Mo Xiaoman berhenti gelisah. Ia mengusap wajah dengan kedua tangan untuk menghapus air hujan, lalu bergegas berdiri, siap berlari.
Hujan turun makin deras. Di langit, petir dan kilat yang sejak tadi mengendap kini berpilin jadi satu dan menyambar dengan seluruh kekuatannya!
Mo Xiaoman melompat dari bongkahan batu besar di tepi sungai ke jalan tanah. Belum sampai dua langkah, samar-samar ia melihat sebatang kayu hitam tiba-tiba melesat melintasi jalan yang becek. 'Kayu sebesar ember bisa bergerak sendiri?'
Mo Xiaoman ngeri setengah mati!
Ia mencoba mengangkat kaki untuk melangkahi batang hitam itu, tetapi kakinya terpeleset dan tubuhnya terjungkal ke depan. Tepat pada saat itu, satu sambaran petir melesat lewat, nyaris menyentuh ubun-ubunnya. Kilau cahaya yang membutakan disusul GEBRAKAN dahsyat yang seakan mengguncang langit. Mo Xiaoman terjerembap di atas batang kayu itu, merasakan tubuhnya tersentak keras beberapa kali, lalu segalanya gelap dan ia pingsan.
Ketika siuman, batang kayu itu sudah lenyap. Ia terbaring di jalan tanah yang tercuci bersih oleh hujan deras sampai tak tersisa setitik lumpur atau pasir. Hujan sudah reda, petir dan kilat pun sirna.
Ia menggerak-gerakkan jari tangan dan kaki, memeriksa tubuhnya. Syukurlah, ia tidak tersambar petir.
Saat menoleh ke sekeliling, ia terkesiap. Pohon mapel yang tersambar petir itu tampak rusak mengenaskan, tetapi bukan hanya itu. Lempengan batu panjang di tepi sungai—batu yang tadi ia duduki, yang selama beberapa generasi jadi papan loncat anak-anak karena permukaannya rata dan kokoh—telah terbelah jadi tiga! Retakan baru yang bergerigi tampak seperti mulut monster menganga, siap menelan mangsanya kapan saja. Cukup membuat bulu kuduknya merinding.
'Serem banget. Untung aku masih hidup!'
Mo Xiaoman berdiri dan merasakan sesuatu yang lengket di telapak tangan kirinya. Ia mencoba mengibaskannya, tetapi benda itu tidak mau lepas. Ketika telapaknya dibuka, ia membeku. Di sana, tergeletak sebentuk manik hijau bulat, bening, berkilau, sebesar ibu jarinya.
Ia menatap manik itu beberapa saat sebelum gelombang pusing menyapunya. Mo Xiaoman menutup mata. Samar-samar ia mendengar suara aneh sekali, seperti decit tikus bercampur desahan pelan yang berembus. Setelah kekacauan di kepalanya mereda, pikirannya perlahan menjadi jernih dan tertata. Dan kemudian—Mo Xiaoman tertegun lagi.
'Rasanya seperti baru saja menjalani film fiksi ilmiah... Eh, bukan! Ini lebih mirip epos fantasi!'
Semacam legenda *Siluman Ular Putih* atau kisah Gembala Sapi dan Gadis Penenun. Bedanya, ini bukan kisah asmara. Sebaliknya, seekor ular besar mengubah pikirannya menjadi bahasa manusia dan menyalurkannya langsung ke dalam benak Mo Xiaoman, menuturkan kisah fantasi singkat yang nyata.
Kisahnya pendek: seekor Ular Seribu Tahun tengah disambar petir—menjalani apa yang disebut "tribulasi petir"—sementara seorang gadis yang terlahir kembali duduk termangu di tepi sungai dalam hujan lebat. Ular Seribu Tahun itu bersembunyi di lubang pohon mapel berusia seabad, menahan beberapa sambaran petir. Namun ketika sambaran terkuat dan paling mematikan hendak turun, ular itu mendadak panik, takut tak sanggup menahannya. Ia kabur dari lubang pohon, berniat menyelam ke dasar sungai. Tak disangka, gadis di tepi sungai tiba-tiba berlari dan menabraknya. Gadis itu jatuh, terjerembap menelungkup di atas tubuh ular.
