The cold rain slapped Li Hua's face, but it could not extinguish the burning pain from the pulsating blue mark on his palm, nor the torture of the ink poison eroding the wound on his wrist, as if his soul was torn apart inch by inch. Mei's horrified and vigilant eyes, like invisible needles, pierced through the rain curtain and pierced deeper into his heart. The cracks in trust spread silently in the dampness and rottenness of the rainforest.
"It's not what you think..." Li Hua's voice was dry and hoarse, and every word involved severe pain in his chest. He wanted to raise his right hand, which was flowing with blue blood, to explain, but just this thought triggered a fierce collision between the two destructive forces in his body. The cold star power of the fragments and the cold erosion of the ink poison strangled his meridians, causing a violent spasm. He groaned, leaning forward uncontrollably, and a mouthful of black blood mixed with faint blue spots sprayed into the muddy water in front of him, which was quickly diluted and blurred by the rain, leaving a strange stain.
Mei's pupils contracted again, and her body instinctively shrank back, clinging to the wet and cold fern rhizomes. She looked at the pool of blood that disappeared quickly but was shocking, and then looked at Li Hua's face twisted by pain and the hand branded with ominous marks. The vigilance in her eyes was deeper, mixed with a trace of unspeakable sadness. She remembered the hideous Nuo mask temple priest in the Nuo Temple, the polluted villagers, and the inhuman methods of the Shadow Cult. Is this person in front of her... still the lazy and poisonous Li Hua in Guangyuan Temple, but willing to block a fatal blow for her in the Nuo Temple?
"Don't... come over!" Her voice was weak, but with a firm resistance, her fingertips subconsciously dug into the mud under her body, as if that was her only support.
Li Hua's heart sank, colder and muddier than the ground of the rainforest. Explanations were pale and powerless in the face of absolute change. He no longer tried to get close, but just supported his body with difficulty and leaned against the roots of a giant tree covered with slippery moss. The cold bark sent a chill through the wet clothes, which made his confused mind clear a little.
He closed his eyes, forced his mind to gather, and sank the remaining will into his body, like a desperate sailor trying to stabilize a boat in the stormy waves. The true essence had long been exhausted, and the meridians were like rags that had been ravaged repeatedly. He was careful not to touch the core of the two violent forces, and only tried to guide them at the edge, like testing the edge of a boiling oil pan. The power of the fragments was cold, vast, and indifferent, carrying the eternal rhythm of the movement of the stars, but full of untamed wildness. The ink poison was like a maggot on the tarsal bone, cold and sticky, constantly eroding vitality, and carrying a vicious curse against the soul.
Every weak guidance was like dancing on the tip of a knife, and a slight mistake would lead to a more violent backlash. Cold sweat mixed with rain slid down his forehead, and his body trembled slightly due to severe pain. But gradually, an extremely weak and extremely rough sense of "balance" was captured by him with difficulty in endless pain - not control, but more like using his own remaining vitality as a buffer zone, allowing the two hostile destructive forces to temporarily reach a fragile "mutual consumption" state. The spread of the ink color of the wrist wound seemed to stop for a moment, and the pulsation of the dark blue mark on the palm of the palm also slowed down a little.
He opened his eyes, his eyes were full of bloodshot, and he was exhausted as if he had experienced a long-lasting torture. He looked at Mei, his voice hoarse after overdrawing: "For the time being... suppressed. Mo Li's poison, and... the power of the fragments, they are fighting in my body." He pulled the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that was uglier than crying, "At least... it won't explode immediately now."
Mei pursed her pale lips tightly, did not speak, but just looked at him vigilantly, her eyes repeatedly wandering between the ink-colored wound on his wrist and the dark blue mark on his palm. She seemed to want to distinguish lies or signs of loss of control from Li Hua's painful face.
Silence spread in the sound of rain, heavy and suffocating.
Suddenly!
"Sha...Sha..."
A very slight friction sound came from above the giant tree that Li Hua was leaning against. The sound was mixed in with the noise of rain hitting leaves, almost indistinguishable, but Li Hua, whose perception had become extremely sharp after being tortured by the fragments and ink poison, instantly caught the difference - it was not the sound of rain, nor the sound of wind blowing through leaves, but more like the sound of some smooth scales or sticky limbs moving quickly on wet bark!
A cold sense of crisis instantly seized him!
"Be careful above!" He roared, almost relying on his body's instinctive reaction, ignoring the pain of tearing his whole body, and suddenly fell forward, while his left hand subconsciously grabbed his waist - but grabbed nothing! His sword was left in the destructive storm of the Nuo Temple!
At the moment he fell!
A dark green shadow like a poisoned spear, with a pungent fishy wind, shot down from the dense tree canopy like lightning! The target was exactly where he had just leaned against his back!
Puff!
The dark green shadow fiercely nailed into the root of the tree that Li Hua had just leaned against, and sank deeply into the soft humus soil! The part exposed outside twisted violently. It was a strange vine that was as thick as a child's arm, covered with dark green moss-like scales, but the top was split into four petals and covered with fine and sharp teeth! The split mouthparts were like the kiss of a venomous snake, opening and closing frantically, making a "click" sound that made people's teeth ache!
It was a snake vine! A kind of weird plant that only exists in the records of ancient books, bloodthirsty and carnivorous, its juice contains highly toxic, and can also secrete poisonous mist that paralyzes the nerves!
The attack missed, and the snake vine seemed to be angry. It suddenly pulled out of the mud, bringing up a bunch of smelly mud spots, and the cracked mouthparts on the top were aimed at Li Hua who fell to the ground. The four sharp teeth rotated at high speed like a meat grinder, and a light green poisonous mist visible to the naked eye instantly spewed out, with a sweet and greasy smell, covering his head!
