He and It Chapter 144: The Serpent of Pharisee (10)

Chapter 144: The Serpent of Pharisee (10)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

“Blub, blub, blub, blub, blub…” 

Xie Ning had only his nose above the water, while the steaming white mist filled the black stone cavern. It fumigated his entire body and turned him as red as a cooked shrimp.

Echidna gave him permission to use the spring as his private bath, and the hot water was soothing. With the same balm and a silk-cotton towel, he was suddenly given a life of excessive luxury.

The water here was heated near to the temperature of the earth’s fire, so Xie Ning could only take a dip in the top shallowest part of the spring. No light was required because the spring’s own light illuminated the grotto as if it were daytime. From time to time, Echidna slithered through the cave, and when he heard Xie Ning exclaiming about the heat, he immediately poked his head in, looked around, then shrank back. When he returned the next time, a dozen stone snakes slithered in with a huge bucket of ice and swam to the edge of Xie Ning’s bath, so that he could touch it as soon as he stretched out his hand.

Then, Echidna curled up in the mouth of the cave and watched him with a smile, which made Xie Ning squirm and feel apprehensive at the same time. Later on, he gradually realized that there was something familiar about the scene – that was what people looked like when they had just adopted a new kitten!

Well, he thought. Let’s just consider that I’m his newly adopted animal. The novelty hasn’t worn off yet. It’s normal!

With that issue out of the way, Xie Ning went on washing himself and paid no more attention to Echidna.

I’ve got my own foothold here for the time being, but my return home is still a long way off, and I don’t have much hope…

As he washed, Xie Ning’s thoughts drifted, and he couldn’t help but think of his home and his family.

How anxious would his relatives be when they heard the news of his disappearance? His elderly grandparents wouldn’t be able to withstand such a blow. His parents, with their successful careers, would they give up everything and spend all their money to find him? 

How painful was the situation of families with lost children. Xie Ning had heard much about it, so at that moment, he could just imagine the future his family may encounter with such a misfortune. It made his heart hurt unbearably so that even as he soaked in a hot spring that boiled upward, his body was as cold as winter and he shivered.

Echidna was quick to notice his strange condition.

The snake’s belly rubbed against the ground, his hard scales smudging the iron rock as he squeezed into the cavern, which was a bit crowded for him, and slithered over to Xie Ning.

“What’s wrong?” The snake demon’s eyes widened. “I feel you shivering, Dorus. What’s upset you?” 

“…Nothing.” Xie Ning forced himself to smile. “I’m just homesick.” 

Echidna frowned. The sight of the human’s sad smile immediately gave him a feeling of harsh resentment. Since the young man had done so much for him, he had decided to serve him personally with the courtesy of a god. However, what was the point of his power and strength if he could not fulfill even the smallest request to satisfy the one who loved him so much? 

“Do you want to return to Iolcus?” Echidna asked. “Don’t be afraid to trouble me! If you are willing to ask, even if you want to live on the top of Olympus, is it really that difficult?” 

Xie Ning didn’t want to tell him the truth now. It was too early. He didn’t know Echidna’s temperament well enough, so it was better not to speak impetuously.

He said simply, “My family…My family is no longer in this world.” 

Dead, Echidna realized, which explained part of why Dorus was here. He had lost the protection of his parents, like a rootless olive tree, a pomegranate fruit without a branch, and naturally was at the mercy of others.

“What does it matter if I am in a dead country?” Echidna hissed and snarled. “Herakles dared to lie in ambush behind the grave, to capture Death when he came to collect Alcestis’ soul, and to strangle Death with his hands until he sent her back to the mortal world? If he, the bastard son of Zeus, dares to commit such wanton rascality, am I any worse than he? Let me call for you the three-headed dog that guards the underworld! He must obey my commands, or be struck by the venomous whip of the goddess of vengeance, and tell me the names of your family, so that I may send their souls back to earth.” ¹

Xie Ning was startled, and in a daze, then he forcefully reminded himself that he needed to speak up. 

“No, no, no!” he said, then hastily made an excuse. “The resurrection of the dead is still too shocking. If you do that, the King of the Underworld will surely be very annoyed. I don’t want to cause you any trouble, nor do I want to disturb the dead…Let them be in peace.” 

Was there such an honorable man, who could not be moved by the temptation to return his loved ones to the world of the living? 

