Blossoming Path

The snow stretched endlessly around Gentle Wind Village, a pristine white blanket interrupted only by Windy’s sleek, coiled form. His scales, a pale white with a faint blue sheen, blended with the frost, making him nearly invisible save for the glint of his narrowed blue eyes. He rested atop a snowdrift, watching as the villagers bustled about, their faces flushed with admiration as they glanced toward the center of the village.

Toward her.

Tianyi, with her shimmering wings folded behind her back, stood near the gathering of villagers, her human form a delicate contradiction of strength and fragility. She was radiant, ethereal, a figure straight out of their stories. To them, she was nothing short of miraculous.

And then there was him—Windy.

The snake.

The villagers spoke of her transformation in awed whispers, calling her a "miracle," a "blessing." But when their eyes turned to him, they softened with a condescension that cut deeper than the winter chill. He could hear their thoughts as clearly as if they’d been spoken aloud:

Kai’s snake. His pet. Loyal, but nothing more.

Windy’s tail lashed against the snow. His frustration simmered just beneath his smooth scales. He wasn’t just a snake. He wasn’t just anything. He was a predator, an apex creature who had proven his worth time and time again, in battle and in loyalty. Yet the world seemed to value not his power, but Tianyi’s newfound ability to mimic the ones they protected.

'Why must I wear another skin to prove my worth?' The thought hissed through his mind like venom. 'A serpent does not need wings to fly.'

He coiled tighter, his body instinctively readying to strike, though there was no enemy before him.

Windy’s gaze drifted toward the treeline at the village’s edge, where the wilderness began. The forest loomed beyond it, dark and tangled. A place of danger that Kai and Tianyi had warned him to avoid. But there were paths he could take that skirted its edges, away from the constraints of the village, away from the pitying gazes.

With a flick of his tail, Windy slid from the snowdrift and began weaving his way toward the outskirts of the village. The snow parted easily for him, his movements smooth and fluid despite the bitter cold. His mind raced, each thought sharper than the chill biting at his body.

'Let them call me what they will. I do not need their recognition. I’ll prove my worth to myself.'

As he neared the village’s boundary, a shadow fell across the snow in front of him. He stopped, his tongue flicking out instinctively to sense who had blocked his path. Tianyi’s scent was unmistakable.

“Where are you going, Windy?” Her voice was gentle, yet it carried the weight of someone used to being heeded. She hovered slightly above the snow, her wings stirring the air in slow, deliberate motions. “Does Kai know?”

Windy curled defensively, his eyes narrowing. 'I don’t answer to you. Or anyone. I go where I please.'

Tianyi tilted her head, her antennae-like strands twitching thoughtfully. She wasn’t angry, merely curious. “Then be safe,” she said at last, her voice soft. “And come back before dinner.”

He flicked his tail dismissively, though a small part of him—one he refused to acknowledge—felt a flicker of warmth at her words. 'I don’t need your concern.'

“And yet you have it,” She replied, her smile faint but genuine. She turned back toward the village, her wings fluttering as she left him to his path.

Windy watched her go, his frustration bubbling anew. He didn’t want her care or Kai’s approval. He wanted—needed—to carve his own place, one that was undeniable, irrefutable. With a determined flick of his tongue, he set off into the wilderness.

The cold bit harder as he ventured further from the village. The snow deepened, and the trees became sparse, their skeletal branches casting jagged shadows across the ground. Windy moved with purpose, his serpentine body undeterred by the terrain, though the chill gnawed at his strength.

The wind howled around him, carrying with it the faint scent of prey; small animals burrowed beneath the snow, their heartbeats faint but detectable. He ignored them. Hunting wasn’t his goal, not today. Today was about freedom, about proving that he could survive, thrive, without the protection of Kai or the village.

The wilderness seemed endless, its silence broken only by the crunch of snow beneath him and the occasional creak of ice-laden branches. His spirit beast constitution kept him moving, but even it couldn’t fully shield him from the raw force of winter. The cold seeped into him, a reminder of the natural order he sought to defy.

'Survival isn’t enough,' he thought bitterly. 'I need more. I need...'

The word eluded him, but the yearning it represented burned in his chest.

Several li into his journey, the snow thinned as Windy approached a slope. His tongue flicked out instinctively, sensing something unusual below. The air was warmer here, a strange anomaly in the heart of winter. A faint hiss echoed from beneath the snow, carrying the unmistakable cadence of his kin.

Curiosity, mingled with a twinge of disdain, guided his movements. Windy slithered down the incline, his body flowing effortlessly over the frozen terrain until he found a narrow fissure in the ground, partially obscured by snow. The warmth emanated stronger now, a telltale sign of life below. He hesitated only briefly before slipping inside, his sleek form navigating the dark passage with ease.

The chamber revealed itself gradually, the dim light filtering through cracks above. The air was thick, humid compared to the bitter cold outside. Snakes of varying sizes and colors were coiled together in sprawling masses, their bodies intertwined in a survivalist embrace against the winter’s grip. The sight was both awe-inspiring and, to Windy, faintly repellent.

