Chapter 33: Purple-Gold Toad

It's just that one cannot turn back or retreat easily, but it's not as if we're bound hand and foot. Why stand there like spectators? Is this the time to worry about the bonds of comradeship?

The group was merely at a loss for a moment. Stung by his sharp rebuke, they snapped back to their senses with a jolt. Gritting their teeth, they raised their blades and axes against their possessed companions.

At a time like this, one's own life is what matters most; the bonds of comradeship have to take a backseat.

Before long, the puppets were all killed. The Three-Corpse Insects that had burrowed inside were squeezed out before they could even warm the bodies.

By now, the walnut boat had passed the city gate, traveling through the undulating ruins of the old city and through the mottled light and shadow.

Some Three-Corpse Insects successfully burrowed back into the shadows, but as the last few were forced out, they were exposed directly to the sunlight.

Struck by the intense light, these phantoms dissipated instantly, leaving nothing behind.

Without the protection of a physical shell, the Sun's True Fire is their nemesis.

The city of Fu is not large, and there are few buildings. The walnut boat soon moved far away from all the city walls, wandering once more among the sand dunes.

Sheltered by the sunlight, everyone was panting heavily, finally able to turn their heads freely.

Nian Songyu's voice came from another boat, reminding all the troops: "Discard the corpses to reduce weight! We must accelerate."

Night was falling, and they had to make haste.

Those lying dead on the deck had once been good partners who fought side by side. The living remained silent for a long while before moving to collect the food, water, and weapons from the bodies.

Supplies were precious; they could not be wasted.

He Chunhua's personal guard had died with his eyes wide open. He Lingchuan walked back and closed them.

He Chunhua sighed: "His name was Zhao Shaogang. He'd been with me for five years and handled many things for me."

"I know, I remember." He Lingchuan pursed his lips, pulling out the last bag of naan bread, the last flask of water, and a common silver hairpin from Zhao Shaogang's person.

He had killed this man with his own hands.

"This hairpin is..." He Chunhua was about to reminisce, but He Lingchuan interrupted him: "When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; there's no use in saying more. His family will receive a generous pension."

Every living person has a story behind them, but so what? They were earning blood money to begin with.

He Chunhua stopped speaking and patted his shoulder: "You're right."

At this moment, self-indulgent sentimentality was useless.

He revealed the broken comb he was clutching in his left hand: "I always thought the resentment on the comb could repel these ghostly things. It seems it's of no use."

This comb was the origin of all the trouble, yet in the desert, it seemed completely worthless.

He Chunhua was very disappointed.

He Lingchuan glanced at it guiltily: "Perhaps the method of use is improper?" The divine bone necklace hanging around his neck was also a "token," perhaps the most important one, but no one else knew about this.

Come to think of it, this pendant had never shown any peculiar use. Were the trigger conditions insufficient?

He pushed the corpse off the boat. Below seemed to be a large pool, its edges built with black stone; of course, there was no water in it now.

Sand burial had always been a tradition of Black Water City and the Panlong Desert.

Listening to the thud of the corpse hitting the ground and looking at the bloodstains on his arm—accidentally picked up while killing and searching the body just now—he felt a tightness in his chest.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time he had killed someone since becoming He Lingchuan, and he had even killed his father's personal guard.

He knew Zhao Shaogang; they had chatted and laughed together.

Just now, the situation was urgent and allowed for no hesitation, but now that he had caught his breath, He Lingchuan felt a sense of sorrow.

"Are you alright?" He Chunhua saw him keeping his head down.

"A bit seasick." He Lingchuan raised his waterskin and took a gulp, suppressing the stifling agitation along with it.

Killing one's own kind is different from killing chickens or dogs. He was surprised himself that he hadn't slumped over the side of the boat to vomit.

Since coming to this world, his heart seemed to have hardened as well.

What was influencing him so subtly?

Over there, Situ Han was also packing up, his eyes red. One of the sand bandits had been possessed and was killed by his own hand.

This man had robbed wealth and plundered beauty with him; just a few days ago, they had gotten drunk together and slept foot-to-foot. Now, the residual warmth of the body hadn't even faded before he was tossed off the boat.

And everyone knew that such things would certainly not be rare on this journey of exploration.

This was merely the beginning.

He Lingchuan took a few quiet deep breaths to calm himself down, then leaned close to He Chunhua and said: "On the National Master's boat, the fewest people died." The fewest corpses were thrown overboard.

"There has never been such a thing as fairness in this world."

When a person is possessed by a Three-Corpse Insect, they become a puppet. Except for the Panlong City of yesteryear, no one could come up with a method for immediate rescue. It is said that by the late stages of the coalition siege, the Xianyou Nation already held several sets of treatment methods, but they were time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly. Those who successfully expelled the insects did not exceed twenty percent, and it took three to five days to complete.

Three-Corpse Insects are originally hidden within the human body; the first step for a cultivator to attain the Dao is to sever their own Three-Corpse Insects. To want to expel them by other means—how could it be easy?

Furthermore, possessed puppets go into a frenzy; how could they be docilely treated?

Therefore, decision-makers like Nian Songyu had long ago agreed: once someone on the boat is possessed by a Three-Corpse Insect, they must cut the Gordian knot and leave no future trouble!

Every possessed person becomes a burden; they truly could not afford to wait or save them.

He Chunhua shook his head, casting the annoying thoughts to the back of his mind, then patted his son's shoulder: "Just now, thanks to your timely action, several lives were saved. By the way, when did your flying knife aim get so good?"

That flying knife just now had shot out right past his shoulder; the accuracy was superb.

This good-for-nothing son had saved his life and helped him eliminate the chaos; he had grown.

The Prefect He felt greatly gratified.

"Accuracy? Uh!" He Lingchuan was embarrassed: "Just now. Wasn't it because of the urgency?"

He Chunhua: "..."

￥￥￥￥￥

I don't know if He Lingchuan's words were a prophecy, but in the following journey, the other two boats were fine, yet National Master Sun's walnut boat encountered uninvited guests—

Two enormous Purple-Gold Toads.

These things were mutated monsters, not only appearing as toads magnified a hundred times, but even their attack method was to suddenly shoot out tongue-arrows to grab prey and swallow them.

The hill-like Purple-Gold Toads leaped from the sand dunes, and their landing nearly capsized the walnut boat. The galloping earth-dragons were reined in, nearly unable to pull the boat.

Just as ordinary toads eat flying insects, that's how they ate people. They even raised their forelimbs to help shove the prey into their mouths, then swallowed them without even chewing.

Furthermore, when the Purple-Gold Toads encountered enemies, the bumps on their bodies would explode, bursting out a purple-tinged golden toxic mist. Those who smelled it would become dizzy, foam at the mouth, and collapse within a few breaths.

This was the origin of their name.

Fortunately, the Purple-Gold Toads ate very slowly, chewing and swallowing carefully for every person they ate, which gave National Master Sun and his men plenty of time to deal with them.

The He father and son were on another boat, out of reach, and could only watch the show with peace of mind.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 34 =====