He Lingchuan naturally heard it as well. He held his breath, kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, remaining as still and detached as an old monk in deep meditation, refusing to pay it the slightest mind no matter what reached his ears.
Seeing no response from him, the voice changed, shifting into the tone of a sweet sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl pouring out her heart—soft, tender, and coquettish. The more He Lingchuan listened, the more it sounded like the girl he had harbored a crush on in his youth.
He gave an inward scoff. That sweet girl hadn't even finished school before running off with a second-generation rich kid from their hometown, popping out two third-generation rich brats in less than three years. Every time he saw those two snot-nosed kids, he felt he had been utterly idiotic back then. This Three Corpse Worm clearly hadn't done its homework, ignorant of the fact that what had abandoned him yesterday was never worth clinging to.
Right at that moment, the hull suddenly shuddered violently, as if some massive beast had clambered aboard. Immediately afterward, cries of shock and agonizing screams from the soldiers rang out from the rear, mixed with curses from the sand bandits and the sharp clash of drawn blades.
Fighting had broken out behind them, and it was fierce.
The nearest scream erupted right behind He Lingchuan's back. He seemed to have spoken with that soldier not long ago.
Then the monster charged straight in this direction, its heavy, thudding footsteps sounding as though they were stomping directly on his chest.
Was this another trick of the Three Corpse Worms to lure him into looking back?
Yet if it were real, staying put like this meant he would most likely end up as a snack for the beast. This was the Panlong Desert, a place infested with exotic beasts. Who could guarantee one or two hadn't seized the chance to climb aboard and feast on humans?
It drew closer and closer! The suffocating pressure made the hairs on He Lingchuan's neck stand on end.
He hurriedly looked at He Chunhua. His father was facing him and should be able to clearly see what was happening behind him.
The muscles in He Chunhua's face twitched slightly, his expression even bordering on ferocious, yet his eyes were vacant. He Lingchuan had never seen such a look on him before and had no idea what his father was hearing.
How could they exchange intentions through eye contact alone?
Yet with the Three Corpse Worms right in front of them, neither dared open his mouth.
Fortunately, He Chunhua snapped back to his senses. Staring intently at his eldest son, as if hearing his unspoken thoughts, he suddenly winked his right eye at him.
Such a gesture was exceedingly rare from an esteemed commandery governor, yet it instantly shattered the tense, terrifying atmosphere. He Lingchuan let out a quiet sigh of relief, his heart settling.
It was fake!
His father was finding a way to tell him that whatever he heard was fake!
Sure enough, as the heavy footsteps surged right behind his head and he could even hear the creature's ragged panting, it all vanished the very next second.
Only the howling wind remained in his ears.
The wisps of insubstantial smoke beside him also lost interest in him, swaying and drifting off elsewhere.
He Lingchuan had passed the test, and he gave his father a wink in return.
The little red pill everyone had swallowed earlier was the Soul-Shielding Powder that National Preceptor Sun had specially refined for this journey, made primarily from heart-rotting grass that grew in places of extreme yin. After humans consumed it, not only could they briefly perceive "unclean things," but it also allowed their life flames to temporarily mask their living aura. So long as the Three Corpse Worms did not slip into the nine apertures of the body, they would treat the humans as inanimate objects.
However, the greatest flaw of this method was that one must never turn their head lightly!
Three life flames hovered around a person's upper body, guarding the heart apertures and keeping external evils at bay. But if someone turned their head while being watched by a Three Corpse Worm, their life flame would instantly weaken, and they would no longer be able to deceive it.
This was not Sun Fuping's exclusive invention either, but a method recorded in the notebook of a spellcaster from the Xianyou Kingdom. Often, none knew you better than your enemy. The Xianyou Kingdom had fought Panlong City for over thirty years; they had surely spent every waking moment racking their brains for ways to deal with the Three Corpse Worms.
