Xiao Chen was very tired, but he had to try his best to keep up with Mais. Russ stood behind him, holding him with a rope, and would kick Xiao Chen if he slowed down. He also held the machete in his hand, and never left Xiao Chen's back.
Magicians always have some strange methods, and Russ, as a powerful warrior, dare not be careless.
Xiao Chen walked in the forest, thinking in his mind that he had to find a way to escape. He recalled the failure of the magic last night, and secretly wondered if the memories given to him by the souls of the dead had worn away his fighting spirit and undermined his confidence.
He must find another chance to try the Heart of Fear. As a magician who only knows combat magic, it is his only resort.
He followed the bandits for a night and realized that they both feared and valued him. If they hadn't used his ransom as a way to make a comeback, they would have killed him long ago. But now, the two bandits had worked hard to escort him for half the night, and they certainly didn't want to give up. And now that they were far away from the camp, they should have relaxed a little, and maybe this was an opportunity.
"I can't walk anymore." When they reached an open space, Xiao Chen sat down on the ground and leaned against a rock like a bachelor. No matter how Ruth pulled him, he couldn't get up.
Ruth pulled out a knife and gestured in front of Xiao Chen, angrily saying: "Stand up and keep walking. Otherwise, believe it or not, I will chop you down?"
"It's no use shouting. I just don't have the strength left. You can kill me, and you won't get a penny of ransom." Xiao Chen answered in a leisurely tone, looking fearless.
Mais put his hands on his hips and looked at him coldly, "You are still in our hands. Even if we don't kill you, we have plenty of ways to teach you a lesson. You'd better be sensible."
"If you torture me, I will commit suicide. Don't think I can't do it. As long as I die in the meditation world, I will become a walking corpse and you will get nothing." Xiao Chen said.
The two horse thieves looked at each other, not knowing whether what he said was true or not. Mais sneered, "As a precious magician, I don't believe you would commit suicide." He raised his hand and slapped Xiao Chen, making half of his face red. "Why don't you die for me to see?"
Xiao Chen entered a meditative state without saying a word. After only a few seconds, his face began to turn pale and he began to twitch continuously.
Max's face suddenly turned ugly. Ruth shouted helplessly: "Old Wolf, he, he seems to be serious. It looks like he will really die soon."
"Wait a minute." Mais stopped Rus with his hands.
"His face is turning blue and his lips are turning purple. If we wait any longer, the gold coins will be gone."
"Damn it, shake him awake."
Ruth stepped forward, grabbed Xiao Chen's shoulders, and shook him vigorously, "Wake up! Wake up!"
Xiao Chen slowly opened his eyes, coughed a few times, and his complexion slowly recovered. He took a breath for a while, looked up and said to Mais, "Look, I'm telling the truth."
Mais pointed the knife in his hand at Xiao Chen's nose, but the latter showed no fear and looked at him calmly. Somehow, after being on the verge of death, he felt that the two people in front of him were a little ridiculous.
Nothing is more important than death. If you are not afraid of death, what else can you be afraid of
Mais slowly put the knife down, "What do you want?"
"First, I'm tired and want to rest. Second, I'm hungry and need to eat. Since you want to take me as a prisoner in exchange for ransom, you should give me the treatment I deserve."
Mais stared at Xiao Chen and walked back and forth twice. He snorted coldly and put the knife back into the sheath. He said to Ruth, "I'm hungry too. I'm going to hunt some prey. You keep an eye on him."
Not long after Mais left, Xiao Chen said to Ruth, "I need to poop."
"Wait until Mays comes back."
"I can't hold it anymore. You can always make the decision on this matter, right? You're not his follower."
"Why are you so fussy?" Ruth said irritably, "Then solve it here!"
"But my hands are tied. Can you serve me?"
Ruth was a man who loved to drink and eat meat. He had never done anything like this before. After hesitating for a moment, he untied the rope in Xiao Chen's hand. He warned him sternly, "Don't do anything crooked. If I find out that you are doing anything, I will chop you up even if I don't ask for the ransom!"
Xiao Chen looked into his eyes and said, "You'd better change your temper, otherwise it will be hard to die."
"What are you talking about?" Ruth asked puzzled.
"I almost experienced death just now, so I learned a secret." Xiao Chen rubbed his numb hands and said, "People will experience a trial before they die. All the pain inflicted on others will be returned to themselves."
"What nonsense are you talking about? You think you can scare me with such a boring story?" Ruth sneered.
"Why should I scare you? I just experienced it. When I was a kid, I tripped over a friend and he fell. My soul just felt the pain of falling. I had already stepped on the ladder to the Kingdom of God, but I almost fell down because of this. And you killed so many people, I'm afraid it will be much more unbearable than me. You take care of yourself. No matter what you do for a living, the God of Nature will not care. But if you have to bear the consequences of your actions in your life, if you let yourself fall off the ladder to the Kingdom of God, your soul will be forever condemned to the wilderness."
"What a joke. Why have I never heard the priest talk about it?" Russ hesitated.
