Tai Zhu Xuan Xiang: Me and My Eight Golden Gourd Sisters

Chapter 12 The Ferocious Serpent

Above his head, eight small golden gourds swayed with Cai Xuan's movements.

When he made his move, they swayed upwards; when he made his move downwards, they sank downwards. When he turned his palm over, they trembled in unison; when he pushed his palm forward, they stretched outwards, as if they were practicing with him the "True Meaning of the Western Region Arhat's Attainment of Tao".

After stretching his muscles and bones, Cai Xuan felt refreshed and invigorated. He then spread his arms and began practicing Crane Fist.

He bent his knees slightly, lowered his shoulders and elbows, and spread his arms like crane wings, slowly unleashing the first move, "Dongbin Carrying the Sword," followed by "Startled Crane Breaking into the Hall," "Closed Door Pushing the Moon," "Two Dragons Chasing the Sun," and "Five Dragons Crashing into the Stele"...

Each move, each style, traversed freely, with an imposing momentum.

His figure moved nimbly and swiftly on the platform, sometimes as fast as a fleeting shadow, sometimes as slow as an old crane perched on a pine tree, a perfect blend of strength and gentleness, movement and stillness. Sweat flew with each movement, shimmering like golden beads in the morning light.

He didn't notice that the little golden gourds hanging under the trellis were swaying on the vines, as if they were imitating the crane boxing he practiced.

When he swung his arm, the little golden gourds swung to one side in unison; when he kicked his leg, the little golden gourds jumped up; when he flipped over, the little golden gourds spun half a circle together; when he made a crane's cry, the little golden gourds even made a faint "buzzing" sound, as if they were imitating his cry.

In an instant, the eight little golden gourds seemed to transform into eight tiny white cranes, earnestly practicing their boxing with Cai Xuan on the trellis.

If Cai Xuan were to turn around and see this now, his eyes would probably pop out.

But he was so engrossed in the exhilarating martial arts that he was completely unaware of everything behind him.

After finishing his practice, Cai Xuan channeled his energy back into his dantian and discovered that the energy he had cultivated the day before had actually grown slightly stronger. Although it was only a subtle change, it was undeniably real. It seemed his deduction was correct; the energy in his dantian must have been the result of refining essence into energy through his martial arts practice.

He suddenly hoped that this wisp of internal energy would grow stronger quickly, to see if it could truly achieve the legendary effect of crossing the river on a reed, stepping on the clouds, and unleashing the image of a dragon and tiger with a single punch.

Of course, these are things to follow.

The most important thing now is to store food. If there is no food, even a master will starve to death.

Thinking of the group of fish he had seen yesterday, Cai Xuan went to cut some mountain vines, scraped off the rough outer skin, kept the soft inner skin, tore it into thin strips, boiled it in water, and then hung it outside to dry. Then he began to weave fish traps. Making fish traps was quite simple; it was just a matter of making a long or round trap body and a trap head with barbs to prevent the fish from leaving.

Cai Xuan had seen these videos before when he was browsing short videos, and he even downloaded them.

He immediately began making fish traps based on the short videos he had watched.

After making the fish trap, he went outside to get some dried fine threads and twisted them into ropes one by one.

Making rope is simple: twist three strands together, then twist three strands together again; to make it stronger, keep adding more rope, twisting three strands at a time. After twisting, use a crisscross pattern to connect the ropes together and tie them securely to form a net bag. Tie the bottom tightly, thread a curved vine through the opening, and tie it to a wooden stick. A simple fishing net is now complete.

To make the fishing net last longer, Cai Xuan specially coated it with peanut oil several times.

Peanut oil is actually not good; tung oil is the best choice.

Peanut oil develops an oily smell if left for a long time, while tung oil does not.

After preparing the fish traps and nets, Cai Xuan wanted to go down the mountain to check if the traps he had set yesterday had caught any loaches. Suddenly, he remembered how the red eels had struggled to their death yesterday. If they escaped, they would be difficult to catch. After thinking for a moment, he went to get some nails and a hammer, intending to make an eel fork—also called a snake fork or eel fork, basically a tool specifically used to spear slippery creatures or small fish.

He had bought three pounds of long iron nails, intending to use them when building a small hut in the mountains to store tools, but he never used them and they remained unused.

Here, this insignificant thing at home suddenly shines brightly.

Previously, we made eel hooks in a gravelly area, but that area gets flooded during the rainy season. So this time, we built a stove with stones next to the wooden house, lit firewood to heat iron nails until they were red-hot, and then made eel hooks.

Making an eel fork is quite simple; it's like a meat tenderizer or a round "而" shape.

Of course, Cai Xuan's skills were not up to par; he simply stretched two iron nails, drilled a hole in the middle, inserted a long straight nail to connect them, and finally embedded it into a wooden stick. It was very primitive and crude, but barely usable.

Another morning has passed in a flurry of activity, and I don't even know what I've been busy with.

After a quick meal and a short rest, he took his newly made tools and headed down the mountain.

He drove a tricycle this time, thinking he should use it while he could before it was no longer useful. He drove the tricycle to the mango tree, carried the things to the spot where the loach traps were placed, reached out and untied the rope from the side, pulled up the traps, and was about to open them.

I was suddenly startled and quickly threw the cage onto the grass. A snake had somehow crawled into the cage.

The snake looked very strange, with its body a mixture of blue, black, and red, a thick body, and a triangular head. When it saw him, it opened its mouth and hissed, constantly moving around in the cage, posing as if it were about to attack.

Can Cai Xuan tolerate him? He went to the side, cut down a tough little tree, sharpened it, and stabbed it into the cage.

Suddenly, the ferocious snake opened its mouth and spat out a stream of venom!

Startled, Cai Xuan quickly jumped to the side. The venom landed on the ground, making a hissing sound as it corroded, and the grass immediately withered.

