Walnut Boat

A wooden boat of this size couldn't be called a giant vessel, but it could easily hold seventy or eighty people. And there were three of them, more than enough to accommodate the entire group.

Everyone craned their necks to look and let out a long, awestruck "Wow!"

Even though they knew Sun Fuping was the State Preceptor and possessed extraordinary means, seeing this still left them deeply shaken.

He Lingchuan, however, heard Zeng Feixiong murmur, "So that's Mystic Crystal? First time I've ever seen one." His voice was filled with amazement.

"It's green, so it's only low-grade Mystic Crystal." He Lingchuan said it lightly.

But Nian Songyu heard him and immediately turned to ask, "Do you have any mid- or high-grade ones?"

"No, of course not!" He Lingchuan laughed it off. If he admitted it, they'd just confiscate it, wouldn't they?

And he really did have one.

At that moment, a Mystic Crystal lay in He Lingchuan's storage pouch. It was deep green, and its quality was a little better than the one State Preceptor Sun had fed to the Walnut Boat.

Mystic Crystal was a form of solidified spiritual energy. It usually formed only during periods when spiritual energy surged. After people collected it, they could purify and refine it, or add various materials to turn it into Mystic Crystals of all kinds and grades.

It had a wide range of uses. It could replenish a spellcaster's or monster's true power, provide energy for mechanical puppets, or power arrays, among other things. These three little Walnut Boats looked inconspicuous, but operating them came at a steep price.

It had been a long time since the last great surge of spiritual energy. Mystic Crystals were dwindling with use, and their value kept climbing. State Preceptor Sun used them casually to power the Walnut Boat, while He Lingchuan had only one, a lavish gift from an envoy of the former northern demon kingdom in return for a favor.

One used a luxury item as fuel; the other kept one as a treasured offering. The difference in status and wealth was plain to see.

While He Lingchuan examined the boats closely, Nian Songyu was asking the bandits, "Do you have any other tricks that might help?"

Situ Han was admiring the Walnut Boat too. At that, he shook his head vigorously. "There are too many people. Our crude methods probably won't work."

Nian Songyu had only asked on the off chance they had an idea; he hadn't truly expected them to come up with anything. But He Lingchuan smiled. "Didn't you bring your Scented Dumplings this time?"

"We did." Situ Han hesitated, then glanced at Sun Fuping, looking a little embarrassed. "It's just that they're not exactly fit for... refined company!"

"Staying alive matters most. Who cares about refinement?"

Nian Songyu asked Situ Han, "Are they useful? Do they work well?"

"Usually, they work pretty well." Situ Han patted the side of the boat. "How do you get this treasure moving?"

Nian Songyu didn't hide it from him. "Mystic Crystal."

Every second it ran, money was going up in smoke. Situ Han thought for a moment. "If we're lucky, perhaps the two officials won't need to use up any Mystic Crystal."

Even Sun Fuping became interested. "Oh?"

Mystic Crystal was rare. Better to save it whenever possible. It was expensive and nearly impossible to find; ordinary people couldn't buy it even with silver.

Situ Han humbly stressed once again, "If we're lucky!"

"Give it a try," Nian Songyu said coolly. "If it doesn't work, you'll have delayed official business, and I'll toss you overboard to feed the monsters."

Why had he opened his mouth? Situ Han wanted to slap himself hard a few times. "Then everyone, please cover your noses."

Cover...?

Seeing his eldest son and the bandits pull up their face coverings over their noses and mouths, He Chunhua followed suit.

At Situ Han's order, the bandits brought out a box. When they opened it, they found a soft lining inside, with a bulging, bubble-like thing in the middle.

Nian Songyu looked it over, but couldn't make sense of it. "What is that?"

"Have you never seen a pig slaughtered, Commandant Nian?" He Lingchuan laughed. "It's a pig's bladder. Blow into it and it swells up. It's nowhere near full right now."

He was so smug that He Chunhua couldn't help grumbling inwardly. His son had grown up with the best food and clothes Blackwater City could offer, a standard rich second-generation heir and young master. In theory, he shouldn't have known what a pig's bladder looked like. But he'd been so mischievous as a child, he used to fill pig bladders with water and hang them from an old tree on the main street. Whenever someone annoyed him, he'd wait until they walked beneath the tree, then fling an iron skewer at it...

Nian Songyu had always been used to fine clothes and rich food. How could he have seen such a thing? He rarely even ate pork, that low-grade meat. At the mention of it, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "What's it for?"

"It seals well. Otherwise, we'd take a thousand steps forward and eight hundred back." As He Lingchuan explained, the bandits brought out a large piece of cured meat and tied it with a thick rope. Then they untied the cord around the opening of the pig's bladder and poured its contents onto the meat.

It was a viscous, dark green liquid. Bubbles popped on its surface, and now and then it seemed to release a wisp of white smoke.

The instant it met the open air, it dealt a brutal blow to everyone's sense of smell.

The stench was like a severe case of athlete's foot stewing for a month in an unventilated boot, mixed with the accumulated body odor of someone who hadn't bathed in half a year. For the finishing touch, there was the distinctive smell of dead fish and rotting shrimp left to ferment for years in a hidden corner of a smuggling dock.

It was the perfect blend of fishy, rank, and gamey, a stench with style and an impressively high standard.

The soldiers who hadn't covered their noses in time doubled over and vomited.

The worst thing about the smell was that once you caught a whiff, your body remembered it forever.

Those who had been holding their breath could hold out no longer. One after another, they clutched their stomachs and threw up.

Fortunately, the bandits quickly tossed the cured meat into the sand and covered it with several handfuls. The desert wind was fierce, and soon it had scattered the stench.

Everyone gulped in air. They had never thought breathing could feel so wonderful.

Nian Songyu's face changed. "Ridiculous! What is this stuff even for?"

His chest felt tight, and he had to fight hard not to retch. But when he turned and saw He Lingchuan looking so delighted, he couldn't help suspecting the little bastard had done this just to get back at him!

How could anyone not be affected by a stench like that?

"Just look." He Lingchuan stayed calm and pointed at the sand pit where they had buried the meat.

Everyone looked and saw one furrow after another radiating from the pit, the furrows varying in depth but all stretching rapidly outward across the sand. There had clearly been many creatures hiding beneath the sand, and the cured meat's stench had sent them fleeing in panic.

The stuff was devastating not only to humans, but also to mutated monsters and demons.

In fact, because the latter had keener senses of smell than humans, the damage to their bodies and spirits was even more severe.

"It can drive off even strange beasts. Not bad. What else can it do?" The trick surprised Sun Fuping a little. He had never considered using poisonous gas in his plans. It seemed a country bumpkin's crude methods could sometimes work quite well.

"This alone is nowhere near enough!" Nian Songyu cracked his knuckles. These bandits knew the He father and son. Were they joining forces to deal with him?

Seeing his expression turn even more hostile, Situ Han didn't understand. "Wait, just wait. The key to crossing the desert is coming!"

Coming? What was coming?