PD -Chapter 186 A Life-and-Death Struggle

I could feel blood continuously gushing from my wrist… yet I wasn’t panicking. Instead, a faint smile appeared at the corner of my lips.

The spiritual energy I had reserved until the very end was finally being put to use.

I channeled that spiritual energy into my blood. In an instant, the blood dripping from my wrist turned golden.

The branches beneath me, which had been celebrating their “victory,” didn’t notice anything unusual. They still eagerly caught my blood, greedily letting it seep into their bodies, nourishing themselves so they would no longer wither—and even sprouting new buds.

But what they didn’t know was that the buds now sprouting from their branches had already turned golden.

This frenzy didn’t last long.

The entire tree began to tremble. At that moment, the massive ancient tree looked like someone suddenly plagued by unbearable itching—it twisted and convulsed wildly. Its strange, withered branches rubbed and scraped against each other in chaos, a grotesque and unsettling sight.

Creak… creak…

An eerie sound began to rise—countless dry branches grinding against one another. It was like countless owls wailing in the dead of night, sending chills down one’s spine.

I let out a cold laugh. I could feel the branches binding me beginning to loosen, so I immediately forced myself free and fell to the ground with a thud.

Before falling, I had braced myself, but the impact still left my whole body aching. Fortunately, the forest floor was covered in thick, decayed leaves and soft soil; otherwise, I might have been killed by the fall.

Pop… pop…

One after another, faint explosive sounds rang out, like popcorn bursting.

The golden buds that had sprouted after absorbing my blood began to explode in succession. Waves of golden mist burst out, enveloping the entire tree.

The tree shook even more violently.

I looked up and saw Tang Shanshan swaying dangerously in the air. The branches binding her suddenly withdrew, and she fell straight down.

I quickly reached out and caught her, steadying her in my arms beneath the tree.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She shook her head and stood on her own.

Before we could react, Zhenzhen and Old Li—who had also been suspended in midair—fell down as well with dull thuds. Fortunately, the ground was soft.

Although both of them had their wrists cut, it hadn’t been long, and the blood loss wasn’t severe enough to endanger their lives.

They were still conscious.

Even though they were ordinary people who had never seen such a bizarre scene before, they were terrified—especially Zhenzhen. Yet she still managed to remain surprisingly calm, which made me look at her in a new light.

After landing, she groaned softly, then quickly got up and tore off one of her sleeves to bandage her wrist.

She also helped Old Li up and checked his injuries.

Seeing that everyone was fine, I finally let out a small breath of relief. I quickly tore a strip from my own shirt and wrapped my wrist wound.

I had lost the most blood just now because I had deliberately used spiritual energy to force it out rapidly. I now felt slightly dizzy from the blood loss.

But fortunately, my blood infused with spiritual energy had achieved its greatest effect.

Because I had cultivated Taoist arts for a long time, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth through breathing and meditation, and because my vitality and yang energy were strong…

My blood could be considered an extremely yang, pure, and righteous force. Anything evil or supernatural would be severely injured upon contact.

This giant ancient tree emerging from underground was clearly not a benevolent entity. I had originally thought it was the manifestation of the corrupted “Mountain God,” but now it seemed that was not the case.

This strange tree was likely only a pet of that Mountain God.

At this moment, the tree was shrouded in the golden mist formed from my blood. It was as if it had been poisoned.

The small sprouts and leaves that had grown from absorbing Old Li’s and Zhenzhen’s blood quickly withered and fell. The entire trunk and branches shriveled rapidly, as if all moisture had been drained from it in an instant.

Even its roots began to tremble.

My heart tightened.

It looked like this massive monstrosity could collapse at any moment, so I immediately shouted for everyone to leave.

But before the tree even fell, we had only run about five meters when I saw a black figure approaching from the darkness.

It was slightly hunched, wearing a straw hat, moving slowly and stiffly through the forest shadows.

But despite its seemingly sluggish pace, in just a few seconds, it closed the distance between us.

I couldn’t quite describe the feeling—it reminded me of something from martial arts novels: shrinking the ground into inches.

As if space itself had folded, each step appearing slow but covering dozens of meters.

“Run! That way!” I shouted, pointing toward a slightly easier path through the forest.

Tang Shanshan was still holding my hand tightly. Zhenzhen and Old Li had already started running ahead.

I told her to go with them, insisting I would stay behind to cover them—but she refused to let go.

I shoved her hard, breaking free from her grip.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled out all the talismans I had left and charged toward the strange figure.

“Damn Taoist!” Tang Shanshan cried out behind me, her voice trembling with tears.

I forced myself not to look back. I knew that if I did, I would lose the courage to move forward—or worse, Tang Shanshan might refuse to escape, and we would both die here.

I tore off the bandage on my wrist again. The wound reopened immediately, blood seeping out.

I let it drip onto my talismans, preparing to risk everything in a final desperate strike.

The black figure took another mechanical step.

In an instant, it appeared ten meters away—right in front of me.

Its iron hook was already raised high.