Chapter 2295

This time, before He Lingchuan could respond, Dong Rui from the side reached out and took it: "What is this?"

"It's the foreign object inside Xu Anqian's chest cavity." Liu Qingdao, having held the position of Chief of the Elemental Bureau for many years, had long been accustomed to making all necessary preparations before facing the sovereign: "After his disciples were captured and confessed, before we even appeared, Xu Anqian had already slashed open his own chest and abdomen, pulled out these things, and then burned them with true fire. And then—"

"—we arrived. Xu Anqian, in his shock and fury, activated the Xu Ling Combat Technique, but he couldn't hold on, so we were able to capture him without much difficulty." He stared at the items on the tray, his heart still pounding: "This thing can actually harm an immortal—how strange. Lingguang Mr. said, this thing cannot be completely taken; what remains inside Elder Xu's body will continue to grow wildly."

Lingguang added from the side: "If I hadn't used the medicinal film, Elder Xu would already have died; but after applying the film, I discovered that those ghostly things absorb the medicinal power at a speed even faster than Elder Xu himself!"

Dong Rui produced a pair of tweezers from somewhere, pinched the jelly-like substance on the tray twice, and then said: "It's still alive, just not as lively as before, hmm..."

He went out and had someone bring a live chicken.

Soon, a lively, jumping rooster arrived.

Dong Rui stuffed this sticky substance into the chicken's beak. Immediately afterward, the rooster trembled all over, in great agony.

After just a few breaths, white fungal threads began to emerge from its mouth and nose.

This state was even worse than Xu Anqian's.

"Indeed, once these fungal threads leave the flesh, they die quickly." Dong Rui's hypothesis was confirmed: "Truly ingeniously designed—it can harm people, yet won't let it spread uncontrollably."

He Lingchuan asked directly: "What exactly is this thing? Can you figure it out now?"

"Of course not! Do you really think I'm a god who can see through everything at a glance?" Dong Rui rolled his eyes: "Doesn't this require time to study?"

Saying that, he somehow produced another weasel-shaped puppet, and shoved the white fungal threads into its mouth.

This puppet endured longer, but its death was just as painful.

After the white fungal threads had consumed two living beings, Dong Rui took out a cave spider net to ensnare it—only to hear a series of hissing sounds; the snow-white spider net had turned black, corroded into a large hole.

Dong Rui then took out a jade purification bottle, aimed its mouth at the white fungal threads, and lightly tapped the bottom: "Collect!"

The jade purification bottle erupted with powerful suction—whoosh—and sucked in the mass of white fungal threads.

Inside Xu Anqian's abdomen, it could kill an immortal, but once detached from its host, although it could still wriggle weakly, it was as helpless as a rice cake.

The crowd then examined the net again. Although the silk of the cave spider queen comes in various strengths, this was not the toughest kind, yet the corrosiveness of this substance was still astonishing.

"This acid-toxin's corrosiveness toward living bodies is too strong—no wonder even an immortal's viscera couldn't withstand it."

At this moment, Lingguang pointed to the sword wound on Elder Xu's chest and suddenly tapped it twice with his knuckles.

Thud, thud—a dull sound.

He Lingchuan's eyes instantly narrowed.

Lingguang timely said: "Moreover, his body is continuously undergoing wooden transformation."

Dong Rui immediately used a silver needle to pluck a strand of spider silk, examined it closely, and then said: "Look at this!"

This strand of spider silk had not been corroded through, but its color had changed from white to brown. Dong Rui tapped it lightly with the silver needle a few times, and only then did the two discover: the spider silk had actually hardened!

Dong Rui casually grabbed the puppet and immediately dissected it on the spot.

Unable to dissect Elder Xu, he had no choice but to dissect the puppet.

As the knife cut into the abdomen, it encountered resistance.

"Did you hear that?" He scraped the blade a few times, producing a dull sound: "Now look at this grain."

"Wood grain." Liu Qingdao exclaimed in surprise: "So it seems Xu Anqian's internal organs, like this puppet's, have turned into wood?"

"This is the Wood Transformation Technique." He Lingchuan and Dong Rui were both familiar with it: "Such demonic arts are rare in the world, especially after the death of the Mu Su True Lord. We do know, however, that the Jin Du Gui Mu once gave birth to a ghostly offspring possessing this ability."

He Lingchuan has dealt with Wood Transformation Technique both in the Panlong World and in reality, leaving a deep impression.

If it were only the Wood Transformation Technique, it might not be enough to deal with Elder Xu. The vitality of an immortal's body is extremely vigorous, capable of suppressing the speed of wooden transformation.

In the past, Zhu Xiuer donned her sister's spider immortal shell to fight the Mu Su True Lord and was also afflicted with the Wood Transformation Technique. Her countermeasure was to use immense power to suppress the speed of wooden transformation, then transfer the damage to the eyeball spiders, and finally discard the wooden-transformed eyeball spiders with ease.

One leg couldn't recover, so she simply let it fall off—after all, it could still regrow later.

Elder Xu, however, lacked such talent; moreover, the site of his affliction was his internal organs, and no one has spare internal organs.

"This rice-cake-like thing can both corrode an immortal's viscera and turn flesh into wood?" Liu Qingdao murmured: "These two abilities shouldn't appear in the same monster, should they?"

"They shouldn't, which is why it seems twisted." He Lingchuan agreed: "Whoever plotted against Elder Xu truly fears he won't die quickly enough."

"What twist!" Dong Rui disliked hearing this: "This is called Fusion Embedding!"

He Lingchuan understood from his expression: "So this is also a puppet?"

"Possibly." Dong Rui maintained a rigorous attitude: "Further testing is needed."

Meanwhile, Liu Qingdao continued his report:

"We interrogated the prisoners; this thing should have been actively consumed by Elder Xu."

"That's clear." Otherwise, how could it have grown into Elder Xu's viscera? "What was it mixed in?"

"Stone Flower Gel. Elder Xu has recently taken a liking to it." Liu Qingdao continued: "So Tang Jingye buys two bowls every day to present to him as filial offering."

"Tang Jingye?" He Lingchuan's eyes narrowed: "Is that the contact person arranged by the Tian Wu? Where is he?"

"The strangeness lies right here—" Liu Qingdao said solemnly: "Those two prisoners insistently claimed that Tang Jingye was killed by me personally outside the garrison of the Ying Mountain Sect."

"By you...?" If it weren't such a major matter, He Lingchuan would almost have laughed out loud. Since he began managing the Cang Yan State, such interesting events had been rare. Ah, managing state affairs is truly the most boring thing under heaven—exhausting one's mind, day after day, endless and boundless: "I thought he had already died a few days ago in the forests of Tongyue Town."

"No corpse was seen." Liu Qingdao continued: "I asked this Tang Jingye what else he had done recently; the prisoners confessed that Tang Jingye had brought back the news of Tian Wu's capture a few days ago, so the news of Xi Mountain Sect's imminent emergence from seclusion had already leaked, prompting them to strike first. Moreover, the strategy of using gold cores to construct mountains and cut off water to Wei'an City was also Tang Jingye's suggestion to Sect Leader Yuan."

"Well asked!" He Lingchuan knew Liu Qingdao also sensed something off, which is why he pursued the matter of Tang Jingye: "So using gold cores was his idea."