Chapter 32: and-Death

Chapter 32: Vine of Life-and-Death

The Stalker and Duan Li were absolute monsters. Blood poured down from their bodies from the gaping hole in their chests. It was a pity these two monsters didn’t cry out from the pain; both their faces showed they couldn’t care in the least. But, in retrospect, the physiques of these two individuals were rather strange. The wounds on their bodies eventually stopped bleeding, and they seemed to be healing. As long as they didn’t receive any fatal injuries, they were practically immortal.

Luo Jian didn’t know how to deal with these two guys. He stared at the Stalker for a long time, then he finally recalled Feng Yu Lan who was still inside the tree hole. He sighed and walked over to Duan Li. Crouching before him, he asserted, “I already know where you hid Ah Lan, and I’ll only say one thing: get rid of those goddamn vines.”

Duan Li lifted his half-disfigured, sinister face and blatantly sneered at Luo Jian. “You think I’ll do something like that?”

“I also suspected it was impossible.” Luo Jian let out a self-deprecating smile, stood up, and continued, “Then I suppose it’s better to use some tougher means.”

“Oh, you want to torture me?”

“I’m not as cruel as you.” Luo Jian straightened his back and said to 14 beside him, “Drag them along and follow me.”

And so, Luo Jian led 13 and 14, while 14 pulled on the Stalker and Duan Li who were tied with the whip. He walked all the way to the large tree where Feng Yu Lan was located. The massive vines coiled around the entire tree and crowded around the base of the tree trunk, evoking this spooky feeling.

As Luo Jian and the gang approached, the vines seemed to be aware of the danger. They began to twist around the branches unnaturally, encircling the tree even more. In terms of the gravity of the situation, they didn’t coil around just one tree; the vines gradually extended to the encompassing trees. Seizing the others one by one until the surrounding trees were twined thickly. Upon seeing this densely-packed scene, the people’s scalp began to tingle.

At this moment, 13 fully displayed his capabilities. Luo Jian didn’t know from where 13 retrieved his crossbow, he didn’t know when he had loaded it with arrows, and he also didn’t know what he applied to the arrow or what he even planned to do, but when 13 suddenly released the arrow from the crossbow, directly shooting one vine, the arrow instantly ignited into blazing flames! The raging flames devoured the surrounding vines, and vine also seemed to have been burnt. It immediately started twitching and swaying, and the surrounding vines also began to shake violently.

“Plants are afraid of fire. This method will always produce results no matter what plant it is.” 13 explained. “I haven’t seen this species of plant in the chambers, but, generally speaking, they should more or less be the same.”

Of course, these plants truly were afraid of fire; however, these strange vines exhibited unusually rare characteristics. While the flames engulfed the vines, Luo Jian and the group suddenly discovered something. This massive tree vine lifted its head, and at the very top there was a bloody mouth wide open like a sacrificial bowl; it hadn’t any eyes or a nose, just one large mouth! It’s razor sharp teeth secreted some sort of disgusting mucus, and the most frightening part was that this bloody, ferocious mouth didn’t hesitate to bite off the part of the vine that had caught on fire, eliminating the growing fire by swallowing the vine into its belly!

“It seems that it isn’t easy to deal with.” 13 withdrew his crossbow and switched out his arrow; the new one looked a bit similar to the blazing arrow, but it wasn’t quite the same. Luo Jian noticed that a dark green liquid seemed to have been smeared on 13’s newly exchanged arrow, but he wasn’t sure of its specific effects.

“This tree vine isn’t a mere plant. Rather, you could say it’s some kind of living creature. In that case, I can try to use different methods.” 13 was quite knowledgeable; he certainly deserved to be called a master who experienced five chambers. Since the start, Luo Jian wasn’t able to see the man’s expression due to the mask; however, his exposed eyes were sharp, penetrating.

“It’s useless. These vines aren’t affected by any kinds of poison, and fire can’t damage them. Furthermore, they possess the strongest self-healing abilities in nature.”

Just then, Duan Li suddenly spoke up. As before, a twisted, malevolent smile floated around his lips; it was as if this man was constantly possessed by malice, so evil and daunting. Duan Li stared at 13 condescendingly, then chuckled darkly, “This vine is an invaluable creature I obtained in a rare chamber. As for the name, call it ‘Vine of Life-and-Death’. As long as it’s assigned a specific target, and if you bury the seeds near the target’s body…it will never stop coiling around the target’s body until death… Not sure if you’ve all heard of such a saying—if you’re alive, I will never die; if you’re dead, I would never be able to live by myself1—it’s roughly about the same idea.”

“Then how can we destroy it?” Luo Jian furrowed his brows; he took a look at Duan Li, then unnaturally peeked at Xing Yan who was beside him.

“You wish to know?”

“Of course I want to know.”

“As a matter of fact, you needn’t be so anxious. This Vine of Life-and-Death has quite a short life. It only lasts for a night, and when dawn arrives, it will die.” Duan Li seemingly appeared pensive, then a treacherous smile crept onto his face. “But it does have this one small quirk. When it dies, it will strangle the precious treasure it guarded, thus dying together with it.”

Duan Li’s brief speech astonished Luo Jian. He stomped towards his direction and viciously glared at him. “Dawn signals the end of the 24 hour time period. It seems that you already had everything figured out from the start. Even if you were caught, that target of yours—Ah Lan would die regardless?!”

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A hint of crimson flickered within Duan Li’s bloodthirsty eyes. His laughter was piercing, causing one to shiver. “I’m a killer! You honestly believe I’ll let my target escape?! Luo Jian, you wanted to face me, was it? You still too tender!”

