Eighteen, overcoming difficulties

Little Daogu was so scared that she turned around to run, but the snake man blocked her escape with his huge tail.

She collapsed to the ground in terror, completely clueless about what to do.

Sangmo jumped up and down in frustration at the side, "Pick up your sword and stab him! Stab him in the seven-inch!"

Unfortunately, Little Daogu couldn't hear her.

Right then, she was still fantasizing that the General might suddenly appear to rescue her from the fire and water.

Sangmo sighed with a feeling of 'casting pearls before swine' and could only watch as Little Daogu was dragged into the cave by the snake man.

The Snake Cave was damp and chilly, reeking horribly, and pitch-dark to the point that nothing could be seen.

Little Daogu was tossed onto the ground by the snake man.

"Bang," suddenly, the previously silent cave became bustling with noise, filled with the squeaking of rats and the subtle sound of snakes slithering across the floor.

At first, Little Daogu didn't realize the severity of the situation, until seven or eight rats leaped onto her, making her scream and scramble up from the ground.

The snake man watched with interest as Little Daogu panicked.

It patted Little Daogu on the back, signaling her not to be nervous. To comfort her, it even bent down and picked up a squashed dead rat from where she had been sitting and opened its huge mouth to swallow it whole.

Sangmo didn't know how Little Daogu felt at that moment, but she felt like throwing up.

At first, the snake man tried to please her in every way, making a soft big bed for Little Daogu and, seeing her fear him, even transformed his face into that of a handsome man.

But Little Daogu didn't dare to look at him, trembling uncontrollably at the sight of him,

until that day, when the snake man became sexually aroused and wanted to produce snake eggs with Little Daogu. After she pushed him away, he finally went mad.

He slapped Little Daogu hard twice, "You're pretending...what... pretending... you came here... didn't you... to lay snake eggs with... me?"

In his eyes, Little Daogu's rejections in the previous days were all a human's tantalizing coquetry. He liked Little Daogu and could endure these.

But his patience had its limits.

Little Daogu saw stars as she was hit, her cheeks swelling on both sides. She definitively told the snake man, "I came here for the General, not for you, you ugly demon!"

"Ugly?"

"Demon?"

On hearing this, the snake man was furious. The vertical pupils in his eyes suddenly became very thin, and with a flexible move of its neck, it tossed its head back, opening its mouth wide to flick out its tongue, making a "hiss-hiss" sound.

The scales on its face also instantly came into view, and his voice was sharp and hoarse, "So, you're disgusted by me being a demon!"

As he spoke, he suddenly bit his own wrist, grabbed Little Daogu's chin, and forced her to open her mouth, dripping his poisonous blood into it.

After Little Daogu swallowed the blood, he spat out his inner core and split it into two halves with his slender nails.

He forced half of the inner core into Little Daogu.

Little Daogu lowered her head to shove her fingers down her throat, but it seemed the poison blood and inner core had already been absorbed and couldn't possibly be vomited out.

She broke free from the snake man's grip and backed away in horror, "What have you done to me? What have you done to me?!"

Writhing, the snake man crawled forward, "I really like you, lay snake eggs with me."

Backpedaling, Little Daogu picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at him, "Get away! Get lost! You disgusting thing!"

The snake man just looked at her with a smile, a gruesome and nauseating smile that even made Sangmo shiver.

The poison blood accelerated the absorption of the inner core by Little Daogu.

In less than a moment, fine snake scales grew on her body, her eyes turned green, and she developed the vertical pupils of a snake.

Little Daogu only felt itchy all over and, scratching herself, discovered her nails had grown long and thin, and scales had covered her hands.

"What is this? Ah! What is this?" she cried out in horror, scratching her hands until they were bloody and ragged.

A hand also covered in scales suddenly grabbed hers, and the snake man, with a besotted look in his eyes, kept moving closer, "You are beautiful, I like you, lay snake eggs with me."

He coiled his tail tightly around Little Daogu's legs.

Sangmo, in her anxiety, wanted to reach out to help her but was yanked out of the cave by someone.