Li Hua's pupils shrank suddenly! He was in a very bad state now, and his movements were more than several times slower than usual! The range of the poisonous mist was too large and there was no way to avoid it! What's worse is that the fragment power and ink poison in his body that he had just suppressed by force, under the stimulation of this life-and-death crisis, showed signs of violent out of control again! The dark blue light shone uncontrollably from the mark on his right palm, and the ink-colored wound on his wrist also sent a burning pain like a needle!
A critical moment!
"Chi!"
A clear shout, with a determination to burn the boats, tore through the rain curtain!
It's Mei!
She struggled to half-kneel and stood up without knowing when. Her face was as pale as a ghost, and there was still blood on the corner of her mouth. Her hands were crossed in front of her chest in a strange and swift posture. Her fingertips were stained with the blood on her chest. In an instant, she drew an extremely complex rune in the void that flickered with faint blood light! The rune was not a Taoist scripture, but a totem full of ancient, wildness, and the meaning of Nuo dance and sacrifice!
Buzz!
The moment the blood rune took shape, an invisible wave with a desolate and murderous meaning suddenly spread out! Like an invisible heavy hammer, it hit the diffuse light green poisonous fog hard!
Chi Chi Chi——!
The poisonous fog was like meeting its nemesis. It violently churned and melted in an instant, making a harsh corrosion sound! The sweet and greasy smell was replaced by a burning breath that seemed to burn filth with sacrificial fire!
Most of the poisonous mist spewed by the snake vine was forcibly dispelled by the Nuo witch blood talisman! The remaining little was also washed away by the wave.
Li Hua seized this precious breathing opportunity, endured the conflict of power in his body and the severe pain in his body, and rolled to the side!
Hiss——!
The cracked snake vine mouthparts brushed past his shoulders, and the sharp teeth scratched his already ragged Taoist robe, leaving several burning blood marks on his skin! Although he was not bitten directly, the numbness brought by the fishy wind still made half of his body stiffen slightly!
The snake vine was completely enraged! It gave up spewing poisonous mist, like a real poisonous python, twisting its body covered with moss scales, bringing evil wind, and biting towards the inconvenient Li Hua again! The speed was so fast that only a dark green afterimage was left!
Li Hua had no way to avoid it! The delay caused by the conflict of power in his body made it impossible for him to dodge effectively! Seeing that the mouthparts full of sharp teeth were about to devour him!
At this critical moment of life and death!
A trace of madness flashed in Li Hua's eyes! He no longer tried to suppress it! Instead, he desperately directed all his remaining will to the blue pulsating mark on the palm of his right hand! It was not to guide the power of the fragments, but to induce the ink poison that was eroding him and fighting against the power of the fragments!
"Get out!" He let out a beast-like roar!
The blue mark on the palm suddenly burst into a dazzling light, but this time, the light was strangely entangled with strands of thick ink! A cold, dead, ink-colored energy with the breath of annihilation of all things, mixed with the violent star power of the fragments, like an out-of-control torrent, followed his raised right arm and slammed into the snake vine that was rushing towards him!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a dull sound like rotten wood being crushed.
The dark blue intertwined energy flow, like an invisible corrosive blade, accurately hit the snake vine's cracked mouthparts!
Hiss...!
The snake vine let out a sharp scream that was not like a plant! Its mouthparts full of sharp teeth, at the moment of contact with the dark blue energy, were like metal thrown into strong acid, and quickly turned black, withered, and decayed with the naked eye! The ink color spread wildly along the trunk of the vine like a plague! The dark green moss scales lost their luster and became charred and withered. The tough vine body was like a rotten wood that had been weathered for thousands of years, breaking and disintegrating inch by inch!
In just one breath, the fierce demon vine, under the erosion of this strange dark blue energy, completely turned into a pool of black smoke and stinking coke residue!
Li Hua kept his right arm stretched forward, panting violently, and every breath was accompanied by the pain of burning his lungs. On his right arm, the pale golden lines were now covered with an ominous gray, and the light of the dark blue mark on the palm also dimmed, but the ink color entangled in it became even darker, as if it would break free from its restraints and bite back at its master at any time. Forcibly inducing the ink poison to kill the enemy was like drinking poison to quench thirst. The price was that the ink erosion on the wrist instantly deepened, and a stronger sense of cold and dead silence spread along the wound to his whole body, and even his soul seemed to be frozen.
He slowly lowered his arm, his body shaky due to overdraft and backlash. He turned his head and looked in the direction of Mei.
Mei half-knelt in the mud, maintaining the posture of casting a spell, her chest heaving violently, and new blood oozing from the corners of her mouth. She looked at the charred remains of the snake vine on the ground, and then looked at Li Hua's arm wrapped with an ominous ink light, her eyes were extremely complicated. Fear, shock, a hint of disbelief, and deeper worries.
That power just now... that energy mixed with the star power of the fragments and the poison of Mo Li Mo... is full of pure destruction and death! It is definitely not the right way!
The rain is still falling, coldly washing over the corner of the rainforest where the short killing just ended. The remains of the snake vine are emitting the last black smoke, and the stench and burnt smell are spreading. The two looked at each other silently through the rain curtain and mud.
The rift of trust has not only not been bridged, but has become deeper and wider because of this terrifying display of power. One is carrying a double curse and may turn into a disaster at any time; the other is seriously injured and endangered, holding the power of restraint but being alert.
In this ancient rainforest full of dangers, they are not only the only companions that each other can rely on, but also the sharp blades hanging over each other's heads, and no one knows when they will fall.
In the silence, there is only the sound of rain and the long roar of unknown creatures coming from the depths of the rainforest farther away, with eternal desolation and spying malice.