Chapter 12
The air in the cage solidified again, becoming more oppressive than before, almost suffocating.
At this moment——
Heavy footsteps sounded, still accompanied by the rustling sound of the vines rubbing against each other, coming closer again from far away, like a death-threatening drumbeat, beating on the hearts of the two.
“Squeak—”
The vine-wrapped prison door was roughly pushed open, revealing the hideous face of the Tengyan Ancestor. He stalked closer, his back hunched, his hands clasped behind his back. His cloudy green eyes scanned the two of them, flashing with a frantic, impatient glint.
"The time has come. My two darlings, it's time to get going." He looked at the two of them and smiled hoarsely, his turbid green eyes flashing with complete madness and impatience.
Before he could finish his words, he hooked his dry finger, and a thick vine instantly wrapped around Lin Yibai's ankle. Amidst her terrified cries, he suddenly lifted her upside down and hung her in mid-air! Blood instantly rushed to her head, making her cheeks flush red and dizziness hit her. She felt like a chicken being hung upside down and slaughtered, helpless and embarrassed.
"The precious blood of the Extreme Yin Mysterious Body needs to be fresh and hot to be the best medicine... Hehe, little girl, let me deal with this Sword Bone kid first, and then I will enjoy you." The old ancestor licked his dry lips, moved his eyes away from the upside-down Lin Yibai, and then loosened his hands behind his back - in that hand, he was holding a two-foot-long, strangely shaped boning knife!
The blade took on an ominous black-green color, lingering with a thick, tangible evil spirit and bloody aura. Just by appearing, a disgusting smell of blood mixed with the wailing of countless dead souls instantly spread out, filling the entire cage!
In Lin Yibai's vision, which was blurred by congestion and full of fear, the old demon dragged the evil knife and walked step by step towards Yan Bujian, who was trapped in the corner by heavy vines but still had a straight back.
The tip of the evil knife scraped against the ground, making a sharp "sizzle-sizzle" noise. Each sound was like scraping against human bones, torturing the eardrums and crushing the hopes of the two step by step.
"Born with sword bones, a god of destiny. Really perfect..." Patriarch Teng Yan stopped in front of Yan Bujian, his greedy eyes like substance, roaming over his naked body, which was covered with scars but could not hide his toughness and strength, and finally nailed it on the spine that was faintly flowing with a light golden glow.
Then he slowly raised the boning knife that exuded endless evil and death.
At the brink of life and death, Yan Bujian still held his head high. There was no trace of fear in his black eyes like cold ponds, only icy contempt as he stared coldly at the insane demon in front of him.
"Let me also experience the wonderful use of your pride!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the cold blade, carrying the terrifying pressure and endless malice of a cultivator in the God Transformation Stage, pierced straight towards Yan Bujian's collarbone!
Just as the tip of the blade, shrouded in an unholy green light, pierced Yan Bujian's collarbone, sending blood splattering everywhere—the evil blade and the Tengyan Patriarch's arm began to twist and deform as if alive. The hilt of the blade suddenly burst open, and countless inky black, hair-thin vine roots gushed out like crazy. They wrapped around the ancestor's withered arm like lightning, rapidly spreading upwards and merging with his shrunken flesh! The ancestor's entire right arm instantly transformed into a hideous, twisting, wriggling vine, and the boning knife became the sharpest tip at the end of the vine!
"Haha!" The ancestor roared with joy and grinned, "Hehehehe... I feel it. This is the first time in three hundred years that I've felt such pure spiritual energy. It's worthy of being called a sword bone. This sword is the product of my own life force. Once it completely absorbs and refines your soul, I will be able to perfectly align with this sword bone! Don't worry, in order to repay your kindness, I will soon finish absorbing it. You won't suffer for too long!"
Afterwards, he used all his strength to activate the terrifying spiritual power of the God Transformation Stage. The arm that had turned into a vine was shining with black light, and countless sharp spikes emerged in an instant, ready to stab Yan Bujian's whole body!
However, at this critical moment, the young man in front of him, whose face was pale due to severe pain, slowly raised the corner of his mouth into a cold, playful, and extremely sarcastic sneer.
"Really?" He uttered two words, his voice was not loud, but it clearly struck the old demon's heart.
