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Chapter 13 — Man-eating Vines

Suddenly.

Shua, shua… A frenzy of ominous, verbose noises arose.

Yun Wu's heart shuddered with premonitions, but before she could react, an icy-cold, p.r.i.c.kling sensation swiftly swathed her wrist—precisely, the wrist that seated the hand in possession of the small wooden box.

Unexpectedly, upon lowering her head, she discovered a length of ivy-vine, its body completely overspread with cl.u.s.ters of sharp fangs that aimed for her flesh. The densely-packed fangs broke through her skin and sunk deeply into her wrist, promptly drawing out a torrent of scarlet blood. This seemed to excite the vines of the surrounding four walls, for they began to aggressively flock up.

Before long, the entire underground palace was thoroughly overwhelmed by the sinister, hair-raising uproar of clashing beast teeth…

Surprise struck Yun Wu's heart. She instinctively whipped out a dagger and forcefully swung the blade at her ivy-bound wrist. Alas, the ivy-vines were incomparably tough and stubborn; they would rather bear her strikes than let go, and instead of getting released, she was actually attacked by three more vines that tightly wound themselves around her hands and feet, burrowing their fangs deep into her flesh. The scent of blood instantly pervaded the air.

The nearby vines continued to surge upwards, as if in this moment, something from the depths of the underground palace —something utterly terrifying— had been completely awakened.

The more Yun Wu struggled, the more vines wrapped around her body. Liu Qingyue and Yun Qing Er, witnesses of this scene, were both still standing at the entranceway. Yun Qing Er took step after step back as she paled and stared, horrified, at the encompa.s.sing fanged ivy-vines.

"Great, Great Aunt, what are these cursed things?"

Liu Qingyue was similarly frightened. She glanced at the box in Yun Wu's possession, then reluctantly retreated. "Those may very well be the legendary man-eating vines. F-first, we must leave this place."

Man-eating vines; a species of ferocious, carnivorous plants that existed on Shenzhou Continent. Legend had it that once an individual was entangled by these vines, there would be no way to pull free.

However, centuries ago, man-eating vines supposedly went extinct—so why had they appeared here, within Yun Manor's Forbidden Grounds?

Seeing the ivy-vines extend their predatory, swaying claws towards them, Liu Qingyue pulled Yun Qing Er, whose legs had already gone soft from fear, and quickly fled, but before she turned to leave, murderous intent flashed in Liu Qingyue's eyes. Quietly, she flicked a finger and sent a poisonous dart out in the direction of the ensnared Yun Wu's stomach.

Since it had become temporarily impossible to retrieve the small wooden box, Liu Qingyue refused to give Yun Wu a chance to escape the underground palace.

A poisonous Yin dart!

So, Yun Wu's poisoner was indeed Liu Qingyue.

Yun Wu spat out a mouthful of black blood as rage smothered her heart. "Liu Qingyue, just you wait. I absolutely won't let you off."

At the time, even in her dreams, Liu Qingyue wouldn't have expected her poisonous dart to not only miss claiming Yun Wu's life but also to actually save Yun Wu's life.

~

Somewhere in the remote mountains, the secluded Old Master Yun suddenly sensed something that caused his expression to change into one of shock.

"d.a.m.n, which b.a.s.t.a.r.d intruded the Forbidden Grounds?"

Right as his angered curse fell, his cross-legged figure rose and charged out of the desolate cavern he was in, extremely worried and anxious as he hurried back to the imperial capital, where the Yun Manor resided…

~

There, the second Liu Qingyue pa.s.sed through the Forbidden Grounds entrance, she ordered for the entrance to be blocked off. She proceeded to spread alleged news, claiming the Ninth Miss had truly met her demise after she trespa.s.sed the Forbidden Grounds and met with misfortune.

Within the underground palace

The ivy-vines that had originally been wrapped around Yun Wu were now huddled together on the ground, trembling.

As it turned out, Liu Qingyue’s poisonous dart had stimulated the Yin poison lurking in Yun Wu’s body, and the vines that had wanted to suck her dry were instead killed by the Yin poison.

Wasn’t that ironic?

Yun Wu was still preoccupied with the agonizing torment caused by the poison when she felt something curl around her ankles, dragging her into the depths of the underground palace. She wanted to resist, but she could only see darkness before her, and that darkness soon invaded her consciousness.

~

So cold.

So cold, it was intolerable.

So hot!

So hot, it was unbearable.

The dual a.s.sault of hot and cold abruptly tugged Yun Wu out from the abyss of unconsciousness. The moment she came to, her expression changed and she instantly felt her legs weaken from shock.

She saw a gigantic man-eating vine thrashing around the underground palace confines, threateningly baring its fangs at her while an enormous python lazed on the side. The python resembled a lofty mountain, its forked tongue flickering out again and again as it hissed, its lantern-sized, forest-green eyes locked fixedly on her, as if seeing a meal.

Being preyed on… this was already her second time experiencing it.

Taking a moment, Yun Wu scrutinized her surroundings and circ.u.mstances, and in turn, gooseb.u.mps flooded her skin; even though she was calmer than most, she was still somewhat scared out of her wits.

After all, what she saw was an extremely s.p.a.cious underground s.p.a.ce with walls layered in man-eating vines, a motley python, and more importantly, she was right between them, immersed in a pool of magma.

It was a scorching-hot magma pool, yet she felt both hot and cold; this was caused by the battle between the magma and the Yin poison inside of her body.

Could it be that they were detoxifying her?

It made sense, seeing the poison in her body had killed several man-eating vines, so they wouldn’t have dared to just eat her like that.

However, very soon, Yun Wu’s expression once again shifted. She felt like her heart was about to jump out of her throat because she realized… she was wrong.

VIN: Phew, the author is cruel to Yun Wu. Extremely cruel. Merciless. So far, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to imagine these man-eating vines. There was no mention of a head or mouth, just fangs that suck in blood.

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