Ch 112: The Malevolent Monster Just Wants To Farm

Bai Suzhen only learned about the Liu family breaking off the engagement much later. Xu Xuan continued to visit her every few days as usual, with no change in his demeanor, and he never mentioned the matter.

It wasn’t until Bai Suzhen had fully recovered from her injuries and was finally allowed by Jiang Lin to go down the mountain that she discovered what had happened.

She was furious!

During that time, the Liu family mysteriously suffered a rat infestation. Suddenly, their home was overrun with mice that gnawed on everything except people. Their bedding, furniture, and even the pillars of the house were riddled with holes. The Liu family was miserable, but hiring exterminators and bringing in several cats didn’t help at all.

Oddly enough, the neighboring houses were completely unaffected; it was only the Liu family that suffered.

The Liu family’s troubles seemed unusual from the start, and when he heard that the rats didn’t harm anyone and that no one in the Liu family fell ill, but they were simply tormented, it became clear that this was the work of someone with a familiar touch.

One day during a meal, Madam Xu mentioned the Liu family’s troubles, expressing her satisfaction. Xu Xuan, sensing something unusual, went to ask Bai Suzhen about it.

Bai Suzhen nodded enthusiastically. Even though she couldn’t speak, her demeanor was as righteous as could be. She had long since repaid Xu Xuan’s life-saving grace, but she was fond of the Xu family and liked Xu Xuan, so she continued to visit them regularly.

Xu Xuan thought to himself that it all made sense.

Xu Xuan felt a warmth in his heart. He knew that Bai Suzhen had learned about what happened with the Liu family’s daughter and was trying to get back at them on his behalf.

He said, “Xiaobai, thank you. But there’s no need for this. Miss Liu and I simply weren’t meant to be. I’m actually relieved that her family was honest before the wedding.”

“Please send the rats away.”

Bai Suzhen turned her body, facing away from him, clearly showing her displeasure.

Xu Xuan couldn’t help but laugh and coaxed her, saying, “You see, your brother Jiang Gongzi said you owed me a life-saving debt, so you often came to my house to repay it. But that miraculous herb has already cleared all debts. If you punish Miss Liu’s family because of me, wouldn’t that mean I’d owe you again?”

“And I don’t know how to repay you.”

Bai Suzhen moved her head slightly, sneaking a glance at Xu Xuan.

Seeing his furrowed brows and genuine concern, she thought for a moment and reluctantly wrote the word “Okay” on the ground with the tip of her tail.

The rat infestation at the Liu family’s home vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared.

The Liu family, perplexed, went to the temple to burn incense and pray to the Buddha.

Master Liu visited the Xu family twice more, but the Xu family didn’t accept any compensation. The families, no longer friends, went their separate ways.

Within half a year, Miss Liu had arranged another marriage and happily married into a new family.

Madam Xu also began to look for a match for Xu Xuan, but he seemed to have lost enthusiasm for the matter, likely affected by what happened with the Liu family.

After careful consideration, Xu Xuan told his family after the New Year that he wanted to travel.

Madam Xu thought her son might be heartbroken, so she agreed that it would be good for him to get out and see the world. She packed his belongings and sent him off with a worried heart.

One night, while staying at an inn, Xu Xuan turned around and was startled to see Bai Suzhen coiled on the windowsill. He exclaimed, “How did you end up here? Wouldn’t Jiang Gongzi be worried?”

The white snake proudly flicked its tail at him. After all, it was a snake that had lived for several hundred years—what was there to worry about?

“I can protect you,” it carefully spelled out with its tail on the table.

Xu Xuan thought for a moment and decided that having a companion on the journey might be nice.

He said, “Alright, you can come with me. But when we’re around people, don’t show yourself. Your appearance is a bit too eye-catching.”

He didn’t want to attract any unnecessary trouble.

The white snake nodded, assuring him that he could relax—it wouldn’t cause any trouble.

Xu Xuan then shouldered his pack and set off.

With the white snake by his side, he traveled to many famous mountains and rivers. Sometimes, when they arrived at particularly beautiful places, he couldn’t resist writing down a travelogue.

These travelogues were later compiled into a book in his later years.

Xu Xuan was naturally cheerful and open-minded, so everything he observed was bright and lighthearted.

In this era, most people spent their entire lives in the place where they were born. Even those from well-off families rarely ventured beyond a few cities.

Someone like Xu Xuan, who traveled extensively on foot, especially to remote mountains and rivers, was very rare.

Many people loved reading his travelogues.

Sometimes, Xu Xuan would return home after half a year, but other times, he might be away for two or three years.

At first, Madam Xu tried to arrange marriages for him, but word got around about Xu Xuan’s love for travel. As soon as families heard it was him, they quickly declined.

Later on, Madam Xu became increasingly worried.

Xu Xuan, however, had come to terms with things. He told his mother, “Over these years, I’ve visited many places. I’ve seen magnificent sunrises from mountain peaks and experienced the waves while fishing on a tiny boat in vast waters. These are joys I’ve never known before. Mother, even if you found me a wife, it would be hard for me to settle down now. Why cause misery for someone else?”

Madam Xu’s tears began to fall. “My son, your father and I are getting old. Right now, when you’re away, at least you still have a home to return to. But what will you have to hold on to when we’re gone?”

Xu Xuan’s eyes also reddened. “I’m an unfilial son, making my elderly parents worry and leaving no children to care for you.”

