From then on, in order to keep his mind clear, Bai Jun would silently recite the Tao Te Ching, this holy book passed down from generation to generation, in his mind every morning.
The small living room in his childhood home was filled with bookshelves full of books, all collected by his father. From historical origins, to religions, Taoism and Buddhism, and even rumors of aliens, he likes to read all these weird things.
The Tao Te Ching was also an enlightenment book that his father taught him to recite. There are also long thousand-character texts. I have been troubled by these obscure ancient books since I was a child.
Looking back now, these ancient books have become his only spiritual comfort.
In the moral scriptures, except for the mysterious and mysterious Dao Ke Dao in the opening chapter, the remaining articles describe the ultimate principles of the heaven, earth, and universe, that is, the laws of all things in the universe, and also describe the governance of various situations in the world.
Now when I read it carefully, I can see that the sage’s principles make people’s minds pure.
Bai Jun did not expect that reading the Tao Te Ching would open spiritual acupoints and turn beasts into monsters. All living things have their own behavior. Between an ant and a Taoist saint like Lao Tzu, as far as living organisms are concerned, they are nothing more than human beings. A word different from worm.
The sage has a way, and the ants also have a way. The ways are different, and each path is unique.
Bai Jun lived his long years in a tree hole, and the days passed by inadvertently. From spring to midsummer, the hot summer gradually receded little by little.
At the end of summer, Bai Jun went through the fourth molt and grew to two meters long. The thickest snake head was already as wide as an adult's four fingers.
Unknowingly, he became the permanent overlord of this pond, commonly known as the local snake.
Because there is an underground river deep in the pool, and there are more unknown and terrifying aquatic creatures in the raging river leading to an unknown place.
Occasionally, some strange creatures will leave when they find there is too little food in the pool.
Bai Jun's two-meter-long body is already very long for a water snake. After all, he does not have python genes. There are differences between snakes and pythons.
His venom was becoming more and more poisonous now. Bai Jun tried to bite a gray rabbit. The frightened rabbit ran away and fell down within ten meters.
He was poisoned to death!
Bai Yan also tasted the taste of rabbit for the first time. It was very delicious, and it was different from the taste of fatty fish.
The fatty fish enters the belly and tastes delicious and creamy.
When the fat rabbit enters the belly, it tastes tender, fragrant and soft.
Even to human perception, eating raw flesh is horrific and tastes inedible.
But to a snake's taste perception, this is delicious!
Now when Bai Jun comes into the water, no matter what kind of creature is in the pool, he must make way for him. If he doesn't, it will run into his stomach.
It feels like there are no tigers in the mountains and the monkey is the king.
But Bai Jun was not easily satisfied. He read and recited the Tao Te Ching for three months, which also baptized his heart and cultivated his snake wisdom. There is a saying in Buddhism that the six roots are pure and quiet, and the root of wisdom is deep.
In Bai Jun's view, wisdom is not limited to innate wisdom, but acquired wisdom is not absent either.
One summer morning, Bai Jun swam across the pool and climbed up to the northwest corner into the long and narrow canyon of Xianxian.
There was no daylight at the bottom of the canyon, and it was dark. Only the tops of the two peaks in the sky had open-air light more than one meter wide.
Bai Jun is going out of the valley today to see the outside world.
It is not in line with Bai Jun's character to always be enclosed in this valley and know nothing about the outside world.
Moreover, he was still thinking about the trouble of finding that goshawk one day.
Bai Jin climbed through the dark canyon. Many birds in the canyon felt uneasy and flapped their wings to fly over the canyon. Many birds even screamed in panic and fled in all directions.
This canyon is more than a hundred meters long. The narrowest point is less than one meter wide, and the widest point is only two meters.
Bai Zhen crossed the valley and saw the scenery outside the valley.
I saw a river and lake nearby glowing with golden sunlight. Among the lush water and grass, there were waterbirds flying across the river and lake, or sinking into the lake to peck at fish and shrimp. A dense forest is continuous, connecting this vibrant green with the distant horizon. Countless white clouds float in the blue sky, birds and eagles soar under the sea of clouds, apes and monkeys climb trees and jump in the forest, and wolves roar low. , there are tigers roaring and beasts roaring, there are dazzling living species, and it is also full of countless dangers.
Bai Yan curled up, turned around, and observed his body. The crystal white color covered by thick mud seemed to blend into the black earth on the ground. Even the birds in the sky might not be able to observe it.
He relaxed and twisted his body into an S shape into the dense forest.
As soon as Fang entered the forest, Bai Jun found many of his own kind.
