第 1 章

The year my mother passed away, she turned into a large elm tree.

She said she would always protect me.

In this somewhat special world, such things do exist.

She quietly accompanied me like that until I was fourteen years old.

I thought life would continue peacefully like this forever.

But that year, everything changed.

That year, Annan County encountered a severe drought.

An old Taoist priest with white hair and beard came to the village.

He said the large elm tree at the village entrance had become a demon, and it was this tree demon that prevented the sky from raining.

He said, only by cutting down this tree would the drought end.

But all the villagers know that during the famine in the past, the elm seeds, leaves, and even bark of this big elm tree saved many villagers' lives.

How could it be a monster?

However, the government believed the old Taoist's words.

Over ten soldiers, holding large iron saws, surrounded the big elm tree, preparing to cut it down.

The watching villagers were very sad in their hearts, but no one dared to step forward to stop them.

Only me, at that time just thirteen or fourteen years old, opened my arms, leaned against the thick tree trunk, and wanted to block them with my small body.

The soldiers' leader loudly scolded me: "You kid, do you want to die?"

"If you don't move aside, I'll saw you down together with it."

I was so agitated that my voice trembled, but my gaze was very firm: "You cannot cut it down."

"It saved the lives of our entire village, it is not a monster."

Whether it is a monster or not, it is not up to you to decide.

A voice that is old and cold sounds.

The old Taoist priest wearing brown clothes, holding a horsetail whisk, walks forward.

Today is the grand sacrifice day that occurs once every ten years.

Legend has it that on this day, the power between heaven and earth changes, and the monster's primordial spirit must hide.

This is precisely the best time to eliminate the monster.

If you delay any further, once the time passes and the monster's primordial spirit returns to its body, you will all die.

These words make the soldiers shiver.

The leader, after all, is not cruel enough to saw the person along with the tree, so he turns to the surrounding villagers and roars: you.

Drag away this reckless child for me.

Otherwise, punish together.

A man I call Third Uncle hurriedly runs over: Little Xian, what are you doing.

Come quickly, don't block the adults from eliminating the demon.

I urgently shout: Third Uncle, the big elm tree is not a demon.

It has saved us before.

I tightly hug the tree trunk with both hands.

But Third Uncle is very strong, forcibly pulls me down from the tree, and drags me outside the crowd.

I struggle desperately and shout loudly: Third Uncle, let me go.

Zhang Laozhu, you let me go.

Third Uncle is both angry and anxious: You child, the immortal master and the official both say it is a demon, why are you still stubborn.

You are really a blockhead.

Hmm.

You still dare to call me by my nickname.

He dragged and pulled me away, and my shouts and his curses quickly faded into the distance.

The leader of the soldiers saw that the obstacle was gone and coldly waved his hand: "Saw."

Sixteen soldiers had already prepared, dividing into two groups, each holding a large iron saw over ten feet long.

Sizzle——sizzle——a very piercing sound suddenly rang out, sharp as if iron swords were scraping against each other, making people's scalps tingle.

This is clearly not the sound that should come from sawing wood.

The watching commoners all covered their ears and fearfully stepped back.

Even those soldiers turned pale and stopped their movements.

This sound is too strange; don't even mention sawing the tree, if you listen a bit longer, you might get dizzy from the vibration first.

Evil creature.

Dare to resist.

The old Taoist priest in the distance flashed a cold light in his eyes, and surprisingly took a step spanning ten zhang, flying to the front of the tree.

Indeed it is a demon.

He said coldly, "No matter how long you have cultivated, today your primordial spirit must hide, leaving only your body, and you still dare to act like this."

Today is the time for you to die, just right to fulfill me.

Seal.

The old Taoist priest chanted incantations in his mouth, and raised his hand to press toward the tree trunk.

A Bagua bronze mirror was firmly pressed onto the tree body by him.

That bronze mirror seems to have the power to suppress demons, a flash of light, the entire big elm tree shook violently once, and then became completely quiet, as if pressed down by some force, and there was no more movement at all.

The sixteen soldiers looked at each other, gathered their courage again, and lifted the iron saw.

Crunch—this time, finally, the normal sound of the iron saw cutting into wood came.

However, as soon as the saw cut entered the tree trunk, a strange thing suddenly happened.

The big elm tree began to tremble violently, and from the place that was sawed open, it actually gurgled out bright red liquid—that was blood, just like a living person bleeding from an injury.

The villagers were so scared they lost their souls, screaming and retreating repeatedly.

It is indeed a demon. Saw quickly. Saw it to death. The old Taoist priest's voice rang out sharply, carrying an irresistible command.

Although the officers and soldiers were also very scared in their hearts, under the drive of orders and fear, they pulled the iron saw more forcefully.