Continued from The True Story of the White Snake: Yu's Incarnation (Part One)
That night, the cultivator had another dream. It felt like a continuation of the previous night's dream — again featuring Zhen'er and Qing'er. Sensing something was wrong, the cultivator quickly used his spiritual power to wake himself, then quietly made his way to the main hall and peered through the crack in the door.
What he saw was shocking. Two enormous snakes — one white, one green — were coiled around the dried-out corpse of a man, devouring it bite by bite.
The cultivator quietly returned to his room. Although he knew these two snake demons had committed many evils, he still wished to give them one last chance. So he lay down and went back to sleep.
In his dream, he found himself at a busy riverside, with a tavern nearby that served wine and food and offered lodging. Zhen'er smiled and invited the cultivator to drink, but he declined — his path of cultivation forbade alcohol. He also did not pick up his chopsticks to eat. No matter how the two urged him, the cultivator remained unmoved.
Since he would neither drink nor eat, Zhen'er offered to dance for him. The cultivator agreed, but out of respect for Zhen'er's reputation — it would not do to dance in public — he rose and arranged for a private room with the innkeeper, whispering some instructions and handing over all the travel money he carried. The inn attendant happily agreed.
In the private room, with just the three of them, Zhen'er and Qing'er began to dance freely and without restraint. Their movements were seductive, their waists twisting like snakes, attempting to enchant the cultivator — but he simply lowered his head and drank his tea.
Before long, there was a knock at the door. The inn attendant had brought something in. The cultivator took the tray, which held two bowls with lids. Zhen'er drew close, curious, asking what they were. Qing'er leaned in as well. The cultivator said it was a medicinal brew he would use for bathing later that evening, and asked the two women not to enter the room while he bathed — men and women must keep their distance, and he did not wish to compromise their reputations.
Zhen'er readily agreed, and left the room with Qing'er. Soon, the sound of water being ladled came from the room. Seeing their opportunity, the two of them had already planned to enter his dreams and drain him of his vital essence, then devour his flesh afterward. And so, the mistress and her maidservant quietly slipped back into the room, waiting for the right moment to strike.
What they did not expect was this: the moment they closed the door behind them, the cultivator immediately flung the contents of both bowls — the so-called bathing brew — directly at them. The two let out a cry of agony, and in an instant their human forms dissolved. They became two enormous snakes — one white, one green — a truly terrifying sight.
The dream collapsed. The two snakes writhed in anguish on the floor of the cultivator's room. For the brew in those bowls was in fact mugwort-infused realgar wine. Mugwort is a pure yang plant that repels yin impurities; realgar is a highly toxic arsenic sulfide mineral; and grain wine carries yang energy by nature. Combined, these three ingredients formed a brew that was the very bane of malevolent beings.
Racked with pain and twisting on the ground, Zhen'er wept and asked the cultivator why he had done this — had they not treated him with such care and hospitality?
The cultivator replied that his path was one of compassion. From the moment he had set foot in this house, he had already given Zhen'er and Qing'er their chance. Had they been willing to stop killing, he would have spared them and continued on his way.
For cultivators of that era possessed formidable spiritual powers. Even before arriving at the house in the hills, he had already known it was the dwelling of demon spirits. Had he been without compassion, he could have used his great powers to reduce both demons to nothing long ago.
But these two snake demons showed no remorse, and continued to indulge their habits of killing and greed — luring passing men into the house, drawing them into beautiful dreams to drain their vital essence, then consuming their flesh. And today had been the day they intended to do the same to him.
The mugwort realgar wine could only restore the demons to their true form — it could not destroy them. After warning the two snakes not to continue down this path, the cultivator packed his belongings and prepared to leave. He did not wish to harm any life, for all living beings have the right to exist.
But the white snake was not willing to let him go. How could she let a catch slip through her grasp? She exchanged a glance with the green snake, who leapt forward and coiled around the cultivator. The white snake opened her great jaws wide and lunged to bite him.
In that instant, a beam of golden light struck the white snake and blinded her. The green snake went limp and collapsed to the ground.
The cultivator was seen murmuring sutras continuously under his breath, though no sound could be heard. Yet his entire body radiated a powerful luminous glow that enveloped him completely. In that moment, the white snake was reduced to a small serpent, while the green snake dissolved into a pool of water and vanished.
With the demons' power gone, the house collapsed around them. The cultivator stopped his recitation, and used his spiritual power to transform the fallen earth and rubble into a demon-suppressing pagoda, sealing the small snake beneath it forever — never to harm anyone again.