She turned her head and saw Shen Yanqing with a stern face, "As a maiden, do you have no shame?"

"This is her memory. It's enough to watch, why touch anything?"

Sangmo was stunned by the scolding, "When did you come in?"

Shen Yanqing remained silent, simply shifting her gaze to the other side of the cave entrance.

Sangmo followed his gaze and turned her head, only to see Guan Nan was also there. He greeted Sangmo with a Buddhist salute, "Amitabha, we have connected to your 'Soul Fusion Technique' and entered the memory of the 'Ghost Region' Lord."

Sangmo immediately grew furious, "You two grown men, actually mooching off my 'Soul Fusion Technique'. Have you no shame?"

Shen Yanqing silently turned his head away, not speaking, while Guan Nan apologized with a salute.

Sangmo glared at Shen Yanqing, "Look, he has much better manners than you!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Yanqing became enraged. Just as he was about to curse, he saw the snake-man emerge from the cave, looking immensely satisfied.

He arranged for two fierce ghosts to guard the cave entrance and left.

"Tsk, he's so useless," Sangmo blurted out, completely forgetting there were others around her. By the time she realized, a hand had already smacked her on the head.

Shen Yanqing's face was so dark it seemed like water might drip from it. He whispered fiercely, "Disgusting!"

Guan Nan, blushing, turned his head to look at the distant mountains.

Sangmo was also flustered, her face burning with embarrassment, "I didn't mean that..."

Shen Yanqing wore a disbelieving expression, "You didn't mean what?"

Sangmo: "..." Right, the more she explained, the darker it got.

Not long after, another person with a snake's tail emerged from the cave entrance.

When Sangmo clearly saw the person's face, she was so shocked she couldn't close her mouth – it was the Little Daogu!

Her hair was disheveled, and she had exchanged her Taoist Robe for red clothes; with tearful eyes, she appeared weak and listless.

When the fierce ghosts blocked her path, she promptly dispersed them with a palm strike.

Sangmo exclaimed in awe, "Wow! She's improved, now she knows to fight back!"

The group followed her back into the village.

Because she had transformed into a snake demon, no ghosts dared to provoke her along the way.

She walked for a long time and finally stopped upon hearing the sound of a flute.

In front of her was a huge protection barrier, and the ghosts inside it were relatively weak.

Under the red moonlight, the General was sitting on the highest rooftop.

From Little Daogu's perspective, she could only see the tall and straight silhouette of a Black Shadow bathed in the red moonlight, arms holding the Jade Flute, hair cascading down, with bangs fluttering in the wind.

The Little Daogu stood still, gazing foolishly. She listened for a long while until someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

She turned around and saw the snake-man's disgusting face again.

The General inside the protective barrier sensed the commotion outside, picked up the spear at his feet, and leaped down from the rooftop.

The snake-man pulled Little Daogu and ran.

Unable to break free, Little Daogu could only look back.

This time the General failed to recognize her; he only saw two entwined snake tails retreating into the distance.

The snake-man dragged her by her hair to a puddle, "Look, you... now... like me... just a lowly... snake demon, you... only deserve to stay in... the dark and damp cave, to lay... snake eggs for life, to listen to music... you are not worthy."

The reflection in the water no longer held the vivacious and charming features of her past. Her cheeks were covered in scales, and her vertical-pupil eyes were filled with vengeance and hate.

The Little Daogu was startled by the person in the reflection, screaming in terror as she reached out to gouge the horrifying eyes.

The snake-man embraced her from behind.

Before Sangmo could clearly see what was happening there, Shen Yanqing covered her eyes and took her elsewhere.

When Little Daogu reappeared before them, she had returned to her human form.

Yet the demon aura about her was stronger.

Sangmo was perplexed, turning back to look for the snake demon.

At the puddle, there was no sign of the snake-man.

...

She had devoured the snake-man!

Sangmo, in a panic, slapped her thigh, "Ah! There was still a chance for her to turn back earlier, but now everything's over!"

The Little Daogu had completely turned into a demon.