Witch God Abyss (Lily) - Chapter 14

Shen Yuan, on her first solo journey far from home, was filled with curiosity.

More than clearing her master’s false accusations, she wanted to test her own abilities.

In Wubei, few of her Divine Sect senior brothers could match her, and Shen Yuan even believed she could hold her own against her master.

But in Zhongdu these past months, she realized her master and Bujian Tian’s skills were boundless.

Jingtan, the Reclusive One, whom she faced once on a rooftop, broke her ice blade without Shen Yuan even seeing her.

And Zhao Beijin’s “Arrow Never Misses” move—she still hadn’t figured out how to counter it.

Her confidence wavered.

The terrain around Wujian was complex.

Beyond the city, mountain paths abounded, not tall but steep and hard to traverse, with a robust water system.

Streams rushed down from the mountains, fierce, merging into rivers in the valleys.

Since arriving in Wujian, it had been raining constantly. It was August, the rainy season in the south.

Shen Yuan reached out from her straw raincoat, caught rainwater, and dripped it onto a talisman.

The water turned bl00d-red instantly.

“Demonic rain, unusual. But this makes it easier to track.”

Following the demonic aura in the rain, she headed toward its denser source in the mountains.

She trekked upstream along the mountain streams.

Shen Yuan deliberately avoided inhabited areas.

First, she couldn’t communicate with the locals due to the language barrier.

Second, the rain fell strangely, and she didn’t want to alert anyone before understanding the situation.

If the tribe was hostile to outsiders, she, alone, might be at a disadvantage.

Besides, she excelled at subduing demons, not dealing with people, so she preferred to find the source of the demonic aura directly.

Whether demon or evil spirit, she’d use arrays to dispel their power or eliminate them.

Shen Yuan trekked through the mountains for three full days, finally finding the source of the demonic aura at a cave entrance.

Exhausted, her legs weak, she ignored the muddy ground and sat at the cave entrance, a water-formed umbrella above her head.

She said, “Stop the rain. If it keeps up, it’ll cause a flood, destroying the villages below.”

The rain lessened.

Shen Yuan said, “Come out, or shall I go in?”

A faint girl’s voice came from the cave. “You can see me?”

“Not yet, of course. Come out, and I’ll see you.”

“Who are you?”

“A passerby.”

“Human? You’re a demon.”

“I’m not.”

“How could a human find me? In these hundred miles of mountains, only minor mountain demons have come here. No one else can see me.”

Shen Yuan thought, “With such treacherous paths, it’s not that others can’t see you—ordinary people can’t even reach here.”

She deliberately asked, “Has no one ever found this place, or do people outside not see you?”

“I… don’t know…”

“Then come out and let me see?”

The rain stopped, but the sky remained overcast.

Shen Yuan pulled a sachet from her robe, took out a grain of tower incense, lit it with her palm’s flame, and placed it on a nearby stone.

She sat cross-legged quietly, waiting.

The cave was silent.

Shen Yuan mentally prepared herself—whatever came out, no matter how ugly, she must not show fear.

The first moment a demon is seen by a human is critical.

These naturally formed creatures of fate are ever-changing, their forms shifting based on what they see and sense.

If you reject them, they may become uglier, even turning malevolent.

If you accept them, they grow more beautiful, becoming demons that don’t harm humans.

As Shen Yuan braced herself to be bold, a girl’s voice suddenly spoke in front of her.

“Can you see me now?”

The tower incense, called “Nowhere to Hide,” could reveal demons and spirits, but it needed time.

Following the incense’s rising smoke, Shen Yuan pretended to look at the empty air before her.

“You’re very pretty.”

“Really?”

Shen Yuan nodded quickly.

“Really.”

“What about the horns on my ears? Are they nice?”

Shen Yuan saw a pair of white horns in midair.

“Wow! White! Beautiful!”

“Really? I think they’re pretty too. Look, I have another pair behind my neck and back.”

Another, larger pair of horns appeared before Shen Yuan, shifting from white to deepening shades of blue, drooping like wings.

“Wow, they’re jade-blue.”

Shen Yuan pointed to her eyes.

“See, aren’t they the same color as my eyes?”

The small white wings seemed to lean closer, and a pair of golden, snake-like slit pupils appeared before Shen Yuan.

“Yes, you’re pretty too.”

The incense burned faster suddenly.

A slender white body emerged between the wings.

A cute girl with a round face appeared, her broad forehead without eyebrows, round eyes spaced far apart with vertical golden pupils.

No nose bridge, just a small upturned nose tip, white lips without color.

Behind her ears were soft white wings, or perhaps horns.

Long white hair trailed to the ground.

The jade-blue horns behind her neck and back drooped to the floor.

Shen Yuan studied her body, crystalline like white jade, unclothed. No shoulders—her form tapered from neck to a slender body, with a tail flicking behind.

Her hands and feet had four fingers each.

Shen Yuan thought, “Her true form is a snake?”

Standing, Shen Yuan said, “You like your tail? Look, I have two legs.”

“I can have legs too.” The girl grew two legs, but her tail remained.

Shen Yuan thought, “Or maybe a salamander? Eh, doesn’t matter.”

Shen Yuan asked, “Do you have a name?”

The girl thought.

“Eight hundred years ago, she… called me Shujuan.”

“She?” Shen Yuan asked.

Another woman’s voice, sharp, came from the cave.

“Don’t trust her, she’s a demon. She’ll eat you, bones and all.”

Shen Yuan thought, “We’ve been chatting this long, and you’re warning me she’s a demon? Besides, I didn’t sense anyone else in the cave—no, that’s not human…”

Shen Yuan, on guard, formed a spell with her hands, an array rising beneath her. She called into the cave, “And what are you?”

“I’m the chief of the Five Jian Five Villages…”

Shujuan, no longer cute, shouted, “The chief from eight hundred years ago, long dead.”

The cave voice said, “Yet I still protect this land’s good weather and harvests!”

“I protect this land’s good weather and harvests! You, a dead chief, confined to a few dozen steps around this cave—what can you protect? Laughable!”

The cave voice, proud, said, “Before I became chief, I was Wujian Village’s great shaman! Our village has studied witchcraft for generations. The shamans, priests, and guardians of the other four villages came from us. We used witchcraft to ensure good weather, peace, and to attack enemies with poison mist and insects…”

Shujuan interrupted, “Eight hundred years later, still spouting this grandiose nonsense! You used witchcraft to control demons and stir trouble, yet speak so nobly!”

“We shamans…”

Shen Yuan cut off their argument. “Stop! Which of you used demonic power to make it rain?”

Shujuan said, “Me.”

Shen Yuan asked, “Which of you have demanded monthly human sacrifices from the villagers since last year?”

Shujuan said, “Also me.”

“And last month, you ate the county official who came to the village?”

Shujuan said, “Yes.”

Shen Yuan tilted her head. “And you dare claim to protect the land?!”

Shujuan said, “I’m a demon. Why would I protect the land?!”

Shen Yuan was almost confused.

The cave voice said, “Don’t trust her. She’s just trying to escape this place.”

Shen Yuan looked at the cave entrance.

“Hey, chief of the Five Villages from eight hundred years ago, can you come out to talk? Also, tell me your name so we can speak more easily, alright?”

“Fine.”

With the woman’s voice, a figure slowly emerged from the cave, draped in five-colored woven brocade, a massive white buffalo horn headdress atop her head.

Her black hair trailed to the ground.

Large silver circular earrings hung from her ears, and layered silver ornaments adorned her neck and wrists.

“I’m the chief of the Five Villages. My name is Nan Yuanxi.”