Chapter 38
Chapter 38
The entire city was silent; within the Commandery Governor’s Mansion, only the faint moans of the injured and sick could be heard.
Under the thick, dark twilight, a colossal Shadowy Figure occupied everything within sight.
It gave one the impression that the very heavens had been pressed down several inches by this darkness.
This massive Shadowy Figure had arrived silently and without warning.
It seemed as if, in the briefest lapse of concentration, it had already come to hang directly over their heads.
It was an overlook from a higher dimension.
Wang Chang was a man who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, but he possessed one great virtue: he was thick-skinned and carefree. For a long time, he had taken secret pride in his courage.
But now, he felt as if he could hear the sound of his own blood flowing and his heart pumping. Looking up at the Shadowy Figure in the sky, an emotion known as megalophobia gripped him tightly!
Never mind him-even Han Lie, who had seen this several times and was already the most devout believer, felt his breath hitch for a moment at the sight of the giant figure in the night sky.
Wu Er and the others were like stones, kneeling stiffly on the wooden floor of the corridor.
Under the watchful eyes of the city’s inhabitants, Qin Ying’s shadow blanketed the entire city.
The paper tube she had rolled up from a pharmacy flyer was positioned exactly above the courtyard where Han Lie and the others were gathered.
To Qin Ying, the Toad Venom Pills were merely flat, round grains the size of a small fingernail. But to the people in the World in the Box, they were no different from massive millstones.
*Thud, thud, thud.* Amidst a commotion that sounded as if the sky were collapsing, the small handful of Toad Venom Pills Qin Ying poured out filled half the room facing the courtyard entrance.
As the noise gradually subsided, Wang Chang collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
*Is this what a god is like?*
When he first heard of the Supreme Deity manifesting, he had imagined an immortal descending slowly from the clouds accompanied by blue birds, waving a sleeve to rain down mountains of rice. Now, there might have been a wave of a sleeve, but the sheer sense of oppression nearly scared him to death!
*Is this not some ancient, world-swallowing beast?*
This irreverent thought involuntarily surfaced in Wang Chang’s mind. His entire body was wracked with spasms he could not control.
Another sound came from the sky.
It sounded like… wind blowing through a sail?
Wang Chang looked up instinctively, only to see two dark, blurry shapes descending from the heavens.
“It’s the Ten-Thousand-Year Flesh Fungus!”
The one who shouted was not Wang Chang, whose tongue and throat were frozen stiff. It was Wu Er.
The old Monstrous Beast hunter sat paralyzed on the ground, his hair standing on end, his topknot seemingly pushed higher by the sheer shock. He had already recognized what those massive things falling from the sky were.
His throat moved with difficulty as he swallowed. “It really is the Ten-Thousand-Year Flesh Fungus.”
No, to be precise, it was the dried skin of the Ten-Thousand-Year Flesh Fungus!
That Monstrous Beast, which inhabited the marshes of the far south and left fields of white bones wherever it went, had actually been turned into dried leather!
Even if an entire army were gathered to hunt a Ten-Thousand-Year Flesh Fungus, they would only harvest the venom glands behind its ears. Then, it would be cut into small pieces and transported back in batches. Even in the royal storehouses of Luoyang, one could only find fragmented Toad skin.
Given the current size and craftsmanship of the human race, it was absolutely impossible to process a Ten-Thousand-Year Flesh Fungus into such a complete, dried hide!
A Supreme Deity capable of sun-drying a Monstrous Beast like this Toad must surely be a being that spans heaven and earth, like… the legendary Kuafu Giant!
He seemed to see a sun-chasing giant, reaching out with a single hand to seize the Monstrous Beast Toad, skinning it, and leaving it to dry in the wind.
This terrifying yet fitting mental image made Wu Er’s head buzz as if his soul were leaving his body.
The courtyard was narrow, and the two massive, dried Toad skins were thrust inside by Qin Ying. The dried Toad skins were deflated, their huge eyes-unclosed in death-stared fixedly at the kneeling crowd. It caused everyone to gasp in unison.
