Chapter 153: Sleeping White Snake
Bai Wei sat calmly in the police department, his eyes closed as he drifted into sleep. He was already very exhausted.
Both mentally and physically exhausted, it felt as if Bai Wei had been staying up all night for consecutive nights, like climbing a ladder without rest. If it were an ordinary person, they would have been one step away from the ICU.
After falling asleep, he drifted into a deep slumber and dreamt a dream.
In his dream, he could maintain a lucid awareness. It was a vivid dream, and entering such a state was not difficult. With practice, it became quite simple.
Then, in the pure white space of the vivid dream, various things began to emerge and take shape through the strokes of consciousness.
He returned to a tea room, quietly sitting down. With a wave of his hand, a teapot descended. Beside him, smokeless charcoals burned bright red, and a kettle produced rolling white mist.
The brewed tea was poured into a cup, not even requiring Bai Wei to do it himself. Just as the fragrant aroma of the tea wafted through the air, a figure appeared across from him.
With pure white hair and skin, amber-colored snake-like pupils, and no clothes on, the skin was covered with scales that reflected light.
"I knew you would come," Bai Wei said as he pushed the teacup towards the guest.
The woman lifted the teacup, extended her forked and slender tongue to taste the water temperature, and then tilted her head back to drink.
Every feature of hers indicated that she was not a human, but a white snake.
Beautiful snake women are not uncommon. In the empire, there is a serpent-human race, and the snake princesses of that race are highly sought after in the slave trade market, for reasons that those in the know are aware of.
This white snake seemed to be more than just an ordinary serpent-human. She was an ancient deity, and no matter how you looked at her, she was at least on the level of a magnificent rainbow-swallowing python...
Luckily, it had no ill intent.
After finishing the tea, she closed her lips, but her voice echoed through the dream, "Thank you."
"In any case, it was just a dream, and the cups could be endlessly refilled."
"I didn't come here to drink tea," she said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the White Snake Goddess."
"Land God? Is it?"
"I am currently a mountain god."
"Currently?" Bai Wei curiously asked, "Can one possess multiple different divine roles at the same time?"
"I am the local deity of the mountains, and also the serpent deity who governs the water and marshes. My full name is... Kamitsumiwoikirihime."
As she presented the proof, a fleeting illusion of a magnificent serpent flickered. It was the very same one that Bai Wei had encountered in the mountains.
"Um, nice to meet you for the first time," Bai Wei nodded, pretending to understand. After all, encountering a Land God was not very rare in the Ming Country where mountain deities resided.
People who have seen the world are like this.
She didn't mind and said, "No need to address me by my divine name, just call me Kamitsumi instead, for you have been kind enough to assist me."
Bai Wei nodded and said, "Sure, but I have no intention of using any honorifics. I am not one of the people of Yingzhou who have been blessed by you."
Kamitsumi lifted the tea cup.
Bai Wei snapped his fingers, and the tea pot floated over to refill the cups.
Bai Wei assumed that Kamitsumi would like a refill after she finished her cup, so he motioned with his hand again.
She shook her head, gazing at Bai Wei, and said, "Name."
"What?"
"Your name," she repeated, her expression serious and her delicate features appearing somewhat rigid.
Bai Wei felt a moment of surprise, realizing that she was waiting for his introduction.
"You should already know by now, that you have been possessing the body of Hokusinn Kichyō for such a long time."
"Even so, you should provide your name, as it is necessary for the procedure."
"Alright," Bai Wei complied readily. "I am Bai Wei, a man from the Ming Country. I am twenty-two years old, unmarried, and currently single. My hometown is in Jinling. My ID number is 34... My bank card number is... Oh, I won't mention that."
Kamitsumi listened quietly and said, "I will remember."
Bai Wei scratched his head and said, "Actually, you don't have to remember what comes after."
The snake god didn't quite understand human humor. "Then why did you tell me it?"
Bai Wei chuckled awkwardly and refilled the cup by hand, saying, "Please have some tea, please have some tea."
Kamitsumiwoikirihime took a few sips of tea, then said, "As I am now, I am not whole. I lack the power to maintain balance among the mountains and rivers. The door within the mountain should have been under my jurisdiction, but..."
"You just said that you are temporarily the mountain god," Bai Wei said. "So, where did the water god go?"
"Nature remained in its rightful place."
"Hmm..." Bai Wei stroked his chin. "Can I understand that you are undergoing mitosis right now?"
