Three Seconds from Devouring Madness
1286 Words
“Ugh—!”
“That hurts… damn it, that hurts!”
Clutching his head, Mu Yunfeng struggled to sit up from the ground.
Only then did he realize he was inside a pitch-black cavern. The air was damp and heavy, carrying a faint, nauseating stench of rot and reptile musk.
As his hand shifted, it pressed against something cold and scaled.
*Hiss!*
A sharp pain shot through his palm.
Turning his head, he saw a venomous snake latched tightly onto his hand.
Frowning, he pried its jaws open and flung it away.
The pain wasn’t unbearable—compared to the poisons Lin Wanqiu had fed him, this was nothing.
At that moment, a noise echoed from above.
He looked up to see an opening in the cave ceiling. Sunlight spilled down in a narrow beam, illuminating drifting dust motes.
Framed in the light stood Li Xiu, his face twisted in smug satisfaction.
“Well? Sleep well?”
“So it was you.” The moment Mu Yunfeng saw him, everything made sense.
He rubbed the back of his head.
“Hurts like hell.”
Seeing that Mu Yunfeng wasn’t panicking as expected, Li Xiu’s expression darkened.
“You still look pretty calm.”
Ignoring him, Mu Yunfeng quickly used the light to spot and fling away several more snakes crawling over his body. Then he climbed onto a slightly raised rock platform.
Only then did he see clearly—
The entire cave was a pit of snakes.
Venomous bodies slithered everywhere, overlapping in a writhing mass.
Looking up again, he said coldly, “You dare do this to me? Thought about the consequences when the Sect Master returns?”
“Hahaha!” Li Xiu burst into laughter. “A traitor who sneaks into the pharmacy while the Sect Master is away has no right to say that!”
“I knew something was off about you. And now I’ve caught you.”
Mu Yunfeng touched the back of his head, feeling the dampness of blood.
“Who said I was looking for an antidote? I’ve been studying poison lately. Can’t I go collect some ingredients?”
“You? A mere test subject? What right do you have to learn anything?” Li Xiu sneered. “But it doesn’t matter. I never intended to report this anyway.”
Mu Yunfeng’s eyes narrowed.
A bad feeling crept into his chest.
Li Xiu’s grin grew vicious.
“I’ll simply tell the Sect Master that you ran away while the sect was understaffed.”
“And if you ran away… dying somewhere out there is perfectly reasonable, don’t you think?”
Mu Yunfeng let out a cold laugh.
“You think a few snakes can kill me?”
“I know the Sect Master has been testing poisons on you. For all I know, your body is more toxic than these snakes.”
“But since you went to the pharmacy, you must have taken the Ten-Day Devouring Pill, right?”
At this point, Li Xiu’s expression twisted into something almost feral.
“How many days until your next dose?”
“…You bastard.” Mu Yunfeng’s face finally turned serious.
Seeing that change, Li Xiu’s mood lifted instantly.
“Enjoy your death down there.”
“Oh, and one more thing—those snakes are just the appetizer.”
“The real course is over there.”
He pointed toward the cave wall on the right.
Mu Yunfeng followed his gaze—
A stone door suddenly lifted.
In the next instant, a dark blur shot out at terrifying speed and slammed into him!
“Pff—!”
He spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying.
When he looked up—
A massive python, over ten meters long, loomed before him, its forked tongue flicking as it hissed menacingly.
“Hahaha! Have fun!” Li Xiu laughed, then slowly closed the opening above.
Darkness swallowed the cave whole.
---
A gust of foul, fishy wind rushed toward him.
Mu Yunfeng reacted instinctively, diving to the side just as a thunderous crash shook the stone wall beside him.
The python’s strength was monstrous.
At this rate, even if it didn’t swallow him, it would crush him to death.
Realizing this, Mu Yunfeng raised a hand to his face.
He had to summon the Mask of the Faceless God.
Quickly. End it in ten seconds.
Chaotic whispers flooded his ears.
But just as he began, a wave of dizziness hit him.
His vision blurred.
His consciousness wavered dangerously.
He immediately canceled the visualization and clutched the back of his head with a groan.
His hand came away soaked in blood.
The blow to his head had destabilized his mind. In this state, if he summoned the mask—
He would almost certainly be devoured.
Left with no choice, Mu Yunfeng ripped the remaining snakes off his body and staggered toward the stone chamber the python had emerged from.
Perhaps Li Xiu had been careless in his excitement—
The stone door remained open.
But just as Mu Yunfeng tried to run, his legs buckled and he collapsed again.
“Damn it!”
With severed meridians, his body was already weak. Walking was manageable—but running?
Impossible.
Behind him, the python’s hiss grew closer.
Desperation took over.
Mu Yunfeng dropped to all fours and began crawling toward the chamber.
Every snake he touched, he flung backward, hoping to slow the beast.
But against something like that—
It was futile.
Just as he neared the entrance—
The python lunged.
Its jaws clamped down on his right leg.
“AAAH—!”
Agony exploded through him.
He twisted around to look—
Fangs had pierced clean through his thigh.
The python lifted him off the ground.
I’m going to die!
In midair, Mu Yunfeng’s eyes widened.
“1 second!”
His left eye instantly filled with blood, turning crimson.
A manic grin spread across his face.
With a roar, he drove his fist forward—
*c***k!*
The python’s fangs shattered.
He hit the ground, rolled into the stone chamber, and—using sheer will—dug his fingers into the heavy stone door.
With one arm alone, he dragged it down.
The enraged python slammed against it again and again.
But Mu Yunfeng had no strength left to worry about that.
He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head in agony.
He had aimed for one second—
But it had taken three.
A tidal wave of mental corruption crashed over his mind, drowning his consciousness.
Bloody threads crept from his eye socket, writhing across his face, trying to form a mask.
He screamed, struggling desperately to resist.
Time lost all meaning.
Eventually—
His strength gave out.
He collapsed onto the ground, drenched in sweat, his throat too raw to make a sound.
After a long while, he dragged himself to the wall and leaned against it.
With trembling hands, he tore off his outer robe and tried to pull the broken fangs from his leg.
He tried several times—
But he was too weak.
“Great… survived the snake, just to bleed out instead?” he muttered hoarsely.
Then, suddenly, he remembered.
The Heaven-Piercing Profound Art.
As long as the energy hadn’t fully dissipated, he could still recover a bit of strength.
He closed his eyes and began circulating the technique.
Faint white motes of light gathered from the air, flowing into his body.
Moments later, he opened his eyes.
Gritting his teeth, he yanked the fangs free.
Then he tightly wrapped the wound with his robe.
Only after finishing did he slump back against the wall—
And lose consciousness.
- Writer
