Chapter 179: The Worry of Possessing Jade; A Sudden Encounter with Void Phantoms

The second trip down to the cliff bottom was increasingly familiar; without even needing to crane his neck to look, he could accurately place his feet on protruding rocks and hook onto withered vines and roots.

It was much faster than the first time.

By nightfall, he could already see the scalp-numbing scene at the bottom of the cliff.

Corpses covered the ground in overlapping layers, the putrefied flesh-sludge masking the soil and grass, with large swathes of dark brown encroaching upon the original variegated colors of earth, stone, and vegetation.

The bleached bones, corroded to the core, stood intertwined like hardy grass in late autumn, pointing diagonally toward the heavens.

The corpses that were easy to find on the first trip had been mostly picked clean; the remaining tough nuts to crack were scattered across the valley floor.

Zhou You was not paying attention for a moment and stepped into soft, rotten mud; it bubbled with a *gurgle*, and as he pulled his foot out, it brought up thick, long strands of slime.

It was stringy—this disgusted him to no end! The putrid flesh-sludge, accumulated over who knows how many years, had ultimately formed this swamp.

Situated in such a harsh environment, he dared not relax for a second, circulating his Poison Qi to wrap around his entire body.

Even his breathing had to be filtered through several layers.

Passing by a corpse, he observed the state of decay and deduced that it was from the batch he had thrown down; he raised his hand and sliced it open.

A black tide surged out—it was, shockingly, a swarm of jet-black scorpions the size of fingers.

The scorpions at the valley bottom loved the damp, dark environment, burrowing into the cavities of corpses to lay eggs and breed; a massive cluster would often come pouring out without warning.

After clearing out the small scorpions, Zhou You took out oil-paper packets one by one without changing his expression, incidentally shaking off the sticky filth.

The corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch; this really wasn't a place for humans to stay, and he would never come back in this lifetime! His luck wasn't great this time; he had retrieved all the treasures, but the remaining two portions of Secret Medicine were nowhere to be found.

Zhou You guessed that perhaps when he threw them down the cliff, the corpses had collided with the cliff face and bounced a greater distance away.

It was also possible that the mountain winds had blown them further; any reason was possible! Seeing that his back basket was full and the weight was pressing on his shoulders, he had to return to the cliff top.

He rested halfway up the suspended cliff, spent the night, and climbed to the top at daybreak.

Gazing at the rising sun, Zhou You felt invigorated; wasn't his future just like the scenery before him, filled with infinite prospects and light?

Although the Secret Medicine hadn't been fully gathered, more than ninety percent of the treasures in the vault had already been retrieved.

If these treasures could be successfully liquidated, they were conservatively estimated to be worth 1,000,000 taels of silver.

After the joy, the heavy reality pressed in: how to liquidate them?

This was a society with distinct classes.

Class hierarchy was clear; depending on which stratum one occupied, the wealth one could control was fixed.

When 'Lu Zhigang' won the bounty, he immediately faced a situation where the whole city was his enemy; the reason was that the wealth was too great, exceeding the ceiling of his status. If he were a Martial Master, he would surely have had no trouble at all.

The Moyun Stronghold was guilty of harboring a treasure, and was wiped out by Commander Chen leading his troops; had Zhou You not intervened, these treasures would have long since fallen into Commander Chen's hands.

Even if Kaibeishou Yan Ping were still alive, with his level of strength as a Martial Master, he would not have been able to protect this massive wealth.

He heard that many people nearby were hunting Yan Ping, attempting to carve up the Moyun Stronghold treasure he carried.

If a Martial Master couldn't protect this wealth, let alone Zhou You, who was merely at the Blood Qi realm.

Therefore, this treasure could not see the light of day; it had to be hidden in a safe place for the time being, to be sold off in batches and slowly liquidated.

The process had to be extremely careful; the slightest exposure would surely bring a catastrophic disaster upon his entire family.

"Fucheng!"

A word popped into Zhou You's mind.

This wealth was too terrifying; it would be difficult to liquidate within the scale of Gongliang City; it had to be a larger, more prosperous city.