"It can be said that, although I cannot return, I am still keeping in contact with the other part." Kamitsumi said.
Bai Wei asked again, "What does this have to do with Hokusinn?"
Kamitsumi shook her head and said, "I don't know."
Bai Wei raised an eyebrow.
Kamitsumi continued to explain, "When I realized it, I became her and fell into the depths of her memories. To avoid hurting her soul, I could only dive into dreams and search for a space where I could fit myself in. And then, I found..."
"Simozi, is she what you found?"
"She has a vast and spacious realm of consciousness, capable of containing my own awareness," Kamitsumi said. "I have also brought Hokusinn Kichyō here, aiming to enhance her power through trials and ensure that she will not be overshadowed by me."
Bai Wei rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "A unified dual soul is only possible if they originate from the same source. You are a deity, while Hokusinn Kichyō is a normal person. Therefore, she was influenced by the divine energy you possess and became something akin to a semi-divine being, straddling the line between mortal and divine."
Kamitsumi said, "Her talent is excellent, but it takes a long time to become a demigod. At this stage, we can only say that we are barely coexisting."
Bai Wei asked again, "What is the story behind the appearance of the giant snake in the mountains?"
"I am the Mountain God, and that is a small amount of my power left in the earth's veins. Because it requires immense energy, it must be used at crucial moments."
"So, that was the reason you did help the shrine maidens and priests of the shrine."
"Yes, unfortunately they don't have enough strength. I can't use up the remaining power."
"..."
"You are angry."
"There's a bit, but I can control it," Bai Wei picked up the cup and then put it down, "I suppose I can accept it rationally, for now."
"You truly cherish feathers (You do indeed treasure your reputation)."
"Life is not a feather, I am simply very greedy. All kings are like this, they never want to let go of what they can catch."
Bai Wei spoke, chuckled self-deprecatingly, and changed the subject, "Will RashoMon open again?"
"It probably won't happen in a short time. The one inside the door was hurt badly, although there's no way to fix it permanently, but we can try to buy more time."
"How did RashoMon come to be?"
"I'm not quite sure. It seemed to appear all of a sudden."
"When did it appear?"
"Twenty-two years ago."
Bai Wei quietly sipped his tea. This timing was quite coincidental. After a moment of contemplation, he asked, "What do you plan to do next?"
"Now I can only temporarily reside within Hokusinn," the White Snake deity said calmly. "I cannot go anywhere else."
"I can take you back to the shrine," Bai Wei said.
"This is also something I want to warn you about," Kamitsumiwoikirihime said with a serious expression. "Do not, under any circumstances, go to my shrine, and I also warn Hokusinn not to seek my whereabouts, at least for now."
Her warning was like a "do not respond," the more she said it, the more curious people became.
Bai Wei asked, "Why?"
The White Snake deity was a bit old-fashioned, mulling over it for quite a while, enduring until the other person was almost out of patience before finally speaking slowly, "Because I am being targeted."
Bai Wei quickly understood and immediately had a related thought, "Are you saying that the exchange of souls between Hokusinn Kichyō and you might not be a coincidence?"
Kamitsumiwoikirihime nodded slowly, "I suppose it is like this, it is one of the ways to weaken me."
Bai Wei muttered to himself, "This is like the real-life version of fitting an elephant into a refrigerator."
He began to tap the table with his fingers, "If you are the prey, then why hasn't the box that contains this precious gem of yours been stolen?"
The White Snake deity replied decisively, "I don't know."
Bai Wei, "..."
If the target is the White Snake deity, Hokusinn Kichyō should have been targeted long ago. But in reality, she is now wandering around, full of energy and vitality, just like a teenager with pent-up vigor that has no place to release.
Since Hokusinn Kichyō is safe, it could imply two possibilities. One is that the other party is wary and hesitant to make a move, while the other is that the other party is completely unaware of Kamitsumiwoikirihime residing within Hokusinn Kichyō.
"It seems that we need to pay attention to Hokusinn's safety from now on," Bai Wei said. "We owe her a favor this time, even though it's a small one."
Kamitsumiwoikirihime also said, "With you taking care of her, I will feel more at ease."
"Are you planning to ignore your temple?"
"They dare not make a move," Kamitsumiwoikirihime said after a brief pause. "For now..."
"For now?" Bai Wei, with a cautious and scientific attitude, asked a follow-up question, "Until when?"
"December," the voice replied, sounding incredibly soft.
