The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 58

Ever since the little black snake could crawl around by itself, it stuck to Yun Su every moment it was awake.
One day, the firewood at home ran out. Yun Su merely went outside the bamboo forest to gather some wood. When she returned, she saw the little black snake searching for her everywhere in the snow, nearly frozen stiff and unconscious.
“What are you doing? I am not going to run away!” Yun Su frowned and scolded it.
The little black snake only looked at Yun Su in a wronged way. Its little head rubbed against her chest, damp and cold, with hardly any strength.
Yun Su was angry and heartbroken at once. She carried it back into the house, sat by the fire, and held it in her arms for a long time before letting go.
After that, to keep the little black snake from worrying, Yun Su left the bamboo forest only when it was asleep, going outside alone to ask for news.
The results were not good.
More than a month had passed since Qu Linyan escaped Yuntian City, but the devil clan still had not stopped searching for her. They had even spread the hunt into the demon realm, declaring that they had to see her alive or see her corpse.
Although the bamboo forest barrier was temporarily safe, during the time Yun Su healed the little black snake, she could clearly feel the barrier’s protective power fading little by little.
Back when her magic power first returned, she had already studied this barrier carefully. It had been set with a very special kind of spiritual power. The power was pale blue-green and did not belong to the five elements. To Yun Su, it was very unfamiliar.
At least, from the time Yun Su had memories, she had never seen anyone around her able to use such spiritual power.
This barrier could not have been set by Qu Linyan. Naturally, Qu Linyan likely could not repair it either.
They could not hide here much longer. Once the little black snake’s injuries were a little better and it could endure the jolting of travel, she would have to take it and flee somewhere else.
As its strength slowly recovered, the little black snake grew bolder too.
At first, it only secretly climbed into Yun Su’s bed at night. Later, it climbed onto her neck. Once, it even boldly slipped into her inner clothes.
Several times, Yun Su was woken from dreams by the little black snake making certain places itch. She was embarrassed and angry again and again, yet she had no idea what to do with this little rascal, who was covered in heavy injuries and could not even keep human form.
In its current state, she could not hit it, and scolding did nothing. It truly gave her a headache.
What made Yun Su even more embarrassed was that, for some reason, she began having strange dreams.
At first, she only dreamed of herself and Qu Linyan playing in a hot spring.
Then she began dreaming of herself and Qu Linyan sharing a very cramped bed. She would even reach out and hold Qu Linyan, as if only then could she sleep more sweetly.
Most importantly, in these dreams, Qu Linyan was no longer the little girl from her earlier memories.
She was a woman. A woman full of charm, whose every frown and smile made Yun Su unable to look away.
Though it was only a dream, Yun Su could not help lingering in it, greedy for every bit of warmth Qu Linyan gave her.
In the dream, Qu Linyan’s brows, Qu Linyan’s eyes, and the perfect curve of her lips when she lightly tapped Yun Su’s nose all drew Yun Su in until she could not free herself.
Later, one night, she even dreamed of herself and Qu Linyan tangled together through the night…
When Yun Su woke from that dream, her legs unconsciously pressed together. The faint damp feeling made her ears burn, and her heart refused to calm.
Guiltily, she looked down at the little black snake lying on her body. Seeing that it had noticed nothing strange, she let out a breath of relief.
Then, for some reason, she felt a bit… dissatisfied.
When would it stop being in this shape?
Thinking this, Yun Su reached out and poked the little black snake’s head.
The little black snake woke with a start, opened its eyes, and looked up at Yun Su in confusion.
“You really are ugly,” Yun Su said without sparing its pride at all.
The little black snake was baffled.
Yun Su rubbed the little black snake’s forehead with her finger. “Your head is all bumpy. It is not even as smooth as any little snake I could grab from the mountains.”
Three hundred years ago and three hundred years later, her judgment of Qu Linyan’s little snake form had truly not changed at all.
The little black snake was deeply wounded. It crawled back along the bed into that small peacock nest and sulked.
Seeing this, Yun Su could not stop herself from laughing.
The little black snake froze. Its gaze toward Yun Su filled with surprise.
Yun Su had not laughed for a long time. At least since it returned, it had never seen Yun Su smile.
Actually, let alone laugh, ever since it regained awareness, Yun Su had rarely even spoken to it. Perhaps she had remembered something and was angry with it.
In its current state, it was too weak to keep Yun Su by its side. So if Yun Su ignored it, it did not dare ask anything. It only quietly accepted Yun Su’s care, then gathered its courage bit by bit to move closer and touch her, using that to confirm that she did not hate or reject it.
Thankfully, no matter how bold it became, Yun Su’s eyes never showed disgust or rejection.
At this moment, Yun Su had shown it a smile for the first time since it came back. This made it especially happy. It stood straight up and flicked its tongue at Yun Su.
