NovelPantheon

Small Snake

Venomous flying serpentdescendant and later inheritor of the Candle DragonCompanion of Su Ming

Small Snake is Su Ming's fiercely loyal serpent companion and a descendant of the Candle Dragon. It begins as a small, intelligent venomous beast capable of flight, but inherits the legacy of an ancient Candle Dragon and metamorphoses into a juvenile member of that lineage. Its poison, inner world, devouring power, and mental bond with Su make it both a guardian and an essential part of several of his transformations, though its incomplete growth and severe injuries repeatedly limit those powers.

Biography

The Shamans and the World of Nine Yin

Small Snake first appears guarding Su Ming's cave abode after a hostile incursion leaves creatures and cultivators unconscious. It searches for its absent master, remains beside his fallen Small Virescent Sword, and suppresses an old Berserker who repeatedly tries to wake. Rather than kill the captive, the snake bites him often enough that its poison keeps him weak and immobile. This precise obedience matters: it understands that the cave, the captive, and Su's tools must be preserved until he returns, and it maintains that balance for half a year without supervision. Its behavior toward Su is entirely different from its treatment of intruders. When a figure emerges through a spatial gate, Small Snake prepares a killing bite, recognizes its master, retracts its fangs, and flies into his palm with open delight. It then resumes guard duty through their mental connection while Su refines the poisoned captive into a Poison Corpse. The corpse's first usable venom comes from the snake, making its natural toxin the foundation of an artifact-like combat servant without turning the snake itself into equipment. (Chapters 408–418)

The nature behind that unusual intelligence and ferocity becomes clear at a Candle Dragon's burial ground. An old spirit recognizes Small Snake as a rare descendant of the Candle Dragon. The dead progenitor's will calls it toward a racial ritual, overrides its response to Su, and begins drawing white essence from its body. Small Snake's last independent choice before losing control is to open a safe path for Su and look back with reluctance, effectively placing its master's survival above its own. Su refuses the Candle Dragon's offer to exchange the snake's life for safe passage and power. A servant of Di Tian then seizes Small Snake to force the dead will to cast the Undying and Imperishable World, petrifying all three participants inside endless cycles. Su's need to save the snake becomes one of the statements by which he repeatedly remembers himself and eventually awakens. His refusal to sacrifice it also defines their relationship: Small Snake is a companion whose life restrains Su's ambition, not a disposable source of lineage power. (Chapters 460–478)

When the dead Candle Dragon's will fades, its remaining legacy and life force pass to the descendant. The inheritance provides the correct racial path, while Purple Harmony—a dangerous substance Su had withheld because failed reversion could kill a beast—can now assist safely rather than force a blind mutation. Small Snake willingly fuses with it and spends ten days in metamorphosis. It emerges red, arm-long, with a bump on its head and a sealed third-eye slit, having been reborn as a young Candle Dragon without becoming a fully mature copy of the ancient creature. (Chapters 479–481)

The new lineage state expands both power and memory. Small Snake can project a gigantic Candle Dragon shadow, briefly hold back multiple Spirits of Nine Yin, and recognize the presence of the man who once held it hostage even when that man evades Su's divine sense. It attacks him immediately, helping Su find the threat hidden in Shaman City. Yet the battle at the palaces also exposes its youth: it can obstruct the Spirits only for a short time, buying Su an opening rather than defeating the entire formation. (Chapters 483–497)

South Morning and the Immortal conflict

Back in South Morning, Small Snake operates as an ambusher, rescuer, and living prison. It can enter a target's body and burst out under Su's command, and its Candle Dragon projection devours surrounding space. When Zi Che attacks while still bound by Si Ma Xin's Berserker Seed, the snake swallows him without killing him. Its internal world holds him until Si Ma Xin's death can break the controlling seal. Devouring is therefore not invariably digestion: Small Snake and Su can use the inner world for temporary containment when they intend to preserve a life. (Chapters 542–586)

Against Di Tian, the snake takes a much more dangerous role. It turns into a red streak, withstands an attack long enough to bite and poison him, and is shattered when his power erupts. Its body becomes bloody wreckage and approaches death, while Di Tian can gradually expel the black liquid from the wounds. The exchange proves that its venom can injure a vastly powerful opponent, but also that the poison is not unanswerable and the snake's physical body cannot survive direct force on that scale. (Chapters 631–670)

