Gold Sunk in the Marsh

The man in the top hat gazed toward the heart of the settlement. He had heard that earth-shattering crash—the sound of faith being shattered.

"He was a timid, weak man in life, yet he made quite a grand spectacle when he died," said the man in the top hat. "At least your dream of becoming a god came true."

He snuffed out the flame at his fingertips and lowered the brim of his hat. No color but gray remained around him. Houses, grass and trees, insects and birds... everything that had once existed had been reduced to flying ash by the blaze, leaving only ashes behind.

"We both have things to do. Why not call it here this time?" The man in the top hat smiled. "Let us slaughter each other to our hearts' content on the next battlefield."

Ji Huaishu said nothing as she watched him step away through the flames. She wanted to keep this mysterious man here for good, but she understood that now was not the time. They had fought for so long without a victor, which meant the enemy was no simple opponent. And Chu Hengkong and Jie An's lives still hung in the balance...

Her companions came first.

She turned without a word and sprinted toward the battlefield within the settlement. The area around the square was packed so tightly not even water could pass through, but Granny Sang Jia gestured for the crowd to make way. By the time Ji Huaishu reached the ruins of the bronze statue, Chu Hengkong was just helping Jie An to his feet. Both of them were riddled with holes, barely clinging to life as though competing to see who would stop breathing first.

"They're both still breathing," Chu Hengkong said. "They can keep going."

"Stop talking shit!" Ji Huaishu stamped her foot anxiously. The team members hurriedly carried the two men into an off-road vehicle, the one they had used earlier to pick up Granny Sang Jia. She got into the driver's seat again, intending to turn toward the dock where the Rising Dragon Ship was moored.

"Find the gold," Jie An said weakly. "The longer the night, the more dreams."

Ji Huaishu fell silent for a moment, then slammed down the accelerator. The off-road vehicle raced toward the dense forest outside the settlement. Chu Hengkong tore his shirt into strips and bandaged his own wounds and Jie An's. Ordinary people would have lost consciousness long ago. Fortunately, they were all Ascendants—even Jie An, the weakest among them, could still barely hold on.

"The medicine worked very well. You really can do it," the assassin said calmly.

"Shut the fuck up," Jie An said, his lips turning blue. "You stopped talking after taking the medicine. I thought I'd poisoned you to death."

"Fuck." Despite the utterly terrible mood, Ji Huaishu could not help laughing. Chu Hengkong covered his face with one hand and silently laughed as well, but the movement tugged at his wounds and made him bare his teeth in pain.

Jie An carried many herbs with him, originally as a "control group" for testing medicinal effects. He had never expected them to become ingredients for the new Panacea. Adali had not expected it either. He had meticulously calculated every step of the battle, yet overlooked the medicine everyone knew about.

"Hold on. We're almost there," Ji Huaishu said.

They drove uphill along a broken road. The flowers gradually became more colorful: first came reds as fierce as fire, then blues as clear as the sky, and afterward brilliant golden blooms led every sort of rare herb and exotic grass into view. At the summit of the hill lay a vast sea of flowers. There was nowhere more beautiful in the entire Marsh. In the middle of the flower sea stood a bronze-colored church, and behind it lay the richest herb fields in all of Jade Marsh District.

But a touch of gold dotted those herb fields. The gold licked at the stems and leaves of the herbs, swaying and dancing with the wind, whirling freely through the fields.

It was the venom used to cultivate Glowing Corpses. The light of corrupted life.

They suddenly realized they had overlooked one fatal point. Adali was also a superb pharmacist. Anything Jie An could think of, he could think of too. This was the great wizard's final move—a vicious, mocking laugh sent up from hell only after his death.

Ji Huaishu charged into the Light Poison without regard for her own life, grabbing every herb she could see. Chu Hengkong followed close behind, using his tentacles to uproot plants farther from the venom. The herbs they salvaged filled the vehicle's backseat, but most of the medicine had ultimately been swallowed by the Light Poison, becoming glowing, rotten matter.

People surged at the foot of the hill. Those who noticed something was wrong tried to climb up, only to be shouted back and stopped by the team members. Chu Hengkong held each intact herb before Jie An one by one. Now even he was anxious. "Is this one it?"

"That's very ordinary," Jie An said.

Ji Huaishu dug out another strange-looking thing. "What about this one that looks like a doll?" "It's just rotted."

