Chapter 328: Insect Armor (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

The weasel raised both front paws above its head, bared its teeth, and made a ferocious expression with fangs flipping out over its lips.

Only, since it was hanging upside down, no matter how it postured, it looked quite ridiculous...

"The Ghost King is the Ghost King."

"Clad in armor, wielding a precious sword!"

"Its fierce aura presses down on all four directions; all evil spirits bow and submit, all living humans are eaten at will!"

Xu Yuan noticed its wording: "Living humans?"

"The Ghost King drives a boat of living humans to serve him." The weasel swore solemnly: "He must be raising these people to eat them when he gets hungry."

Xu Yuan asked: "Where did you see the Ghost King?"

"First, put me down and take out all the gold and silver on your person to offer me, then I can consider pleading on your behalf before the Ghost King to spare your death penalty."

Xu Yuan was considering how to cook up this little creature when suddenly "Quack!", Dafu came waddling up from behind.

Xu Yuan asked in surprise: "How did you follow?"

Recently, Dafu had been appearing and disappearing "like a ghost" right by his side.

He felt it was following him, yet he could never find it.

Before this departure, Xu Yuan had checked the entire group; clearly, there was no trace of it, so how did it suddenly pop out again?

Dafu tilted its head, staring straight ahead with wide eyes, and quacked a few more times.

It was unknown whether it was bluffing or truly explaining.

Anyway, Fan Zhezi couldn't understand it.

The reason it hadn't followed every time recently was that Dafu had been busy patrolling near the Nancheng watchhouse, expanding its territory.

Because it expanded its territory, it encountered many small evil spirits.

Because it encountered many small evil spirits, it had a source of food.

Its dependence on Fan Zhezi decreased greatly.

The few streets surrounding the Nancheng watchhouse were now quite "clean".

Originally, due to the auspicious light, evil spirits were rare on the surrounding streets.

Now, they were completely extinct.

Plus, yesterday Zhu Zhanlei wanted to eat roast goose, Dafu's sense of crisis surged, and today when Fan Zhezi was going out, it immediately followed.

Not only did Xu Yuan fail to spot it, but Di Youzhi and his twelve brothers also failed to spot it.

This was because Dafu had learned a skill from a skinned wild cat evil spirit.

It could hide itself in shadows.

Dafu quacked once, and the weasel went completely limp.

It was already afraid of geese.

Let alone that it smelled something terrifying on this goose—the scent left by one who had eaten its own kind!

Xu Yuan suddenly smelled a scent too, both rank and foul!

"Hey! Why did you pee..." Xu Yuan flew into a rage, flicked the beast-tendon rope, and the weasel flew out, crashing into a nearby rock.

The weasel rolled its eyes and fainted.

Dafu quacked, stretched its neck, spread its wings, and assumed a "dive" posture, heading straight for the weasel.

"I'm not dead! I'm not dead!" Not daring to play dead anymore, the weasel suddenly jumped up: "I'll take you to find the Ghost King!"

Xu Yuan flicked the beast-tendon rope in his hand.

He lassoed Dafu's neck like lassoing a horse and pulled it back.

Dafu protested fiercely, quacking nonstop, until... Xu Yuan gave it a flick on the forehead.

It behaved.

The section of the Grand Canal recently connecting to Little Yu Shan had several big bends.

One of them indented inward toward Little Yu Shan; the water flowed gently, forming a river bend.

It was almost dark, and a large ship was moored silently in the river bend.

The sails were down, and no marks proving its origin were visible on the ship.

There was not a single person on deck; one even suspected this was a ghost ship.

On a hillside two li away, three heads slowly poked out.

One big, two small.

The weasel pointed at the ship with its tiny paws: "The Ghost King is on that ship."

"Last night I passed here and saw the Ghost King go ashore with my own eyes."

It pointed to the side again: "He went along this road to Fo Ye Ling. There is a ruined temple on Fo Ye Ling; originally a great evil spirit lived inside, but the Ghost King grabbed it, opened his mouth, and swallowed it whole!"

"Then the Ghost King occupied the shrine in that ruined temple; I don't know what he was waiting for to worship him."

"But he waited all night, and nothing came; when dawn was approaching, he returned along the original path."

Xu Yuan frowned: "You are so cowardly; how did you dare to follow the Ghost King all the way last night? Were you not afraid he would swallow you whole too?"

"I, I have plenty of courage." The weasel's eyes darted, refusing to tell the truth.

Dafu opened its flat beak like a large clamp and clamped the weasel's head hard.

"Loosen, loosen quickly, my face is flat—"

Xu Yuan pulled the weasel out of Dafu's mouth.

Only then did the weasel speak honestly: "The Ghost King wears armor that shines with golden light; I, I wanted to follow behind to see if any armor plates fell off."

Xu Yuan was already seventy percent sure that the so-called "Ghost King" was that Ghost King Corpse.

This trip into the mountains was originally to find the Great Serpent King, but I inadvertently discovered the whereabouts of the Ghost King Wang Shen.

Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then took out five taels of silver.

The weasel's eyes went straight.

Xu Yuan did not give it to him immediately: "Where does your family live? If I am to hire you in the future, I must be able to find you first."

"Hire us..." The weasel's mind was torn between heaven and man.

If I reveal our address, we might be wiped out in one go.

Look at that ferocious goose; I am not enough to fill its teeth.

How do I know he isn't deceiving me, only to let his goose eat its fill?

Xu Yuan handed the five taels of silver to the weasel, then took out a small golden bean.

"If you do not trust me, this is the deposit."

The weasel was overjoyed; that golden gleam seemed to conceal a cunning trick, making it unable to control itself any longer, as it snatched it up in one grab.

Then it spoke out its family's address.

What the weasel did not know was that on that golden bean, there truly was a "cunning trick"—the art of commerce.

What was bought was a "servant"; from now on, it could only obediently obey Xu Yuan.

"Very well, you may return first. Regarding the matter of meeting this official, you must not reveal it to anyone or any strange entity."

"As you command!" These two words came from the weasel's mouth, and suddenly it realized something was amiss.

But the heavy golden bean in its claw did not lie; it shook its head, deciding not to think further, and darted into the grass like a flying arrow.

Now that the weasel family's address was known, it would be easy; sooner or later, this entire household of hundreds would become my lord's eyes and ears in Little Yu Shan.

No sooner had the weasel left than there was movement on that boat.

The sound of wood rubbing together was especially clear in the silent night.

It was not the cabin door that opened, but a window.

Immediately, a thin, withered arm stretched out from the window.

That arm was extremely strange; every segment of bone was seven chi long, and one arm was divided into four segments.

Immediately after, four more windows were opened, each extending a similar arm.

From a distance, it looked as if these strange arms had grown on the boat itself.

The five arms together opened the cargo hold's hatch cover.

The planks of the hatch cover were all lifted up, and immediately a huge figure sat up from inside.

It had a green face and fangs, holding a precious sword.

Behind it were four more arms, each holding one of four "magical artifacts."

The golden armor, the precious sword, and the magical artifacts gave a feeling of majestic grandeur.

Yet the figure itself was overflowing with yin energy.

It shook its body and crawled out of the cargo hold, standing over ten zhang tall; it was likely that this cargo hold contained only this one "cargo."

With every movement, the golden armor on its body would tremble, making a rustling sound.

Every scale of that golden armor was a dark-golden strange insect, its hook-like mouth hooked onto the flesh and skin of the body!

(End of this chapter)