Earth Spirit
Ye Jing'an heard the sound and looked back. There were more than ten dead people hanging on the dead tree. In the sunlight, the figures were reflected on the ground. The large shadows swayed in the wind, which looked particularly creepy and made people's backs cold.
Ye Jing'an ran to Liu Muze, stared blankly at the dead tree in front of him and said, "Brother Liu, is it really a land spirit?"
"I've killed so many people, I'm no longer that person." Liu Muzhe frowned and breathed slightly. The fight just now had consumed a lot of his physical strength. If the stalemate continued, it would only be disadvantageous to him.
"Leave quickly, or don't blame me for being rude!" An old voice roared, and the surrounding dead leaves flew towards the two of them. Liu Muzhe waved his sword to block them, but Ye Jing'an's arm was still scratched by a dead leaf.
Qiu Zimu saw the dead tree raging and rushed out to help. Before he could reach the two of them, he was caught by the dead branches and hung up, staring into the eyes of a dead man. The man looked frightened, his face distorted, purple and blue, and his eyes rolled up, leaving only the whites. Qiu Zimu had seen many dead people, but looking at him face to face was still quite unsettling.
Liu Muze glanced at Ye Jing'an who was injured and saw Qiu Zimu being captured. He looked angry and rushed towards the dead tree with his sword. When Ye Jing'an saw him take action, he took out all the talismans he had drawn and threw them at the dead tree regardless of what they were.
Obviously, this earth spirit looked down on Ye Jing'an's mediocre skills and ignored him. His attention was focused on Liu Muze, not daring to neglect him.
Ye Jingan was very dissatisfied with its attitude and started beating it while yelling: "Fuck, I'll beat you to death!"
Di Ling was annoyed by being scolded, so Ye Jing'an grabbed him and hung him up, covering his mouth to prevent him from speaking.
Qiu Zimu looked at Ye Jingan standing shoulder to shoulder with the dead man and said with a smile: "You said you wanted to fight, so you fought. Why did you have to talk nonsense? You got caught."
Ye Jingan raised his leg to kick him, but it was too far away and he could only roll his eyes.
"Look at you, you fool!" Qiu Zimu scolded with a smile.
Dead branches spread in all directions; if you cut one, two will grow back. Liu Muze grew angrier and angrier as he fought, and when he saw Ye Jingan being captured, he became even more furious.
"As an earth spirit, you persist in your evil deeds!" Liu Muzhe cut his finger, drew a talisman with blood, and rushed forward with his sword.
Most of the Earth Spirit's branches merged into one and shot towards him at high speed.
At the critical moment, the little girl in the temple rushed out, stood in front of the earth spirit and said, "Don't hurt him!"
Liu Muze suddenly raised his sword and severed the rune. Due to the backlash of the blood rune and his speed, he half-knelt on the ground with his sword in hand and spat out blood.
The earth spirit gave up attacking the moment the girl rushed out and protected her with branches.
"Brother Liu!" Ye Jing'an and Qiu Zimu saw him vomiting blood, hitting and biting the branches, struggling to get down.
Di Ling ignored the few people and looked at the crying little girl in his arms. He comforted her with a soft and kind voice: "Xuanxuan, don't be afraid. Grandpa will protect you."
After saying this, the withered tree slowly transformed into a kindly old man. He wore his hair in a bun and had a long, white beard. He wore a brown cloth robe, and with his white hair and slender figure, he looked like an immortal from a fairy tale.
The dead branches around them also disappeared, and Ye Jingan and Qiu Zimu were placed on the ground. Ye Jingan rushed towards Liu Muze, half-crouched on the ground and gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth: "How are you?"
Liu Muzhe didn't say anything, but instead coughed up a mouthful of blood. Then he patted Ye Jingan on the shoulder and shook his head to indicate that he was fine.
The air pressure around Ye Jing'an suddenly dropped. He picked up his sword and swung it. The pile of dead leaves was split in two by the sword energy, leaving a clear sword mark on the ground. He said coldly to the tree spirit: "You dare to hurt him!"
Liu Muzhe looked at Ye Jing'an's back in a trance. A familiar and intimate feeling suddenly surged in his heart. He pulled Ye Jing'an's trouser leg.
"Brother Liu, what's wrong?" Ye Jing'an squatted down and asked softly.
Liu Muzhe gently touched Ye Jing'an's face, smiled faintly after a while, and withdrew his hand.
Ye Jingan looked at his gradually dimming eyes, feeling as if his heart was being twisted. He asked, "Are you seriously injured and unable to speak?"
"It's okay, it was just the backlash of my own talisman." When Liu Muzhe raised his head again, he had returned to his previous calm demeanor. Supporting the sword in his hand, he stood up and looked at the earth spirit and the little girl.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry. I'm locked up and can't stop them from chopping you off." The little girl hugged the old man and cried sadly.
The old man looked at her distressedly and comforted her: "It's not your fault. Don't cry. Xuanxuan is the best."
"Young man, thank you for not hurting her just now." The old man looked up at Liu Muze, "I've seen you before. You are extremely talented, not bad!"
