Chapter 352

"The nine holes can only be sounded once." Zhu Xiuer reminded him, "This is a matter of great importance, do not act recklessly." This xun seemed like metal but wasn't, seemed like pottery but wasn't, colored brownish-black, with absolutely no patterns on the surface. He tapped it with his finger: "What material is this?"

"It was refined from my sister's eye socket." Zhu Xiuer said gloomily, "In ancient times, its magic power was even stronger than mine."

He Lingchuan paused while playing with the ancient xun: "Hmm? Your sister?" Zhu Xiuer's sister, could it be called... "Zhu Xiuer?"

"Of course."

This mother was too lazy with naming! Then the question arises: "Second Sister, how many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"There were seven hundred and sixty-five when we were born."

"..." So prolific, "How many are alive now?"

Zhu Xiuer stopped talking and changed the subject: "You leave tomorrow. I must rest for at least one night before I can gift you a divine ability."

Everyone had no objections, so they spent the night in the Jiana tribe ruins.

Steward Zhao knew that his hope of leaving the swamp lay with He Lingchuan, so he was respectful to both of them. He Lingchuan took the opportunity to ask him about the customs and practices outside.

After all, the outside of the Demon Nest Swamp was already a strange and brand-new world to him.

Not long after, Zhu Xiuer came over again, grabbed a snake-skin bag, and dumped it onto the open space, startling everyone:

What she dumped out was actually a whole giant python!

It was precisely Lord Boshan.

Although it was already a corpse, the massive body still gave everyone a strong sense of oppression.

Zhu Xiuer had already drained the toxins and asked the merchant caravan to help process it, separating the skin, meat, gall, etc. Human hands are so nimble; it would be a waste not to use this free labor.

Steward Zhao had no objections. The caravan's guards and clerks had been traveling for years, and catching wild boars, snakes, and rabbits for extra meals was a common occurrence; it was just that the snake they were processing this time was a bit large, seven or eight zhang (twenty-five or twenty-six meters) long.

The prey killed by Zhu Xiuer usually had no obvious wounds on the surface. He Lingchuan drew his Floating Life Blade and first gutted the giant python, otherwise, others' swords and blades wouldn't be able to pierce Lord Boshan's outer skin at all.

While everyone was busy, Steward Zhao suddenly came to find He Lingchuan: "Young Master He, can we go find the remains of the other mountain bandits? Before entering the swamp, all our belongings were looted by them."

Since Tu Zhongli was dead, they wanted to get back their own possessions.

He Lingchuan had no objections and found a few spider guards who had participated in the battle to act as guides before entering Lord Boshan's territory.

This was also a typical swamp landscape, but the area was only half of Zhu Xiuer's territory, and prey like capybaras, deer, and rabbits were clearly not as abundant as in Zhu Xiuer's territory; no wonder Lord Boshan was always trying to cross the border and even teamed up with the Gentle King to raid the cave spider nest.

If the raid had succeeded, he would have had spider sheds to study and could use this to threaten Zhu Xiuer into ceding territory.

Who would have expected this outcome?

Soon, they arrived at the battlefield where the spiders and snakes had fought.

There were traces of giant objects being crushed on the ground, but overall the damage was not great, with only seven or eight trees knocked down. The battle between these two did not have earth-shattering visual effects.

However, snake corpses of various sizes were scattered around.

The spiders killed in battle had already been moved back by their own kind, and what remained here were all the enemy corpses.

As everyone walked further, the spider guards suddenly raised their upper bodies and made squeaking intimidation sounds. Immediately after, there was a rustling sound in the grass, and a few wild boars ran out, fleeing far away in a flash.

The Wild Boar King really wanted to expand his territory here.

Both the humans and the spider guards became vigilant, fearing that the giant pig demon would rush out from somewhere.

However, the wilderness was quiet, and until they left this battlefield, that kind of thing didn't happen.

Perhaps Lord Boshan's death made the Gentle King fear Zhu Xiuer's strength, so he didn't dare to stir up trouble in the short term.

He Lingchuan and the others, led by the spider guards, collected the corpses of the mountain bandits.

These people had fled in all directions, and when they were caught and killed by the spiders, their remains were scattered all around.

Now it was the merchant caravan's turn to search their bodies; this is called the turning of the tables.

Soon, someone cheered—he had actually picked up two gold beans.

He Lingchuan wasn't idle either.

After leaving the Yuan army and his father, he was no longer the Young Master He; from now on, he would have to fend for himself.

There were too many places where money was needed.

After the looting was finished, everyone returned to the ruins, and the spiders actually came forward and handed Tu Zhongli's remains to He Lingchuan as well.

This unlucky guy was wrapped tightly in spider webs, his eyes bulging with unwillingness.

Steward Zhao rummaged through them and sure enough, found quite a few valuables.

He didn't dare to be greedy and took only a few items before saying to He Lingchuan: "Young Master He, these are all your spoils of war."

He Lingchuan took a look and saw that Steward Zhao was clever, leaving the largest silver ingots and the most valuable things for him.

He didn't examine them too closely and swept everything into his storage ring, but among them was a green jade pendant carved in the shape of a rabbit; holding it in his hand, he felt his footsteps become much lighter, as if his body weight had suddenly decreased by dozens of jin.

Tu Zhongli actually had this kind of magic tool on him? An unexpected joy, he casually wore it at his waist.

With this thing's blessing, combined with the Swallow Return movement technique, his speed could reach a new level. Sometimes burying one's head in hard training doesn't necessarily lead to progress; one must also rely on the power of tools.

