Chapter 47: Someone Always Has to Scout the Way

Nian and He were lost in thought, no longer confronting each other. Perhaps luck turned, and only a quarter of an hour later, another strange beast bit the hook.

This thing had a bloated body like a hippopotamus, but its limbs were fin-shaped, and its tail and neck were very long. In contrast, its head was strangely small.

With such a low-IQ thing, it would never let go after biting the hook, and the difficulty of fishing it up was lower than that of the earth-dragon.

The only trouble was that its body was too large, occupying a walnut boat all by itself and making the boat hull sway.

Fortunately, the walnut boat was very close to the stone bridge, and more than a hundred soldiers grabbed the tow ropes and pulled it onto the bridge.

Then it was a large-scale slaughter scene.

Everyone found buckets from civilian houses in the city and bled the two monsters, transporting them to the temple bucket by bucket.

Their bodies were huge, like water jars, and the blood that came out was thick and viscous, with a pungent stench.

He Lingchuan smelled it on the side, secretly hoping that the Great Fang Hu wouldn't be too picky.

And in front of the main hall, the blood water was getting redder and redder.

The most gratifying thing was that after pouring thirty or so buckets of beast blood, the water surface began to expand!

"It's effective!" Sun Fuping was overjoyed, his fingers clutching the edge of the pool turning white, "Continue, continue!"

Finally, after the last few buckets were poured in, the blood water barely covered the bottom of the pool, looking like only a thin layer.

Zeng Feixiong and his men threw away the buckets: "And then?"

"Wait!" Sun Fuping stared at the water surface without blinking, "Just wait!"

He Chunhua suddenly said: "The wind in the city stopped very early."

Reminded by him, everyone recalled, when did the omnipresent cold wind stop?

The bright moon didn't know when it hid in the thick clouds, and everyone felt the light in the city darkening rapidly.

As soon as the words fell, the calm water surface bubbled, emitting a bit of ripples.

"There are holes underneath..."

Zeng Feixiong just asked, and Sun Fuping "hissed," raising his hand to stop him.

The square of Mitian Temple was quiet, and one could hear a pin drop.

This itself was abnormal.

Another string of small bubbles emerged.

Sun Fuping lowered his body, wanting to get closer to look, when the water surface "splashed," and something rushed out, almost hitting him face-to-face!

Others could only see a black shadow, but it didn't prevent them from screaming in surprise.

Only Nian Songyu and He Chunhua could see clearly in their haste that this was actually a monster resembling a wolf, with dog-like head, tail, and limbs, but its body was covered in rough cracks, not like an animal's skin, but more like tree bark. And there were no eyeballs in its deep-set eye sockets, replaced by a bit of scarlet ghost fire!

This thing rushed out of the water in the direction of Sun Fuping, so it opened its mouth without ceremony, aiming straight for his throat.

This mouth could open to 120 degrees, looking like it could swallow even a head. The distance between the two was close, almost in the blink of an eye, and Sun Fuping was about to lose his head.

But the National Master was worthy of being a National Master, calm in the face of danger, and poked his magic staff into the monster's face.

The beast head on the staff opened its mouth and "whooshed" out a ball of bright red fire.

The monster immediately let

He only felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a heavy hammer, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood, and then—

He flew across a distance of one zhang and fell directly into the pool.

Logically speaking, the pool water was only a thin layer, not even covering his ankles, but when he fell in like that, it was as if he had dropped into a deep abyss; with a "thud," he vanished without a trace! But his interception was still effective; the commander's long spear was deflected, flying past He Chunhua's armpit.

A difference of an inch or two was the distance between being pierced through the heart and remaining unscathed.

He Chunhua was greatly alarmed and rushed to the edge of the pool in one step: "Chuan'er!"

No matter how he peered, the pool water remained shallow, with only the surface rippling incessantly.

Nian Songyu arrived. He had been worried that He Chunhua would follow his son and jump down, but the Prefect immediately turned around and hurriedly shoved the State-Protecting Token into Sun Fuping's hands:

"Is Chuan'er alive?"

"We will know immediately." Sun Fuping looked left and right, then pointed to a sand bandit standing closest to them. "Come here!"

"Me?" The man walked over as instructed.

Sun Fuping brought him to the edge of the pool, took out a candle, and reached out to grab his shoulder, actually snatching away his pale blue life-fire and pressing it onto the candle wick.

The candle lit up, the flame a pale blue.

The sand bandit was a bit dazed for a moment: "This?"

"This is your life-fire. As long as the person lives, the fire remains; if the person dies, the candle goes out." Sun Fuping nodded. "Go." With that, he gave a sudden push.

That strength was not like that of a sixty-year-old man.

Before the sand bandit could react, he was pushed backward and fell into the pool, following in He Lingchuan's footsteps.

"Hey!" Boss Situ Han turned his head just in time to see this scene. He dodged a thrust from the Great Wind Army and rushed back. "What are you doing!"

They could sell their lives for the government, but they were unwilling to be "sent to their deaths"! "Hush!" Sun Fuping waved his hand, a burst of force pushing Boss Situ Han back two steps, while he himself kept his eyes fixed on the candle flame. "Someone has to scout the path."

He Lingchuan had entered the pool too suddenly, so he had no choice but to send another person to test it.

At this moment, He Chunhua's subordinates swarmed up, struggling to entangle the Great Wind Army commander.

Ten breaths later.

Twenty breaths later.

The blue candle flame burned steadily.

"He is still alive." As soon as Sun Fuping confirmed this, He Chunhua let out a long sigh of relief. Since this sand bandit was still alive, it meant there was air beneath the pool water, so He Lingchuan was likely still alive as well.

"There is even better news." Sun Fuping smiled. "No more vengeful spirits are emerging."

He Chunhua then remembered that since those dozen or so Great Wind Army soldiers, no new vengeful spirits had appeared in the pool.

In other words—

Sun Fuping gave Nian Songyu a wink. The latter understood, flipped over, and leaped into the pool.

He also vanished.

"This is the only way to seize the Great Fang Hu." Even as his side's casualties continued to mount, Sun Fuping was in quite a good mood. He stuffed He Chunhua's Yuan coins into the beast-headed staff, and the monster immediately bit down on the coins.

"Return to the formation, quickly return to the formation to defend against the enemy!" Sun Fuping raised his staff and struck the ground three times. "I need you all to work together and boost morale!"

The entire team immediately contracted toward the talisman formation on the ground.

In this short time, their own troops had already suffered twenty percent casualties, while the opposing Great Wind Army had only lost four members.

These things fought with such ferocity that they didn't seem human—well, they weren't human anymore—once they realized their injuries were too severe, they would immediately try to perish together with the enemy, killing one more if they could, or dragging two down with them if possible. A cavalryman was knocked down by the group, his hands severed and his chest pierced, and everyone thought he had no strength left to fight back. Who would have known that before he died, he would jump up, reveal a mouthful of white, ghastly teeth, and bite through a sand bandit's throat!

(End of chapter)