Btth: The Rise of Qingshan

"Oops..."

The little girl clearly didn't expect someone to be standing behind her. Plus, she was looking down when she turned around, so she bumped right into him.

The person she bumped into didn't fall, but she herself stumbled backward, almost falling.

"Careful!"

A hand grabbed the girl's wrist and pulled her back, while another hand supported the wooden basin.

"Are you alright?"

The speaker was a young man, shrouded in a black robe. After gently pulling the girl up and steadying her, he asked softly.

"Y-yes, I'm fine, thank you, young master."

The girl thanked him in a soft voice, bowing her head respectfully. She carefully tugged at her sleeve, trying to hide the faint blue scales on her wrist.

"What's your name?"

Yan Qingshan walked slowly in front of the girl, lifting her thin, fair chin. He gently squeezed her delicate chin, making her face him.

The girl was charming and lovely, not very old, probably not even twelve. She was dressed in simple clothes, and although her body was petite, she seemed to be more developed than the thirteen-year-old Xiao Yi Xian, with curves that hinted at a captivating charm.

Her cute, delicate oval face was like a beautiful porcelain doll, like a frightened little rabbit. Her timid and adorable appearance made people want to hold her in their arms and cherish her.

Yan Qingshan's gaze was excessively heated as he scanned the girl's body, from her delicate face to her slender waist, and then to her small, exquisite bound feet, barely visible beneath her skirt.

Her waist, so slender it seemed it could be encircled by a single hand, unconsciously made him wonder how it would feel to see it swaying...

Like a beautiful snake, swaying its seductive waist, flashed through his mind.

Yan Qingshan carefully lifted her sleeve, revealing rows of faint blue snake scales on her arm. The girl seemed very reluctant to show her scales, and her cute face immediately turned pale, her small body trembling.

"Y-young master, I don't have a name... I-I'm sorry... I-I didn't mean to scare you."

The little girl suddenly noticed that her wrist was exposed beneath her sleeve. Her trembling voice was filled with anxiety and tears, full of fear and dread, afraid of being punished for her scales.

Snake scales, the symbol of the Snake-People race, a race unique to the Tager Desert, different from humans. Snake-People have human bodies and snake tails, and their bodies are covered in snake scales.

Shortly after birth, Snake-People are infused with the soul of a snake-shaped magical beast through a secret ritual.

As they grow older and stronger, this companion soul gradually merges with them, eventually becoming one with them, making them more snake-like.

The girl in front of Yan Qingshan had snake scales but no snake tail, clearly not a Snake-People, but another, even rarer being in the Tagerr Desert: a mixed-blood Snake-People.

Mixed-blood Snake-People, in the Tager Desert, the Snake-People and humans are hostile to each other. Human slave-hunting teams venture deep into the desert to capture Snake-People women as slaves, while Snake-People warriors also violate human women.

Whether they are Snake-People women or human women, their experiences and fates are generally not good.

Normally, Snake-People and humans cannot conceive, but there are always exceptions, and there is a very rare chance that mixed-blood offspring will be born.

However, these children rarely survive past the age of two. Those who do survive either have relatively good family conditions or... have a special physique and exceptional talent.

The girl Yan Qingshan was holding was very thin, barely more than skin and bones, too thin. Her arms had faint scars, indicating that her family conditions were not good. Her survival seemed to be due to the latter.

Most mercenaries on the edge of the desert have deep-seated blood feuds with the Snake-People, and since this little girl had Snake-People blood flowing through her veins, even without a snake tail, her scales would instinctively evoke disgust from those around her.

This emotion was almost impossible to suppress, a mutual repulsion born from the long-standing enmity between humans and Snake-People.

Qing Lin, who possessed both human and Snake-People blood, bore the brunt of both sides' discrimination and disgust. In a way, she was an extremely innocent girl.

The constant hateful gazes from those around her made the frail little girl extremely sensitive. Her small body trembled slightly, and her cute face, which should have been adored by countless people, was filled with gloom.

"Don't worry, they're beautiful. How could I be scared?"

Yan Qingshan gently wiped away the tears from the little girl's eyes. The frightened girl was stunned. Since her birth, this was the first time someone had said that her scales, which even she feared, were beautiful.

Yan Qingshan looked at the frail little girl in front of him, probably only ten or eleven years old. She had a delicate and lovely appearance, but was extremely sensitive and timid.

Her mixed-blood Snake-Person identity made her life in Rock Desert City difficult. Her survival was entirely due to her physique and some luck.

