Chapter 98: His Name Must Not Be Uttered (First Update)

The old mountain runner took a sip from his gourd, then continued, "The Snake Pole has nine bodies in total. No one knows where these nine bodies are hidden in the mountains. Even if one is slain, you must remain vigilant; at any moment, it may suddenly spring from the earth or the grass to bite you."

"This monster's body is as hard as an iron pole. It does not entangle the flesh, only the soul. Once it has set its sights on you, even if you flee beyond the mountains, it can burrow into your dreams and devour your soul bit by bit until nothing remains!"

"As for the final one, the Haikou Toad..."

Xu Yuan's heart stirred; finally, the Haikou Toad had been mentioned.

"This strange creature possesses four mouths and four tongues. One tongue coils around one hundred and twenty ghost soldiers; another tongue is a five-colored poisonous mist; a third tongue can cut through gold and stone; and the fourth tongue bears a blood eye, and whoever sees it will instantly stiffen, unable to move a muscle."

"And as long as all four mouths speak the same words, that thing is certain to come true!"

Xu Yuan formed a guess in his mind regarding why the old fox wanted to use his hand to kill the Haikou Toad.

Finally, Bai Laoyan said, "As for their weaknesses..."

"The Locust Hag fought another head-monster in the mountains many years ago, and an old wound on this spot of her body has never healed."

Bai Laoyan roughly drew the shape of the Locust Hag on the ground and marked the location.

"Because the Ghost Temple was slaughtered so brutally by Shanhe in past years, the young boys and girls under its command are extremely fearful of the Great State's suppression talismans."

"As for the other two, I do not know what weaknesses they have."

Xu Yuan frowned; failing to learn the Haikou Toad's weakness meant the agreement with the old fox would be difficult to conclude.

Xu Yuan set this matter aside to deal with the immediate problem first.

Seeing the matter concluded, Mr. Floating Drift floated outward, saying, "I shall go outside and find a tree to hang upon."

"Mr., wait," Xu Yuan called out to stop him. "Mr., you know these four head-monsters are all related to Qiao Zi'an. Do you also know the details of the transaction between Qiao Zi'an and them?"

Mr. Floating Drift stopped. "What do you wish to ask?"

"Qiao Zi'an offers blood sacrifices to these head-monsters merely to secure his footing on the Seven Grain Platform? Did he not also trade something from the mountains with them?"

Mr. Floating Drift stuck out his tongue. "Everything from the mountains is sold to the outside via the village. The head-monsters are unwilling to trouble themselves with such matters."

Xu Yuan frowned. "What about the Cocoon Food?"

"Cocoon Food?" Mr. Floating Drift looked confused and turned to look at Bai Laoyan.

The latter said, "There is no Cocoon Food in this mountain."

The four of Xu Yuan were stunned. "No Cocoon Food?"

Yan Lao asked, "Do you know of Cocoon Food?"

Bai Laoyan replied irritably, "Of course I know. If I say there isn't any, then there definitely isn't any. Do you doubt me?"

Yan Lao withdrew his hand from his sleeve and produced a piece of Cocoon Food.

It was something half resembling a pine nut and half resembling an insect cocoon.

"This thing does not exist in Ghost Wushan?"

Bai Laoyan turned his face away in a huff, too lazy to bother with them.

Mr. Floating Drift shuffled over, examined it closely, and shook his head, saying, "I have never seen such a thing in the mountains."

"This..." Yan Lao was stunned and speechless.

Xu Yuan's brows also furrowed deeply: There is no Cocoon Food in Ghost Wushan!

The deduction made by the Filth-Removal Bureau was wrong.

Then what exactly was the purpose of Qiao Zi'an and Chen Liangxuan's attention on Ghost Wushan?

"We will capture my lord Qin first tomorrow; we can surely extract the truth through torture," Xu Yuan gritted out.

Bai Laoyan simply lay down to sleep, unwilling to say another word to these people.

Before going out, Mr. Floating Drift said, "I do know one thing. What Qiao Zi'an is truly seeking is the greatest one on Guanghuo Street."

"I do not know what you are investigating, but whatever Qiao Zi'an intends to do must be of extraordinary importance."

Xu Yuan wanted to ask further, but Mr. Floating Drift swayed and was already gone.

It seemed he dared not mention "the greatest one" too much within the mountains.

