Chapter 65: The Ancient Locust Tree Calms the Mind

  In front of us was a steep slope, with an angle of over eighty degrees between the slope and the ground, almost a vertical cliff.

  Many weeds and vines grow on the slope.

  Song Jian held Xu Si in one arm and Liao Tianhu's flying claw in the other, already rushing down this steep slope.

  A nearly ninety-degree slope, if slowly sliding down, relying on the deceleration of weeds and vines, may have a chance to survive, but now, Song Jian's momentum is very fierce, almost like jumping off a cliff.

  Bang

  A bullet flew over the sky, leaving Song Jian no room to return and stop.

  Xu Si tightly hugged Song Jian's neck, her heart was in her throat, but knowing that their lives were hanging by a thread at this moment, Xu Si gritted her teeth and didn't dare to make a sound, afraid of distracting Song Jian.

  Song Jian's mouth and nose were both used, spewing out a mouthful of hot air. Xu Si discovered that Song Jian's breathing was very deep and large, as if he wanted to expel all the gas in his body and then inhale it again.

  Song Jian, as he rushed down the steep slope, had his eyes fixed on a large tree on the opposite mountain slope. It was a twisted old cypress tree, but at this moment it was completely entwined with vines.

  Song Jian exerted great effort to control his body's balance, and with a flick of his right hand, the steel claw in his hand flew towards the old cypress tree on the opposite mountain slope, getting stuck firmly in the vines on the cypress tree.

  Jian Fei's claws successfully hooked onto the cypress tree on the opposite mountain slope, and Song Jian let out a sigh of relief.

  "Hold me tight, we're taking off!"

  Song Jian spoke up at the same time, and his body was almost doing a vertical drop motion on the steep slope.

  The steel wire in his hand was already taut, Song Jian's feet kicked off, his hands grasped the steel wire tightly, and his body followed the force of the steel wire, swinging towards the opposite mountain slope.

  Below is a mountain stream, falling down will either kill you or break your arm and cripple your leg.

  Xu Si abruptly closed his eyes, his face tightly pressed against Song Jian's chin, and he hugged Song Jian's neck tightly.

  "Hmm..."

  The air current blew over, and in the next moment, Xu Si felt her body violently shaking. She and Song Jian had simultaneously fallen onto the opposite mountain slope.

  Song Jian wrapped his arms around Xu Si, rolled a few times, and unloaded the force.

  "Hmm...hmm...hmm..."

  Xu Si took a deep breath, slowly opening her eyes to find herself lying on Song Jian's chest, her hands still tightly wrapped around his neck.

  Song Jian closed his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing. He had already been injured when he killed Liao Tianhu, and the intense chase earlier, now carrying Xu Si strongly through the mountain valley, a series of high-intensity movements made Song Jian's internal injuries even more severe.

  Xu Si's face turned red, and she quickly got up, seeing Song Jian motionless, she became nervous again, her fingers placed under Song Jian's nose, calling: "Song Jian, Song Jian..."

  "I still have breath," Song Jian opened his eyes and said helplessly, "but if you press me for a while longer, I might not have any left."

  Xu Si's face turned red again, she rolled down from Song Jian's chest and knelt beside him, saying: "How are you?"

  "I'll take a rest, as soon as it gets dark, we'll be successful." Song Jian closed his eyes and panted heavily.

  At this time, Ge Yunhu had already chased to the side of the cliff, and saw that Song Jian had obtained his second brother's flying claw, and successfully crossed the valley. He couldn't help but hatefully fired two shots in the direction of Song Jian and Xu Si.

  It's just that the wind in the valley is strong and the distance is far, so these two shots are too inaccurate.

  "Damn it!" Ge Yunhu patted his body, but there were no rope darts or other items. He looked at Song Jian and Xu Si in the distance, gritted his teeth, and his body slid down into the valley with a "whooshing" sound.

  Xu Si turned back to look at Ge Yunhu, saw that Ge Yunhu had not given up, but was still chasing after him. Xu Si panicked and said: "What to do? Song Jian, that killer is coming again."

  Song Jian sat up and looked at Ge Yunhu who was sliding down the mountain slope, saying: "It's okay, he can't catch up with us."

  Ge Yunhu didn't have a rope, he wanted to catch up with Song Jian, he needed to slide down to the bottom of the valley first, and then climb up the mountain slope, so back and forth, it was about 700-800 meters away.

  "Come on, get on my back and we'll run some more, he won't be able to catch up."

  As he spoke, Song Jian turned around, half-squatting down and letting Xu Si lie on his back.

  "I... I myself also..." Xu Si thought she would refuse, and she could see that Song Jian was also very tired.

  "Come quickly." Song Jian said.

  At this time, Ge Yunhu had almost slid to the bottom of the valley. His skin was thick and tough, although he had rolled all the way down, but he didn't get hurt.

  Xu Si pounced onto Song Jian's back.

  Song Jian pulled the steel wire with both hands, like a professional Flying Tiger, and ran up the mountain slope along the rope.

  Xu Si pressed against Song Jian's back, her legs tightly clamped around his waist. This action made Xu Si involuntarily blush, and although they were in a life-or-death crisis, she still felt a wave of heat rising to her cheeks.

  With the help of the steel wire, Song Jian climbed very quickly. In just one minute, he had already reached the side of that twisted cypress tree.

  By the side of the cypress tree, a large cluster of wisteria vines tightly entwined around it, and as you go up to the top of the mountain, this cluster of wisteria becomes thicker.

  "There are many iron lotus, Song Jian, put me down, it's not dangerous here," Xu Si didn't want to be a burden anymore, she could feel that Song Jian was already very tired.

  Song Jian put down Xu Si, retracted his steel claws, and his eyes followed the vines on the ground.