Fucheng, a provincial capital, a thoroughfare for all directions, with guests arriving like clouds and wealth flowing like a river.

Compared to it, Gongliang City was like a sesame seed on a flatbread, insignificant.

This wealth on the scale of a million could only be quietly digested in Fucheng without leaving a trace.

He had come out in a rush this time and had no opportunity; next time, he would find a chance to go to Fucheng and scout the path.

Having set his future plans, he felt motivated to do things.

The third trip down to the cliff bottom was, unsurprisingly, the last. Zhou You moved like flowing water, successfully reaching the valley floor. The surroundings were covered in rotten mud, the stench was sky-high, and the miasma grew increasingly dense. From time to time, pillars of gas hundreds of meters high would rise; birds passing through the firmament would be grazed by them, instantly stiffening and falling into the bottomless abyss, to be swallowed by the rotten mud.

The environment was harsh; to find anything, he had to get close and examine it carefully.

In this hellhole, ordinary beasts couldn't survive; there were plenty of Poison Snakes and venomous insects, and one would step on a pile if not careful.

The surface of his Poison Qi gradually became stained with blood and venom, becoming mottled and unclear.

"Hmm?"

Zhou You saw a medicine bottle exposed at the broken end of a half-corpse hanging on a half-human-tall stalagmite.

With a wave of his palm, his Poison Qi condensed into two ropes, binding the medicine bottles one by one and dragging them before him.

There wasn't much Secret Medicine to begin with, just enough to cover the bottom of his bamboo basket.

Then he found another corpse; with this, all the treasures had been collected.

"Only the Secret Medicine from one more corpse remains."

Zhou You did some mental calculations; the treasures were all found, and 2/3 of the Secret Medicine had been collected; he wasn't far from completion.

Well, anyone who has downloaded files knows that the 99% progress bar is the hardest to endure.

The remaining 1% sometimes takes longer than everything before it combined.

Half a day later, Zhou You squinted at the starry sky above, "How about I just forget the rest and go home."

He did some mental calculations; it had been a while since he left home, and if he didn't show up, his parents would grow suspicious, and even his grandfather wouldn't be able to cover for him.

That said, since he had already come, it would be a pity not to get everything.

Zhou You gritted his teeth, setting a one-hour deadline; if he found it, he would; if he couldn't find it, he would immediately turn back.

One must not be indecisive when doing things; one must be resolute.

Half an hour later, Zhou You found the last corpse in the bushes.

While lamenting his good luck, he skillfully sliced open its chest and abdomen.

The repetitive, mechanical action—he didn't know how many times he had repeated the entire process; it was slightly dull and tedious.

However, a sudden change occurred!

The corpse, so decayed its features were unrecognizable, suddenly opened its dissolving eyelids.

The turbid eyeballs rolled a few times, and mucus gushed out, plopping as it fell from the eye sockets.

"You've finally come."

The rotting corpse spoke, and the next moment its tongue rotted off, shooting out from its mouth like a bolt of black light toward his face.

Though startled, Zhou You did not panic; he executed his level 4 Basic Lightness Skill, stepping on a breeze to retreat 100 meters away.

When he looked up, the black light seemed to have been waiting for a long time, striking down at the center of his brow.

"Void Phantom, a wild Void Phantom from the mountains and forests?"

Zhou You was inwardly astonished; he was no stranger to phantoms, but he had never seen a Void Phantom before it possessed a body.

A streak of black light, fast as lightning, was something he could not avoid even after exhausting all his efforts.

Once a Void Phantom enters the body, it usurps the nest, and the original host will surely die, leaving behind only a walking corpse to be manipulated.

"Puff, puff!"

A few muffled sounds, like a wooden club hitting a quilt.

The black light sank into the soft Dusha Hutie, as if it had hit a stone wall, unable to advance any further, and remained deadlocked on the spot.

The heavy stone in Zhou You's heart fell; he was relieved, so relieved—if he hadn't mastered Dusha Hutie, he would have been done for this time.

Another problem arose: the Void Phantom was clinging to the surface of the Dusha Hutie, unable to get in but unwilling to leave; how could he resolve this threat that was right under his nose? (End of chapter)