Chapter 498: Smelly Swamp

Not only can it connect to the network, but it also provides unlimited power.

Upon hearing this, Wu Yue's two little suns shone even brighter: "Such a high configuration!"

Tongzi snorted coldly: "Host, you're thinking too beautifully! Flip ahead and see—maybe what you drew is just a piece of firewood."

Seeing the firewood on the first page, only as thick as her own arm, Wu Yue instantly drooped with a puppy-dog face: "Isn't this gap a bit too big?"

Tongzi said with a hidden jab: "This mission is all about excitement!"

Seeing those worthless items, it somewhat affected the mood.

Wu Yue waved her hand in disdain: "Alright, I know, I'll try to court death at this gathering."

Having received pocket money points and an ice pop, Tongzi logged off satisfied.

Wu Yue slumped onto her bed with a wrinkled little face: "You can't easily take advantage of this cheating system; better to first increase my strength."

Sitting up straight, she crossed her legs on the bed and began today's meditation, feeling strands of shamanic power drifting from the surroundings. Wu Yue satisfiedly curled the corners of her mouth; as her strength grew, the speed at which she absorbed shamanic power also became faster.

The next morning, after eating, the few people set out.

On the way to the gathering place, everyone hurried, for according to Bulun and Yingfei, they were already later than the other tribes.

Wu Yue sat on Tayun's back; the fierce aura of the top-tier ferocious beast kept the surrounding wild beasts from daring to approach and extend their claws.

"Shaman Yue, ahead is the Smelly Swamp, inside there are many large fish with sharp teeth; they move very nimbly in the swamp and can hide there to attack us, so we need to detour through the forest beside this swamp."

Bulun carefully pointed ahead at a patch of swamp that one would miss if not looking closely, and said:

This Smelly Swamp truly lives up to its name; a pungent odor wafted outward, making her nose feel a faint sting.

"You can't smell this swamp's odor for too long, or you'll lose your sense of smell, especially Beastman Warriors."

Tongzi's voice suddenly sounded in her mind; hearing it, Wu Yue's face changed drastically, and she quickly reached into the side basket on her person, actually taking out several cloths taken from the Snow Tiger Tribe from the system space, and flung them toward Yuan Lang and Teng Qian: "Wet them with water and cover your mouth and nose, then immediately leave the swamp's range."

After saying that, her fair, tender little hand patted the back of the giant beast beneath her.

Tayun's keen sense of smell could barely tolerate the stench here; upon receiving its master's signal, it immediately turned and flew outward.

Yingfei and Bulun exchanged a glance; although doubtful, they also followed behind and retreated from the swamp.

"Host, have you seen that kind of medicinal herb with only a single leaf?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yue looked down and indeed saw that on the small patches of land surrounded by mire, scattered grew stalks of green herb as straight as steel needles.

"Is that the herb that can treat the swamp's toxin?"

Tongzi nodded: "Crossing the swamp is the nearest route to the gathering; if you follow Bulun's route, by then any good stuff won't be left for you."

Wu Yue's little face darkened: "This is a scheme to make sure we can't exchange anything."

"Tayun, when we later pass those few patches of land, fly a bit higher, and we'll gather some detoxifying herbs."

In response to Wu Yue, the giant beast let out a low, mournful howl, and then its huge body dove downward.

As its claws waved, clumps of black soil emitting a pungent odor were snatched up.

After flying out of the swamp's range, everyone then stopped at an open clearing.

Bulun, somewhat dazed, pulled himself out from under Yingfei's claws, his legs a bit weak as he came to Wu Yue and the others, while Yingfei also followed over, though his complexion wasn't great.

"Shaman Yue, why did we come back? We could have just detoured from the side earlier."

Yingfei said doubtfully.

Wu Yue glanced at him, then took out a piece of yellow root from her side basket and handed it over: "Smell this—what does it smell like?"

Yingfei didn't know what Wu Yue meant, but he didn't think this shaman would harm him, so he stepped forward a few paces and took it.

As soon as he received the yellow root, he twitched his nose a few times but smelled nothing.

"There's no smell."

