Starting Cultivation by Marrying the Weaver Girl

Chapter 13: Green Snake

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Before Lin Yao could react—

a gaping maw lunged at his face.

“Damn it!”

Instinct made him jerk back—

but his shattered leg refused to move.

“Can’t dodge this.”

As he braced for a final stand, the jaws froze mid-strike.

The massive serpent thrashed in the blood pool, wracked by unseen agony.

Its form shrank rapidly—

until a delicate woman stood in the crimson tide.

“Xiaoqing?”

Lin Yao studied her. Between the arhat’s warning and the serpent’s transformation,

this had to be the Green Snake from Legend of the White Snake.

“Sorry.”

She lifted her face—

expressionless, but her eyes churned with madness and lucidity.

“You’re Xiaoqing?”

At her name, the Green Snake lunged.

Lin Yao hadn’t expected such a violent reaction.

Her hand clamped around his throat, slamming him against the wall.

“Cough—”

Pain exploded through his back.

Xiaoqing leaned close, her grip tightening.

“How do you know me?”

Her voice was raw.

“The monk trapped me here too.”

Her fingers loosened. Lin Yao collapsed, gasping.

When he looked up, confusion flickered in her eyes.

“Monk? Fahai?”

He nodded.

A whip materialized in Xiaoqing’s hand as she lashed at the walls.

“Bald bastard! I’ll tear you apart!”

After minutes of frenzy, she stopped, panting.

“Where is this?”

“If you know me, you’ve heard of Leifeng Pagoda.”

She coiled her whip, calm returning. Her gaze dropped to his legs.

“Soak those in the blood pool. They’ll heal.”

Lin Yao blinked. He hadn’t expected kindness.

But in their current predicament, deception seemed pointless—

she could kill him easier than crushing an ant.

He submerged his legs—

white-hot pain nearly tore a scream from his throat.

Yet healing warmth followed.

“Tell me about the monk.”

[Translator: sauron05]

Lin Yao recounted recent events.

“All Six Transcendental Powers?”

Xiaoqing glanced at the dissolving arhat, restraining the urge to strike.

Had she known it was Fahai’s tool, she’d have destroyed it long ago.

“You reek of the Path of Beasts.”

Her sudden accusation sharpened the air.

“Path of Beasts?”

Lin Yao touched the ox hide beneath his clothes.

Before he could explain, she added:

“And divine power.”

Her eyes turned hostile.

Lin Yao knew her hatred for celestials.

“I’m just a mortal. Any power I have is accidental. I can’t explain.”

He held her gaze until she relented.

“Why would Fahai want a mortal?”

“He called me his holy disciple.”

Xiaoqing seized his wrist—

needles of pain shot up his arm.

“No Buddhist aura. That fraud wouldn’t take you without reason.”

“Meaning?”

Lin Yao recalled Lankā’s words before the lotus swallowed him.

“Your body holds future karma—like a Buddhist Response Body.”

Future karma? Because I’m from another world?

A murderous intent suddenly spiked.

“I should kill you now.”

Her whip grazed his cheek.

“Because I might become Fahai’s third body?”

Xiaoqing arched a brow, impressed by his calm.

“Yes. I won’t let him ascend.”

The whip coiled around his throat.

“Kill me, and you’re trapped here forever.”

As the leather tightened, Lin Yao’s hands shook.

Unlike the Weaver Girl, Xiaoqing had no reason to spare him.

Then—

the pressure eased.

“Why trust you?”

“You’ve been here long enough. Is Bai Suzhen alive?”

The whip fell away.

Xiaoqing studied him, an odd familiarity stirring.

He reminded her of that cowardly scholar—

yet different.

At least she didn’t despise this man.

“If Xu Xian had your spine, my sister might’ve lived.”

Bai Suzhen is dead?

Lin Yao’s stomach dropped.

“This world diverges more than I thought.”

Xiaoqing’s sense of recognition grew.

“Have we met?”

“Huh?”

Her question caught him off guard.

This was his first time inside the lotus—

why would she ask that?

“Never. The arhat told me about you and Bai Suzhen.”

He glanced past her, relieved the three-faced monster had dissolved.

Xiaoqing accepted the answer.

“How did Bai Suzhen die?”

Grief shadowed her face.

“Leifeng Pagoda is Fahai’s refining crucible—for an entire city.”

A bitter laugh escaped her.

“He came posing as a saint, offering salvation. The pagoda’s power suppressed us. By the time we realized his plan…”

Blood-tears streaked her cheeks.

“I couldn’t even gather her bones. Once, I nearly died breaking free—that’s when I met her.”

“Her?”

“An old woman. Said she once ruled Lankā Temple—the Black Mountain Demon.”

Lin Yao’s pulse quickened.

“Was there a fox spirit? A scholar?”

Xiaoqing recoiled at his intensity, then nodded.

“Nie Xiaoqian. And the scholar was Ning Caichen.”

(End of Chapter)