"Immortal Liu, if you keep on refusing, your grandson's life will be at stake," Yu Longting said, holding his chest with one hand, his smile playful yet laced with a hint of wickedness in his eyes.
Immortal Liu pouted like a little girl, "I was wrong, I won't refuse anymore, is that okay?"
"Wanwan, I'll teach you a Celestial Master's Incantation. Recite it during your evening prayers and it will help accelerate the accumulation of your Spiritual Power."
Yu Longting ignored Immortal Liu, leaned down, and softly recited the incantation in my ear, "Murky waters run deep, fate remains out of reach; joy is absent today, those gone are truly lost. The multiverse so vast, its breadth unfathomable; this is but the start, the journey's still long; among countless worlds, where lies our next home; chasing dreams so vivid, in search of that what gleams; beliefs of one's own, soaring through the skies."
"Okay, I've remembered everything you said. Now go with Immortal Liu, don't interfere with the great Formation," I urged him, giving him a push.
Yu Longting narrowed his eyes, "You've memorized it already?"
"Yes, although my memory is average, somehow I remember True Words that contain Art immediately upon hearing them," I told Yu Longting.
Yu Longting patted my head, "You're a prodigy in learning the Mysterious Art."
Having said that, he left with Yu Rongling, following Immortal Liu.
"Did that woman just call your boyfriend 'Snake Lord'?" Xiao Li's eyes shone brightly as she interrogated me.
How should I find an excuse to fend this off?
Lying to her doesn't seem quite right either...
I was left feeling torn.
"Forget it, I won't make it hard for you, you don't have to answer," Xiao Li said nonchalantly, waving her hand dismissively, seeming uninterested in my explanation.
Does she really not need my explanation?
I'm with a snake, my boyfriend is a snake.
Doesn't she find it scary? Or even disgusting?
Then I saw Xiao Li glare at Chen Decheng, threatening him, "You're not allowed to ask any more questions either, and you can't tell anyone about what happened today."
Chen Decheng looked at Xiao Li in disbelief, at a loss for words.
"Why are you looking at me? Are you considering spilling the beans?" Xiao Li growled even fiercer.
Chen Decheng looked wronged, "When did I ever say I was going to tell anyone?"
"Then I'll take that as a promise from you," Xiao Li said forcefully, as if she were Chen Decheng's boss.
Chen Decheng's glance was complex, a mix of shock and incredulity, yet he did not dare to say a word, struggling to give an affirmative grunt, "Mhm."
Perhaps due to the nerves, Chen Decheng made several trips to the restroom.
I looked at Chen Decheng, who was turning pale and about to enter the bathroom again, and said to Xiao Li, "You sure are calm."
"The boss is stupid for getting flustered," Xiao Li adjusted her hair using her phone's rear camera, "Yu Rongling is a Snake Immortal, and his brother's identity must be no less extraordinary. Either he's a sworn brother, making a vow with a human expert, or... he's also a snake... And there was that time Su Qiang came to settle scores with you; though I was under the influence of gu and not fully coherent, I still caught some words about 'Snake Lord'..."
"As long as you're mentally prepared, I was just worried it might scare you," I said, letting go of my concerns with a resigned smile.
Xiao Li, having checked her appearance, breezed past me to meet Beichen at the door, "I knew once the Snake Lord left, you'd come back to protect Yuanyuan. You really know how to create opportunities for us."
"Uh, you know about Snake Lord's identity?" Beichen was astonished.
Xiao Li nodded, "Someone called Immortal Liu let it slip."
"Well, you were bound to find out sooner or later," Beichen accepted it calmly.
Three days later, early in the morning.
Immortal Liu barged into my dorm, "Su Wan, have you made the Reincarnation Garment?"
"The Reincarnation Garment must be crafted near its owner, hence I haven't prepared it in advance," I looked at Immortal Liu and replied.
Immortal Liu nodded, then hooked her arm around my shoulder, "Come with me, Wanwan, are you... are you truly willing... to make the Reincarnation Garment for my Ah Li?"