Seandainya petir menyambar langsung, Ular Seribu Tahun mungkin terluka parah, tetapi belum tentu mati seketika. Gadis itu, bagaimanapun, pasti tewas tanpa keraguan. Namun Langit punya alasan memberi gadis itu kehidupan kedua, jadi petir tak boleh merenggutnya. Maka sambaran itu membelok dari sasaran, menghancurkan bongkahan batu besar tempat gadis itu duduk seolah melampiaskan kekesalan.
Tanpa disadari, gadis itu telah menolong Ular Seribu Tahun melewati tribulasinya.
Kesempatan seperti itu hanya bisa ditemui secara kebetulan, tak bisa dicari.
Ular Seribu Tahun tahu sejak awal gadis itu terlahir kembali, tetapi ia tak pernah berniat mencarinya. Itu akan sia-sia. Dao Langit itu luas dan adil; seandainya ia mencoba curang, seribu tahun kesaktiannya akan lenyap. Namun gadis itu, tanpa tahu apa-apa, datang sendiri kepadanya. Karena itu, ini adalah takdirnya.
Ular Seribu Tahun tak ingin berutang pada manusia. Manik hijau berkilau di telapak Mo Xiaoman adalah balas budinya. Mulai sekarang, tak ada lagi utang di antara mereka, dan jalan mereka terpisah.
Setelah Mo Xiaoman selesai mencerna informasi di benaknya, ia merasa seperti baru membaca semacam kitab langit yang penuh teka-teki.
Ia membuka mata dan dengan jari tengah kanan mengusap lembut manik hijau yang hangat, halus, dan indah di telapak kirinya. Ia mengembuskan napas panjang. 'Ini membuktikan sekali lagi—aku, Mo Xiaoman, benar-benar telah terlahir kembali!'
Dari semua Pusaka Sakti Ular Seribu Tahun, hanya Mutiara Pusaka ini yang cocok dipakai manusia. Ular itu menjelaskan bahwa di dalam mutiara tersegel sebuah Mata Air Spiritual kuno. Mata air semacam ini sudah lenyap dari daratan ini jutaan tahun lalu. Bagi manusia modern, khasiat Mata Air Spiritual setara dengan obat mujarab segala penyakit.
Mutiara Pusaka itu juga memuat ruang dimensi kecil. Ular Seribu Tahun telah memakai setetes darah jantung Mo Xiaoman untuk mengikat mutiara itu padanya, menjadikannya pemilik. Namun konstitusi Mo Xiaoman sangat buruk—"seperti kayu lapuk," kata ular itu—jadi ia belum bisa masuk ke Ruang Mutiara Pusaka. Ia baru bisa menyedot air mata air spiritual untuk diminum. Begitu Mata Air Spiritual telah membenahi tubuhnya, suatu hari ia akan mampu masuk.
Mo Xiaoman menengadah ke pohon mapel tua di dekatnya. Karena Ular Seribu Tahun bersembunyi di lubangnya, pohon itu tersambar petir. Ular itu memintanya menuangkan sebagian Mata Air Spiritual ke pohon mapel tua itu juga, agar vitalitasnya pulih secepat mungkin.
Mo Xiaoman bergegas menghampiri pohon mapel yang tersambar petir. Ia meletakkan tangan kirinya di akarnya, lalu diam-diam melafalkan dalam hati, 'Mata Air Spiritual, keluarlah.' Aliran air bening tercurah dari telapaknya, cepat meresap ke dalam tanah.
Mo Xiaoman setengah takjub setengah gembira. 'Airnya benar-benar keluar! Entah seberapa manjur khasiatnya?'
