Wait, What?

The demon puppet's soft flesh was relatively tender; how could it withstand their incessant piercing and stabbing? After two rapid volleys, at least fifty or sixty porcupine quills bristled from its flesh. Howling in agony with deep gurgling cries, it zipped back into its shell with a whoosh. A hard exterior was meant to protect a tender interior. In other words, the harder its shell, the more fragile its body was. Furthermore, these porcupine quills were barbed, making it impossible for the beast to pull them out on its own. More than half a year after their demise, the porcupines at the foot of Mount Yulun had finally claimed their revenge with their own quills. And venom produced by Zhu Erniang caused agonizing pain, burning like a raging fire. Not only was the demon puppet in sheer agony, but blister-like swellings ballooned rapidly over its wounds, each larger than a pig bladder. For fifty to sixty wounds, there were fifty to sixty massive blisters. If these were not lanced in time, the spider venom would rapidly spread throughout its body, bringing nerve numbness and muscle weakness. As the demon puppet wailed, movement stirred within the snail shell once more. "There are people inside the shell!" He Lingchuan alerted the bailiffs to take aim, raising his sleeve arrow to fire at a shadow flickering inside. Only then did the bailiffs notice figures moving within the snail shell. Two men holding long sabers were frantically popping the blisters on the demon puppet's body. The skunk demon darted out from nowhere and leaped straight into the shell. "Don't go!" The creature was too nimble. He Lingchuan tried to grab its tail, but was a step too late. Catching sight of a black-and-white blur, the men inside slashed their blades at it. The skunk maneuvered deftly, dodging the edge of the saber, and promptly lifted its bushy tail— From He Lingchuan's vantage point, he could clearly see a cloud of yellowish-green gas blast from its rear, puffing almost squarely into one swordsman's face. The man forgot all about swinging his blade, clutching his throat as he doubled over and retched violently. Such a physiological reflex was utterly impossible to control. Taking advantage of the moment, the skunk demon kicked off his back. Losing his footing, the man tumbled off the demon puppet's back and crashed to the ground. His companion rushed to his aid. Quick of eye and deft of hand, He Lingchuan loosed another sleeve arrow that blossomed right into the back of the fallen man's shoulder. With a reverse yank, he hauled him over by force before his comrade could reach him. The rogue was rather dark-skinned and stout. Even as he was dragged over, he remained fierce, yelling loudly and swinging his saber. He Lingchuan casually snapped the saber with a strike and delivered a kick. With two crisp snaps, both of the man's leg bones broke. Howling in agony, he collapsed to the ground. Bailiffs moved in on their own to apprehend him. Having succeeded once, the skunk demon grew emboldened. Ignoring its companions' calls, it tried to burrow deeper into the shell. There was clearly some space inside, and relying on its diminutive size, it thought it could squeeze right through. Who knew that a sudden opening would appear in the mountainous heap of flesh ahead? Before it could change direction, it plunged headfirst right inside. The monster's gaping maw opened right there. By the time the skunk demon realized, it was too late. The massive mouth shut silently, leaving not a single gap. Yet the foul stench it had released still lingered in the shell. The monster was likely nauseated and throbbing with a headache from the fumes; it suddenly popped out of its shell, reformed its four limbs, and leaped high into the air. This bound took every ounce of its strength. Even weighed down heavily, it still leaped roughly four zhang into the air before crashing heavily back toward the earth! With a tremendous boom, the ground sank another several feet, and two of the massive trees tethered by the grappling cords were yanked down outright. The monster was in unbearable pain, desperate to burrow underground to catch its breath. The spider-silk ropes stretched tauter than everyone's nerves, threatening to snap at any second. The shell on the monster's back even began to glow. The light-brown radiance was not very prominent in the dark, but anxiety spiked in everyone's hearts, wondering what new trick the beast was about to pull. Could it have a second-stage transformation? Under the watchful eyes of all, the monster leaped once more despite its wounds. No one anticipated that He Lingchuan would snatch a torch from the person beside him at this very moment and charge forward. Jiao Yu cried out in shock, "What are you doing?!" The tiger pounced, but was a step too late to intercept him. He Lingchuan's movement mirrored that of the skunk demon earlier, except he was even more agile. With a bounding sprint followed by a leap, he shot straight toward the opening of the snail shell. Midair, the monster spotted him as well. There was no need to dodge at all; it merely had to open its mouth and wait. The maw was as vast as a bottomless abyss; He Lingchuan was essentially diving straight into the frog's mouth. However, another person cowered behind the monster's head. The moment he saw what He Lingchuan was clutching to his chest, he shuddered violently and pounded furiously on the monster, shouting, "Don't eat it! Turn your head, don't eat it!" Unfortunately, the monster's reflexes were inherently half a beat slow. No matter how he screamed, the frog mouth failed to shut in time. He Lingchuan dove right in, clutching a black jar in his arms. The lid was already off. Entering the beast's mouth was like plunging into a black hole. Ahead lay pitch-black darkness, with the torch in his hand serving as the sole source of light. The light behind him dimmed rapidly as the monster closed its jaws. At the very instant the outside light vanished, He Lingchuan jammed the torch ruthlessly into the black jar. The torch had been soaked in a special oil blend that even heavy rain could not extinguish. With an earth-shattering boom, the snail shell exploded! A violent shockwave erupted from the open mouth of the snail shell, seemingly carrying other things out with it. One after another, four blasts detonated in rapid succession. At that