Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 11: Encountering a Strange Beast at the End of the Road
A cool breeze blew, and Li Zhan shivered with cold. After coughing several times in succession, he was really out of strength. He was walking to the foot of the mountain. Not far away there was an old banyan tree with tangled roots, lush leaves, and side branches that reached the ground, forming a forest of one tree.

Li Zhan staggered over and saw that the aerial roots of the banyan tree were densely intertwined, like the beard of the banyan tree. It was a natural thatched hut. He crawled through the gap and came to the main trunk. He found that there was a space as wide as one person on the trunk, which was just enough for Li Zhan to rest.

Li Zhan could not hold on any longer. He had walked a long way to avoid freezing to death. Tiredness, pain and sadness all came over him, and he fell asleep as if fainting.

Although the banyan tree blocked most of the cold wind, the moisture and coldness were not reduced much. Li Zhan was wearing a brocade Hu clothing sewn by Na Lanxue. It had faded after being soaked in water and had cuts in many places. How could he resist the damp and cold on such a cold night?

Li Zhan curled up his body, still trembling all over. After a violent cough, Li Zhan had to wake up. He smelled blood at the corners of his mouth. Li Zhan thought to himself: "Am I going to die soon? It would be a good result if I die here." Then the coldness penetrated into his weak body and his consciousness gradually disappeared.

He smelled the orchid fragrance on his mother's body, heard her soft piano music lingering in his ears, and even felt the warmth in her arms. He thought he would see his mother soon, and tried hard to find those beautiful eyes, but there was nothing he could do but to retain a trace of warmth from his mother.

……

Sunlight shone in from the gap. Li Zhan slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the banyan tree with lush branches and leaves. "Another day has passed!" When he was about to get up, he found something furry, warm and slippery in his arms. He looked down and was startled. He didn't know when a white fox was curled up in his arms.

The white fox was flawless white all over and had three tails. It sensed that Li Zhan's body had moved and moved closer to him.

Li Zhan smiled bitterly to himself: "It turns out that the warmth is the body temperature of the white fox. If it weren't for it, there would be no sunshine today!" He stroked the white fox's smooth fur and said to himself: "I chose this banyan tree because I was desperate. Do you also like this banyan tree like me? If you like it, I will give it to you and I will look for another one."

He picked up the white fox and put it on the ground. He was about to leave. The white fox raised its head and looked at Li Zhan with its bright eyes. There seemed to be reluctance in its eyes. Li Zhan smiled and said, "Don't you want me to leave?"

The white fox nodded slightly. Li Zhan stared with his eyes wide open and asked, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

The white fox nodded again, which surprised Li Zhan. He never thought that foxes could really understand human language. For a moment, he didn't know how to treat the fox, whether to treat it as a fox or as a human.

Li Zhan asked, "Why don't you let me leave? Do you want to keep me and suck away my yang energy?" Li Zhan had read many rare ancient books that recorded stories about fox demons. "Let me tell you, I'm not King Zhou. Besides, I won't live for many days. It's useless for you to suck it away!" Seeing a hint of disdain in the reluctant eyes, Wu Zhan found it funny.

After carefully observing the snow-white fox, he found a bloodstain on its left hind paw. He thought to himself, "Turns out it's injured!" He parted the fur and saw a blood hole the size of a fingertip inside, as if it had been pierced by a sharp and poisonous object. The area around the wound had turned black.

Li Zhan smiled bitterly and said, "So you are really the same as me, at the end of your rope, disabled and powerless. But I can't help you, and you can't help me either. Well, how about we wait and see who dies first?"

After hearing what Li Zhan said, the white fox rested its head on its front paws and squinted its eyes, as if to say, "I don't want to bother with you!"

After a while of silence, Li Zhan felt empty in his stomach and went to look for the two strings of dried fish. As a result, he only found one string of fish, and the other string was just branches. He thought to himself: "Did I accidentally drop it? No, I remember it was still there when I came in." Looking at the white fox lying on the ground, he immediately understood and said with a smile: "It must be you, little demon, who stole my dried fish last night. Well, if you hadn't been by my side last night, I guess my dried fish would have been wasted. Just eat it."

The white fox lay on the ground with its ears flattened and its eyes closed, ignoring what Li Zhan said, seeming very arrogant.

Li Zhan doesn't talk much, but for some reason, under such a banyan tree, he became talkative. Maybe it's because he is too lonely.

