These eggs were each as large as an elongated pumpkin, making it impossible to tell what kind of animal had laid them.

Just as she turned her head to speak to the man, she froze, unable to make a sound.

Because when they had jumped off the cliff earlier, the wind had blown away the black veil covering the man’s face.

She had originally thought this man wore the veil because his appearance was unsightly, and he didn’t want others to see him.

But now, looking at him, she realized that today, she was the one who had encountered a beauty.

If righteous beauties like Qin Lingxiao should be described as masculine and handsome, then this man’s appearance had entered the realm of bewitching and demonic allure.

Before seeing such a face, it was truly hard to imagine that there could be such an enchantingly handsome man in this world!

Especially those long eyes of his that occasionally glimmered with faint purple light, perfectly harmonized with his straight nose and thin lips. The depths of those eyes seemed capable of stealing one’s soul, making people unconsciously lose themselves in them…

However, the man didn’t like being stared at. Under Cui Xiaoxiao’s infatuated gaze, his expression grew increasingly cold. He deliberately turned his face away, then slowly said, “What? Is there something wrong with my face?”

Cui Xiaoxiao finally snapped back to her senses and reluctantly withdrew her gaze from that devastatingly handsome face.

Having witnessed too many of the world’s ugly truths since childhood, she naturally knew that those blessed with good looks, whether male or female, if born into humble circumstances, generally faced misfortune rather than blessing.

It seemed this man had probably suffered due to his otherworldly appearance in the past, which was why he was reluctant to show his true face to others.

There was no need for her to bring up his painful experiences by rashly praising his handsomeness.

With this thought, she said matter-of-factly, “Hmm… your face has some dirt on it. You should wipe it off later. Oh no, we don’t know what animal’s eggs we’ve broken. We should leave this place quickly.”

The man seemed not to have expected Cui Xiaoxiao to regain her composure so quickly, nor to show the same infatuated expression as others who had first seen his face. So he paused for a moment, wiping his cheek with his sleeve while saying, “We’re both covered in egg fluid. The owner of these eggs will track us by the scent. I’m afraid it’s already too late to leave now…”

The egg fluid carried a sweet fishy smell with an intense odor that would indeed be difficult to mask. Looking at these enormous eggs, Cui Xiaoxiao’s eyelids twitched violently.

While quickly removing her outer garment that was stained with egg fluid and throwing it to the ground, she raised her head and looked around. Her naturally gifted eyes quickly discovered that something seemed to be surging toward them from underground in the northeastern corner of the canyon.

This spectacle of the earth rolling like a dragon was truly enough to leave one stunned in place. But Cui Xiaoxiao had already guessed that what was rushing toward them underground was the owner of the eggs. She just didn’t know what kind of animal could lay such large eggs!

With this thought, she turned to the man and said, “Should we… go back up?”

The man’s lips curved in a meaningful smile as he looked down at Xiaoxiao leisurely, “Miss went to such trouble to lure me here. Wouldn’t it be a pity to just leave like this?”

He was implying something, but Cui Xiaoxiao didn’t understand what he meant.

She had no time to think deeply about it now. After weighing the pros and cons, she said in a low voice, “There are pursuers above the cliff, and fierce beasts here. But beasts are always easier to deal with than people. Let’s hide here and stay quiet… When that creature appears later, I’ll use a Soul-controlling Talisman to subdue it…”

After speaking, she pulled out several soul-subduing talismans that her Second Senior Sister had helped her draw previously; the Talismonger Sect members had survived by hunting with great difficulty.

These soul-subduing talismans were particularly effective for hunting. No matter how fast a rabbit ran, as long as it touched the Soul-controlling Talismans placed on the ground, it would immediately freeze motionless, allowing one to wait leisurely and catch it for a hearty meal.

Now, Cui Xiaoxiao used the same method, arranging the Soul-controlling Talismans around the broken large eggs, then burrowed into the dense vines, using fallen leaves to conceal her body.