Luo Jian was obviously infuriated. He suddenly drew out his knife; a cold light gleamed, and immediately afterwards, a streak of blood was left behind on Duan Li’s only faultless cheek. At this time, 13 jumped in, getting involved and stopping Luo Jian; he then said, “Don’t be so impulsive. Even if you vent your rage now and hack him to death, you still won’t be able to save that friend of yours.”

“So, what should we do?”

“Cure ills with poison2. Since he talked so much about these vines, let this guy be the bait.”

Luo Jian nodded in approval. His cruel side seemed to have gradually emerged. He glared at Duan Li with red eyes, and his voice sunk, “Seeing as you’re so confident, I think it’d be quite fascinating to see whether that precious Vine of Life-and-Death that you planted with your own hands would choke you to death as well.”

Luo Jian finished speaking and looked at the little girl, 14, next to him. 14 clearly understood Luo Jian’s intentions. She flicked the whip in her hand, and the whip that securely bound Duan Li and the Stalker together immediately came loose. Upon being freed, Duan Li wanted to start running, but the Stalker beside him was merciless. He pressed his hand down on Duan Li’s shoulder to restrain him, and in an instant, Duan Li couldn’t move a single step. Duan Li glanced at the Stalker and sneered, “Since when were you devoted and loyal enough to help a group of worms, Captain?”

The Stalker remained silent. A faint glint flashed within the depths of his eyes, but it instantaneously receded before one could catch it.

Nevertheless, Duan Li clearly perceived the Stalker’s split-second unnaturalness, and he continued to sneer, “It seems as though your position isn’t so tragic or unfortunate.”

14 swung her whip around to bind Duan Li. This tiny little girl was utterly terrifying as she waved that whip again with her mighty strength. She unexpectedly sent Duan Li flying, flinging him to where the vine twined around the large tree. The tree vine sensed something approached it and countless vines spread out chaotically; resembling tentacles reaching out, they aimed for Duan Li. But it was a pity that Duan Li wasn’t easy to deal with. Even though most of his strength had been restricted in the real world, and even though Luo Jian took away his weapons, he was irrefutably worthy of the title of one of the most powerful veterans ever. With force, he flipped his body midair and faced the countless vines that flew before his eyes. Then, in the lowest of hushed whispers, he uttered:

“Phase Two, Liberation—!”

It wasn’t long before Luo Jian and the others were witness to something so inconceivable! In an instant, unimaginable strength and speed burst from Duan Li! This rise in power made his body frightfully agile! His entire being was like a martial artist who soared in the skies. He lightly stepped on the fluttering tree vines, dodging left, evading right, going as far as to gradually leaping higher and bounding up the branches of the large tree!

13 promptly reacted. He raised his crossbow and, with the arrow pointing straight at Duan Li, he shot quickly.

Unfortunately, Duan Li seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. His tilted his head to one side, avoiding 13’s strike. But after that, the vines seemed to have become enraged. They grew even longer and encircled the area even more; they enshrouded the entire tree, not even a crack was exposed, and even Duan Li was surrounded.

“I was negligent. It was a mistake to release him.” Luo Jian bared his teeth. His grinded his teeth as he glared intensely at that ginormous maroon cocoon of tree vines. Ah Lan was also inside. He truly didn’t know what would happen, but Luo Jian had a bad feeling; he vaguely felt that something would go wrong.

“I’m sorry, it was undoubtedly a grave error on my part.” 13 admitted his mistake.

“It doesn’t matter. There may still be some time. We have to to do everything we can to eradicate these tree vines.”

The individuals began to act as they spoke. Duan Li didn’t seem to have lied to them. The self-healing ability of this tree vine was so strong to the point that no one was a match for it. Even if every vine was cut off, the vines would grow faster. And what was even more terrible was that if a severed piece of the vine fell to the ground, it would rapidly take root, and, immediately after, a brand-new tree vine would sprout!

Only fire was capable of having some effects; but even if flames produced slight results, those flames were eventually swallowed by the vine itself! It couldn’t burn, it couldn’t be cut, and it grew longer by the second! These tree vines were by far the most wretched.

Luo Jian was exhausted and perspiring profusely. He took a deep breath to calm his fluctuating emotions. He raised his head and stared at the Stalker beside him. The Stalker was expressionless; he seemed to have noticed Luo Jian’s gaze, and he turned around to look at him. Luo Jian’s heart suddenly throbbed, and he immediately swiveled his head around. But the Stalker clearly didn’t want to let him off. He suddenly stretched out his hand and touched Luo Jian’s neck with his fingertips. In the end, he stroked that round ouroboros tattoo on his neck. The Stalker’s icy fingertips made Luo Jian shudder, and he was compelled to turn back around and look at him. This one turn immediately gave Xing Yan an opportunity he could exploit; he impatiently lowered his head and pressed his lips against the other’s.

However, this superficial contact was only but a second, for, at once, he was shoved away by Luo Jian. 13 and 14 were still in the process of clearing the vines, and although they didn’t have the free time to watch their actions, Luo Jian wasn’t bold or wild enough to display a grand play of passion in the presence of others. Luo Jian couldn’t guess this Stalker’s intentions. His face burned red, and he distanced himself from the other. But, unfortunately, wherever he went, the Stalker also followed closely behind him, and whenever he encountered any danger, the guy would step forward bravely; Luo Jian couldn’t understand why the other protected him.

The Stalker was so baffling and disturbing that Luo Jian couldn’t concentrate on fighting, and he slipped up. A vine tangled around his foot and promptly dragged him towards that large cocoon of tree vines. Xing Yan immediately jumped into action. He reached out with his hands and captured Luo Jian’s arm. However, the vine’s strength was astonishing. The Stalker wasn’t a match, and he was also dragged into that massive cocoon of tree vines along with the other.

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