Chapter 245: The Tree God Has Manifested

Chapter 245: Chapter 245: The Tree God Has Manifested

These were just ordinary mountain villagers, not heinous villains, so Zhang Yun could only use this facade of divine retribution to teach them a lesson. He couldn’t exactly kill them over this, could he? Besides, experiencing such a supernatural event would definitely be more effective than a lecture from the police. Since he was acting on behalf of the heavens, he might as well take it a step further!

While the three men were groaning and supporting each other, Zhang Yun sneaked to the side of the road. He grabbed the motorcycle that had slid over the edge and brought it directly into his Personal Space. Immediately after, he emerged from the space, circled to the other side, and approached the base of the giant banyan tree, preparing to take the other motorcycle as well.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was just a beat-up old bike. Even if he took both, it would only cost the men a few thousand yuan, which didn’t mean much. He wasn’t greedy for their cheap belongings, anyway. Even if he took them, he would just toss them at the foot of the mountain. However, since they were injured, if their motorcycles disappeared, they would likely head back to their village instead of continuing down the mountain. If the bikes simply vanished, they would just assume they were stolen. It wouldn’t have that immediate, shocking impact.

Zhang Yun took a look and decided not to touch the motorcycle on the ground. Instead, he climbed up the giant banyan tree on all fours, entered his Personal Space, and brought out the first motorcycle, placing it directly on a thick branch. He glanced down at the ground and adjusted its position so it would be easily visible from below.

"What the hell! Where’s my bike?"

"Did it slide down the slope?"

"No, it didn’t! What’s going on? Nobody even passed by just now."

"I need to check if mine is still there!"

The three men had only suffered superficial wounds from their fall. It was extremely painful, but no bones were broken. They all hurried back up the slope together. Hearing their voices, Zhang Yun had no time to leave. He could only hide behind the branches and watch them run back.

"My bike is still here... So how did the one that fell on the ground disappear?"

"Do you guys... feel like something is wrong? Earlier, it felt like someone grabbed our feet from the ground, and now a motorcycle vanished on its own."

"Stop scaring yourself. Someone must have been hiding in the bushes and stole it!"

"It’s a whole motorcycle! Even a bicycle couldn’t be stolen and whisked away without making a single sound."

The banyan tree was massive enough that Zhang Yun could easily find a branch to conceal his figure. Seeing them arguing below without anyone looking up, he had no choice but to tap on the branch. The thick branch shifted, causing the motorcycle resting on it to sway.

Jun, who was already feeling paranoid, looked up and instantly collapsed onto his backside. "The... the... the Tree God has manifested..."

His reaction baffled the other two men. They followed his gaze upward and were so terrified that their legs turned to jelly. If the motorcycle had simply vanished from the side of the road, it could be explained away as theft. But how could they explain it suddenly appearing up in a tree in the blink of an eye? Even if a thief wanted to play a malicious prank on them, could they possibly hang a motorcycle up a tree? This was a motorcycle, not a kite!

The three men’s breathing grew heavy. As residents of Ancient Tree Back, they had definitely grown up hearing the older generation deify the giant banyan tree. Some elders even came to burn incense on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month. But as educated youths of the new era, how could they believe in such things? Yet the facts were right in front of them. Aside from the ancient tree manifesting its power to give them a minor punishment as a warning, was there any other explanation?

"Tree God... we... we were wrong! We shouldn’t have had evil thoughts!" Jun, who was sitting on the ground, immediately began to kowtow.

"Let’s go back first... We’ll get someone to come fetch the bikes at noon Ming Tian."

"We’re sorry, Tree God!" Only one of them wanted to run away, while the other man also dropped to his knees.

"The Tree God didn’t hurt us, it just gave us a small punishment. Hurry up, kneel and repent! Ming Tian... who knows if we can even make it to Ming Tian."

Hearing this, the man who was still standing jumped in fright and quickly knelt down as well. Initially, he had thought that since it was nearing dusk, the atmosphere might just be a bit eerie. He figured that if they came back at noon with a group of able-bodied men, they wouldn’t have anything to fear. But would they really be able to survive this night?

Watching them from the tree, Zhang Yun noted that two were already terrified, but one still refused to believe in the supernatural. He gauged the distance from the branch to the ground. Taking advantage of the moment when all three men were prostrated, he swiftly reached out and hauled the motorcycle up. Gripping the branch tightly with his legs and free hand, he let his weight bend the branch downwards and lowered the bike directly to the ground!

The moment the motorcycle touched the ground, the branch sprang back up. Zhang Yun used the momentum to propel himself backward, nimbly returning to his hiding spot behind a massive trunk.

The thud of the motorcycle landing sent the three men into a panic. They scrambled and crawled several meters backward. How was this possible? The motorcycle had been resting horizontally across the branch. If the wind had blown it off, it should have crashed down heavily. Instead, it had landed completely naturally! It couldn’t possibly have fallen; it looked as if it had been lowered and set down gently.

Still in shock, they looked back up at the giant banyan tree. There was nothing there—not even a single swaying branch. Suddenly, the ancient tree they had seen since childhood looked like a giant’s head staring down at them, as if it could whip out a branch and bind them at any moment.

"Tree... Tree God, we’re sorry..."

Jun could no longer care about being pious, nor did he care about the others or the pain in his body. He scrambled to his feet and sprinted away. Seeing this, the other two quickly ran after him.

No matter how fierce a person was, they were still human. This invisible manifestation of a deity was what made their inner terror uncontrollable. And this was still daytime! If it were night, would the Tree God come out and grab them personally? Normally, riding their motorcycles would have allowed them to escape much faster. But they had lost all rationality. How could they dare to ride the bikes now? What if the engines wouldn’t start? What if something possessed the vehicles?

Watching them scream as they fled toward Ancient Tree Back, Zhang Yun leaped down from the tree. Looking at the two motorcycles, Zhang Yun didn’t hold back. He took out his own motorcycle, then directly hoisted their bikes up and poured the gasoline tank-to-tank into his own. Emptying the fuel from both motorcycles into his tank practically filled it up, providing more than enough gas to get home.

Zhang Yun didn’t stay to continue practicing his Lightweight Skill. He hurried out of the mountains and headed home. Since he wasn’t familiar with the roads, he didn’t take the small paths through other villages and towns. Instead, he returned to the county town first before making his way home. Even though he drove quite fast, it was already evening by the time he arrived.

"Zhang Yun is back." As soon as he got home, someone came out to greet him with a smile.

Zhang Yun took a look and saw it was Uncle Wang Ronghua’s son, Wang Changshun.

"Brother Changshun, long time no see," Zhang Yun greeted with a warm smile. Since this older cousin had come to their house, there was a high probability he was here to borrow money. Compared to that day when the news spread and a bunch of distant relatives rushed over to borrow money, his two uncles and aunt hadn’t done so. Perhaps to avoid arousing suspicion, apart from his second uncle who tried to introduce him to a girlfriend, the other two families hadn’t initiated contact.

Zhang Yun had a very good impression of them, having learned that his two uncles and aunt had all lent them money to build their house a few years ago. Eighty thousand, fifty thousand, and twenty thousand yuan—even biological siblings might not be that generous, let alone for a cousin who had already passed away.

"Yun, your brother here has come to follow you!" Wang Changshun laughed heartily.

Zhang Yun was a little surprised. He wondered what he meant by following him. Farming? Raising fish?

Zhang Fu was also in the living room. Wang Changshun had come out first, and now he emerged as well. With a slightly complicated expression, he still smiled and said, "Changshun wants to learn how to dig for ginseng from you."