"I dug up one that looks a lot like a potato." "That is a potato."

They showed Jie An every surviving herb, but found nothing. Jie An's face had gone white as paper, and his blood had soaked through the leather seat cushion. A damp, hot wind blew across the hill as petals spun in the air. Ji Huaishu covered her face and drew a deep breath. Chu Hengkong leaned weakly against the vehicle.

Jie An struggled out of the car. He staggered toward the poisonous marsh, his voice so hoarse it was almost impossible to make out.

"You rest first. I'll keep looking."

Jie An clenched his teeth so hard they seemed ready to shatter, his eyes nearly bloodshot. Chu Hengkong could not bear to watch any longer. He lashed out a tentacle and dragged Jie An back.

"Think of another way. There's nothing left there."

"There's gold," Jie An said blankly. "The gold is in the Light Poison."

Chu Hengkong raised his voice. "I said there's nothing there."

"There has to be!!" Jie An roared like a madman. His voice was weak from his grave injuries, as though it had been squeezed out from his marrow. "How can there be nothing?! We searched for so long. It can't have been eaten by Glowing Corpses!!!"

He could not accept it. No one could accept such a reality. It was a treasure sought for a full twenty years. It had long ceased to be merely a prescription or a single human life—it was one man's painful, stubborn lifetime, the dream he had inherited from his father. Dreams were not supposed to end this way, even if they were ultimately buried by one's own helplessness.

"Don't burrow into a dead end," Chu Hengkong said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There are plenty of herbs in the Marsh. It might not necessarily be on this hill..."

"Impossible!" Jie An was nearly hysterical. "I already bought every herb I could find and tested them all. Nothing! This is the biggest herb field in the entire city. If it's not here, where else can I look? What medicine is there that I haven't seen?!"

"Does it have to be medicine?" Ji Huaishu grew anxious too. "There are many possibilities. Could it be another plant? Have you tried that tree? What about the flowers over there?"

Even Chu Hengkong felt those words were forced reasoning, but he knew this was not a matter of reason. If they gave up here, it would truly be over. There would be no afterward. Jie An's eyes were so red they seemed ready to bleed. "I told you, I've tried them all! There isn't anything here that I haven't seen—"

He abruptly stopped and stared fixedly at an empty patch of space. There was only the damp, hot wind there, with yellow petals fluttering through it.

The venom was clearly corroding the sea of flowers, yet the petals riding the wind remained untouched.

"...I haven't seen that kind of flower before," Jie An muttered. "I've never seen it."

He staggered into a run, disregarding even his wounds as he chased the wind into the flower sea. Chu Hengkong and Ji Huaishu ran after him. They entered the brightest stretch of gold amid the flowers, where sunny yellow blooms as large as palms spread wide, their stamens a dazzling gold like the sun.

Jie An plucked the largest flower. Without a word, Chu Hengkong took out the Silver-Eyed Book. Three pairs of eyes watched the blank page.

Silver writing appeared on the paper.

[Everlasting Flower]

[Rating: Level 2]

[Origin: Myriad Secret Realm - Dragon's Return City]

[Effect: Blooms once every twenty years. Before blooming, it absorbs Remembrance from its surroundings. Its properties after blooming depend on its growth process.

Current effects: "Enhancement" and "Harmony."]

[Remembrance: O god worshipped by all living things, please bestow your merciful blessing.

Let the barren Marsh return to abundance,

Let the white-robed Great One return safely.]

Jie An gripped that golden flower tightly, with such force yet such gentleness, as though all his strength was being used to keep himself from dying. Tears carved muddy tracks down his face. He suddenly fell to his knees and wailed, as though he meant to shed every tear of his life.

The gold that had slipped past his father's grasp twenty years ago had finally reached the son's hands twenty years later.

Countless petals spun in the light like a surreal dream. For one fleeting instant, Chu Hengkong seemed to see a figure in white. Its back was turned, its form unclear, yet it seemed to be smiling among the flowers as it watched the man's weeping back.

"Smile," Chu Hengkong said. "It's a good thing."

Ji Huaishu sniffled and rubbed hard at her eyes. The arriving team members sprayed streams of water, gradually bringing the venom under control. Spots of light danced through the air like butterflies.

Amid his tears, Jie An burst into laughter.

Three days later, Deeproot Settlement.

"A festival..." "Today is a festival, so please laugh." "It's time to celebrate!" "Oh, oh, the gods' free lunch!"

