Chapter 24: Dog's Body

In the great river, a huge water python coiled around a giant hippopotamus.

The thick python strained to strangle, the giant hippopotamus let out painful cries, thrashing violently in the water.

An unknown black shadow darted swiftly beneath the water; the water python's ferocious head rose from below, it opened its mouth and let out a silent hiss, its thick body continually tightening. Fresh blood flowed from the hippopotamus's seven orifices, staining a large expanse of the water red.

By the riverbank, Wu Eldest, Luo Lin, and Ding collapsed to the ground.

Wu Eldest's left shoulder's linen fell away, blood continuously spilling out.

Luo Lin and Ding were both vomiting blood, continuously coughing up black blood fluid. The toxin corroded their windpipes, and as they breathed their chests continually emitted a sound like a windmill.

Wu Tie landed heavily, standing several meters away watching them.

The three looked at Wu Tie with grim faces, showing no fear, only a bit of shame, as if they dared not face him.

Wu Tie fell silent for a moment, then pulled out a small animal-skin pouch and tossed it before Luo Lin: "White, works for both external and internal use. Want to try? Wu Eldest, you've lost quite a bit of blood."

Inside the animal-skin pouch were three bottles used to hold Foundation Establishment medicine, filled with the white liquid from the crystal ball.

This liquid works extremely well on external injuries and has a strong counteracting effect on various toxins. Wu Tie has relied on the crystal ball's treatment several times when injured, turning danger into safety.

Luo Lin gritted his teeth, saying word by word: "We, we have medicine."

Wu Eldest gave a wry laugh beside him: "Old Three, we can't worry about face. Medicine is usually kept by Qiao; where do we have any medicine now?"

After a deep look at Wu Tie, Wu Eldest said in a low voice: "Thanks… I've lost face, letting you see this."

Wu Tie's faceplate opened, revealing a scalp burned smooth and covered in blisters. He took a bottle, applied the white liquid to his scalp, gritting his teeth against the stinging and itching: "Losing face? How could you think that? It's that Qiao who's wrong…"

The blisters on his scalp quickly dried and fell off, dead skin peeling away as new flesh grew, leaving Wu Tie's scalp a patchwork of white and red.

Obviously, the medicinal effect was very pronounced.

Luo Lin picked up the animal-skin pouch, took out a bottle, first gulped down half a bottle of the white liquid, then drew a deep breath.

Stinging and tingling slid from his throat to his abdomen, but immediately followed by a refreshing coolness that relaxed the heart and mind. Obviously, the white liquid's wound-healing and detoxifying effects were extremely potent.

After personally experiencing the white liquid's miraculous effect, Luo Lin couldn't help exclaiming in admiration, then with a grim face he poured half a bottle into Ding, and then layered the white liquid over Wu Eldest's wounds.

Wu Tie watched Luo Lin and the three whose complexions had improved greatly, and asked in a low voice: "Just now, did you kill Wind Feather? He was your own companion."

Luo Lin's face turned ice-cold, and he remained silent for a long while.

Wu Eldest glanced at Wu Tie, then said in a low voice: "Our grudge against Stone Lingqing is too deep… Wind Feather fell into her hands, who knows what torment he'll suffer… Better dead than alive, and used as bait against us, than to let him be freed."

Before Wu Tie could speak again, Luo Lin sneered from the side: "What kind of woman is Stone Lingqing? Do you understand now? Do you still feel fondness for her? We intend to kill her—will you still help her?"

Wu Tie opened his mouth, but could not speak.

He could not answer Luo Lin's question, and he himself had no firm decision, so he turned and walked away.

Over the next few days, Wu Tie curled up alone in the wooden shed, foolishly playing with an unlucky little flying snake that had flown into his door, each day contorting the three-foot-long snake into countless bizarre poses.

The vitality of Wu Eldest, Luo Lin, and Ding was like that of cockroaches; after only a half-day's rest, they were again full of spirit.

The three left their temporary shelter, not knowing where they had run off to.

Wu Tie guessed they were going to seek revenge on Stone Lingqing, but he didn't want to bother. His mind was now a tangled mess, various strange thoughts sprouting like weeds, making him irritable yet unsure how to deal with them.

Especially, last night while he slept, he dreamed of Stone Lingqing.

The dream was very strange, very vague; he and Stone Lingqing experienced some things that he couldn't recall upon waking.

