India

Mo Nan couldn't understand. Everyone he met said that the snake was the patron saint of this place, but judging from the expressions of each of them, it seemed more like fear than piety?

So he couldn't help asking: "Then why... it seems that you are very afraid of it."

"Afraid, can you not be afraid? Lord Scarlet Snake is indeed a god, and its divine power can bless our land, but..." She changed the subject, "Gods also have their own temperament... According to the sayings passed down from generation to generation, Scarlet Snake Master Snake likes to watch dances, we have decided to hold a grand ceremony for it every year, if it stops some year...the consequences are really unimaginable."

Mo Nan was a little surprised when he heard that, he said in a daze, "Stop...what are the consequences?"

"What else is there? Of course, the harvest for the whole year is gone, and I heard that not only our Cang County, but Master Scarlet Snake's mana can affect the entire Anguo."

"This snake is so powerful? Have you offended it before?"

"This..." the woman was at a loss for words, "I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but the words handed down for hundreds of years can't be wrong after all. I'd rather believe it than believe it."

I'm afraid I'm just scaring myself.Just as Mo Nan was thinking so, the woman in front of him added, "But...just last year, a particularly evil thing happened..."

"What's the matter?" Mo Nan was so curious that his ears perked up.

"Every year at the grand ceremony, someone must be found in the village to perform a sacrificial dance for Lord Fei Snake, and this person who worshiped the dance was the husband of a woman I knew in the village last year. It's over after the dance, but last year this person disappeared!"

"Disappeared? What disappeared after the dance?"

"Yes, I heard that she disappeared the next day. After that, the woman cried and cried, and went around the village asking her husband's whereabouts, but none of us saw her." The woman sighed helplessly, " I'm afraid I offended something, and I was called to be punished by Mrs. Scarlet Snake... Poor."

When she said this, another strange female voice suddenly came in: "No, my husband was not taken away by Scarlet Snake."

The voice came from behind, and Mo Nan looked back, only to see another middle-aged woman.Compared with the chattering woman in front of her, she looked younger and quite calm. At this time, she had a forbearance and a slightly angry look on her face.

"Ah... Mrs. Zhang... what a coincidence," the woman became visibly embarrassed, and laughed a few times, "I... still have some things to do, so I'll go back first, you, if you have any questions, you can ask her... Haha... "

After she finished speaking, she didn't stay where she was, and hurriedly left with the basket in her hand. This posture was like being caught for speaking ill of someone behind her back.

Only three people remained in embarrassment.

The woman called Mrs. Zhang let her go away, and she didn't intend to continue to care about it. She looked at the back of the woman who was going away for a while, sighed helplessly, and the expression on her face eased, and then Looking up at Mo Nan and Ji Guiran, he said, "I am the person she said, what else do you want to ask?"

"This... No, we don't want to know about this..." Mo Nan explained in a panic, "We just, um, want to know about the situation here...By the way, is everything she said true?"

Seeing that the two faces were really unfamiliar, and that Mo Nan didn't look like he was lying, she replied: "Yes, most of them are true. Only my case is not."

"Your husband..." Mo Nan just wanted to ask, but swallowed it back, always feeling that it's not good to ask about such a personal matter.

As if anticipating his question, she answered nonchalantly: "It is true that my husband is missing, but it has nothing to do with Scarlet Snake."

"Enn, I understand." Mo Nan nodded hurriedly.

"You two don't seem to be from here. Is there something important to do when you come from afar?"

"We have some things to do, but we can't find a clue."

"May I take the liberty to ask what it is," she said sincerely, "I have lived here for many years, so maybe I can answer your doubts."

Seeing her willingness to help, Mo Nan was delighted: "That's great, it's like this, we..."

Halfway through his happy words, he suddenly got stuck.

"?"

"We... uh..."

Mo Nan couldn't remember what to ask first for a while. During this period of time, his mind took in too many things, as if some important things fell into the corners and couldn't be grasped. It was difficult to connect the language. He looked at Ji for help. At last.

Ji Guiran gave him a disgusted look, and he who had been silent all this time finally opened his mouth and asked methodically: "We are looking for a snake, not the one in the temple, but a white one, have you ever seen it?"

As soon as the words came out, Mrs. Zhang's expression changed immediately, as if she had heard some exciting news, her expression was terrified but also excited, and she said in a trembling tone: "White?...a little snake? "

"Yes, yes, yes!" Mo Nan became excited when he heard the words, "Have you really seen it?"

