What the Hell Is This Thing?

The window had not been deliberately closed, allowing the evening breeze to blow inside. Yet the smoke rising from the offering candles lingered without dispersing, gathering thicker and denser. After merely a dozen breaths, the thick smoke condensed into a gray silhouette. Looking closely, the silhouette's shape closely resembled the wood carving on the table, but with only seven or eight faces across its body. The face in the center even rolled its eyes, glaring down at the child's soul below. Though muddled and ignorant, the child's soul instinctively sensed danger. Abandoning the incense smoke, it tried to burrow back into the wooden sphere. The shadowy smoke swooped down and swallowed it in a single gulp. Such a tiny, weak remnant soul was not even an appetizer to it; instead, it merely whetted its appetite. Its mouth opened and closed, seemingly saying something to the caster. Prostrating on the floor, the curse master said respectfully, "The mark has already been placed. Please go forth and enjoy a lavish sacrifice!" Hearing this, the smoke shadow circled half a turn in the room, then vanished into thin air the next second. The caster straightened up and looked over: the human faces on the wooden carving had decreased by seven or eight accordingly. *** He Lingchuan had always been a good sleeper; even when he did not enter Panlong City, he could enjoy a night of sound slumber. This knack of falling asleep the moment he lay down, anywhere and anytime, made Second Master Shi deeply envious. To the north of Panlong Wasteland, conflicts had broken out in rapid succession, both large and small. The allied armies of Baling and Xianyou constantly probed along the border. This was the aftermath of the Panlong Army swiftly seizing Xiji Kingdom. The Broken Saber squad was thus redeployed to the northern front, fighting six battles in just over thirty days. Two of them reached a fever pitch. Both sides fought with bloodshot eyes, nearly escalating from localized skirmishes into full-scale war. Both battles were exceptionally grueling. In one of them, fighting against heavy odds, three hundred Gale Army troops relied on the terrain to stubbornly hold off two thousand enemies for two full days and a night. The entire Broken Saber squad brushed with death several times. Relying on his immortal body, He Lingchuan fought heedless of himself, sustaining countless wounds, and even acted as a human shield once each for Willow and A'luo. Even so, the two newly recruited squad members could not survive, tragically falling in battle. On the final day, even He Lingchuan couldn't hold out. After coughing up his last mouthful of blood, he was forced to log off right where he fell. Fortunately, upon his next dream entry, he finally received good news: reinforcements had arrived right after his death, striking from inside and out to repel the enemy forces. When he collapsed without a breath left, Willow truly thought he was dead. Supposedly, this female warrior, tougher than any man, burst into tears on the spot. Of course, that was only a rumor; Willow herself adamantly denied it, beating up anyone who mentioned it. After these battles, He Lingchuan even earned himself a nickname: "Mad Saber." Failing to gain any advantage along the border, the Xian-Ba allied army sulkily withdrew. This matched He Lingchuan's earlier prediction: the enemy indeed had no intention of launching a full-scale invasion. They only wanted to force General Red, who was on an eastern expedition, back to Panlong City, and take advantage of the empty defenses in Panlong Wasteland to seize a bit of territory. They had achieved only the first objective, and paid a steep price for it. Panlong City also withdrew its troops from the border, returning in triumph to hand out rewards according to merit. The Broken Saber squad led by He Lingchuan was loyal, brave, and sharp, with exceptional combat skills. They slew the highest number of enemies and took down the highest-ranking enemy commanders, contributing greatly to the victory on the northwestern flank. Factoring in their military merits from Xiji, every member received a generous reward. As for He Lingchuan himself, he was promoted two ranks straight to brigade commander, placing a hundred men under his command. With Willow and Door Plank as his lieutenants, they began reorganizing this hundred-man unit upon returning to the city. After fighting those battles, He Lingchuan had gained tremendously. The battlefield truly was the greatest crucible. It was filled with endless unexpected twists and variables: one moment you were mowing down foes in all directions, and the next you might be shot into a sieve. Emerging from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, crawling out of that meat grinder of flesh and bone, he had learned to watch all directions and listen to all sounds, to assess the situation to preserve strength, to believe that the brave triumph when meeting on a narrow road, and to keep a clear mind and sharp sight even in moments of life and death. A rookie stepping onto the battlefield might tremble at the knees with fright, but fighting too long could just as easily cause killing intent and hot blood to rush to one's head, forgetting that boldness and recklessness, sharpness and cowardice, were often separated by only a fine line. That was the line between life and death. The more peril pressed close, the more one needed calm and restraint. This was not innate talent, but the result of countless trials by death. Reviewing and consolidating his experiences thoroughly afterward, He Lingchuan felt a clear difference: his state of mind and saber techniques had grown once again. His saber techniques grew cleaner and more pragmatic. His mindset grew calmer and more composed. Such invaluable trials of the battlefield could currently be provided only by the Panlong realm of souls. The Dafang Pot was merciless with He Lingchuan as well: while he spent his days diligently solving cases and mediating among various factions, it forced him into mountains of corpses and seas of blood by night, constantly grinding him down. Had his willpower not been rock-solid, his mind would have snapped long ago. Well, after enduring such inhuman torment, his spirit and soul actually seemed to have grown stronger. At any rate, after this series of upheavals, Panlong Wasteland had temporarily