The one who had just called out was Ji Meng's third brother, Li Hongxing.
Li Hongxing covered his nose and mouth with one hand, clearly disgusted by the stench of mud and bitter medicine around them. He said to Ji Meng, "Hurry up and clean up those poisonous insects that died on the road. If we leave them any longer, they'll be crawling with maggots. They stink to high heaven. Get moving."
Ji Meng said nothing and did as he was told.
Three large brown jars sat on the muddy ground. They contained the medicinal and poisonous insects being traded this time.
Many of the medicinal insects had died during transport because of the weather. Even with the lids on, a foul stench seeped from the jars.
Ji Meng reached into one of them and grabbed a large handful of medicinal insects that were nothing but shells, then tossed them onto the ground. Their shells were full of pus.
"Why are you throwing them on the ground? Throw them in the water!" Li Hongxing snapped.
Ji Meng picked up the shells from the ground and threw them into the water instead. Li Hongxing called to someone else, "Xiao Wu, go check whether there's any movement by the entrance."
Xiao Wu answered and picked his way through the shallow water toward the enormous blue-black well in the swamp.
"Third Young Master! I can hear something from inside the well! It should be soon!" Xiao Wu called back.
"Get it all cleaned up! Don't delay the delivery." Li Hongxing headed toward the well, too.
Yu Sui said to Mei Chengyu, who was holding a viewing lens beside her, "So the Black Fortress is made up of the Southern Jing Xun Clan providing the insect-breeding techniques, the Dan Kingdom providing the site, and