Echidna was so amazed, that he went in a circle, then came up with another idea. “Then, I can dig you a crevice to the underworld. There you may sacrifice two black goats, one male and one female, and say your parents’ names in prayer, and then their souls will come up through the gap. As long as those who respond are not your parents, you can use my scales to block them. When your parents arrive, let them drink the blood of the offering, and they will speak to you. Will this ease your longing?” ²

Xie Ning now had a deep understanding of what it meant “in order to tell one lie, you have to use a hundred lies to fulfill it.”

In desperation, he used a stalling tactic, and said sorrowfully, “I appreciate your advice, but I have to think about it. I don’t know if I have the courage to face them.” 

“All right,” Echidna muttered sullenly.

When he was done, Xie Ning tied a towel around his waist and planned to climb out, but he’d soaked in the hot water so long that his arms and legs went limp, and he flopped around like an overturned turtle, and struggled unsuccessfully for a long time in the pool.

Echidna tried to carry him out, but Xie Ning didn’t want to be treated like a new kitten and refused to let him. Eventually he hung the tip of his tail in the water and let the teenager climb up.

As he stared at him, Echidna was pleased and surprised.

He was so hot! Like a little piece of charcoal!

The more he looked at him, the more pleased he was. The snake demon hissed, and despite Xie Ning’s refusal, he squeezed him tightly in his arms, and slithered in the direction of the bedchamber with a snap of his tongue.

Echidna didn’t have a bed, but as a snake demon god, he had a nest that he built himself. The bowl was like a meteorite’s depression, while many tall rock pillars towered over it. The serpent’s nest was made of strong, tough bronze and black rock. They were the only foundation that could withstand his tumbling and slithering.

Echidna decided to build a nest for his human next to it.

He took his own serpent’s skin, a treasure that only the hammer of Hephaestus ³ could strike and shape. It was stronger than rock but lighter than ox-hide. If a mortal sword was to strike it, it would instantly break into millions of poisoned pieces. How many heroes yearned for it but couldn’t obtain it, how many gods were greedy for its strange nature, and now, he used that snake skin, to make a small bed for Xie Ning.

Next, he spread three layers of cowhide on the bed, two layers of bearskin, one layer of tiger skin, and then took many precious silk and cotton sacrifices from the human kingdom, and formed it into a soft nest.

“There,” said Echidna with satisfaction. “You will sleep on this. Even if my body falls from a great height and presses on top of your head, you will be fine!” 

Xie Ning looked at it in awe and sat up to try it out.

“Thank you!” he said. “It’s so soft…like cotton.” 

Echidna placed the bed in his nesting chamber, and with his long tail coiled over a stone pillar and around Xie Ning, the two of them slowly fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, Xie Ning tossed and turned in his bed. The blanket he was covered with was too thick and soft, and the bearskin and tigerskin were all impermeable and hot. Echidna’s snake’s tail at first unconsciously wandered away from him in his sleep, then gradually came closer to his bed Xie Ning, when he rolled over, found a section of the cool tip of the tail into his arms, and stretched his leg over it as a cuddle pillow to lean on.

He was too deep in sleep to sense the danger, but Echidna awoke with a start, “Hiss?!”

Since he was in the room with a human, the snake demon had reminded himself before he went to bed that he must not act as recklessly as he had before. At that moment when he popped up to take a look, he couldn’t help but be glad that he hadn’t subconsciously twitched his tail, or else Dorus would have been thrown in the air by him for sure.

He slithered over, tilted his head, and stared at the boy’s face.

How lovely, he thought. Niobe’s arrogance was known to all mankind, so that even the many demons marveled at her folly and misfortunes. She had despised the barrenness of the goddess Leto out of pride for her own seven sons and seven daughters. The goddess was so enraged that she had made her two children, Apollo the Long Shot and Artemis the Marksman, kill all Niobe’s children one by one. ⁴

At that moment, he could suddenly understand Niobe. The pride of possessing the most precious treasure could not be stopped in any way! It was like a flood of feeling, even if you covered your mouth, it still had to show itself clearly in your eyes.

After a moment’s thought, he simply circled himself around the bed, and lay down contentedly.

.