Qin Ying had no idea that her casual actions had nearly caused these people to wet themselves in fear. She pulled out the same mineral water bottle she had used previously to deliver the biscuit crumbs.
Holding a thin cotton thread, Qin Ying lowered a water bottle cap filled with freeze-dried Toad Venom powder.
Finally, she patted the stray powder off her hands and, just before disappearing, took the empty plastic bottles from the city with her.
The crowd believed she had already departed, but Han Lie could still hear her voice urging him in his ear.
“Hurry, have the Old Physician test the medicine to see if it’s usable.”
Hearing this, Han Lie took a deep breath.
He went to support the limp Old Physician, helping him to his feet. “I must trouble you to test the medicine, sir!”
The Old Physician had spent his life practicing medicine and saving lives, but he had never seen anything like this.
Two massive beast skins hung upside down in the courtyard, looking quite gruesome in death. The Old Physician couldn’t help but turn his head away, feeling a chill run down his spine.
“Squad Leader Han, you… you must hold me up. I am truly terrified.”
Seeing this, Han Lie didn’t dare take the situation lightly.
After helping the Old Physician sit down, he went to the courtyard and tore off the hem of his robe to wrap a shattered piece of the Toad Venom Pills, along with a small handful of the Toad Venom powder.
When he turned back, he saw the Old Physician with his eyes closed, having already stuck several silver needles from his sleeve into his own forehead.
As the physician twirled the needles with his fingers, the flush on his face finally began to subside.
He thumped his chest and took the Toad Venom from Han Lie, sighing, “I never imagined that one day I would handle such a rare and precious treasure.”
The Old Physician suddenly became excited. With a forehead full of needles, he began to walk off. “Let me test it!”
He said he was testing it, but in truth, his heart was already full of confidence.
The things provided by the Supreme Deity would never be inferior!
“Quickly! Set up the incense altar for a sacrifice!”
Another shout echoed from the corridor. Since turning over a new leaf, Chief Clerk Li had become exceptionally dedicated, working late into the night at the Commandery Governor’s Mansion instead of going home.
Perhaps having just finished his dinner, he hiccuped as he ran, busy organizing a ritual to thank the Supreme Deity.
“There’s no need!”
Qin Ying heard him clearly and hurriedly declined. “Tell him there’s no need for such empty formalities on a regular basis.”
She didn’t want her home smelling like burning Cogongrass all day long.
Following her instructions, Han Lie rushed to stop Chief Clerk Li.
He didn’t explicitly state that he was acting on the Supreme Deity’s orders, only saying, “Chief Clerk Li, do not be in such a hurry.”
But Chief Clerk Li was currently in a state of high agitation.
He squinted at the sky, thumping his chest and stamping his feet in frustration, his thin, reed-like arms exposed.
“Was there a divine oracle? Is there a new totem?”
Damn it! Why wasn’t he here earlier!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and his hiccups grew more frequent.
He looked as if he was about to faint.
Seeing that things were going poorly, Han Lie hurried over to pinch the man’s philtrum and gave him a sharp pat on the chest.
While this forced down the food stuck in Chief Clerk Li’s throat, it also made his eyes bulge out.
“Enough! Are you trying to kill me?”
Having caught his breath, Chief Clerk Li immediately turned cold. He bypassed Han Lie and went to inspect the Toad beast for himself.
Wang Chang was right there with him.
His initial terror had faded somewhat after Qin Ying’s shadow disappeared.
He helped Wu Er up, and the two of them stood under the Toad skin to study it.
With trembling hands, they reached out to touch the hide.
The slightly dried skin was about a palm’s width thick and hard as a rock.
“Second Brother, is it…” Standing before this massive, towering hide, even a loudmouth like Wang Chang didn’t dare utter the Toad’s name.
He was terrified that the creature, with its eyes as large as millstones, might suddenly spring back to life.
Wu Er’s throat was parched. After observing for a long time, he confirmed, “It is!”
At the same time, the Old Physician’s voice drifted out from the room: “It truly is Toad Venom!”
A small mountain of Toad Venom-a substance worth its weight in gold-sat right before them!
Wang Chang took a sharp breath, let out a sudden gasp, and collapsed into Wu Er’s arms.