Now?" Lin JingYu asked.
Shi ZhenXian was sure that no matter what
he did, the other would follow him. So he just turned towards the door of the room and walked towards the exit.
As expected, Lin JingYu followed him down
the stairs.
The two of them spotted a small side door
and used it to try to be less suspicious.
The village they had come across was rather
small. Less than fifteen houses, and a couple of inns. At the end of the main
road, a thick vegetation could be seen not far away, stretching as far as the
eye could see.
The two of them walked briskly in that
direction.
When they entered that forest, there didn't
seem to be anything strange. The moonlight slightly illuminated the environment, allowing them to distinguish what they found in front of them without too much difficulty.
As they advanced into the forest, the
vegetation became thicker and the trees closer together. In addition to this,
the little nocturnal animals that they had been able to spot until that moment,
were no longer there.
"Why are you tightening the rope?" these
simple words spoken by Lin JingYu gave the Taoist a shiver down his spine.
"I'm not doing anything." Shi ZhenXian
looked at him, bewildered. He moved his eyes to the rope that continued to wrap
itself around the other's forearms, turning and twisting on itself.
Little by little the movements of the rope
became more and more violent. Lin JingYu, certainly accustomed to pain, could
not help but grit his teeth against such force.
"Do something!" For the first time, Shi
ZhenXian felt as if he heard sincere words from the other.
So, he stretched out his hand to try to
pull back the rope. But as soon as he tried to make contact, he felt a huge
negative energy coming from it. He was forced to pull back his palm as if he
had just been hit.
It's a spiritual instrument, how can it
emit this energy.
Shi ZhenXian tried to look around, but he
could not see anything unusual.
"I think someone or… something is
controlling it. Do you think you can hold out for a little longer, I will try
to purify it."
Lin JingYu nodded. His bare arms were now
red from the constant rubbing of that crazy rope.
"If you can't stay still, sit on the
ground."
The two of them sat down and Shi ZhenXian
held out his hands to begin the purification process. The power he released
seemed to slow down the artifact's out-of-control motion.
But before he could begin to see any
significant improvement, a wave of killing intent hit them both. It came from that
same source.
The rope suddenly loosened, starting to
twirl chaotically through the air. In a bright and impetuous flash, it was once
again entangled in flesh.
The two cultivators were forced to close
their eyes at that moment. Shi ZhenXian slowly opened them again.
"It's still wrapped around your
arm," he pointed out. "Where is the other end...AAAH"
Lin JingYu stood up from the ground at that
moment, not realizing that he was pulling something with him.
He looked at his arm and saw, a foot??
"..."