In fact, such occurrences happened often in dense wilderness woods or open fields at night. A traveler would hear someone calling their name from behind, and an inadvertent turn of the head would dim their life lights, allowing wicked spirits to invade.
When He Lingchuan first received the little pill, a thought had stirred within him. The Xianyou Kingdom had been destroyed a century ago, so obtaining a spellcaster's notebook from back then could not have been easy. Moreover, heart-rotting grass was a rare item that grew only under harsh conditions, impossible to cultivate or mass-produce. Just how much effort had it taken to gather the ingredients and refine enough Soul-Shielding Powder for three hundred people?
Had the Grand Marshal and National Preceptor Sun truly only started preparing to explore the Panlong Ruins half a year ago?
Naturally, the thought only flashed through his mind, and He Lingchuan did not dwell on it.
He saw that He Chunhua's expression had returned to its usual composure, and the Three Corpse Worms around him had dispersed in all directions. Clearly, his father had passed the trial as well.
Yet when his gaze swept past He Chunhua toward the personal guard behind him, his heart suddenly lurched. "Hey, don't..."
The man's eyes were actually bloodshot and brimming with tears!
The moment the words left his mouth, the guard turned his head.
He Lingchuan watched helplessly as the life flame on the guard's left shoulder snuffed out with a soft *poof*.
The light of the other two flames instantly dimmed.
The Three Corpse Worm hovering nearby was like a shark catching the scent of blood. With a fierce flick of its tail, it burrowed straight into his ears and nose!
The guard's gaze instantly went blank.
Seeing his eldest son staring past him with a drastically changed expression, the veins on He Chunhua's neck bulged. It was obvious he had exerted immense effort to suppress the instinct to turn around.
Instead of looking back, he lunged forward two steps.
This proved to be a textbook display of self-preservation, for the guard suddenly drew the long saber at his waist and swung a brutal downward cleave straight at the back of He Chunhua's head!
The two had only been four feet apart to begin with, and the guard's strike was swift, intent on cleaving his superior's skull like a watermelon.
When the blade fell, it was less than two inches from He Chunhua's skull.
He Lingchuan brushed past his father, lunging forward with a swift leap right into the guard's embrace, blade and all.
The guard froze mid-motion, the tip of a blade now protruding from his back.
Having narrowly escaped death, He Chunhua took several deep breaths before suddenly staring ahead and saying, "Chuan'er, turn around slowly. I'll take care of these puppets."
He Lingchuan shoved the corpse aside and saw a wisp of phantom smoke emerge from the dead man's seven facial apertures, slipping back into the air and drifting away at an unhurried pace.
Once the host died, the Three Corpse Worm could no longer remain and had no choice but to come out.
Keeping his neck rigid, He Lingchuan exerted force with his waist and legs, turning around slowly. In this way, the life flames on his shoulders remained undisturbed and would not be blown out by his own movement.
The boat, however, was already in utter chaos.
The guard was not an isolated case. Despite strict, repeated warnings beforehand, seven or eight people had still been bewitched by the whispers in their ears, blowing out their own life lights and falling prey to the Three Corpse Worms.
Once possessed, they recognized neither friend nor foe, slashing at anyone in sight.
In just a few breaths, chaos had engulfed the vessel. Four or five men were wounded, and one unlucky soul had half his skull sheared clean off.
He Chunhua charged straight toward the killer. It was a sand bandit who remained remarkably agile even under the worm's possession. Instead of engaging head-on, he played cat-and-mouse among the crowd, periodically slashing and wounding another person or two.
Constantly reminding oneself not to turn around severely hampered one's agility. He Chunhua felt as clumsy and stiff as a zombie, his movements lagging three beats behind as he gave chase, completely unable to outmaneuver the bastard.
Just as he was about to unleash a spell, a dagger came whistling through the air from behind, driving into the killer's right eye with a sharp *thwack*.
Entering from the front and piercing clean through the back, it detonated into a burst of blood.
Chapter 29