The little girl nimbly dodged the first attack from the proud and arrogant five-step snake. However, the wooden stick in her hand failed to strike the rising snake even slightly; the snake simply fell to the ground.
However, instead of giving up the fight and fleeing in all directions, it immediately turned around and came back, quickly sliding towards the little girl's feet once again.
Seeing this second, even faster and more ferocious attack at such close range, the five-step snake seemed poised to leap at the little girl's legs. Just as it was about to leap, Huan'er instantly covered her eyes, letting out a scream that echoed throughout the entire forest: "No! Little girl..."
At that moment, Huan'er felt that the world around her was pitch black, as if everything had stopped.
Heartbeat, breath, consciousness, even the air that has remained unchanged for millennia seemed to freeze instantly. Even the mountain wind stopped because of the human tragedy unfolding before their eyes. Only their ears remained buzzing.
After an unknown amount of time, Huan'er finally seemed to slowly come to her senses, and then slowly removed her hands from her dazed eyes, wanting to take one last look at the little girl.
Unexpectedly, there was nothing in front of her at all—no trace of the little girl's body, nor of the five-step snake.
For a moment, Huan'er tightly gripped the cane that Xiao Nizi had carefully made for her, staring in astonishment at everything before her.
It was as if everything that had just happened was a dream. The little girl was blocked at the foot of the mountain and could not be chased up the mountain, and the five-step snake, which was extremely poisonous, seemed to have never appeared at all.
"Could all of this be an illusion, my hallucination?" Huan'er looked at the cane in her hand in confusion and muttered to herself.
No sooner had she finished speaking than a clear, melodious female voice, like that of a lark, suddenly rang out behind her, saying, "Sister Huan'er!"
Upon hearing the sound, Huan'er turned around abruptly. She saw a young woman with her sleeves rolled up high, smiling at her. The graceful young woman was skillfully controlling the head of the five-step snake that had just been raising its head and flicking its tongue at them.
“Little girl, where did you run off to? You scared me to death! Do you know what? I thought I…” Huan’er said, tears streaming down her face.
The little girl held up a twig in her other hand, stuffing it into the snake's mouth as she explained to Huan'er, "Look, I just grabbed this guy just as it was about to leap at me, and then I found a stiffer twig behind you to prop open this ferocious snake's mouth and prevent it from biting anyone! What's there to worry about? I told you we'd be fine, and we definitely will. You have to trust me, little girl, in these deep mountains, you know? Ever since I learned to walk, I've been following the villagers around these mountains every day. What haven't I seen and encountered? A mere poisonous snake, trying to scare me? Humph, today I'll take your gall bladder so you can never harm anyone again."
Seeing this, Huan'er looked at the little girl in front of her who was slightly younger than herself, and she really didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
No sooner had she finished speaking than the little girl suddenly reached out, intending to take the gallbladder of the five-step snake. Huan'er quickly stepped forward and stopped her, saying, "Little girl, stop! Don't kill it! The five-step snake is an extremely precious medicinal herb that can be used to treat leprosy and malignant sores. Release it quickly!"
Upon hearing this, the little girl pouted and said incredulously, "Release it? Are you sure you're not mistaken? I didn't hear wrong, did I? I finally managed to catch it. What if it attacks us again if I let go?"
Huan'er shook her head and waved her hands, saying, "No, no, you're so powerful, it definitely won't dare to threaten you again. Please, little girl. If we didn't have more important things to do today, I really would have liked to take it back to give to the old lady! She would definitely love this hard-won and precious medicinal herb. But if it just dies in the wild like this, wouldn't that be a waste?"
"Sigh, as expected of someone who grew up beside a living Buddha! This snake almost killed us! We finally caught it, and now we're letting it go like this. What a pity, what a pity!" Hearing this, the little girl sighed repeatedly, but finally listened to Huan'er's advice and carefully put it down.
To everyone's surprise, the five-step snake seemed genuinely terrified of the girl's exceptional snake-catching skills. As soon as it touched the ground, it darted away into the grass like a wisp of smoke and disappeared without a trace.
For a moment, the little girl was stunned by the astonishing speed at which the enemy was fleeing for their lives.
Seeing the five-step snake flee in panic, Huan'er finally breathed a sigh of relief, stepped forward, took the little girl's hand, and affectionately and gently lowered her two sleeves.
He held the girl's hands tightly, as if he never wanted to let go, and said to her with a smile, "Little girl, I'm so glad you were with me all the way!"
The two women held hands, looking at each other with smiles of relief and innocence on their faces.
