept squirming.

The moonlight projected the shadow on the cliff. That “thing” suddenly split apart bit by bit, and two particularly flexible “arms” continuously extended and contracted in a strange rhythm.

On the stone, Lord Yuan Bao flipped over, opened his eyes, sniffed his surroundings and suddenly sat up in a scurry.

He took a glance behind his back and what he saw made him jump in shock, leaping right into Meng Fuyao’s arms.

Meng Fuyao was having a good night’s sleep. In her dreams, she was happily slapping Zhangsun Wuji away, but Lord Yuan Bao’s actions woke her up from the dream. She instinctively sensed her surroundings. There was no sign of danger; there was only silence around her. She felt relieved and semi-consciously pushed Lord Yuan Bao away. “Sleep properly! Don’t fall all over me like that, we are of different genders!” she scolded.

Lord Yuan Bao was angered by her words, loudly squeaking as he jumped up and down, waking everyone up. On the opposite side, Zhan Beiye opened his eyes and reached for his sword that was used as a pillow. He jumped to his feet, and after surveying the surroundings, he frowned and said, “Rat, what’s the commotion about?”

Lord Yuan Bao pointed at the cliff profusely. When everyone looked over, they only saw a serene pond and a normal cliff.

“You had a nightmare, hadn’t you?” asked Meng Fuyao as she glanced sideways at Lord Yuan Bao. “If you want to sleep with me, just say it directly. Why put up such a show?”

Lord Yuan Bao was bitterly angry, once again pointing at the sky and profusely squeaking as he vowed for his innocence. Even though Meng Fuyao and Zhan Beiye teased the guinea pig, they knew that he was not just an ordinary guinea pig, and definitely would not put up such a midnight show just to sleep with Meng Fuyao.

Ji Yu and the other knights patrolled around the nearby forest, while Zhan Beiye and Meng Fuyao inspected their surroundings. Everyone sat back at their positions only after confirming that there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Meng Fuyao grabbed the dejected Lord Yuan Bao and lay him on her stomach. “Why, you had a nightmare just by sleeping on the stone? I will kindly sacrifice myself and act as a human sofa for you then,” She pressed Lord Yuan Bao down and said, “Sleep and make no more noise. We still have a long way to go.”

Zhan Beiye added some firewood, making the campfire burn even brighter. He took a meticulous look at the terrain, before lying down behind Meng Fuyao.

People who were tired fell asleep very quickly. Not long after, the forest quietened down once again. This time round, Lord Yuan Bao was covered by Zhan Beiye’s robe and pressed down by Meng Fuyao so he could not move. He refused to sleep as well, lifting his ears to listen to the surroundings with a bright sparkle in his eyes.

Under the moonlight, in the pond, the same uncanny shadow appeared again. Projected on the dark cliff, the shadow slightly wriggled around and some hair-like structures that were much thicker than hair slowly extended on the cliff.

That shadow steadily neared.

Lord Yuan Bao suddenly opened his mouth and bit Meng Fuyao’s belt. With a swing of his head, a screech sounded, and the belt was broken off.

Meng Fuyao jumped straight up and shouted, “Rat, what are you doing!”

Everyone was woken up once again. Meng Fuyao hurriedly tied her belt while surveying the surroundings. When she found out that there still wasn’t anything abnormal, she scolded, “Isn’t it just because I didn’t let you spell words earlier on? Is it even necessary to take your revenge in such a way?”

Lord Yuan Bao, tearful and grief-stricken, pounced on a stone and scowled at the cliff.

Zhan Beiye sat up and said, “Why is the rat making such a commotion? Now I feel uneasy. How about this, Fuyao you continue to rest, and I will guard for the rest of the night.”

Meng Fuyao yawned and said, “Let me do it since the rat is already intent on not letting me sleep,”

Ji Yu walked up and spoke. “Prince, my brothers who were on night duty, didn’t find anything. However, it’s best to be careful in this forest. You and Miss Meng should continue to sleep. I will bring the brothers to guard the night.”

Zhan Beiye hesitated, but he knew that if he stayed up, Meng Fuyao would not sleep as well. Given that both of them were already worn out from days of fighting and trekking, it would be even harder for them to face future dangers if they did not rest well. He gave in and said, “Then be careful.”

“Yes.”

Meng Fuyao and Zhan Beiye laid down once again. Afraid that Lord Yuan Bao would molest her once more, she placed him in a tree hole beside her and said, “I will let you out tomorrow morning.”

Lord Yuan Bao had been downgraded to the boy in “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Dejected, he knelt at the opening of the tree hole and looked at the moon. The opening was too small for his build to squeeze through so he could only stay in the tree hole. He watched the shadow rise up yet again, approaching the group even nearer than before.

Ji Yu led some of his subordinates to guard the group. Half of them sat facing the forest while the other half sat beside Zhan Beiye and Meng Fuyao. All of them had their backs facing the pond, with hawk-like eyes carefully inspecting their surroundings.