Su retrieves Small Snake after the battle, but recovery requires prolonged sleep. It later awakens enough to resume protecting him and to attack enemies with speed, bodily infiltration, and the Candle Dragon's soul-capturing gaze. Its cold view of other living beings as potential food contrasts with the gentleness it shows only Su, making its post-inheritance ferocity more focused rather than indiscriminate toward its own bond. (Chapters 699–781)

Small Snake also becomes the living anchor for Su's ninth Ten Transformations form. Su fuses his mind and will with it to become a gigantic Candle Dragon, gaining the lineage's body and devouring presence for combat. This is a shared, conditional state: the Ten Transformations Art belongs to Su, while the Candle Dragon form depends on Small Snake. The serpent cannot withstand the fusion indefinitely, forcing Su to abandon the transformed body after a major use rather than treating it as permanent access. (Chapters 699–781)

Divine Essence and Ecang

Small Snake's last direct phase is one of cultivation rather than a climactic battle. Su leaves the juvenile Candle Dragon in a place filled with dense World Plane power so that the environment can nourish its continued growth. This decision follows the limits repeatedly shown in South Morning: inherited racial potential is enormous, but the snake remains immature and can be exhausted or shattered when pushed into conflicts above its physical state. (Chapter 838)

The separation is not described as abandonment or death. It is a deliberate investment in independent maturation after years in which Small Snake's greatest states depended on inherited life force, consumed substances, Su's mental fusion, or long recovery. The supplied corpus does not later confirm that its third eye opened or that it reached the dead progenitor's full scale, so those outcomes remain unknown. (Chapter 838)

Appearance and personality

Before its inheritance, Small Snake is a thin, dark serpent that flies like a black line and can conceal itself on or around Su. After the Candle Dragon metamorphosis, it is light red, about an arm long and two fingers wide. A bump rises from its head, and a closed crack at the center of its brows marks an undeveloped third eye. Its ordinary body remains small even when it manifests an enormous Candle Dragon shadow or participates in Su's full transformation. (Chapters 408–418, 480–494)

Small Snake is alert, territorial, vindictive toward threats, and highly intelligent. It keeps captives alive when ordered, recognizes disguised presences, performs simple exchanges to demonstrate behavior, and displays pride when it believes it has guarded Su's interests well. Toward most living beings its inherited gaze is cold and predatory; toward Su it becomes dependent, playful, and childlike, rubbing against his hand and seeking his praise. (Chapters 408–418, 480–492, 699)

Its loyalty is active rather than merely conditioned. Before the Candle Dragon ritual consumes its will, it directs the burial-ground beasts to let Su escape, and it later risks destruction to poison Di Tian. The racial will can temporarily override its response, however, and pain or overwhelming force can incapacitate it. (Chapters 460–480, 631–670)

Abilities and cultivation

Small Snake's capabilities fall into three distinct states: its original venomous-serpent abilities, the inherited but juvenile Candle Dragon body, and temporary shared forms produced through Su's Arts. The corpus shows no complete formal beast-realm ladder, so its development is described through those structural changes rather than inferred cultivation ranks.

Flight, bond, and venom

Even before awakening its lineage, Small Snake can fly at high speed, hide its presence, understand Su's thought-orders, and sense or call to him across distance. Their mental connection lets Su track it inside the dead Candle Dragon until the progenitor's will severs the link, and later lets the two coordinate ambushes and transformations. The bond conveys emotion and direction rather than fluent speech; Su cannot literally understand every hiss. (Chapters 408–418, 460–464, 670)

Its fangs release domineering black poison capable of keeping a powerful Berserker unconscious without killing him when applied repeatedly. The same toxin blackens the Poison Corpse and becomes part of its combat fog. After the inheritance, Small Snake can carry venom directly into a target by entering the body or biting at extreme speed. Di Tian is wounded and temporarily blackened by it, but his cultivation expels the liquid, showing that sufficient power can resist and recover from the toxin. (Chapters 408–418, 489–492, 631–670)

