When I left Leifeng Pagoda, I encountered the monk Fahai.

He smiled and asked me:

"Between you and the snake demon..."

I gently shook my head and entered Jinshan Temple once again.

I gazed at the statue of the true Buddha in the main hall, suddenly feeling a trance.

The true Buddha once again transformed into a twisted monster, its figure vague in the gray mist.

A sobbing sound came from its half-human face:

"The heavenly calamity is approaching. Kill her or fall in love with her. You must make a choice."

Next, within the gray mist, such a scene appeared.

A gigantic white snake destroyed the city, and a towering flood surged into the city.

Countless people screamed in despair within the flood, and the white snake swallowed hundreds of them in its mouth.

Monk Fahai flew out of Jinshan Temple and used a huge alms bowl to contain the flood.

The white snake shattered Leifeng Pagoda, and indescribable monsters emerged from below the tower.

Countless strange and twisted snakes appeared, with horns on their heads and no eyes.

They had rows of teeth in their mouths and black liquid oozed from their bodies.

Rather than snakes, they resembled leeches.

Countless black monsters rushed into the crowd, and a ferocious and brutal slaughter began.

They firmly bit their mouthparts onto people's bodies, then twisted their bodies, creating huge blood holes.

Other black monsters seized the opportunity and devoured people from the inside out.

The swallowed people were stretched like skin bags until they couldn't contain any more monsters, then they burst apart.

The splattered blood was pitch black, and when the flames that drove away the monsters encountered the black blood, they burned even faster.

The entire city of Hangzhou turned into ruins under the black monsters and the flames.

Most people left no bones behind, only dark and foul-smelling blood stains.

Under the siege of the black monsters, even Monk Fahai turned into a mass of mud.

I endured the disgust and continued reading.

The white snake also began to undergo a transformation. Its original pink and white skin began to shed.

At the moment when the jet-black snake skin was revealed, the white snake grew a pair of claws.

A mist suddenly appeared in the sky, and the indescribable figure of the Buddha appeared.

The black snake shattered into countless pieces, and only then did this calamity come to an end.

However, the entire city of Hangzhou became a cursed place, where no grass grew for hundreds of years.

Even ghosts and spirits passing through would be infected by the black curse, transforming into incomprehensible forms and wreaking havoc elsewhere.

All the scenes came to an end once again, and the figure of the Buddha in the mist became increasingly faint.

He angrily urged me to make a decision.

That sudden roar pierced through my heart from the distant horizon.

I felt a wave of pain throughout my entire being, the pain of being abandoned by the world.

The revelation left in my mind said that killing Bai Suzhen would grant me immortality.

I suddenly understood the Xu Xian in that dream.

Perhaps he wasn't truly despicable, but for the sake of the people of Hangzhou, he had no choice but to resort to such means.

I also remembered the words Xu Xian had once said.

"You and I, as humans and demons, have different paths. Drink this wine, and I will ask the master to save you."

"In the next life, when you are reborn as a human, I can be your peaceful companion."

"Whether it takes eighteen years or thirty-six years, even if it exhausts my entire life, I will wait for you."

Perhaps he sincerely believed that if there were a next life, he could help Bai Suzhen overcome her tribulations and ascend to immortality.

So, five hundred years later, I came here because of the little snake formed from that wisp of remnant soul.

I was caught in an endless struggle, wanting to find the Xu Xian from before and question him:

"Why? Why must I bear the task you couldn't complete?"

But Xu Xian would never answer me; he had already been forgottenand lost in the annals of time. The burden of the decision now rested solely on my shoulders. As I stood in the quiet halls of Jinshan Temple, the weight of the impending calamity pressed upon me.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, seeking clarity within my own heart. Images of the devastation caused by the snake demon flashed before me—innocent lives lost, a city consumed by darkness. The vision of the Buddha's warning echoed in my mind, urging me to take action.

However, as the scenes unfolded, another image emerged—the tender moments between Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian. Their love, though forbidden, was a testament to the capacity for compassion and redemption. It was a love that defied the boundaries of species and challenged the conventional norms.

I opened my eyes, resolute in my decision. I would not succumb to the fear and despair planted by the prophecy. Instead, I chose to believe in the power of love and the potential for transformation.

I would seek a different path—one that embraced understanding, forgiveness, and the possibility of harmony between humans and demons. I would confront the snake demon, not with hatred or violence, but with compassion and a sincere desire for reconciliation.

The journey ahead would be arduous, fraught with challenges and uncertainties. But I would carry the hope of a better future, where humans and demons could coexist in peace.

Leaving the safety of Jinshan Temple, I ventured forth into the world, guided by my conviction. The fate of Hangzhou and its inhabitants hung in the balance, but I believed that with love and understanding, even the darkest of prophecies could be rewritten.

And so, my path was set—to confront the snake demon, not as an adversary, but as a harbinger of change. Together, we would embark on a journey of redemption, seeking a new destiny for ourselves and all those affected by our intertwined fates.