Chapter 69: The Stairs

Because I had no choice but to charge forward. If there was even a glimmer of hope, I had to seize it. I had my master’s life on my back. When I was still young, he protected me, and he was always reliable, like Optimus Prime standing in front of me.

Now, the responsibility on my shoulders is gradually shifting to me. How can I let him down?

Under the bright sun, my sweat and blood splattered from somewhere stuck to my body and face… The main street of the small town became a long street in my eyes… I don’t know when it started, but every footprint I left was wet, and later, it was a bloody footprint.

The sense of desolation in my heart grew weaker and weaker, replaced by numbness and killing… I walked forward for fifty meters, but I couldn’t remember how many times I swung the knife in my hand, or how many times I smashed my fists out.

The secret cave opened up again… I was about to reach my limit… Even with the power of the earth surging in, I couldn’t help but gasp for breath. This exhaustion was more mental and spiritual… This was the pressure of a real “battlefield.”

At this time, I passed by the old man. He was surrounded by a group of old men practicing magic. I couldn’t pay attention to him. There were always five or six people chasing or attacking me.

I passed him in the midst of my escape and fighting… but I caught a glimpse of him hesitating slightly, as if he wanted to say something?

This made my heart suddenly move. In an almost desperate situation, I still wanted to fight for myself. Although my breathing was like my lungs were pumping air, and talking was a “luxury,” I couldn’t help but shout, “Old man, don’t stop me from going up the mountain, no!”

At this moment, a fist from nowhere suddenly smashed into my temple. I dodged the blow by moving sideways, but the blow left my face numb. Anger made me grab the fist and, without thinking, I used my strength to pull it hard and slam it to the ground.

The sound of a bone snapping, accompanied by a scream, I had no time to worry about who the owner of the fist was, but looked sideways at the old man and said almost with gritted teeth, “Because you can’t stop people’s hope of living, it doesn’t matter if I die. My master is going to die, and I will become a ghost. The first person I will look for is you.”

The old man’s face changed. I think I must have looked very “ferocious” at this time. Although the words I said were nonsense, they made people have to take them seriously.

But the old man’s face was more hesitant… I didn’t bother to ask him what he was hesitating about. I just took advantage of the shock of the crazy attack just now, and the subordinates were afraid to advance for a while, so I rushed forward a few more meters.

But at this moment, I heard the old man’s hoarse voice in my ear, in broken Chinese: “Did they just call you Chen Chengyi?”

I was busy, busy killing. In this kind of killing that accumulates people’s negative emotions, I was also full of anger towards this old man. Coupled with his inexplicable question, I directly shouted at him, “I’m not Chen Chengyi, are you? Are you asking this because you feel guilty? Do you want to burn some paper money for me tomorrow to make up for it? Don’t worry, I won’t die, I’ll live well!”

The old man seemed to know that I was angry and didn’t care about it at all. Instead, he asked me, “Is Chen Chengyi from the Li family? Is Jiang Lichun on your back?”

“You’re talking nonsense…” I was getting more and more angry at being harassed, and I subconsciously wanted to curse, but I was still relatively sober. I thought about it and knew that the question was not simple. I asked back, “What do you mean?”

The old man didn’t explain, and directly said to the people around him, “Help him.”

Then, before I could react, I felt a strange force being exerted on me. Under the Heavenly Eye, I clearly saw that it was the power exerted by the old man on the people in the town… It was even divided into 1/20 of its weight and exerted on me.

This power is very strange. In addition to making people feel powerful, it also makes them feel mentally excited and full… And I have a hunch that this power comes from heaven and earth, and as long as it is not excessive, it will not cause much harm to the body.

Is this the magic of witchcraft? But I know that everything has a price. From the old man who was still chanting, I saw something called vitality flowing away at ten times the normal rate!

“You go up the mountain,” the old man said, looking at me.

With the support of this power, I felt as if I had gained new motivation… My mental and spiritual exhaustion was also appeased, and I broke through more easily. I also had a little free time, so I wanted to ask the old man why he had helped me.

He said to me, “You will know everything when you reach the mountain… If possible, call the people on the mountain. Hurry, I will help you. Don’t waste any time. Go to the mountain!”

As he spoke, he took out a dagger with a strange shape and suddenly slashed his chest. At that moment, I seemed to see something drilling into his chest… At this time, the poor Qi who was fighting suddenly roared again. After this roar, I didn’t have to look to feel that this poor Qi was even more fierce.

If that is the case, the holy king who is good at spiritual power will also be dragged into the battle. The remaining subordinates will be held back by the people in the town, and I will definitely be able to break through smoothly.

Just as I thought, the old man whistled a strange whistle again, and the people in the town began to gather around me quickly, attacking the subordinates who were chasing me… I finally got away, and I was so happy that I didn’t care about anything else. I quickly ran towards the entrance of the mountain with my master on my back.

It turns out that he wants to help me, and everything can be made simple… And I don’t have to worry too much about the people in the town. After all, they are now in the upper hand, and the main combat power is being dragged by the spirit of Qiongqi. If there is no strong reinforcements, even Yang Sheng’s forces will be defeated.

But I don’t want to owe this old man for no reason. He even told me to call the people on the mountain. I will do everything I can to do this in a hurry.

In fact, if it weren’t for his help, I would have been at my wit’s end. The time for the secret technique was almost up, and if I delayed any longer, I would eventually become exhausted and collapse here.

Without any obstacles, I ran with my master on my back, as if nothing was there, and I ran very fast… The entrance to the mountain, which seemed far away to me, was only a moment away.

It was still the familiar cobblestone road, and the strange statue of Qiongqi was so familiar to me at the moment that I didn’t think twice before rushing up the mountain with my master on my back.

I ran up the mountain in three or two steps, and on the way I saw the luggage that my master and I had thrown here before. I took it in my hand and rushed up without stopping for almost half a step.

I knew that we had only just escaped danger, and that the farther we ran into the mountains, the safer we would be. At least according to previous experience, there were many obstacles in the mountains, and it would be difficult to search for us. The chances of survival for me and my master were much greater.

At this time, the soul-wounded Master finally felt a little better. I heard him say urgently in my ear, “Chengyi, stop, stop!”

Stop? How could Master tell me to stop at this time? I still had a few more steps to climb. But out of some kind of tacit understanding and trust, I quickly stopped… I asked Master, “Master, what do you want to say?”

Instead of answering me directly, the master asked me an inexplicable question: “Count how many steps you have climbed. Don’t make a mistake.”

My secret time was about to expire, but Master asked me to count how many steps I had climbed. This was simply… However, I endured my impatience and patiently began to count the steps one by one. Master said not to count incorrectly, so I dared not count incorrectly, and I counted very slowly and carefully.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to climb for long. When my impatience was about to consume me, I finally counted clearly and said to the master, “Master, there are 89 steps in total.”

“Fortunately, fortunately…” Master’s tone was like someone who had just escaped from a disaster, saying “Fortunately” over and over again.

What on earth was going on?