At this time, the spider swarm emerged from the rear, preparing to occupy Lord Boshan's territory.

The jungle hegemon was dead, so Zhu Xiuer would naturally take the opportunity to consolidate and expand her territory.

How glorious she was when she built her nest and operated in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest of the Panlong Wasteland; all the major forces in the wasteland had to find ways to curry favor with her, but now her offspring were less than one-fifth of what they were then, and her overall strength had dropped by more than one grade.

Before dawn the next day, everyone got up to pack their bags.

Zhu Xiuer had been digesting the essence of Lord Boshan's flesh and blood all night, and by now her movements were much smoother, and those three legs could also touch the ground to walk.

She handed He Lingchuan three pieces of amber, each sealing a drop of red blood.

"This is the essence of flesh and blood I extracted from Lord Boshan, mixed with my own essence blood." Zhu Xiuer said solemnly, "There are two ways to use it: if you suffer heavy injuries, drinking one drop directly can heal you, and severed limbs can also grow back within an hour. But you can only drink one drop within twenty-four hours, and it must be under the premise that you are heavily injured, otherwise you will explode and die."

She explained: "This contains the life force of two great demon kings, which is too violent even for high-level human martial artists."

He Lingchuan carefully took it; Zhu Xiuer said she would gift him a life-saving divine ability, and she really didn't break her promise. "What about the second way to use it?"

"While crushing the amber, silently recite the three words 'Blood Tooth Guard' to summon three 'Blood Tooth Guards,' each excelling in attack, defense, or medicine." Zhu Xiuer summoned a giant spider the size of a small calf to demonstrate, "The Blood Tooth Guards are a size larger than this one, sturdier and fiercer, and have their own divine abilities; they will be good helpers in your battles."

She seemed to sigh: "Since the medieval period, spiritual energy has declined, and I no longer produce such offspring. But through the power of me and Lord Boshan, you can temporarily summon them to the human world for at most two quarters of an hour."

It was indeed a good thing; He Lingchuan carefully put it away.

Finally, she took out a cloud brocade flag and handed it to He Lingchuan right under the eyes of the Gan merchant caravan: "This is a specially made pass; you can use it to walk out of the swamp. Remember not to talk, laugh, or play loudly when passing through the Mirage Mist, otherwise, if you wake the Mirage Demon, this flag might not be able to protect you on your way out."

She said to Steward Zhao again: "The Gan family must wholeheartedly send him to Lingxu City; whatever he wants, you give it to him; whatever he wants you to do, you do it." Zhu Xiuer's tone was chilling, "Otherwise, don't even think about stepping into the Demon Nest Swamp ever again!"

Steward Zhao and the others responded with "Yes" repeatedly.

At this time, the spiders had already reloaded the merchant caravan's carts with goods, and everyone set their direction and slowly drove away from Zhu Xiuer's territory.

Walking further, sure enough, a patch of white mist emerged from the depths of the jungle, with visibility less than thirty meters, and the sounds of frogs and insects were also near and far, impossible to confirm.

Ordinary living beings would get lost upon entering here, forever trapped in the thick fog.

Steward Zhao had experience from entering and exiting many times, so he had already had people tie the carts together one by one with ropes, and at this time, he asked He Lingchuan to insert the flag on the leading carriage.

The flag emitted a green light, and the thick fog within fifty meters suddenly avoided the distance, revealing the real scene.

The compass could also be used normally.

The merchant caravan didn't dare to make a sound and moved forward in silence, seeing many beasts dead on the side of the road along the way, all of which had mistakenly entered the Mirage Mist and been trapped to death.

Steward Zhao whispered to He Lingchuan that in fact, living beings inside and outside the swamp were wary of the thick fog and usually stayed far away from it. Only the newborn or the ignorant ones from out of town were so ignorant and fearless.

In the thick fog, He Lingchuan seemed to see a vague shadow, looking like a rabbit and also like a fox, but it was very large, and there was a tail swaying gently behind it.

But no matter how much he exerted his vision, it was still blurry, without any clarity.

He didn't know what that thing was, and He Lingchuan didn't even know how far it was from the team.

He looked at Steward Zhao, who waved his hands repeatedly, signaling that it was fine.

Not long after, this figure disappeared.

There were no more twists and turns on this journey; the merchant caravan walked for over an hour and finally walked out of the encirclement of the Mirage Mist, leaving the Demon Nest Swamp territory!

The moment the thick fog dissipated and the view became clear, everyone cheered.

Escaped! Finally returned to the familiar human world.

"Have we reached the territory of the Fu Nation?"

"Not yet, not yet, this is a no-man's-land." Steward Zhao's smile came from the heart, "Fifteen miles further, welcome the two of you to be guests in our Fu Nation."

Dong Rui had been silent all the way, but suddenly said at this time: "Alright, see you in the Beijia capital in four months, I'm leaving first."

Two spider puppets then walked to his side.

He Lingchuan smiled: "Not coming with us?" This fellow had hidden things before, only saying he had created one spider puppet, but it turned out there were two. Considering he still had things to do later, Zhu Xiuer didn't reclaim them.

Dong Rui snorted: "I have things to do, we'll meet again." After saying this, he jumped onto the demon puppet, and this thing stretched its eight legs, scurrying a few times before slipping behind the jungle trees and disappearing.

The two originally had a grudge but had spent over ten days together in a state of superficial harmony. Now that the pressure from Zhu Xiuer had disappeared, Dong Rui returned to his mode of not having a single word to say to those he didn't get along with and slipped away at the first opportunity.

Stewing meat bone tea at noon today, a bit busy, the second update will be released a little later.

(End of chapter)