This particular wasteland was specifically used for burying corpses and, according to its layout, was divided into eight sections.
When Du En and the others buried corpses, they took turns moving clockwise. By the time their turn came around again, the corpses buried previously had long since decayed until only scattered traces of Yin Evil Black Soil remained.
At times like this, Wei Ming's distracted state was naturally visible to him, and the others could see it too. Thus, they had no objections to his arrangement.
They were even secretly hoping for it, so that Wei Ming would not drag them down.
Thus, they paired up, and the work officially began.
Today was still a cloudless day. Relatively speaking, the humidity was lower than yesterday, so the actual sensation was slightly better.
The sun climbed rapidly, soon becoming blazing hot.
Wei Ming already had plenty of problems. After being roasted under the sun, he naturally became even more dazed and bewildered. He merely listened to Du En's brief, clipped words and mechanically went through the motions.
Digging pits, carrying corpses, burying corpses.
Everything remained smooth and peaceful until noon.
Du En and the others were preparing to bury the ninth corpse.
It was the corpse of an elderly person, its face covered in age spots. Various pus-filled blisters covered the exposed skin, with strange liquid faintly sloshing inside them. It was obvious at a glance that breaking them would be utterly disgusting.
It was even dangerous!
This could be seen from the fact that the old corpse's clothes were still remarkably neat. No one who had handled it had rummaged through it and pawed around for valuables.
Clearly, the old corpse had possessed a considerable reputation for evil or a deterrent force while alive—enough to keep others from touching or searching it recklessly.
Rather, being able to live to such an advanced age outside Nanmo Border City was itself proof that he had possessed no ordinary means!
"Be careful."
Du En warned the absent-minded, mechanical Wei Ming.
The other man was quite obedient at this moment. When told to be careful, he was careful. To Du En, he seemed even more suited for this work than he was normally.
Shoulder to shoulder, they each lifted a foot, carefully lowering the corpse into the shallow pit they had just dug without letting the strange blisters on its body burst.
Seeing this, the others could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The old corpse was far too conspicuous. They had noticed it as soon as they arrived and had remained on guard.
According to the rules, corpses were normally buried neither too slowly nor too quickly. Whoever's turn it was, that person went up.
Even though it was Du En's group this time, they were watching closely. That way, if anything went wrong, they could dodge and flee in time, avoiding being caught in the crossfire.
Only when the corpse had been safely placed in the pit without any problems...
Just as they had breathed out in relief and were thinking this, an accident suddenly erupted!
A fist-sized lump abruptly bulged from the old corpse's chest and abdomen. As though violently stimulated by something, it writhed rapidly before tearing through the flesh and clothing.
A strange insect!
It was brilliantly multicolored and looked like a slug. Its mouthparts spread wide, revealing multiple rings of lamprey-like teeth. It shot straight toward the distracted Wei Ming, who had not reacted at all.
Only when the poisonous insect reached his eyes did Wei Ming's heart jolt, bringing him back to his senses.
But it was already too late!
At this moment, whether he wanted to dodge or summon his magical power to resist by force, neither was something he could do.
The former was because he had lost the initiative. As for the latter, he had only just adapted to the existence of magical power over the past few days and had not even figured out his cultivation art. It had been difficult for him from the start.
It's over!
Am I going to die?
Panic filled Wei Ming's heart. Like scenes flashing past on a lantern, his past rose before his mind's eye.
As a child, he had lived carefree in his native county, running wild without the slightest understanding of why his elders looked at him with both anticipation and worry.
As he gradually grew older, he entered a private school and began studying the classics and learning right from wrong. Only then did he slowly come to understand his circumstances and realize that he would one day be forcibly relocated.
Later, at the private school, he encountered that young girl. The two fell in love and chose to pledge themselves to each other for life... Then they were separated and moved to different places. He came to Nanmo Border City, had cultivation energy infused into him, and began doing the wretched, filthy work of burying corpses.
During the days before he was assigned work, he had thought only of cultivating diligently, making a name for himself, finding his beloved, rekindling their relationship, and returning home in glory.
After officially beginning work, unease and fear had started to grow within him. He was terrified that his beloved, far away at the edge of the world, had already died a miserable death and then been casually buried in the earth by someone in a distant land, without even a gravestone.
But now, it seemed that he would be the one to go first?
In Wei Ming's wide eyes, everything seemed to slow down. He could clearly see the multicolored poisonous insect leaving wisps of green smoke in the air wherever it passed, the air corroded by its venom.
It writhed its body and opened its gaping mouthparts, about to bring one life to an end!
No!
I can't die!
He screamed inwardly, filled with overwhelming unwillingness. His expression twisted into a grimace, but the poisonous insect had already reached him.
It really was too late...
Splat!
A black shadow arrived first despite setting out later. It suddenly swept across Wei Ming's field of vision, covering the poisonous insect before crashing heavily onto the ground with a thick, wet splattering sound.
Sizzle~
The sound of corrosion rose faintly into the air.
Before Wei Ming could recover, someone shoved him down. Immediately afterward, his trousers were yanked off.
"Ah? Ah?"
He looked like an idiot, managing only to utter short syllables. The grimace on his face froze in place, leaving him unsure whether he should be up or down.
Only when the others ran over and dragged him away did he gradually come back to his senses.
"Fuck! That scared the hell out of me!"
"Didn't the guys handling the earlier steps inspect it properly? How did they let a lively poisonous insect hide inside the corpse?"
"Cough, cough, cough. Anyway, it's good that he didn't die."
"Yeah. Thankfully Boss Du reacted in time, turning danger into safety. You brat, quit standing there like an idiot. Hurry up and thank him!"
The other four chattered over one another, allowing Wei Ming to understand what had happened.
At the critical moment just now, Du En had snatched up a shovel and surged forward with a fierce swing. With magical power driving him onward, he had arrived first despite setting out later and smashed the poisonous insect dead against the ground.
His feet had also moved with extraordinary agility, leaping out layers of afterimages as he dodged all the splattered poisonous insect fluids. Then he had thrown Wei Ming to the ground and stripped off the trousers contaminated with venom.
By now, both the iron shovel that had served as a weapon and the foul-smelling trousers were being directly corroded at a visible rate amid incessant sizzling.
Only when the corrosion was silently absorbed by the wasteland and gradually subsided and stopped did Du En avert his gaze. He turned his head and looked at Wei Ming.
"Are you all right?"
"N-no, I'm fine. Th-thank you, thank you..."
Wei Ming, having survived the disaster, stammered out his reply. Countless emotions surged within him, and tears unexpectedly fell from his eyes. "Thank you, truly. If it weren't for you, I—I would never have seen Qiao'er again. Thank you."
Seeing him like this, the others could not help shaking their heads, each sighing in their own way.
Before you continue