There are green snakes hiding among the branches and leaves of trees, gray-brown snakes lurking under fallen leaves, and even a sizable king cobra!
Fortunately, the king cobra was only more than one meter long and retreated after sizing Bai Jun up.
Bai Jun found that the fighting in the forest was far more cruel than that in the small valley where he lived. Fighting is everywhere, and hidden murderous intentions cannot be guarded against.
He was almost ambushed by a wild wolf, but fortunately, Bai Jun's two-meter-long body was somewhat intimidating. After he showed his terrifying fangs, he scared off the wild wolf.
The wolf is extremely intelligent. It knows that this is a poisonous snake. Once it is poisoned and injured, there is only one way to die in the forest, so after weighing the pros and cons, it gave up.
In the forest, you can go hungry, but you can never get hurt!
Bai Jun climbed up a tall cedar-leaf tree and looked into the distance. With his excellent eyesight, he saw countless mountains and ridges in the south, while in the north there seemed to be no forests behind a few peaks.
He even discovered smoke from cooking stoves in the northern part of the forest. It was human smoke! Because it is impossible for wild animals to make fire, and many wild animals are very afraid of fire.
Bai Jun has no intention of going out to see humans. If a snake goes to see humans, is it to give them snake soup?
He looked at the high mountain peak to the east, where giant birds were hovering, and Bai Jun even saw the silhouette of the goshawk.
But the goshawk did not see Bai Jun. After all, the goshawk was so high up in the sky that no matter how sharp its eyes were, it could not pay attention to multiple prey at the same time. When it locks onto a target, its eyes will focus on the prey, making it ineffective no matter how much the prey hides and camouflages it.
Bai Jun climbed down the tall tree and wandered for most of the day. It was time to go back.
This forest is too dangerous. There are tigers, leopards, jackals, and even many natural enemies of snakes, such as honey badgers.
Bai Jun had already spotted four or five of them in the forest, but fortunately he had strong eyesight and avoided them early.
It is too dangerous to survive here, and since he has no fixed residence and no water source, he can easily die in such a forest.
Before he is strong enough, Bai Jun will not leave the valley easily. It is a water snake and can grow up to four or five meters long, or even six or seven meters in length.
He is not a python. Generally, this length is the limit. But the thought of a snake that is six to seven meters long is enough to give you chills. It is almost difficult to encounter an opponent in the forest.
Bai Jun carefully avoided some predator traps and prepared to return the same way.
But the snake letter he spit out suddenly sensed a different smell, one that he had never sensed before.
Bai Yan twisted his body and swam slowly under the grass. Looking from a distance, he saw a patch of grass that seemed to be swayed by the breeze. In fact, there was a cold-blooded poisonous snake hidden under the grass.
In front of the grass, a middle-aged man wearing coarse cloth was lying on the ground with a face full of pain, his left hand clutching his right hand, and hunting tools such as hatchets, bows and arrows beside him.
This is a hunter who was poisoned.
Black color had appeared on his face, and it was obvious that he had been poisoned deeply. Bai Jun saw two small holes on his right hand, which were the marks of poisonous snake bites.
Without the help of others, the hunter might not be able to get out of the forest. Even if the poison is not deep, for hunters without medicine, half of their lives have been lost.
Bai Jun was a little curious. This place was already deep in the mountains and old forests, a dangerous jungle where humans were almost extinct. Why did he come here alone? Could it be that this hunter is after something extremely precious?
Among the most precious things in the mountains and forests, apart from gold and silver veins, there are only spiritual flowers and rare herbs.
Bai Jun's mind moved. He looked at a sachet on the hunter's waist. There was something in it. Even though the hunter had been poisoned, he still protected it subconsciously.
Therefore, Bai Yan waited patiently, waiting for the hunter to die or be so poisoned that his heart and lungs could not move before he went forward to find out.
Bai Jun has always been an extremely patient hunter.
The hunter saw the black and purple color on his right arm spreading more and more. He held the knife in his left hand with extremely painful face. With a clang, he raised the knife and dropped it, cutting off half of his right arm. The hunter roared and screamed in pain like a wild beast. Not only that, he also suppressed his voice for fear of attracting some terrible beasts.
The hunter's blood spurted out, and the smell of blood filled the air. He quickly wrapped an unknown animal sinew around his right arm and then tore off his coarse clothes to wrap the broken arm.
The middle-aged man's face was ferocious, and he even shed tears in pain. The blood on his right arm gradually soaked into the coarse cloth. In pain, he picked up the machete and gave up the heavy weight such as the big bow, and no longer looked at the half of his right hand on the ground.
