Chronicles of the Green Vine: A Mortal’s Path to Immortality

The man in black sneered, watching Zhang Ling focus solely on defense. In his eyes, this kid was no threat. He glanced at the ongoing fight of his companion.

Their target, the old man, possessed the same strength as him, a cultivator at the twelfth level of Qi Refining. Although he and his companion had worn him down considerably.

His companion, however, only had the strength of the tenth level of Qi Refining and was currently evenly matched with the old man. It seemed difficult to achieve victory in a short time.

This made his expression even more unpleasant. The man in black patted his storage pouch, and a streak of red light flashed and disappeared.

Zhang Ling's situation was dire. The Giant Root Vines' mucus was highly corrosive, and the Cold Star Sand surrounding him was almost depleted.

Continuing like this was definitely not an option. Despite the protection of the Golden Light Talisman, it wouldn't last long.

Merely defending was not enough.

Zhang Ling inadvertently flicked his left hand, scattering a few strands of tiny vines on the ground. Then, he cast several hand seals on the two magical artifacts in front of him.

Instantly, the Cold Star Sand lit up with a blue spiritual light. With a muffled thud, the Cold Star Sand contracted and expanded before exploding.

The exploding Cold Star Sand transformed into countless faint blue light spots, scattering in all directions.

In an instant, it riddled the surrounding Giant Root Vines. Without hesitation, Zhang Ling raised the Earth Element Shield, flashed out of the Giant Root Vines' encirclement, and fled into the distance, seemingly intending to escape.

This scene naturally fell into the eyes of the man in black. A strange arc appeared on his lips, and a streak of red light flashed from his hand.

Changes were also occurring on Zhang Ling as he fled. He knew the man in black would never let him escape easily.

At this moment, he activated another surge of spiritual power within his body. A bulging sensation appeared in his left arm. After the parasitic vines absorbed his blood essence, they turned blue and red.

He controlled the transforming vines, turning them into tiny tendrils that rapidly spread throughout his body, forming a layer of defense.

In an instant, the upper half of his body was covered in vines, forming a vine armor. Even some fine vine threads appeared on his head.

These changes all happened during the escape. Just as he finished, before the vines could cover his entire body, the golden light shield around Zhang Ling emitted a piercing sound.

Zhang Ling knew the enemy's attack had arrived. He only had time to turn his head and saw a red light piercing his shield, and a crisp cracking sound came as the shield of the Golden Light Talisman developed some fine cracks.

A red light flashed, piercing through and heading straight for his head.

At this critical moment, without time to consider anything else, Zhang Ling twisted his body, and the red light grazed his shoulder and hit the ground.

Zhang Ling rolled on the ground in a somewhat disheveled manner. He scanned the red light with his divine sense and found it to be a red needle about a foot long.

"Kid, your death is at hand." The man in black had already rushed in front of him, revealing a cruel smile. "My Red Line Needle is coated with poison. Even if you dodge the vital points, how do you feel now, kid?"

Zhang Ling felt his left shoulder was already numb, and even the spiritual power within his body was affected.

The man in black's eyes were like those of someone looking at a dead man as a wind blade slashed towards him.

Just as Zhang Ling was about to be cut in two, the man in black suddenly flew backward and crashed to the ground.

This person was quite experienced and flipped over to get up. He turned his head and saw a section of Giant Root Vine had appeared behind him at some point, writhing and pressing down on him.

What's going on?

The man in black was a little puzzled. After the enemy broke out of the Giant Root Vine's encirclement, he had given up control of the remaining Giant Root Vines.

These Giant Root Vines were all driven by his spiritual power. No one else could possibly control them.

However, he knew the situation was critical. Just as he was about to leave the spot, a strange vine appeared under his feet at some point and wrapped around him.

The source of the vine was actually the poisoned kid. The man in black was distracted, and the vine pulled him to the ground, and the half of Giant Root Vine followed closely, exploding and scattering a large amount of green liquid all over the man in black's body.

A wisp of green smoke emerged from his body, accompanied by a sizzling sound. This person only had a layer of spiritual power shield, which was the most common defense method for cultivators.

He had kept it on during the previous battle with the old man. He didn't remove the protection when fighting Zhang Ling, but he didn't strengthen it either.

At this critical moment, this layer of defense naturally couldn't defend against the corrosive mucus of the Giant Root Vines.

In the blink of an eye, several large holes were corroded in his spiritual power shield, and the man in black screamed and rolled back and forth on the ground.

Soon, the screams disappeared, leaving only a storage pouch and a pool of blood on the ground.

Seeing the man in black die, Zhang Ling shook his hand and retracted the vine. At this moment, the front end of the vine was also corroded, showing how strong the Giant Root Vine's corrosiveness was.

Zhang Ling took out a detoxification pill and swallowed it, and his complexion improved slightly. He glanced at the other two who were still fighting not far away. Both of them had reached their limits and were fighting desperately.

Zhang Ling had no intention of helping but picked up the storage pouches of the bearded man and the man in black, and also put the dropped red flying needle and cyan stone into his storage pouch.

At this moment, the battle between the two also came to an end. The old man was slightly stronger than the other, but he had consumed a lot of spiritual power earlier.

The other person's cultivation was not low either. He was originally able to overwhelm the old man, but after this person discovered the death of the man in black, he became nervous, and the magical artifact he controlled was half a beat slower, and the old man found a chance to kill him with one blow.

After killing the enemy, the old man collapsed to the ground, his face pale, obviously because his spiritual power was exhausted.

"Cough, cough. Thank you, little friend Zhang, for killing the powerful enemy, otherwise, I would have ended up here today." The old man seemed to feel Zhang Ling's gaze and stood up with difficulty.

"How do you know my surname is Zhang?" Zhang Ling's face darkened, grasping the information in this person's words.

He basically didn't know anyone in Falling Star City. This person actually knew his surname was Zhang, which made him vigilant.

"Hehe, little friend Zhang doesn't recognize me anymore? This old man remembers that little friend stayed in my shop for a long time before, and that girl Yan'er often misses you, her big brother."

"Old Mu, why do you look like this."

As soon as Zhang Ling heard the old man's words, he immediately thought of the old and young at Guangyuan Zhai. When he first came to Falling Star City, he also stayed at Guangyuan Zhai for more than half a month.

"Haha, little friend remembers." The old man coughed a few times, touched his chin with one hand, and took off a thin mask.

"This is a special magical artifact that can change a person's appearance at will." After the old man took off the mask, his face became extremely old.

Zhang Ling saw that this person was indeed Old Mu of Guangyuan Zhai and was a little surprised. This old man was so old, why didn't he run a shop in Falling Star City and instead came to Falling Star Mountain Range?

Seeming to know what he was thinking, Old Mu explained his question in a low voice. "To be honest, little friend, have you ever heard of the Marrow Cleansing Pill?"

"Marrow Cleansing Pill, I have naturally heard of it."

The Marrow Cleansing Pill is a rare medicinal pill made from several rare spiritual herbs. Its effect is to cleanse the body and transform the tendons and marrow.

The value of a Marrow Cleansing Pill on the market is no less than a thousand spirit stones, but each cultivator can only take three Marrow Cleansing Pills at most.

The first time you take it, the effect is the best, and there is no effect after three pills. Old Mu is already in his twilight years, and even if he takes the Marrow Cleansing Pill, I am afraid it will not have much effect.

Could it be that Old Mu was besieged by those three cultivators just for the Marrow Cleansing Pill?