"Because he has never faced death and has never returned to the human world from the kingdom of God. But God has hinted that people should live in harmony, not harm or kill, otherwise they cannot go to the kingdom of God called the 'Garden of Nature', right? Why do you think they warn everyone like this? It all makes sense. Think about how many times you have chopped others with your knife in your life? The knives are still on your body. What kind of torture is that? Can you endure walking up a staircase with knives and axes?" Xiao Chen didn't know the teachings of the Temple of Nature, but he bet that the horse thief in front of him didn't know much about it either.
"I don't believe it! Shut up!" Ruth was a little flustered, but a trace of fear flashed in his eyes. For people of this era, having no destination after death is a very terrifying thing.
Right now, Xiao Chen looked directly into Ruth's eyes and seized this opportunity. He didn't need Ruth to believe these lies. He only needed a little hesitation, a little wavering, and a crack would appear in his heart. The heart of fear was fully activated, and the trembling power of fear rushed from his eyes into Ruth's mind. Ruth opened his eyes wide, covered his chest, and fell to the ground trembling.
Xiao Chen snatched the knife from his hand and stabbed it hard, piercing Rus' chest.
Only then did Russ come back to his senses from his fear. He grabbed the blade with both hands, but he was unable to pull it out.
"You... you are lying... it's all... fake." After saying this, his eyes became dull.
"This is good news for you, isn't it?" Xiao Chen let go of the knife and asked back.
After killing Ruszhi, Xiao Chen wanted to escape, but he remembered that Mais had followed his scent last night. Rather than being chased by the other party halfway, it would be better to set a trap here and wait for the rabbit.
Xiao Chen now understood that the effect of using the magic of Heart of Fear would be doubled if the opponent was already afraid or could look directly into the opponent's eyes. What he had to consider now was how to make Max see his eyes while he was also distracted.
Xiao Chen thought for a while, then took off Rus's clothes and exchanged them with himself. Rus was tall and bald, but Xiao Chen was wearing a hooded robe. With the robe and the hood on, he fell face down on the ground, so it was difficult to see any flaws. Xiao Chen stabbed him hard on the back with a knife, creating the illusion that the magician was hacked to death from behind. Then he took some blood, smeared it on his body and face, and put on the opponent's helmet. He ran to a more conspicuous position than Rus, and fell to the ground like Rus.
I hope that guy will be fooled. Xiao Chen pinched the protective necklace that Morey gave him on his chest. If anything unexpected happened, he could only rely on this to save his life.
The wait for the end was always particularly long. There were several times when Xiao Chen wanted to just jump up and run away, but there was a voice in his heart that kept saying, this is the best opportunity, kill Mais, kill Mais! Revenge! Revenge!
Xiao Chen stayed and continued to wait for the opportunity to make the final move.
After a long time, just when Xiao Chen was about to lose his patience, Mais finally rushed back with two pheasants.
He could smell the bloody smell in the air from a distance. When he got closer, he saw Russ and the magician lying on the ground covered in blood, and he didn't know whether they were dead or alive. He didn't dare to move, and carefully observed the surroundings. When he found nothing unusual, he slowly approached.
Xiao Chen felt his heart beating wildly. He didn't dare to move at all. He held his breath and silently prepared his magic.
Mais glanced at the two men and decided to check on his companions first.
He slowly walked to the side of Ruth, who was pretending to be Xiao Chen, and checked him. He touched Ruth's back and found that there was no injury on his body, but blood was oozing from his lower body. He threw away the two pheasants, pulled out his machete, and carefully turned Ruth over.
Even though he was very careful, he was still surprised.
This is not Ruth!
Under the helmet was a face covered in dried blood and dust. Mais was startled and instinctively held the knife across his body, ready to block. Suddenly, the man's eyes opened. They were pure black, without whites, and with a red spiral in the middle, strange and terrifying. The black gaze pierced into Mais' mind like a sharp blade.
Darkness came from all sides, the forest had long since disappeared, and countless black ghosts of strange shapes surrounded him from all sides. Some of these ghosts looked like animals, some looked like humans, and some were so strange that they could not be described. They roared, laughed strangely, stared with the same red and black eyes, and got closer and closer.
Max wanted to swing his scimitar to fight them, but he had no strength at all. The tallest of the ghosts laughed strangely, and suddenly stretched out his arm with a swing, and his sharp nails scratched towards Max's throat. He raised his arm to block it, but his arm broke with a sound, and his throat was cut off by a blow. Max stumbled a few steps, holding his throat, and finally fell down unwillingly...
Xiao Chen held Rus's scimitar and watched Max fall to the ground like a "big" character, dying in a nightmare. He suddenly felt a sense of peace and joy in his heart. He understood that this was not his own feeling, but the mark left in his heart by the dead people in Phoenix Village, which was finally freed at this moment.
At this moment, endless fatigue surged in from all directions. Running away, being captured, luring, counterattacking, and releasing magic beyond his limits had exhausted a great deal of his energy.
This exhaustion was unstoppable. Xiao Chen didn't have time to deal with anything, so he leaned against a tree and fell asleep. In his dream, he seemed to be back in the village where the old man and the child laughed loudly, and the boy and the girl danced happily. Luo Ling was also there, dancing, smiling, and finally gave him a hug.
…seemed to feel someone shaking her.
Many people were still talking: "Xiao Chen... Sir Xiao, I finally... found you... You are really... amazing."
He tried to open his eyes a little bit and seemed to see the tall figure of Chen Hansheng, then he fell into a deep sleep again.