Chapter 110 (2): Complete Accident

In this new formation, Yuan Jingjiang's trio were responsible for demolishing any obstacles that were encountered, following which they would stand on lookout duty in three different directions while everyone else cleared out the mess.

Efficiency was instantly increased by over twofold, and they didn't encounter any further attacks over the next few dozen kilometers.

The bodies that were encountered along the way were all incinerated instead of buried, and sure enough, quite a few of them had Fire Thread Insects lurking within.

Several of the female administrators were utterly disgusted by the harrowing sight, and some were displaying signs of nausea.

"Do not throw up!" Fang Che ordered in a stern voice. "Resist and the nausea will pass!"

There wouldn't be any opportunity to ingest food and water anytime soon, so throwing up now could have extremely damning consequences, especially in these sweltering conditions and with danger potentially lurking around every turn.

The sounds of a battle began to ring out up ahead.

"There are allies up ahead!" Yuan Jingjiang yelled in excitement.

"Go around them!" Fang Che immediately ordered.

"Go around them? Why? Shouldn't we go help them?"

"A battle between warriors of their caliber is not something that we can hope to take part in!" Fang Che snapped. "If we enter the fray, we'll only serve as a hindrance to our allies, and they could end up dead because of us! If even a single Guardian dies to protect us, that would be a heavy loss that we could never hope to atone for!"

Everyone immediately did as they were instructed and skirted around the battle.

***

As they diverged from their original path, they were immediately met with more poisonous insects, traps, and ambushes.

"Keep going!" Fang Che yelled. "The people from the Church of the Self-Righteous fighting up ahead must be at a disadvantage, so their subordinates are doing everything in their power to impede us to try and force us into going to the site of the battle.

“That way, the people from the Church of the Self-Righteous will be able to attack us and forcibly divert the attention of the Guardians, allowing them the chance to get away or even find an opportunity to kill their Guardian adversaries! That's why we have to keep going!"

"But aren't we here to search for and rescue survivors?" Zuo Guanglie asked.

"The temperatures here are already beyond twice the level that the average person can tolerate, so there definitely won't be any survivors here! If we encounter any, then they can only be demonic church members posing as survivors! No ordinary person would be able to survive in this heat. The temperature here is already higher than that of boiling water, so cast any delusion that you have of encountering survivors here!

“We've been assigned to a search and rescue mission, but in reality, our mission is to dispose of bodies to prevent plagues from arising once the temperature begins to fall. Additionally, we have to clear out as many roads as possible so the displaced individuals from both sides can pass through once conditions become less inhospitable."

Zuo Guanglie felt like a complete fool. None of this had occurred to him at all before it was pointed out to him by Fang Che.

***

Shortly thereafter, giant rocks suddenly began to tumble down from the mountain summits on either side of the road.

At the same time, countless hidden weapons shot out of the surrounding dark forest.

All of the powerful warriors that had formed a protective ring around the collective group instantly sprang into action at once.

In the direction where the wind was blowing from, a black shadow rose up into the air, their baggy sleeves raised before them.

"Hold your breaths, seal off your pores, and close your eyes!" Fang Che yelled. "All Kings, divert away as much of the wind as possible, while Hall Master Yuan engages the enemy from the front!"

Two vast plumes of yellow smoke came billowing out of the shadowy figure's sleeves, instantly forming a wall of yellow wind that swept directly toward everyone.

Yuan Jingjiang let loose a loud roar as he charged directly toward the enemy.

"Shut up!" Fang Che yelled. "Don't go yelling like an idiot when there's poison in the air!"

Immediately thereafter, he hurriedly closed his mouth and held his breath against the oncoming wall of yellow smoke.

Two of the Kings took off their cloaks and injected their spirit power into them, then fanned them through the air with all their might to blow away as much of the yellow smoke as possible.

One of the administrators at the very edge of the formation was unable to suppress his curiosity, and he opened his eyes to take a look. The yellow wind immediately blew into his eyes, instantly reducing them to rotten, yellow pus. He let loose an agonized howl as he began clawing frantically at his own face.

"Use your weapons to kill him, then throw him out! Hurry!" Fang Che ordered.

Several administrators cut down their poisoned comrade with tears streaming down their faces before tossing out his body, and his skin and flesh was instantly stripped away by the yellow wind, leaving only a bare skeleton behind.

The yellow wind quickly faded away into the distance, while the shadowy figure was sliced into two with an almighty swing of Yuan Jingjiang's saber.

The two other Kings had taken care of the rest of the assailants, and one of them smiled as he remarked, "Their poison is really strong, but their cultivation bases are..."

Fang Che immediately stormed over to him before asking in a furious voice, "Why didn't you wear gloves?"

"It's fine, my hands are impermeable to poison..."

His voice abruptly cut off as he caught sight of his left hand, which he had used to strike down his enemy. The entire hand had already turned black, and yellow pus was beginning to ooze out of his fingertips, but he hadn't noticed at all.

