Chronicles of the Green Vine: A Mortal’s Path to Immortality

"Kid, let's settle it right here. Don't even think about running." The scarred bandit glanced at him, pointed to a corner of the wall, and grunted impatiently.

Zhang Ling pretended to be scared as he walked to the corner, turning his back to the scarred man and feigning to undo his belt.

In reality, the moment he turned, he quietly slipped his hands out of the ropes, then turned around and yanked the rope with all his might. The scarred man was caught off guard and almost fell.

"You!"

But the man quickly reacted. He split his feet to steady himself, and with one hand on the hilt, he drew his blade.

But a cloud of dust rushed toward him.

It turned out that when the scarred man steadied himself, Zhang Ling threw a handful of dirt he was holding towards the man's face.

Then Zhang Ling ran away, rushing into the heavy rain, sprinting with all his strength. He was instantly soaked, but he didn't hesitate. This was his only chance.

"Kid, don't run!"

The scarred man's loud shout came from behind, making Zhang Ling run even faster.

The sky thundered and lightning flashed. He rushed out of the courtyard where the bandits were and ran along the small path between the deserted village towards the distance. Only by getting away from the bandits would he have a chance to survive.

At this time, the sky was dark, and the wind and rain made it much more likely for him to escape.

Regardless of the shouts and curses behind him, Zhang Ling ran headlong forward, and in the blink of an eye, he ran out of the deserted village.

There was no path ahead in the darkness, but he didn't stop and ran towards a hillside on the side. He didn't know how long he ran until he couldn't run anymore before he stopped.

He wiped the rain off his face and looked around, only able to vaguely see some weeds and bushes. Zhang Ling had no idea where he was.

Looking behind him, he was relieved that the scarred man hadn't followed. But it wasn't safe yet, and he had to run further away.

It was the darkest time, and it was still raining heavily. He needed to find a place to shelter from the rain as soon as possible, or he would freeze to death. Zhang Ling chose a direction and continued forward.

Boom!

A thunderclap lit up the front, and Zhang Ling couldn't help but shiver. His eyes caught sight of a figure grinning at him. The man was soaked and looked like a demon, wielding a large knife and slashing at his head.

Zhang Ling's body trembled, and his legs weakened in fear. He slipped and fell to the ground.

"Kid, you dare to trick me!" The figure was the scarred man, who had caught up with him at some point.

If he hadn't slipped and fallen to the ground, he would have been decapitated. The scarred man waved the long knife in his hand and slashed at him again.

At the critical moment of life and death, Zhang Ling rolled to the side to avoid the knife. Before he could get up, he felt empty behind him, and his body fell downwards.

At the same time, the scarred man exclaimed and also fell down.

...

The cold rain fell on his face. After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Ling opened his eyes and looked at the dim sky. After a brief moment of stagnation, he moved his body, wanting to sit up.

As soon as he moved, pain came from his body. Most of his body was buried in the soil. He shook his head and looked at his own situation.

He was at the bottom of a hillside. Beside him, rocks and mud flew, dead branches and leaves scattered, and several broken small trees were buried by the soil.

This was originally an earthen slope. Under the impact of the wind and rain, a landslide occurred. Yesterday, he ran here, and when he was escaping the scarred man's pursuit, he rolled down. It was a miracle that he didn't die.

Lying on the ground, his heart felt bitter. In the past two days, first his village was slaughtered, then he was running away. He felt a sense of powerlessness.

Zhang Ling stared blankly at the sky, letting the cold rain fall on his face.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Ling weakly climbed up from the ground and checked his injuries. There was a long wound on his left arm, a foot long. Fortunately, the wound was not deep and had stopped bleeding, but the wound was turned up and a little white, which was not optimistic.

In addition to this obvious wound, there were several bruises on his body. Zhang Ling looked at the sky. Now he was cold, tired, and hungry.

"Cough cough."

Suddenly, a soft cough came from beside him. Zhang Ling's face changed. He bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and carefully looked around. But after that soft cough, there was no sound.

"Could it be that I heard wrong?"

After waiting for a while, seeing that he couldn't hear any sound, Zhang Ling straightened up again. Suddenly, a weak groan came from behind him.

Zhang Ling nervously grabbed the stone and turned his head to look at the place where the sound came from. He didn't find anything. Then, several soft coughs came again.

Someone!

This time he heard it clearly. Zhang Ling was sure there were other people next to him. He quickly turned his head to look at the place where the sound came from.

Not far behind him on the ground was a collapsed dead tree, mostly buried in the soil, with some branches and stones scattered beside it. He couldn't see what was behind it.

Zhang Ling slowly walked towards there. When he approached the dead wood, he found a light on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it was a large knife. He picked up the long knife and held it in his hand. After bypassing the big tree, he found the scarred man from yesterday.

This man was covered in mud, leaning against the tree. His condition was much more serious than his. He could see that his abdomen was pierced by a long branch, staining his whole body red. Obviously, he was seriously injured.

Zhang Ling tightened the long knife in his hand and walked towards the scarred man step by step.

"It's you."

The scarred man also found Zhang Ling, but he shouted with a happy expression; "Kid, come and save me."

Zhang Ling naturally did not respond. The man's face sank and he knew something was wrong. He twisted his body, but he was seriously injured, and the pain from the wound made him grimace and unable to get up.

"Kid, what are you doing?"

"Stop!"

Zhang Ling stopped two zhang away from the scarred man and looked at the man lying on the ground without saying a word.

Seeing that he was no longer moving forward, the man said; "Little brother, I'm like this, let me go. I have no choice. It's not easy to be a bandit. I'm just following the boss's orders, I..."

The scarred man talked non-stop, but Zhang Ling didn't listen to a word.

At this moment, he thought of his grandfather, Qing Tian Village, and the headless corpse of Uncle Wang Feng.

These bandits also have helpless times, and weak times. Zhang Ling clenched the long knife, although his hands were shaking. But he still raised it.

The scarred man looked at Zhang Ling's actions and stopped talking. But a look of panic appeared in his eyes. His face was covered in sweat. If it was normal, he could kill the kid in front of him with one hand, but now he was seriously injured and scared.

Seeing Zhang Ling getting closer and closer. The scarred man's face turned fierce and he changed his words to threaten. "If you dare to kill me, our boss will not let you go."

As he said this, the man grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it at Zhang Ling, but Zhang Ling remained unmoved, letting the stone fall on his head, his eyes becoming more and more cold.

Zhang Ling didn't realize that his hands were no longer shaking, he tightly held the big knife, came to the scarred man, this man tried hard to get up, but as soon as he moved, blood flowed out from under him, screaming in pain.

Ah...

With one slash, the scarred man screamed, and then screams came continuously from the hillside.

After an unknown amount of time, the scarred man's head rolled to the ground, his eyes wide open and unwilling to close. Zhang Ling sat next to him, trembling all over, his chest rising and falling, and he was still holding the blood-stained knife tightly in his hand.