Chapter 499: What Kind of Monster Is This?

In just over a dozen breaths, the thick smoke coalesced into a gray shadow.

Looking closely, its form resembled the wooden carving on the table, but it only had seven or eight faces on its body. The face in the center even rolled its eyes, glaring at the child's soul below.

Although the child's soul was ignorant, it instinctively sensed danger and abandoned the incense, trying to dive back into the wooden ball.

The smoke shadow pounced, swallowing it in one gulp.

Such a small, weak remnant soul wasn't even an appetizer for it; instead, it only whetted its appetite.

It opened and closed its mouth, seemingly saying something to the spellcaster. The spellcaster prostrated himself on the ground and said respectfully, "The mark has been made. Please, go and enjoy the sumptuous offering!"

Upon hearing this, the smoke shadow circled the room once and vanished into thin air the next second.

When the spellcaster stood up and looked, the number of faces on the wooden carving had decreased by seven or eight.

……

He Lingchuan's sleep was always sound; even without entering Panlongcheng, he could harvest a night of sweet, dreamless rest.

This ability to fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, anywhere and anytime, made Second Master Shi quite envious.

In the northern part of the Panlong Wasteland, several conflicts had broken out, both large and small.

The allied forces of Baling and Xianyou were constantly probing the border.

This was the aftermath of the Panlong Army's swift seizure of the Xiji Nation.

The Broken Blade Squad was therefore transferred to the northern battlefield, fighting six battles in over thirty days.

Two of these were white-hot, with both sides killing until their eyes turned red, nearly escalating from local skirmishes into an all-out war.

These two battles were exceptionally difficult; in one, despite being outnumbered, three hundred Gale Army soldiers relied on the terrain to hold off two thousand opponents for two days and one night.

The entire Broken Blade Squad had brushed with death several times.

Relying on his immortal body, He Lingchuan fought recklessly, suffering countless wounds and even acting as a human shield for Liu Tiao and Alo once each.

Even so, the two new recruits couldn't be saved and unfortunately died in battle.

On the final day, even He Lingchuan couldn't hold on; after spitting out his last mouthful of residual blood, he was forced to log off right where he stood.

Fortunately, the next time he entered the dream, he finally received good news: reinforcements had arrived after he died, and with a pincer attack from inside and out, they repelled the enemy.

When he fell without breath, Liu Tiao had thought he was done for. It was said that this female warrior, tougher than any man, shed tears on the spot.

Of course, Liu Tiao herself denied it; she would beat anyone who said otherwise.

After these battles, He Lingchuan even earned the nickname "Mad Blade."

Having failed to gain any advantage at the border, the Xian-Ba allied forces retreated sullenly.

This confirmed He Lingchuan's prediction: the other side never intended a full-scale invasion; they only wanted to force General Hong back to Panlongcheng and seize some territory while the Panlong Wasteland's defenses were thin.

They only achieved the first goal and paid a heavy price for it.

Panlongcheng also withdrew its troops from the border, returning in triumph to bestow rewards for merit.

The Broken Blade Squad, led by He Lingchuan, was loyal, resourceful, and highly capable, boasting the highest number of kills and the highest-ranking enemy leaders eliminated, contributing significantly to the victory on the northwestern flank. Counting the military merit from Xiji, everyone received generous rewards.

As for He Lingchuan himself, he was promoted two ranks, directly appointed as a Mobile Corps Commander, authorized to command a hundred men.

Liu Tiao and Men Ban, serving as his deputies, began reorganizing this hundred-man unit upon returning to the city.

Having fought several battles, He Lingchuan gained much.

The battlefield was indeed the best place to temper a person, filled with endless surprises and variables; one second you were slaughtering the enemy, the next you might be riddled with arrows.

Walking out of the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, out of the meat grinder, he learned to watch in all directions and listen to all sides, learned to assess the situation to preserve his strength, learned that in a narrow encounter, the brave wins, and learned to remain clear-headed even in the face of death.

A rookie on the battlefield might be scared out of their wits, but staying in the fray too long could lead to being overwhelmed by bloodlust, forgetting that bravery and recklessness, agility and cowardice, often lay on the same thin line.

That was the line between life and death.

The more dangerous the situation, the more calm and restrained one must be; this was not a human talent, but the result of countless trials by death.

After carefully reviewing and consolidating his experience, He Lingchuan felt a clear improvement: his state of mind and blade technique had grown again.

His blade technique became more efficient and practical.

His state of mind became more calm and steady.

Such precious trials on the battlefield were currently only provided by the Panlong Soul Realm. The Great Fang Hu was also merciless to He Lingchuan, forcing him into the mountain of corpses and sea of blood every night to grind him down while he worked hard to solve cases and navigate various forces during the day.

If not for his firm will, he would have suffered a mental breakdown long ago.

Well, having endured such inhuman abuse, his divine soul seemed even stronger.

Regardless, after these waves of turmoil, the Panlong Wasteland had temporarily returned to peace.

At this moment, He Lingchuan was in the northwestern part of the Chipa Plateau, trying to capture a peculiar creature for Alo—

The Monkey Bat.

