Surrounded by Snakes

"Hiss…"

Jiang Zebei's ears twitched. 

Multiple bone-chilling hissing sounds came from around them. 

Chen Mengtian also heard the sound of the snakes hissing. 

She grabbed the boy's shirt. "Jiang Zebei, wh-what are those sounds?"

Jiang Zebei felt his hair stand up. 

The memories from when he had passed by this place last time awakened in his mind. 

At that time, he had also felt chills creeping down his spine and thought that the place was terrifying. 

The underlying dangers in the dark caused Jiang Zebei to clench his fists tightly at that time. 

He lowered his head to draw closer to the girl's ear and whispered, "Later, turn around and run. Don't look back. Just run down the path we took to come here. I'll catch up to you soon."

At that moment, Jiang Zebei was just twelve years old. No matter how calm he was, he still trembled. 

"Hiss…"

"Hiss…"

"HISS…"

The sounds grew louder, and their density was really scary when he heard it. 

When Chen Mentian thought of the flexible snakes, her legs became weak. 

"What about you? What're you going to do? We have to run together!" she whispered. Her voice quivered a little. 

Jiang Zebei let her go. "Snakes search for prey based on scent. We can't leave together right away."

The moment Chen Mengtian understood that the boy wanted to stay alone, she could not bear it. 

As the hissing sounds grew closer, Jiang Zebei swiftly pushed Chen Mengtian out of his arms and into the direction from which they had come. 

He hissed at her, "Go! I'll catch up to you soon!"

Then, he tossed the bag full of medicinal herbs and ginseng by Chen Mengtian's feet. 

Chen Mengtian stared at the boy. He might just be twelve years old, but he was already very tall. Even so, Chen Mengtian still felt panicked, and her thoughts were a mess. 

She was afraid of death. She was also afraid that the boy would die if she left just like this. 

The conflict and panic in her heart caused Chen Mengtian to be unable to do anything even after a long time had passed. 

Jiang Zebei's expression turned grave. His cold and fierce eyes were trained on Chen Mengtian as he growled, "I'm telling you to leave and not hold me back! Go!"

When she saw that he was really angry now, Chen Mengtian grabbed the linen bag from the ground and ran back the way they had come. 

Her footsteps were chaotic, and she was sobbing, too. 

Jiang Zebei could naturally hear her voice, and some emotion appeared on his face. 

'She's crying. Is it because I was cross with her?'

"Hiss…"

The sounds were getting closer, so Jiang Zebei did not have time to think further about this. 

He cast a glance at the trees around him and found one with some leaves on it. 

He immediately climbed up that tree and plucked those leaves. 

After sliding back down the tree, Jiang Zebei looked in the direction of the hissing sounds. 

He put one leaf by his mouth. 

A rhythmic sound rose. It was not pleasant, but there was a great sense of rhythm to it. 

The sound was strange, and it caused discomfort to the heart, but something strange happened. 

Just when Jiang Zebei used the leaf to make those sounds, the hissing around him lessened. 

Jiang Zebei did not notice the snakes that covered every inch of land five meters away from him. 

They were vipers of all sorts of colors. 

After they smelled the blood of their kind in the air, they climbed out of the pit. 

There was the scent of strangers in the area. Something had entered their territory and threatened their safety. 

That was why the numerous vipers had slithered out of the pit. 

They wanted to get rid of the strangers' scent, and to do that, they had to bite them and kill them. 

But when they drew close to one of the strangers, they heard a sound that stopped them from moving forward. 

If this sort of sound appeared in Miaojiang [1], those in the know would be aware that this was the sound to control snakes.