Ia menepuk pohon mapel itu dan berkata pelan, "Nanti kalau ada waktu, aku kembali dan beri kau minum air mata air spiritual lagi. Kalau benar manjur, kau mungkin akan bertunas lagi dan rimbun hijau seperti dulu!"
Peristiwa hari itu mengerikan. Ia terguncang oleh petir, bahkan telinganya sempat berdenging tuli sejenak. Tubuhnya sejak awal memang tidak kuat, jadi Mo Xiaoman tak ragu. Ia mendekatkan telapak ke bibir dan menyeruput beberapa teguk air mata air spiritual. Segarnya luar biasa dan manis—rasanya nikmat sekali!
Setelah meminumnya, rasa nyaman menjalar di sekujur tubuh. Lelah dan ketegangan sirna, meninggalkan rasa segar dan penuh tenaga.
'Ini luar biasa! Ular Tua tidak membohongiku!'
Ia membuka telapak kirinya lagi. Manik bening itu sudah hilang, berganti tahi lalat kecil bulat berwarna cokelat di telapaknya, tak lebih besar dari mata jarum.
Mo Xiaoman meletakkan telapak kiri di dada, menenangkan jantungnya yang berdebar kencang. Lalu perlahan ia mulai melangkah kembali ke arah desa.
Mo Xiaoman stopped agonizing. Wiping the rain from her face with both hands, she scrambled to her feet, ready to run.
The rain fell harder and harder. In the sky, thunder and lightning, which had been brewing for some time, now coiled together and struck with all their might!
Mo Xiaoman leaped from the giant rock on the bank onto the dirt path. She hadn’t taken more than two steps when she vaguely saw a section of black wood suddenly dart across the waterlogged road. ’A piece of wood as thick as a bucket that can move on its own?’
Mo Xiaoman was horrified!
She tried to lift her foot to step over the black log, but lost her footing and tumbled forward. At that exact moment, a bolt of lightning streaked past, almost grazing the top of her head. A blinding flash of light was followed by a cataclysmic BOOM that seemed to shake the very heavens. Mo Xiaoman collapsed onto the log, felt herself jolt violently a few times, and then everything went black as she passed out.
When Mo Xiaoman came to, she found the log was gone. She was lying on the dirt path, which had been washed so clean by the downpour that not a speck of mud or sand remained. The rain had subsided, and the thunder and lightning had vanished.
She wiggled her fingers and toes, checking her body. Fortunately, she hadn’t been struck by lightning.
Looking around, she gasped in shock. The maple tree that had been struck by lightning was a sorry, mangled sight, but that wasn’t all. The long stone slab by the river—the very one she had been sitting on, which had served as a diving board for generations of children due to its flat, sturdy surface—had been split into three pieces! The fresh, jagged crack looked like the gaping maw of a monster, ready to devour its prey at any moment. It was enough to make her skin crawl.
’That was terrifying. I’m so lucky to be alive!’
Mo Xiaoman got to her feet and felt something sticky in the palm of her left hand. She tried to shake it off, but it wouldn’t budge. When she opened her hand to look, she froze. Resting in her palm was a round, translucent, sparkling green bead about the size of her thumb.
She stared at the bead for a few moments before a wave of dizziness washed over her. Mo Xiaoman closed her eyes. She seemed to hear a very strange noise, like the squeaking of a mouse mixed with a soft, breathy huffing. After a moment of mental chaos, her thoughts gradually became clear and orderly. And then—Mo Xiaoman was stunned once more.
’It feels like I just lived through a sci-fi movie... No, wait! It’s more like a fantasy epic!’
Something like the legend of the *White Snake* or the tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Except, this wasn’t a romance. Instead, a great snake was converting its thoughts into human language and transmitting them directly into Mo Xiaoman’s mind, telling her a brief but true fantasy tale.
