Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 9: The cliff is broken and the water is blocked, leaving no way out

Li Zhan did not shed tears. On the bumpy horseback, he looked back for a long time and said, "They are all gone, leaving only me, a wicked person who may die at any time."

Li Zhong urged his horse to gallop with all his might, and the horse's hooves raised a cloud of dust a foot high. The cavalry behind him was chasing him relentlessly, and the sound of their hooves was as rapid as a rainstorm. They kept running for dozens of miles, but still couldn't pull away too far. The breath exhaled by the warhorse became hot on his face, and white foam from the corners of its mouth flew to both sides.

Li Zhong knew that the warhorse had reached its limit, and it would be exhausted to death if it continued like this. But when he looked back, he saw the Taoist priest in green robe and the pursuers still chasing him closely. "I can't let them catch up, I must risk my life to protect my brother and preserve my father's bloodline!" Seeing a birch forest on the side, Li Zhong urged his horse to rush over. As the horse passed through the forest, its speed slowed down a lot, so it didn't die of exhaustion immediately. The branches hit his face, immediately leaving bloody marks.

The pursuers behind also followed in. The sound of numerous horse hooves made the leaves rustle and fall. The shadows of the trees were heavy and the ground was uneven, making it difficult to catch up side by side. Li Zhong's riding skills were naturally much better than those of the pursuers behind him, and he gradually disappeared from their sight.

Taoist Qingyang had a vague feeling that if he didn't kill Li Mu's son today, there would be trouble in the future. Although he knew that Li Mu's son was weak and would not live long, looking at his eyes, he felt an indescribable fear. Perhaps it was because they were too clear, so clear that he could not see anything, especially when he saw him threatening Guo Kai, a child in his early ten years old, who was not afraid of danger at all. So he believed that the genius who defeated the Huns with wisdom must be him. A child like this could scare away tens of thousands of cavalry with one trick, and so a single sentence would make him die without any chance of fighting back.

Taoist Qingyang was originally a cultivator who practiced Taoism quietly and should not have participated in the struggles between countries. However, he met Mayor Xu, who showed him a strange alchemy furnace that could produce the elixir of immortality, but the medicinal materials only existed in legends, and Mayor Xu needed to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to find them. He said that if he helped Ying Zheng complete the great cause of unification, when the elixir was made, Ying Zheng would reward him with the elixir according to his title, and he would fly into the sky with Ying Zheng and become a god.

Cultivating Taoism and becoming an immortal is the lifelong pursuit of those who practice Taoism, but few people believe this nowadays. For hundreds of years, no one has heard of anyone becoming an immortal, let alone seeing an immortal descend to the earth. It is hard to say whether there are immortals or not, but Taoist Qingyang believed it because the alchemy furnace was the legendary artifact "Hunyuan Yuxu Furnace".

When Taoist Qingyang saw Li Zhong disappear from his sight, he jumped off his warhorse in a hurry, stepped on one foot, and flew lightly. Using tree branches as pedals, he moved up and down in the forest. After a moment, he left the cavalry far behind and found Li Zhong and Li Zhan behind him again.

Li Zhong heard a rustling sound, looked back, and gasped, seeing the Taoist priest in green approaching them like a falcon hunting for food. Although he had experienced countless life-and-death battles on the battlefield, he had never seen such a hand reaching out in his life. Li Zhong felt something was wrong, so he squeezed the horse's belly, leaned on the horse, and tried to get rid of the Taoist priest in green.

Before they had gone far, with a "whoosh" sound, a locust stone flew towards the warhorse that Li Zhong was riding. If it had been shot at Li Zhong, he would have been able to avoid it, but it was shot at the horse's leg. The speed was so fast and the force was so strong that before Li Zhong could urge his horse to jump up, with a "bang" sound, the locust stone hit the warhorse's front leg. The warhorse neighed and fell forward.

The reason why Qingyang hit the front leg was to make Li Zhong fall off the horse, causing him to be disabled if not dead.

In the critical situation, Li Zhong quickly stood up from the horse with Li Zhan on his back. He did not fall to the ground with the horse. He took more than ten steps forward quickly to relieve the impact. After balancing himself, he continued to run with Li Zhan on his back without looking back.

Li Zhong panted to Li Zhan, "Brother, today I can only take you so far. Keep running forward, the farther the better, and don't look back!" He untied the straps, stopped, put Li Zhan down, turned around, drew out the dagger, held it horizontally, and faced Taoist Qingyang who was turning over.

Li Zhan stood behind Li Zhong, staring at Li Zhong's back. He knew that Li Zhong was going to fight desperately with the Taoist in green to buy time for his escape.

Now he only has his brother as a relative. He doesn't want to lose his brother again and doesn't want to run away. Where can he escape to with his body like this? How long can he live? The reason why he lives so strongly is that he is afraid that his mother will be sad. Now that his mother has left with his father, no one will be sad. What is the meaning of living?