He trusted his sense of smell; a powerful Beastman Warrior fundamentally doesn't need to bring items to his nose to smell them.

Upon hearing that, Bulun also grew curious and stepped forward: "Let me see."

Yingfei turned and handed the root in his hand to Bulun, seeing him also dubiously examining it: "This thing really has no smell—amazing, no matter how faint a plant's odor, our sense of smell can detect something."

After saying that, disbelieving, he brought the yellow root to his nose; instantly a faint stench spread, and Bulun immediately moved his palm away: "When you bring this close to smell, it seems to have a faint stench."

At this moment, Wu Yue and the others had again covered their noses with cloths; merely, their gazes weren't on Bulun and Yingfei, but rather they looked with full sympathy at the two's rear.

Yingfei and Bulun, seeing this, turned their heads doubtfully to look...

"You... what's happened?"

Only saw that behind them, the pure-human males each leaned against a tree, continuously retching, their bodies swaying yet unable to stop, looking extremely miserable.

"Captain... retch! Captain... retch... what you hold in your hands... that... is too foul!"

Bulun and Yingfei's faces instantly turned pale as they looked at that yellow root, only then realizing something was off.

The ever-present forest grass scent and damp air smell at the tip of the nose had vanished...

"I... we can't smell it! We've lost our sense of smell!"

Yingfei somewhat collapsed onto the ground, continually grabbing soil and leaves from the ground and bringing them to his nose; even dirt stained his usually immaculate face, and he didn't care at all.

At this moment, all he wanted was to regain his sense of smell; for a Beastman Warrior, losing smell is terrifying, something only they themselves understand.

When hunting and living, the sense of smell is more important than one's eyes.

Bulun's hand trembled, and that yellow root fell to the ground.

He repeatedly brought the hand that had held the yellow root to his nose, but all he smelled was still just a faint stench.

"Really... really no sense of smell..."

Suddenly, in his confused mind flashed the earlier scene where Shaman Yue had everyone cover their mouths and noses and retreat; in his blood-red eyes rose a glimmer of hope.

His steps somewhat panicked, he rushed forward and with a thud knelt before Wu Yue; even though he harbored a sliver of hope, his voice still trembled with unease: "Shaman Yue, please save us; I and Yingfei are willing to offer the precious herb we obtained from the Wuke Tribe as an offering to you."

Wu Yue's crescent-moon eyebrows slightly lifted; she had just given Yingfei the yellow root merely to make them realize how harsh the swamp is.

Moreover, in the upcoming journey she still needed them to lead the way, so regarding curing the two's sense of smell, she hadn't planned to ask for anything in return.

But since the precious herbs have already been delivered to hand, what reason is there to refuse?

Wu Yue smiled and said: "Of course, but..."

Her gaze fell on Yingfei, whose face was covered in mud behind Lun: "I don't know if Yingfei is also willing."

"I am willing."

Yingfei had no hesitation; compared to his sense of smell, that herb was nothing to him at all.

Having said that, he directly took out a Beastfolk bao guo from his bosom, inside which were herbs wrapped in leaves.

Teng Qian stepped forward to take it, and also took Lun's herbs along the way.

"You lost your sense of smell because of the foul odor in the swamp; that odor is toxic."

She said while taking out items and herbs from the basket at her side: "Yuan Lang, help me light the fire."

The pot, beautifully styled and engraved with mysterious patterns, was placed on the makeshift stove; it was pottery made by the Snow Tiger Tribe's people, and the patterns on it were characters written by Wu Yue herself, but to the people here they appeared unfamiliar and mysterious.

Herb after herb was thrown into the pottery jar; after a brief simmer, Wu Yue's fair, tender little hand was placed above the jar, and strands of visible shamanic power merged into the herb water.

The herb water, which originally gave off a bitter taste, also began to exude threads of fresh fragrance.

Wu Yue directly took out a spoon, scooped two bowls, and handed them to Teng Qian and Yuan Lang: "You should also drink some."

The two had no hesitation, took the stone bowls and gulped them down.