He paused at the edge of the gathering, his presence immediately noticed. Several heads lifted, forked tongues flickering in unison as they assessed him. They did not hiss in warning or challenge but observed him with a quiet curiosity. Even among his own kind, his radiant scales and subtle qi aura marked him as different. Other.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Windy slithered further into the chamber, weaving between the coils of others. They parted for him, more out of instinct than respect. He sensed their deference but felt no kinship.

'These are my kind,' he thought, glancing at the dull, earth-toned scales of the others. 'Yet they are not my kin. They survive, but they do not strive.'

Larger snakes occupied the central space, their bulk ensuring dominance over the rest. Windy’s gaze lingered on them, searching for any hint of spirit, of that spark of potential he knew so well from Tianyi and himself. But there was none. They were impressive in size and strength but stagnant.

Creatures content with existing, not evolving.

'Is this what it means to be a snake?' The thought struck him with surprising bitterness. 'To survive winters in the dark, dreaming of nothing but the thaw?'

For the first time, Windy considered conversing with the others. It was an alien thought to him; he had never sought out the company of his own kind before. The underground chamber was alive with low hisses and subtle movements, a language he understood intrinsically but had rarely used.

He coiled tightly, his tail flicking against the stone floor in thought. When he finally spoke, his voice was sharp and clear.

“Do you feel it?” he hissed, addressing no one and everyone. “The pull to something greater?”

Several heads turned toward him, their interest piqued but their responses hesitant. One particularly large serpent, its dark scales glinting faintly in the low light, shifted closer, its tongue flicking toward Windy.

“What greater thing?” the larger snake replied. “The sun will return. The thaw will come. This is our time to endure, not dream.”

Windy’s eyes narrowed, his tail flicking dismissively. “Endure? Is that all you desire? To wait, huddled in the dark? Strength is not found in waiting. It is forged in striving.”

A ripple of unease moved through the chamber, the muted hisses rising and falling in response to his words. The larger snake regarded him with something between curiosity and annoyance.

“You speak as if you are above this,” it said. “And yet, here you are. A serpent, like the rest of us.”

Windy bristled but forced himself to remain composed. “I am here, but I will not stay. I have come to see my kind, but I will not linger in the shadows. I was not made to wait. I was made to rise.”

The larger snake seemed unimpressed, its massive coils shifting as it settled back into the mass. The chamber quieted again, the others returning to their state of dormancy, content to ignore him.

He had his answer. These were his kind, but they were not his peers.

Windy settled reluctantly among the coiled masses, his sleek form weaving through the tangled bodies of the hibernating snakes. The warmth of the chamber was a stark contrast to the biting cold above, yet it offered no comfort. He coiled tightly in an isolated corner, his scales brushing against the rough stone floor as he began a slow, deliberate mantra, the words a rhythm in his mind.

A serpent does not need wings to fly. A serpent coils its way to the heavens.

Your dao is slowly forming.

The thought echoed within him, steady and unyielding. It wasn’t just a mantra; it was a truth, a declaration of his identity. Windy repeated it silently, letting it root itself in the core of his being. The disdain he felt for the rest of his kin lingered, but he forced himself to observe, to study. If he was to rise, he needed to understand the foundation he sought to transcend.

Time passed in an unmeasured haze. The movements of the snakes around him were subtle and infrequent, a slow shift here, a flicker of a tongue there. The air was thick with the scent of their presence. Windy’s eyes narrowed as he watched the larger snakes dominate the warmer central spaces. Their size alone granted them privilege, but they lacked the spark, the drive, that separated the extraordinary from the ordinary.

'They mistake size for strength,' Windy thought, his tongue flicking disdainfully. 'They mistake endurance for purpose.'

He adjusted his coils, his tail curling protectively around his core as his instincts remained alert. Despite the lethargy that gripped the chamber, danger lurked here, subtle but present. He was smaller than many of the snakes, but he knew his strength surpassed theirs. His spirit beast nature ensured it, but they wouldn’t see that. To them, size was the only metric of power.

As if on cue, a shadow loomed over him. Windy’s muscles tensed, his senses sharpening. A massive snake, its dull scales mottled with scars, slithered closer. Its movements were deliberate, predatory. Windy’s tongue flicked out, tasting the intent in the air.

It was hungry.

Before the larger snake could strike, Windy moved. His sleek body darted to the side, the attack missing him by the width of a scale. He twisted around, his fangs bared in a warning display. The larger snake hesitated, its dull eyes blinking slowly as if processing the failed strike. It recoiled slightly, confused by the agility of its smaller target.

“You dare?” Windy hissed, his tone sharp and biting. “Do you not see what I am?”

The larger snake regarded him for a moment longer, then slithered away without another attempt. It was too dim-witted to comprehend what had happened but instinctive enough to recognize a threat it didn’t understand.