"I've seen it before..." She nodded, looking at them in disbelief, "You... want to find it?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Zhang's face was even more joyful. She didn't seem to know how to reply for a while. She was at a loss for a while, and unconsciously clenched her clothes tightly. Then she thought of something and said to them: "Follow me to the house first. Well, it's not easy to talk here."

Her reaction really made the two of them quite curious, and at the same time the clues they found so easily inspired them a lot, they readily agreed to Aunt Zhang's words, and then followed her to the house where she lived.

Mrs. Zhang was very cautious when she entered the house. She cautiously closed the door after the two came in, put in the latch and locked it, and even closed a few windows, so that the light in the house dimmed.

After confirming that only the three of them could know the situation, she led them to the table, put her right hand on the table, and rolled up her sleeves.

"This, do you recognize it?"

There was a clear mark of a biting snake on her right wrist, which was even more eerie against the dim light in the room.

Mo Nan stared blankly at her wrist. They were all too familiar with that mark, and they were a little overwhelmed besides being excited when they saw it.

He did not forget to nod: "I know, usually it is the marks left by being bitten by it, Mrs. Zhang must have been bitten."

"Yes," she fell into the long memory, thinking back, "last year, a little later than now, after the ceremony, I saw the white snake."

"What happened when we met?"

"..." Mrs. Zhang's expression showed pain. She didn't answer Mo Nan's question immediately, but murmured, "I think he was indeed taken away by the Scarlet Snake."

"Him? Your husband?"

"Yes...it must be...it must be Master Scarlet Snake who is punishing me..." The pain on her face was even worse, she covered her face with her hands slowly, then closed her eyes, her heart felt like a knife The appearance seems to be escaping from something.

Mo Nan didn't know how to react to such a situation. He thought it would be inappropriate to continue asking questions, so he comforted him: "First, don't be sad... let's talk about what is going on carefully, although we treat you that way. I don't know much about the Scarlet Snake, but I know a little about the White Snake...Maybe it can help you..."

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhang was silent for a while, and then slowly opened her eyes, and gradually withdrew those distressed expressions.

She said embarrassingly, "I'm sorry, I didn't grasp my emotions well. It's because I've been deceiving myself for too long...I'll tell you the details."

Then she straightened her face, adjusted her out-of-control emotions, and recalled little by little: "This happened not long after the ceremony last year. When my husband disappeared, it was also when I happened to meet the snake. I remember it very clearly. On the second night after the ceremony, he was sleeping soundly on the couch, but for some reason he suddenly woke up and got up to go out."

"I'm a light sleeper, and his little movement woke me up. I asked him what he was doing, but he didn't respond to me. He got out of bed and walked out the door. I thought he was anxious, and let him go. He didn't come back after a long time," Mrs. Zhang said, as if recalling something frightening, "I felt strange, so I got out of bed and went out of the house to look for him, but..."

"The result?..." Mo Nan's appetite was whetted, and he nervously waited for her next words.

"Now that I think about it, it's really weird," she said in fear, "

After I went out, I saw him motionless in the courtyard. I called him, but he didn’t seem to hear him. Suddenly he moved. Although I couldn’t see it very clearly at night, I could recognize it. It was the movement of a sacrificial dance. ! "

"..." Mo Nan unconsciously approached Ji Guiran next to him, grabbing his clothes.

Mrs. Zhang paused when she said this, and then continued with lingering fear: "...I was also very scared at the time, thinking that he had been bewitched by something evil, and wanted to pull him back, but when he saw me approaching him, it was as if he wanted to hide from me He ran out of the gate, and I was about to catch up when I suddenly saw a snake crawling out after him."

"It was indeed night at that time, there was no light except the moonlight, but I could see the snake clearly, yes...it seemed to be glowing...Of course I only realized it later," she sighed He took a deep breath, "At that time, I didn't think so much. The first thing I thought of was that it would hurt him. Impulsively, I stepped forward to catch the snake, but I didn't expect to be bitten by it."

"Then what happened after that? Where did they all go?"

"Well, after being bitten by it, I was startled at first, as if its bite didn't hurt. When I came back to my senses, my husband and the white snake were gone."

"Disappeared?"

"Yes, when I ran out, I couldn't even see anyone..." She frowned, "Since that night, he never came back..."

"So that's how it is..."

"I have suspected more than once that this would be the work of Scarlet Snake, but when I went to find Scarlet Granny, she directly denied it without thinking."

"Wait," Mo Nan was a little confused, "Who is that?"

"This one……"

Mrs. Zhang was about to answer his question when she was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.