Who Fears the Green Serpent?
Eun Ae-hyang stared in silence at the spot where her bobber floated on the water.
I was doing my utmost to focus on the exact same patch of ripples.
However.
“Senior Brother, aren't you going to drink your tea? It’s completely steeped.”
Yeong Yeong pressed the steaming bronze teapot right against my cheek, nudging me insistently. Hey, that’s scalding hot! What if you spill it? How on earth are you even holding something that hot bare-handed?
Left with no alternative, I reached out to Eun Ae-hyang through telepathic transmission.
‘The mood seems thoroughly ruined just like last time. Should we postpone this until—’
‘No.’
Before I could even finish my thought, Eun Ae-hyang snapped her head toward me and answered. Her glare was an interrogation, practically demanding an explanation for this whole mess.
Why was she looking at me like that? Her gaze was so sharp it could draw blood, forcing me to avert my eyes and look anywhere else.
……Wait, was it even possible to sever a telepathic transmission so cleanly mid-sentence?
Right then, Yeong Yeong thrust her face directly between the two of us. Pouting her cheeks until they were puffed like dumplings, she clung tight to my side and purred.
“Senior Brother, when should we tell Father about our engagement?”
My eyes widened as I whipped around to stare at her.
Wait, Master?
……Hiss. I’m going to have to strongly object to that.
A beloved daughter being snatched away by the head disciple whom her father had trusted and raised like his own son? If such a tragedy were to unfold, Master would weep tears of blood. I had no desire to watch the man cry his heart out—especially when he had already bypassed the sect leader’s seat just to become a retired elder and live an easy, comfortable life.
Just then, a long, quiet sigh drifted over from Eun Ae-hyang.
When Yeong Yeong and I turned our heads, Eun Ae-hyang cleared her throat with an awkward cough and spoke, her tone cool and collected.
“Young lady. Judging by your attire, you seem to be Seong Hyun’s junior martial sister. We happen to be in the middle of something right now, so would you mind giving us some privacy?”
Eun Ae-hyang spoke with such boundless composure that it sounded less like a polite request and more like an instruction to do what was naturally expected.
Yeong Yeong, however, had zero intention of complying.
Instead, she nestled her shoulder even deeper into mine and retorted sweetly.
“Even if you are an acquaintance of my senior brother, heroine, shouldn't his fiancée also be privy to a conversation that requires so much of his time?”
“Even if you truly were to become Seong Hyun’s little bride—the wife of my younger martial brother, so to speak—the distinction between the inner household and the outside world is absolute.”
Oh? Bringing Kongtong’s structural worldview into this?
Wait a second. What did she mean by ‘wife of my younger martial brother’? Since when was I her younger brother?!
I wanted nothing more than to demand an answer, but my instincts warned me that opening my mouth right now would be fatal. I decided to keep quiet.
……I’m the man who’s going to be your husband!
“……Pardon?” Yeong Yeong’s lips twitched at Eun Ae-hyang’s words.
Unfazed, Eun Ae-hyang pressed on. “Therefore, it is only natural that Seong Hyun has personal matters to discuss that you have no need to know.”
“My, my. While the Five Elements may possess a central pivot to separate the inside from the outside, Taiji only truly becomes Taiji when the two halves exist together as one.”
To pinpoint the exact flaw in Kongtong’s cosmological stance and strike back with Wudang’s core doctrine—Master had trained her well. Well done, Junior Sister! Glory to the Wudang Sect!
……Wait, no. If Yeong Yeong won this argument, our engagement would become an undeniable fact. But Eun Ae-hyang was widely celebrated as Kongtong’s once-in-a-century genius; she wasn't about to crumble so easily.
A faint, poised smile touched Eun Ae-hyang’s lips. But why were her eyes so dead? You can do that hollow-eyed glare too?
“Fufu. Even that Taiji is encircled by the Eight Trigrams, so naturally there remains a boundary between the inner and the outer.”
“Hohoho. Refusing to yield a single inch—you truly live up to your reputation as one who has comprehended Kongtong’s martial arts.”
“And you, still lacking a renowned epithet past the age of twenty, yet demonstrating quite the profound attainment along the Dao.”
“……Hohoho.”
“……Fufufu.”
Though both smiled brightly as they traded barbs, their laughter felt like the Frost General hammering icicles directly into my ears.
Desperate to avoid the chill, I tore my gaze away from them and silently stared down at my fishing float.
……There were many famous historical anecdotes about fishing, but the one that felt closest to home was the tale of Xie Jin.