Colored banners and lanterns hung everywhere, while laughter rang through the air. Performers paraded through the streets carrying dragon heads made of cloth and wood. Vendors handed out discounted snacks and free tea. The Light Poison that had harmed the people had been removed by divine envoys, while Adali, the vermin who treated human lives like grass, had been exposed for what he was. With two joyful events coming together, it was truly worth celebrating in grand fashion.

A quarantine zone had been cordoned off in the center of the settlement with yellow lines. The Resurrection Corps members hauled in four entire cartloads of Flow Pearls on wooden wagons—the sponsorship funds generously provided by the great wizard Adali. They lifted the wooden "manhole cover" from the ground and poured all four cartloads of Flow Pearls into the hole.

Under the crowd's expectant gaze, the ground trembled. Golden patterns emerged one after another, and a temple of white jade rose from the earth. Atop it stood a proud statue of the Dragon's Return God. After twenty years, the second Healing Temple had reappeared in the Marsh. The middle-aged and elderly were moved to tears, while the younger generation, lacking any memories tied to it, simply sang and danced at the celebration, praising the Dragon's Return God's boundless power and merciful heart.

"You know this thing is actually infrastructure from our Dragon's Return City, right?" Jie An said with a toothpick in his mouth. "The equipment was built ages ago. The order level wasn't high enough to run it, so it shut down and sank underground. Once the order level rises, you toss in some Flow Pearls, twist the switch, and boom!"

"Isn't that just a capsule toy machine?" Chu Hengkong laughed.

"You got that exactly right—it is!" Jie An said animatedly. "I'm telling you, there are loads of good things in the city. You'll have plenty to enjoy later on~"

Ji Huaishu abruptly stuck her head in. "The orders up front have already reached twenty! Speed it up in the back!"

"Right away, right away!" "Okay, okay!"

Jie An hurriedly mixed drinks at top speed, while Chu Hengkong filled cups and sealed lids with astonishingly swift hands. Cup after cup of dark brown drinks was flung out by tentacles, then delivered by Ji Huaishu at the counter into customers' hands. The line before the stall stretched like a long dragon. The most popular attraction at the celebration was this three-person-operated... milk tea shop.

The Spray operation had successfully completed its gold-seeking plan, and Youyou had flicked its tail and given them three whole days of vacation. By all rights, they should have eaten, rested, and enjoyed themselves, but Captain Huaishu had suddenly decided to set up a stall and make some money, while Chu Hengkong casually suggested selling milk tea.

Thus, a fashionable little drink from Earth went on blazing-hot sale in the Marsh. At the ultra-low price of one Flow Pearl per cup, it became a favorite among girls and children...

Since Dragon's Return City had no cows, Jie An used some plant powder to barely recreate a taste similar to milk. But Marsh folk did not care much whether milk tea actually contained milk. After all, they often ate meat without meat in it—so long as it tasted good! The line only reluctantly dispersed after the ingredients had run out and Jie An complained bitterly. Ji Huaishu counted the Flow Pearls for ages, then loudly announced:

"Tonight's net profit: negative five hundred Flow Pearls!"

"It really has the spirit of students running a stall," Chu Hengkong praised. "So youthful!"

"Youthful my ass! I'm already thirty-two! My arms are about to fall off!" Jie An protested loudly.

They burst into laughter, then ran off to the night market for a shopping spree. They bought chicken skewers, meat sausages of unknown origin, and stinky tofu that had somehow become especially popular recently. Squatting by the roadside like street loafers, they ate away. Jie An had slyly saved some ingredients, so each of them still had a large cup of milk tea.

It was already late, but the festival's liveliness had not faded. The parade was only halfway through. A squad of elite troops transferred from the Central District stood stiffly amid the convoy, holding a wooden carving of the Dragon's Return God and banners that read, "Practice hygiene, understand courtesy, build a good image for the Marsh," as they accepted the people's cheers. Leading them was Lü Xing, Chu Hengkong's little follower. His sharp eyes spotted his three street-loafer-like superiors, and he removed his helmet to mouth frantically, "Inspector! You accomplished this great deed—you should be the ones here!!"

"We can't handle that kind of excitement. Cover for us," Chu Hengkong mouthed back. The cook and the captain laughed themselves into a heap. After the parade passed, Ji Huaishu let out a long sigh.

"You have to admit it," she said. "I spent three months killing and still couldn't solve the Marsh's problem. You fixed it in three days."

