As Yun Qingxue’s voice faded, the previously restless black pythons began to slowly slither toward her, their eyes gleaming with hostility.
“Don’t fall for this little girl’s tricks!”
One of the giant pythons entangled in battle with Yun Qingxue, seeing its kin being provoked, hastily warned.
Yun Qingxue, while deftly dodging its attacks, chuckled, “Why stop them? The two of you have been fighting me for so long without gaining the upper hand. Shouldn’t you be happy to have reinforcements? Why try to stop them?”
“Little brat, don’t you dare sow discord!” A massive black tail, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, lashed toward Yun Qingxue as one of the pythons roared.
Yun Qingxue swiftly evaded, still smiling. “Sowing discord to make you all gang up on a weak girl like me—what good would that do me?”
“Wu Qing, Wu Yun, you two have been fighting this girl for so long without success. Let us help you!”
One of the pythons from the uninvolved group spoke up.
“Wu Li! Are you doubting us because of this girl’s provocation?” Wu Qing and Wu Yun, still locked in combat with Yun Qingxue, retorted in unison.
“We’re not doubting you. It’s just that the two of you seem to be struggling against her!”
With that, Wu Li lunged forward, joining Wu Qing and Wu Yun in their assault on Yun Qingxue.
The narrow confines of the cave made it increasingly difficult for Yun Qingxue to evade the coordinated attacks of the three pythons.
“Humph! Let’s all attack together!” Following Wu Li’s lead, someone in the python horde shouted.
In an instant, over twenty black pythons surged toward Yun Qingxue.
“Master, be careful!” Daisi’s heart nearly leaped out of her throat as she watched the swarm of giant snakes pounce on Yun Qingxue.
Perhaps startled by her cry, two of the pythons abruptly changed course and lunged at Daisi instead.
Daisi turned deathly pale, frozen in terror as the two grotesque gray pythons closed in on her.
“Watch out!” Yun Qingxue caught the scene from the corner of her eye. With a swift incantation, two thick vines coiled around the pythons attacking Daisi.
Meanwhile, facing the onslaught of over twenty pythons, Yun Qingxue took a deep breath, gathering all her remaining magical energy.
As the snakes closed in, the cramped cave left her no room to escape. Surrounded, she calmly scanned the hostile pythons and smirked.
“You all want to devour me for nourishment, but there’s only one of me and so many of you. Not enough to go around, is there? How about this—whoever catches me first gets to eat me. Deal?”
Her eerily composed demeanor in the face of death unsettled the pythons, yet her proposal stirred their greed.
Suddenly, the python closest to her rolled its beady black eyes and rasped, “She’s right—only one of her. Let the strongest take her. Whoever gets a bite first wins!”
With that, it lunged at Yun Qingxue, jaws wide and reeking of rot.
Yun Qingxue dodged swiftly.
As if an unspoken agreement had been reached, the rest of the pythons followed suit, silently snapping at her with gaping maws.
Now!
A glint flashed in Yun Qingxue’s eyes as she unleashed her stored power.
“You dim-witted giants, you’ll have to catch me first!” she taunted loudly, her body blurring into rapid motion.
Enraged by her insult, the pythons became even more frenzied, their massive jaws snapping wildly.
Yun Qingxue weaved through them, her movements so fast she left only afterimages.
The pythons chased her madly, their bodies tangling in the chaos. Moments later, Yun Qingxue landed steadily, while the twenty-odd snakes found themselves hopelessly knotted together in a massive, writhing tangle.
Temporarily immobilized by their own entanglement, they struggled to break free.
Seizing the moment, Yun Qingxue’s hands moved in a rapid series of seals. Thorned vines sprouted from thin air, weaving into a dense green net that descended upon the trapped pythons.
“Grow!” A pulse of green energy shot from her palm, infusing the net.
The thorns on the vines, nourished by her magic, lengthened sharply, piercing into the still-entangled pythons.
“Damn you, cunning brat!” one of the trapped pythons snarled, realizing the trap.
Yun Qingxue regarded them coldly. “All’s fair in war. Blame your own stupidity.”
The thorns dug deeper, but—
*Snap!*
One by one, the thorns broke against the pythons’ scales.
“Ha! You really think you can harm us?” another python sneered.
Meanwhile, the two pythons that had attacked Daisi were nearly free of their vine restraints. Yun Qingxue, now stretched thin, redirected her focus to reinforce the vines binding them.
Just as she began to falter—
*Hiss… hiss…*
A sinister rustling filled the cave.
From cracks in the walls, crevices in the rocks, and beneath the soil, countless vividly colored snakes emerged.
Their garish hues left no doubt—these were venomous snakes. And from their lurid patterns, Yun Qingxue knew: these were not just venomous, but lethally so.
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