Chapter 83: Breaking Out

After splitting this piece of pine kindling, Li Si then split the two pieces of pine kindling again just as he had before. Thus, two pieces became four.

After finishing, Li Si greeted the others and had them come over. He gave three pieces of pine kindling to Shu Rong, Madam Shu Fang, and He Zhong respectively.

“After you light them later, be careful not to let them go out,” Li Si instructed them. Then he looked at the surrounding peach grove and found that it was still quiet, no different from last night.

In truth, he had discovered earlier that although these Peach Tree Demons each had a head, they did not possess much intelligence. They were even inferior to Xiaoduan.

He guessed that the Peach Tree Demon mother body’s method of controlling its offspring was through commands, probably not much different from how an ant queen controlled worker ants.

If the Peach Tree Demon mother body could control its split bodies the way ghosts possessed souls, then last night, this Peach Tree Demon would have disrupted their plans at any cost long ago.

But clearly, this Peach Tree Demon had not been monitoring them much, and had not even taken them seriously. After all, it was only afraid of pain. It was not incapable of killing them.

It merely felt that trapping people until they died was easier.

“Let’s go!” Li Si lit the pine kindling from the middle and inserted it into a gap in the woven bamboo basket. Then he wrapped one arm around the bamboo basket and held it close.

Seeing Li Si do this, the others followed his example. Only, when He Zhong lifted his basket, his expression turned somewhat strange. He felt as if his strength had increased by a great deal.

At the same time, the family of three had the same feeling and all cried out in surprise.

“This is related to the peaches you ate. Take these.” Carrying the bamboo basket, Li Si walked up to He Zhong and the others. He took three sheets of talisman paper from his clothes and handed them to He Zhong, Shu Rong, and Madam Shu Fang respectively.

“Benefactor, what is this?” Shu Rong accepted the talisman paper Li Si handed over. Looking at the strange and eerie red lines on it, he was somewhat dazed.

At the same time, the others also looked toward Li Si, likewise somewhat puzzled.

“This is talisman paper that can harm these Peach Tree Demons. You can use it at a critical moment. Perhaps it can save your lives,” Li Si explained when he saw Shu Rong ask.

Hearing him say this, the others immediately felt as if the talisman paper in their hands weighed a thousand jin, and their gratitude toward Li Si grew even stronger. 500 kg (~1,100 lb).

At such a critical moment, ordinary people would hide life-saving items tightly away. There was no reason for them to give something that could save their own life to someone else. If their positions were reversed, it would be very hard for them to do the same.

Of course, Li Si did not care much about this matter. He had already thought it over just now. After his strength increased, using the techniques from The Black Tortoise Record, along with Xiaoduan’s assistance, escaping from this place would still be relatively easy.

If these few sheets of talisman paper could save these people, then it would instead be a good thing.

Because if the talisman paper was gone, he could kill more ghost creatures and buy more from the system marketplace. But if people were gone, then they were truly gone.

After distributing the talisman paper, the group began walking toward the road down the mountain. The peach grove seemed to sense something. Its branches trembled slightly, and the human heads on the peach trees stared fixedly at everyone, letting out piercing shrieks.

Immediately, Li Si and the others’ footsteps paused. He Zhong showed fear on his face, clearly having remembered the terrifying aspects of these Peach Tree Demons.

Likewise, the family of three also showed frightened expressions. After all, before this, they had still been ordinary people. This was the first time they were truly facing demons and evil spirits.

Seeing them like this, Li Si sighed inwardly. But his expression immediately turned solemn, and he shouted in a low voice, “If we do not break out today, there is only death waiting for us. Do you want to die uselessly here, or do you want to break out with me?”

After being shouted at by him, the others immediately snapped out of their fear and showed resolute expressions.

“We fight!” He Zhong was the first to react. Once the fear on his aged face faded, a determined look appeared, as if he were an old soldier about to step onto a battlefield.

His past experience travelling far and wide, together with yesterday’s narrow escape from death, had already turned him into a desperate man.

“We fight!!!” The family of three beside him were even more so. After breaking free of their fear, their eyes reddened, clearly having already resolved themselves to die if necessary.

They were a little inferior to He Zhong and could not control their emotions, but the desperate momentum of smashing the pots and sinking the boats had already been drawn out by Li Si’s words.

Especially the little girl named Shu Min, whose face had already become somewhat ferocious, as if she had gone mad.

Seeing Shu Min like this, Li Si sighed inwardly. Compared to adults, children were instead even more sensitive to their environment. He believed that this incident would definitely cause a great change in this little girl’s character. He just did not know whether this change would be good or bad.

Only, at this moment, he could not correct it, because Shu Min’s current state instead made it easier for her to survive.

Casting aside his thoughts, Li Si’s expression turned serious. He reached into the bamboo basket, took out several bundles of dry grass, lit them on the pine kindling, and flung them out, throwing them into the peach grove.

The burning bundles of dry grass landed in the peach grove. The peach grove immediately stopped shrieking and avoided the burning bundles from afar, leaving behind a gap.

Seeing that Li Si’s thrown bundles of dry grass had actually caused such a great effect, the others immediately showed delighted expressions. They also followed Li Si’s example, lit grass bundles, and threw them directly into the peach grove, forcing the Peach Tree Demons to keep retreating.

Seeing this effect, Li Si immediately let out a breath of relief inwardly. This was clearly just as he had guessed. Daytime sunlight had a certain suppressive effect on demon creatures, and compared to night, these Peach Tree Demons were clearly even more afraid of fire.

Immediately afterward, everyone advanced along the road down the mountain, constantly throwing burning bundles of dry grass along the way and driving the Peach Tree Demons farther away.

Likewise, as they advanced, roots also shot up from the ground and swept toward them. However, as soon as the roots emerged, Xiaoduan’s tongue had already cut them apart.

Only, some severed roots still flew toward everyone under their remaining force, leaving whip marks across their bodies.

Yet although everyone felt pain, before the path to survival, this pain was a minor matter, and they could no longer care about it.

The eleven- or twelve-year-old girl Shu Min was even struck across the face by a broken root, and beads of blood seeped out from under the skin along the swollen, bruised whip mark.

But she still gritted her teeth, forced back the tears in her eyes, and continued taking grass bundles from beside He Zhong, lighting them and throwing them into the Peach Tree Demons to drive away the tree demons.

In truth, the situation had already slowly eased. Because some grass bundles had ignited the thatch by the roadside, causing a small mountain fire, they no longer needed to throw dry grass bundles frequently.

And it was at this moment that behind Li Si, the soil on the ground bulged slightly, as if something were following them from behind.