She had planned to hide here temporarily. When the animal came to inspect its eggs later and fell into the talisman trap, she would emerge to finish it off.

She just wondered what kind of rare exotic beast it was, and whether its meat would be tender enough if simply roasted…

The man had been sitting idly nearby, watching Xiaoxiao hop around like a busy sparrow making arrangements, maintaining an air of detached indifference.

Finally, he did bestir himself to stand up, walking directly to a stream, washing off the egg fluid from his body, then searching around until his gaze settled on some three-leaf green grass.

He reached out to pluck the leaves, rubbed them into two balls, then stuffed them into his nostrils.

The surface of the stream also began to ripple slightly. The man looked down at the undulating water, slowly stood up, and watched the mound of earth speeding toward them from the distant valley, his expression becoming very serious.

Cui Xiaoxiao, hiding behind the green barrier, found herself somewhat distracted as she secretly admired the man’s bewitching appearance once more.

After all, once they escaped danger, she would have to bid farewell to this heroic gentleman. She might as well look a bit more now, since she might never have the chance to see such a beautiful person again.

Just then, the rumbling sound from underground grew closer.

Cui Xiaoxiao looked over in alarm. Accompanied by an explosive sound, two enormous snake heads suddenly burst out from underground!

When the two massive snake heads bounced high into the air, Cui Xiaoxiao’s eyes grew wider and wider.

This snake… was one creature, but with two connected large heads.

In Cui Xiaoxiao’s memory, she had heard people speak of such a snake before. What was it called? Right! It was the Po Hun Snake from the Po Hun Snake Cave of Qilao’s Mountain from two hundred years ago.

The Po Hun Snake was hermaphroditic, and these two snake heads—one had an oval shape, which should be the female head, while the other, upon seeing the broken eggs in the pit, became triangular due to anger, clearly the male head.

Terrible! How could she have encountered the legendary monster snake?

Now she could only pray that those soul-subduing talismans would work and be able to immobilize this legendary ancient python.

The man had never tried to dodge, so the two-headed giant snake naturally attacked the man standing by the stream first.

The massive snake body soared through the air, its mouth wide open, suddenly releasing a cloud of green mist carrying an indescribable snake-fishy odor that instantly filled the entire valley.

Cui Xiaoxiao only inhaled a little before silently crying out in alarm!

It turned out that when this snake attacked people, it first sprayed a cloud of poisonous mist to knock down its prey before feasting on them.

So now the entire valley was filled with snake poison. Cui Xiaoxiao, caught off guard, had inhaled some of it. Her legs went weak, and she immediately tumbled out from behind the green barrier.

Due to the steep terrain, she rolled rapidly downhill, landing right in front of the two-headed snake.

It looked as if she was sacrificing herself to feed the snake, blocking disaster for the man.

This handsome man seemed moved as well, calling out, “Miss, there’s no need to be so hasty! I can handle this alone, don’t rush forward!”

If Cui Xiaoxiao, numbed by the snake poison, could speak, she would have cursed him out!

Could it be that with her Ten Injuries destiny, she was truly meant to meet her end here?

Without time to think further, the giant snake had already caught the scent of egg fluid lingering on her body. Furious, it glared with four lantern-like snake eyes, bared its frightening serrated teeth, and lunged at her frantically.

Although Cui Xiaoxiao couldn’t move her body, she caught sight of the nearby stream from the corner of her eye and quickly began silently reciting the Water Manipulation Formula.

Perhaps being in mortal danger could better stimulate one’s potential, or perhaps her previous combat with the Sword Sect disciples had made her more skilled in using the Water Manipulation Formula. This time, Cui Xiaoxiao effortlessly summoned two streams of water that shot directly toward the two terrifying snake heads.

The two large snake heads were pushed backward by the water impact, giving Xiaoxiao a lifeline.

