Back in her room, Yu Mian sat on the sandalwood bed, elaborately carved with hundreds of birds. Its faint fragrance cleared her mind a little.
Floating Jade Palace had been built into the mountainside, and she hadn't explored the surrounding area. There probably wasn't a path down the mountain; even if there was, the forests were full of tigers and leopards. She might not escape their jaws alive.
If she wanted to descend the mountain and leave this damned place, she first needed to learn to fly using a magical artifact.
In the novel, disciples attended classes at Seeking Immortals Mountain to learn basic spells. Special instructors taught them there. It was also where the male and female leads came into contact.
The bonds of schoolmates.
But now Yu Mian wasn't sure whether her master would allow her to attend lessons.
Nor whether the woman would teach her any spells herself.
Yu Mian scratched her head and pulled out the ribbon holding her hair. Her long locks fell in disarray down her back.
She'd cross that bridge when she came to it. First, a bath!
Things couldn't get any worse anyway. At least she could die clean.
Having made up her mind, Yu Mian turned and pushed open the door, sneaking rather furtively toward the spring pools to the east, as Xiaolian had shown her.
She remembered that they were flowing geothermal springs, separated by screens and curtains. They'd seemed fairly private and safe.
Lifting the screen at the spring pool, she found a small pool about half the size of a basketball court. Special white-jade pebbles paved the ground around it and extended all the way to the bottom. Steam hovered over its surface.
Xiaolian had said none of the pools was deeper than six traditional feet, and near the edge the water was only four or five traditional feet deep—below Yu Mian's ribs when standing. She knew a little about swimming; she could certainly handle that.
Yu Mian caught the faint scent of sulfur from the water. The spring stirred and bubbled gently. She first reached in to test the temperature, making sure it wouldn't boil her alive.
Then she swiftly stripped off her clothes, dipped a toe into the water, and slowly lowered herself in while holding the pool's edge.
Warm spring water enveloped her. The currents flowing from below massaged her like an automatic spa, relaxing muscles that had been tense all day. Yu Mian coiled her long hair on top of her head.
There was no hair dryer here, and she didn't want to develop headaches when she was older.
She'd assumed the bottom of the spring would be scalding hot. Surprisingly, it was pleasantly cool and warm to the touch, like fine, smooth jade.
Yu Mian couldn't help treading on it a few more times. She lightly scratched it with her toes, testing this unfamiliar material, and when she was sure it was steady, bent her legs and settled into a half-seated, half-floating position.
Had Xiaolian remembered the depth incorrectly? It was clearly only fifty or sixty centimeters. How could it be that deep?
Relaxing in the comfortable surroundings, Yu Mian finally let herself unwind. First, she washed the mortal-world clothes she'd been wearing, then twisted them into a length of rope and used them to scrub her back.
As she scrubbed, goosebumps suddenly rose all over her back. Her previously relaxed pupils contracted sharply, and she looked left and right.
Someone was here?!
Impossible. Besides herself, were there even any living creatures in Floating Jade Palace?
Except that rotten woman.
But the woman had vanished ages ago. She'd probably completely forgotten the little disciple she'd forcibly abducted.
Even so, Yu Mian couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She decided not to soak any longer. She wrung out her old clothes, used them to wipe her upper body haphazardly until she was half dry, and prepared to climb out.
She braced her hands on the edge, planted a foot against the pool bottom, and pushed!
Water splashed noisily.
Her foot seemed to slip, and she almost smashed her chin against the edge.
No, that wasn't right. Her foot hadn't slipped!
The bottom of the pool had moved!
The instant the thought arose, the warm-jade surface beneath her feet began moving slowly, like a conveyor belt.
And she was the cargo on that belt.
What was happening?!
Yu Mian clung desperately to the side, trying not to put her weight on whatever was beneath her.
Seriously? She couldn't even take a bath without something strange happening?!
She pushed with all her might to get onto the edge, but something like a thick rope as wide as a water bucket coiled around her waist and lifted her bodily into the air!
What the—!
What was this?!!
Yu Mian looked down at the thing wrapped around her waist. It was covered in dense, finely arranged scales of dark emerald green, each overlapping the next to form a strikingly beautiful armor along its long, cylindrical body.
The thing was at least as thick as both her thighs pressed together, and in an instant it had lifted her high into the air.
It was a t-t-t… tail!
Yu Mian followed the thing downward with her gaze, into the depths of the pool. She bitterly regretted having suspected Xiaolian of misremembering the water's depth!
The pool really was that deep. She'd simply been standing on some monster's tail.
As her body was slowly turned around, Yu Mian found herself face to face with an enormous dark-emerald serpent that could swallow her whole in a single bite.
The giant snake's body was dark emerald, but even its eyes were entirely black as night, reflecting not a glimmer of light. It looked like a cold, merciless killer.
It was now coiled around the artificial rockery in the middle of the pool, studying this little white mouse with interest as if deciding where best to take its first bite.
Yu Mian wanted to cry. One glance was enough to turn her small face deathly pale. She was so terrified that her throat seemed to close up, leaving her unable to make a sound.
She covered her eyes with both hands. Only after a long while could she speak. “I… didn't mean to disturb your bath. Look, I'm skin and bones. Why not try the wild beasts on Floating Jade Mountain? They'd taste much better than me.”
“If that won't do, could you… fatten me up a little first?”
“My master is the lord of Floating Jade Mountain. If you eat me, who's going to look after the old lady?” Yu Mian racked her brains, desperately offering every bargaining chip she had in the hope of saving her life.
“Pfft…”
A familiar voice rang out. Never in her life had Yu Mian found that rotten woman's voice so delightful. She opened her eyes and looked around for her.
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“Master?!”
Yu Mian looked everywhere without seeing anyone. Instead, she noticed the enormous snake's head drawing closer and closer.
“Master, save me!” Yu Mian screamed at the top of her lungs, flailing her arms and legs like a captured pheasant. It was completely useless.
The serpent's eyes fixed on her as it came ever closer.
Was she really about to die?
To perish in a snake's jaws.
Well, perhaps that was still better than dying in the Myriad Demon Caverns.
With that thought, Yu Mian closed her eyes and stopped struggling.
“So Mian'er is already such a filial disciple that she's thought of attending to her master.” Sheng Qing's unmistakably cold, sinister voice rang out.
The enormous snake that had terrified her beyond measure was speaking in a voice that made her feel strangely safe. Yu Mian's eyes flew open to meet those emotionless serpentine pupils.
Master was a snake!
“M-Master, it's… it's you?” Yu Mian looked only once before instantly averting her gaze. It was terrifying. Utterly terrifying.
She finally understood why Xu Xian had been frightened to death by the White Snake Lady.
She'd nearly been scared to death herself.
Icy fingertips forcefully turned her averted head back. Yu Mian found herself facing her master in a half-human, half-serpent form like the legendary creators of humanity, Nüwa and Fuxi.
Her upper body was completely bare, except for scale-like patterns that extended gradually upward from her lower abdomen to her chest, becoming ordinary human flesh around the upper curve of her breasts.
Yu Mian finally understood why her master's eyes always looked so deep. Her pupils were darker and larger than those of an ordinary person, occupying more of the visible eye.
When those eyes rested on someone, it felt as though a cold-blooded giant beast had marked them for dismemberment and consumption at any moment.