moment, everyone was still ducking with their heads down, blinded by the intense glare bursting from the snail shell, hearing only the relentless series of explosions. These were the explosives He Lingchuan had planted in advance at the four corners of the herb warehouse, all detonated in a single chain reaction. The monster's hard shell was originally a chestnut reddish-brown, but for a split second during the explosion it turned translucent, allowing the brilliant flash of the blast to shine right through unobstructed. Jiao Yu was the first to react, bounding toward where it crashed. "After it!" Considering the sheer roar and brilliance of the blasts, they were not that far from the snail shell, yet they hadn't been overturned by the shockwave and could still remain firmly on their feet—truly remarkable. In fact, everyone had only felt a gust of fierce wind hitting their faces and smelled pungent sulfur smoke; beyond that, they felt little impact. The vast majority of the explosion's force had been borne entirely by the snail shell. In short order, everyone converged at the demon puppet's crash site. At Jiao Yu's dispatch, several bailiffs combed into the woods and wound up finding two men there. One was missing two legs, while the other was nothing but two legs. At the demon puppet's impact point, the ground was caved into a deep crater. The surrounding dirt radiated outward in splatters, showing just how tremendous the impact of the fall had been. The snail shell lay wedged right in the center of the deep crater. Strangely, it had not been blown to pieces; even its shape remained intact, bearing only several deep fractures across the outer shell. The durability of this shell was truly staggering. Xu Dayou asked Jiao Yu, "Sir, what do we do now?" Now that the heroic Lord Envoy had sacrificed his life, the highest-ranking commander present naturally became this fierce tiger. Before Jiao Yu could answer, a familiar voice called from behind, "Get some men over here to haul it out of the crater." Xu Dayou turned his head, his spine tingling with shock. Parting the crowd and stepping forward, who else could it be but the Lord Envoy? A fully intact, sound-of-limb Lord Envoy. If he was safe and sound, then who was the one who had leaped into the monster's mouth holding the jar of explosives just now?! Fortunately, Xu Dayou had been on duty for twenty years and seen a whole bushel of bizarre occurrences. In the blink of an eye, he deduced that He Lingchuan likely possessed some extraordinary life-saving ability. After his initial astonishment, he collected himself and put on a delighted expression. "Lord Envoy? It is wonderful that you are unharmed!" He Lingchuan, however, stared grimly at the snail shell in the crater. "Quickly, drag it..." Before the words "up out of here" could leave his lips, the snail shell suddenly stirred. Once again, it began sinking rapidly. General Ling's eyes bulged. "Wait, what?!" The explosion was so violent and had detonated directly inside its mouth—how could it not have killed the monster? It looked squishy and soft; it didn't seem like something so blast-resistant! Most importantly, how had the grappling cord holding it gone slack? He Lingchuan grabbed the end of the rope and tugged. Slack. The grappling hook had broken! It had probably snapped during the final explosion, breaking right inside the snail shell. Though crafted by renowned artisans, no matter how sturdy it was, there was a limit to its strength. Strained repeatedly by the monster, it had finally given out. With a furious roar, General Ling charged down into the crater, lowering his horns to ram against it. The others rushed into the pit as well, trying to flip it over. Even He Lingchuan summoned his gold-armored bronze automaton to halt its sinking. Alas, the snail shell was embedded deeply into the earth, its surface smooth with nothing to grip, and He Lingchuan's grappling hook was broken... There was truly no good way left to stop it. In the end, everyone could only watch helplessly as it burrowed underground, sighing in frustration. After a dozen-odd breaths, the very tip of the shell disappeared beneath the bottom of the crater. The thing had escaped. General Ling kicked up showers of dirt in the pit, fuming, "Curse it! Damn it all, we were so close!" "It's burrowing away very slowly; it must be severely injured as well." He Lingchuan also felt it was a pity, but patted the giant horns to comfort his comrade. "Besides, we still have our spoils." The so-called "spoils" were the two men from inside the snail shell, blasted out during the explosion. The one who died had been blown to pieces. Bailiffs gathered remains from all over the woods, once even bringing back an eyeball, but they could never piece together a complete body. The surviving fortunate soul had fallen unconscious, bleeding like a fountain. Though covered in blood and grime with a face swollen like a pig's head, He Lingchuan let out a whistle upon seeing him and patted General Ling on the shoulder. "Congratulations. The culprit is in custody!" Xu Dayou and the others shouted repeatedly, "Wan Song! Wan Song! This is Wan Song!" As locals, a few more glances were all it took to recognize him: this was the fugitive criminal Wan Song, who had been on the run! Seeing his bitter enemy, General Ling's eyes turned red with fury. He instinctively lowered his head to gore him to death. But with bailiffs all around and the rogue still holding value, he could only suppress his murderous intent, furiously pawing the dirt with a forehoof. "His life is mine!" "Don't be rash." He Lingchuan examined Wan Song's injuries and found that the rogue's internal organs were severely damaged, and he was losing blood rapidly. His life hung by a thread. Left unattended, he would be dead within a quarter of an hour. With no other choice, he shoved a life-saving pill into Wan Song's mouth and sealed the acupoints on his legs to slow the blood loss, then instructed the bailiffs to carry him to town as quickly as possible to find a physician. The fierce battle drew to a close. Coincidentally, the thunderstorm had ceased as well, leaving the smell of raw earth everywhere. There had originally been humans and demonic beasts guarding the warehouse, but they had fled in terror at the massive upheaval. Seeing that the fight was over, they now returned in twos and threes.