"Everyone deserves credit. Without the foundation you carved out over three months and Jie An's medicine, my ideas would have been useless." Chu Hengkong took a sip of milk tea. "This was like tai chi—borrowing force to strike with force. You can't make them stop believing, so you have to make them believe in something better."

Adali's power collapsed swiftly. After all, many people had witnessed the great wizard's true face three days earlier, and Granny Sang Jia had personally vouched for them. Thus, within three days, no one mentioned Adali's name anymore. Aside from a handful of diehard followers, most people in the Marsh now believed in the Dragon's Return God.

With a "blessing from the Dragon God" that could truly cure illnesses, who would still believe in that great wizard who demanded money at every turn?

"Faith..." Ji Huaishu tossed her finished bamboo skewer into a trash bag and watched the distant procession. "Do you think we really changed anything? I feel like they're still blindly following the crowd. All that changed was the object of their faith—from a tentacled monster to Lord Dragon's Return."

"You're right. Faith in the Marsh is as cheap as fashion. Perhaps ten years from now, people will worship different idols again," Chu Hengkong said. "But they won't forget the Panacea, and so they won't forget the Great One Jingzang. Only those who save people from suffering remain in memory for a long time."

They thought of the Everlasting Flower, and all smiled in relief. Jie An's smile was somewhat embarrassed. He had been staring blankly at a little notebook before that. Written inside was a new prescription—the new Panacea he had reformulated.

"It might not be possible to popularize it. I'm still far behind my old man."

"It'll definitely work out. You're the best pharmacist in the city!" a man said behind them.

Ji Qiufeng had a little snake perched atop his head and carried that flamboyant paper fan. He swiped a few skewers of food from the younger generation and shamelessly joined the street loafers.

Chu Hengkong smiled at the sight of him. "You're still the city lord. Have some dignity."

"My illness is about to be cured, so what dignity do I need!" Ji Qiufeng said animatedly. Ji Huaishu, whose food had been stolen, cursed him for acting improper in his old age and ran off to replenish their ammunition. Youyou climbed onto Jie An's head and ordered the cook to take it to see flowers. That left only the two men by the roadside, eating cheap snacks and watching the streets glitter with lights.

Ji Qiufeng took out a pill. It was round and plump, glimmering with golden light like a glowing Flow Pearl.

[Saha Everjoy Pill]

[Rating: Level 5]

[Origin: Myriad Secret Realm - Dragon's Return City]

[Effect: Removes Outsider contamination of quality level 5 and below. Can temporarily isolate Outsider contamination from below the Second Abyss. Enhances all abilities of the user for a short time. When taken by an Outsider, produces an additional removal effect.]

[Remembrance: The mortal world is no Buddha-land; this karmic body endures bitter suffering. Enlighten the heart and possess everlasting joy, and Saha too becomes pure land.]

Ji Qiufeng looked at the pill as though looking at an old friend he had not seen for a long time. After a long while, he put it away and let out a breath.

"You don't understand what you've done."

"I helped Jie An make a pill. That's all," Chu Hengkong said.

In the distance, Jie An was picking through several bundles of flowers. His movements seemed steadier than before. That reckless fellow finally seemed to match his age now. Perhaps he had always been a child in his own heart, living beneath a shadow he could never catch up to.

"Back then, I wanted to find him a stable path. I did not ask for great achievements, only that he stay safe and sound. But Jie An would not allow himself to live that way. He said that even if he could not go to the battlefield, he wanted to do his part for the city... At that time, I thought he was exactly like his father in his bones. They were both far too proud, people who could never allow themselves to look down on themselves."

"You're a very proud person too, aren't you?" Chu Hengkong said. "The greatest problem has been solved now. It seems we'll all have to stay on the second line from here on out and watch the city lord display his great power."

"Not yet." Ji Qiufeng smiled faintly. "This medicine is too good. Little An could only make this one pill. I cannot let you down. I must wait for the best possible time to use it."

When would the best time come? Wouldn't taking the medicine now bring only benefits and no harm? Chu Hengkong could not be bothered to think about it. He trusted Ji Qiufeng not to make the wrong choice. At any rate, he would not lose his job anytime soon. They moved on to more mundane topics, such as how to raise their wages and what their wages should be paid in...

Before long, everyone returned. Laughing and chatting, they walked into the laughter of the crowd.