11 The Zodiac Book

'Female snake gods have the blue mosaic pattern that starts from their chins down to their frontier, hence the name blue belly snake.'

'Snake charm flute doesn't affect the male snake gods.'

'Older male snake gods have no visible blue mosaic patterns - why?'

XueYa closed his book with disdain after hastily scrawling down his notes, leaving his handwriting so obscured he could barely read it himself. But it was fine. He had them all well organized, and filed in his mind. The book was there only for sentimental values, an heirloom of the sort.

Putting the book away, XueYa looked out over to the horizon. The boat they were in was small compared to the one they used to travel to Hei'ang, but with only him, uncle WeiJie, and the man steering the boat as passengers, it was spacious enough for him to lay with his limbs spread out.

The sun was dipping behind the edge of the lake as XueYa raised his wrist, and inspected the dragon bracelet that rested loosely around his arm. The jade dragon was now entwined with a white jade snake. A little blue jewel glinted over the snake's forehead as if winking at him as the final rays of the sun disappeared behind the curves of the mountain.

The jade was as breathtaking as the creature XueYa had stolen it from. A little smile quivered on his thin lips. He decided he would stop by Hei'ang again, not soon, but maybe one day. It was quite a refreshing city, far away from the crowd, and hidden from the prying eyes of the world.

XueYa brushed his thumb over the jade snake, relishing it as the tiny carved scales scraped against his skin.

"How come are they entwined with each other?" XueYa said. Uncle WeiJie was sitting by the edge of the boat, playing a little tune with his flute. Colourful koi fishes came to the surface and swam around in circles, in tune with the music.

As uncle WeiJie stopped and put his flute down on his lap, the koi fish broke out of their formation, floating near the surface in a daze, before they seemed to snap into life and swam out of sight.

"I cannot answer your question, XueYa." Uncle WeiJie said. He polished his flute with his robe's hem before he tucked it away in his sash. "There is only one person left in the world who knows how these artefacts work."

A frown tugged at XueYa's brow as he looked the bracelet over one more time before placing his hand idly over his chest, and closed his eye.

"I will find it out myself, one way or the other."

Uncle WeiJie huffed loud enough that XueYa could hear it. XueYa cracked his eye open and glared at the older man.

"What?"

"You are too proud." WeiJie snapped. His eyes held a minuscule amount of contempt in them. XueYa knew this look. A smile tugged at his lips as XueYa placed his hand under his head and closed his eyes once more. Uncle WeiJie was always reminded of the greatest sorcerer who ever lived, whenever he laid eyes on XueYa.

"If you want answers, you must go to him." WeiJie pointed out.

"I don't want to meet him, and he doesn't want to meet me. How difficult is it for you to understand?" XueYa's smile died out as his brows furrowed, pulling his face into a tight frown.

"You need to sort out your misunderstandings." Uncle WeiJie tried his best but knew he would fail to persuade his nephew. But he tried anyway.

"What misunderstanding? He stabbed my eye out and cut off my fingers." The nonchalant words sent chills down the boat owner's spine as he stiffened slightly, clinging to the rod with white knuckles. What kind of customers did he receive today? He decided to paddle a bit faster to be rid of these men as soon as possible.

"You know it was an accident. He didn't mean to do it."

How did one stab another's eye out without meaning it? It was beyond the boat owner's comprehension as he battled ever faster, wishing he could see the shore soon.

"If you keep talking, dear auntie will become a widow by accident as you are busy sleeping with the fishes." XueYa murmured as he fumbled with the bracelet.

Uncle WeiJie opened his mouth to say something, but deciding better on it, he sealed his lips and looked out to the lake.

Finding himself unable to relax, XueYa sat up and brought out the zodiac book again. He flipped through the pages without really reading them.

His hand stopped as he reached the pages between the ones dedicated to snake gods and rabbit gods. The thick stack of pages was all cleanly torn off, leaving a space in the middle of the book.

With barely visible handwriting, at the edge of the cover page before the chapter dedicated to snake gods, the words, 'Dragon gods have gone extinct' were drawled on. XueYa brushed over the words with his finger.

The dragon gods have gone extinct, XueYa repeated silently, a grim expression marring his refined features.

"What are you going to do now?" Uncle WeiJie's words interrupted his thoughts, and XueYa slammed the book shut.

"I need to visit the imperial city to find out more about the bracelet." XueYa decided as he leaned back and smiled impishly. Uncle WeiJie looked at his nephew with surprise and a little bit of proudness mixed in it.

"You are going to meet him, after all?" He sounded hopeful.

"No."

Uncle WeiJie was getting used to the feeling of disappointment. It had overwhelmed him at least twice a day every day for a while now. But instead of showing his disappointment, WeiJie said, "But he has the book on zodiac artefacts."

"I know," XueYa said, his tone still jovial and smiling pleasantly.

There was a heavy sigh, before uncle WeiJie said, "You- don't tell me -"

"Yes, you are correct. But if you make me say it out loud, I will have to get rid of all the witnesses."

The boat owner stiffened, his spine rigid as his arms kept paddling the water at a steady pace. A cold sheen of sweat broke out over his back.

"Well, we wouldn't want that," WeiJie said drily, his eyes now fixated on the boat owner. Knowing XueYa, he would kick the man down the lake and leave him there to drown. XueYa might even knock the man over the head with the paddle, just in case.

XueYa closed his eye and planned for the upcoming days. He would have to steal the book about the artefacts, but it shouldn't be too difficult to retrieve. He might have successfully taken the snake god's body, but he still needed to know how to extract the immortality of said beast. A pleasant smile still lingered over his lips as XueYa drifted to a sleep-like state.

It had been years since he last visited the imperial city, he hoped it hadn't changed much. He still had somewhat fond memories of the place.