After Taoist Qingyang landed, he walked towards Li Zhong step by step. Li Zhong shouted, "What else do you want? Run! Are you going to let your adoptive father die in vain? Your adoptive father came back to die for you, why don't you run!"

Li Zhan's heart skipped a beat. "They are all doing this for me, to keep me alive!"

Looking at Li Zhong's back, he realized that he could not delay any longer and turned around, "I still have to stay alive." He gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and staggered into the depths of the forest.

Seeing the Taoist in green robe approaching, Li Zhong swung his short sword, shouted loudly, and rushed towards the Taoist in green robe, ready to fight Qingyang to the death.

Seeing the dagger stabbing in front of him, Taoist Qingyang snorted coldly, leaped up and jumped behind Li Zhong. Li Zhong's sword missed. After Qingyang landed, he wanted to chase Li Zhan. He felt that if Li Zhan lived a little longer, he would have a chance to escape.

Li Zhong took a step with one foot, turned around, and stabbed Taoist Qingyang with a sword in his backhand. Taoist Qingyang didn't even turn his head, but turned his body to avoid the dagger, and pushed with one hand, hitting Li Zhong in the ribs. With a "crack", the ribs broke and flew out, and Li Zhong rolled to the ground.

After Li Zhong landed, he gritted his teeth and stood up with difficulty, waving his dagger and rushing towards Taoist Qingyang again. Although he had been on the battlefield for a long time, all he had learned were fighting moves on the battlefield, and he could only use brute force. When he met Taoist Qingyang who stretched out his hand, he was naturally full of loopholes.

Taoist Qingyang saw Li Zhong rushing over again and Li Zhan didn't run far, so he thought to himself: "Kill him first, it won't be too late to chase him later!" He swung his long sleeves and rushed forward, dodged the dagger sideways, and chopped at Li Zhong's wrist with one hand. Li Zhong wanted to retract it, but it was too late. He felt his wrist go numb and the dagger slipped out of his hand. Taoist Qingyang took advantage of the situation, caught the dagger, and stabbed Li Zhong in the chest with a backhanded sword. Li Zhong trembled all over, and could already feel the cold sword piercing his heart, "I'm not going to survive!" was his thought at that moment.

He was no match for the Taoist priest in green robe. In a flash, Li Zhong ignored the dagger piercing his chest and pushed forward, letting the dagger pierce his chest. He approached Taoist priest Qingyang, spread his arms and grabbed the shocked Taoist priest Qingyang's shoulders tightly. The blood that had been suppressed for a long time gushed out, and Taoist priest Qingyang's face was all blood red. He never expected that Li Zhong would disgust him in this way. He couldn't see anything with his eyes. He wanted to wave away, but his shoulders were grabbed by Li Zhong, and his hands could not be free. Li Zhong not only held him with both hands, but also held Taoist priest Qingyang's waist with his legs. Although the action was indecent, it prevented Taoist priest Qingyang from displaying his skills.

After struggling for a long time, Li Zhong took his last breath, and Taoist Qingyang finally broke free and wiped the blood off his face with his sleeves. As a result, his sleeves were also covered with blood, and the blood on his face could not be wiped clean. This disgusted him to death. Fortunately, he was able to open his eyes and looked in the direction where Li Zhan fled. The figure had disappeared. Qingyang cursed inwardly and wanted to chase him, but he felt stagnant and found that Li Zhong's legs were still holding his waist. Qingyang was furious and drew out the long sword behind him, cut off one of Li Zhong's legs, picked up the long sword, and chased in the direction where Li Zhan fled.

After chasing for a long distance, they still couldn't find Li Zhan until they saw the rushing river under the cliff. Qingyang thought to himself: "Based on his speed, he wouldn't run so far. Could he be hiding nearby? This guy is too cunning!" Thinking of this, he turned around and searched again, but he didn't find Li Zhan even when he reached Li Zhong's body.

At this time, the cavalrymen chased after them slowly, and seeing Taoist Qingyang covered in blood, looking in a miserable state, they wanted to cover their mouths and laugh, but when they saw Li Zhong's body, they held back their laughter. These people were not familiar with Taoist Qingyang, and thought he was Guo Kai's retainer. Guo Kai and Zhao Cong went back to report, ordering them to follow Qingyang to chase Li Mu's youngest son. They were very reluctant, and when Taoist Qingyang flew away, they slowed down and dawdled in "searching" everywhere.

Taoist Qingyang ignored the cavalrymen and looked around the surrounding mountains and forests, thinking: "Could this kid have disappeared?" The birch forest was located on a flat ground in the valley, with green mountains extending to the side and lush trees, which was very suitable for hiding. He had already been to the road ahead, and the river was blocked and the water was turbulent. He could not have passed through. There was only one possibility, that he climbed up the mountain. So he said to the cavalrymen: "Go up the mountain and search, and make sure to capture the child!"

