FID – Chapter 1009

Chapter 1009 – The World Fell Silent

  It was a completely reflexive reaction, triggered unconsciously by intimidation.

  It wasn’t until he watched the man walk in that direction that Qian Liu realized what he had done.

  He stomped his foot in frustration and followed.

  Walking that way, they hadn’t even reached the deepest part of the cave before a hissing sound began echoing from its depths.

  The hisses were dense and endless, reverberating through the narrow space. It made one’s scalp tingle.

  Even someone like Qian Liu, who had grown up in this place and was very familiar with such things, felt his legs weaken at the sound of the snakes’ hissing. He felt an urge to turn and flee rising uncontrollably. Yet the man holding the torch ahead showed no reaction, not even a change in his breathing.

  As they drew closer to the bottom of the cave, Qian Liu could no longer hold himself back. He stopped and said, “Xue Honglian, don’t go further. It’s really dangerous. If anything happens to you in there, I won’t be able to save you, and I don’t have the ability. I’ll immediately run away. You’d better think carefully.”

  “You can leave now,” the man said, leaving Qian Liu with these last words before entering the cave’s depths.

  He then stuck the torch into a nearby stone wall and went in alone. In an instant, his figure was obscured by the jagged, protruding rocks.

  Though Qian Liu couldn’t see inside, he could hear the hissing of the Xijiang snakes grow sharper and more agitated, clearly having confronted Xue Honglian.

  Clenching his fists, Qian Liu wanted to immediately turn and leave, but his feet wouldn’t move. Finally, he stomped hard and carefully crept forward, using his belt as a precaution.

  If anything happened to Xue Honglian, he would use the belt to pull him out and take him away immediately. Whether he would survive, however, was something Qian Liu could not guarantee.

  This was all he could do.

  Pressing against a protruding stone wall, he cautiously poked his head inside. When he saw the scene clearly, his hand tensed, ready to act—but in the next moment, his eyes widened in disbelief.

  Countless snakes were attacking the man standing in the center from all directions.

  Just when he thought the man had nowhere to escape, he saw Xue Honglian calmly tear off his outer robe. With a single sweeping motion, he gathered all the snakes into the robe.

  Not a single one escaped.

The robe had now been twisted into a bundle. The snake swarm thrashed inside, unable to break free, all captured alive.

  Even as the man carried the bundle toward him, Qian Liu still couldn’t lift his jaw off the ground.

  What Qian Liu had feared most seemed like a mere game to the man. It was as if he hadn’t just fought for his life against a swarm of snakes, but had merely gone in to play with his toys.

  “Where’s the red medicinal stone?” the man asked, glancing sideways at him as he passed.

  Qian Liu mechanically raised his hand, trembling as he pointed in another direction. Then he mechanically lifted his feet and followed behind the man, never more than a step away. Nowhere felt safer walking in this cave than by the man’s side—he suddenly realized this.

  It was only then that he began to notice: wherever the man went, the path was completely unobstructed. Not a single obstacle appeared.

The poisons that so troubled the people of their village didn’t show up at all.

  Even when their shadows occasionally appeared along the stone walls, they immediately disappeared, avoiding him and the man entirely. They would never surge toward them.

  As he gradually regained his composure, Qian Liu studied the man with deep contemplation.

  “Xue Honglian, who exactly are you?” he finally asked, as the two of them walked out from the deepest part of the Black Witch Cave carrying a single red medicinal stone.

  “I’m not an ordinary person.”

  “…” That answer left him speechless.

  The two walked all the way out of the Black Witch Cave, encountering no threats along the way. Qian Liu began to suspect that the hazards he had seen when he first entered were likely just illusions.

  He watched as the man carefully carried the bundle of snakes wrapped in his robe, treating it even more carefully than the red medicinal stone. He couldn’t help but ask, unable to hold back any longer, “What did you catch those snakes for?”

  “To give to a friend,” the man replied lightly.

  Although his tone remained flat and emotionless, Qian Liu keenly noticed that when he said the word ‘friend,’ those otherwise impassive eyes seemed to soften for a moment.

  For someone like Xue Honglian to carry a friend in his heart, that friend must hold considerable significance.

  Qian Liu turned his gaze away. “You are already Qian Yi’s protector. In the future, you must be devoted to her completely. Do not deceive or betray her. Otherwise, the entire Saintess Tribe will never forgive you.”

  The man paid no attention to his warning. His gaze frequently flicked toward the bundle of snakes wrapped in the robe. His steps were light, and although his face showed no expression, his demeanor clearly conveyed excellent spirits.

  Qian Liu felt like he had swung his fist into cotton, turning his face green with anger.

  The bundle likely contained over a hundred black snakes, requiring an adult to hug it fully just to carry it.

  The man had effectively swept up the entire Xijiang snake nest from the Black Witch Cave.

  With so many snakes thrashing inside the bundle, left and right, Qian Liu worried that the thin fabric of the robe might tear at any moment.

  If the snakes escaped, it would be a deadly disaster.

  “You’ll scare the children in the village if you carry it like that,” he said, frowning as a reminder.

  Fortunately, the man actually listened this time. He glanced down at the bundle, then swung his arm, slamming the entire bundle hard onto the ground.

  SMACK!

  The creatures inside stopped moving.

  The world fell silent.

  The man continued walking, carrying the bundle.

  Qian Liu “…” was dumbfounded.

  Outside the forest, the villagers were still anxiously waiting, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive.

  As time passed, the tension only grew thicker.

  Qian Yi had already paced back and forth along the forest edge over a hundred times, occasionally craning her neck to peer inside. Her ears were perked high, afraid of missing the faintest whistle from deep within the forest. Yet there was still no movement to be seen.

  Her worry and anxiety were greater than anyone else’s.

  In more than half an hour, she had already considered countless possible outcomes.

  Several times she almost couldn’t help but beg someone from the tribe to go in and search, but each time she forcibly restrained herself.

  Although the Black Witch Forest was not officially forbidden in their village, its danger was undeniable.

  The village children were never allowed to play near it, precisely because if something happened, they might never return.

  She couldn’t risk the lives of more villagers just to look for Xue Honglian.

  As nearly an hour had passed, Qian Yi composed herself and said to the villagers, “I’ll go in and take a look. If there’s any problem, I’ll send a signal, and then everyone can come in to rescue me.”

  “No, it’s far too dangerous. If something happens to you going in alone, how are we supposed to answer to the elders?” The elder responsible for judging the trial was the first to veto her plan. Being second only to the chief in the village hierarchy, his words carried considerable weight.