Li Zhan ate two dried fish and felt very thirsty. He got up and climbed out of the banyan tree to look for water. Not far away, he found a spring with clear water. Li Zhan took a sip of water and drank it. He felt that the water was sweet and refreshing. After drinking a few more sips, he found a big leaf, rolled up some water, returned to the banyan tree, handed it to the white fox and said, "You ate too much fish. I guess you are thirsty."

Unexpectedly, the fox didn't even look at it, but just lay on the ground to rest. Li Zhan said, "It seems you still don't want to drink it." After that, he poured the water away. He wanted to get angry, but then he thought, "It's not worth getting angry with a fox."

He walked out of the banyan tree, collected hay and leaves nearby, and spread them under the banyan tree. It took him half a day to spread them. He lay on them and said, "This time I won't get wet when I sleep here." Just as he finished speaking, he heard a rumbling thunder. It started to rain. The rain got heavier and heavier. Water drops kept sliding down from the leaves and falling under the banyan tree. The hay was soaked by the rain. Li Zhan sighed and said, "God is always against me."

Fortunately, the rain didn't last too long, and the sun soon came out. Li Zhan sat under the banyan tree and said something in a stern manner, "Every autumn rain brings a chill!"

The day passed like this, and the autumn wind became even colder at night. The white fox crawled into Li Zhan's arms again, and the night was spent in hardship again.

When Li Zhan woke up in the morning, he looked at the white fox in his arms and murmured, "I should give you a name. Calling you White Fox is not easy to say."

……

"Wanjiao, what do you think?" When the white fox heard the name "Wanjiao", it raised its head, glanced at Li Zhan, and continued to curl up lazily.

There were still two dried fish left. Li Zhan smiled bitterly and said, "We won't starve to death here. I need to find some food today. I wonder if there are some wild fruits on this mountain." As he said this, he was about to get up.

Suddenly, he heard a 'swish' sound in the grass outside the banyan tree. The white fox in his arms immediately became alert, its ears erect and its body trembling slightly. Li Zhan also thought the sound was strange, as if an animal was crawling towards him. He looked outside but found nothing unusual. He thought to himself, "I'm not afraid of death anymore, so what's the point of worrying about these things!" Just as he was about to look away, he suddenly heard the leaves rustling above his head. He looked up and was shocked to see a centipede half a foot thick slowly crawling towards him along the tree trunk. It had a pair of antennae like a long snake spitting out its tongue, the fangs under its red head drooled with sticky saliva, and its densely packed legs were like sharp knives.

Li Zhan hurriedly picked up the white fox and stumbled towards the outside of the banyan tree. The huge centipede suddenly flew down from the trunk, missed the fox, and without stopping, it swooped out and chased after Li Zhan.

There was no way Li Zhan could outrun the centipede. Looking back, he saw its tentacles were about to touch his butt. In desperation, he held onto a tree trunk and made a sudden turn. The centipede was busy chasing it, but it didn't expect Li Zhan to do this suddenly. It slid out five or six feet before turning around and chasing him.

Li Zhan hurriedly crawled back under the banyan tree, trying to use the banyan tree's aerial roots to block the fox from using its full speed. This trick really worked. Li Zhan crawled in, and after the centipede, which was more than ten feet long, came in, he held the white fox and went out from the other side. After the centipede came out, he crawled in from the other side again. He went back and forth countless times, and Li Zhan became more and more tired. He even wanted to give up.

This centipede was also persistent and kept chasing, probably trying to exhaust Li Zhan's strength. Several times it saw Li Zhan coming out, but it still chose to go in, perhaps because it was used to this way of chasing.

Li Zhan really couldn't run anymore. He kept coughing and his sleeves were covered in blood. He was tripped by a tree root and fell to the ground. The white fox fell out of his arms. At this time, the centipede was very close and slowly crawled towards him. Li Zhan sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

He stretched out his hand to pry off the dead tree trunk beside him so that he could fight the centipede, but his strength was too weak and he couldn't break it after several attempts.

The white fox limped to its feet, stared with its eyes wide open, bared its fangs, made a hissing sound, and all three tails stood up.

The centipede raised its red antennae and pointed its fangs at the white fox, ready to attack. Li Zhan then realized that the centipede was chasing the white fox, not him. "Could it be that the injuries to the white fox were caused by this centipede?" Looking at the many scratches on the shell on the centipede's head, he was certain of the situation.