The mountain was rugged and horses were not allowed to be ridden. After the soldiers dismounted and tied up their horses, they muttered as they searched the mountain. After the soldiers climbed up the mountain, Taoist Qingyang stroked his beard with his hand and stared at them in thought, "This boy is extremely intelligent. We cannot use common sense to infer. He often does the opposite. The more impossible the place, the more likely he is to hide."

"Could it be that he is not on the mountain, but still in the direction of escape, trying to cross the river?" Thinking of this, Taoist Qingyang quickly went back and searched carefully all the way. When he came to a thick tree, he suddenly felt empty under his feet and almost fell into a shallow pit filled with leaves. Qingyang looked carefully and saw that some leaves were wet, as if they were brought from the surroundings. He thought to himself: "Yes, he must have hidden here when I couldn't see him and covered his body with leaves. I was eager to catch up and missed this place. He expected that I would return, so he waited until I returned before leaving. It seems that he hasn't gone far. This guy is too cunning, I must get rid of him!"

He ran quickly for more than ten steps, jumped up and stepped on the tree branch, leaped towards the broken wall in front, and came to the cliff again, but still did not find Li Zhan. He saw rugged rocks under his feet. Although the river was only a dozen feet wide, the sound of water was rumbling, which was the sound of water hitting the rocks. No one could cross this river, and would be smashed to pieces.

Qingyang did not give up, "If I let him escape, how can I save face!" He climbed down the cliff. He wanted to take a closer look before leaving. From above, the cliff looked steep, but it was not very dangerous when climbing down. Not long after, Taoist Qingyang had climbed to the bottom of the cliff, next to a big river. The huge rocks on the river bank were washed smooth and round by the river water, and moss grew on them. Taoist Qingyang walked along the narrow shore under the cliff, climbed over the huge rocks one by one, and checked carefully to prevent Li Zhan from hiding behind them.

When climbing over a boulder that was three meters high, Taoist Qingyang's eyes lit up and a rare smile appeared on his face, because Li Zhan was sitting on another boulder in front of the boulder, with no way to escape.

Li Zhan sat on the boulder, panting, with an unusually cold look in his eyes. When he saw Taoist Qingyang climbing down, he knew he could not escape and would soon be discovered, so when Taoist Qingyang approached, he climbed onto the boulder, with the rolling river behind him.

When Li Zhong was killed by Taoist Qingyang, he did not go far, but hid behind a big tree and watched Li Zhong fight with Taoist Qingyang for his life and was killed by Qingyang. At that time, he was the only one left in the world.

When Taoist Qingyang ran past him, he walked over, reached out and closed Li Zhong's eyes.

Anticipating that Taoist Qingyang would come back and that there would be pursuers behind him, he fled along the foot of the mountain in the direction Taoist Qingyang had gone. When Taoist Qingyang returned, he hid under a tree and covered himself with leaves. Taoist Qingyang was far away and did not notice him. After dodging, he quietly got up and continued to flee. Unfortunately, a cliff blocked his way, so he had to slowly climb down the cliff and hide behind a huge rock.

Li Zhan had never run such a long distance and such a rugged road, which almost exhausted all his physical strength. He was numb to death, and now he met someone who was so persistent in letting him die. He had already done his best.

Taoist Qingyang approached and said proudly, "You are too cunning, I almost got away with you."

Li Zhan asked, "You are so persistent in pursuing me, and if you put me to death, what good will it do you?"

"Cut the roots and leave no harm. Besides, your wisdom is too dangerous. If you grow up, it will be terrible!"

"A Taoist practitioner should ignore the secular world and practice Taoism in peace, but you are so eager for quick success and have such a strong murderous intention. What's the point of wearing that Taoist robe when you are doing this?"

Taoist Qingyang has walked under the boulder. "Haha, there are many wolves in sheep's clothing in this world. Once you get used to it, you can't change it. Come down and die. Maybe I will bury your head next to your parents' grave and let your family reunite."

Li Zhan's breathing became much calmer, his eyes fixed on Qingyang without a trace of fear, "I won't let you kill me, you can't kill me."

Taoist Qingyang sneered, "In this situation, do you still have any tricks to escape?"

The lonely, sad, and skinny little body slowly picked up the rotten wooden stake it was sitting on. The rotten wooden stake was less than two feet long and less than half a foot wide, and had been dried by the wind, but it took him a lot of effort to drag it up.

Holding the wooden stake, he glared at Qingyang and said calmly: "You don't have to worry about this. In short, no matter how high your cultivation is, you can't kill me." After that, he leaned back, turned over and jumped into the rolling river behind him while holding the wooden stake.

(End of this chapter)