Perhaps this was how the world turned out to be. Overnight, Xie Ning had become second only to Echidna as a Lord in the underground palace. The giants held some resentment towards him, but due to Echidna’s power and Polluxaeus’ incident, they didn’t dare to express their feelings in front of him.

Anyway, having become the No. 1 puppy dog under the Golden Master, Xie Ning certainly didn’t care what the giants thought, and the first thing he did was to openly blow the wind out of Echidna’s sails and tell him to release all the human sacrifices in the dungeon.

“Why?” Echidna was puzzled. “Their countries lost the war, so they paid for it. I never cared for the fate of the sacrifices, for they were doomed to misery!” 

When you put it like that, it makes it hard for me to argue.

Xie Ning racked his brain for a plausible reason. “Well, I can’t go back to my home now, but they can. It would make me happy to see them go back to their own homes and find their own moms…” 

…What the hell was he talking about? He’s talking nonsense.

Even as he said it, he couldn’t bear to listen to himself anymore, but Echidna’s eyes lit up.

So that was it.

“I see,” he said. “Since you have asked for it, go ahead and do it! I will have Kostas release them to their own countries, and I will have them praise you for your favor, for, after all, it is a grace which even Olympus did not request for them.” 

After he had said that, he called the four-armed giant, and commanded him to do it with all speed.

The four-armed giant was filled with resentment, for Echidna usually placed human sacrifices at the disposal of the giants. The princes and princesses of noble birth, and the large number of servants who came with them, that should have been the giants’ wealth, were now wasted.

How could that little man possess so much magic power? Or was he the embodiment of Circe, the goddess of magic? ⁵

When he considered that, he raised his head in indignation, but immediately caught a horrified glimpse of an incredible scene. The high and mighty god of magic, the ferocious Echidna, had placed a human being on his coiled serpent’s tail, while his golden jewels were completely removed, as if he feared that the sharp edges of those treasures might scrape the human being’s fragile skin.

He could look no further, and the four-armed giant honestly kept his mouth shut. If Polluxaeus’s death had taught him anything, it was to say less and do more. In doing so, they might be able to avoid some of their Master’s criticism.

As he watched the four-armed giant turn away without a word, Xie Ning breathed a sigh of relief. He was sitting on Echidna’s tail but wanted to get down and go for a walk. However, the demon’s palms were like iron clamps, cast firmly on around waist.

He thought for a moment, then suggested, “I have nothing to do, so why don’t I draw a picture of you?” 

At that suggestion, Echidna was actually a little nervous.

“Okay,” he said, pulling back. “What do I have to do?” 

Ah, finally free! Xie Ning jumped off his tail and ran to get his sketchbook and brush, which Echidna kept, dearly protected, in a gold box.

“Nothing to do!” he said. “Just pick a comfortable pose. You’ll look good in any pose anyway…but don’t move until I’m done. You’ll have to hold that position for hours.” 

So Echidna leaned back on his throne and waited for his painter to set up his easel and place his sketchbook.

Xie Ning grabbed a bobbin-shaped piece of wood and first made a framework for modeling on a clay plate.

He had no eraser, no pencil, in case he made a mistake, but it was better to be careful and do a draft.

When the shape was more or less set, Xie Ning took out a charcoal drawing stick, then checked the clay tablet, and began to draw. With the first stroke, Echidna already detected something.

His cheeks tingled, and not on his skin, but in the very marrow of his bones, as if gently he were scratching his soul.

I knew it was you, Echidna thought silently, since Orpheus’s song made the stones weep, why should not your skill touch the soul? 

He dared not move his face and get caught out, as he had been instructed to remain still by the human, but he had to slightly flex his aching jaw. The fiery venom of the magma was rushing aggressively through his hollow fangs, longing for a single, or rather countless, injections deep into bone and heart.

The paintbrush traced his neck, and he felt at the same time that precise, unmistakable touch that snaked through sinews, muscles, and tattoo-covered skin, that made his blood sing and his bones soften.

Echidna’s fingers were trembling, while his nails were deeply embedded in the stone throne.

The snake demon rolled out his venom-soaked forked tongue again and again, as he probed further and further, each time with a more possessive longing. Since he was deep in concentration, the teenager’s forehead was covered with tiny beads of sweat, and the demon lapped up the salty smell of sweat from the air. Xie Ning occasionally stopped to drink water, and Echidna eagerly imagined what it would be like to have that water flowing between his soft lips.

