Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Later that evening, Lan Xiaohui heads into the forest to hunt the rank three demonic snake.

Several times, she comes across other creatures but dispatches them with her powerful martial arts techniques in less than five moves. They are not even capable of inflicting damage on her. Some of them don’t even try to bar her path, but flee instead, likely after sensing how charged with death her sword is.

In total, another four corpses now reside within my internal storage, bringing the total volume to near its total capacity: A fox, a wolf, and two more snakes.

It doesn’t surprise me that in this area there are more snakes than other demonic beasts — especially considering that this area is likely the territory of a rank three demonic snake. Perhaps these are its offspring, or it is the beginning of a demonic reptile society.

I don’t intend to allow such a society to exist near us for long.

It is also time to run some battle tests and experiment with the modified field around my internal vessel. There is also the prospect of absorbing the snake or refining it in my array, bringing me ever closer to my next improvement: the ability to hold multiple, autonomous streams of thought.

I look forward to returning to my roots.

“Lan Xiaohui, I must inform you of something,” I tell her after she stores her latest victim in my internal storage.

“What is it?” she asks, casting a glance about herself, then looking at the floor. I realize she is searching for tracks.

“First: what do you estimate your chances are of killing your target?” I ask.

Her brows furrow. “Either I kill it, or I don’t, no?”

I somewhat appreciate her honesty and simplicity. She is technically not wrong. Still, I had hoped to compare the result she expected with the result she would obtain, but perhaps I can rephrase the question later and ask her for an after-battle performance review.

“I have created a mnemonic device that will be helpful to you.”

Lan Xiaohui stops in her tracks and brings my hilt up into the air, and in front of her face. She stares into my black jade fuller with eyes that clearly glimmer with covetous hopes, but also curiosity. “Mnemonic?”

“A reference shortcut,” I tell her, but I can see in her eyes that my explanation does not help. Fine, I will try to explain it plainly. I don’t need her to understand it, anyway. “It is a system command. If you speak the word Lily and think of what it reminds you of, I can prove to be of greater assistance to you.”

She nibbles on her lower lip and nods slowly. “Like a martial art technique? I just have to say it?”

Sure.

“Yes.”

She does not seem entirely convinced but nods again. “If things don’t go well, I will try it.”

I wonder if I should inform her that if things had not gone well so far, that trying again and hoping for a different outcome is borderline insanity, but that would be pointless. With her words, she acknowledges that she will attempt to use the mnemonic device that activates my modifications if things don’t go her way — which I am certain they won’t.

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My objective is accomplished.

After searching for another hour, in the dark, we come across a pile of discarded snake skin. Lan Xiaohui, at first thinking it was the snake, approaches it carefully, but then recognizes it for what it is and pokes it with my tip.

This snakeskin suggests that it came from a snake that was much larger than the ones we came across previously, and Lan Xiaohui triumphantly points me at a region where the skin is missing. I understand that this is part of the wound the snake sustained in combat against Lan Xiaohui and, though I understand her excitement, I cannot agree that this is cause for celebration. Shedding the skin is part of a snake’s healing process.

Whatever advantage Lan Xiaohui thinks she has in this upcoming fight may no longer exist.

Even in the event of failure and total collapse of Lan Xiaohui’s internal life support systems, I have made it further into the forest, and my chances of evolving into the perfect tool I am meant to be is significantly higher.

Naturally, I would like to avoid having to change owners, but I must consider the possibilities of the potential outcomes.

Furthermore, Lan Xiaohui possesses intelligence and knowledge — not to mention communication skills — that other creatures here simply do not. She has advantages that far outweigh her disadvantages.

In a turn of events that is unexpected to no one except to Lan Xiaohui, it is not she that finds the snake, but the snake that finds her.

For a brief moment, I become aware of a creature that flits through my sixty step sphere of perception, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye. Even if I wanted to warn Lan Xiaohui, I would not be able to transmit the words in time.

But I do have time to make a mental note to research alternatives to telepathic communication or improvements that would allow instant communication — within the speed of light limits of the universe.

What is unexpected is that Lan Xiaohui’s body reacts to the danger in a fraction of time that even I cannot measure. Fifty milliseconds? Forty? It is fast.

She positions me between herself and the large projectile — which turns out to be the overgrown reptile — and the impact diffuses through my blade in a shock wave that causes my metal to sing.

Somehow, Lan Xiaohui manages to keep her grasp on me, even though the blow propels her several steps backward, her flight only arrested by the sudden and unfortunate barrier of a large tree.

She slides off the trunk and falls to her knees, coughing out a mouthful of blood. Internal damage. Even though she blocked the blow, she still sustained injuries. This was the danger of fighting something that was so clearly outside of one’s realm.

The snake in question, even with only the front half of its body lifted off the ground was as tall Lan Xiaohui. Its four primary fangs glimmered in the moonlight, possessing the sort of refractive properties of crystalline structure — like a diamond. Its body was a pure white, and its diamond-pattern camouflage contained many profound principles of the Dao, like the four words inscribed on my fuller.

If this snake was one of the weaker creatures that were chased out of the inner regions, then I worry what kind of power awaits us deeper.

The snake is in the Early stage of Foundation Establishment, but its body cultivation is obviously deep — even if I cannot measure it directly.

Lan Xiaohui climbs to her feet, and grips me tighter, lowering into a combat stance. This is the first time I see her assume a proper fighting stance.

The snake approaches to a point, and then waits. A smart decision on its part. It is clearly not new to battles. Even more alarmingly, I cannot read its surface thoughts — I see only small glimpses of intent with no certainty.

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