As soon as the group ran into the main hall, they found themselves surrounded by a dense swarm of purple snakes.

Soon, a sea of purple had them completely surrounded.

The sound of flicking tongues and the hissing of the great snakes merged, creating a cacophony that was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Han Ning signaled for everyone to gather around Egg Pancake and said, "Fight and search. Our Soul Beasts will all spread out and look for another exit."

"Alright!"

In an instant, seven Soul Beasts—some in the form of Tree Spirits, others as Wood Demons—rushed out across the hall in all directions.

Yin Yi floated in mid-air, wielding two longswords that glinted with green light. Rapidly rotating Emerald Flower Thorns appeared around its body, viciously slaughtering every large purple snake that drew near.

"HISS!!"

The scales of the large purple snakes began to glow with a dark purple aura.

In an instant, the light in the cavern hall dimmed abruptly.

The swarm of snakes vanished into a pitch-black mist, reappearing in a flash right beside Egg Pancake.

"HISS!!"

Enormous serpentine maws opened a full 180 degrees, their fangs glinting with purple light. With a piercing shriek, they lunged for He Yang’s head.

"SKREE!"

Egg Pancake roared in anger, raised both its feet, and stomped heavily on the ground.

An earthy-yellow shockwave radiated out from around Egg Pancake and the nine humans, sending a large number of the charging snakes flying.

Then, the mysterious lines on the back of Egg Pancake’s claws began to pulse with an earthy-yellow light.

The sound of crumbling rock echoed from the cavern ceiling above.

More and more stones, manipulated by Egg Pancake, enveloped the group and formed a solid stone sphere around them.

The great snakes’ attacks struck the stone sphere one after another, creating the sound of stone groaning under the strain and flaking away.

"SKREE!"

Egg Pancake gritted its teeth, its claws dug into the ground. An earthy-yellow light rippled out as it struggled to maintain the stone sphere.

Above them, Yin Yi controlled a barrage of Emerald Flower Thorns. Its figure flickered and its green sword light flashed, reaping one life after another.

Just then, He Yang’s Wood Demon blinked a few times, suddenly landing atop the stone sphere. It called out to He Yang inside.

He Yang nodded and said to the others, "It found a cave entrance to the southeast. Should we head over?"

Lü Xiuning thought for a moment and said, "Let’s wait a bit longer. Once the other Soul Beasts return, we can confirm exactly how many entrances there are and then decide."

A few seconds later, the Tree Spirits and Wood Demons they had dispatched all returned to the top of the stone sphere.

"Ling~" "Mew~" "Coo~"

They all clung to the edge of the stone sphere, fending off the surrounding snakes while reporting back to their masters.

After analyzing the reports, Lü Xiuning said, "There are three entrances in total. One leads to the pregnant giant snake’s lair, and one is the way we came in. That only leaves the one He Yang mentioned. Let’s go that way!"

Han Ning nodded and used his Spiritual Power to command Egg Pancake, "Egg Pancake, move the stone sphere to the southeast."

"SKREE!"

With Yin Yi and the other Soul Beasts providing cover, Egg Pancake carried the group with relative ease toward the southeastern cave entrance.

The entrance was about five meters high.

The group had just entered the cave when a sharp, ear-piercing shriek echoed from the main hall behind them.

Han Ning sensed a powerful life aura approaching.

He didn’t have to guess; he knew it was the pregnant giant snake.

"Ling~"

Yin Yi, who was covering their retreat, floated in mid-air and let out a sharp cry. A brilliant green light flared in front of it as Wood Elemental Particles rapidly converged, forming a staggering beam of light that shot out.

Seeing this, the other Wood Demons followed suit, unleashing their own Spiritual Energy-based Soul Techniques.

In that instant, the dim cave was engulfed in green light as a terrifying torrent of Wood Type Particles rained down.

WHOOSH—

The destructive Cyan Wood Radiance poured down relentlessly.

Whether they were newborn hatchlings or the two giant purple snakes over ten meters long, all were bathed in the dense green light.

Agonized shrieks and the crackling sound of bursting bodies formed a symphony of death.

In an instant, the entire cave had become a hell of suffering, wreathed in a cyan glow.

"Damn... Yin Yi is ruthless..."

The dazzling light shone through the stone sphere, illuminating everyone’s faces. Listening to the agonized screams outside, Lin Tianhe couldn’t help but gulp.

Egg Pancake continued to carry the group, running nonstop through the cave.

Suddenly, a faint ray of light from up ahead pierced through an opening at the top of the stone sphere and into the interior.

Han Ning had Egg Pancake open two windows, one in the front and one in the back, to observe what was happening.

Ahead of them was a wasteland shrouded in gray mist.

Behind them.

Yin Yi and the other Soul Beasts had fought their way out of the cave, retreating as they did so.

The pregnant purple giant’s body was now covered in scorched-black wounds from the Wood Type Spiritual Energy bombardment.

But it was still full of vigor. It raised its scorched head, and with a single push from its powerful body, its twenty-meter-long frame launched into the air.

Soaring through the air, the black, eye-like spot on its forehead suddenly shot out a jet-black beam of light, indiscriminately enveloping Yin Yi and the surrounding Soul Beasts.

All the Soul Beasts, with the exception of Egg Pancake, were unable to dodge in time. Hit by the black light, their plant-like bodies instantly began to rot at a visible rate.

Dark purple spots appeared on the bodies of the Tree Spirits and Wood Demons, accelerating their decay.

The Wood Type Soul Beasts grunted in pain as a dense green light flared from their bodies, resisting the corrosive, decaying Energy.

Yin Yi was in much better shape. It only had a single purple spot on its body, and even that had stopped spreading under the pressure of its Wood Type Spiritual Energy.

A ferocious glint in its eyes, the pregnant giant snake crashed to the ground and opened its great maw.

SPLT! SPLT! SPLT! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A torrential downpour of countless globs of purple slime rained down on Yin Yi.

At the same time, Yin Yi, already shrouded in green light, became wreathed in a cyan aura. A low hum like a spinning turbine emanated from it as its flame-like pupils flickered.

BOOM!

A surging pillar of green light, like a great flood, blasted forward. It completely overwhelmed the torrential rain of purple slime and shot toward the pregnant snake with undiminished momentum.

The beam was too fast for the great snake to dodge. The terrifying Wood Type Spiritual Energy bored into its body as if it had gone mad.

The great snake’s body began to disintegrate inch by inch, spraying out copious amounts of a deep purple liquid that was instantly evaporated by the cyan particles.

THUD—

The heavy sound of something falling echoed.

The great purple snake, its front half once reared high, was now completely still.

Outside the cave, an eerie silence fell, broken only by the crackling of flesh being consumed by Wood Type Spiritual Energy.

Yin Yi’s gaze shifted. With a flick of its hands, hundreds of vines shot out, plunging into the snake corpses that littered the ground.

Another dozen vines plunged into the bodies of the nearby Soul Beasts that had been hit by the black light, pulsing with a cyan glow like a steady breath.

Under Yin Yi’s Purification, the other Tree Spirits and Wood Demons finally halted the corrosive decay and began to regenerate new tissue.