And so, the two children, both around thirteen years old and still shaken, huddled together, comforting each other. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally calmed down a little.
After a heated argument, Xiao Nizi was ultimately defeated by Huan'er's strong will and decided to continue accompanying her on her journey to find Wang Er and Ruoxi.
As they walked, seeing that Huan'er was panting heavily and seemed to be unable to continue, the little girl helped her to sit down on a rock and said with concern, "Sister Huan'er, sit down and rest for a while!"
Although she was anxious and extremely unwilling, her body betrayed her; Huan'er knew she was nearing her limit.
In Taohuadian Village, she rarely went up the mountain, let alone this tall, majestic, and terrifying place that was almost a dead end, full of dangers and eeriness.
She was finally persuaded to sit down by the little girl, who then picked a large leaf, ran quickly to the side not far away, and collected a lot of clear, sweet mountain spring water to give to Huan'er.
He put one hand on his hip, wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, paused, quickly scanned his surroundings, and then turned around and climbed a towering tree with practiced ease.
Huan'er had just drunk a mouthful of sweet spring water and felt much more refreshed, so she slowly wiped the fine sweat from her forehead.
Suddenly, he looked up and saw the little girl crouching on the middle of a tall tree. He immediately stood up and shouted in alarm, "Little girl, it's dangerous! Get down quickly! What are you doing?"
However, the young woman just smiled mysteriously at her and casually replied, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Soon, the little girl slowly walked over, dragging a hard branch that had been broken off from a tree. After getting close to Huan'er, she removed a few extra small branches and green leaves, then stepped on it and broke it in two. She handed one to Huan'er and said with a happy face, "With this, Huan'er won't feel so tired."
Upon hearing this, Huan'er's eyes immediately filled with tears. Biting her lip, she hugged the little girl tightly and said earnestly, "Little girl, little girl, you must never do such a foolish thing again. What would I do if something happened to you..."
And so, the two frail women, now relying on each other for survival, each held a branch in their hands, sometimes using it as a crutch, sometimes using it to move aside the thick pile of dead branches and decaying leaves on the ground around them, sometimes searching for clues about Wang Er and Ruoxi, sometimes checking for traps or dangers lurking everywhere. Hand in hand, they continued to carefully walk and stop in the deep mountains, overcoming numerous difficulties, climbing up and down, searching everywhere.
After many twists and turns, the two of them found themselves back at the sharp rock.
The clear spring in the distance was still clearly visible, and the few fresh leaves and twigs that the little girl had peeled off when she made her own cane were still under her feet.
So, the two looked at each other, and both realized at the same time that they had gone back to where they started; they were... lost again.
Dongshan is too big. Compared with Xishan, where Xiaoni often hangs out, Xishan is as small as a drop in the ocean, almost invisible.
And clearly, the little girl had long forgotten the path that Wang Er had led her through in the dark many years ago.
Even so, we cannot defeat these two strong girls.
Soon, the two women, supporting each other, stumbled and set off again, occasionally carving marks on the tree trunks they passed with sharp stones to indicate the path they had already traveled.
The two wandered through the mountains and forests for an unknown amount of time until they could no longer see the marks carved on the trees. It seemed that they had truly found their way out of the bewildering jungle that had led them astray.
As you walk along the mountain path, you'll see ancient trees reaching for the sky, their dense foliage carpeting the ground.
Compared to the still relatively barren western mountains at this time of year, the eastern mountains were already teeming with life.
The little girl's eyes widened as she looked at the amazing wild delicacies along the way. She exclaimed with delight, "Sister Huan'er, it turns out that Dongshan is really as bountiful as the villagers say! Look at all these chestnuts, monkey head mushrooms, loquats, mushrooms, and wood ear fungus! Compared to them, the crops on Xishan are worlds apart!"
Huan'er exclaimed in amazement at the various rare and precious herbs she had encountered along the way, despite the horrifying sight: "Yes, all the Ganoderma lucidum, Fritillaria cirrhosa, Coptis chinensis, Panax notoginseng, Aster tataricus, various ginsengs, as well as Astragalus membranaceus, Polygonatum sibiricum, Gastrodia elata, Polygonum multiflorum, Acorus tatarinowii, Rheum palmatum, Citrus reticulata, Clematis chinensis, Angelica pubescens, Schisandra chinensis, Ganoderma lucidum, Polyporus umbellatus, Cimicifuga foetida, Bupleurum chinense, and Peucedanum praeruptorum, etc., that I've seen along the way, are all in excellent quantity and growth. The medicinal resources here are truly astonishing! If the old lady knew, she would be very happy. Especially this, little girl, look: this is a rare and precious herb, as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, considered a treasure of the world, and it actually exists in this mountain..."
