Clue: Water

After they'd been brought over, the two puppets kept struggling on their own. The Three-Corpse Insects truly could wring every last bit of potential from a person. The others had been in the city for an hour already, yet the two of them still had strength to spare.

But the soldiers guarding them weren't made of iron, so they'd simply tied the pair's legs together, giving themselves time to catch a nap.

That was why the two fellows had been carried in and set down on the floor. They curled up, trembling all over.

The Talisman Garments covering them ensured the Three-Corpse Insects were trapped inside their bodies and couldn't get out.

Situ Han asked curiously, "Are they cold, or scared?"

"Scared. Do you think a fellow parasitized by a Three-Corpse Insect can feel cold?" He Lingchuan crouched down and studied the pair closely. "But they're not afraid of us."

Their eyes were unfocused. Clearly, they didn't even notice the others.

But the vast Coiling Dragon Ruins were empty. What could they be afraid of?

Nian Songyu added, "There's not a soul here, and there aren't any Three-Corpse Insects in this ruined city, either. They don't dare come near. Why?"

"Something here terrifies them." Sun Fuping stood up. "Whatever it is, it should be close to our target."

He Lingchuan asked curiously, "You expect them to tell us themselves? Can Three-Corpse Insects even talk?"

It seemed Sun Fuping had brought the two puppets along to conduct an experiment.

"Ordinary ones can't. I don't know if the ones produced by the Great Square Pot can give us a clue." Sun Fuping walked up to the puppets. "Your nest, the Great Square Pot, must still be somewhere in the city. Point out where it is, and I'll let you go."

The two puppets kept trembling, still looking down on everyone as if Sun Fuping were invisible.

"These two things don't know their place, sir!" He Lingchuan cried in outrage. "Show them what you can do and save us some time."

Sun Fuping took a set of golden needles from his robe. He dipped each one in medicine and roasted them over a little true flame kindled at his fingertip. Then he inserted them into the backs of the puppets' heads, their hearts, and the soles of their feet.

The puppets immediately let out loud wails.

Those three places were where the Three-Corpse Insects had made their lairs. Sun Fuping was burning them right on their backsides with medicated flame. The pain was excruciating. Otherwise, even if they were struck by blades, axes, or spells, only their hosts would suffer. The Three-Corpse Insects wouldn't care.

They tried to look Sun Fuping in the eye, but their gazes were vicious, like wolves fixing on meat.

To them, humans were nothing but skins to wear.

"I know you can understand human speech," Sun Fuping said evenly. "If you don't answer, you'll suffer even more."

Then he got to work.

His golden needles were hollow, so he could inject more medicine into them at any time.

Everyone saw the red glow at the tips of the needles flare brighter. The puppets' shrieks shot up three pitches.

Twice the medicine, twice the agony.

Sun Fuping stopped and asked, "Will you talk or not?"

The puppets only screamed without stopping.

So he intensified the torture.

He did this again and again.

As time went on, he worked more and more slowly. These enhanced Three-Corpse Insects had souls far stronger than those of ordinary ones. Otherwise, he would have killed them with the medicine a quarter of an hour ago.

Unless their host cut them out, when a Three-Corpse Insect died, its host died with it.

That made it harder and harder to judge how far he could go.

At last, one puppet let out a great roar, its neck slumping to one side as it breathed its last.

So it still wouldn't work? Sun Fuping let out a long sigh.

The Three-Corpse Insects raised by the Great Square Pot had to be special in some way. If they could communicate with people, this trip to Coiling Dragon City would go much more smoothly.

What a pity. It seemed there was no shortcut for this task.

In truth, he'd only held on to a faint hope. After all, the allied forces that had waged a war of attrition on this wasteland over a hundred years ago must have tried every method they could think of to obtain intelligence.

He'd just thought that perhaps time could change many things.

The other tortured Three-Corpse Insect suddenly went berserk and broke free of its restraints. It grabbed He Lingchuan by the arm!

Caught off guard, everyone was stunned.

He Chunhua rushed forward without thinking and chopped off the puppet's head.

The screams stopped abruptly.

"Chuan'er, are you all right?" He Chunhua kept his hand on the knife.

He Lingchuan was startled, too. He instinctively pried the dead man's hand off and focused his senses. "I'm fine."

That thing had gripped him so tightly that its fingers had nearly dug into his skin.

Fortunately, his true energy had circulated through a full cycle, and he hadn't sensed anything unusual.

Everyone exchanged glances.

Sun Fuping stepped forward and examined his pupils. "Do you feel irritable or restless, dizzy or muddle-headed?"

"I'm perfectly clearheaded. Nothing unusual. It seems to have had no effect on me."

Sun Fuping nodded. "The Soul-Suppressing Powder hasn't completely worn off yet, so it can still protect you."

He Lingchuan sighed. "Looks like the Three-Corpse Insects here aren't anything special, either."

Only after seeing that he was truly unharmed did He Chunhua relax. "They just refuse to leave the Coiling Dragon Desert—or, rather, they won't go far from the Great Square Pot."

Protecting the Great Square Pot had long since been carved into the Three-Corpse Insects' instincts. They couldn't betray it, even in death. The same kind of loyalty existed in ant colonies and beehives. Worker bees and ants toiled without complaint, felt no fear of hardship, and thought nothing of dying.

So although the Three-Corpse Insects feared something in the city and wouldn't enter, they still lingered on its outskirts, in the Coiling Dragon Desert, rather than flee far away.

He Lingchuan shrugged. If Three-Corpse Insects could be interrogated like ordinary creatures, the allied forces of Baling and Xianyou would have long ago uncovered everything about the Great Square Pot and Coiling Dragon City. The god behind Coiling Dragon City wouldn't have allowed such a loophole.

"Although Zhu Gen hasn't said so, I don't think the conditions for triggering the Furious Sand Season should be difficult to meet. The last team he sent out was meant to test the theory, too..." Sun Fuping mused. "Does it thunder and rain in the desert before every Furious Sand Season?"

Zeng Feixiong nodded. "Yes."

Sun Fuping's gaze shifted. "Does the temple in the city worship only Mitian Deity?"

"Yes. They say the Heavenly Deity Mitian is the sole faith of Coiling Dragon City."

He Chunhua gave a startled cry, as if he'd realized something. "Are you suggesting...?"

"Write it down, and we'll see if they match."

Sun Fuping and He Chunhua both dipped their fingers in water and wrote a character on the table.

Everyone looked. The National Preceptor had written "water," while He Chunhua had written "rain."

Their meanings were close enough.

He Lingchuan rubbed his chin. "The National Preceptor and my father are brilliant! The rainy season in Qiansong Prefecture comes later than inland. It doesn't arrive until around late August or early September."

Nian Songyu didn't understand. "If rain is the cause, does that mean it never rains in the desert?" As far as he knew, a lack of water didn't mean deserts never got rain. "Sometimes heavy rain even causes floods in the desert."

"It really doesn't rain." He Lingchuan chuckled. "Don't compare other deserts with Coiling Dragon. They're not worthy."

He Chunhua said, "How could I be as learned as the National Preceptor? But Deputy Commander Zeng's father is the only living person to have experienced the Furious Sand Season in the Coiling Dragon Desert. After he returned, he was out of his mind, but he kept muttering one word all day: 'Water.' I think that's the key clue."