CHAPTER 655: CHAPTER 655: SURVIVAL IN A TREE HOLE

"Disciple, don’t be angry, urgh~ If the old Taoist doesn’t kill them... they will kill us..." Zhang Zidao, while sprinting along with me, painfully vomited blood, his body suddenly became heavy and he collapsed, "Otherwise, you throw your master away to distract those horseshoe crabs and escape on your own..."

Seeing that the horseshoe crabs were about to catch up to our heels, I couldn’t hesitate.

I hoisted Zhang Zidao onto my back and started to run as fast as I could, "Hey, you know I couldn’t possibly leave you behind, so was there any need to say that I should escape on my own?"

"In a life-and-death situation, who doesn’t prioritize themselves first..." Zhang Zidao coughed a few times and vomited blood again.

This time, he spewed it right into my collar.

Really, what a pitfall of an old man.

While running, I had to endure the stench of the old Taoist priest’s blood invading my collar, "Honestly, master, don’t tell me you’re just testing me with this act."

"No way, how could that be, your character is absolutely trustworthy," Zhang Zidao vehemently denied, "there’s no need for any test."

"I wish it were just an act, so that..."

So that when I’m about to die,

he could suddenly come back to full strength and save me from this dire situation.

But such thoughts are just wishful thinking.

I touched the bracelet on my wrist, "Shenshen, can you let the Ice Silkworm help out?"

"Young Madam, have you encountered danger?"

Xiao Shenshen sounded anxious, "But alas... the little silkworm baby is too tired, it’s asleep."

"Is it because... it expended too much while exchanging the Life Lamp for me?" I asked.

Xiao Shenshen: "Yes."

The last flicker of hope in my heart extinguished. Could it be... that heaven wants to end Zhang Zidao and me?

Suddenly.

Not far away, a large tree hollow that could fit a person appeared, next to which was covered with light blue mushrooms.

Those light blue mushrooms are local poison mushrooms of Miao Border, whose smell can ward off insects.

In a moment of desperate ingenuity, I stuffed Zhang Zidao, who had a look of impending doom, into the tree hollow.

Kneeling on the ground, I couldn’t care less about the damage Spiritual Power could do to my body.

I cast several protective talismans in succession, turning the tree hollow into a solid and independent space with a Seal.

I even tied a camouflaging cloth strip on the trunk to hide Zhang Zidao’s presence, "Master, if I’m still alive, I’ll come back for you."

"What are you going to do? Wanwan, you can’t outrun those horseshoe crabs!!" Zhang Zidao, once inside the tree hollow, became instantly anxious.

He tried to rush out but was bounced back by the Seal of the talisman.

Overwhelmed by anger and frustration, he vomited another mouthful of blood, "Foolish, let me out. I can lure them, gather them all in one place, and burn them all to death with a fire charm. You are not capable right now..."

"You’ve been rebounded by the charm, using talismans now would be suicidal; just stay put." I had only used a little bit of Spiritual Power to lay down Spirit Talismans to protect Zhang Zidao.

Doing this on a normal day would just be using a trivial amount of power.

Yet at this moment, I could faintly feel the depletion and dryness of Spiritual Power in my veins.

Well aware, I knew I definitely could not use any talismans in this state.

I could only keep running with all my might, hoping to find plants that could repel those horseshoe crabs along the way, and I had just noticed the footwork Zhang Zidao used.

Deep inside, I already had a realization but hadn’t tried it yet.

After running through the dense forest for a while, my steps began without any pattern.

But gradually, a blue lotus flower appeared beneath my feet, and with just this one petal, I was able to leap forward ten meters.

With the next step, there were two petals of lotus below me.

That one was fifteen or sixteen meters long, and although I couldn’t produce a whole lotus, my strides were getting larger, and the rustling, dreadful sound of the insects chasing me was completely gone.

It meant I had shaken off the group of horseshoe crabs.

Before I could even feel relieved, something suddenly caught my foot.

When I looked down, to my surprise, it was a vine covered in moss, which was firmly wrapped around my ankle.

And next to it, there was a cave, from which the root tendrils were dragging me down forcefully.

I managed to grab the edge of the hole in time and pulled out the Swiss Small Knife I carried with me, hacking fiercely at the vine!