The Demon Lord and the Snake Demon

The Demon Lord and the Snake Demon

Jiang Cheng, a disciple of the Xukong Sect, was ordered to capture Liu Ruyan, the snake demon of Jishan,

but she ended up saving his life instead.

He betrayed his sect for her, and she gave up a thousand years of cultivation for him.

When the righteous and demonic factions surrounded Jishan,

he cradled her dying body in his arms, poisoned and smiling faintly:

"They say humans and demons can never be together. Then let's fall into hell together."

Dusk was red as blood, staining Jishan's layered peaks. Jiang Cheng stepped over dead branches and rotting leaves, moving soundlessly through the forest. The mountain wind carried a sickly-sweet stench that clung to his face. It was the distinctive scent of snakes, cold and damp, lingering deep in these mountains. A three-foot sword hung at his waist. Its scabbard was plain, but the hilt had been polished smooth by his palm. His sect had sent him to exterminate Liu Ruyan, the Jishan snake demon said to have devoured countless people. As a disciple of the Xukong Sect, he had always considered it his duty to slay demons and monsters. His heart should have been calm, yet the closer he came to the source of that scent, the more an inexplicable restlessness stirred in his veins, impossible to suppress.

The forest suddenly opened up, revealing a green pool surrounded by towering trees. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the last light of the day. A graceful figure reclined against a boulder beside the water. Her raven hair fell in a cascade over her shoulders, setting off a face so pale it was almost translucent. She wore a plain white dress, but below her waist it was not made of fabric: layer upon layer of fine, silvery-white scales stretched down from her waist, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the dusk. She lowered her head, gently twirling a little white flower of an unknown variety between her fingertips.

Jiang Cheng stopped, unconsciously tightening his grip on his sword. Was this Liu Ruyan? She was nothing like the hideous, fanged monster he had imagined. The demonic aura around her was pure and intense, without a trace of bloodshed. Instead, it held a lonely, frigid air. He steadied himself and spoke in a deep voice. "Demon, you've harmed living beings and brought chaos to Jishan. Today, I shall uphold heaven's justice..."

Before he could finish, Liu Ruyan slowly raised her head. Her eyes were deep as an ancient well, yet crystal clear, with a hint of weariness at being disturbed and a trace of amused appraisal. She didn't get up, only tilted her head slightly. Her voice was ethereal, like the coldest spring in a mountain stream. "Harmed living beings? Have you seen me hurt anyone?"

Jiang Cheng was taken aback. It was true: on his way here, he had sensed only demonic aura, not seen any corpses or felt any resentment from the dead. But he quickly dismissed his doubts. How could the sect have given him a false mission? "Stop making excuses! Demons are all vicious. Your very presence here is a threat!"

Liu Ruyan gave a soft laugh, full of mockery and desolation. She slowly straightened up, her silver scales shimmering in the dusk. "The Xukong Sect... What a grand reputation." She raised her hand, and a point of emerald light glowed faintly at her fingertip. "If you want to fight, then fight. Why make such self-righteous excuses?"

Jiang Cheng said no more and drew his sword. The blade rang as he infused it with his pure spiritual energy. Its cold gleam flashed like autumn water as he thrust straight for Liu Ruyan's throat. She blurred and left behind only an afterimage, easily evading his fierce strike. She didn't counterattack, merely circled him, her movements elusive and strange, like a fish in water or willow fluff in the wind. Jiang Cheng's swordplay was fierce, one move following another, a web of blades filling the air, yet he couldn't even graze the hem of her dress.

This demon was incredibly fast! Jiang Cheng was secretly astonished and drove his spiritual energy harder. But just as he was giving it his all, his foot suddenly caught on something. It felt like he had stepped into something fine and tough. He looked down and saw several nearly transparent spiderweb strands wrapped around his ankle, anchored firmly to the ground. A rush of wind sounded overhead, and a sticky net dropped over him, coated in a strange paralytic toxin.

He had fallen into a trap! Someone had set an ambush by the pool! Jiang Cheng struggled with all his might, but his spiritual energy had become difficult to control, and the threads tightened around him. Liu Ruyan also stopped moving and watched him from a distance, her brow furrowed, seemingly just as surprised by the sudden turn of events.