The longer Xie Ning painted, the longer he stared at Echidna, the more he could see a slow but distinct change. Echidna’s expression gradually became darker, more urgent; even hungry. His body tensed, and his tail couldn’t stop flicking around anxiously, as it bobbled and snapped in the air.

“Are you…Are you hungry?” Worried, Xie Ning had to stop.

Echidna was silent for a moment, then answered in a muffled voice, “Yes. I am hungry. Too hungry.” 

“Then do you want to–” 

Xie Ning was about to say, do you want to eat something, when Echidna interrupted him, “I can bear it. Please go on.” 

“It’s not good to endure.” Xie Ning raised his eyebrows. When he was in the studio, they used to joke a little bit with the models to raise everyone’s spirits. “Just don’t eat me then.” 

As the brush began to transition over the scales of the snake’s lower belly, Echidna’s lips couldn’t help but part. His pupils dilating in disbelief and his vision blurring for a moment. He held back, painstakingly adjusting his body temperature and breathing, before he responded in a trance, “…No, I won’t.” 

Xie Ning buried his head in deep concentration, staring at his drawing paper with all his heart, and didn’t have time to explain that it was just a joke. There was still a lot missing in his drawing, but probably because he had Echidna’s body as a reference for his sketch, Xie Ning was able to reproduce a hint or two of his personality. That was already a great improvement.

“Look, how is it?” Halfway through the drawing, he turned to the easel and showed it his model. “Isn’t it better than last time?” 

Echidna replied in the affirmative, “When you’re done, I’ll build a frame out of pure gold and put the picture in it, so that the Gods of Olympus will be envious of me.” 

Haha! The gold master was too kind!

Xie Ning couldn’t help grinning. Who didn’t love to hear good words? Besides, the one who praised him was not someone random, but a living mythological creature.

“Okay, I’ll take a break,” he said. He put down the charcoal stick, rinsed his hands, and moved his aching shoulders and calves. “You take a break too. It’s been a couple hours, hasn’t it?” 

He carried a waterskin over and sat down next to Echidna. He had to say that the artists of the era were treated very well. Look at how he’s doing in Arima’s Palace. Who would have believed it three days ago? 

Now that Xie Ning had the ability to make a living, he was bold enough to pry into the golden master’s business. Curious, he said, “Can I ask a question?” 

Echidna looked down at him. His venom had overproduced, and his fangs still ached from the exuberance, and said as briefly as he could, “You ask.” 

“I want to know, you…Why are you a male?” Xie Ning didn’t dare say how come you weren’t  female, “In the legends, they say you’re…” 

“I’m a female?” Echidna replied.

Xie Ning nodded.

“I’m not the first Echidna, but it’s certainly possible that I’m the last.” Echidna said with smoldering anger. “The Echidna are a pack with an identity that is passed down, but there is only one per generation.” 

Xie Ning, “Huh?” 

“The first Echidna, perhaps the one known to mankind,” the snake demon looked indulgently at Xie Ning, “Was lover to Typhon, and gave birth to Xudra, Gamera, Sphinx, Cerberus…countless monsters and countless demons, the mother of the scourges of earth. However, she is already dead. After Typhon was imprisoned in Tartarus, she was alone, and her children were at the mercy of the loom of fate, so the Hundred-Eyed Giant snuck into Arima and strangled her in her sleep.” ⁶

“She may have departed, but the name never descended into the deep darkness of the underworld. A second Echidna was born, still the mother of monsters, and gave birth to many demons who did wrong. Fate was not to be resisted, and the second Echidna died at the hands of a demigod hero. Athena gave him eyes to see through the mists, and Apollo gave him a golden bow that could fire sunlight.” 

Echidna laughed coldly. “Generation after generation, then it was finally my turn, the one and only Echidna of the opposite sex to be born, and the Goddess of Fortune herself decreed my end: I will only die if the heroes of the demigods conquer me. However the gods refused to take my life. Instead they pressed the weight of a kingdom upon my head, and banished me here, into the darkness of Arima, the burial place of the Echidna.” 

Xie Ning understood. “Because you don’t have the ability to conceive, if you die again, then the next Echidna may revert to a woman, and give birth to more monsters…” 

“That’s right,” Echidna said sadly. “Just as you say, Dorus.”