The instant Wei Yunxi was caught, panic surged in her chest. Almost instinctively, she activated all her defensive artifacts. Even the flower-shaped divine artifact on her brow briefly shimmered into visibility. Clutching her spirit sword, she slashed at the tail coiled around her.
This time, Wei Yunxi didn't hold back, pouring all her strength into the strike. The blade cut through the serpent's scales, drawing blood.
"Human cultivator, if you don't want to die, stop resisting. Otherwise, I won't mind swallowing you right here and now."
The cold warning entered her spiritual sea. Her sword wavered, pausing mid-swing. That brief hesitation was enough for the snake to drag her deep underground.
It was pitch black below. When she extended her spiritual sense, she realized she was being dragged through tunnels by a three-headed snake. It was likely returning to its lair.
Her head slammed into the walls a dozen times on the way down. Exposed skin was scraped raw, her robes were caked in dust, and by the time the tail flung her onto the cavern floor, she was a complete mess.
Wei Yunxi rolled to the side and swept her spiritual sense across the space. What she saw stunned her.
She recognized several people. Qin Tongshuang was here, along with Mu Ningzhu and Zhang Yan. There were also four other cultivators she didn't know. Each one was holding a massive egg.
"Yunxi!"
"Little Sister Wei!"
Qin Tongshuang and Mu Ningzhu spoke at the same time, clearly shocked.
Before Wei Yunxi could reply, the snake's tail flung an egg into her arms. That same cold voice echoed once more in her spiritual sea:
"You've stepped into my trap, so now you'll help me hatch these eggs. If my young can't be born, you won't leave here alive. Be good, or become my next meal."
With that, the snake released a surge of peak second-rank pressure, forcing Wei Yunxi to her knees.
Fortunately, the flower-shaped divine artifact on her brow blocked the suppression. But she didn't want to expose it in front of the others, so she went along and knelt as ordered.
All six snake eyes stared at her coldly. Once it was sure she couldn't resist, the three-headed snake turned and slithered away, vanishing into the shadows of the cavern.
When the exit sealed behind it, Wei Yunxi slowly rose, still clutching the egg. She sat beside Qin Tongshuang and asked, "Little Sister Qin, how did you all end up in this snake's nest? And what's with the egg?"
Before Qin Tongshuang could answer, Mu Ningzhu spoke first. "Niece Wei, you were caught too? Did you come looking for us?"
"More or less. I heard Qin Tongshuang had gone missing in the Baohua Mountains, so I took the mission to search for your group. But by the time I rushed to Baohua City, I learned that too many Qi Refining cultivators who accepted the task had also disappeared. The mission difficulty was upgraded and handed over to Martial Uncle Sheng Yuhong.
I teamed up with another Senior Brother, Long Daoyu, and entered the Baohua Mountains. In truth, we were following behind Martial Uncle Sheng's team, hoping to find clues. We tracked the trail to where you sent your distress signal. After Sheng Yuhong's group moved on, we went to examine the Fire Dragon Grass. I had barely picked two stalks when I was snatched underground.
But Senior Brother Long definitely launched a distress signal by now. Martial Uncle Sheng isn't far. He'll see it."
After her explanation, Wei Yunxi turned back to Qin Tongshuang.
Qin Tongshuang rubbed her temples and said, "That Fire Dragon Grass was planted by the three-headed snake to lure cultivators. It waits for someone to come harvesting, then captures them."
"What's it doing capturing cultivators? Just to hatch eggs?"
Wei Yunxi looked down at the egg in her arms.
"Yes," Mu Ningzhu confirmed grimly.
Wei Yunxi opened her mouth a few times before managing to speak. "They lay eggs but can't hatch them? Forgive my ignorance, but from what I've read, snake-type beasts usually hatch their own young. Since when did they outsource it to cultivators?"
Mu Ningzhu looked like she didn't even know where to start, while Qin Tongshuang sighed and said, "You're absolutely right. But somehow we ran into this bizarre snake-type beast. It's a peak second-rank three-headed snake, equivalent to the late stage of Foundation Establishment in human terms. We couldn't escape.
Its eggs weren't hatching, and who knows what beast convinced it that cultivators' spiritual energy could help with incubation. So it used Fire Dragon Grass as bait to trap us here."
Wei Yunxi began piecing things together.
Mu Ningzhu had brought her team into the Baohua Mountains for training. The Fire Dragon Grass, aged and potent, had caught their attention.
Mu Ningzhu, as the team leader, had acted cautiously. She waited for the snake to leave to hunt, then quickly led the others to gather the grass. But they were still ambushed and captured.
They had assumed they were going to die. Instead, the snake threw each of them an egg and gave them a deadline: hatch the egg or be eaten.
Qin Tongshuang, normally cold and aloof, had long since dropped her aloof demeanor. She rattled off the rest in rapid-fire frustration. Her account matched Wei Yunxi's deductions. If they wanted a chance at survival, they had to find a way to hatch the eggs. At least stall for time until Sheng Yuhong found them.
"These four—are they fellow disciples of Haoran Sect too?"
Wei Yunxi glanced at the unfamiliar faces. None wore sect robes, so she couldn't tell.
"They are. Two of them came because they also accepted the search mission. They went to check out the Fire Dragon Grass area and got captured too," Qin Tongshuang said.
Wei Yunxi rubbed her chin. This snake had some brains. It was using classic siege tactics. As long as the missing Haoran Sect disciples weren't found, more would keep coming.
Low-ranked cultivators like her were dragged off, while stronger ones like Sheng Yuhong's Foundation Establishment team were left alone. It wasn't that the snake couldn't fight them, it just wasn't worth the risk. Human cultivators had too many tricks up their sleeves.
Sheng Yuhong's group had six Foundation Establishment cultivators. If it came to a fight, the snake wouldn't gain much even if it won. That was why it had stayed hidden when they were investigating. But the moment she and Long Daoyu showed up, it pounced.
Having grasped the situation, Wei Yunxi asked the most important question. "Martial Uncle Mu, you've been down here for over half a month. Has there been any reaction from the eggs?"
Silence. Everyone shook their heads.
A senior brother growled, "We've poured so much spiritual energy into them and haven't seen a single sign of life!"
Wei Yunxi made a bold guess. "Maybe they're d—"
Before she could finish the word, Qin Tongshuang clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Shh! Don't say it out loud. That three-headed snake will go berserk."
Wei Yunxi blinked and nodded. Qin Tongshuang let go.
Mu Ningzhu sighed. "We've thought the same, but when we probe with spiritual sense, there's still demonic energy inside. Something is stirring within the eggs, but no matter what we try, nothing hatches."
Everyone looked exasperated. Wei Yunxi sat down and began examining her egg. She tried injecting spiritual energy. It was like casting a stone into the sea, no reaction at all.
She pressed her ear to the egg. No sound.
In the end, she carefully extended her late Foundation Establishment spiritual sense into the egg.
A moment later, her expression darkened.
"We're never going to hatch this thing in our lifetime."