That's toxic! Damn, how dare they criticize me.

Cai Xuan was furious and wanted to kill it right away, but he didn't have any suitable tools. So he rode his tricycle back up the mountain, took out iron nails, lit a fire at the place where he had speared the eels the day before, hammered the nails into long spikes, embedded them in a wooden stick, and then drove back to the spring ditch.

Hmph, just wait and see how I deal with you!

Cai Xuan held a long dagger and was about to stab it into the mudfish trap.

The ferocious snake seemed to sense the danger, opening its mouth wide, its venom glands bulging, revealing a hideous appearance as if it were about to spew venom again. Having learned his lesson, Cai Xuan quickly jumped to the side. Sure enough, another spurt of venom was released, but much less than before.

It seems the venom is limited, which makes things easier.

Cai Xuan no longer hesitated and thrust the spike into the cage.

The vicious snake thrashed wildly in the cramped cage, slapping the cage shut with a loud "smack, smack." When it saw the long spines coming at it, it opened its mouth and hissed again, but instead of spitting out venom, it extended its scarlet tongue and made a terrifying hissing sound.

Cai Xuan, unafraid of the lack of poison, thrust the thorns into the cage.

The long thorn pierced through the snake's body and pinned it to the ground.

The ferocious snake suddenly went berserk, its body coiled around its long thorns, twisting violently, its tail lashing out, causing the vine cage to sway and mud to splash everywhere. It opened its mouth, revealing its true nature, and spat out a stream of venom, but this time, it spat out less than before.

Cai Xuan had already seen it and swiftly dodged the attack.

After continuously spitting out venom and being pierced by the sharp thorns, the ferocious snake seemed less rampant than before, appearing somewhat listless. However, it still struggled desperately in the cage, its body tightening around the long thorns as if trying to pull them out.

No matter what it does, it cannot shake Cai Xuan's determination to kill it.

When he sees a venomous snake, he only has one thought: to kill it. Only a dead venomous snake is a good venomous snake.

So, it pulled out the long thorn and stabbed again. The cage was small, and the vicious snake had nowhere to hide. Its body was pierced again, and it writhed in pain in the cage, too weak even to open its mouth.

Cai Xuan ignored his pain and continued to stab him repeatedly with a sharp thorn, piercing his neck and head.

One, two, three... In just a few strokes, the vicious snake was dead, unable to move anymore, its tongue drooping limply.

Even after he died, Cai Xuan did not immediately open the cage.

He dragged the cage around on the ground a few times with the rope, shook it for a while, and only after confirming that the snake was no longer moving did he quickly open the cage. But he still didn't dare to get close, and just used a spear to stick its neck on the ground to look at it.

Its triangular head had unfocused vertical pupils, and a single drop of venom clung to its fangs.

Cai Xuan used a woodcutter's knife to cut off the snake's head, skinned it, removed its internal organs, wrapped the snake meat in leaves he had picked nearby, and put it into the basket he had brought. As for the snake's head, skin, internal organs, and other contents, he dug a deep pit and buried them.

Having been here for so long, perhaps out of caution, he had never encountered a snake before. He never expected to meet one here, especially one so ferocious.

It seems that as the weather gets warmer, snakes and insects are coming out. We need to be careful when walking in the forest from now on.

Even if there were any loaches in the trap, they would have long been eaten by the ferocious snake. Because they were contaminated with venom, Cai Xuan dared not use them and threw them away. Then, carrying the fish trap he had made that morning, he went to the stream. He initially considered digging a pit, but then realized it was unnecessary. He simply surrounded half of the stream with stones, placed the fish trap on the other side, and any fish that came along would naturally swim inside.

After setting up the fish trap, he cut some artemisia and some dragon's beard greens, loaded them onto his tricycle, and went to the hillside to dig up the Nine Oxen Divine Power Potatoes.

Despite its name, the Nine Oxen Divine Vine is actually a creeping shrub.

Cai Xuan arrived at the hillside and found the Nine-Ox Divine Power Potatoes he had seen before. Following the vines to the roots, he carefully dug into the soil with a hoe. The soil here was loose and soft, so it wasn't difficult to dig. In no time, he dug out several large tubers, each as thick as a calf, with a dark brown skin covered with fine lines. They were heavy and quite substantial in his hand.

He patted the soil off the potato tubers, put them on the tricycle, and then put the soil back on.

As long as the rootstock is still intact, the Nine Oxen Divine Power Sweet Potato can grow again after a while.

He didn't dig much, only one yam plant, and planned to try it out when he got back. If it worked well for making starch, he would come back to dig more.

After finishing all this, Cai Xuan drove his tricycle towards the cave. By the time he had moved everything back to the wooden house, it was already getting late. He quickly washed the snake meat, fried it in a pan, and put it into a multi-purpose deep pot to cook with the Nine Oxen Divine Power Potatoes he had saved from the previous days.

After several days of experimentation, he discovered that while fresh Jiuniu Shenli sweet potatoes could be preserved, if left for too long, the starch inside would gradually be lost, making them fibrous and unpalatable. Cooked and dried sweet potatoes, on the other hand, did not have this problem.

Therefore, if you want to preserve the Nine Oxen Divine Potato, you either have to make it into flour or boil and dry it; there are no other options.

The snake meat was cooked, and the setting sun gradually sank into the distant mountains.

Cai Xuan filled a large iron basin with snake meat stewed with Nine-Ox Divine Potatoes, took a wooden chair outside, and slowly ate. As he ate, he admired the beautiful sunset and looked at the endless mountains and forests, and suddenly felt that this kind of life was actually not bad.

The eight little golden gourds above his head swayed and bounced, as if they wanted to take a bite, but unfortunately Cai Xuan couldn't see them at all.