Yan Qingshan came to the Tager Desert for this girl. Mixed-blood Snake-People were rare in the Tager Desert, and there was probably only one in the entire Rock Desert City who had survived to this age with blue scales. So, his search didn't take much effort.

The little girl felt the warmth of the hand gently stroking her face, and her almost devastated heart was instantly lit up.

She instinctively tilted her head, trying to feel more of the warmth on her face. Opening her eyes, which faintly exuded a strange charm, she timidly whispered, "Young master!"

"Do you have any family?"

Yan Qingshan tried to speak softly, with an indescribable gentleness and patience, afraid of startling the pitiful "little rabbit" girl.

"N-no, after my mother died of illness, I've been alone. Fortunately, Sister Xuelan is willing to let me wash clothes for her, otherwise..."

The little girl's voice was tinged with loneliness when she mentioned her family. After her mother died, few people were willing to associate with her because of her mixed-blood Snake-Person identity.

Even though she worked diligently and washed clothes very cleanly, few people were willing to give her clothes to wash.

Fortunately, there were still kind-hearted people in Rock Desert City. Some of her mother's old customers were willing to take care of her, which barely allowed her to survive in Rock Desert City.

"It's alright. From now on, how about you follow me?"

Yan Qingshan gently lifted the little girl's face, staring into her watery eyes, which had a slight greenish tint, with three tiny green dots hidden deep in her pupils.

After experiencing the Lionheart Baptism in winter, Yan Qingshan not only broke through to become a middle Dou Zhe but also gained some special powers.

Yan Qingshan was not purely wood-attributed. Most people actually have some hidden talents, but compared to their main attribute, these other talents are too insignificant to be of any use.

The only exception is alchemists, who have a trace of wood energy mixed in their fire energy, coupled with a natural talent for spiritual perception, making them noble alchemists.

Yan Qingshan's talent was somewhat similar. He was born with wood containing thunder, but the trace of thunder energy was too weak, making it difficult to cultivate thunder-attributed techniques, let alone Dou Qi skills.

But whether it was a gift from heaven or not, the Blue-maned Scorpion Lion Beast used in the Lionheart Baptism was a rare thunder-attributed magical beast.

It was not uncommon to awaken special talents by cultivating secret techniques with magical beast essence blood. Yan Qingshan's thunder energy had grown stronger, and he had gained a pair of thunder eyes.

The thunder energy in his eyes was the strongest in his body. The accumulated thunder energy allowed him to gather thunder in his eyes and activate his thunder pupils for a short time, greatly enhancing his vision and providing a deterrent effect. Ordinary people would be deterred and instinctively look away when they met his gaze.

"So strong!"

Yan Qingshan stared into the girl's eyes for only a moment before involuntarily turning away. The blue light in his eyes gradually disappeared, and he swayed, almost falling.

"Young master, are you alright?"

The little girl immediately became nervous, her tender face filled with anxiety, her small hands struggling to support Yan Qingshan, afraid that he would fall.

"I'm fine!"

Yan Qingshan shook his head, trying to relieve the fatigue. He recalled the scene just now, the somewhat eerie green pupils that made people unconsciously lose their minds.

Even with his thunder eyes activated, he couldn't resist, and his accumulated thunder energy was exhausted in a very short time.

"Are you willing to follow me?"

Yan Qingshan asked again, but this time he didn't dare to look into her eyes again.

"Young master!"

The girl's voice revealed surprise, and her cute face showed a strange radiance. The three tiny green dots in her green pupils suddenly reappeared silently.

"What, are you unwilling?"

Yan Qingshan stroked the girl's hair, smiling gently. This simple gesture immediately filled the girl's parched heart.

"Young master, I'm willing to follow you for a lifetime..."

She whispered softly, her cute face revealing a strange radiance. Although it was their first meeting, the warmth from his hand soothed her soul.

The young man's gaze held surprise and a hint of the heat she'd seen in other men's eyes, but it lacked the disgust she was used to.

Even her mother and Sister Xuelan, who cared for her, couldn't suppress a flicker of aversion when they saw her blue scales. This subtle rejection had made the little girl incredibly sensitive.

"A lifetime, then it's a promise..."

The young man smiled, pleased with how smoothly the "kidnapping" had gone. He gently pinched the girl's small, delicate nose, making her blush and reveal a captivating charm.

She instinctively clung to Yan Qingshan's arm, afraid he would abandon her.

As the sun set, in Rock Desert City, a large hand held a small hand, their shadows stretching long, longer…