Seeing the little black snake react this way, Yun Su could not help reaching forward and patting its little head several times with her fingertip. Her brows curved as she smiled. “When will you get better?”
The little black snake crawled along Yun Su’s fair wrist to the side of her neck. It rubbed its little head against her cheek, enjoying itself, only for Yun Su to grab it down from her shoulder.
The little black snake hissed.
Yun Su curiously looked it over from head to tail. Her finger poked here and touched there, and her small movements were even a little playful. “Where do snakes use for that sort of thing?”
The little black snake was stunned speechless.
In an instant, shame and anger made it struggle.
It was not that it was unwilling to do something with Yun Su. It was only that it truly did not want anything to happen while it could not even take human form and was completely in her hands. That would be far too embarrassing.
Fortunately, Yun Su feared it would tear open its wounds, so she quickly let it go.
Once free, the little black snake immediately shrank back into its nest, curled into a ball, firmly guarded its tail, closed its eyes, and pretended to be dead.
From that day on, Yun Su was no longer as silent as before. Instead, she began saying many things aloud.
“Qu Linyan, when will you finally look like a person? Or at least be able to talk with me.”
“Qu Linyan, what exactly happened before? Why does the devil clan want to kill you? Did you not do many things for them?”
“Qu Linyan, the barrier is about to fail. Where should we run when that happens?”
But the little black snake still could not speak, so not one of these questions received an answer.
Several more days passed in a blink.
While Yun Su was sleeping soundly, she suddenly felt an itch by her ear. She struggled to open her sleepy eyes and saw the little black snake flicking its tongue and licking her earlobe.
“It tickles.” Yun Su reached out and pulled it back in front of her. Half asleep, she murmured, “If you keep doing this, next time I sleep I will seal you in the bird nest and let you out only after I wake…”
“I was wrong, all right?” the little black snake said.
“Good that you know.” Yun Su lowered the hand holding the little black snake toward the side of the bed and was about to close her eyes and sleep a little longer when she suddenly realized something was wrong.
Her eyes flew open. She grabbed the little black snake, which had not yet slipped out of her palm, and brought it back before her eyes. “You just spoke?”
The little black snake’s gaze was sly. “Mm.”
“You can finally talk!” Yun Su was so excited that she shook the little black snake in her hand with force, making it dizzy.
“Pain, pain…” the little black snake begged.
Yun Su stopped and gently touched its head. She blinked. “Sorry.”
In that instant, the joy in her eyes and the small expression on her face made the little black snake remember, without exception, the woman from three hundred years ago who had been so obedient before it. Warmth rose in its heart, and it said gently, “It is fine. I know you were excited because you missed me…”
Only, hearing such words from a little snake’s mouth made it hard for Yun Su to feel moved.
She froze for several seconds, then sat up and held the little black snake in her arms. “How is your recovery?”
The little black snake said, “In another ten days, I should recover about ten percent of my power. Then I can regain human form.”
Yun Su thought for a moment. “This place is about to become unsafe.”
“The person who set this barrier for me is now in the devil realm, controlled by someone else. Once my wounds heal, I have to go back and save her…” The little black snake seemed to remember something and lifted its eyes. “There is something I have never understood.”
“What?” Yun Su asked.
“That day, I risked my life to escape back here, but I could not sense your spiritual aura. I thought you had left… At that moment, I was so hopeless. I suddenly felt… living had no meaning anymore…” As the little black snake spoke, it looked up at Yun Su. Its eyes seemed to shine with tears, yet were also full of relief.
That day, it had dragged its last breath back here only because it did not want to break the promise it had made before leaving.
But when it discovered there was not even a trace of Yun Su’s spiritual aura in the bamboo forest, it completely lost the courage to live.
At that time, it thought that perhaps forcing things truly could not bring any result.
Forget it. The person who had given it all hope was gone. If it slept forever here, that would not be so bad.
“How did your spiritual aura change? You almost made me think… you did not want me anymore.” The little black snake spoke softly.
It did not mention how much it had lost, nor how it had escaped death. Its tone was so gentle, with not the slightest blame, as if that moment of despair had been nothing important to it. As long as the person before it was still here, nothing else mattered.
Yun Su’s eyes reddened. No matter what, she did not want to believe that this Qu Linyan had once been someone cruel enough to sacrifice her.
After a long silence, she said softly, “Before, I did leave this place. The Azure Dragon found me and wanted to take me back to the heavenly realm. I refused, so he wanted to kill me…”
As she spoke, she saw worry flash in the little black snake’s eyes and quickly shook her head. “I am fine. Ciyin and… that Fu Zhuochen saved me. They gave me a piece of broken Black Tortoise shell and told me that once I refined it, the heavenly realm would never find me again.”
“You…”
“I will not go back. Never again.”