"What do you mean, eyes that are vertical?" Ye Huohuo was confused. People's eyes grow horizontally, how could they be vertical? Did that person lie down inside? Or was he Erlang Shen, with a vertical eye between his brows?
"No, neither. That might not be a human eye!" Lu Yao swallowed, then licked her dry lips, seemingly trying to explain things more clearly. "I just remembered, the pupil of that eye was vertical, like a cat's eyes when its pupils constrict into a vertical line in strong light."
"You're talking about vertical eyes, meaning its pupils are vertical?" Ye Huohuo finally understood her. "You mean, it's likely a one-eyed cat inside?"
"A cat? How big would that cat have to be? Could it be a one-eyed tiger?"
As the two were guessing wildly, the coffin moved. This time, it wasn't the lid that moved, but the entire coffin was shaking, vibrating non-stop.
"Great, now we don't have to find a way to go up and see what it is. It's coming out." Ye Huohuo watched the coffin shake. For such a heavy and large coffin to wobble like this, whatever was inside must have considerable strength. She had just guessed it might be a tiger. If it were indeed a tiger, would they be enough to fill its teeth?
As soon as Ye Huohuo finished speaking, a large mass of black mist spewed out of the coffin. The two retreated to the steps by the wall, thinking that if it really came to it, they would retreat first, seal the door from above, and trap the monster in the basement.
After all, they weren't at the point of fighting that behemoth with their lives.
The two stared intently at the mass of black mist above the coffin. The mist swirled above the coffin, like a gathering storm cloud that refused to dissipate.
"I'll go up and try to see what's inside first. You cover me from behind." Ye Huohuo narrowed her eyes, formed a hand seal, and prepared to rush forward.
But Lu Yao grabbed her arm, "Wait, look, what is that?"
Ye Huohuo stopped and looked at the black mist. Something seemed to be gradually emerging from within the mist. Suddenly, a large eye "swish!" opened within the black mist.
The eye hung in mid-air like a giant lantern. Its size...
"Lu Yao, was this the eye you saw? You didn't say it was this big! The width of this single eye is almost the same as the width of the coffin. How did this behemoth fit inside?" Ye Huohuo instinctively took a step back. She had felt a surge of ambition to fight it just moments ago, but now her legs felt a bit weak.
"N-no, that's not right!" Lu Yao stared at the large eye in the air, her speech becoming a bit stammered. "The eye I saw just now, it, it wasn't this big! It was the size of a normal person's eye. This one is bigger than a lantern. Can eyes grow this big? And do they grow this fast?"
"Could it be our hallucination?" Ye Huohuo bit her tongue. The pain almost brought tears to her eyes, but when she opened them again, the giant eye was still staring at her in mid-air. As Lu Yao said, the pupil of the eye was vertical, looking sinister and terrifying.
"It's not a hallucination! Could it really be a tiger with such big eyes?" Lu Yao switched her peach wood sword to her left hand, then rubbed her right hand on her clothes a few times, wiping the sweat from her palm.
"Could we have stumbled upon a prehistoric behemoth today?" Ye Huohuo was also awestruck by the large eye, losing her normal judgment.
Just as the two were startled by the giant eye and didn't know where to go, the large eye blinked, then tilted downwards. It looked as if the behemoth was about to charge out of the black mist to bite them.
"Let's go, we're no match for it." Lu Yao pulled Ye Huohuo and ran towards the stairs. "Let's seal it here in the basement and find someone more powerful to deal with it! Let your senior brothers and sisters come, or if necessary, ask Junior Uncle!"
Ye Huohuo also knew that she couldn't hesitate any longer. The two ran up the stairs.
When she was halfway up the stairs, she looked back down, wanting to see if the behemoth was chasing them. But after looking, she suddenly stopped, and Lu Yao, who was pulling her, also stopped. "What are you doing? Do you want to be its meal!"
"No, look!" Ye Huohuo not only stopped but also walked down a few steps, seeming to want to get closer to the black mist.
Although Lu Yao looked impatient, she still glanced. "Is that it?"
Although this was a sentence with extremely unclear meaning, Ye Huohuo understood it. "It should be."
"What the heck! You almost scared me to death, my dear ancestor! Such a tiny thing made those huge eyes just now?" Lu Yao jumped down from the steps. Her terrified state moments ago vanished instantly.
Before, she couldn't wait to run with all her might. Now, she had a look of wanting to strangle it.
"I thought it was some big monster, but it turns out to be such a small long snake. I'll skin you and make snake soup." As she spoke, she reached into the black mist with one hand.
A green snake, as thick as a finger, raised its upper body within the black mist. It showed no fear of Lu Yao's reaching hand and instead moved towards it, opening its mouth, revealing teeth the size of rice grains, and biting.
Lu Yao sneered, "Little one, let me show you your grandma's Vajra Hand." As she spoke, her hand instantly emitted a metallic luster. Upon contact, there was a "ding ding" sound of metal striking. "Don't talk about your tiny teeth, even a snake as thick as a bowl couldn't bite through my protective Vajra Hand."
"Be careful!" Just as the little green snake was about to bite her hand, Ye Huohuo pulled her hand away. "Are you tired of living! This snake is highly venomous!"
"Are you alright? Such a small snake, its tiny teeth can't even break my skin. What does being venomous matter?" Lu Yao was indifferent. She grew up in the Maoshan Sect, whose headquarters were in a deep mountain. She was surrounded by snakes, insects, rats, and ants since childhood. She feared snakes the least. "This is a green banded snake. It's a bit venomous, but it's not just that I'm using Vajra Hand; even normally, I can catch it with my bare hands."
"Take a closer look at the patterns on the snake's body," Ye Huohuo said, pulling it back further.
"One, two, three, four, five, six... seven?" Lu Yao swallowed. "Seven rings?"
"Yes, legend has it that green banded snakes are among the most venomous. What makes it special is that unlike other snakes that grow larger with age, its body stops growing once it matures. Every two hundred years it lives, a golden ring grows on its body. This green banded snake has seven golden rings."
"So it's lived for fourteen hundred years?" Lu Yao felt as if she had narrowly escaped death. "Have its teeth become diamond by now?"
"So that bite just now, not to mention your Vajra Hand, even the Great Lord of Immortals could have a piece of flesh bitten off. Also, have you never thought that if it were really just an ordinary small snake, how could it have such a large eye?"
As if in response to Ye Huohuo's words, a small slit suddenly opened on the forehead of the little green snake, and it seemed to grow wider and wider. At the same time, the lantern-sized large eye that had disappeared from the black mist also "shu" suddenly reappeared.