regained its peace. At this moment, He Lingchuan was in the northwestern part of Chipa Plateau, catching a peculiar creature on A'luo's behalf: Monkey bats. According to A'luo, this was an invasive species. While omnivorous, it was likely to carry the seeds of barnyard galls, which harmed plateau wheat. Once dropped, they would burrow into the soil, parasitizing wheat roots to siphon nutrients, flourishing and expanding once the wheat withered. In their early stages, their growth was extremely concealed, making them difficult to detect and eradicate. Panlong City's Elixir Office also shouldered part of the responsibility for crop pest and disease control, remaining extraordinarily vigilant against invasive species. A'luo had posted a commission at the Pengcheng Office, but the soldiers seemed busy lately, and no one had taken it up. Thus, he simply went to He Lingchuan for help. "You're idle anyway." Those were A'luo's exact words. And so, He Lingchuan had come. Monkey bats were quite large, rivaling teals in size, but with pointed snouts and puffed cheeks, their faces truly resembled monkeys. Most bats moved in colonies, but monkey bats operated only as mated pairs, accompanied at most by a brood of pups. Their tracks were therefore relatively hidden and hard to trace. Following the clues provided by A'luo, He Lingchuan searched for an entire day before finally discovering monkey bat droppings on a stalactite column inside a karst cave. Still had to go further in. Looking at the pitch-black pool ahead, he sighed. Had pig fat blinded his heart? Why hadn't he stayed behind to coax and flirt with his beautiful neighbor, instead of running off into this pitch-black flooded cavern to catch bats for A'luo? Of course there was water inside the karst cave, and flowing water at that, for he had felt a gusting wind whipping against his face when entering the cavern. Though it was midsummer, it was only eleven or twelve degrees inside; staying long enough brought on sneezes. Still waters run deep; only shallow rapids babble and splash. He Lingchuan could barely hear the sound of flowing water upon entering the cave, which told him the water here ran remarkably deep. Left with no choice, he pulled out a diving suit, pulled it on, and leapt into the pool. The monkey bats could fly in, but he had to swim. There were countless forks and caverns in here, and unknown creatures frequently lurked beneath the water. After swimming for more than a quarter of an hour, aided by the light of fluorescent grass, He Lingchuan finally spotted the shapes of monkey bats on the cavern roof! "These damn things!" Catch them early, report back early. Having no eyes on the back of his head, He Lingchuan naturally failed to notice a sudden flicker of blue light deep within the pool behind him. The monkey bats hung upside down from the rock ceiling directly above him. The entire family of seven was here; likely full from eating, they were all sound asleep with heads covered. How should he catch these things? Of course, He Lingchuan had already planned ahead before coming in. He pulled out two burrow spider webs, crept quietly up the stalactites, and tied them off. In this timeline's Panlong City, General Red and Zhu Erniang had renegotiated their agreement: the burrow spiders would grant exclusive distribution rights for their products to Panlong City. This gave Panlong City another flagship export, while sparing the burrow spiders the headache of dealing with crooked human merchants. From then on, the gear issued to Panlong City's soldiers, as well as the requisition lists for exchange and purchase, featured special burrow spider silk products, such as capture nets, flying cables, and spider silk soft armor, all earning glowing praise. He Lingchuan had replaced his original rope nets with spider webs because they were lighter, stronger, and more durable. These two nets were strung across the exit path, forming an "L" shape. Once set, He Lingchuan retrieved several pebbles and flicked them right before the monkey bats, producing several thuds. The monkey bats snapped awake at the noise, spreading their wings to flee. Naturally, He Lingchuan had angled his throws, driving them straight toward the nets. The spider webs retained all the properties of spider silk: the more the prey struggled after hitting them, the deeper they became entangled. As A'luo had requested, the more monkey bats captured, the better. With He Lingchuan's scare tactic, four bats flew into the net one after another, while the rest scattered in various directions. He leapt over and bagged them all in one net. Done. Time to go back and turn in the task. Just then, a sinister wind stirred behind him, sending a chill down He Lingchuan's spine. A warning omen. Without thinking, he surged two zhang in a single stride, landing on another stalactite before whipping around. What he saw startled him: Where he had stood moments ago, a tattered-clothed person had appeared out of nowhere. To call it human was a stretch. Though it had all its limbs intact, it bore multiple heads—male and female, young and old—faces contorted, more than a dozen eyeballs glaring at He Lingchuan simultaneously. That gaze was probably... hunger? Only a wolf pack starved for seven days and seven nights would have green eyes gleaming like that. What the hell is this thing? "Tribute!" a head on the monster's neck screeched. "Come quick and let me eat you!" He Lingchuan frowned. Who is it calling a tribute? Flicking his wrist, he gifted the creature a sleeve arrow first: "Eat this." "Eat! Eat! Eat!" The figure didn't even dodge. An infant's head merely shifted from near its belly to its chest. The sleeve arrow would have pierced its heart, but the baby's mouth opened wide, swallowing the arrow straight down. That mouth was like a bottomless pit; the arrow caused no damage whatsoever. "Tastes bad!" the infant face snapped in anger. "I want meat!" A head on its shoulder swiveled, caught sight of the bats flying about, and suddenly opened its mouth to spew over a hundred bats toward He Lingchuan! These bats were two sizes smaller than the monkey bats, yet they had human heads with glowing green eyes and mouthfuls of razor-sharp teeth, their foreclaws resembling human hands. The cavern wasn't large to begin with; crowded now with over a hundred bats, it filled everywhere with the frantic flapping of wings and ear-splitting shrieks.