After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 475: Chapter 474: Huh?

The Demon Puppet’s body was soft and tender. How could it possibly withstand their long quills and short jabs?

After two quick volleys, it was struck by at least fifty or sixty Porcupine Quills. It shrieked in pain and, with a WHOOSH, retracted into its shell.

A hard shell exists to protect a soft interior.

In other words, the harder its shell, the more fragile its body.

Furthermore, these Porcupine Quills were barbed, so there was no way it could pull them out on its own.

The Porcupines from the foot of Yulun Mountain, more than half a year after their tragic demise, had finally gotten revenge with their own hands, in a manner of speaking.

The venom, a creation of Second Madam Zhu, made the wounds excruciatingly painful, as if seared by scorching flames. Not only was the Demon Puppet in so much pain it wished for death, but blisters also rapidly swelled up on its wounds, each larger than a pig’s bladder.

Fifty or sixty wounds, fifty or sixty blisters.

If these blisters weren’t lanced in time, the spider venom would quickly spread throughout its body, causing nerve paralysis and muscle weakness.

As the Demon Puppet shrieked, there was movement from within the snail shell.

”There are people in the shell!” Hee Lingchuan shouted, reminding the Officials to take aim. He raised his own Sleeve Arrow and fired at a shadow that flickered inside.

Only then did the Officials realize there were indeed human figures moving within the snail shell.

Two men, holding Long Sabers, were rapidly lancing the blisters on the Demon Puppet’s body.

The Weasel Demon darted out from nowhere and leaped into the snail shell.

”Don’t go in!” The creature was too nimble; Hee Lingchuan reached for its tail but was a step too slow.

The men inside saw a flash of black and white and swung their sabers. The Weasel Demon’s positioning was superb. It dodged the blades, then lifted its big, bushy tail—

From Hee Lingchuan’s perspective, he could clearly see it spray a cloud of yellow-green gas, almost directly into one of the swordsmen’s faces.

The man forgot all about attacking, clutched his throat, and immediately bent over to vomit.

It was a reflexive reaction, utterly beyond his control.

The Weasel Demon took the opportunity to kick him in the back. The man lost his balance and tumbled off the Demon Puppet’s back, falling to the ground.

His companion rushed to help him.

Hee Lingchuan’s eyes were sharp and his hands were quick. He fired a Sleeve Arrow that blossomed behind the man’s shoulder. With a sharp tug, he yanked the man toward him before his accomplice could reach him.

The scoundrel was a bit dark-skinned and chubby. He was still defiant as he was pulled over, shouting as he swung his saber to attack.

Hee Lingchuan casually shattered his Long Saber and kicked out.

CRACK! CRACK! Both of the man’s legs were broken, and he collapsed to the ground, screaming.

An Official promptly moved in to apprehend him.

Having succeeded once, the Weasel Demon’s confidence surged. It ignored its companion’s calls and tried to burrow deeper into the shell.

There were clearly some gaps inside the shell, and the Weasel Demon, confident in its small size, thought it could squeeze through. But a mouth suddenly opened in the mountain of flesh before it, and it couldn’t change direction in time. It plunged headfirst inside.

The monster’s great maw had opened right there.

By the time the Weasel Demon realized what was happening, it was too late. The great mouth closed silently, leaving not even a crack.

But the foul gas it had released still lingered in the shell. The monster, likely suffering a headache from the stench, suddenly emerged from its shell, formed its four limbs, and leaped high into the air.

It put all its strength into this jump. Despite its astonishing weight, it soared about forty feet into the air before crashing heavily back to the ground!

BOOM! The ground caved in by several more feet, and two of the large trees anchored by the Hooked Ropes were yanked down.

The monster couldn’t bear the pain and wanted to burrow underground to recover.

The Spider Silk Ropes were stretched even tighter than everyone’s nerves, looking as if they would snap at any second.

The monster’s shell even began to glow. The faint brown light wasn’t very conspicuous in the dark, but everyone’s heart lurched. They had no idea what other tricks this thing had up its sleeve.

’Don’t tell me it has a second form?’

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the monster, covered in wounds, leaped again.

No one expected that Hee Lingchuan would snatch a torch from someone beside him and suddenly charge forward.

Jiao Yu was shocked. ”What are you doing!”

It lunged like a tiger but was a step too slow to stop him.

Hee Lingchuan’s movements were identical to the Weasel Demon’s from before—in fact, he was even more agile. He dashed forward, leaped, and headed straight for the opening of the snail shell.

The monster, still in mid-air, saw him coming. It didn’t even need to dodge; it just had to open its mouth and wait.

Its mouth was as vast as an endless abyss. Hee Lingchuan was throwing himself into the jaws of the beast.

However, a man was still cowering behind the monster’s head. When he saw what Hee Lingchuan was carrying, he shuddered and frantically slapped the monster, shouting, ”Don’t eat it! Turn away, don’t eat it!”

Unfortunately, the monster’s reactions were naturally a beat too slow. No matter how he yelled, the great maw didn’t have time to close.

Hee Lingchuan leaped in, a black jar clutched in his hands.

The lid was already off.

Entering the monster’s mouth was like entering a black hole. It was pitch-black ahead, with his torch as the only source of light.

The light behind him faded quickly as the monster’s mouth closed.

The instant the last sliver of daylight vanished, Hee Lingchuan desperately shoved the torch into the black jar.

This kind of torch was coated in a special oil, one that even a heavy downpour couldn’t extinguish.

BOOM! With an earth-shattering roar, the snail shell exploded!

A powerful blast of air shot out from the open mouth of the shell, and it seemed something else came out with it.

