I hesitated, my voice trembling with uncertainty. "No... nothing at all. Why would you ask that?" Uncle Er glanced toward his niece Nie Yilan and gave a subtle nod.

Yilan retrieved a small birdcage from beneath the table. Inside coiled an emerald serpent only as thick as her finger, its forked tongue flicking in and out with a hissing sound.

At first I assumed it was just an ordinary bamboo viper until I noticed something peculiar - its eyes were blood-red and there was a third eye-like organ centered on its forehead.

I stared at my cousin in astonishment. "What is that...?" She smiled faintly before unlatching the cage door, letting the serpent slither onto her ivory-skinned arm where it coiled tightly.

Auntie Er's smile held ancient wisdom as she explained, "This is Qing She Jian - a spirit-vision technique from our Miao lineage. That third 'eye' isn't actually an eye but a lodestone from Yunnan's deepest mountains. When implanted on pregnant vipers and left in clay jars filled with water, the master can see through the mother's eyes."

Yilan continued, "These snakes are exceptionally perceptive. With proper training, they can silently stalk targets without detection. After gathering crucial information, they'll strike when least expected - slipping into a victim's mouth to deliver their lethal toxin."

Auntie Er nodded solemnly. "Though this technique was perfected by ancient masters during's era, most of its power has been lost through generations. Now it can barely transmit whispers through egg-filled drums, not actual visions anymore."

I nodded thoughtfully - Auntie's stories always carried weight in our family. Uncle Er had once wandered aimlessly until a gambling trip to Yunnan changed his fate entirely.

Everyone knows the Miao people divide into "cooked" and "raw" groups. The cooked ones have long adopted Han customs, speaking Mandarin and abandoning traditional dress. But raw Miao live deep in mountain strongholds, preserving archaic rituals while keeping outsiders at bay - often with deadly consequences for interlopers.

Uncle Er had stumbled upon a raw village near Nujiang, whose people claimed descent from themselves. They viewed Han people as unclean, capturing intruders to create blood-gods through horrifying rituals involving skin removal and venomous blood baths before drying the bodies into cursed powder.

Only Auntie's intervention saved him. The Miao shamaness who rescued him became his wife after a dramatic escape from the village, bringing with her knowledge of ancient techniques like the one now coiled on my cousin's arm.

I recalled how that same shaman had once exacted vengeance when neighborhood bullies tormented Yilan. After discovering their cruelty, Auntie unleashed a punishment causing weeks-long gastrointestinal agony for each boy - requiring unimaginable self-purification to survive.

Since then neighbors called her "immortal," and indeed she seemed blessed ever since marrying Uncle Er who transformed from idle man into business tycoon overnight.

Now the once-radiant beauty still commanded attention at markets though years had softened her features. She studied me with concern, noting my distant gaze as I processed a lifetime of stories.

"This serpent was found beneath your bed," she said gently. "Though not one of the deadliest techniques, it suggests someone might be watching you - perhaps from those deep mountain tribes?"

I shook my head. The expedition had been too crowded to identify individual threats, though only one name lingered in my mind - Huang Laohuang, that notorious thief whose fate remained uncertain.

Auntie sighed, understanding my confusion. "I know these techniques intimately. This isn't the last strange thing you'll encounter. Though I won't let harm come to you, shadow enemies can strike unexpectedly."

She produced a porcelain jar marked with ancient birds, retrieving a hairy spider with obsidian eyes that sent chills through me.

"What are we doing? Making Spider-Man?" I stammered as she held my wrist.

"This is Qing Si Fu," she smiled. "Its silk binds you to me - if anyone uses spells against you again, I'll trace the source."

As alabaster threads emerged from the spider's sac and vanished into my skin like living veins, Yilan cooed over her serpent companion while I retreated to my room.

Lying there, I considered the black-clad figures tracking me. Who were these people with such lethal surveillance? What could possibly warrant such extreme observation in a city where government security reigned supreme?

The question gnawed at me until I noticed the parked SUV outside - its tinted windows suddenly darkening as if sensing my gaze through the curtains.

I extinguished my cigarette, anger simmering beneath the surface. "Damn it all - what game are they playing?"