Chapter 196 – Harvest and Return, The Long-Delayed Curtain Falls - Part 1

A flash of steel, and a head flew from its shoulders, landing in a shallow puddle with a splash. Fresh blood trickled from the severed neck. The eyes on that lifeless face were still open wide, filled with equal parts piety and fanaticism, yet curiously devoid of fear.

“They’re just ordinary people,” Yan Mu lamented, gazing upon the fallen devotees of the Immortal Worship Cult. “If we took them into custody, perhaps they could recover. Maybe they could go back to living normal lives.” He sighed, then managed a self-mocking laugh. Despite his misgivings, he had no choice but to carry out the executions.

Seeing his nephew’s compassion, Li Yuan reminded him, “We’re at war, you mustn’t hesitate.”

Yan Mu exhaled heavily. “They never truly wanted to hurt anyone. They’re just driven by some sinister power. These people had families...parents, children, homes. Maybe...”

Noticing Yan Mu’s torment, Li Yuan cut him off with a sharp call of his name. The young man snapped out of his thoughts and apologized.

“I’ll do the killing,” Li Yuan offered. “You stand aside if you have to. You don’t need a burden on your conscience.”

After a moment of silence, Yan Mu shook his head. “No need. I’m not that weak.”

Their exchange was brief. Splitting up, they resumed searching for and taking down cultists according to their strategy. Unlike the others, Yan Mu showed visible pain each time he struck, as though slashing his own flesh. Every kill deepened the smoldering anger in his eyes. If anyone listened closely, they would hear him muttering, “Damn it...damn it...”

Li Yuan threw him a worried glance. He knew his nephew was a good man, someone who genuinely embodied a hero’s heart, a quality that might get him killed far too easily in times like these. It was a miracle he had even survived his earlier escapades in the Jade Capital.

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Above them, Elder Zhu soared through the sky, overseeing the sweep of Westplain County. Having broken through to the fifth rank, his perception covered a span of more than five kilometers in detail, with a vague sense extending beyond that. From his vantage point, it was easy to spot any sign of movement.

On the ground, seven other experts thoroughly scoured the area. This county, serving as the front line, had indeed concealed numerous undying husks. But in a situation where one wrong move meant death, the weaknesses of these wretched beings stood out starkly.

Undying husks needed specific actions to attack...licking a sugar figurine, fiddling with a door, and so on. No matter how slight, these movements were glaringly obvious to sixth rank martial artists, whose heightened awareness far outstripped that of ordinary people.

In a bustling crowd, such actions might go unnoticed, but in the present environment, any attempt at stealth stuck out like a beacon and was quickly met with lethal force. The would-be assassins were cut down and their bizarre items confiscated as spoils of war.

Within two hours, Westplain County had been cleared. The team gathered around to examine their newfound trophies. Mu Hua flipped a tiny rabbit sugar figurine back and forth in the sunlight, amazed that something so unassuming had nearly killed him. Han Feng, meanwhile, clutched a door handle that had given him a sudden premonition of danger back when he nearly entered a suspicious house.

Standing by her husband’s side in her battle attire, Leng Rou eyed the door handle curiously. “So these are the items the undying husks use to assassinate people? I wonder if we can use them ourselves.”

Her question sparked interest in everyone. Meanwhile, Yan Mu retrieved a cold, antiquated copper pendant and murmured as though a puzzle piece had finally clicked into place. “So that’s what it is...”

At his words, the rest turned to look. Yan Mu went on, “I found a few of these copper pendants in the Central Plains. I thought they had some power to ward off evil. Turns out they’re actually undying husks items.”

The group gathered around the copper pendant, each person’s gaze burning with excitement. They remembered how Fang Jianlong, the man courting Elder Zhu’s daughter, had used just such a pendant to survive an undying husks trap, even at the mere seventh rank. Clearly, these pendants packed a formidable defensive punch. If they each could carry a few of these copper pendants, undying husk ambushes would pose far less of a threat.

Shan Baishou was a man of decisive action. Turning to Yan Mu, he said straight away, “Junior Brother Yan, would you sell me that copper pendant? I’ll offer 100 taels of blood gold.”

A sum of 100 taels of blood gold could buy 75 kg of sixth rank demonic beast meat, more than enough to sustain a sixth rank martial artist for a month.

Before Yan Mu could respond, Mu Hua interjected, “Senior Brother Shan, think about it. None of us would part with such an item. Besides, 100 taels is a bit low.”

Shan Baishou shrugged. “We haven’t tested it yet, so 100 taels is hardly a small price. Besides, maybe it can only block ordinary undying husk attacks. If it comes to something truly lethal, it might not hold. And once someone reaches the fifth rank, perhaps this copper pendant won’t be very useful at all.” Even so, he could guess Yan Mu wouldn’t sell. He let the matter drop.

A short while later, Zhu Nuyang descended from above, at the same time issuing orders to a certain group on the outskirts to move in and maintain order in Westplain County. Part of their job was to provide food for the county residents; the other part was to keep a close eye on them. Any sign of trouble would be snuffed out.