Just as the centipede was about to bite the white fox, Li Zhan threw a handful of mud and sand at it. The centipede couldn't stop and had a mouthful of sand. Li Zhan took this opportunity to pick up the white fox and continued to crawl a few more steps.

The centipede had a mouthful of mud and sand and was extremely angry. It jumped towards Li Zhan, knocked him down, opened its mouth wide, raised its head, and bit Li Zhan. Li Zhan hurriedly used his hand to stop it, but his arm was immediately bitten by the centipede's mouth. Li Zhan immediately felt a piercing pain in his right arm. Li Zhan used his other hand to hit the shell on the centipede's head, trying to break free.

But the centipede's bite was too strong, and Wuzhan hit it hard, just like a caress, and the centipede didn't feel any pain at all.

Just when there was no hope, the centipede miraculously opened its mouth. Li Zhan immediately retracted his arm which was about to break. He saw the centipede spit out the blood flowing from Li Zhan's arm with a "hiss! hiss!"

Li Zhan covered his bleeding arm with his hand, gritted his teeth and sneered: "The poison I took is more poisonous than yours. If you suck my blood, I guarantee that you will be poisoned to death!"

Seeing the white fox still around, Li Zhan shouted to the white fox, "I don't have many days left. You run away. I'll hold it back. If you're alive, just remember to come back and bury you for me." Seeing that the white fox did not leave, he said, "Without you, I would have frozen to death long ago. This is to repay you for saving my life. I'm a useless man if I'm still alive. Run away quickly. It can't go back. As long as I stand here, I can stop it for a moment. I'm more poisonous than it. Maybe it doesn't dare to eat me. Run away quickly, otherwise it will be too late!" The white fox stared at Li Zhan for a moment, tears in the corners of its eyes. It limped and looked back every step, and left reluctantly.

The centipede finally spat out all of Li Zhan's blood. Just as Li Zhan said, due to the narrow space and the air roots on both sides, the centipede could not turn back. The centipede hissed anxiously and was about to attack. Li Zhan shook his injured wrist hard, splashing blood on the centipede. The centipede seemed to be afraid of Li Zhan's blood and quickly closed its huge mouth to avoid the flying blood drops. Li Zhan was secretly relieved, "When my blood dries up, the fox will probably be far away. It is not in vain that I can save a fox before I die."

Due to Li Zhan's obstruction, the centipede became frenzied and stretched out its sharp front legs to swing towards Li Zhan. Li Zhan hurriedly stepped back to dodge and was nearly scratched. He hurriedly slapped blood onto the centipede's head. The centipede quickly retracted its head and rubbed it on the ground repeatedly. After wiping off the blood, it pounced on Li Zhan again. While Li Zhan slapped blood, he retreated too slowly and his calf was scratched. His trousers were torn and blood flowed out.

Li Zhan felt a sharp pain in his leg again. He gritted his teeth and looked back to see that he was only a few steps away from the banyan tree. He thought to himself, "I can't retreat any further. It shouldn't be too far away. I'll catch up with it soon."

This centipede was about to become a spirit and was in the transformation stage. Its body was also in a weak state. It wanted to suck the blood of the white fox to quickly improve its power, but the white fox accidentally ran away. It took two days to find this place. It never expected that a weak child would block it here, and the child's blood restrained its toxicity, making its venom glands ineffective. How could it not be anxious?

Li Zhan suddenly coughed violently several times, slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and his eyes began to blur. Li Zhan thought to himself: "It seems that I am about to die. This is the only way."

When the centipede saw that Li Zhan was trembling in confusion, it bent its body and rushed towards Li Zhan with a "bang". Li Zhan wanted to spit out blood, but it was too late. He raised his arms to protect his chest. With a "bang", Li Zhan was knocked away. As soon as he landed on the ground, Li Zhan felt dizzy and the centipede rushed out with him.

The centipede did not chase the white fox. It stood up half a meter high, hissing, and danced with more than ten legs, trying to kill Li Zhan to vent its anger.

Li Zhan was lying on his back on the ground. Seeing the centipede stand up, he felt sad. "Am I going to leave soon? Is there nothing to be nostalgic about in this world? Maybe I really shouldn't have come to this world. Why should I suffer so much and leave? Never mind. One day less I live means one day less pain. Mother..."

(End of this chapter)