"Of course I am, Yu Longting fetched the North Sea Snake Pearl just for this moment, if I didn't agree, wouldn't his efforts be in vain?" I said to Immortal Liu.
Immortal Liu looked at me surprised and glanced down, "Didn't Yu Longting tell you? From the start, he was firmly against you making the Reincarnation Garment, which is why he and Yu Rongling personally came to work for me. That Reincarnation Array, if run for two hundred years, might produce an egg, but this is an act against the heavens, and that egg may not hatch for a thousand years."
Without the Reincarnation Garment as a foundation, indeed it would be difficult for Ah Li to reincarnate.
Because there is a certain price to be paid to make the Reincarnation Garment, that must be why Yu Longting refused to agree to Immortal Liu's request.
After a moment of silence, I asked, "Senior, did you promise Yu Longting something?"
"You don't even know what I promised him?" Immortal Liu was surprised. "You should ask him yourself, anyway, everything he's done is for you."
For me...
From the beginning, I felt that Yu Longting's arrogant nature would never seek Immortal Liu without a reason.
How would he go out of his way to build a Reincarnation Array for Immortal Liu's great-grandchild for no reason? I also guessed that Yu Longting was probably doing it for me.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck my mind.
Yu Longting once left, saying it was to resolve the issue of me becoming the Ancestral Fox's Remnant Soul.
My unfocused eyes gradually regained clarity, and I blurted out, "Could it be related to the Ancestor of Foxes?"
"Heh, it's good that you know, the Snake Lord dearly loves you," Immortal Liu couldn't help but sigh.
In a blink of an eye, Immortal Liu took me to the Mass Burial Mound in the suburbs.
This place is the entrance to the Serpent Domain, and where Immortal Liu had built her dwelling.
Two Snake Servants respectfully opened the gate.
As soon as Immortal Liu and I set foot inside, Beichen followed, panting, "I... I'll join too."
"Let this young man come in too," Immortal Liu said to the Snake Servants with a charming smile.
The Snake Servants nodded and let Beichen in.
The first floor was a very large hall, which seemed very spacious.
Above the hall was a Reincarnation Array constructed of pure red, its unceasing aura making it immediately apparent at first sight.
The Reincarnation Array was built with Spiritual Power, constructing countless red Spiritual Power threads, weaving the space of the Formation.
At the eye of the Formation, a Snake Dragon Inner Pill emitted a faint light, slowly rotating.
The pure white skeleton of the small snake I had seen before lay in the center of the Formation.
It coiled around its translucent body, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.
However, if one looked with the Spiritual Eye, one could see that it had been forcefully kept in this world for too long.
All three of its Life Lamps were unstable, and as time went on, they could extinguish at any moment.
So if its reincarnation was to succeed, it had to happen quickly.
Before its Life Lamp went out, the garment had to be ready.
As we approached, Beichen handed me a large cloth bag.
Inside the bag were the materials I needed for this garment.
Among them was a special thread said to be spat out by Spirit Worms in the Three-Life Spring.
It was after learning I needed to make a Reincarnation Garment that I had Beichen go to Granny Wu's place to get it.
I took two strands of thread first, one to tie to the white skeleton in the Formation and the other to tie to a chicken egg prepared by Immortal Liu.
Then I took the rest of the thread and, like weaving cloth, integrated all the threads together.
This process would keep me busy for three days and nights, requiring great exertion.
It would drain not just Spiritual Power but also physical strength.
To save trouble, I simply sat on the carpeted ground and wove the fabric with a special technique.
Yu Longting sat behind me, gently pulling my body against his own, "Three days can be very long, and you should conserve your strength from the start. Leaning on me will be more comfortable."
"Yes," I didn't refuse him and calmly leaned against him.
During these three days, whenever I was hungry, Beichen would bring some food.
But I didn't dare eat too much, nor could I afford to eat lavishly.
Weaving such a fabric was against the natural order, and it involved a lot of delicacy and complications. The fabric couldn't be tainted with stains, and I couldn't afford to be distracted.
I just let Yu Longting feed me, managing to gnaw through two steamed buns.