By this point, another serious shortcoming of the undying husks had become evident. Their numbers were too few. No matter how insidious their methods, it wouldn’t matter if they simply didn’t have the manpower to stage a large-scale assault.

Many undying husks had already been picked off during previous skirmishes, and in today’s all-out sweep, another nine had fallen. Even if more did appear, any chance of a massive counterattack was gone. Meanwhile, the thousand plus reinforcements were more than enough to maintain order.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The eight-man team took a brief rest, eating a combined early-late meal, then forged north. On average, they cleared an entire county in two hours, wiping out both cultists and any lurking undying husks who dared show themselves.

Initially, the undying husks had planned to pit the prefectural troops against these groups, but they had overestimated their control. They assumed that an order from the prefecture lord would mobilize the soldiers wholeheartedly.

Instead, having seen the carnage in places like Spring Breeze back in Little Willow County, most of the troops chose to sit on the sidelines. Those who did receive explicit orders merely paid lip service. They’d claim obedience, but then proceed with meaningless fanfare, even cooperating with local factions to stage halfhearted

raids

.

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After three days of relentless advance under Zhu Nuyang’s command, the eight martial artists cleared out every county surrounding Newsun County, paying only the cost of a few minor injuries. Next on the list was the core of Northriver Prefecture itself, Newsun County.

The plan was to camp outside for the night and launch their attack at daybreak. Unlike their initial trepidation, everyone was now brimming with confidence. In fact, each person had ended up with one copper pendant, with two spares left over.

With a little downtime available, they conducted some basic tests on the various undying husks items they had gathered.

First came the sugar figurines. Surprisingly, the six rank martial artists found they could actually use them...though Zhu Nuyang could not.

The moment Elder Zhu licked a figurine, it began to smoke and melt away as though tossed into boiling water. Meanwhile, the same sugar figurines capable of transforming Mu Hua’s body into sugar had no real effect on Elder Zhu.

Even when he stood still and let someone stare at him while licking a sugar figurine, all he felt was a fleeting sensation of cold, like a thin film of ice creeping across his skin, nothing a quick circulation of his shadow blood couldn’t dispel.

Next, they tested the copper pendants. They caught a few thieves roaming the wilderness to use as subjects. One was told to lick a sugar figurine; another was given a copper pendant to wear.

The thief with the sugar figurine barely got a single lick in before he began trembling violently. The second lick sent him collapsing, eyes rolling back, foaming at the mouth like a man possessed. They tried again with a second thief with the same result.

Clearly, ordinary people couldn’t handle these sugar figurines at all.

Then they had a seventh rank elder from a local sect try. Even he only managed a few licks before his face went as white as a sheet. Bowing in fear, he pleaded, “My lords, it feels like icy needles piercing my bones. I can’t withstand it any longer. If I keep licking, I’ll end up just like those thieves.”

And so, Mu Hua stepped in to demonstrate. He licked four sugar figurines while aiming them at a thief who wore a copper pendant, and only after the fourth figurine did the pendant finally shatter.

They ran a similar test with door handles, attaching one to a run-down house and giving the thief another copper pendant. The door handle’s power had to be used twice before that second pendant broke.

These experiments gradually peeled away the veil of mystery surrounding the undying husks. Their bizarre items...sugar figurines, door handles, copper pendants, and the like, were starting to reveal their secrets.

Mu Hua mulled over their discoveries, murmuring, “So the undying husk items each have different tiers. A door handle is stronger than a sugar figurine, but not by much; they’re all essentially in the same category. The copper pendants fall under that same tier as well. They can provide protection roughly on par with a fifth rank martial artist’s strength.”

Nearby, Yuan Zongzi added with a cryptic grin, “These items are easy for the undying husks to use freely, but for martial artists...only those at the sixth rank can handle them, thanks to the heavy surge of Yin energy within. The copper pendants are an exception that anyone can wear.”

Li Yuan, listening quietly, had already worked out his own theories.

The sugar figurines and door handles were likely generic goods peddled by single-entity ghost shops. The undying husks could use them unconditionally because they were already cursed by ghosts.

That said, if the items were of a higher tier, even undying husks might not be able to withstand them either. For ordinary martial artists, without a sixth rank’s ability to offset the Yin energy, these items were essentially deadly.

The same logic explained why Elder Zhu’s Yang energy at the fifth rank instantly neutralized the sugar figurines. The figurines simply didn’t pack enough Yin energy to threaten someone of his caliber.

Balance between Yin and Yang makes sense

, Li Yuan mused.

Judging by what we’ve seen, these single-entity ghost items match a sixth rank in power but can’t handle a fifth rank martial artist.

Presumably, that means a single-entity ghost domain compares to a fifth rank master. So what about a dual-entity ghost domain, does it compare to a fourth rank? Or a multi-entity domain like that Exotic Beast Park...is that equivalent to a third rank?

He stored these deductions away, confident they would help him gauge his own abilities and better understand the world around him.