He glanced around, noting that the others had barely reacted. They had seen the exchange but dismissed it as irrelevant, their dull gazes returning to their own torpid existence.

These snakes were content to wallow in their lethargy, oblivious to the greater world beyond their narrow existence.

If strength was the only language they understood, then he would speak it fluently.

Slowly, deliberately, he began slithering toward the heart of the hibernacula, where the largest snakes coiled in their arrogant complacency. The temperature was warmer here, the air heavy with the combined breath of the dominants. Their hulking forms lay piled on one another, motionless save for the occasional flick of a tail or shift of a massive coil.

Windy’s movements were smooth, his scales glinting faintly in the dim light as he approached the nearest of them; the same one that tried to attack him. The serpent’s size was intimidating. easily five times his length, its girth enough to crush a boar. It barely acknowledged him, assuming him to be no threat.

It was a mistake.

With a blur of motion, Windy struck. His fangs sank into the massive snake’s neck with precision, injecting a burst of venom that stunned the creature. Before it could react, Windy twisted his body around its bulk, constricting with a force far beyond his size. The larger snake writhed, its movements sluggish and uncoordinated compared to Windy’s honed techniques. It thrashed violently but failed to dislodge him. Within moments, it lay still, its dominance stripped away.

The other snakes stirred at the commotion, their dull eyes now fixed on Windy. Whispers rippled through the chamber, hisses of confusion and fear.

“He defeated One-Eye,” one murmured.

“Impossible. He’s too small,” another said.

Windy ignored them, his focus already shifting to the next largest snake. This one was more alert, its forked tongue flicking rapidly as it regarded him warily. But caution was no substitute for skill. Windy darted forward, his movements a blur as he coiled around its head, forcing its jaws shut before delivering a series of rapid strikes to its vulnerable underbelly. The fight was over before it began.

The defeated snakes hissed in outrage, their voices rising in a cacophony of bitterness.

“As one predator falls, another rises,” one murmured, its tone bitter and resigned. “The strongest of our kind was slain, and now he takes its place.”

“That brute?” another spat, its tone laden with scorn. “He wasn’t even a shadow of the power the last apex held. But alas, even that one's might meant nothing to the shadow in the forest.”

Windy froze, his body coiling tighter as their words settled over him like a layer of frost. Shadow? The term pricked at his instincts, carrying a weight far beyond their grumbled disdain. He slithered closer to one of the defeated serpents, his tongue flicking out sharply, his aura a cold and unyielding demand for clarity.

“What shadow?” Windy’s voice cut through their murmurs, sharp and deliberate. “Speak clearly. What are you talking about?”

The snake nearest to him recoiled, its battered pride and aching body reluctant to cooperate. But Windy’s unwavering gaze bore into it, his coiled body radiating a silent but potent menace. Reluctantly, it answered, its voice trembling with a mix of fear and bitterness.

“There’s something in the forest,” it admitted, its tone low and halting. “A predator, far greater than anything we’ve known. It came from the depths of the forest and killed the apex of this place. None of us dared to face it.”

Another snake chimed in, its voice tinged with equal parts fear and resignation. “It claimed its territory in the forest, and now it looms over us, unseen but ever-present. We stay here because we have no choice.”

Windy’s tongue flicked again, tasting the truth in their words. His mind churned with the implications, the image of this shadowy predator painting itself vividly in his imagination. Whatever this creature was, it had already marked its dominance in blood, and now it lingered, unchallenged, just beyond the reach of these lesser beings.

His coils tensed further, a spark of challenge igniting within him. He slithered closer to the speaking snake, his voice cutting through the thick, humid air like a blade.

“You cower here, waiting for the next shadow to claim you,” Windy hissed. “But I will not. Tell me everything you know about this predator.”

The hisses of his kind grew quieter as Windy’s demand lingered in the air, his presence casting a long shadow over the defeated serpents. Slowly, they began to speak, their fragmented knowledge spilling forth like scattered embers, illuminating the shape of the danger that awaited.

Quest: Path of the Serpent

- Discover the shadow and confirm its existence.

- Overcome a predator that surpasses you in cultivation rank without relying solely on speed.

- Protect your territory.

Windy’s tail flicked sharply as he dismissed the screen. The notion of protecting the hibernacula grated against his pride, but the challenge intrigued him. If this shadow had claimed dominance over the forest, then it was his duty to confront it.

He slithered toward the fissure, his body tense with anticipation. The forest loomed in his thoughts, its dangers a distant hum in the back of his mind. Kai and Tianyi’s warnings echoed faintly, but he brushed them aside.

“This is not for them,” he told himself, his tongue flicking out to taste the cold air as he emerged from the underground chamber. “This is for me. My territory. My strength.”

It was night now, and the snow greeted him once more, its chill biting but invigorating. Windy coiled briefly at the entrance to the fissure, his gaze fixed on the treeline in the distance. The forest awaited, its shadows deeper and darker than ever.

With a final flick of his tail, Windy darted forward, leaving the hibernacula behind. He was done waiting. It was time to rise.