Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 265: Trapped

The thunderstorm hit the Ten Thousand Great Mountains from nowhere. One moment the sky was empty, the next it was black with clouds so heavy they seemed ready to crush you. Rain tore down in sheets before anyone had time to blink.Huge drops hammered the ground, so heavy and fast that the whole forest floor turned into a shallow lake.

The rain fell in fat drops, and in no time the forest floor was nothing but a sodden, squelching mess.

Liu Xiaolou, still unconscious, began to float as the water lifted him. Slowly, he drifted outward with the current. After drifting about thirty feet, a vine suddenly snaked up from the muddy ground, wrapped around his ankle, and hoisted him about a foot above the water.

Only when the storm finally blew over and the water soaked back into the mud did the vine lower him again, letting him drop onto the muddy ground.

The jolt shook a mouthful of sour water out of him, and only then did he finally wake.

He opened his eyes to a massive canopy overhead, with branches dangling all around him... or were they vines growing up from the ground?... For a moment, he felt completely disoriented.

Where… was he?

What had happened to him?

As his eyes moved, he immediately spotted the spirit leopard still hanging in the air. Memories flooded back in pieces, and he finally remembered what had happened. But as he tried to recall the later parts, his thoughts simply slipped away. How had he ended up on the ground? And why had this demon tree, or demon vine, spared him?

He still couldn’t make sense of it.

Checking himself inwardly, he found that his meridians and acupoints weren’t damaged despite the vine having pierced and drained him. His true qi, however, was badly depleted, and he seemed to have lost quite a bit of blood as well. His whole body felt unbearably heavy; he could barely move a single finger.

Once his mind cleared, he was able to circulate his cultivation technique again. So he simply lay there on the ground, breathing slowly and steadily, restoring himself bit by bit. He spent an entire day like that. Only when some strength finally returned did he sit up, take out a spirit stone, and hold it in his palm to speed up his recovery.

After a day like that, most of his true qi had finally come back. He hauled himself to his feet, eyes on the towering tree before him, and took cautious, testing steps, feeling his way outward.

If the damn tree hadn’t drained him yet... maybe it would let him go?

Step by step, yard by yard, he moved until he was about thirty feet from the trunk, right at the edge of its massive canopy. He drew in a deep breath, gathered his energy, and then exploded into motion.

Step by step, yard by yard, he edged ten yards out, reaching the edge of the tree’s canopy. He drew a deep breath, felt his true qi through him. And then shot forward.

He threw himself with everything he had, the fastest step he could manage. Air caught him, and for a moment he was a hawk, wings spread, tearing forward like a streak of shadow.

He was still in midair, eyes locked on another tree ahead, ready to land on it and keep moving downward. He stretched out his arms. And two vines suddenly whipped out of nowhere, wrapping tight around them!

Liu Xiaolou gasped. He swung the Three-Mystery Sword, its sword-light flashing as he slashed at the vines. But even its razor-sharp sword-light couldn’t cut through them.

More vines lunged at him right after, snaring his legs, his neck, his waist, his wrists. In an instant he was completely bound. The vine web dragged him back, and he crashed down beneath the canopy of the demon tree.

The vines then slipped into the ground again and vanished in the blink of an eye.

For a moment, he just sat there, stunned.

What the hell was that?

So the demon tree wasn’t planning to let him go after all? Then why didn’t it just eat him... same way it was eating that spirit leopard?

Wait… the spirit leopard wasn’t even fully eaten yet. It was still alive!

Thinking back carefully to the moment he was grabbed, he figured his cultivation probably hadn’t fully recovered. He hadn’t been able to flee at full speed, which was why he got caught again. So he settled down cross-legged once more, regulating his breath and working to restore his strength.

A day later, Liu Xiaolou’s cultivation was fully restored. He felt back at his peak, so he gave himself a quick pep talk and, with several reluctant glances over his shoulder, headed out again. He reached the edge of the canopy and sprang forward once more.

He could feel the difference immediately. His body lighter, his arms spread wide like an eagle, flapping his wings and taking to the sky!