Bai Jun was shocked when he saw it, what a ruthless person! You can do this to yourself.
The hunter got up with difficulty and left here. He was experienced and knew that the smell of blood would soon attract wild beasts.
Bai Jun followed him silently, parting from the weeds everywhere, like a hunter chasing his prey.
The sky was gradually getting dark. Fortunately, it was midsummer and there was no need to worry about stiffness at night. Bai Jun followed the hunter all the way to a small cave.
The hunter picked up some dry firewood, took out a fire stick from his arms and lit a fire. Then he took some unknown medicinal powder and applied it on the broken arm. He pulled out many grasses from the weeds outside the cave and roasted them with the fire. Afterwards, they swallowed it into their stomachs, and even some grass leaves were swallowed directly without being washed or roasted.
He was already very hungry, thirsty, tired and sleepy.
He could only rely on these non-poisonous grasses to feed himself while traveling in the dark night forest. For a hunter with a broken arm, he would only be torn apart and eaten by a pack of wolves.
He thought he had escaped the jackals, tigers and leopards, but not the wild snakes!
After the hunter fell asleep, Bai Jun slowly crawled out of the grass. He quietly climbed onto the hunter's body along the legs of his trousers, and then took the sachet around the man's waist in his mouth. His body was ready to wrap around him. The man's only remaining left arm was removed.
Bai Yan bit hard, but did not pull off the sachet. He was so frightened that he could no longer care about the others. He turned around and bit the neck of the hunter who had just woken up, and injected venom frantically.
He didn't want to kill anyone. After all, the human race is a race favored by heaven and earth. Killing someone might have karma for a demon and even damage a demon's own fortune.
But he didn't expect the hunter to be so careful, so he had no choice but to kill the hunter.
Because once the hunter wakes up, even holding a knife with one hand can seriously injure Bai Jun or even kill him.
So Bai Jun strikes first to gain the upper hand!
The hunter felt cold and soft all over his body. When he woke up, he saw a big snake covered with mud wrapped around his arm and even bit his neck.
He was so frightened that his left hand was tightly entangled with the snake's body. In panic, he could only bite the snake's neck and bite it down hard.
Bai Jun felt pain suddenly, pulled back and twisted away from the hunter's mouth, and rolled over and fell to the ground.
The hunter hurriedly stood up, picked up the hunting knife and raised it with courage, looked at Bai Jun with eager eyes, and sneered: "How dare a beast kill your uncle?"
Bai Yan twisted his body and slowly retreated into the grass while coiling the snake's head and spitting out a snake message to warn the hunter.
The hunter didn't dare to step forward and actually chop him. After all, the hunter knew his situation. If he was bitten by a snake again, he would...
He suddenly remembered that the snake bit him on the neck when he just woke up!
Thinking of this, the hunter felt dizzy, his eyes blurred, his breathing became difficult, and his whole body felt as if he couldn't use any strength.
His consciousness gradually became dull, and he vaguely seemed to see a white snake looking at him quietly not far away.
Countless thoughts flashed through the hunter's mind, and he murmured unwillingly: "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I want to eat this black bone grass and become a martial arts master. I didn't hesitate to sell the martial arts secrets I got from my mother-in-law before I can practice them." , I want to become a martial arts master, and I want all the prostitutes in the brothel to surrender under me..."
He talked about all the visions he looked forward to, all the futures he could only dream of, and was unwilling to sleep forever.
Bai Jun just sat next to the hunter and watched him die slowly. This was the first person he had killed in his two lifetimes!
He sighed in his heart. After all, he had become a snake. His heart was really cold. Bai Jun didn't feel any panic or emotion at all, as if he was devouring his prey with peace of mind.
Bai Yan waited until the hunter was completely dead before approaching his body. He opened the sachet that the hunter had guarded until his death. The small sachet was sewn with thick cloth and thread. The fragrance in it was just the ordinary smell of mugwort leaves, but it was embroidered with embroidery. With these four clever words "Hehuan Ruyi", it can be seen that the woman who embroidered this sachet must like him very much.
Bai Jun also recognizes some of these traditional Chinese characters. It seems that even in ancient times, he was not ignorant of big characters.
Opening the sachet, there is a small grass inside, with nine leaves and no flowers or fruits. The leaves are purple, but the rhizome is like flesh and blood.
The grass seemed quite strange. Bai Yan didn't instinctively feel any disgust. It probably wasn't poisonous to him.
Bai Jun swallowed it in one gulp. He would not save it and go back to the cave to eat. If there was an accident along the way, the gain would outweigh the loss.