She circulated her dantian energy, trying to suppress the snake poison in her body, but unexpectedly found that her dantian energy seemed to be draining away, leaving an empty void. At the same time, the Demon Pearl’s toxicity, which had already manifested once before, showed signs of returning with hidden menace.

Cui Xiaoxiao realized that the Demon Pearl in her body seemed to be receiving nourishment, making its originally dormant demonic nature increasingly strong.

She immediately guessed the reason—although this Demon Pearl was the turbid energy that Wei Jie had refined years ago, its source was the poison of the two-headed giant snake.

Now that she had accidentally inhaled the snake’s poisonous mist, the Demon Pearl was being nourished. If it accumulated enough power, it might break through the restraint of her extreme yin bloodline and suddenly take over her consciousness…

This was truly misfortune upon misfortune, with bad luck piling up one after another.

Because her dantian energy was gradually weakening, the water streams she controlled also gradually diminished. The two-headed snake, having been pushed back repeatedly by the water, was already filled with rage.

When the water force weakened, the two massive snake heads shook off the water droplets and immediately charged forward again with murderous intent, wrapped in the snake’s poisonous mist.

At this critical moment, Cui Xiaoxiao’s waist was encircled by a black whip, and she was instantly pulled to the man’s side.

After pulling Cui Xiaoxiao over, the young man helped her lean against a large boulder, then leaped toward the two-headed snake. His agile movements showed that he was completely unaffected by the snake’s mist.

Cui Xiaoxiao focused her gaze on his nose—no wonder the poisonous mist sprayed by the snake did not affect him. He had earlier stuffed grass balls made from unknown herbs into his nostrils, obviously serving to block out the poison…

She saw him draw his rusty, broken sword and, while nimbly leaping and jumping, twist his wrist and rapidly slash toward the snake heads.

Although his movements were very fast, unfortunately, the giant snake’s reactions were also lightning-quick. The two snake heads dodged left and right with flexibility, while continuing to spray thick green mist that gradually filled the entire valley.

Cui Xiaoxiao had nowhere to escape and could only hold her breath and concentrate, using her inner breath to stop the surging yin poison in her body.

Just then, the large snake had crawled to the edge of the broken egg pit, and while crawling, its belly stuck to the Soul-controlling Talismans that Cui Xiaoxiao had previously placed on the ground.

Second Senior Sister was mighty—the talismans she drew finally proved effective! After being immobilized by the talisman, the snake remained motionless like a wooden statue for a moment.

But in the blink of an eye, the talisman seemed to lose its effect, and the large snake began flicking its tongue again.

However, the man had seized this brief opportunity. Two flashes of light streaked past, and both snake heads were almost simultaneously severed and fell to the ground, with bright red snake blood splattering everywhere…

After beheading the snake, the man came to the still-twitching snake’s belly, raised his sword again to cut open the snake’s stomach, found a dark green, large snake gallbladder, held it up, and came to Xiaoxiao.

He cut open the gallbladder, used his water pouch to collect some bile, and handed it to Xiaoxiao, saying, “The taste is quite fishy and foul, but it’s an excellent remedy for snake poison. It’s best to drink it all in one go.”

After speaking, he brought the water pouch close to Cui Xiaoxiao. At this moment, the snake poison was coursing through Cui Xiaoxiao’s limbs and bones, being greedily consumed by the Demon Pearl hidden somewhere unknown.

Cui Xiaoxiao knew she couldn’t delay and immediately drank from the water pouch the man handed her.

This heroic gentleman was right—the snake bile was indeed effective. In just a moment, Cui Xiaoxiao felt that her numb fingertips could move again, and even the piercing pain from when the Demon Pearl’s yin poison had manifested earlier was considerably reduced.

After drinking another mouthful of the incredibly bitter snake bile, Cui Xiaoxiao finally recovered somewhat, though her legs still couldn’t move.

Looking at the grass balls the man had stuffed in his nose, she suddenly wondered: How could this heroic gentleman have had the foresight to guess that the approaching creature would spray poison?