Madam Xu sighed. “I’m not concerned about that. Your father and I have each other, we have servants to look after us, and our neighbors are kind. We’re not lonely. My only worry is for you. After we’re gone, and you’ve grown old, who will take care of you?”

Xu Xuan laughed easily. “Who says getting old means you have to stay home and wait for someone to care for you? I’ve thought about it a lot. If I can still move, I’ll keep traveling. When I can no longer walk, I’ll find a beautiful place to buy a small house, and I’ll spend my time writing and painting the places I’ve seen over the years.”

“To live a life like that wouldn’t be a waste.”

His ability to say this showed that he had already made up his mind.

Madam Xu knew she couldn’t persuade her son, so she didn’t say anything more.

Xu Xuan truly lived as he said he would, spending his entire life on the road, traveling. Later, after his father and mother passed away, he stayed home for a year to observe the mourning period. He then entrusted the task of keeping the family incense burning during festivals to the family’s old servant and resumed his journey.

At the age of fifty, Xu Xuan even joined a fleet of ships, crossing the vast ocean to reach a completely different country. However, this voyage left him seriously ill, and his health never fully recovered.

Ten years later, Xu Xuan fulfilled the promise he had made to himself in his youth. He selected a beautiful place with clear mountains and water, commissioned the construction of a residence, and hired a cook and a scribe to help him focus on organizing his notes.

Three years later, Xu Xuan’s Travelogues was published. The book chronicled every place he had visited, along with the fresh and interesting experiences from his journeys. Each location was accompanied by a sketch he had personally drawn.

This travelogue later became an invaluable resource for historians seeking to understand the social environment and daily life of that time. Xu Xuan himself gained a large following, with his open-minded and humorous writing style making it hard to believe that he had lived in such a feudal and closed-off era.

Xu Xuan was not only an excellent writer but also a master of painting and calligraphy, skilled in medicine, and, reportedly, quite handsome—an almost perfect figure in history. The only perplexing aspect of his life was the frequent mention of his close friend—a white snake.

At first, people thought “White Snake” might be a person’s name. However, an archaeological discovery of Xu Xuan’s tomb revealed a painting titled The White Snake Drinking Wine and a poem. The painting depicted a white snake, drunk by the side of a wine cup, and the poem confirmed that the white snake was indeed a literal snake.

Xu Xuan wrote about how he had saved this snake by chance, and afterward, the very intelligent white snake stayed by his side for the rest of his life, even accompanying him on his sea voyage and saving him from danger several times.

This story, though strange and tinged with a romantic sense of wonder, inspired many later writers to create fan fiction about Xu Xuan and the white snake, making them a well-known historical couple.

Xu Xuan passed away.

For the first time, Bai Suzhen felt the deep, clear pain of parting.

Xu Xuan remained clear-headed until his last moment. He had made all the necessary arrangements, dividing his estate between the scribe who had also been his disciple, and the cook who had cared for him. He then called the white snake to his side and, with a smile, said, “Old friend, thank you for staying by my side all these years. Now that I’m leaving, you don’t have to be sad. Go back to Donghua Mountain and continue your cultivation. If there really is such a thing as reincarnation, maybe one day, we’ll meet again.”

The white snake brushed against his palm, noticing how cold his hand had become—so cold that even her cold-blooded self could feel it.

And then, she never heard Xu Xuan speak again.

He didn’t leave any final words, having already mentioned earlier that he had lived his life with ease and happiness, without any regrets. His disciple arranged the funeral and carefully preserved all of his writings.

Bai Suzhen stayed by Xu Xuan’s grave for two months, finally realizing that he was truly gone and would never wake up to call her “Xiao Bai” again.

She gazed at the tombstone for a long time, feeling deeply sorrowful, before slowly leaving to return to Donghua Mountain.

When Jiang Lin saw her return, he understood what had happened and asked, “Xu Xuan has passed?”

Bai Suzhen nodded listlessly and said, “I need to cultivate even more diligently.”

With her current level of cultivation, even if Xu Xuan had been reincarnated, she wouldn’t be able to find him. Only after achieving full transformation would she gain the divine abilities necessary to search for him.

A little green snake also slithered over—she was no longer called Xiao Qing. She had learned a great deal from Jiang Lin and had read many books. One day, she pointed to a book and said, “This book says that the place where the immortals in heaven reside is called Biluoluo. I want to become an immortal, so I’ll call myself Biluo.”

Biluo slithered to Bai Suzhen’s side and comfortingly nudged her, saying, “Sister, let’s work hard on our cultivation together, and one day we’ll both become immortals!”

Five hundred years later.

Thunder rumbled across Donghua Mountain.

Jiang Lin and Zong Yu stood on a distant cloud, watching the mountain peak being struck by lightning.

Bai Suzhen and Biluo were undergoing their tribulation together.

According to the plot of this world, they were supposed to take a thousand years to attain human forms, but with the gifts from Zong Yu and Jiang Lin’s guidance, their cultivation advanced rapidly, allowing them to transform several hundred years earlier than expected.

After several hours, the thunder ceased.

Two beams of light, one green and one white, flickered at the mountaintop, transforming into two beautiful young women.

The one in white was bright and graceful, while the one in green was fresh and charming. They both appeared a bit older than when Jiang Lin had briefly transformed them with magic all those years ago.

Bai Suzhen and Biluo examined each other, delighted by what they saw. They then approached Jiang Lin and Zong Yu together, expressing their gratitude for all the years of guidance.

Over the years, the two of them had naturally come to regard Jiang Lin not as a “playmate,” but as a “wise and powerful teacher.”