Huan'er was squatting down in a damp, low-lying area under a redwood tree covered in soft soil and moss, pointing out and introducing a green plant with only one leaf to Xiao Nizi with great interest, when suddenly, a bird's chirping sound from nearby caught their attention.
Following the sound, they suddenly saw a small bird that seemed extremely panicked appear ahead. The two of them immediately stopped and looked at each other, wondering what had happened to this lone fledgling.
"Could it be injured somewhere?" Huan'er wondered to herself as she stepped forward to check on it.
In that split second, a large snake suddenly sprang out from a pile of rocks not far from the chick's side by a ditch, and bit the chick's head firmly.
Huan'er was stunned by the horrifying scene before her!
The poor fledgling bird instantly lost all consciousness as it was swallowed by a large, muscular, and ferocious-looking snake.
Then, the snake began to push its prey, which it had captured, inch by inch, into its belly using its long fangs.
At this moment, the girl standing behind Huan'er, equally surprised, frowned deeply. As if she had finally remembered, she exclaimed in alarm, "Oh no, I remember now! This should be a five-step snake. I heard from the villagers that anyone bitten by a five-step snake will die from the poison if they take more than five steps."
"What? A five-step snake?" Huan'er was shocked upon hearing this, and then hurriedly looked at it carefully.
The snake had a large, triangular head, a dark brown back, and a white head, belly, and throat with a few dark brown spots, clearly distinguishing it from its neck. Its snout was formed by the tip of the nasal scales and the tip of the rostral scales, and it had long teeth.
"That's right, this is indeed the unique snake of the South recorded in medical books - the five-step snake." Upon seeing this, Huan'er was so frightened that she retreated to the side.
But she stopped in her tracks with a hurried warning from the little girl, who said, "Sister Huan'er, watch out behind you!"
Huan'er was still in shock when she heard the sound and quickly turned around to look behind her.
It turned out that just two or three steps away from Huan'er's feet, there was a pile of rocks, and there seemed to be a mysterious little cave in the pile of rocks.
Huan'er bent down and looked inside, then immediately stood up and exclaimed to the little girl in surprise, "This is... a snake egg!"
The little girl looked at the pile of rocks behind Huan'er, and behind it, a steep hillside overgrown with weeds, with a valley faintly visible at the bottom of the hillside.
The valley appears lush with vegetation and flowing water, with huge boulders piled haphazardly in the riverbed, resembling a magnificent sea of stones.
Huan'er also looked in the direction the little girl was looking.
A moment later, the young girl recalled, "If I remember correctly, the valley in the shady thicket at the foot of this hillside is the Snake Valley that Uncle Wang told me about when he took me here. After laying their eggs, snakes become extremely protective of them and become very fierce. The stone cave behind you is an inverted stone cave, which is particularly suitable for snakes to live in. There must be many more of these inverted stone caves in that valley."
Just as the two were talking, the five-step snake, having finished eating its prey, seemed to notice the presence of the two women beside it. It immediately coiled up, raised its head, and flicked its tongue, ready to attack the two women at any moment.
Upon seeing this, Huan'er gripped the cane tightly with both hands, holding it horizontally in front of her to block it. She froze, completely bewildered and at a loss.
The little girl beside her stared at it for a moment, then, while keeping her eyes fixed on the menacing five-step snake, she rolled up her sleeves and whispered to Huan'er, "Sister Huan'er, don't be afraid. Stand there and don't move, whatever you do, we'll be fine, trust me. No matter what happens, you must stand there and not move an inch."
When Huan'er saw the little girl's eager and serious demeanor, she seemed to suddenly understand what the girl intended to do.
Instantly, Huan'er's heart seemed to leap into her throat.
Huan'er lowered her voice and stopped her, saying, "Little girl, what are you trying to do now? Whatever you want to do right now, you must immediately and completely abandon this idea. I will not allow you to take such a risk. Let's not move. As long as we don't move, the Five-Step Snake will not make any rash moves."
No matter how Huan'er tried to persuade her, the little girl seemed not to hear her at all.
She quickly rolled up her sleeves, then slowly reached behind her back with one hand to pull out the stick that had served as her walking stick along the way. She quietly took small steps and slowly approached the majestic and imposing five-step snake.
Sure enough, the startled five-step snake suddenly leaped up and pounced on the little girl.
The little girl nimbly dodged, and the wooden stick in her hand failed to strike the rising snake even slightly; the snake simply fell to the ground.
However, it did not give up and flee in all directions. Instead, it made a comeback and slid quickly towards the little girl's feet once again.
Just as the five-step snake was about to pounce on the little girl's leg, Huan'er instantly covered her eyes and let out a scream that shook the entire forest: "No...!"
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