Yuki saw the horned snake was in a lot of pain. A mother trying to protect her babies would always do everything she could, even at the risk of her own life. Yuki hated to say it, but she was the true villain here, but these horned snakes would not hesitate to eat a cultivator or show sympathy to one. They moved on instinct, and only when they got to a certain rank would they probably show some form of true intelligence. 

Yuki thought back to her training in the illusion. She had died many times, but every time was something to learn from. “If I put my speed to the test here on a confined foe, then I should be able to dodge the dripping poison from the ceiling.”

With her determination set in, Yuki shot forward, using her movement technique to keep her from touching any of the poison. The horned snake started to feel the strange human in front of it was starting to become a threat and wanted to attack, but the damage it was taking from its backside was starting to become great as well. 

The horned snake was stuck in a dilemma. It was either die here or check to see if its eggs were still safe. It looked past Yuki towards the rear of the cave, which was just out of view due to a bend in the tunnel, and stuck its tongue out of its mouth a few times before deciding to bolt forward and ignore the humans who were attacking it. 

Yuki only saw the huge head darting towards her but quickly realized it was not attacking but trying to get past her. She had yet to attack from the front since she was busy dodging the dripping poison, but it was also a problem if the snake hit her as it rushed by, sending her into the poison.  She could only take a few seconds to decide a route. In front of her were three small spaces that she could fit through if she was careful, but she had to take into account the movement of the horned snake’s body.

“That spot!” Yuki saw a triangular space for her to pass through that had the least amount of poison. She did not waste any time, kicking off the air and quickly trying to pass by the horned snake’s head and making her way to her friends. She did not want the others what she was doing since she did not want them to stop their attacks, she could tell the snake was more concerned with checking if the eggs were safe than her, so she figured she would be fine, but it was then that she heard Nana’s voice yelling out once more. “Heavenly Suppression!”

*Boom!*

The entire cave quaked, and the horned snake raised its head, sharpening due to the pain smashing into Yuki and sending her flying toward the ceiling. Yuki quickly flipped her body around and used her movement technique to plant her foot only millimeters from the rocky surface, but her left arm rose up with her finger spread out as she tried to stabilize herself. But her pinky finger skimmed the ceiling and causing pain to shoot through Yuki’s hand. She quickly sprang out past the horned snake as it thrashed about and fell on its back, and rolled towards Nana.

“Yuki!” Nana quickly rushed forward and caught Yuki to see her clutching her hand. 

“Nana, cut off my pinky!” Yuki yelled out. Half her pink was turning black, and the top portion had already begun to melt away. The pain was nothing like anything she felt before since the poison was enhancing the pain she had felt by thousands of times.

Nana was about to hesitate until she saw what was happening and quickly took a dagger from her side and chopped Yuki’s pinky off. The finger fell to the ground and fully melted in a matter of seconds, even melting the ground around it along with it. 

“Fatty, were are leaving, let’s go!” Nana wanted to rush back as soon as possible. Yuki had been doing nothing but getting sacrificed left and right on this mission. First, she had some weird man implant something inside her, and now this. 

“Got it! Leave  Maiko to me!” Fatty quickly began his retreat along with Nana, who was moving quite fast. 

Nana gave a small nod in acknowledgment before rushing out of the cave at top speed. Yuki looked at her finger and bit her lip. She hoped this would not hinder her. She had made a stupid move. While it was not fully her own fault, she did not blame Nana. She did not warn them she was coming through. So this was mainly her own fault and stupidity that caused this.  

“Yuk, I am sure Master can do something,” Nana said softly as she dashed passed a confused Maiko. 

“It’s fine. I made a careless mistake. Let’s just return to the sect. I already have the eggs anyways, so if anything, mission success. But we need to report we were up against a rank five horned snake.” Yuki would not let this go. The mission was too high for its level on the posting boards. If it was another team, they would have surely died on the first contact.

- - -

In another area of the sect on the tallest peak an old man with a long white beard walked out of his immortal cave with his hands behind his back. In front of him was a young woman who was bowing her head to him. “You are here Haruhi. Did you meet them?”

Haruhi lifted her head and smiled. “I did….”