In an instant, the swamp's odor began to flicker faintly again; the Beastman Warrior whose sense of smell had been restored could still detect a faint, pungent trace even from such a distance.

Seeing this, Yingfei and Lun had no hesitation and stepped forward to drink the remaining shamanic medicine.

After a few breaths, their sense of smell began to slowly recover.

"Finally fixed! I can smell again!"

Lun was overjoyed like a 200‑catty fool, running and jumping back and forth in the forest several times, only to be ruthlessly subdued by Teng Qian before calming down.

After this terrifying experience, nobody dared to underestimate the swamp any longer.

"The swamp's stench is so awful that few people come here; even when attending the gathering, they set out early, take a detour, and avoid passing through."

"Our time is a bit tight, so I thought we should take a route from somewhere closer..."

Lun sat there, listless, and said.

"Everyone, rest well today; tomorrow we'll fly over the swamp."

Wu Yue spoke up directly.

Those words stunned the Dongsi Tribe's people; even though they knew the swamp's odor would rob them of their sense of smell, they still wanted to walk through it—had their brains been trampled by a boar beast?

Each of them looked at Wu Yue with pleading eyes.

"Before we set out, I will give you herb packets; when passing through the swamp, place the packet under your nose, and you won't lose your sense of smell."

Having just healed Yingfei and Lun, the Dongsi Tribe's trust in Wu Yue surged, and at once they all put their minds at ease.

"I can take four pure‑human males; Yingfei and Yingyan, you two take the rest, and we'll fly straight over."

Pure humans cannot fly; advancing through the mire is dangerous, and even if we weren't worried about the swamp's toxic gas, we would be devoured by the beasts inside.

"That being the case, we need to make two flights to get everyone across."

After deciding on the plan, they left some tribesmen on watch, while the rest found places to lie down and rest.

That night was utterly peaceful; none of the swamp beasts Lun had spoken of emerged to eat people.

While transporting the tribespeople, Wu Yue also saw the beast lurking in the mire, its body like withered wood, as long as a Beastfolk lying down, with a huge head and icy yellow eyes, and even a slight sway of it could smash a large tree on the bank into cracks.

All of this made Wu Yue regard them seriously; aside from size, everything else was exactly like a crocodile cast from the same mold.

"Just, such a huge crocodile, she seemed to have seen it only when looking at a primitive biology atlas, and even that size was merely marked there."

"If this guy takes a bite, half of them would be done for."

"Did you see that? When that guy in the middle lifted his head just now, I thought I was about to be swallowed whole."

"The others aren't small either, especially the mouth—eating us, one gulp per person, is absolutely no problem."

The pure‑human males who had crossed the swamp climbed up a tall tree, looked out over the mire, and discussed the crocodile's size.

The remaining two Dongsi Tribe males were brought over by Yingfei himself.

Gazing at the crocodile in the mire, Wu Yue secretly wondered how many points she would earn if she caught a juvenile and sold it to the system.

"Don't bother thinking about that nonsense; talk about it when you actually catch one!"

According to Lun, there were no more dangerous places like the swamp ahead, and because they had crossed the swamp, their speed put them at the front.

Upon hearing that, they were no longer just blindly rushing forward as before.

When they encountered unfamiliar fruits and wild herbs, they would gather and taste them; Wu Yue even found many herbs she had only seen in the task‑reward books.

By this point, even Lun and Yingfei didn't know which tribe's territory they were in, and Wu Yue showed no hesitation, taking everything into her bag.

"Tongzi, leave fifty plants of each herb; I want to take them back to plant in my courtyard."

Among these herbs there were precious ones and ordinary ones, but because of the large quantity, she also earned quite a bit.

They kept gathering while marching, and when they arrived at the meeting place, several tribes had already assembled there.

The meeting site was built on a large open space beside a cliff, with a river flowing in front; the environment was superb.

"Huh?"

Wu Yue turned her head to look at Lun: "Are those caves all occupied?"

Lun blinked, then shook his head: "No, but many tribes will come to the gathering; only the strong tribes can dwell in the caves, and if a weak tribe moves in, the strong ones will drive them out."