Chapter 142: Black-Yellow River

Xu Yuan had, in recent days, refined two of the sword pellets from Aunt Wang's box into his own "sword pellet."

He felt its power had surged dramatically.

Just now, when he slashed that large ghost, he hadn't been able to test just how much stronger it had become.

This finger had revealed it.

The evil presence in the old man's tomb should be of sixth-rank caliber.

This sword strike had been unexpected, but the fact that it severed the finger proved that this sword pellet was now his only means—aside from the "Ten-Zhang Human Skin"—capable of harming a sixth-rank entity.

Lin Zijin, taking advantage of the old man's fury, subtly shook the talisman in his hand; the ghostly gauze curtain unfurled, and thin strands crept toward the wound in the finger!

The old man roared in rage: "You seek death!"

Black-yellow pus gushed violently from the wound, and soon the finger began to crumble from the wound outward, overwhelmed by the torrent of pus.

Then this crumbling spread uncontrollably upward from the wound.

First the finger, then the palm, until the entire body of the old man!

Pus, flesh, sinew, bone—all shattered and scattered, merging completely with the black-yellow mud below.

In the end, only the old man's head remained, floating atop the mud.

This head shifted several times between human and serpent forms, finally stabilizing into a serpent's head.

The sharp protrusion atop its forehead suddenly pierced through the serpent skin and grew out—a white bone horn!

The mud churned violently, dark energy surged into the sky!

The old man's eyes, cold and sinister, slowly swept over everyone present, including Xu Yuan.

His gaze was filled with loathing and venomous hatred.

He memorized every single person.

Then his head sank, fully submerged into the mud.

Splash—

The mud surged violently, swallowing the ruined courtyard.

The threshold within the courtyard gate suddenly rose, in an instant becoming a hundred zhang tall—a towering black cliff!

The murky mud beneath the cliff transformed into a great river.

The Black-Yellow River flowed, unstoppable!

Wherever it swept, everything was drowned and eroded.

A group of Captains guarding the well railings screamed and fled in panic; the Black-Yellow River swept over them, and the five-zhang-high well railings plunged into the river, dissolving instantly, vanishing without a trace!

The Great River kept sweeping, and soon all four well railings tumbled into the river.

All members of the Purification Office were forced into a single corner as the Black-Yellow River roared toward them without cease.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath and suddenly exhaled outward: Boom—

From his belly, fire erupted into a wall ten zhang wide!

This was already Xu Yuan's absolute limit.

The Black-Yellow River slammed into the fire wall, sizzling and steaming as it dried and hardened—but the impact forced Xu Yuan to stagger backward; the fire wall, originally two zhang ahead, was pushed back until it was only one zhang from his body.

Everyone from the Chengcheng Office behind him cried out in alarm and retreated in panic.

Zhu Sili swung his spiked club and strode forward, smashing hard against the large hardened mud crust.

Thud!

The mud crust shattered, and mud seeped through again, only to be hardened once more by Xu Yuan's belly fire.

Zhu Sili smashed it again with his club.

Zhu Sili, a seventh-rank Wu Xiu, could do little against the Black-Yellow River.

But he saw clearly: the mud crust piled layer upon layer, blocking the belly fire, preventing Xu Yuan from burning the mud river behind it.

Each strike sent a backlash of evil energy through him.

After four strikes, Zhu Sili spat a great gout of blood, his face turning waxen yellow, yet he wiped the blood from his lips and roared: "Again!"

Xu Yuan clutched two ointment patches in his hand—he could only use them if he could no longer hold out.

"Why hasn't she arrived yet?" Xu Yuan thought anxiously. Wu Gu should be here by now.

Zhu Sili smashed the mud crust again, his body weakening, staggering backward several steps, where Captains behind him caught him.

Zhu Sili wiped sweat from his brow—he'd nearly lost face.

He pulled a wooden box from his pocket, opened it—inside lay a pile of ice! The box was a craft item, preserving the ice from melting.

He reached into the ice and pulled out a candle-sized wax pellet.

He felt again—only this one remained. He emptied all the ice onto the ground, confirmed once more: yes, only one left.

Zhu Sili's face twisted in agony, yet he resolutely crushed the wax pellet.

Inside the pellet was a dark red pill; when it landed in Zhu Sili's palm, the heat caused it to stir and stretch open!

It was, in fact, a dark red strange insect, resembling a woodlouse, which had curled up tightly and looked like a pill.

Zhu Sili swallowed it whole; his strength surged instantly back to peak, even surpassing his usual level.

After ingesting the insect medicine, bloodshot veins filled his eyes; he gazed at the hundred-zhang black cliff afar and shouted to those behind him: "Throw me over!"

"I'll smash that black cliff!"

He saw at once: the source of the Black-Yellow River must be that hundred-zhang black cliff.

But Xu Yuan had to hold back the river—if he loosened his fire, all the Captains of the Chengcheng Office would be swept away and dissolved!

His subordinates gasped in shock: "My lord, no!"

You think throwing you over will smash that cliff?!

"Enough talk!" Zhu Sili glared with bulging eyes, gripping his spiked club, eyes blazing with blood—like a god of slaughter descending upon the world!

Xu Yuan maintained the fire in his belly, glanced at Zhu Sili, and thought: Patrol Captain Zhu must already have the will to die!

When examining the corpse of Lu Qiuyang, Xu Yuan had already noticed that Zhu Sili was acting somewhat strangely.

Arguing with himself clearly stemmed from guilt.

He looked fierce and menacing, yet made no attempt to stop Xu Yuan from continuing his investigation.

On the contrary, he seemed to be subtly encouraging the situation.

He appeared to know something, but due to some reason, he neither investigated further himself nor exposed certain secrets.

Now that matters have come to this, Zhu Sili has no choice but to risk everything in a desperate gamble!

Pity, just as the Captains of the Zhan Cheng Office believe, a hundred-zhang black cliff is unbreakable; even if you, a seventh-grade Wu Xiu, were thrown against it, you wouldn't shatter it.

Xu Yuan spread his five fingers, and a beast-tendon rope slipped from his sleeve, coiling around one of Zhu Sili's legs.

Zhu Sili glared in anger, about to unleash a torrent of curses, but following the beast-tendon rope, he realized it was Xu Yuan.

Guilt seized him; not only could he not utter a curse, but his ox-like eyes dared not even look at Xu Yuan.

"Hmph!" He let out a light snort, signaling that his mind was made up and Xu Yuan need not stop him.

A moment of hesitation and appeasement had brewed a great disaster; now, he could only... fail to recognize Patrol Captain Xu's good intentions.

He drew his sword with a reverse motion and slashed the beast-tendon rope!

Eh? Why won't it break?

Zhu Sili raised his precious sword and slashed again—

It still wouldn't break!

This rope looks utterly ordinary; how can it be so tough?

Zhu Sili widened his eyes again, this time in astonishment.

I am a seventh-grade Wu Xiu; even an iron chain as thick as an arm would be severed by a single sword strike.

Had Xu Yuan not melted the tongue tendon of the Haikou Toad into it, Zhu Sili would have truly severed the beast-tendon rope with one slash.

Zhu Sili glared fiercely at Xu Yuan: "You, you let go of this Patrol Captain!"

Xu Yuan was still spewing fire from his mouth, so he could only signal Zhu Sili with his eyes: Calm down; we have powerful reinforcements arriving soon.

But the two clearly lacked the tacit understanding to comprehend each other with a single glance.

Zhu Sili gritted his teeth, raised his precious sword again, and said: "I apologize!"

He hacked and chopped repeatedly at the beast-tendon rope.

(End of this chapter)