Ancestor Teng Yan was suddenly startled——
The next moment, a sudden and sharp whistle sounded, like a ghostly whimper, suddenly rang out from above his head!
The ancestor looked up in horror——
I saw that the girl who was hanging upside down had taken out a pale bone flute at some point, and was pressing it against her lips, blowing it with all her strength!
The sound of the flute was sharp and piercing, without any rhythm at all, but it seemed to carry some strange command.
"Woo-hum-hum!"
The moment the flute sounded, something unexpected happened!
Yan Bujian's body suddenly trembled violently, as if responding to the call of the flute. Under his skin, countless tiny black shadows that were almost impossible to capture with the naked eye squirmed frantically, like a disturbed swarm of ants, gathering towards the place below his collarbone, where the tip of the knife pierced, at an unprecedented speed!
Driven by the sound of the flute, thousands of poisonous insects condensed into a black shadow as thick as ink, which kept rolling and expanding. Then, there was a light "puff" sound that made people's scalp numb. The black shadow suddenly broke through Yan Bujian's flesh and skin, and with a trace of golden blood, it pounced on the evil vine boning knife that was fused with the ancestor's arm with incredible precision as if it had life!
"What is this?!" The ancestor of the Tengyan felt a devouring force from the black shadow that specifically restrained wood-type creatures. He immediately felt a surge of fear, and could no longer estimate the sword bone in front of him. He instinctively wanted to withdraw and sever the connection with his natal evil vine...
But, it's too late!
The strange black shadow that rushed out of the boy's body was faster than one could imagine, like a maggot on the tarsal bone. The moment it touched the blade, it turned into countless streams, going against the evil vine's magic power, and madly drilled into the arm of the ancestor of the vine nightmare that had merged with it!
"Ah——!" A shrill scream instantly erupted from the old ancestor's mouth. He trembled and looked at his arm in horror.
As soon as those shadows entered his body, they frantically unleashed a chilling force that paralyzed his soul and froze his meridians. His arms, torso, and even his dantian and sea of consciousness instantly became stiff and paralyzed. The vast spiritual energy that had once been at his fingertips was now like being stuck in a quagmire, completely out of control! Even more terrifying, as his perception gradually became rigid, he was shocked to find that the spiritual energy he had painstakingly cultivated for hundreds of years in the Spiritual Transformation Stage was forcibly pulled by a strange suction force. Like a river bursting its dam, it surged back into Yan Bujian's body through the connection of the evil vine!
"No! My cultivation! Stop! Stop now!" The old ancestor roared in horror and tried to struggle, but his body felt like it was not his own. He could only feel his cultivation draining away madly in despair.
Meanwhile, a vast amount of pure, incomparable spiritual energy from the Spiritual Transformation Stage poured in frantically, turning Yan Bujian's body into a bottomless pit. He groaned, his face flushed, then instantly turned pale. His meridians swelled violently, and golden light and black energy shimmered beneath his skin, clearly enduring an unimaginable energy shockwave.
But he clenched his teeth tightly, his dark eyes shone surprisingly brightly, and he used all his strength to practice his skills, madly absorbing and refining the enormous power that "fell from the sky".
This process seems long, but in fact it only takes a few breaths.
As the screams of the Tengyan Ancestor grew weaker, his already withered skin shrank rapidly as if it were leaking air, and his skin became wrinkled like real dead tree bark.
Finally, with a roar of extreme unwillingness and despair, this notorious evil cultivator in the Spirit Transformation Stage who had been dominating the world for six hundred years had all his cultivation and vitality sucked away in such a miserable way, and was completely transformed into a charred and dry human trunk covered with vines, and died completely without a sound!
"Bang!"
As the evil vine boning knife broke and fell to the ground like a dead branch, the huge energy transmission finally stopped.
Yan Bujian's face turned pale as paper, and cold sweat instantly soaked his whole body. It was obvious that swallowing such a huge amount of power at once was far beyond his current load, and he fell into extreme weakness.
“Puff!”
The next moment, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of hot blood, then his body swayed and he was about to fall to the ground.
"Yan is not seen!"
The upside-down vines lost control due to the death of the ancestor, and Lin Yibai fell heavily to the ground, but he ignored the pain and crawled to Yan Bujian's side, supporting him with all his strength.
