Chapter 11: Unexpected Survival

  This scene came too suddenly, I was so scared that I was sweating all over, if it wasn't for Liu Bao's quick reaction, Liang Zi would have been bitten by now.

  Just as I let out a sigh of relief, I felt the wind pick up all around me, and saw several large snakes slithering towards me from different directions. I thought to myself, "This is it, I'm done for," and closed my eyes waiting for death. Suddenly, I heard a loud, clear voice say: "All living things have their roots in life and their reasons for death; only by leaving behind a thread of compassion can one become immortal."

  As soon as the voice fell, I opened my eyes to see that the big snake had already come close and stopped abruptly, although they all took an attacking posture but did not bite directly like the previous snake.

  What happened? Who was speaking? At this time, I found that a figure appeared vaguely in the thick fog in the distance. He seemed to be stepping on the small snakes all over the ground and approaching us. When he came closer, I was surprised to find that it was actually Mr. Xu Xin, whom we met in 'Ji Ming Village'.

  How did he end up on this mountain? It seems we really do have a good relationship, every time we encounter danger, there is always someone to help us, now we are saved.

  Xu Xin, dressed in a hemp black robe, carried a lantern and came to the front of the crowd. He looked at Liang Zi, who had lost his soul, shook his head and said: "You few people are really bold and reckless, how dare you rush into this spiritual snake land, and even kill the son of the spiritual snake? Are you tired of living?"

  At this time, Lao Lu fell to his knees with a thud and begged tearfully: "Immortal, save me! Immortal, save me!"

  I also hastily stepped forward and said: "Mr. Xu, we also accidentally entered this stone forest, my friend seems to have been possessed by a demon and is randomly killing snakes, can you think of a way to quickly take us out of here?"

  Xu Xin looked at me, then turned around to glance at the surrounding snakes and sighed: "To say that there is no solution is not true. In this mountain, there is a giant silver snake, and these snakes are all its offspring. As long as you are willing to leave one person behind as a sacrifice, the others can escape unharmed."

  After hearing his words, I directly collapsed. Leave one person as a sacrifice? Who to leave? Everyone came out together for wealth, and now you want to throw away a life before anything has even happened. Liangzi is stunned, Lao Lu is kneeling and crying, Liu Bao doesn't speak, which one of them do you want me to leave behind to feed the snake?

  No matter who is left behind, it's hard for others to let go, and I'm so anxious that I want to ask Xin again if there's any other way.

  His face changed, and he looked around nervously, his voice urgent: "Have you guys discussed it yet? Who will be left as the sacrifice? The snake-repelling powder on me is about to wear off, and these snakes may attack at any moment."

  I don't know where I got the courage from, but I thought to myself, "Forget it. Liangzi and Liu Bao are both family men, and at their age, they've had a hard life too. As for me, an orphan with no relatives, if one of us has to die, then leaving me behind is the most suitable choice."

  Thinking of this, I solemnly said to Xu Xin: "Mr. Xu, I've decided to stay behind as a sacrifice, you quickly take my other friends and leave!" After saying that, I felt it was too far-fetched, when did I have the heroic spirit?

  Xu Xin stared at me with a very different gaze for a while, and finally seemed to have made a major decision, gritting his teeth and saying: "Forget it, today I'll sacrifice a few years of my life to take you out, but this snake group is extremely vicious, and it's best if we can get some virgin blood in order to survive."

  I had just breathed a sigh of relief when I heard him mention the word "virgin blood", isn't this ridiculous? Which one of us four is still a virgin?! I was about to tell Xu Xin with a helpless expression, when suddenly Lao Lu, who was kneeling on the ground, stood up, wiped away his tears and asked Xu Xin in a serious tone: "Old immortal, does * count as a virgin?"

  I and Liu Bao were shocked by Lao Lu's question. I thought to myself, "Lao Lu, what are you getting at? You're so old, how could you possibly be a virgin?"

  Xu Xin listened to Lao Lu's question and looked confused, asking: "What is *?" I saw Lao Lu's face turn red as he couldn't say anything, so I went to ask him: "Lao Lu, are you telling the truth or not? This is a matter of life and death, don't mess around!"

  "I've never taken a wife in this life, nor have I ever touched any woman. How did it come to this?" Old Lu said very seriously to me.

  I thought anything could happen, so I asked Xu Xin, "Does that mean anyone who has never had a relationship with a woman is considered a virgin?"

  "Not bad, never been in a daughter's body is still a virgin." Xinxin replied very certainly.

  "Alright, alright, with his blood, he's a virgin." I pointed at the old road and said to Xu Xin, really hating that he couldn't hurry up and cast a spell to drive away the snakes. This was simply going to be the death of us, if we stayed any longer without the snakes attacking, we would go crazy ourselves.

  Xu Xin immediately took off a peach wood sword from his body after listening, I feel that it is much longer than the one he used last time. The whole body of this sword is dark green, giving people a feeling of being a treasure sword at first glance.

  Xu Xin then took out a dagger and slashed his left palm, applying the blood to one side of the peach wood sword. He then pulled over Lao Lu's hand and slashed his left palm as well, applying the blood to the other side of the sword. As Lao Lu gritted his teeth in pain, I noticed that the peach wood sword seemed to be electrified, shining exceptionally brightly in the dark fog.

