Xiao Feng's feet pounded against the dirt path as he chased after the little girl. His newly awakened powers gave him speed, but the girl had a good head start.
"Hey! Little girl! Stop running that way!" he shouted, his voice cracking with urgency.
That's when the ground trembled.
Trees at the edge of the forest bent and snapped like twigs. Birds took flight in panicked clouds. The little girl finally stopped, frozen in place as she finally realized her mistake.
That was when he finally saw it.
A massive python slithered into view, its body thicker than a man's waist. Thirty feet of rippling muscle crashed through undergrowth, flattening bamboo groves in its path. Scales gleamed like steel in the dying sunlight, shifting from emerald to sapphire with each undulation.
But it was the eyes that made Xiao Feng's blood turn to ice, golden orbs that glowed with cruel intelligence. This was no ordinary beast.
This is... a Colossal Python King, Xiao Feng realized, his entire body going cold. First Order second stage creature at least.
His legs refused to move. His lungs forgot how to breathe. Every instinct screamed at him to turn and run, to save himself while he could.
The girl spotted him standing there and waved her arms frantically.
"Run away, big brother!" she cried, her tiny voice shrill with fear. "Don't come closer! It'll eat you too!"
Something in her voice, the concern for a stranger even as she faced death, pierced through Xiao Feng's terror.
She changed direction to protect me he realized. And I'm standing here like a coward.
Before he could talk himself out of it, Xiao Feng bent down and scooped up a rock the size of his fist. He hurled it with all his might at the python's massive head.
"Hey! Ugly! Over here!"
The rock struck the python's scales with a sharp crack, then shattered into dust.
Well... that seemed to work, Xiao Feng thought, a hysterical laugh bubbling in his throat.
The Python King turned slowly, its massive head swiveling to face him. For one terrible moment, those golden eyes locked with his. Xiao Feng suddenly felt like a mouse being sized up for dinner.
To his horror and secret relief, the python lost interest in the little girl. It turned its massive body, muscles rippling beneath scales, and lunged directly at him.
"Oh, that's just great," Xiao Feng muttered, diving to the side. "Congratulations, idiot. Plan successful."
He rolled back to his feet, staff gripped tightly in both hands. The python's massive head crashed into the ground where he'd been standing, leaving a small crater.
Xiao Feng skipped backward, placing some distance between himself and the beast. "Come on, you oversized garden hose! You hungry? I'm all bones, not even a good snack!"
The python's tail whipped through the air like a bullwhip. Xiao Feng ducked under it, feeling the wind of its passage ruffle his hair.
Not bad, he thought, a small grin forming on his face. Maybe I can actually...
The second strike caught him completely by surprise.
Pain exploded across his ribs as the python's tail slammed into his side. The force lifted him clean off his feet and sent him flying. The world spun in dizzy circles before his back slammed into a tree trunk over ten meters away.
He crumpled to the ground, agony radiating from every part of his body. Blood welled in his mouth, tasting of copper and defeat.
"Okay," he wheezed, clutching his side. "That... that really hurt."
His ribs creaked when he tried to breathe. Something was definitely broken.
Darkbeasts have stronger defenses than humans of the same cultivation level, he remembered from one of the cultivation novels he'd read while wondering if the same applied here.
I'm not even in its league!
The python slithered closer, its tongue flicking as if tasting his fear on the air.
Despite the screaming pain in his body, Xiao Feng forced himself to stand. His legs shook. His vision blurred. But his grip on the staff tightened.
If I'm going to die in this world on my first day, I'm at least going to make this snake remember me.
"Kid! Run! Get out of here now!" he roared, not taking his eyes off the python.
To his utter disbelief, the little girl didn't move. She stood there, her tiny fists clenched at her sides, tears streaming down her dirt-smudged face.
"What are you doing?! Are you stupid? Run!" Xiao Feng shouted, panic making his voice crack.
Great. Saving one idiot who doesn't want to be saved. Just like how I died on Earth. Talk about déjà vu.
The memory of screeching tires and blinding headlights flashed through his mind. He'd pushed that girl who he thought was his angel out of the way of a speeding truck back on Earth. That's how Bryan had become Xiao Feng in the first place.
"And now I'm going to die a second time for another girl? The universe has a sick sense of humor," he muttered suddenly feeling pissed.
The girl's chin trembled, but she stood her ground. "I won't leave you! You were so brave for me, we'll live and die together!"
Before Xiao Feng could curse her stubbornness, she darted forward with surprising speed. Her small hand slapped something against his shoulder, a small yellow paper talisman with strange red markings.
The paper burned away instantly, and liquid fire rushed through Xiao Feng's veins.
"What the..."
His muscles bulged. The pain in his ribs faded to a dull throb. Strength unlike anything he'd ever felt surged through his body.
"Golden Strength Talisman," the girl explained, stepping back. "My master's treasure. He said to use it only when I'm in danger."
Xiao Feng stared at her in shock, then turned back to face the python, which had paused its advance, head weaving from side to side as if reassessing this prey that refused to die.
The staff in Xiao Feng's hands suddenly felt warm. He looked down to see the strange runes carved into its length beginning to glow with a soft golden light.
Just what was this awesome staff.
The Python King reared back, its massive head rising higher than the treetops. A strange hiss escaped its mouth, not hunger or anger, but something that sounded almost like... recognition? Fear?
Its golden eyes fixed on the glowing staff, and for the first time, the massive creature seemed hesitant.