"Chi Yan has been captured!"
Tu Xingsun grabbed the arm of the person beside him and burrowed through the ground until they were outside the city.
After the agreed-upon time had passed and Chi Yan had not appeared, he angrily kicked a stone at his feet, his face contorted with rage as he glared at the person beside him. The other person's expression was indifferent, as if Chi Yan's life and death meant nothing to them. This attitude deeply provoked Tu Xingsun.
"Wasn't it supposed to be foolproof!"
He grabbed the other person's collar, and the ground trembled slightly from his fury.
The other person looked at him calmly. Their ancient eyes seemed incapable of holding any emotion. Their loose eyelids covered the upper parts of their eyeballs. Tu Xingsun saw not contempt in their eyes, but indifference.
They did not care if Chi Yan lived or died, nor did they care about his rage!
Black shadows, like demonic tentacles, spread and hid in every shadow cast by the light. The other person retorted, "So what?"
"So your mother!"
Tu Xingsun, incensed, slammed the person onto the ground.
The black shadow supported the person's body. Tu Xingsun felt immense resistance. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he let out strained grunts, using all his strength. However, no matter how hard he pushed, he could not press the person down any further.
The black shadow crawled onto Tu Xingsun's hand, slowly prying open his fingers, then enveloping his entire hand and yanking him downwards forcefully.
Tu Xingsun stamped his foot rapidly, and instantly, an earth wall rose from the ground. Under the black shadow's pull, Tu Xingsun slammed headfirst into the earth wall. The moment it made contact with his body, the earth wall transformed into armor, enveloping him.
"Peh!"
The mud formed a pair of large hands, supporting his body. Tu Xingsun turned his head and spat.
Suddenly, his face stiffened, his body freezing as if encased in ice. With a movement, his joints emitted a chilling, bone-grinding sound.
He fell heavily to the ground. His face, encased in the mud armor, contorted into a ferocious expression. Roaring with disbelief, he yelled, "What did you do?"
"Seeing as your mind isn't quite clear, I made you 'calm down'."
"You..."
Tu Xingsun's tongue grew stiff. He couldn't even speak, only able to widen his eyes with all his might.
"What a shame about my junior nephew. He was a great treasure. The蠱 worms in his body were a weakened version of the蛊 worms in that waste, Young Master Xun of Wan Ku Lou. If Feng Luan hadn't killed Young Master Xun, why would I have to take this risk? It's a pity that Ji Jinmo was not provoked by You Lian to activate the蠱 worms in his body. It seems my junior nephew and grand-nephew truly have some skills, worthy of being the elites of this generation and the next from Medicine King Valley."
He spoke as if to Tu Xingsun, yet also as if murmuring to himself. Tu Xingsun, who had played with earth his entire life, felt for the first time a suffocating stiffness, like being sealed in drying mud. At this moment, the only parts of him that could move were his eyeballs.
Observing his dilated pupils and trembling irises, receiving the anger, fear, and pleading radiating from his eyes, the other person showed no sign of softening. He took out a bottle from his怀, uncorked it, and took out a bright red pill.
Tu Xingsun's eyes widened in horror.
The other person chuckled, "Don't worry, don't worry, it's not for you."
As he spoke, he popped the pill into his own mouth.
"This is a sacred medicine that can suppress all poisons and蠱 worms. Why would I be willing to give it to you?"
The蛊 poisons of Miao Jiang were insidious and impossible to defend against. If he hadn't brought this bottle of sacred medicine out of Medicine King Valley years ago, he might have long ago become a puppet of Miao Jiang's蛊 poisons. However, only two pills remained, and time was running out. If he failed to succeed soon, death would be his only recourse.
His face suddenly contorted. He took out a dagger and slowly crouched beside Tu Xingsun.
"I don't understand. The opponent clearly had an ambush prepared, yet how did we manage to escape? I refuse to believe that the prestigious Regent of Lin Yuan only has a mere two supernaturals under his command. For our escape, I am more inclined to believe they deliberately let us go. They wanted to cast a line, using us as the fishing line, or even the bait."
"I suspect they planted something on us. I searched and smelled everywhere, but found nothing. So I guessed it must be inside the body. Was it that Treant? But I don't know what it is. Therefore, I wish to discuss this with you and ask for your permission to dissect you!"
Tu Xingsun's pupils trembled.
A madman, a damned madman!
A fanatical look appeared on his face. He raised the dagger and thrust it towards Tu Xingsun's abdomen. With a "clang," the dagger struck the mud armor, sparking.
The dagger did not pierce through, being blocked by the mud armor.
Tu Xingsun let out a deep sigh of relief.
His mud armor was as hard as iron. Ordinary weapons could not cleave it. A cold smile flickered in his eyes—old man, you want to dissect me? Go ahead and try!
"So troublesome!"
He looked at Tu Xingsun as if he were a turtle on a chopping block, annoyed that its hard shell was hindering his cooking speed. He slightly raised his hand, and black shadows began to seep and spread from Tu Xingsun's feet upwards, until the black shadows completely enveloped Tu Xingsun's entire body.
Then, he spread his fingers and clenched them tightly.
"Ugh~"
Tu Xingsun let out a muffled groan of pain. Bloodshot veins, like torn capillaries, appeared in his bulging eyeballs, as if blood were seeping out.
The black shadows penetrated Tu Xingsun's skin and the mud armor, forcefully stripping the armor away from him, along with his flesh. The exposed mud armor was a bloody mess, and Tu Xingsun's body was mangled, his blood instantly staining the ground.
Tu Xingsun's protruding eyeballs trembled uncontrollably. The agonizing pain was so intense it threatened to tear the blood vessels in his eyes.
The cold blade of the dagger sliced through his chest, exposing his internal organs to the air. Tu Xingsun could only let out whimpers.
A hand reached into his abdominal cavity, searching for something. This torment, far more painful than anything before, made Tu Xingsun wish he could bite off his tongue and end himself.
"Nothing, how could there be nothing?"
The other person muttered while searching.
"Could it be in the heart?" he said, picking up the dagger again. The dagger pierced the heart.
Nothing?
Could he have been mistaken?
The moment his heart was pierced, the last glimmer of light vanished from Tu Xingsun's eyes. His eyes remained wide open, staring unseeingly.
The other person stopped searching.
Nothing was found!
But after a moment of doubt, he remained firm in his initial thought—something must have been planted on them.
However, if it couldn't be found, it meant the substance that entered the body was not alive.
Inanimate.
Non-toxic.
He had wasted a sacred medicine!
Damn it!