Chapter 109: The White Snake (2/2)

"I'll be reporting this to the True Lord himself," I snapped, glaring. "You're capturing souls at will, now lingering in the mortal world—aren't you afraid of disrupting the cosmic order?"

"D-don't get agitated," he stammered again, with a sheepish grin. "A-and don't try to scare me either. We've already investigated you. You haven't even been registered in the celestial records. Y-you couldn't report us even if you wanted to. At most, you'd only make it to our Yama Court—and that won't help."

I was momentarily stunned. Everyone knows that those who cultivate in Dao or Buddhism don't take the regular route through the underworld—they're registered. But from what he just said… I wasn't even on record? A temp worker without a contract?!Goddamn it!

He continued, "I—I'm Old Eight. I lead with virtue. If it were Old Seven handling this, you'd have been beaten already. Behave yourself and wait. He's inside right now, negotiating with Lord Chang."

"Lord Chang?" I asked, confused. "What's going on?"

Fan Wujiu pointed toward the building. "Y-you don't know? It wasn't you who brought him?"

"Brought who? I've got nothing to do with anything," I replied, bewildered.

He fell into deep thought, muttering to himself, "If it wasn't you who summoned him… then why is Lord Chang here? This family doesn't have any ties with him."Then he turned to me and said more politely, "Alright then. Come in with me. I want to see who brought him too."

From the way he was treating me, I could tell he had some wariness toward the Celestial Master's Order. He didn't want to admit it outright, but he clearly didn't want to offend someone who might eventually get officially registered. After all, who knows? This "temp" might just become full-time. Better to build goodwill than make enemies, right?

As I walked alongside Fan Wujiu, I realized he barely reached my chest in height. He kept sneaking glances at the Celestial Master's Order in my hand. I simply held it up openly for him to see.

For a moment, I caught a flicker of recognition in his expression. Did this stubby guy think the talisman I held was a fake? I suddenly felt oddly... insulted.

Led into the stairwell, I instantly felt something was wrong. It was hot. The kind of heat generated by intense yang energy. But with so many yin spirits around, no matter how strong a living person's yang aura is, it couldn't burn this brightly.

Then it hit me—those yin agents weren't holding back because they didn't want to act…They didn't dare.

At the door of Jiang Shiyu's apartment, I saw her father slumped beside the memorial altar, weak and trembling, clutching the ghost-whipping whip in his hand. The place was a mess. Smashed furniture littered the floor, only the oil lamp still glowed steadily. Clearly, the agents had searched the place, but I figured Yuan Beitang had hidden her well—probably inside the red-draped chest.

Just outside the apartment stood a man in white: handsome, graceful, dressed like a refined scholar heading to imperial exams. In his hand was a folding fan. It was White Wuchang, and he was muttering something softly.

Only when I got closer did I notice—curled right at the doorframe, was a small white snake, less than a foot long.

"Lord Chang," Xie Bi'an pleaded respectfully, "please don't meddle in this. That girl is the Bodhisattva's dragon daughter. Blocking us like this… really isn't proper. Please, let us take her."

"A thousand years black, ten thousand years white." As the old saying goes, the white snake was no ordinary creature.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed something incredible—the white snake had a horn on its head.

According to folklore, snakes carry the bloodline of flood dragons (蛟龙). They can cultivate into righteous beings or become demons. When they reach the stage of transformation into a jiaolong—a proto-dragon—they may ascend as divine beasts. Should they one day take human form and not commit evil, they can be granted a celestial rank far beyond ordinary Earth Immortals.

But the path of a white snake is among the most difficult in all of cultivation. In all of mythology, there are only a few such examples. Everyone's heard of Madame White Snake—the legendary Bai Suzhen—who took human form not because of ambition, but for love. Had she kept cultivating instead of falling in love, she might have truly become a divine jiaolong.

In the Classic of Mountains and Seas – Central Mountains, there's a creature named Teng Snake—also known as Flying Snake—a celestial beast capable of riding clouds. There's even mention of it among the stars, in the constellation Gouchen Tengshe.

Clearly, snakes are ever-changing, not to be underestimated.

This white snake before us was likely fire-elemental, judging by its aura. Since it didn't need to take human form, its magical power was no doubt refined and pure.

But the real question was: how on earth did Yuan Beitang manage to summon a nearly divine white snake?!