Xu Yuan wanted to ask Bai Laoyan again, but the old mountain runner merely rolled over, turned his back to everyone, and began to snore.

Yan Lao pulled Xu Yuan back and whispered, "If it is merely the greatest one, we at the Filth-Removal Bureau know of it."

Xu Yuan slapped his forehead: The Canal Office and Shanhe were unable to handle the greatest one back then, which is why the canal bypassed Ghost Wushan; naturally, they would know.

Such news would naturally be reported to the Filth-Removal Bureau.

"That thing... is the ancestral spirit of the Ruan Dynasty of Southern Jiaozhi from years past, which infiltrated Ghost Wushan and merged with the Mountain God who had been stripped of his divine office, along with the last trace of dragon qi of the Ruan Dynasty, forming a malevolent aberration."

"The outside world calls him 'Master Ruan Tian'! It is said..."

Yan Lao lowered his voice, leaning close to Xu Yuan's ear. His eyes had turned entirely blood-red at some point, his mouth split to his ears, his mouth full of sharp fangs, his tongue sticky and dripping with black saliva, and he lunged to bite Xu Yuan's neck in one snap.

Crack!

He bit down on Xu Yuan's small knife.

Xu Yuan extended his hand; a beast-tendon cord slid from his sleeve and bound the man's head tightly into a ball.

Yan Lao's eyes were filled with terror. His mind was not yet lost; he kept gesturing with his hands for Xu Yuan to save him, yet he could not control himself from lunging at Xu Yuan repeatedly to tear and bite!

Xu Yuan himself feared no corruption by evil spirits, but he did not know how to save Yan Lao.

After dodging several times, a sudden inspiration struck him, and he shouted, "Senior!"

The old mountain runner had already sat up, yet he refused to act.

"Ten large iron cauldrons!" Xu Yuan promised.

The old mountain runner leaped up, grabbed Yan Lao by the back of the neck, pinned him firmly to the ground, then rummaged through his feather cloak, plucked out a scarlet feather, snapped it in the middle, and with a hiss, stabbed it into Yan Lao's tongue.

Purple-black fresh blood flowed down the feather shaft, filling more than a large bowl before the color finally turned red.

But Yan Lao's eyes remained blood-red, and his mouth still full of fangs.

Bai Laoyan plucked three more black feathers and tossed them to Xu Yuan. "Grind them into ash in Gao Wanli!"

Who carries a bowl with them?!

Xu Yuan drew his small knife, sliced off a piece of wood, and quickly fashioned it into a wooden bowl. Following Bai Laoyan's instructions, he burned the feathers to ash and collected them.

Bai Laoyan applied half of the ash to Yan Lao's face and mixed the other half with Liu Family Village Wine, forcing it down Yan Lao's throat.

After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Yan Lao began vomiting violently, expelling a mass of foul-smelling strange worms and rotting flesh. He was nearly exhausted, but at least he had returned to normal.

Bai Laoyan said in a bad mood, "Do not mention that title in the mountains!"

Fu Jingyu helped Yan Lao drink some water, while Xu Yuan's eyes lit up: "Senior can cleanse the contamination..."

Bai Laoyan shook his head: "This is a local method of the mountains; it is only effective for specific situations."

Xu Yuan could not help but feel disappointed.

Once Yan Lao recovered his strength, he clasped his fists toward Bai Laoyan and Xu Yuan: "Thank you. Had it not been for the two of you, this old life would have been lost inexplicably in this mountain corner."

Although he could no longer speak, from what Yan Lao had already said, Xu Yuan knew the origins of that one and could roughly infer some of its abilities.

"Why think about such things?" Xu Yuan silently shook his head. "Even the Shanhe Office is powerless against such things; we absolutely must not provoke them."

"Even... if we cannot stop Lord Qin and his group outside Guanghuo Street by tomorrow morning, and they enter the street, I will turn and run, delaying not a single moment!"

"Some things can be done; some cannot."

Xu Yuan spat out Fu Zhong Huo, thoroughly burning away the blood and filth on the ground to prevent further trouble.

Lu Lao said, "You rest; I will keep watch over Old Yan tonight."

Fu Jingyu said, "I will take the second half of the night."

Only then did Xu Yuan lie down and sleep with peace of mind.

(End of this chapter)