One day, the Emperor and Xie Jin went angling in the imperial garden pond. While Xie Jin pulled up fish after fish, the Emperor caught nothing, causing the Son of Heaven’s temper to sour. Reading the room, Xie Jin composed an impromptu poem on the spot to soothe the sovereign’s wounded pride:
Several feet of silk line cast into the stream,
The golden hook vanishes like a fleeting dream.
Common fish dare not gaze upon Heaven’s Son,
For the King of Ten Thousand Years hooks dragons alone.
……Indeed, only an official blessed with such quick-witted silver tongue could survive across the reigns of Hongwu all the way to Yongle without losing his neck.
If I were Xie Jin right now, what could I possibly say to diffuse this suffocating air?
Xie Jin, old friend, if you are watching over me from the afterlife, please tell me the answer.
Right at that moment, Eun Ae-hyang’s bobber plunged beneath the surface. An instant later, mine followed.
I seized my bamboo rod and hauled upward with all my might.
A carp burst into the air, its scales gleaming brilliantly against the dawn mist.
Both Eun Ae-hyang and Yeong Yeong turned toward the canal at the sudden splash. Dropping the flopping fish into my woven basket, I gave a smug smirk.
“Eun Ae-hyang, didn't you say that whoever catches the most wins? You must be awfully confident to look away when I'm standing right before you.”
Eun Ae-hyang let out a sharp gasp, her competitive pride reignited as she gripped her rod. Just like that, the match was underway.
Yeong Yeong stared blankly at us, clearly struggling to comprehend what was happening. Her eyes, however, remained utterly vacant and devoid of light.
I’m telling you, that expression is terrifying.
Still, my contest against Eun Ae-hyang took absolute priority.
Perhaps it happened to be the exact hour when the underwater world woke up, because for the next several minutes, a fish was hooked and hoisted into the air almost the second the line struck the water. It was as if Emperor Yang of Sui had dumped countless schools of fish into the Grand Canal centuries ago just for the two of us to pull them all up today.
“This is turning into quite the contest,” I said with a grin.
Eun Ae-hyang nodded, a faint smile brimming with confidence spreading across her porcelain face.
“Today is the day I finally bring you to your knees.”
Hey, that was my line.
Yet as the minutes passed, something felt off.
More often than not, the fish weren't actually biting the bait; they were snagged mid-swim. Hooks were caught on gills, fins, or bellies, dragging them out of the water against their will.
It was as if they were frantically fleeing from something and couldn't dodge the hooks in time.
“Look over there,” Eun Ae-hyang said suddenly, pointing toward the far side of the canal.
I followed her slender finger and narrowed my eyes.
At the spot she was pointing to, frothing bubbles were rising in massive clumps, churned into violent whirlpools and chaotic white spray. Fish were practically leaping out of the water or slamming themselves against the surface, desperate to escape that patch of river.
What in the world was down there?
A heartbeat later, two points of eerie crimson light flashed within the swirling spray, and an enormous shape surged from the depths. The displaced water rose into a massive tidal wave, roaring toward our riverbank with enough force to sweep everything away.
The instant the foam reached our feet, we kicked off the ground and vaulted backward, landing gracefully atop the branches of a willow tree overlooking the canal. From our perch, we caught our first clear look at the monster that had stirred the waters.
Where the spray had churned only moments before, the colossal head of a serpent rose high above the canal.
The beast exhaled a thick, azure miasma from its jaws, transmuting the morning mist into a deadly, creeping poison. Fish floating near the toxic fog instantly went limp, their white bellies bobbing to the surface.
I narrowed my eyes, studying the serpent's scales and the distinctive hue of its poisonous breath. I had seen this kind of presence somewhere before…… Wait, could it be?!
“Isn't that a Green Serpent?”
Hearing my exclamation, Eun Ae-hyang inspected the creature's silhouette through the haze.
A Green Serpent was a mystical creature said to have cultivated for five hundred years, an entity that according to ancient folklore yearned to shed its skin and become human. We had once thought such beasts were mere legends, but during the Great Demon War, we had witnessed the Heavenly Demon Cult command several Green and White Serpents on the battlefield. As startling as its sudden appearance was, there was no denying its reality.
Eun Ae-hyang nodded in agreement. “To think such a creature was dwelling so close to Luoyang.”
Yet it wasn't just the fact that it was a Green Serpent that gave me pause. A nagging sense of deja vu gnawed at the back of my mind. I know I've seen this exact one somewhere.
“Hey, doesn't that snake look familiar?”
“My, can you distinguish snakes by their faces now?”
“No, but…… why does it feel so recognizable?”
I stared intently at the beast for several more moments, racking my brain, but the specific memory refused to surface. Well…… it probably wasn't important anyway.
Instead, a much better idea popped into my head.