"Have you seen me?" Liu Muzhe thought about it and seemed to have no impression of this old man.
The old man smiled and said, "Back then, I was just a red sandalwood tree with a bit of spiritual energy, and you drank under my tree. By the way, where is the young man who was with you that day?"
Liu Muzhe remembered that he and Ye Chenyi had indeed spent an entire afternoon drinking under a large ancient sandalwood tree.
"Junior, I'm sorry." Liu Muze bowed to him and said after a moment of silence, "He... is gone."
Ye Jing'an felt Liu Muzhe's depressed mood, put his hand on his shoulder, and looked at him with a complicated expression.
The old man still had that kind smile on his face, but a hint of sadness flashed in his eyes.
"Meeting is an arrangement, and so is parting. Coming and going, gathering and parting are all normal." The old man looked at the girl and touched her head. "You should take it easy, understand?"
The little girl hugged him tightly and nodded.
"What happened to you?" Liu Muzhe asked.
The old man sighed and said, "I have become an earth spirit to protect these people, but more and more people no longer believe in gods and no longer offer incense. Some even want to cut off my body and sell it for money."
"I saved this child, and her mother has always worshipped me." The old man frowned slightly. "When I was about to be chopped off, her mother tried her best to protect me, but in the end, she was powerless."
"Why don't you resist? They are no match for you." Ye Jing'an said.
"The duty of an earth spirit is to protect the people. I watched their ancestors grow up, and it was they who offered me their sacrifices to become an earth spirit. To me, they are like my own children. Even if they wanted to chop me down, I couldn't bring myself to kill them." The old man said with a wry smile, "My original body was killed, and people no longer need me. When I was about to leave, this child knelt at the roots of my tree and cried for a long time, apologizing to me and begging me to help her find her mother.
As the old man spoke, tears began to flow. As his tears fell, the barren land quickly became covered with alfalfa. The bloody stumps turned into fertilizer, which was absorbed by the alfalfa.
Suddenly, the alfalfa fields were covered with purple flowers. The breeze blew, and the flowers and leaves swayed, making it seem like a fairyland.
The little girl said: "Grandpa, don't cry, I'm sorry..."
The old man responded, covering his face with his hands and wiping away tears. "She was a poor child. Her father died young, and her mother raised her with great difficulty. But when I found her, she had already been brutally humiliated and murdered by the mountain people I had protected. Her body was left lying in the wilderness. In a rage, I killed them all."
"Later, I let the others involved go, hoping to stay here and protect this child until she grew up. But who could have imagined they would offer her to me as a tribute and even attempt to kill her!" At this point, the old man's kind and benevolent smile completely vanished. His hair was grimacing, his eyes bloodshot, and his features were terrifyingly ferocious.
"Grandpa, don't be angry, I'm fine." The little girl tugged at the old man's sleeve and said softly.
Hearing the little girl's voice, the old man's expression softened again.
"Okay, okay, I'll listen to Xuanxuan." The old man sighed and took out a purple-black bead and handed it to Liu Muze. "This is my tree heart. Please help me find a good family for this child and don't let her suffer any grievances."
Liu Muzhe only felt that the affection contained in the bead in his hand was too heavy.
"Grandpa, where are you going? Don't leave me!" The little girl hugged the old man tightly, tears streaming down her face.
"Xuanxuan, be good. Grandpa made a mistake and is going to a very far place." The old man touched her head and said, "Just grow up nicely, okay?"
"Will I see you again?" The little girl stared at the old man with her round eyes.
"Of course, Grandpa will become a star in the sky." The old man patted her back gently, his tone full of love. "If you miss Grandpa, just look at the sky. Grandpa is always here, but I can't talk to you face to face like this anymore."
Ye Jing'an turned his eyes away and frowned. This sentence was exactly the same as what Ye Yu had told him. When he was a child, he really did call the stars in the sky "Mom". Later, when he grew up, he realized that they were not always there, but he would never see them again.
The old man brought the child to Liu Muze and said with a smile: "Young man, thank you for your help."
Liu Muze frowned and said, "Don't worry, I will use the Spirit Gathering Array to gather spiritual energy to nourish the tree heart. It's only a matter of time before you can come back."
The old man rolled Liu Muze's palm into a fist and asked him to hold the tree core. He smiled faintly and shook his head: "By then, the child will be gone. The world will no longer need gods, so what's the point of me coming back?"
Liu Muzhe felt like there was something stuck in his throat.
What’s the point of becoming a god if you don’t have people you care about?
The old man glanced at Ye Jingan, smiled meaningfully, and said to Liu Muze: "Young man, please keep your old intentions and show your compassion to the person in front of you."
Ye Jing'an felt a chill in his heart. His evil thoughts towards Brother Liu had been seen through by the old man. While he was grateful for the old man's advice, he was also afraid that Liu Muze would know his feelings. He stared at Liu Muze's back anxiously.
"Please explain clearly." Liu Muzhe bowed.
Ye Jing'an breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Brother Liu was dull when it came to feelings and didn't understand.
The old man smiled without saying anything, then turned to the little girl and said, "Xuanxuan, Grandpa is leaving."
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