My Demon Husband Is a Snake Chapter 3 - 3 Awakening from the Freeze

My mother, with surprising force, shoved me away. "Get back, child. Don't be a hindrance."

"Mom…" I was sent stumbling to the ground, a grimace of pain crossing my face.

My mother, seemingly entranced, continued her kowtowing without pause.

She kowtowed so fervently that her head was injured, and blood began to stream from the wound.

The crimson fluid stained the concrete floor. If this persisted, a dire consequence seemed inevitable.

Without further hesitation, I moved to physically pull her up.

Suddenly.

A mocking laugh echoed through the space, so intensely chilling it felt capable of freezing one's very soul. "I merely desire her repayment. What can your Su Family possibly do? Do you even possess the standing to negotiate with me?"

Not far off, a man was seated upon a simple, worn-out stool.

His appearance was as if he had materialized from thin air.

Clad in a flowing blue robe, his features were refined, resembling exquisite jade carving. His ink-black hair, as soft as silk, cascaded around his bare feet, presenting the perfect image of an ethereal Immortal.

Yet, his captivating peach blossom eyes, capable of ensnaring souls, were filled with outright malice. His gaze, a veiled smile that wasn't quite a smile, fixated on me, inducing a profound sense of unease.

My mother's face drained of all color, her eyes wide with sheer terror. She continued to murmur the same desperate plea, "Snake Lord, if vengeance is what you seek, let it fall upon me. Please spare Su Wan; what wrong has she committed..."

Ignoring my mother, the man's gaze shifted past her, finally resting on me. "Su Wan."

"You... you're that phantom python..." I could never have fathomed that the entity which haunted my nights with indescribable fear would possess such an appearance.

I found myself completely frozen, caught between apprehension and awe.

Taking a steadying breath, I posed my question to him, "Is there any way you could possibly save my mother? Her time is running out."

He narrowed his eyes at me, lazily propping his chin with his hand, and issued a command. "Drip your blood onto the cheongsam and claim it as your own."

The instant his words finished, he vanished.

Without a moment's hesitation, I bit my finger, disregarding the sharp pain.

Slap—

My mother's forceful slap struck my face, preventing me from dripping my blood onto the cheongsam. "Stop it!! Su Wan!"

"Mom, how could you..." I was stunned, my cheek stinging from the impact. My mother, who had always been so gentle towards me, had never struck me before.

My mother's furious interruption cut me off. "Who gave you permission to make this decision on your own?! If he becomes entangled with you, your life will be ruined!"

"I... I just wanted to save you." Before I could finish, she snatched the cheongsam from my grasp.

My mother fixed me with a fierce glare. "I do not need your salvation! If he becomes fixated on you, I would rather die!"

She was gravely ill, her body having become alarmingly emaciated.

Yet, enduring her pain, she clutched the Ghost Python Cheongsam and began a thorough search of the house.

Observing her evident disdain for that man, I initially assumed she was seeking my father's Yin Yang Scissors to destroy the cheongsam and preempt any future troubles.

However, after half an hour had passed, my mother retrieved a dusty wooden box from beneath an ancient cabinet. Wiping it clean revealed a simple pagoda tree box, fashioned from solid wood.

A round copper key, resembling a Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Plate, was attached to it.

My mother placed the Ghost Python Cheongsam inside the box and used the copper key, adorned with a red string, to secure the Eight Trigrams Lock.

Inside the box, the ghost python seemed to writhe in agitation. The box itself shook violently in an unnatural manner.

Nevertheless, after a few tremors, it fell silent.

I surmised that the ghost python must have been subdued by some inherent power within the box.

"Hurry and get some sleep; I'll take you to get rid of the anomaly in your stomach tomorrow," my mother urged me to bed.

I glanced at the pagoda tree box, a sense of unease settling upon me. "Is the box truly effective?"

"It has been a treasured heirloom of the Su Family for generations; rest assured, there will be no issue," my mother assured me with conviction, her eyes silently signaling for me to go to sleep.

Initially, I believed that with the cheongsam secured away, that man would certainly not manifest.

However, as midnight struck, a multitude of snakes congregated just outside my home's entrance.

I awoke with a bone-chilling cold, and the first sight that greeted me was a vast assembly of snakes, coiled and poised just beyond the glass window.

The cold moonlight glinted off their scales, casting an ominous luminescence.

The hissing and peculiar calls of the snakes rose and fell in sequence.

Their eerie sounds seemed to intertwine, forming a single, frigid phrase: "Su Wan, Su Wan…"