Chapter 162: Auntie, Are You Feeling Better?
Mo Ziyuan just stood there, looking down at that man from above as he went from struggling and convulsing at first to twisting later, and finally to death, his expression always remaining indifferent.
Once he was completely still, he shifted his gaze to the next man in black Imperial Guard.
That man ignored even the intense pain of his broken legs, staring in terror at Mo Ziyuan’s slowly approaching figure and the long sword in his hand from which blood was still dripping, his body trembling as he scooted backward.
“Tch!” Mo Ziyuan sneered coldly, slowly but resolutely walking up to him, lightly raising the long sword in his hand and pointing it at his forehead.
“You… what do you want?” The man in black asked in a quivering voice.
“Tch!” Mo Ziyuan sneered again, “Aren’t the Imperial Guards supposed to not fear even death? How come you’re afraid now?”
“I…” The man in black Imperial Guard swallowed, wanting to say he wasn’t afraid, but he couldn’t stop his body from trembling no matter what. He really wasn’t afraid of death, but he was afraid of this kind of torment worse than death, okay? Although they had all undergone devil training before truly starting the mission, including enduring various pains, they had never experienced this kind of psychological torment.
“Hehe,” Mo Ziyuan looked at the remaining Imperial Guards one by one, and each one shuddered upon meeting his gaze. It was just that his gaze at this moment was too terrifying.
One of them rolled his eyes, opened his mouth and bit down hard, trying to bite off his tongue to commit suicide. He didn’t want to endure this torment anymore.
However, his action wasn’t fast enough. A flash of bright light passed before his eyes, followed by intense pain from his mouth. He instinctively touched it with his hand and found that his entire lower jaw was gone. Without the jaw’s support, his whole tongue dangled limply.
“Ah~” An inhuman scream rang out. He rolled on the ground dragging his two broken legs, bright red blood splattering from his chin area, staining the ground beside him.
All the surviving men in black had gazes filled with utter shock. The fear in their hearts had completely turned substantial. Some had thought of seeking death before, but after seeing that man’s fate just now, they firmly suppressed the idea.
At this moment, another change occurred. Suddenly, continuous rustling sounds came from the nearby forest, as if some gigantic thing or a large number of things were rapidly moving toward them.
In an instant, whether it was the men in black Imperial Guards lying on the ground or Mo Ziyuan and the others, everyone’s expressions turned serious, their gazes all focusing on that patch of wildly churning wild grass.
Then, countless green vines snaked out from the grass. The dark brown, smooth branches that seemed to glow transformed into sharp cones, mercilessly piercing into the bodies of the men in black lying on the ground.
Then, a horrifying scene occurred that made everyone’s hair stand on end. One after another, continuous bulges appeared on those branches like rolling beads, just like how a person’s Adam’s apple moves when swallowing. The leaves on the branches comfortably unfurled.
The men in black opened their mouths wide, emitting one heartrending scream after another, desperately twisting and struggling to escape the vines embedded in their bodies. However, their bodies were firmly fixed in place, unable to move even a bit. They could only despairingly feel the blood in their bodies being sucked away bit by bit, their life force draining away bit by bit.
No one knew how much time passed, but on the ground, whether it was the corpses originally killed or the Imperial Guards with broken legs, they all turned into shriveled skeletons, left with only a layer of skin wrapping the bones.
Those vines seemed extremely satisfied, stretching their branches and leaves as if dancing.
“Holy crap, what the hell is this thing?” Gao Yong gripped the hilt of his long sword tightly, swallowing and muttering softly.
Although his voice was already as low as possible, it still alerted those vines. They suddenly stood straight up, all uniformly aiming in the direction where they were.
Although they had no eyes, at this moment Mo Ziyuan and the others felt as if they were being stared at by thousands of eyes, their body hair standing on end, not daring to move even a little.
Lin Xin, who was sleeping in the horse carriage, frowned and slowly opened her eyes.
“Sis, you’re awake!” Lin Nan’s surprised voice came. Lin Xin turned her head to look, and his two small eyes were shining brightly at her.
“Mm, I’m awake!” Lin Xin smiled slightly, rubbing each of their heads one by one. “Have you been watching over me the whole time?”
Hearing this, Lin Nan’s eyes immediately reddened. He lowered his head to hide it and softly hummed in response.
Lin Tao was more direct. His big eyes looked at Lin Xin eagerly. “Auntie, are you better now?”
“Much better.” Lin Xin answered with a smile.
The next moment, Lin Tao quickly kicked off his shoes, his small body shooting into Lin Xin’s arms like a little cannonball, bursting into loud sobs with a “wah.”
Lin Nan was stunned for a moment, then followed suit, burrowing into Lin Xin’s arms as well. Although he didn’t cry out loud, he couldn’t help but sob softly.
Lin Xin held one in each arm, feeling the abundant and familiar wood-element energy outside. Instead of comforting the two little ones for now, she closed her eyes and used her supernatural ability to guide the external energy continuously into her body. Meanwhile, her severely injured body received some degree of repair.
Outside the horse carriage, Mo Ziyuan and the others watched in stunned silence as those originally aggressive vines suddenly began to wither bit by bit until they lost all moisture and turned into dry, brittle branches.
They looked at each other, none of them knowing what had happened.
Lin Xin in the horse carriage contentedly absorbed her fill of wood-element energy and slowly opened her eyes.
After a good while more, seeing no sign of the vines reviving at all, Mo Ziyuan and the others cautiously approached and tentatively poked the dry, cracked branches a few times with the sword tip. Getting no reaction whatsoever, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“We should still burn this creepy stuff! There are all kinds of animals on the mountain. What if they absorb blood and come back to life?” Zhou Qi said after picking up a vine with his sword tip and examining it closely.
“Good, let’s gather them all together first and then light them up!” Mo Ziyuan and Meng Yixuan said at the same time.
Everyone worked together, dragging all the vines to the middle of the road far from the forest, taking out fire starters and beginning to ignite them.
The dried vines burned exceptionally easily, quickly turning into a roaring bonfire. To avoid any aftermath, aside from Gao Yong who was left to watch the fire to prevent accidentally starting a mountain fire, the rest all went into the forest to search for any missed ones.
After finding over a dozen more dry branches and throwing them into the fire, Mo Ziyuan finally returned to the horse carriage. He lifted the curtain and met Lin Xin’s smiling eyes.
“Xin’er, how do you feel? Is there anywhere still uncomfortable? Does the wound hurt a lot?” Three questions in a row came out. Seeing Lin Xin’s much improved complexion compared to before, Mo Ziyuan couldn’t hold back and smiled first.