According to Alo, this was an invasive species. It was omnivorous, but it likely carried the seeds of the "Bailiu" parasite, which, once they hit the ground, would burrow into the soil and parasitize the roots of the plateau wheat to sap its nutrients, growing and thriving only after the wheat withered.

This thing grew very covertly in its early stages, making it difficult to discover or eradicate.

The Panlongcheng Alchemical Bureau was also tasked with crop protection and was extremely vigilant against various invasive species.

Alo had posted a related mission at the Pengcheng Bureau, but the warriors seemed very busy lately, and no one had taken it on for a long time. Thus, he had come to ask He Lingchuan for help.

"You're idle anyway."

That was Alo's original phrasing.

So, He Lingchuan had come.

The Monkey Bat was quite large, comparable to a duck, but with a pointed beak and bulging cheeks; its face indeed looked very much like a monkey's.

Most bats were gregarious, but Monkey Bats only operated in pairs, occasionally with a brood of young, making their movements relatively covert and difficult to track.

Following the clues Alo provided, He Lingchuan searched for an entire day before finally discovering Monkey Bat droppings on a stalactite in a karst cave.

He had to go deeper. Looking at the pitch-black pool ahead, he sighed. Had he been blinded by greed? Why, instead of coaxing and tricking his beautiful neighbor, was he running into this pitch-black water cave to catch bats for Alo?

Naturally, there was water in the karst cave, and it was flowing water, as he could feel a strong wind hitting his face when he first entered.

In the height of summer, it was only eleven or twelve degrees Celsius in here; staying too long would make one sneeze.

Still waters ran deep; only the shallows would make a splashing sound.

He Lingchuan could barely hear the sound of flowing water as he entered the cave, knowing the water here was very deep.

With no other choice, he pulled out a waterproof suit, put it on, and jumped into the pool.

The Monkey Bats could fly in, but he could only swim.

There were many forks and caves in here, and unknown creatures often appeared in the water.

He Lingchuan swam for over a quarter of an hour, relying on the illumination of fluorescent grass, until he finally spotted the Monkey Bats on the cave ceiling! "These monsters!" Catch them early, finish the job early.

He Lingchuan didn't have eyes in the back of his head, so naturally, he didn't notice a blue light flashing deep in the pool behind him.

The Monkey Bats were hanging upside down on the rock wall directly above him, the whole family of seven here, likely full and fast asleep.

How to catch these things?

Naturally, He Lingchuan had already planned it before coming in: he grabbed two spider silk nets from his body and, moving stealthily, climbed up the stalactite to secure them.

In this space-time of Panlongcheng, General Hong and Zhu Xiuer had renegotiated an agreement: the Earth-Hole Spiders would hand over the exclusive agency rights for their products to Panlongcheng.

This gave Panlongcheng an additional "fist product" for export, while the Earth-Hole Spiders didn't have to rack their brains dealing with human profiteers.

Since then, the equipment issued to Panlongcheng warriors, as well as the items available for exchange and trade, included Earth-Hole Spider silk products, such as nets, flying ropes, and silk soft armor, all of which were highly acclaimed.

He Lingchuan had replaced his original rope nets with spider silk, as it was lighter, stronger, and more durable.

The two nets were set up in the direction of the cave exit, forming an "L" shape.

After setting them up, He Lingchuan grabbed a few pebbles and threw them at the Monkey Bats, making a "thud-thud-thud" sound.

The Monkey Bats woke up at the sound and spread their wings to flee.

Naturally, He Lingchuan had chosen the direction well, driving them toward the nets.

The spider silk nets still retained the properties of spider silk; the more the prey struggled, the deeper they became trapped.

According to Alo's request, the more Monkey Bats caught, the better.

With this scare, four bats hit the nets, while the others flew in various directions.

He jumped over and gathered them all in one net.

Done. Time to go out and finish the job.

Just then, a cold wind rose from behind, and He Lingchuan felt a chill on his back.

A warning sign.

Without thinking, he leaped two zhang, landing on another stalactite before looking back.

At this look, he was shocked: there was an extra person in rags where he had just been standing.

To call it a person was a stretch, for it not only had all four limbs, but even several heads—men, women, old, and young—with twisted expressions, all dozen or so eyeballs glaring at He Lingchuan.

That look was... hungry? Only a wolf pack that hadn't eaten for seven days and nights would have eyes glowing with such green light.

What kind of monster was this?

"Offering!" the head on its neck shouted, "Come and be eaten by me!"

He Lingchuan frowned. Who was it calling an offering?

He raised his wrist and rewarded the other side with a sleeve arrow first:

"Eat this instead."

"Eat! Eat! Eat!" The monster didn't dodge; only an infant's head moved from its belly to its chest. The sleeve arrow would have pierced its heart, but the mouth opened, and the arrow flew right in.

That mouth seemed to be a bottomless pit, and the arrow caused no damage at all.

"Not tasty!" the infant face roared, "I want to eat meat!"

The head on its shoulder turned, seeing the bats flying everywhere, and suddenly opened its mouth, spitting out over a hundred bats at He Lingchuan!

These bats were two sizes smaller than the Monkey Bats, but they had human heads, glowing green eyes, sharp teeth, and hands like humans.

This cave wasn't large to begin with, and with over a hundred bats squeezed in, it was filled with the sound of flapping wings and ear-piercing shrieks.