His only impression of the dream was that he had suddenly awakened from a slight twitch of his body… some very unfamiliar things had happened.

The lid in the corner of the wooden shed was violently flung open, four metal spiders carrying Old Iron crawled up. The metal spiders, bearing Old Iron, circled Wu Tie three times; Old Iron's big tooth sprayed a bolt of electricity, making Wu Tie cry out 'ow-ow'.

"Women, the most terrifying creatures in the world." Old Iron exclaimed loudly: "Fortunately, Grandpa I don't need women, completely lacking this weakness… Yang Jian, and many others, back then all suffered at the hands of women."

"So, little guy, how… how do you feel now?" Old Iron gave a weird 'hee-hee' laugh.

"I can't say." Wu Tie looked honestly at Old Iron: "I don't know either; anyway, it's painful, yet also light."

"It's all the fault of your previous Grey Master." Old Iron bluntly pointed out: "He filled you with too many useless things… weak, useless, even dangerous for this era."

"Apricot blossoms, spring rain… what nonsense is that?" The blood light in Old Iron's eyes blazed; he looked at Wu Tie and said in a low voice: "Those melancholic, autumn‑sorrowing things can be played with in peaceful times, but now…"

"What should I do? How should I act?" Wu Tie, as if suddenly clutching a thick tree trunk in a flood, hurriedly asked Old Iron.

He also admitted that the things the Grey Master had taught him before seemed truly useless. Just as the Grey Master once yearned for, that wonderful 'love' that had sparked reverie among Wu Tie's four brothers… was Stone Lingqing and Qiao together 'because of love'?

Wu Tie was uncertain.

What happened between Stone Lingqing and Qiao made Wu Tie feel dirty and nauseous.

"Stay true to your original heart!" Old Iron roared: "Little rookie, stay true to your original heart—let everything follow your most primal impulse. Hold fast to your original heart, then clench your fists, use your fists, your knives, your guns… take down all targets that make your original heart weak and chaotic!"

"This is a dark jungle… only the strongest hunters deserve to live." Old Iron's big tooth sprayed out dazzling electric arcs, making Wu Tie scream 'ow-ow' as he jumped up and bounced about wildly.

"You've already wasted several days of your life… although you're still young, young people must not waste life!" Old Iron bellowed: "Little rookie, do something meaningful—no matter what, even if it's going to a place with open views and fresh air to admire the scenery while taking a piss… get moving, get active, let your young life come alive!"

"Get out of this damned shed, young people can't be shut-ins."

"Run, move, just do something… run… one-two-one, one-two-one, one-two-one… get moving!"

Wu Tie ran toward the outside of the shed; Old Iron's one eyeball shot out an extremely fine red ray, striking hard against the close-fitting armor on Wu Tie's buttocks. On the sword‑resistant close‑fitting armor, a small circular area suddenly turned bright red, and the local temperature spiked like a branding iron.

With a mournful 'ow' howl, Wu Tie clutched his buttocks and stumbled out, panting as he fled at top speed.

He ran wildly outside for an entire day, savagely beating a giant hippopotamus, knocking out a water python, tying two black-ringed snakes into a beautiful bow, and hanging a black widow spider on a beautiful luminous fern using its own silk…

After a whole day of turmoil, the stagnant feeling in Wu Tie's chest dissipated by more than ninety percent.

Then he discovered Wu Eldest and the three.

They were like three wounded hungry wolves, patrolling forward following faint traces on the ground.

Luo Lin and Ding occasionally slashed with straight knives in the mushroom thickets and fern groves; each time a faint breaking sound came from the mushrooms and ferns, and sometimes arrows or flying daggers would weakly fly out.

Along this route, some clever ambushes had been laid, as if someone had anticipated they would come from this direction.

Moreover, Luo Lin and Ding seemed extremely familiar with that person's methods; they easily dismantled the traps and ambushes along the way.

Only people who know each other intimately can achieve such an effect.

Wu Tie quietly followed behind them.

He had not yet decided whom to help, but he wanted to see how things would turn out.

As they pressed forward, Wu Tie stared in astonishment to discover that they had come all the way to the very spot where, that day, four giant spiders and two huge beasts had perished together.

Because one of the huge beasts self-detonated, the entire stone-pillar forest within a radius of several dozen li sank underground. Beneath this stone-pillar forest, under a rock layer about ten-something meters thick lay a vast subterranean space; the beast's self-detonation shattered the rock layer's stability, causing the whole ground to collapse and sink.