As darkness seemed to be falling in the deep mountains, the search for the missing person remained stagnant. The two then arrived at a dense broad-leaved forest.
As they walked, the little girl suddenly seemed to sense something again. She gradually slowed down, her eyes sharp, and with a frown, she quietly took Huan'er's hand. Then, she suddenly darted behind a thick tree.
Huan'er asked in a panic, "What's wrong?"
"Shh," the little girl quickly put her finger to her lips to signal her to be quiet, and cautiously peeked out with one eye to look outside.
What they saw was a huge, strong, tall creature, about seven feet long, with a large, round head, short ears, thick and powerful limbs, a long tail, and a white body covered with black stripes, slowly wandering and foraging alone in the forest not far from the two of them.
Huan'er was about to turn around to look when the little girl quickly lowered her voice to stop her, saying, "Don't turn around, it's a tiger."
Upon hearing this, Huan'er's heart seemed to leap out of her chest: "A giant worm... what do we do? How can we possibly deal with such a behemoth? What do we do, what do we do?"
Before he could finish speaking, the little girl repeatedly hissed at him: "Shh...shh...shh."
However, the giant insect seemed to have already noticed the presence of the two women, and suddenly let out a thunderous roar. Its voice shook the mountains and the earth, and even a gust of wind seemed to rise around it.
After the wind passed, two more black-and-white striped cubs emerged from a patch of withered grass behind the large black-and-white striped insect. They were about two feet long and also had black-and-white stripes.
The three large insects crouched low, seeking cover as they slowly crept towards the woman...
As the tiger drew closer, the little girl pressed her back tightly against the tree and exclaimed in alarm, "Oh no! The tiger is coming towards us. It must have spotted us. And there are two cubs behind it!"
"What? They've found us? Three of them? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Huan'er asked repeatedly in alarm.
"One word...run!" As soon as the girl finished speaking, the two of them held hands and started running in perfect unison.
Upon seeing its prey about to escape, the giant worm stopped hiding and led its two cubs to break off and race after the two women with all its might.
Soon, the two were forced onto a huge rock on a cliff. Upon closer inspection, they realized that this was the southeasternmost point of a continuous mountain range.
The mountain in Taohuadian Village runs north-south, shorter east-west and longer north-south, with the eastern mountain being even longer and the western mountain being only a tiny fraction of the eastern mountain's length. Now, they have actually traversed the entire eastern mountain.
At this moment, the desolate land beneath their feet was no longer actually part of the Western Qin Kingdom's territory. No one had ever been here before, and they had somehow crossed the border in their hasty escape.
At that moment, the two women saw a huge rock that looked as if it had been neatly split into three parts by a knife or axe.
Over the years, the gaps between the cracks that lay before them grew wider and wider, through which a turbid and narrow, winding river valley flowed. The turbid waters, carrying silt and sand, had, over the years, carved countless rounded holes into the rocks along the riverbank.
Moving forward, there was clearly no way to escape; they were certain they couldn't cross the rift before them.
Just as the two were tacitly preparing to detour around the edge to check if there was a way down the mountain, suddenly, a scream was heard. The girl behind them fell to the ground, her face showing pain, as if she could hardly stand up again.
Huan'er turned around and saw that the tiger was still relentlessly chasing after them, so she quickly squatted down and asked, "Little girl, what's wrong?"
"I...I twisted my ankle. Don't worry about me, you have to run, or it will be too late! Run!" The girl replied, rubbing her aching ankle.
"No, I can't leave you behind. If we're going to die, we'll die together. I'll carry you on my back," Huan'er said solemnly, then turned her back to the little girl.
"Sister Huan'er, don't be silly! The mountain road is so rugged and difficult to travel, and there's a big tiger chasing us. How can you carry me away? It's better for one person to live than for two people to die together, right?! Hurry up, hurry up, or it will really be too late!" The little girl looked back at the big tiger that was already in front of her, and pushed Huan'er away forcefully.
Huan'er was caught off guard and fell heavily onto a nearby boulder. She got up crying and went to the little girl's side, hugging her thin shoulders tightly. She cried and said, "Little girl, little girl, we'll live together, we'll die together. I'll never abandon you, no matter what!"
As the two were talking, the large black and white striped worm had already reached its prey. Instead of slowing down, it instantly used all its strength to lift itself into the air, baring its fangs and claws. With its blood-red maw wide open, it lunged at the two desperate women on the ground, who were huddled together with their heads tightly clasped and their eyes closed...
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