"Cut his arm off at the elbow!" Fang Che yelled in an urgent voice.

The other King immediately swung his sword down to sever his comrade's forearm at the elbow, but yellow smoke instantly began rising up from the cross-section of the wound.

Fang Che was furious, and he sprang forward as he drew his saber, slicing off the King's entire arm at the shoulder. Only then did blood begin to flow.

"Hurry up and stop the bleeding!" Fang Che yelled, then turned to the other King as he snapped, "Is there something wrong with you?! You just used that sword to kill the enemy, then immediately use it to amputate your comrade? Go and clean your sword!"

The other King was utterly distraught.

He had thought that he had limited the damage as much as possible with his timely intervention, but he had only worsened the situation, and he was instantly filled with regret.

He hurriedly cleansed his sword with his spirit qi, then turned to the amputated King with a guilt-ridden expression.

The wounded King was trembling in pain, and his complexion was deathly pale, but he still took the time to console his comrade as he said, "It's not your fault. I was too careless."

At this point, Fang Che had already stopped his bleeding, and he sighed, "You're lucky to be alive! If the poison had gone past your shoulder, then you would've been beyond saving."

Meanwhile, Yuan Jingjiang had also returned, and everyone immediately collectively yelled, "Clean your saber!"

"I've already cleaned it," Yuan Jingjiang said with a dark expression, then heaved a forlorn sigh at the sight of the poisoned King's missing arm.

The wounded King also had a look of deep regret on his face.

Wearing gloves when killing the enemy was one of the rules that Fang Che had stipulated.

However, his cultivation arts granted him immunity to a wide range of poisons, so he hadn't taken the warning to heart, and he had been made to pay for his hubris.

"Hall Master Yuan, have your gloves made contact with the enemy?" Fang Che asked.

"No, I kicked his body away after cutting him down," Yuan Jingjiang replied, clearly very pleased with himself.

Fang Che was instantly exasperated to the point of speechlessness.

"Hurry up and take off your shoes!"

Yuan Jingjiang looked down to discover that the tip and half of the sole of one of his boots had already turned a deathly gray color, and immediately took it off with an alarmed expression.

However, he didn't have any spare boots with him, so he could only borrow a normal shoe from someone else, while he continued to wear his other boot on his unaffected foot.

After the poisoned boot was taken off and thrown away, it quickly began disintegrating into acrid smoke, while Yuan Jingjiang looked on in horror.

If he had continued wearing that boot for just a few minutes longer, then he would've also had to become an amputee.

***

Fang Che didn't know what to say anymore.

In his past life, he had heard on more than one occasion that Protectionists and Guardians were two completely different concepts.

At the time, the difference hadn't felt so apparent to him. In particular, in battles that took place within cities, the Protectionists performed their duties well and seemed quite competent for the most part.

However, as soon as they were brought out into the field, they were like floundering fish that had been taken out of water!

Fang Che gathered everyone, including Yuan Jingjiang and the Kings, then began to deliver a stern scolding.

"I already told you all to wear gloves while killing the enemy and to immediately clean your weapons and throw away all items of clothing that came into contact with the enemy at the end of the battle! Why're you all so fucking stupid?! I don't want to sound too harsh, but the guy that died fully deserved it! What was there to see? Is it that hard to follow instructions and survive? This is life and death we're talking about here, everyone!

“We don't know what the demonic churches are up to, but they're clearly making a big move here! Did you not stop for even a single moment to consider why those three people came out to confront us, even though they knew they were going to be killed? Would they have come out if they weren't confident in their ability to take you down with them?

“At the cost of just a few Lords and Generals, they've managed to disable one of our Kings and almost disabled Hall Master Yuan as well! We may have killed them, but they've already won! The people of the poison hall are like walking arsenals of lethal poison! Even their breaths are laced with poison!

“You all have weapons, so use them! Why use fists and feet instead? Is there something wrong with you?! Any single person from the poison hall is carrying enough poison to send all of us to the afterlife! Wake up! This is not the cosy Hall of Protectionists anymore! "

This was a scathing tirade from Fang Che, but everyone obediently endured it in silence, including even Yuan Jingjiang.

What could they do? He was right!

Fang Che didn't want to waste his breath anymore.

All of this had been entirely avoidable. He had reiterated his instructions over and over again prior to this, yet they still refused to listen.

It was like they had no survival instincts at all!

The amputated King was looking very pale and dejected, and he retreated to the center of the formation, hanging his head in shame.

Fang Che didn't give him a Cloud Spirit Pill to help him regrow his severed limb.

The pills from the Hall of Protectionists would suffice to treat his condition, and precious pills like Cloud Spirit Pills should be reserved for more urgent situations.

Each pill was a life-saving treasure, and it was too wasteful to use one on just a single arm.