Cold wind kept blowing out from the depression spanning several dozen li; looking down from its edge, the depth appeared to be two to three hundred meters, with countless broken stone pillars and stalactites lying haphazardly on the ground, a scene of utter disarray.

Luo Lin and the two others searched around the depression for a while, and soon found a thick vine dangling down to the pit's bottom.

"They went down here." Luo Lin, looking at the traces left near the vine, said firmly, "Qiao knows that their current manpower could not possibly withstand our assassination on open ground."

Wu Lao Da smiled with a hint of coldness: "So he chose this place to fight us to the death?"

Ding also chuckled: "This sunken spot is too deep; otherwise, just like his plan that day, we could lure a huge beast over and that would be enough for them to bear."

Wu Tie stood over a hundred meters away, yet the three's voices were loud enough for him to hear them crystal clear.

Ding mentioned what had happened a few days prior, and Wu Tie recalled his own miserable ordeal of being chased for hundreds of li by two giant beasts, causing him to glare at them fiercely.

With a cold snort, Wu Tie leapt up and jumped into the great pit.

An invisible force field enveloped his body, and he glided down lightly, reaching the pit bottom smoothly after just a few breaths.

"This kid!" Ding muttered enviously, "What sort of innate divine ability is this?"

Wu Lao Da slapped Ding's shoulder with one hand, saying in a low voice, "Why envy others? Be careful—going down… Shi Lingqing and Qiao must die."

Luo Lin, off to the side, said in a low voice, "It's I who owe my brothers……"

Wu Lao Da laughed, then said in a low voice, "Cut the chatter, our own brothers…… hey, brothers!"

The three climbed down along the vine.

Wu Tie no longer paid them any heed; an invisible force field enveloped a radius of a hundred meters, and he nimbly moved forward quickly.

As he walked, his fingers traced over a protruding diamond-shaped pattern on his chest.

The pallid white tight-fitting armor silently changed color, shifting from an extremely conspicuous pallid white to a pitch-black as deep as night; with no hint of reflection, the wholly black Wu Tie swiftly blended into the darkness of the pit's depths.

This sunken area roughly forms a rectangle, several dozen li long and ten-something li wide; Wu Tie spent two days searching the pit's floor, yet found no trace of Shi Lingqing and his group.

Obviously, they have hidden themselves.

They don't know where they are hiding, nor what means they are preparing to deal with Luo Lin and the other two.

Wu Tie grew increasingly cautious, using the invisible force field to lift his body, so that as he walked his feet barely touched the ground and made no sound.

The whole ground had collapsed, the pit was a mess, and the howling cold wind kept blowing out from various cracks in the pit walls; after two days, Wu Tie had searched every area of the pit, except for those fissures on the walls.

As he proceeded slowly along the pit wall, Wu Tie suddenly stopped.

Ahead on the pit wall, a fissure over a hundred meters high and ten-something meters wide continuously blew out cold wind, and Wu Tie's invisible force field also sensed traces of someone moving.

What drew Lao Tie's attention was not the subordinates of Shi Lingqing lying in the rubble at the mouth of the fissure, but a strange huge creature thirty-something meters inside the fissure.

This creature is pallid white all over, clearly made of the same metal material as Lao Tie.

Its appearance somewhat resembles the wolf Grey Master spoke of; its head is exactly like Grey Master's wolf head, and also like the heads of the Wu family's Azure Wolf Warriors and Gray Wolf Warriors.

However, this creature has a transparent hole in the middle of its skull; near the wound are some crystalline solidified juices flashing a faint light.

Obviously, this hole inflicted a fatal wound on the creature.

"How... how could this thing possibly be here?" Wu Tie's side, suddenly Lao Tie's voice came; the unexpected sound startled Wu Tie, making him almost cry out.

Turning sharply, Wu Tie saw a palm-sized metal spider sprinting rapidly from over a hundred meters away, and after a few leaps it lightly landed on his shoulder.

"What the hell, how did this thing get here?" Lao Tie's voice came from the metal spider's belly.

"A dog?" Wu Tie suddenly recalled that Grey Master once said that in ancient times there was a creature called a dog, which ancient people had once kept in large numbers.

"This dog thing... is an old acquaintance of my grandfather... how could it be here?" Lao Tie's voice was filled with inexplicable emotion: "Bring it back, now, immediately, at once, bring it back!"