  After the blood was painted, Xu Xin raised his peach wood sword to the sky and shouted "Break". Then he yelled at us: "Hide behind me, follow closely." Next, a dazzling flash of lightning appeared in the sky. Xu Xin charged forward towards the snake group, and we followed closely behind him, holding onto Liangzi tightly.

  Xu Xin swung his peach wood sword as he ran ahead, and wherever the sword went, the snakes were chopped by him to fly in all directions. I felt that his sword had not even touched the snake's body, but just a few swings of it separated the snakes.

  Everyone saw that there was a way and followed closely, not daring to fall behind. They ran around the stone forest for over 100 meters. The snakes in front of me became fewer and fewer. Finally, I felt a sudden brightness and my line of sight opened up greatly. The thick fog disappeared, the stones disappeared, and even Xu Xin was nowhere to be seen.

  Everyone didn't dare to stop, and they ran forward for a while before sitting on the ground panting heavily. I asked them who noticed which direction Xinxin ran in, but several people shook their heads indicating that they didn't know. At this time, the loud voice was heard again from the sky: "This place is treacherous, leave quickly and take care of yourself."

  I shouted "Mr. Xu, Mr. Xu" towards the sky several times, but there was no response. I thought to myself that this old Mr. Xu is really a strange person, he helped us and then ran away without even giving us a chance to say thank you. In today's society, it's really possible to encounter stories that only exist in legends.

  I rested for a while and then came to Liang's side, patted his face with my hand to see how he was doing. As soon as I patted him a few times, he grabbed my hand and roared: "What the hell are you doing? Are your hands owed? Are you hitting me?"

  I'm glad to see he's okay, now that he can swear at people, it means nothing's wrong with him. Just after they finished arguing, Liu Bao came up and kicked him down with one foot. Before he could get up, Liu Bao went over again and gave him two more kicks, scolding: "It's all because of you, I told you not to kill the snake but you wouldn't listen, almost getting everyone killed."

  Liangzi climbed up with a bewildered expression on his face and said, "I just killed a small snake, why are you making such a big deal out of it? I didn't want to hurt anyone."

  I think he must have been possessed by something before, I could tell from his dull eyes. So I simply told him what had happened earlier, and Liangzi listened with a face full of disbelief. Only after seeing Liu Bao's snake blood did he feel that what I said might be true.

  We discussed it among ourselves, and I stated that we should head back now. The strange events that have occurred during this treasure hunt are just too many. Although I still can't make sense of it all, this treasure hunt must be stopped; otherwise, who knows what even more dangerous things await us next?

  Except for Liangzi, everyone else agreed that the minority should follow the majority. He alone couldn't outdo us three. I looked around and didn't know where this place was, but it's clear we hadn't been here before. All around were giant trees that one person could hardly hug, with not even a single weed in between.

  Actually, the southeast and northwest directions have long been indistinguishable. Everyone rested enough, packed up their things, and casually headed in a direction that felt like there were fewer trees to start descending the mountain. I think as long as we get down the mountain, we'll always find our way back.

  A group of people walked with their heads down and dejected for about ten minutes, when suddenly a very thick tree stump appeared in front of them, much thicker than the other big trees nearby. As they approached, it was clear that this tree had long since died, its bark gone, leaving only a section of trunk about five or six meters tall, while the rest of the tree may have rotted away in the forest.

  I don't know why, but when I saw this tree stump, my annoying curiosity appeared again. I stretched out my hand and used the sickle to tap on the big tree a few times. The 'thud thud thud' sound was very dull, I reckon the center of the tree stump must have already rotted into an empty hole.

  Liangzi suddenly became spirited again and insisted on going up to take a look at what was inside. According to the plot of previous stories, the center of this big tree must be the best place to hide treasure.

  I absolutely won't let him go up, his reckless personality might stir up more trouble. I was preparing to continue walking down the mountain when Liangzi started being stubborn, saying that his butt is still swollen and earlier he almost got eaten by a big snake, going back like this would be too humiliating.

  Just as we were saying that, a gust of mountain wind blew by, and from the top of the tree trunk came a sound like "Aooo..." similar to a wolf's howl. Everyone looked up, and I said it must be the echo of the wind blowing into the hollow tree.

  Liang Zi became even more excited after hearing the sound, saying that this must be a hint, why would it just so happen to be windy at this time. He said as he was about to get up and climb upwards, I grabbed him and said: "Alright alright, I'll go take a look, you all wait down here, if there's nothing inside then we can continue down the mountain."

  The tree stump was originally not very high, and Liangzi was supporting me from below. I stretched out my hand and could hook the top with the sickle head, and it didn't take much effort to climb up.

  This tree stump is really thick, the diameter at the top is probably about two meters, and it's indeed hollow inside. I first put one leg in and straddled it to keep my balance, then took out a flashlight from my backpack and shone it downwards.

  The flashlight beam is very strong, and it's clear to see where it shines. After the tree hole goes down for a distance, it seems to turn a corner. I'm surprised to find that the inner wall of this tree trunk is extremely smooth, just like it's been waxed. It's unknown how it was formed. Looking at this appearance, it doesn't seem like any animal's habitat. Going down is easy, but coming up would be very difficult.