No one thought that there would be anything abnormal about the pond – it was a very small pond, with three sides of it being surrounded by cliffs. There was not even a speck of grass on the cliff that might have hinted of anything suspicious. The pond was crystal clear, and everyone had washed their faces or caught fishes in the pool beforehand. Hence, they knew that there would not be a problem.

Their attention had all been placed on the forest, which was most likely to contain danger.

That shadow crept up silently and had already reached the stone that Meng Fuyao was sleeping on. Slowly, it rose higher and higher, and nearer and nearer to Meng Fuyao. Moonlight shone from the side, but there was still no clue of the shadow’s physique.

Lord Yuan Bao squatted by the tree hole, a pair of onyx-like eyes carefully scrutinizing the shadow. Suddenly, he took a deep breath in and as his bloated stomach shrunk in an instant, he released a loud cry.

Under the moonlight in the tree hole, Lord Yuan Bao had used all of his strength to make such a move, but strangely, not a sound was heard.

That kind of sound was different from the guinea pig’s version of squeaks that he made on a normal day. It was something that humans could not hear.

It was a unique sound that belonged to a legendary centennial animal, with weird syllables and an innate power to control all of nature. The cry burst out from the throat, forcefully approaching the pond like a steel knife.

The foggy shadow quietened for a moment.

Suddenly, its physique appeared and erupted in all directions!

A Black Wind Horses warrior on duty who sat back facing, and was closest towards, the pond was inspecting the forest on the opposite side. Without warning, he felt something cold on his back, as though he had been splashed by pond water. Just as he was wondering how the pond water could have splashed without any notice, he felt something cold on the side of his face as well.

Something chilly and soft brushed past his face, making slithery noises. It licked his lips and wrapped itself around his neck.

The warrior quickly reacted, raising his hands to grab that thing and pulling it down in an instant. The thing split apart in his hands and a light-blue liquid splashed in all directions. The warrior was alert and avoided the liquid, lowering his head only to find half of the body of a grey snake and a flat snakehead. He heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Just a water snake.”

However, when his eyes darted to the object in his right hand, he was momentarily stunned.

It was still half of a snake’s body and a flat snakehead, but the tail was not what he expected.

A Double-Headed Snake!

Realization struck the warrior, and he knew that he had encountered the legendary Double-Headed Snake which resided in the thick forests of the Heaven Demon territory. According to legend, these snakes always appeared in a big group and had a strong sense of revenge. If one killed one of them, the entire group would slay one’s entire family.

The warrior looked back quickly and saw a group of snakes rubbing past each other and twisting together to form a human-like shape. However, the shape looked scattered as the snakes dispersed in a hurry. Only two huge snakes which acted as the “arms” bared their poisonous fangs, with ghostly- green snake eyes staring deadly at him.

As the warrior watched the snake, he instinctively wanted to stand up and slaughter the snake, but he suddenly felt that his head could no longer twist back.

Then, his neck, chest, arms, and legs…. Every muscle and bone in his body started to stiffen and bit by bit, his life slowly solidified.

In his last bits of consciousness, he vaguely recalled the snake kiss that licked his lips.

Silence ensued.

Moonlight shone on a stone, revealing a statue with the head forever frozen in the motion of looking back.

Meanwhile, when the snakes were forced to show their true physique – a result of Lord Yuan Bao’s cry – everyone woke up startled. Once Zhan Beiye opened his eyes, he immediately swept Meng Fuyao down the bluestone. In a swift turn, he grabbed his sword and chopped towards the pond as he turned back.

A jet of water splashed out of the water surface, dispersing about half of the snakes. The eerie human-like structure was only left with two “arms” and half a “head,” squirming in the pond under the pale moonlight.

The Black Wind Horses rushed forward and fell into formation, facing the pond. Zhan Beiye stared at the group of snakes and coldly commanded, “Since we have already killed one of them, kill the rest too. The lesser there are, the better it is!”

These warriors, who had heard of the legend, all understood what he meant and coldly nodded. Zhan Beiye then said, “This thing likes to form a human-like structure to attack from the top and bottom to catch humans unaware. Their bodies are tough yet slimy, and their movements are fast like the wind. Think of ways to disperse them!”

Meng Fuyao tumbled down and looked at the snakes that were fighting with the Black Wind Horses. There were so many snakes, and they were in such close proximity of each other, yet they were still very agile. The “hands” grabbed and the “heads” banged at the speed of wind, just like a real human in combat. From time to time, a snake would fly out like a hidden weapon, taking a venomous bite and contracting back in almost immediately.

Meng Fuyao could not help but be baffled. Thus, she exclaimed, “What is this thing? How did we not know of it even when they were so close to us?”

“This is the Double-Headed Snake which is said to be cursed by the witch of the Big Gun ¹ Clan. Their bodies turn foggy and are hard to detect before they are near humans. They like to attack in human-like structures and most of the time, people who meet them only have death as an option. Furthermore, if one of them is killed, it becomes very troublesome,” Zhan Beiye speedily replied. “The snake that we killed tonight is likely one of them.”