NOVEL WEB Ch. 6
Chapter 6: Severed Tail
“Shallow waters trap the Flood Dragon, once in a hundred years the wind rises and clouds surge.”
“These years, I have always pondered over this proverb. The more I thought about it, the more I felt sorry for you.”
“That Taoist’s words clearly meant that our small snake-hunting Hongjia Village had trapped you three siblings, these three Flood Dragons.”
Hong Wen disdainfully shook his head:
“Father, the Taoist’s words are just for listening. Do you really believe that?”
“In our Hongjia Village, snake hunters only believe in this,” Hong Wen pointed at his own fist, then at the snake fork: “and this.”
But Hong Tianfeng turned a deaf ear:
“Later, I kept thinking, how could I let you Flood Dragons enter the sea.”
“Gradually I figured it out. To walk out of Hongjia Village, to walk out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains outside Hongjia Village, Flood Dragons entering the sea—studying and earning a title through the examinations is the only path.”
Hong Tianfeng’s gaze at Hong Wen grew brighter:
“So no matter how bitter or tiring it is, your father will definitely support you in studying, send you out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains of Yongzhou!”
Hong Wen looked at Hong Tianfeng, deeply moved, but did not know what to say.
“Enough, let’s not talk about this anymore. Just take it as your father chatting idly with you.”
Hong Tianfeng waved his hand:
“It’s getting late. Let’s hurry down the mountain, don’t keep your mother waiting.”
“Mm.”
Hong Wen nodded, put away his snake fork, and was about to step down the mountain.
“Wait!”
At that moment, a strong and powerful hand blocked Hong Wen’s body—it was Hong Tianfeng.
“Father, what is it?”
Hong Wen was puzzled.
But he saw his father, Hong Tianfeng, frowning tightly, staring dead ahead at the pile of fallen leaves less than a zhang away from Hong Wen.
And there—that was exactly where Mo Lin, as a snake, was hiding!
Not good!
He was discovered!
“Shua!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Mo Lin turned and ran.
In an instant, a black-brown long snake darted out of the pile of fallen leaves in front of Hong Wen.
Hong Wen was a little surprised:
“Another snake!”
And it seemed it was not the same kind as the Banded Krait.
“Father, what kind of snake is this? Is it venomous? Is it about to shed its skin?”
Hong Tianfeng hesitated for a moment:
“It really is a snake about to shed.”
“It looks like a King Rat Snake, but its brown scales have a bit of a Grass Snake’s feeling.
Yet for a Grass Snake, its body is a bit too long.”
“And more importantly, its head seems triangular, somewhat with venomous snake traits.”
Hong Tianfeng was surprised:
“I have been a snake catcher for so many years, yet I’ve never seen such a strange one that combines so many snake features.”
Hong Wen grew anxious, stomping his foot:
“Father, then don’t worry about what it looks like. Catch it first, and we’ll know once we bring it back. If we delay, it’ll escape.”
Hong Tianfeng nodded:
“You’re right. Since we encountered a lone snake, there’s no reason to let it go.”
Saying so, the experienced snake catcher raised his snake fork and came toward Mo Lin.
Mo Lin grew anxious.
No matter how much his talent of growing stronger by devouring, at present, he was merely a snake that had only shed once.
If he wanted to escape from two snake hunters, he had to make use of the environment around him.
At this moment, Mo Lin’s past days of hunting snakes while observing the terrain finally paid off.
In his memory, right behind him in the grass was a rock crevice.
If he could reach it, his chances of survival would increase greatly.
Thus, Mo Lin appeared to flee in panic, but in truth already had a plan.
For the first-time snake hunter Hong Wen, his lack of experience made him fixate entirely on Mo Lin.
But his father Hong Tianfeng was different.
The veteran snake hunter, with his height advantage, instantly noticed the crevice not far away:
“Hong Wen, it’s going for the crevice! Don’t let it escape!”
Hearing this, Hong Wen, who was closer to Mo Lin, lifted his head, abandoned chasing Mo Lin, and rushed to the crevice in just a few strides, raising his snake fork.
At the same time, Mo Lin, swimming toward the crevice, saw the snake fork raised high above him, about to fall.