The boy's body was heavy, his temperature frighteningly high, and his internal energy was surging chaotically. Lin Yibai struggled to support him, looking up, and met his slowly opening eyes.
Her anxious and embarrassed look was clearly reflected in those dark eyes: the savagery and viciousness that she had in the dungeon were gone, only complete concern, so much so that when he looked at her, there was an involuntarily complex and unbelievable shock in his eyes.
He looked at her, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.
She just thought silently in her heart: Now that the two of them are out of trouble, she thinks it's time to run away.
Clinker
The next moment, the girl in front of him nodded vigorously, as if she had taken on some important task. She stretched out her hands without any hesitation and came to support him!
She wrapped her slender arms around his armpits and used her meager strength to try to support his body, which was extremely heavy due to weakness and energy impact.
"You did...what?" He almost blurted out, his voice hoarse due to weakness, with unconcealable astonishment and confusion in it.
He even subconsciously shrank slightly, as if he couldn't understand this unexpected contact.
"Of course we should go out. The old ghost is dead. If you don't run away, are you going to wait for death here?" Lin Yibai looked at him strangely, as if he was talking nonsense. His hands kept moving and his whole body exerted strength. He moved towards the open vine door with difficulty, almost half dragging and half carrying him.
——She actually wants to take him out with her?
This realization, like the most violent thunder, struck Yan Bujian's mind without any warning, shattering all his assumptions and defenses!
It's not a disguise, it's not an ulterior motive.
At this critical moment of escape where she was in danger, she did not choose to leave alone, but chose to take him, a seriously injured and weak medicine man, with her?
A huge sense of absurdity and a surging shock that he himself could not understand swept over him. He leaned stiffly on her thin shoulders, clearly feeling her body trembling slightly and her labored breathing.
Every step she took was extremely difficult, but the strength that supported her showed no sign of slacking off or giving up.
...This completely overturned everything he knew about her.
The whippings in the dungeon, the agony of being devoured by countless insects, and the vicious words… all seemed detached from the figure who was now trying her best to support him. An unfamiliar feeling of helplessness, mixed with an unbelievable yet inexplicable tremor, churned wildly within him.
He was supported by her in silence, all his thoughts in a mess. He moved his feet subconsciously, but his eyes fell on her face covered with sweat for a long and complicated time.
After a while, he exhaled calmly.
*
The moment they stepped out of the cage, both of them were stunned.
What lay before them was not the desolate wilderness they had imagined, but a vast, magnificent maze formed by the natural growth and interweaving of countless thick, gnarled, dark green tree roots! And looking back, they realized that the cage they were in was just one of the many "fruits" hanging from a giant root.
Looking around, the natural caves formed by the tree roots in the maze were filled with all kinds of things: exotic flowers and plants full of spiritual energy, mineral gems that shimmered with various colors, strange insects and beasts sealed in transparent amber, and many weapons and magic tools that looked extraordinary...
The glittering jewels and precious stones almost dazzled the eyes.
——This is actually the treasure house of the old nest that the ancestor Teng Yan has been running for who knows how many years!
Lin Yibai was originally thinking about how to escape with the weak Yan Bujian, but when he saw this dazzling scene, his eyes widened instantly.
She cautiously glanced at Yan Bujian, who was weak but his eyes had regained clarity, and saw that he was looking at her with an indescribable and speechless look.
"Hehe, anyway, the old devil is dead, so it doesn't matter if we leave later. Wait for me." Knowing that his thoughts were seen through, Lin Yibai no longer concealed it. After a wry smile, the girl who was panting and struggling to support others just now suddenly burst out with amazing strength from somewhere, and gently placed Yan Bujian on the safe rhizome platform next to her. Then, she rubbed her hands with shining eyes, and like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, she rushed towards the pile of shining gems closest to her with a roar!
"I'm rich! I'm rich! All of this is mine! Hahaha!"
Yan Bujian: "..."
He leaned against the cold tree roots, watching the figure darting between treasure spots like an industrious bee, unceremoniously stuffing those things that looked priceless into his sleeves and lapels, his movements so fast that they almost left afterimages.
The corners of the boy's mouth on his pale face seemed to twitch very faintly, and his speechless expression gradually melted away, finally turning into a very light, almost inaudible sigh.
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