Seed of Dao

Carelessness

In the late afternoon, among the trees in the forest, Ye Chen who was walking while biting his last piece of dried meat suddenly stopped and sighed.

It had been almost six hours since Ye Chen left Siqing village, and during those six hours of travel, he had almost exhausted his provisions. Initially, he thought the provisions he prepared at the start were more than enough to reach Dayan village, but he didn't expect that his food and drink consumption during the journey was very large.

Now, his provisions were truly running thin, and the bad news was he didn't know when he would arrive at another village. His luck was also bad—during the journey, he didn't encounter other people, or even animals that could be hunted.

Seeing the day was approaching evening, Ye Chen was truly helpless and chose to look for a temporary resting place until tomorrow morning.

Actually he didn't want to waste time in this kind of wilderness, but he knew that walking in the forest at night, especially alone, the risk would be much greater. Especially wild beasts like wolves that always hunted in groups and were very difficult to face.

Fortunately, when the sky wasn't yet completely dark, Ye Chen found a small crevice at the foot of the mountain. It couldn't be called a cave, because the small crevice that appeared covered with weeds could only be entered by one person. Moreover, although inside the crevice was slightly larger with a height and width of one and a half meters, it was impossible for the cave to be a wild beast's den.

"Haah...."

Laying himself down on the ground inside the cave, Ye Chen immediately felt helplessness and extreme fatigue begin to assault his body.

Never thought at the beginning that a journey that seemed would be easy became very exhausting and boring.

Smiling wryly, Ye Chen threw away all the thoughts in his head and began to close his eyes to rest while waiting for the next day. Right at the same time Ye Chen was breathing and closing his eyes, suddenly he smelled a sweet aroma inside the cave, and couldn't help but immediately wake up.

Then standing up quickly and once again trying to detect where the sweet aroma came from, Ye Chen immediately found that the source was indeed from inside the cave, or more precisely deep within the cave.

That discovery made Ye Chen excited. He didn't expect that someone would give him a pillow when he wanted to sleep.

"Really fruit!"

Ye Chen was excited and couldn't help but smile when witnessing what he found after entering five meters deep into the cave. It was a tree that actually only had a height of one meter, but had five bright yellow fruits the size of a baby's fist quietly growing in the cave's darkness.

Of course Ye Chen didn't know what kind of fruit it was, but from its sweet aroma, he thought this fruit must be edible. To be more precise, he also immediately reached out his hand to try one.

But then, Ye Chen immediately felt a crisis. A black figure flew toward him accompanied by pain that immediately came from his hand.

"Ah!"

He screamed and retreated backward while shaking his right arm.

"Damn it!"

Ye Chen immediately gritted his teeth when he knew that what attacked him was a snake, and even the bite mark was already imprinted on the back of his hand.

Careless!

Ye Chen couldn't help but think how foolish he was. This was wilderness, and dangerous things would surely always accompany him. A little carelessness truly resulted in fatal consequences.

At the same time, Ye Chen also felt something strange. The bite wound began to feel hot and swollen, the effect faster than it should be.

"Poison? Damn it!"

Ye Chen knew he didn't have much time. Snake venom usually took 20-30 minutes to become truly dangerous, but with how quickly his wound was swelling, he was sure this wasn't an ordinary snake.

"I will kill you!"

Ye Chen was very angry and began to take the black dagger to slash the snake. That dagger was loot from the dead cultivator, might have other uses he didn't understand, but at least its sharpness was extraordinary. Far sharper than any knife he had ever held.

But what he didn't know was, the snake was truly agile. No matter how many times Ye Chen tried to cut it, the snake would easily swerve to the right and left. The snake's speed and reaction were truly beyond his understanding.

Black colored with white patterns all over its body, the snake that had the thickness of a baby's arm but only had a length of one meter was currently sticking out its tongue with a hissing sound, and staring at Ye Chen with both its pale yellow eyes in the darkness.

At the same time, a burning hot feeling began to increasingly feel throughout his body, even his right hand with the snake bite mark began to tremble.

"Damn it! Damn it! Stop dodging!"

Ye Chen became very angry and chased it fiercely. However, the snake was too clever, its movements not like an animal purely based on instinct. Its pale yellow eyes stared at Ye Chen with something that almost looked like... intelligence?

"Impossible. You're just a snake!"

Ye Chen was very angry. But the longer he fought, the more certain he became—this wasn't an ordinary snake.

Even if he tried to cut it hundreds of times, the snake could truly avoid it.

In the end, Ye Chen who felt that his body was becoming wet from sweat and numb because the snake's poison was starting to work began to try to calm himself.

He couldn't keep doing it like this. He had to think of a way.

With his right hand beginning to tremble, Ye Chen planned to catch it with his bare hand. Bait the snake to attack, then kill it when it was off guard.

Of course the snake wouldn't allow a human to catch it easily, but this time it didn't avoid. Because Ye Chen was only using his bare hand, the snake began to extend its head and agilely immediately bit his right hand again.

"Ah!" Ye Chen once again screamed in pain from being bitten, but coldness suddenly appeared in both his eyes, and his left hand holding the black dagger quickly slashed.

"Slash—"

The snake was truly cut into two parts. One part of its body fell to the ground, while the other part still clung because its head strongly bit Ye Chen's hand.

"Damn it!"

Taking half the snake's body while grimacing from enduring the pain, Ye Chen threw its body to the cave wall angrily.

Afterward, Ye Chen's body instantly became unsteady and finally fell to the ground. He tried to rise with all his strength, but it was useless—the annoying snake's poison had almost paralyzed his entire body.

Ye Chen didn't give up. Even if he couldn't stand, he could still crawl. With difficulty, he finally reached the fruit that caused the disaster at the beginning.

Taking one with his left hand, Ye Chen firmly without thinking of any risks began to bite it and swallow it into his stomach.

No matter what, whether the fruit was poisonous or not, Ye Chen was sure that the fruit must not be that simple because there was a snake guarding it. Even if it was indeed poisonous, without eating it he would surely also die from the poison. So he could only bet that the fruit would give him a miracle.

Unfortunately, the word "luck" seemed to never be on his side.

Right when one whole fruit was swallowed, a heat stronger than the snake's poison suddenly exploded in his stomach. Then spreading throughout his body, and pain he couldn't endure came.

"Ah!" Ye Chen began to scream and roll around inside the cave madly.

Who knows how much time had passed, the sound inside the cave finally stopped, and the cave that was silent without movement once again became quiet.