  "It's indeed Iron Line Lotus, and all of these Iron Line Lotuses have grown out from a single root stem." Song Jian's heart stirred, such a large Iron Line Lotus must be extraordinary.

  Iron wire lotus is a plant of the Ranunculaceae family, a woody vine. Generally, iron wire lotus is only about two meters long, but this one is lush and can be as long as twenty or thirty meters. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is used to treat snake bites by promoting blood circulation and relieving pain, and is an uncommon medicinal herb.

  At this time, Ge Yunhu below had disappeared from view. Due to the lack of flying claws, Ge Yunhu's crawling speed was not fast, so the distance between him and Song Jian grew much larger.

  Song Jian looked at the sky, and now the sun had completely fallen behind the mountain. The sky was gray and hazy, and in a moment, it would be completely dark.

  "Come on, follow me," Song Jian said.

  Xu Si pulled on Song Jian's clothes and closely followed behind him.

  Along the iron wire lotus vines, Song Jian and Xu Si moved upwards along the mountain road, not long after, the iron wire lotus vines became thicker and thicker, about thirty meters away, all the vines converged on a large locust tree.

  "Where are we... where are we going?" By now, the sky had completely darkened, and Xu Si could only tightly grasp Song Jian's clothes. The surroundings were pitch black, and the mountain wind blew by, making all sorts of eerie sounds that sent shivers down her spine.

  "Don't speak, give me your hand." Song Jian said in a low voice, he stretched out his hand and grasped Xu Si's small hand.

  Xu Si was held by Song Jian, a warm feeling came from Song Jian's palm, making Xu Si feel much more at ease.

  Song Jian's other hand rose and reached out to touch the old locust tree in front of him.

  This locust tree has gone through countless years, and is extremely old. The surrounding vines are tightly wrapped around it, dense and lush.

  Song Jian peeled off the vines outside the old locust tree.

  "Huh? It's already empty?" Song Jian said.

  "What?" Xu Si asked in a low voice, as they didn't dare to speak loudly, the two of them had to put their heads together, Song Jian's chin could feel the airflow coming out of Xu Si's mouth.

  "This old locust tree is too old, it has completely rotted inside, only the bark is still connected, if not for the support of these iron wire lotus vines, it would have collapsed long ago. Let's hide in here." Song Jian peeled open the vines and pulled Xu Si to walk in.

  Fortunately, he was wearing a military cotton-padded jacket, and it was early winter, so Xu Si didn't have to worry about ants, insects, or snakes.

  Two people squeezed through the wisteria and into the big locust tree.

  "Shh!"

  Song Jian lightly puffed out a breath and pinched Xu Si's small hand with his palm.

  Xu Si's small hand scratched Song Jian's palm, indicating understanding, and the two people squeezed into the old locust tree's withered bark, no longer speaking.

  Before long, a hurried footsteps came, and a bright flashlight shone from outside.

  The footsteps didn't stop, and they passed by the old locust tree, then went far away. Even if it were daytime, Ge Yunhu wouldn't have discovered this hollow old locust tree, let alone in the depths of night.

  Xu Si's heart was racing until Ge Yunhu walked far away, and only then did Xu Si let out a sigh of relief.

  Darkness, silence, chilliness, the only warmth is the temperature of the Song sword in hand.

  Xu Si suddenly felt grateful, grateful that he hadn't backed down, grateful that at Song Jian's most critical moment, he had given Song Jian a place to rest. A few days ago, his grandfather had told him that since Song Jian had already recovered and could be independent, it was time to let Song Jian live on his own, and from then on the two families would have no further connection. At the time, Xu Si had refused, but now it seemed that his decision back then had been correct.

  "He is the one I will spend my whole life with," thought Xu Si, "I don't need him to be handsome, I don't need him to be rich, as long as he can stand firmly by my side in times of danger, then I will follow him for a lifetime, never leaving his side."

  Having figured out this section, Xu Si's heart became lighter, she was no longer blushing and her mind was no longer in a mess. Although she was still in unknown danger, Xu Si's heart had already calmed down.

  "I'll lean on you and sleep for a while." Xu Si said in a low voice.

  "Hmm," Song Jian replied softly.

  Xu Si leaned her entire body against Song Jian's chest, her arms wrapped around his waist, and her head rested on his shoulder, drifting off to sleep in a daze.

  Song Jian's hand hesitated for a moment, then he tightly wrapped his arms around Xu Si, allowing Xu Si to stand steadily in front of his chest.

  Before long, Xu Si actually fell asleep standing up, with even breathing coming from the tip of his nose, which seemed particularly quiet in this dark tree cave.

  At this time, in the city of Gusu, in a high-rise office building of the Xu Group headquarters, Xu Haitian stood in front of a glass window with a gloomy face.

  Bang

  An old man pushed open the door and walked in.

  "Everything is ready, old master," the old man said expressionlessly.

  Xu Haitian nodded and walked over to the conference table, dialing the conference call.

  The phone soon connected, and on the screen appeared three anxious middle-aged people.

  "Chairman, why did you suddenly take away my daughter and grandson."

  "Uncle Xu, what's going on? Today my son told me that you took away my granddaughter?"

  "Chairman, my wife... My wife is about to give birth, you must..." The last person was none other than Xu Xiang.

  Xu Haitian looked at the three of them with an expressionless face, "My granddaughter was assassinated in Hangzhou. I don't care who among you did it. If she doesn't survive, you know the consequences."

  After finishing speaking, Xu Haitian hung up the conference call and looked at the old man, saying: "Is there any news from the rescue team?"

  "Not yet, things are a bit ominous, the killer of this operation is Dongbei's Second Tiger," said the old man with a serious face.