Several vines shot out of the earth again. This time even faster than before. They wrapped around him from head to toe. He didn’t even get the chance to draw his sword before he was yanked straight back.

He rolled over, sat up, and after thinking it over for a long moment, decided it was time to try a different strategy.

He reached the edge of the canopy again. This time without trying to “fly.” Instead, he tiptoed forward, moving as lightly as he could. He managed only two steps before the vines appeared yet again and dragged him back to where he started.

So Liu Xiaolou sat and pondered, then came up with a new idea.

When he reached the canopy’s edge this time, he flicked his wrist and sent out the Mysterious True Cord, letting it coil around a nearby boulder. Most of the rock was buried underground, so it should easily withstand the pull.

The rope looped around it and tightened into a firm knot. Liu Xiaolou gave it a few test tugs. Solid.

Then he leapt.

And sure enough, the vines came for him again!

He spent the whole day racking his brains for some way to escape, but every idea he tried failed miserably.

Liu Xiaolou wanted to cry but couldn’t even manage that. So he went down on his knees before the damned tree, bowing low, three knocks, nine kowtows, doing all the proper rituals.

But the demon tree clearly didn’t care about etiquette. No matter what he did, as soon as he stepped out of the canopy, vines would instantly drag him back.

Eventually, Liu Xiaolou couldn’t take it anymore. Fury boiled up inside him; desperation made him reckless. He drew the Three-Mystery Sword and hacked at the trunk, the branches, the vines. When the blows did nothing, he whipped out the Glass Shield and rammed it into the tree, trying to smash his way free. When that still made no difference, he used Bewildering Fragrance Tendon and circled the roots, fumigating them as fiercely as he could. He tried everything he had. Nothing made the slightest dent in that demon tree.

Liu Xiaolou was on the verge of losing his mind. He didn’t want to die trapped here, but he had no way out. Frustration built until he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

He kept yelling until his throat burned, but not a soul showed up.

That day, he was staring blankly up at the blue sky and drifting clouds, watching a little bird flit over the treetops, when a vine suddenly shot out and snatched the bird right out of the air.

Liu Xiaolou exploded. “You damn demon! Can’t even let me watch a bloody bird?”

No sooner had he finished yelling than the vine tossed the little bird at his feet. It fluttered its wings twice, then stopped moving altogether.

Liu Xiaolou blinked, and suddenly hunger hit him like a punch to the gut. He hadn’t eaten in days and was unbelievably hungry.

So he sparked a flame from his fingertips, gathered some dried twigs and leaves, and built a tiny fire. He roasted the bird and ate it. He’d long since finished his spirit rice, but his storage pouch still held plenty of jars of Bamboo Leaf Green. Washing down roast bird with good spirit wine... it was unexpectedly satisfying.

Bamboo Leaf Green packed quite a punch, and Liu Xiaolou had drunk plenty. As the saying goes, booze makes cowards bold. Once the alcohol hit, a new idea suddenly popped into his head. Snickering to himself, he dragged the campfire over to the base of the tree, tossed on some extra dry branches and leaves, then stepped back to see what would happen.

The fire burned for ages, yet the roots didn’t catch at all. Liu Xiaolou leaned in for a closer look, when a vine suddenly swung down and slapped him across the face, sending him flying. In the next moment, several vines lashed the fire, smacking it out completely.

Liu Xiaolou was close to losing it entirely.

This demon of a tree was just too freakish. He couldn’t even figure out where to start. Was he really going to be stuck here for the rest of his life?

Feeling hopeless and exhausted, Liu Xiaolou drifted off to sleep. In his dream, he’d finally reached the Foundation Establishment stage, unleashed divine power, chopped the demon tree into a thousand pieces, and walked away laughing.

When dawn came, Liu Xiaolou straightened his back and made up his mind.

TLer: I wonder if this has something to do with the demon vein seed he accidentally swallowed on Wulong Mountain when Qingyu Sect was training Jingzhao.