Chapter 1114, Playing Outside the Rules

Translator: Silavin

 

*Rustle rustle…*

*Siiii… Siii… Siii…*

 

The giant serpent was completely invisible beneath the cover of night, and it moved with frightening speed.

 

It circled round and round like a spinning top, while Yan Hua stood perched on a large tree.

 

She furrowed her brow watching the serpent revolve, her expression locked so tight it looked as though she could crush a fly between her eyebrows.

 

Yan Hua’s forehead and palms were beginning to sweat. One could imagine just how nervous she was.

 

“I’d originally thought I could deal with this thing using a recurve bow. I never imagined its hide would be this thick.”

 

Yan Hua touched the recurve bow slung across her back, then drew out an explosive package. “But don’t you dare underestimate me. I’ve got a surprise here that you know nothing about.”

 

She held the explosive package pinched in her hand, but made no rash move.

 

Yan Hua observed the serpent’s every movement with careful attention. She was waiting. Waiting for the right moment.

 

*Siiii… Siii… Siii…*

 

The giant serpent stretched its massive jaws wide, its forked tongue flickering, its cavernous mouth looking capable of swallowing a person whole in an instant.

 

*Boom!*

 

The serpent’s tail slammed into a large tree, and the trunk crashed to the ground immediately.

 

That tree’s trunk had been wide enough to take three or four grown adults linking arms to encircle it, and it was swept clean through without any effort.

 

Yan Hua thought to herself that if its tail had caught her instead of the tree, she would likely have been snapped clean in half on the spot.

 

She weighed the explosive package in her hand a few times and began continuously shifting direction and adjusting her position, all for the sake of finding an opportunity to deliver a single killing blow.

 

“If that had hit me just now, I really might have died here.” Yan Hua still felt a lingering unease in her chest.

 

*Siiii… Siii… Siii…*

 

The giant serpent kept making sounds, but this time they came faster and more urgently.

 

It was clearly preparing to launch an attack. Its movements grew quicker as well.

 

The theory was that it was doing all of this to strike with the element of surprise. That was what Yan Hua reckoned.

 

*Crack!!*

 

Just as Yan Hua was still trying to work out which end of the serpent was its head, its tail swept across again.

 

It split the tree she was standing on clean in two. The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye.

 

But Yan Hua was no pushover. Her reactions were swift and she had already dodged clear.

 

“How infuriating. Why does it keep attacking with its tail? Is its mouth just there for show?” Yan Hua rolled her eyes.

 

Her original plan had been to wait for the giant serpent to lunge with its jaws wide open, then fling the explosive package straight into its mouth. That would blow its head apart.

 

She had not expected the creature to play outside the rules, attacking again and again with its tail instead.

 

“Dang it. I’ve been getting ready for so long, and I thought you were finally getting serious. Still the tail again.” Yan Hua began to goad it verbally.

 

She knew that some Ferocious Beasts could actually understand Human speech, and right now, she was gambling on that.

 

If the giant serpent before her truly could understand her words, then Yan Hua’s taunting would have some effect.

 

In that case, the serpent’s next move would almost certainly be to attack with its mouth. When something is shamed into fury, it wants to settle things in a single blow.

 

That held true for people and Ferocious Beasts alike. But the more one acts that way, the more easily mistakes are made, and the more easily an opponent finds a weakness to exploit.

 

This is precisely why it has always been said, from time immemorial, to stay calm, stay calm, and stay calm again.

 

*Siiii… Siii… Siii…*

 

The giant serpent seemed not to have heard a single word Yan Hua said. It withdrew its tail and kept circling in place.

 

Every tree in its path fell. Every stone it brushed against crumbled apart.

 

Viewed from above, the scene looked like a great bald patch had been carved into the middle of the forest, and it was perfectly circular.

 

“I thought you’d already developed a spirit and could understand what people said. Turns out you’re just as dim-witted as the rest.” Yan Hua had no choice but to keep waiting.

 

She had to wait for the creature to open its mouth and charge. She was not about to take a reckless risk otherwise.

 

If the explosive package could not even break through its hide, she would have wasted it for nothing.

 

She still had more in the satchel slung across her shoulder, but Yan Hua had no desire to run an experiment.

 

“This won’t do. If things go on like this, sooner or later I’ll slip up. You’re not actually foolish at all, are you.” Yan Hua sharpened her focus and said, “You’re simply waiting for me to make an error. Then you’ll swallow me in one go.”

 

She was no longer willing to underestimate the creature. After several exchanges, the giant serpent had surely worked out that Yan Hua was not an easy mark.

 

So, circling in place like this was nothing more than a war of attrition. Wear the prey down until it loses its strength, then swallow it whole.

 

“Why do you have to be so fixated on me? Meeting me is simply your luck running out.”

 

Yan Hua weighed the explosive package again and murmured, “I need to offer you an opening right? Otherwise, who knows how long you’ll keep turning in circles, and I haven’t got that kind of time to spend here with you.”

 

Yan Hua scanned the surroundings, looking for her moment. She only needed to feign an opening, not actually give it one.

 

Which meant that she still could not afford to be careless. A pretended mistake becoming a real disaster would not do at all.

 

Yan Hua searched for a while and finally located which direction the serpent’s head was facing.

 

But she did not rush into an attack or anything of the sort. She turned her head with perfect composure and looked toward the serpent’s tail.

 

She had already started performing the act. She was now deliberately turning her back to the giant serpent.

 

*Siii… Siii…*

 

Less than a minute after Yan Hua turned away, the giant serpent made a greedy sound and launched itself forward with its jaws wide open.

 

The enormous mouth and its two long fangs looked like a chasm. Just the sight of it was enough to make one’s blood run cold.

 

“Now!” Yan Hua had already lit the explosive package at some point.

 

She spun around sharply and hurled the explosive package in her hand with full force. A tearing sound cut through the air alongside the *hiss* of burning powder.

 

The lit explosive package sailed through the air in a perfect arc, driving straight for the giant serpent’s open mouth.

 

The serpent was already mid-charge, and even if it sensed something was wrong, momentum gave it no means of stopping. It came barreling straight at Yan Hua.

 

The lit explosive package flew directly into the giant serpent’s mouth in an instant. The serpent’s open jaws arrived at the very spot where Yan Hua was standing.

 

Yan Hua’s response was beautifully clean. She kicked off hard with both feet, leapt clear of the serpent’s bite, and used its head as a stepping stone to land on the ground.

 

The moment her feet touched down, she immediately rolled and tucked herself beside a large boulder.

 

The entire sequence of movements flowed like water. Her speed was such that the naked eye could barely follow it.

 

Every one of those movements had been pre-planned by Yan Hua in advance, right down to the exact route of her escape.