"A little Xukong Sect cultivator, and that's all you've got?" said a sinister voice. Three gray-robed cultivators emerged from the forest. Their faces were gaunt, but their eyes were as sharp as hawks'. "We've been tracking this snake demon for days. You saved us the trouble of catching you. Once we've taken her core, we'll deal with you."

Liu Ruyan's expression darkened, and her demonic aura suddenly surged. Her silver scales rasped against each other. "So it's you persistent pests again," she said coldly. The emerald light at her fingertips turned into several razor-sharp bursts of energy that shot toward the gray-robed cultivators.

The three were clearly prepared. Working together, they raised a hazy gray shield that blocked every burst of energy. "Liu Ruyan, you've been hit with our Spirit-Sealing Powder. Your demonic power is greatly weakened, and today is the day you die!" The leader cackled and summoned a short, pitch-black blade wreathed in a dense aura of death. It was clearly a magical weapon designed to counter demons.

The battle erupted. Liu Ruyan fought all three at once, still moving nimbly, but Jiang Cheng could see that she was slower than before and her breathing was unsteady. The Spirit-Sealing Powder was clearly having a severe effect on her. The gray-robed cultivators worked together seamlessly, weaving spells and weapons into a net of death that closed in step by step. Liu Ruyan gradually fell behind, sustaining several wounds. Blinding crimson stained her silvery-white scales.

One of them seized an opening and sent his black blade flying. It became a streak of dark light aimed straight at Liu Ruyan's back. The strike was fast and vicious. Liu Ruyan was pinned down by the other two and had no way to dodge.

Jiang Cheng's pupils contracted. He should have stayed out of it, or even seized the chance to escape. But for some reason, when he saw that glaring red and the resolve that flashed through her deep eyes, his heart suddenly clenched. Almost by instinct, he drove his spiritual energy into motion and snapped some of the spiderweb strands. He surged to his feet and hurled his sword. The blade shot out like a thunderbolt and slammed into the black dagger.

Clang! Metal rang against metal, deafeningly. The dagger was knocked off course, grazing Liu Ruyan's shoulder and raising a spray of blood. Jiang Cheng's forced use of spiritual energy also triggered the poison inside him. His vision went black, and he dropped to one knee, spitting out a mouthful of black blood.

Liu Ruyan froze. She looked at Jiang Cheng, kneeling and barely breathing, then at the three gray-robed cultivators with their savage faces. An intensely complicated emotion flashed through her eyes. She bit her fingertip, and a drop of blood brimming with immense demonic power floated in the air. She formed a seal with both hands and began reciting an ancient, obscure incantation. The drop of blood exploded, turning into a vast mist of blood. Countless tiny crimson serpents emerged from it, hissing shrilly as they rushed at the gray-robed cultivators.

"No! She's burning her blood to fight us!" The gray-robed cultivators panicked as the shield was instantly torn apart by the serpents. They were overwhelmed, and the serpents wrapped around them as they let out shrill screams. Seizing the chance, Liu Ruyan grabbed Jiang Cheng from the ground and transformed into a streak of white light, plunging into the deep green pool and vanishing in an instant.

The icy water closed around them. Jiang Cheng's consciousness grew hazy. He felt a cold but remarkably powerful hand gripping him and pulling him swiftly underwater. The light beneath the surface was dim. He could just make out Liu Ruyan's pale profile, blood at the corner of her mouth, her eyes nonetheless filled with resolve. Why had she saved him? The thought had barely formed when darkness swallowed his consciousness completely.

He didn't know how much time passed before a stabbing pain woke him. He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a dry cave on a thick bed of straw. Several luminous pearls embedded in the cave walls cast a soft glow. Liu Ruyan sat on a nearby rock, eyes closed as she meditated. She looked even paler than before, her lips almost blue-black. Her left shoulder was bandaged, and her white dress was spattered with blood.

"You're awake." Liu Ruyan opened her eyes, her voice hoarse. "You were poisoned with Spirit-Sealing Powder and spider venom. I helped force it out of you..."

Theme: The paths of demons and mortals are different