Turning to Eun Ae-hyang, I flashed a daring smirk.
“It may not be a fish, but whoever takes down that overgrown reptile takes the victory. Deal?”
Eun Ae-hyang glanced at the thrashing serpent, then gave a curt, resolute nod.
“In that case……”
Trailing off, I circulated my internal energy through the Taiji Heart Technique, wrapping pure True Qi around my limbs. Bending my knees, I loaded the willow branch with spring-like tension and launched myself skyward. The beast’s crimson eyes snapped up, locking onto my silhouette.
“Come! For one who comprehends the Dao of all creation under Heaven, who could ever fear a mere Green Serpent?!”
Roused by my shout, the serpent unhinged its massive jaws, revealing rows of dripping, venomous fangs.
Eun Ae-hyang was not one to let an opportunity slip by. In a flash of black robes, her feet skimmed the water's surface as she glided forward with terrifying speed, aiming straight for the beast's flank.
Refusing to let her steal my kill, I kicked empty air to accelerate, hurling my body directly toward the monster’s head with both fists clenched.
‘Since the Taiji—the origin of all myriad things—resides within my vessel, wherever my feet land is the solid earth.’
Twisting my lower body to the right while angling my torso to the left, I brought both hands together in a clasp above my left knee. At that exact moment, the serpent coiled back and lunged at me with blinding speed. Its sheer momentum was so overwhelming that Eun Ae-hyang had to withdraw her outstretched fist and pause, waiting for an opening.
Yet even as the beast bore down with its gaping maw, I never broke my cadence.
Shifting the center of my True Qi from my dantian down to my right leg, I guided my clasped hands along the flow of energy. Extending my left palm forward and cocking my right fist like a coiling dragon ready to strike, I assumed the stance of the Sparrow Skimming the Ground.
To my senses, the movement was deliberate and leisurely. But to the serpent—and to anyone watching from below—it would seem anything but slow.
Transcend the constraints of mundane time and space; become the Taiji itself to birth an infinite cosmos. That was the essence of the Supreme Ultimate Fist.
The instant the Green Serpent crossed into my domain, I unleashed both fists simultaneously.
Twenty-Second Form: Cannon Right Overhead
BOOM!
The moment my knuckles collided with the serpent’s skull, a brilliant sphere of light erupted, followed by a deafening thunderclap that echoed down the canal. In that single breath, the thick azure venom enveloping the serpent and the surrounding mist were instantly dispersed and purified—the absolute neutralization of Taiji’s True Qi hitting dead center.
Dazed from the impact, the massive serpent wobbled for a second before slumping limply into the canal, sinking beneath the water without another sound.
Watching the surface smooth over, I turned toward Eun Ae-hyang, unable to suppress the triumphant grin spreading across my face.
I won.
On our hundred-and-first match.
I had finally beaten Eun Ae-hyang!
It had been such a long, arduous journey. All that was left now was the proposal, the wedding, and choosing names for our future grandchildren.
Yet when I caught sight of Eun Ae-hyang looking right back at me with an equally smug, victorious expression, my heart sank. Something was definitely wrong.
Rich, amber Earth Qi still lingered around her slender fists. Ah, looking closely, she had executed the Guangcheng Fist’s Yellow Dragon Emerges from the Clouds. Earth Qi possessed the miraculous property of purifying corpse poison and transforming rot into fertile soil, perfectly suited for neutralizing that venomous fog.
Admiring her quick thinking, I drifted down with Void Steps and landed near her, puffing out my chest.
“If I had been even a hair slower, it would have been my defeat. Too bad for you, Eun Ae-hyang!”
Eun Ae-hyang let out a soft snort, crossing her arms.
“My, what nonsense is this? Since when did the renowned Blue Cloud Taoist go blind? To think you couldn't even see that my fist struck home first.”
“What kind of tall tale are you spinning? My fist was clearly faster!”
“Mine was first.”
Our argument instantly devolved right back into childish bickering.
As we continued trading stubborn retorts, a quiet voice cut through the air.
“Excuse me……”
We both paused and turned toward the bank. Yeong Yeong—who had rarely ever stepped foot outside Mount Wudang in her life—was standing there, staring at the two of us with an utterly blank expression.
“Senior Brother, would you mind explaining what's going on?”
Before I could find the words, Yeong Yeong turned her gaze directly onto Eun Ae-hyang.
“Heroine, just what kind of relationship do you have with my brother?”
I glanced sideways at Eun Ae-hyang. She met my eyes and gave a subtle, composed nod, indicating it was fine to tell her.
Well. Even if Jeok Seong was out of the question, I suppose my own junior sister was entitled to know.