Chapter 1679: Temporary idea

"A bird?" Mother Zhu wiped her eyes, "Can it change its appearance?" He Lingchuan laughed: "If it is the External Dharma Image of the Thousand-Illusion True Person and possesses a bit of the original body's ability..."

People had already marked their talent in their name, "Thousand-Illusion."

"That's true." Mother Zhu stood up, "Since it has left, the changes in the Yao Palace should be coming to an end, right?"

"No." He Lingchuan shook his head, "The chaos in Tianshui City and the Yao Nation has only just begun!"

Everyone wanted to know what happened next, but at this moment, four riders galloped from the night, and Wanqi Feng immediately said: "Xiao Qi is back."

Xiao Qi was the captain of this small team. His surname was Xiao, and he was the seventh in his family. After a long time, everyone just called him "Xiao Qi."

But when the riders reached them, everyone saw that the four horses were actually carrying six people.

Three of them were injured to varying degrees, the most serious being Xiao Qi, whose abdomen was almost sliced open. He was holding his intestines, and his companion was supporting him from behind. They had galloped all the way, suffering a lot.

Fortunately, he had already fallen into a coma.

"Ling Guang!"

Actually, He Lingchuan didn't need to speak; the Medicine Ape had already jumped down with a small medicine basket, first stuffing two pills into Xiao Qi's mouth, and then starting to check and rescue him.

The injuries of the others also started to be treated after landing.

He Lingchuan personally handed over a bottle of spiritual medicine: "What happened?"

This was the team he sent out, six people, six horses. As a result, two horses were missing on the return trip, and the captain was seriously injured.

Wanqi Feng, Wang Fubao, and others also changed their expressions, because Xiao Qi and the others were also Black Armor Army, with high combat quality.

Following the master through life and death over a dozen times, when had they ever been so seriously injured and so embarrassed? Qing Yang, Zhao Song, and others were all in the palace. In the eastern suburbs of Tianshui City, what other power could cause them such casualties?

He Lingchuan examined the wounds on Xiao Qi's body closely; they looked vaguely familiar, and his heart couldn't help but stir.

"My lord, we were ambushed on the return journey after surveying the Yongquan Shanzhuang!" The black-armored guard who had protected Xiao Qi on his return was named Xia Ke; he was a fellow villager of Xiao Qi and also a Bailie tribesman. "They looked like humans but weren't quite human—seven or eight feet tall, faces covered, wearing gray robes, four fingers on each hand, and a tail behind them. Oh, and their skin was gray-blue with very fine cracks."

He swallowed hard: "This monster moved incredibly fast. It killed one of our horses the moment it appeared. No matter how many gashes we opened on its body, the wounds would heal in the blink of an eye. Xiao Qi was only—only protecting me when he suffered these heavy wounds. He used his own horse as bait and ordered us to flee quickly, saying this thing might be a demon puppet and that we had to report it to you immediately!"

"The monster was busy devouring the horse and didn't bother to pursue us. We just ran all the way back." All five of them looked sheepish. Having been by their lord's side for so long, when had they ever been in such a sorry state? Zhu Xiuer also shuffled over and spoke immediately: "Ashmona!"

Xia Ke's description of the enemy's appearance was very detailed; she knew immediately that this was the demon puppet that had escaped from the owner of the Red Hut, Cao Wendao—Ashmona!

Back then, when the owner of the Red Hut and Dong Rui had their head-to-head duel, Dong Rui had ultimately been the more skilled one, seeing through Cao Wendao's core technique first. As a result, the latter's main demon puppet turned on its master on the spot, and after killing Cao Wendao, it fled without a trace.

So many days had passed, and even though Zhu Xiuer wandered around the outskirts of the city regularly, she had never found Ashmona's whereabouts.

Unexpectedly, just as He Lingchuan was planning to withdraw, it had popped out to hurt people.