The story was short: a certain Thousand-year-old Snake was being struck by lightning—undergoing what is known as a "lightning tribulation"—while a certain reborn girl sat dazed by the riverbank in a torrential downpour. The Thousand-year-old Snake had been hiding in the hollow of a century-old maple tree, enduring several lightning strikes. But as the most powerful and difficult-to-survive bolt was about to descend, the snake suddenly panicked, fearing it couldn’t withstand the blow. It fled from the tree hollow, intending to dive to the bottom of the river. Unexpectedly, the girl by the river suddenly ran over and collided with it. The girl fell, landing prone on the snake’s body.
If the lightning had struck directly, the Thousand-year-old Snake might have been gravely injured, but it wouldn’t necessarily have died instantly. The girl, however, would have been killed without a doubt. But Heaven had its reasons for granting the girl a second life, so the lightning could not take it. Thus, the bolt veered off target, smashing the giant rock the girl had been sitting on as if to vent its frustration.
Unwittingly, the girl had helped the Thousand-year-old Snake survive its tribulation.
Such an opportunity could only be chanced upon, never sought.
The Thousand-year-old Snake knew from the very beginning that the girl was reborn, but it had never considered seeking her out. That would have been pointless. The Heavenly Dao is vast and impartial; if it had tried to cheat, its thousand years of cultivation would have been wiped away. But the girl, completely oblivious, had come to it on her own. Therefore, this was its destiny.
The Thousand-year-old Snake did not wish to be indebted to a human. The sparkling green bead in Mo Xiaoman’s palm was its gift of repayment. From now on, they owed each other nothing and would go their separate ways.
As Mo Xiaoman finished processing the information in her mind, she felt as if she had been reading some cryptic, celestial text.
She opened her eyes and gently stroked the warm, smooth, beautiful green bead in her left palm with her right middle finger. She let out a long breath. ’This confirms it again—I, Mo Xiaoman, have truly been reborn!’
Of all the Thousand-year-old Snake’s Magical Treasures, only this Treasure Bead was suitable for human use. The snake had explained that sealed within the bead was an ancient Spiritual Spring. This kind of spring had vanished from the continent millions of years ago. For modern humans, the effects of the Spiritual Spring were comparable to a panacea.
The Treasure Bead also contained a small pocket dimension. The Thousand-year-old Snake had already used a drop of Mo Xiaoman’s heart’s blood to bind the bead to her, making her its master. However, Mo Xiaoman’s constitution was extremely poor—"like rotten wood," in the snake’s own words—so she couldn’t enter the Treasure Pearl Space yet. She could only draw out the spiritual spring water to drink. Once the Spiritual Spring had conditioned her body, she would one day be able to enter.
Mo Xiaoman looked up at the old maple tree nearby. Because the Thousand-year-old Snake had hidden in its hollow, the tree had been struck by lightning. The snake had requested that she also pour some of the Spiritual Spring on the old maple to help it recover its vitality as quickly as possible.
Mo Xiaoman hurried over to the lightning-struck maple tree. Placing her left hand on its roots, she silently chanted in her mind, ’Spiritual Spring, come out.’ A stream of clear water poured from her palm, quickly vanishing into the earth.
Mo Xiaoman was half-amazed and half-elated. ’Water really came out! I wonder how well it works?’
She patted the maple tree and said softly, "When I have time, I’ll come back and give you more spiritual spring water to drink. If it really works, you might even sprout new branches and become as lush and green as you once were!"
The day’s events had been harrowing. She had been shaken by the lightning, and her ears had even gone deaf for a moment. Her body wasn’t very strong to begin with, so Mo Xiaoman didn’t hesitate. She brought her palm to her lips and sipped a few mouthfuls of the spiritual spring water. It was incredibly refreshing and sweet—the taste was wonderful!
After drinking the spiritual spring water, she felt a sense of comfort spread through her body. Her fatigue and tension vanished, leaving her feeling refreshed and full of energy.
’This stuff is amazing! The Old Snake didn’t lie to me!’
She opened her left hand again. The crystal-clear bead was gone, replaced by a small, round brown mole on her palm, no bigger than the eye of a needle.
Mo Xiaoman placed her left palm over her chest, calming her wildly beating heart. Then, she slowly started walking back toward the village.
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