The rumbling vibrations on the ground showed that Hong Tianfeng was also rushing over.
If not now, when?
Mo Lin clenched his fangs, coiled his tail, and sprang toward Hong Wen’s face.
Hong Wen, holding the snake fork, never expected this snake to forsake the crevice and instead fight him head-on.
Lacking experience, his heart instinctively shrank back in fear.
In that moment of panic, Mo Lin’s body landed on Hong Wen’s neck.
Hong Wen could even feel the icy coldness of snake scales brushing against his neck.
“Hong Wen!”
Hong Tianfeng, arriving at his son’s side, saw that snake, resembling a venomous one, fall onto his son’s neck, and instantly his vision went dark.
If a venomous snake bit the leg, a snake catcher might still survive.
But if it bit his son’s neck and injected venom...
However, after Mo Lin landed on Hong Wen, he did not bite his neck as Hong Tianfeng feared.
Instead, taking advantage of the father and son’s panic, Mo Lin twisted his body, pushed off Hong Wen, and shot straight toward the crevice.
His goal was still the rock crevice behind Hong Wen!
With that sudden turn, half of Mo Lin’s body was already inside.
Just one more second, and he could escape whole!
At that moment, a snake fork landed precisely on the rear third of Mo Lin’s body, pinning him firmly in place, unable to move!
It was Hong Wen!
At the final moment, Hong Wen didn’t even have time to think.
His hands acted before his brain.
“Damn it, does Heaven not pity me?”
Mo Lin twisted frantically, trying to break free from the snake fork.
Recovering from the terror of almost losing his son, Hong Tianfeng was overjoyed:
“Hong Wen, I’ll help you!”
There was no time to struggle slowly!
If Hong Tianfeng’s snake fork pinned him too, he would truly die here!
At this thought, Mo Lin’s murderous intent flared.
Under the eyes of Hong Wen and Hong Tianfeng, the snake pinned by the tail suddenly twisted and forcefully snapped off his own tail!
Severing the tail to survive!
“Sluuurp!”
With immense will to live, Mo Lin sacrificed the rear half of his body, driving the majority of his form into the crevice.
This sudden move caught both Hong Wen and the seasoned Hong Tianfeng off guard.
They could only watch helplessly as the snake, missing half its tail, disappeared into the rock crevice.
“Father, when you and grandfather hunted snakes before, did you ever encounter something like this?”
The first-time snake hunter Hong Wen never imagined such a scene, looking to Hong Tianfeng for guidance.
But Hong Tianfeng first examined his son carefully.
Seeing no bite marks on him, he finally let out a breath of relief.
Then Hong Tianfeng frowned tightly:
“No. In all my years hunting snakes with your grandfather, we’ve never encountered such a thing.”
A snake that leapt onto a snake catcher’s body but didn’t bite, acted as if it had intelligence, and fled into a hole.
Not only that, but when pinned, it severed its own tail to survive.
Could such actions be from a mere snake?
Not to mention, its appearance—Hong Tianfeng had never seen its like.
Hong Wen glanced at the half tail left by Mo Lin at the crevice entrance:
“Father, what do we do now? Should we use frogs to lure it out?”
Hong Tianfeng pondered for a while:
“I feel this snake might have some intelligence. Using bait might not work.”
He pulled out some mugwort leaves, lit them at the crevice entrance, and let the smoke seep in:
“For now, let’s try smoking it out.”
Inside the crevice, the tailless Mo Lin soon smelled the smoke, his anger flaring:
“A mere snake catcher, how dare you bully me so?”
But unable to speak, Mo Lin could only flick his tongue angrily to express his dissatisfaction.
The situation was against him.
Injured, he could not linger in the smoke.
Forcing his half-broken body forward, he swam deeper into the crevice:
“Snake catchers, if I survive this calamity, I will repay it in full.”
Until now, though reborn as a snake, Mo Lin still held the mindset of being human, dreaming that one day he could regain human form.
But after this brush with death, Mo Lin finally realized completely.
Between himself and humans, a clear boundary had been drawn.
Humans, upon meeting him, only wished to kill him.
Mo Lin wholly discarded human thoughts:
“From this moment on, I, Mo Lin, can only live in this world as a snake.”