Purple-Gold Toad

He Lingchuan's roar rang across the deck. "Kill them! Don't hold back!"

They couldn't turn around or retreat, but nobody had their hands tied. Why were they all standing around watching?

Was this really the time to worry about brotherhood?

Everyone had simply been caught off guard for a moment. His sharp rebuke jolted them back to their senses. They gritted their teeth and raised their blades and axes against their possessed companions.

At a time like this, their own lives mattered most. Brotherhood would have to come second.

Before long, all the puppets had been killed, and the Three-Corpse Insects inside them were forced out before they'd even had time to settle into their hosts.

By then, the Walnut Boat had passed through the city gate and was winding through the ruins of the old city, its undulating ground dappled with shifting light and shadow.

Some of the Three-Corpse Insects managed to burrow back into the shadows, but the last few were forced out in the sunlight.

Under the glare, those shadowy forms dispersed at once, leaving nothing behind.

Without a physical body to protect them, the sun's true fire was their bane.

The outlying city was small, with few buildings. The Walnut Boat soon left all the city walls behind and was sailing among the dunes again.

Under the shelter of sunlight, everyone gasped for breath, finally free to turn their heads.

Nian Songyu's voice came from another boat, reminding all the troops, "Throw the corpses overboard to lighten the load! We need to pick up speed."

Night was coming. They had to travel as fast as they could.

Those lying dead on the deck had once been good comrades who fought shoulder to shoulder with them. The survivors fell silent for a long while before setting about collecting the corpses' food, water, and weapons.

Supplies were precious. They couldn't afford to waste them.

Governor He's bodyguard had died with his eyes open. He Lingchuan walked back and closed them for him.

He Chunhua sighed. "His name was Zhao Shaogang. He'd been with me for five years and handled many things for me."

"I know. I remember." He Lingchuan pressed his lips together and took the last sack of flatbread, the last waterskin, and an ordinary silver hairpin from Zhao Shaogang's body.

He had killed the man with his own hands.

"This hairpin..." He Chunhua was about to reminisce at the sight of it, but He Lingchuan cut him off. "The dead are gone, like a lamp snuffed out. There's no point saying more. His family will receive generous compensation."

Everyone who lived had a story behind them, but so what? They had all been earning blood money in the first place.

He Chunhua fell silent and patted him on the shoulder. "You're right."

This was no time for maudlin sentiment.

He held up the broken comb in his left hand. "I always thought the resentment clinging to this comb could drive those ghosts away. Looks like it's useless."

This comb had been the source of all their troubles, yet it seemed utterly useless in the desert.

He Chunhua was disappointed.

He Lingchuan glanced at it guiltily. "Maybe we're using it the wrong way?" The Divine Bone necklace hanging around his neck was also a "keepsake"—perhaps even the most important one—but no one else knew about it.

Come to think of it, the pendant had never shown any unusual abilities. Was something missing to trigger it?

He pushed the corpse off the boat. Below them seemed to be a huge basin, its rim built of black stone. Of course, it held no water now.

Burying the dead in sand had long been a tradition in Blackwater City and the Coiling Dragon Desert.

As he listened to the body hit the ground with a muffled thud, he looked at the bloodstains on his arm—he'd gotten them while killing and searching the body—and felt a weight in his chest.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time he'd killed someone since becoming He Lingchuan, and the man he'd slain was his father's own bodyguard.

He knew Zhao Shaogang. They'd chatted and joked together.

The situation had been urgent, leaving no room to hesitate. Now that the tension had eased, He Lingchuan felt a pang of sorrow.

"Are you all right?" He Chunhua asked, seeing him keep his head bowed.

"I'm a little seasick." He Lingchuan raised his waterskin and took a swig, washing down the turmoil inside him as well.

Killing a person was nothing like killing a chicken or a dog. He was surprised he hadn't leaned over the side of the boat and vomited his guts out.

Since coming to this world, even his heart seemed to have grown harder.

What was changing him, little by little?

Meanwhile, Situ Han was packing up too, his eyes red. One of the sand bandits had been possessed, and he had killed the man with his own hands.

The man had robbed and raped alongside him. Just a few days ago, they'd gotten drunk together and slept side by side. Now, while his body was still warm, Situ Han had thrown him overboard.

And everyone knew such things would happen again and again along the expedition.

This was only the beginning.

He Lingchuan quietly took several deep breaths to steady himself, then leaned closer to He Chunhua. "The State Preceptor's boat lost the fewest people." It had thrown the fewest corpses overboard.

"There has never been such a thing as fairness in this world."

People possessed by Three-Corpse Insects became puppets. Apart from the people of Coiling Dragon City in its heyday, no one could offer a swift cure. It was said that by the later stages of the allied army's siege, the Xianyou Kingdom had already devised several treatments, but they took time, effort, and money. At most, they could drive the insects out of fewer than two in ten victims, and the process took three to five days.

Three-Corpse Insects already lurked inside the human body. The first step for a sorcerer seeking enlightenment was to sever the Three-Corpse Insects within themself. How could they possibly be driven out by other means?

Besides, possessed puppets went berserk. How could anyone make them sit still for treatment?

So the decision-makers, Nian Songyu among them, had reached an agreement long ago: if anyone aboard a boat was possessed by a Three-Corpse Insect, they would act swiftly and decisively, leaving no trouble behind.

Every possessed person became a burden. They simply couldn't afford to wait or save them.

He Chunhua shook his head, casting those vexing thoughts aside, then patted his son on the shoulder. "Your quick action just now saved several lives. By the way, since when has your throwing arm been so accurate?"

That flying knife had shot past his shoulder with astonishing precision.

His good-for-nothing son had saved his life and helped him put down the chaos. He was making progress.

Governor He was greatly gratified.

"Accurate? Uh..." He Lingchuan flushed. "Just now, I guess. It was an emergency, wasn't it?"

He Chunhua: "..."

No one knew whether He Lingchuan's words had been prophetic, but the other two boats encountered no trouble after that. It was the State Preceptor Sun's Walnut Boat, of all vessels, that received a pair of unwelcome visitors—

Two enormous Purple-Gold Toads.

These were mutated demons. Not only did they look like frogs enlarged a hundredfold, but they also attacked by suddenly shooting out their tongues like arrows to snatch and swallow their prey.

The Purple-Gold Toads, each as big as a small hill, leaped from the dunes. When they landed, they nearly capsized the Walnut Boat. Even the Earth Dragons pulling it were brought to a halt and almost couldn't drag the vessel onward.

Just as ordinary frogs ate flying insects, these creatures ate people. They even lifted their forelegs to shove their prey into their mouths, then swallowed them without chewing.

When threatened, the Purple-Gold Toads' warts would burst, releasing a poisonous mist streaked with gold. Anyone who breathed it in would grow dizzy and foam at the mouth within seconds before collapsing.

That was how they got their name.

Fortunately, the Purple-Gold Toads fed slowly. After swallowing each person, they chewed their food at leisure, giving State Preceptor Sun and his men plenty of time to deal with them.

The He father and son were on another boat, too far away to lend a hand. All they could do was watch from a safe distance.