Candle Dragon inheritance and metamorphosis

The dead Candle Dragon's ritual identifies Small Snake as a descendant and supplies a lineage legacy, life force, and a route back toward its roots. Purple Harmony accelerates the metamorphosis only after that safe route exists; used without the legacy, the same item carries a serious risk of death. The result is a young Candle Dragon with deeper perception, a developing third eye, inherited memories, and a presence that other ancient creatures recognize. (Chapters 460–481)

This state is permanent but incomplete. Its closed third eye is never confirmed to open, and it cannot sustain its shadow against the Spirits of Nine Yin for long. It continues to require nourishment, sleep after grave injury, and eventually a World Plane-rich environment for growth. The dead progenitor's full Undying and Imperishable World is never shown as Small Snake's own independently mastered technique. (Chapters 481–497, 631–838)

Devouring, inner world, and soul gaze

Small Snake can open its mouth into a Candle Dragon manifestation large enough to devour a target and part of the surrounding world. What happens afterward depends on intent. Bao Shan is consumed as prey, while Zi Che remains alive in an inner world until his Berserker Seed can be broken. The internal space therefore supports containment, but the article does not infer its size, duration, or universal safety beyond those cases. (Chapters 594–600)

The Candle Dragon's gaze carries a soul-capturing effect and can combine with Su's artifacts and other beasts to resist powerful attacks. This effect is lineage-derived, not proof of independent mastery over every soul technique the dead Candle Dragon possessed. (Chapters 699–781)

Ten Transformations fusion

For the ninth transformation, Su merges his mind with Small Snake and uses its lineage as the basis for a gigantic Candle Dragon body. The form supplies scale, predatory force, and devouring ability while Su controls it through his own Art. It should not be attributed solely to either participant: Small Snake provides the racial state, and Su provides the transformation method and combat intent. (Chapters 699–781)

The fusion has a clear endurance limit. Small Snake cannot withstand the transformation for long, especially after major devouring attacks, and Su must release the form. This conditional access does not permanently enlarge Small Snake's normal body or show that the serpent can copy Su's other nine transformations. (Chapter 781)

Relationships

  • Su Ming: Small Snake treats Su as master, parent-like protector, and the only being before whom its predatory demeanor softens. Su repeatedly refuses power purchased with its life, rescues it from the Candle Dragon ritual, and later provides the conditions for its growth.
  • Dead Candle Dragon: Its progenitor and source of racial legacy. The dead will initially tries to absorb the descendant in a sacred ritual, then ultimately gives it life force and a path of metamorphosis.
  • Di Tian: Small Snake recognizes Di Tian's servant after their shared imprisonment and later risks destruction to poison Di Tian himself. Its venom injures him but cannot permanently overcome his recovery.
  • Zi Che: Small Snake swallows him on Su's command without killing him, holding him in its inner world until Si Ma Xin's control can be removed.
  • Poison Corpse: Its early venom is used to refine the corpse, and Small Snake often guards or perches on it. The corpse remains Su's construct rather than the snake's body or servant.
  • Glacial turtle: The two compete jealously for Su's black liquid. Their exchanges show Small Snake's ability to understand demonstrations and bargain-like reward patterns.

Items

  • Purple Harmony: Consumed during metamorphosis. It can help a ferocious beast revert to its roots but normally risks death; the Candle Dragon legacy removes much of that danger by supplying the correct path.
  • Small Virescent Sword: Small Snake guards the fallen sword while Su is absent and later carries it during a demonstration, but does not own or wield it as a weapon.
  • Poison Corpse: Its venom supplies the corpse's earliest poison. Small Snake also helps guard the construct, though custody remains with Su Ming.
  • Candle Dragon scale: A remnant taken from the burial ground and used by Su in later refinement. It evokes a complicated response from Small Snake because it comes from its progenitor, but it is not part of the serpent's body after metamorphosis.
  • Black liquid: A consumable reward Su feeds to Small Snake and the glacial turtle. It encourages their cooperation and appears to support the snake, but the corpus does not establish it as the source of the Candle Dragon inheritance.