"Where did you encounter the danger?" Zhu Xiuer remembered that Dong Rui had always wanted to catch Ashmona to study it properly.

"Qingniu Terrace," Xia Ke said. "We were driving past the edge of the terrace when the monster lunged out from the dense forest."

Zhu Xiuer understood: "By the side of Tao Creek."

Because of the large-scale development of the East Expansion of Tianshui, the entire eastern suburb was filled with flying yellow dust, with few good forests left. It was only because they bordered the water that the woods along Tao Creek had been preserved.

At this moment, Ling Guang looked up and asked the Spider Queen for help: "Mother, can you use your spider silk to make me a filter layer?"

Zhu Xiuer extended her spinneret and precisely sprayed a small, dense patch of spider silk. At the same time, she didn't forget to ask He Lingchuan: "Why do you think Ashmona ran back to Tao Creek? It has already gained its freedom; where can it not go?"

Why must it stay near the outskirts of Tianshui City? "Is there something attracting it?"

"Tao Creek? What's at Tao Creek?" He Lingchuan's gaze flickered. "That was the location of the battle between Cao Wendao and Dong Rui. Duels between demon puppet masters naturally involve demon puppets... Oh!"

He and Zhu Xiuer spoke almost in unison: "The Skin-Turning Catfish!"

That place was usually devoid of even a ghost, except for the big guy buried underground—the Red Hut owner's demon puppet, the Skin-Turning Catfish that had been blown up by Dong Rui.

Zhu Xiuer stomped her feet: "Aiya, I should have gone to Tao Creek to lie in wait for it!"

She hadn't expected that Ashmona would return to that battle site multiple times.

He Lingchuan then asked Xia Ke: "What is the situation at the villa?"

"The palace guards have all been rushed into the city; only a dozen or so people remain to hold Yongquan Shanzhuang."

With the dramatic changes in the capital, most of Zhao Song's men who had been stationed at the villa heard the commotion over there and rushed back, leaving only a few to watch the gates.

As expected, He Lingchuan slapped his thigh: "Excellent. Leave two people here to guard the wounded, and the rest of you come with me to Tao Creek."

"Huh?"

Changing the itinerary on the fly? Everyone was a bit surprised, but he was the lord, and what he said went.

The distance from Youhu to Tao Creek was very short. Back then, when Qingyang led men to intercept He Lingchuan, they had arrived in the blink of an eye.

The scenery at Tao Creek remained the same; the creek water had already frozen over, but the pitch-black pine forest rustled in the night wind, as if a monster might jump out at any moment.

Everyone became highly vigilant, prepared for Ashmona to burst out from some corner and hurt someone again.

However, this scene never occurred; Ashmona didn't know where it had gone.

This thing seemed to like wandering around.

Zhu Xiuer left two Blood Tooth Guards to watch the forest, while she and He Lingchuan and the others walked to the creek.

The large crater blasted out by the Heavenly King Scale was right here.

The government had once sent people to dig up soil to fill it, but the nearby refugees couldn't bear the hunger and secretly came over to cut off fish meat to fill their stomachs, only to be poisoned to death.

Ever since then, no one had come here at all.

The group stood at the edge of the pit and looked down; the corpse of the Skin-Turning Catfish was still there, but its size had clearly shrunk—

More than half of the fish body was gone, revealing deep white bones.

Zhu Xiuer pointed with her sharp claw: "The edge of the pit bottom has been dug up, and the fish bones are covered in bite marks."

Everyone looked, and the thick fish bones were indeed covered in ghastly white tooth marks.

Wang Fubao shivered subconsciously: "Is Ashmona using this place as a restaurant?"

"It and the Skin-Turning Catfish are both demon puppets modified by divine blood. Since they both came from Cao Wendao's hands, perhaps the modification materials have other similarities." He Lingchuan's eyes flickered. "It seems Ashmona has been staying in the city outskirts just to eat this fish corpse. It was heavily injured in the battle, and eating this Skin-Turning Catfish should be very beneficial for it."

