"Hmm, I didn't expect there to be four of them," Bi Kan whispered, his voice a dry rasp.

  "I thought three at the most, and that would have been unbelievable. Four... how unlucky!"

  A direct confrontation was out of the question. He needed a better angle. With the silent grace of a predator, he began to climb the nearest tree, his fingers finding easy purchase in the rough bark as he ascended into the dense canopy.

  He moved from branch to branch, a silent shadow flitting through the leaves, his eyes never leaving the coiled serpents below as he circled towards the rock face above their nest.

  He was five trees away from his goal when his foot slipped on a patch of slick moss.

  "Hwoah!"

  A gasp of pure panic escaped him as he plummeted downwards. His hand shot out in a desperate, reflexive grab, his fingers miraculously snagging a thick, dangling vine. His body swung in a wild arc, momentum carrying him across the gap and allowing him to crash clumsily into the branches of the next tree.

  His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drum in the sudden silence.

  "That was close," he breathed, clinging to the trunk.

  The image flooded his mind, vivid and terrifying: his body lying face-flat on the forest floor, helpless. The four vipers descending upon him in a blur of green, their fangs sinking into his flesh, the cold paralysis spreading through his limbs, locking his Qi, leaving him a conscious statue.

  He would be their prisoner, slowly torn apart day by day, his only hope a desperate prayer that another disciple would find him before madness claimed him.

  "I heard a survivor of their venom wished for death ten times before he was rescued," he murmured, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow. "How cruel."

  Shaking the horrifying image from his mind, Bi Kan continued his ascent with renewed, painstaking caution. He finally reached the branches overhanging the rock face and leaped, landing silently on the stone ledge directly above the oblivious vipers.

  Perfect. Now for the weapon. He scanned the area, his eyes searching for a suitably large rock.

  "Tch, there seems to be no perfectly sized boulder,"

  he stammered in frustration. There were pebbles and stones, and then there was a single, half-buried behemoth that looked like it had been there since the mountain was young. It was far too big, but it was his only option.

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  "Alright, come on then!"

  He set his shoulder against the massive rock and pushed. It barely budged. "Ngh..!" He grit his teeth, channeling his Stage 5 Qi not into a technique, but into raw, brute force, his muscles screaming in protest.

  Inch by agonizing inch, he rolled the boulder towards the precipice, his breath coming in ragged, heaving gasps.

  "Hahh... hahh... Alright... is it in the perfect spot?"

  He stumbled back, creating distance, his eyes judging the trajectory. It would have to do. Steeling himself, he took a deep, steadying breath.

  "Hooh! Here we go!"

  He exploded forward in a short, powerful sprint, his fist slung back. At the last possible moment, he pivoted, slamming both palms into the rough stone with a guttural roar. "HNGH!"

  The boulder tipped, teetered for a heart-stopping moment, and then plunged downwards. Bi Kan, his momentum carrying him forward, went with it, tumbling off the ledge in a controlled fall.

  The world was a blur of stone and green as the behemoth crashed into the nest with a deafening CRUNCH, shattering rock and throwing up a cloud of dust and pulverized earth.

  Bi Kan landed nimbly atop the still-shifting boulder, his crude sword already in his hand as he swung it in a defensive arc and leaped back to solid ground.

  "HSSSSS!"

  Through the settling dust, a blur of jade-green fury erupted from the wreckage. One snake had survived, its body likely shielded by its brethren. It was wounded, enraged, and its burning, venomous eyes were locked squarely on him.

  "Damned it!"

  Bi Kan cursed, instinctively creating more distance. He held his ironwood sword before him, not as a weapon for attack, but as a shield, a barrier. The real fight was about to begin, and he knew the rules were simple: if he was bitten, it was over.

  Bi Kan’s ironwood sword felt like a clumsy extension of his arm as he swung it in a wide, desperate arc.

  The motion, devoid of any true swordsmanship, was just enough to make the enraged viper recoil, its jade-green form coiling like a spring, ready to launch.

  "If only I knew more than how to swing foolishly,"

  he stammered, his breath catching in his throat as he stumbled back, creating more precious distance. His mind was a frantic storm of calculations and fear.

  He was an alchemist, a strategist, Here, against this embodiment of pure, venomous speed, his plans had crumbled into a desperate, one-on-one struggle for survival.

  The snake hissed, a sound like tearing silk, its burning, intelligent eyes locked onto him. It was a blur of motion, a living arrow of green fury.

  *Come on, come on…* Bi Kan chanted internally, his entire being focused on that single point of oncoming death. The viper lunged.

  It was the opening he had been waiting for. Time seemed to slow. He didn't try to sidestep or parry. Instead, he channeled all his strength, all his desperation, into a single, straight thrust. The crude ironwood blade, guided by pure instinct, found its mark, piercing through the snake's open maw and driving deep into its skull.

  "Yes!" The word was a triumphant, guttural roar, a release of all his pent-up terror. But his victory was slurred, strangled in his throat. In that same, split-second exchange, the snake’s fangs had found their own mark, sinking deep into the back of his sword hand. A searing, icy pain shot up his arm.

  The snake went limp on his blade, its life extinguished.

  "Ngeh… N-no…"

  Bi Kan whispered, his eyes wide with horror as he looked at the two small puncture wounds.

  The venom was immediate. A cold, creeping numbness spread from his hand, a tide of paralysis that was already beginning to freeze the flow of Qi in his veins.

  He took a staggering step back, his muscles refusing to obey his commands. His knees buckled, his vision tunneled into a pinpoint of darkness, and as he fell, the back of his head connected with a sharp stone with a sickening *crack*.

  The world winked out.