One after another, there were four explosions in total.

At that moment, everyone was still ducking for cover, blinded by the intense light that had erupted from the shell. The sound of explosions was deafening.

These were the explosives Hee Lingchuan had planted in the four corners of the herb warehouse, all detonated at once.

The monster’s hard shell, originally a chestnut-brown color, turned transparent for an instant after the explosion, allowing the intense light to shine through unimpeded.

Jiao Yu was the first to react, charging toward the landing site like a tiger. ”After them!”

Considering the force and light of the explosion, it was incredible that they, standing not far from the shell, weren’t knocked over by the shockwave and could still remain on their feet.

In reality, all they felt was a strong gust of wind and the acrid smell of gunpowder. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else.

The snail shell had absorbed the vast majority of the explosion’s power.

Quick as a flash, everyone gathered at the Demon Puppet’s crash site.

Dispatched by Jiao Yu, a few Officials entered the woods and ended up finding two people.

One was missing both legs. The other was *only* two legs.

At the Demon Puppet’s point of impact, the ground was indented with a deep crater.

The surrounding soil was splattered outwards in a radial pattern, a testament to the ferocious force of the impact.

The snail shell was embedded in the center of the crater.

Strangely, it hadn’t been blown to smithereens. Its shape was even well-preserved, though its shell now bore several deep cracks.

The shell’s durability was astonishing.

Xu Dayou asked Jiao Yu, ”My lord, what now?”

Since the heroic Lord Special Envoy had sacrificed himself, the highest-ranking commander on site automatically became the fierce tiger.

Before Jiao Yu could answer, a familiar voice came from behind. ”Get some men over here. Drag it out of the crater.”

Xu Dayou turned around, and a chill ran down his spine.

Making his way through the crowd, wasn’t it the Lord Special Envoy?

The Lord Special Envoy, completely whole and with all his limbs intact.

If he was safe and sound, then who was it that had just jumped into the monster’s mouth holding the jar of explosives?!

Fortunately, Xu Dayou had been an Official for twenty years and had seen his fair share of strange things. He quickly guessed that the man must possess some incredible life-saving Divine Technique. So, after his initial shock, he composed himself and put on a joyful expression. ”Lord Special Envoy? It’s wonderful that you’re unharmed!”

Hee Lingchuan, however, was staring at the snail shell in the crater with a grave expression. ”Quickly, get it—”

Before he could get the last three words out—”drag it up”—the snail shell suddenly moved.

It began to sink rapidly again.

General Antelope’s eyes widened. ”What the...?”

The explosion was so violent, and it was detonated right inside its mouth, yet it didn’t kill the monster?

It looked so soft and squishy. It didn’t seem like it could withstand an explosion!

Most importantly, how did the Hooked Ropes holding it come loose?

Hee Lingchuan grabbed the end of a rope and pulled. It was slack.

The Hook Claw had broken!

It was probably blown apart by the final explosion, breaking off right inside the shell.

Even though it was the work of a master craftsman, it still had its limits. After being yanked and pulled repeatedly by the monster, it finally gave way.

General Antelope let out an angry bellow, charged into the crater, and tried to ram it with his horns.

The others also jumped into the crater, trying to flip it over.

Hee Lingchuan even summoned the golden armor copper man to try and block its descent.

But the snail shell was buried deep in the earth, its surface was smooth with no handholds, and Hee Lingchuan’s Hook Claw was broken... This time, there was truly no way to stop it. In the end, they could only watch helplessly as it escaped underground.

A few moments later, the very tip of its shell disappeared into the bottom of the crater.

The creature had escaped.

General Antelope, who had sent dirt flying everywhere with his ramming, panted angrily, ”Damn it! Truly damn it! We were so close!”

”It was moving slowly as it fled. It must be heavily injured,” Hee Lingchuan said, also feeling it was a pity. But he still patted the large antelope’s horn to console his comrade. ”Besides, we still have spoils of war.”

The so-called ”spoils of war” were the two men from inside the shell, who had been blasted out by the explosion.

The one who died was blown to pieces. The Officials collected his remains from all over the forest—at one point even finding an eyeball—but they just couldn’t assemble a complete person.

The lucky survivor had fallen into a coma, blood gushing from his wounds like a spring.

Although he was covered in blood and filth, his face swollen like a pig’s head, Hee Lingchuan whistled when he saw him and patted General Antelope’s shoulder. ”Congratulations. The culprit has been caught!”

Xu Dayou and the others also cried out, ”Wan Song! Wan Song! That’s Wan Song!”

As locals, they recognized him after a second look. This was the fugitive criminal, Wan Song!

General Antelope’s eyes turned red with hatred upon seeing his enemy. He instinctively lowered his head, wanting to gore him to death. But with the Officials all around and the scoundrel still being of value, the general could only suppress his killing intent, furiously pawing the ground with one forehoof.

”His life is mine!”

”Don’t be hasty.” Hee Lingchuan checked Wan Song’s injuries and found that his internal organs were severely damaged. He was also losing blood rapidly. His life was hanging by a thread.

If left untreated, he would be dead in a quarter of an hour.

Having no other choice, he shoved a life-saving Pill into Wan Song’s mouth, then sealed the acupoints on his legs to slow the bleeding. Afterward, he ordered the Officials to carry him to town to find a doctor as quickly as possible.

And with that, the great battle came to an end.

Coincidentally, the thunderstorm had also stopped, leaving the metallic scent of damp earth hanging everywhere.

Humans and Demon Beasts had been guarding the warehouse, but they had been scared off by the commotion. Now that the battle was over, they began to return in twos and threes.