However, the Skin-Turning Catfish was too bulky; given Ashmona's appetite, it had only gnawed through two-thirds of it so far.

Speaking of this, he became lost in thought.

Zhu Xiuer and the others knew he was deep in thought again and didn't make a sound to disturb him.

After a good while, He Lingchuan's gaze refocused, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror in his bosom spoke as soon as it saw this: "Oh my, what bad idea have you come up with again?"

Whenever the master had this expression, it meant he had a sudden inspiration.

It looked like someone was about to be unlucky.

Zhu Xiuer also asked: "Do you want to set a trap to catch Ashmona? Time is a bit tight."

It was unknown how much longer the great battle in the Yao Palace would last. After the battle, Qingyang and the others would probably remember Yongquan Shanzhuang and He Lingchuan.

"It won't take much time." He Lingchuan examined the large fish carcass at the bottom of the pit. "Mother, can you carry this Skin-Turning Catfish?"

If anyone else had asked Zhu Xiuer to carry a corpse, she would have kicked them flying. But since He Lingchuan had this request, she jumped into the pit herself to measure it, then said: "No problem. This big fish has already been two-thirds eaten; if I trim off some more bones, the volume will be even smaller."

Wanqi Feng offered an idea: "Why not use a net to scoop it up? We have over a dozen horses that can pull it."

The horse power was more than enough.

"No need. Pulling it with horses will leave tracks on the ground." Zhu Xiuer went to turn over the fish corpse. "Just tell me where you want it moved."

He Lingchuan reached back and pointed in the direction of Yongquan Shanzhuang: "The villa."

The Black Armor Army was efficient. Half an hour later, the group left Yongquan Shanzhuang again.

This time they walked out through the main gate, empty-handed and swaggering.

Oh, that's not right; Wanqi Liang and Wang Fubao had packed up all the remaining aged wine in the cellar, while He Lingchuan took away many candied fruits and dried fruits. These were all sun-dried from fruits produced by Yongquan Shanzhuang itself, and their superior quality was evident; Ling Guang and the Ghost Ape especially liked them.

After walking seven or eight miles north, the feeling of being watched like needles on one's back finally disappeared. Before He Lingchuan could speak, Zhu Xiuer said: "That thing followed us to here and then stopped; it turned back."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At this juncture, they didn't want to fight.

He Lingchuan casually took out a bag of small white apricot dried fruits, and everyone came to share them:

"The battle in the Yao Palace should be over by now, right?"

Tonight's coup was merely the opening act of a series of good shows.

A great chaos, unseen in two hundred years, was about to descend upon the Yao Nation.

Zhu Xiuer was eager to try: "So what are we going to do now?"

"Of the thirty-six stratagems, choose the best one."

"What's that?" Zhu Xiuer had never heard of any thirty-six stratagems.

"Get out of here." The bookworm didn't drop the ball. "First, find a place to stay and collect the Imperial Flowing Nectar."

With the largest-scale Imperial Flowing Nectar in over a hundred years, he could put several lengths between himself and the pursuers, and settle down safely to collect the nectar first.

"And then?" Zhu Xiuer pressed, "You don't want to go back to Ju City, do you?"

"Remember the route Bai Ziqi took to enter the Yao Nation? This time, we'll do the opposite."

Zhu Xiuer let out an 'eh': "Going to the North Sea?"

Fine, idle is idle.

The northern end of the Shining Gold Plain was the shore of the North Sea.

"No." He Lingchuan smiled. "We're going to the Upside-Down Sea to find the Thousand Illusion True Person."

Zhu Xiuer was happy: "Good, good, this is good!"

She didn't want to return to Ju City right now. On this trip accompanying He Lingchuan on a long journey, she had only killed a few lackeys, which wasn't satisfying at all!

The Thousand Illusion True Person's Upside-Down Sea must be incredibly fun.