Chapter 13 — Man-eating Vines (1/2)

Suddenly.

Ssss… A frenzy of ominous, verbose noises rose.

Yun Wu’s heart shuddered with bad premonitions, but before she could react, an icy-cold, prickling sensation swiftly swathed her wrist—precisely, the wrist that seated the hand in possession of the small wooden box.

She lowered her head and saw a rope of ivy-vine coiled around her wrist. Clusters of thorns that closely resembled fangs ran along the length of the vine.

Clearly, the densely-packed fangs craved for her flesh. They 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, causing them to begin swaying in an upwards motion.

Before long, the entire underground palace was 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. Unfortunately, the ivy-vines were incredibly tough and resilient; they would rather bear her strikes than let go, and three more ivy-vines quickly entered the fray, wrapping themselves around Yun Wu’s limbs and burrowing their fangs into her body.

The scent of blood instantly pervaded the air. The nearby vines continued to surge upwards, acting as though 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 encompassing fanged ivy-vines.

“Great, Great Aunt, what are these wretched things?” Liu Qingyue was similarly frightened. She glanced at the box in Yun Wu’s hand, then reluctantly decided to retreat. “Those may be the legendary man-eating vines. F-first, we must leave this place,” she stammered.

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

Only, centuries ago, man-eating vines supposedly went extinc—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. Silently, she flicked a finger and shot a poisonous dart at 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 even the sliver of a chance to escape the underground palace.

A poisonous Yin dart! So it really was her.

Yun Wu spat out a mouthful of black blood as rage smothered her heart. “Liu Qingyue, just you wait. I definitely won’t let you off.”

At the time, even in her dreams, Liu Qingyue wouldn’t have expected her poisonous dart 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.

“Damn, which bastard intruded the Forbidden Grounds?”