Chapter 106: Poisoned
Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek
Qin Mu slept in an inn in Tiger Sun County until evening when he was rudely awakened by the commotions outside. He could hear the inn owner saying, "No idea where these beetles have come from. They rush in from all over the place and they can't be killed or chased out! This is the red beetle. Officer, can you take a look to see if they are harmful…"
Qin Mu's heart leaped and hurriedly got up. He woke up the little fox and packed his baggage. The inn owner was still talking about the matter regarding the bugs with the officer below, however, the officer was only a martial arts practitioner and knew nothing about this kind of bugs, "There're many bugs of this kind in the city. They weren't around earlier. It must be the upcoming war which caused this bug infestation. Just trample these bugs to death."
"They can't be crushed or be burned to death. Even when I watered them with boiling water, they were still leaping and frisking about. One of them even went into a guest's mouth and he couldn't even get it out by vomiting…"
Qin Mu left a great abundance coin on the table and pushed open the window. Hu Ling'er executed her spells to summon a demon wind and Qin Mu jumped out, stepping on the demon wind as he traveled away.
At this moment, he could see the red corpse beetles flying scattered in the sky above Tiger Sun County. Qin Mu flicked his fingers repeatedly and every flick was like a thunder bursting forth. The corpse beetles nearby him dropped to the ground before they could even see him.
"Why is Corpse Immortal Cult so persistent like a ghost? We just killed their cult leader's son. Is there a need for them to pursue us relentlessly?" Hu Ling'er ranted angrily.
Qin Mu landed on the ground and quickly sprinted away. He also bought a few trays of steam buns and just took the whole bamboo steamer along with him. Just as the owner was about to shout theft, a great abundance coin came flying onto the table of his stall, making him can't help feeling overjoyed.
Qin Mu stuffed buns into his mouth as he quickly ran out of the city. Hu Ling'er jumped onto his shoulder and grabbed a piping hot bun. Yelping repeatedly from the heat of the hot bun, she tossed it around in her paws. Enduring the heat, she took a bite and stuck her tongue out from scalding it.
The human and the fox quickly finished the buns. When Qin Mu looked back and didn't see any red corpse beetles following over, he gave a sigh of relief.
Hu Ling'er tunneled into the backpack and took out the Eternal Peace's geographic map. Qin Mu opened up the geographic map and checked it. He then raised his head and took a look at the surroundings. After he determined his location, he immediately increased his speed and rushed towards the capital city.
Meanwhile, in Tiger Sun County City, many of the red corpse beetles couldn't find Qin Mu and flew out of the city. Outside the county's city, Senior Uncle Qiao sat on top of Flat Sun Mountain and called back his corpse beetles with a slight frown. Yet at this moment, he saw a single arm elder walking over and when the elder passed by him, he stepped on one of his corpse beetle with a squash.
Senior Uncle Qiao was about to spew vulgarities at him when he suddenly came to a realization, "My corpses beetles are incomparably durable so how can they be squashed to death so easily? This single arm geezer is an expert and it's best not to provoke him!"
When the elder walked far away, Senior Uncle Qiao identified the directions and thought to himself, "There are no signs of him nearby, and since the way here has been blocked by me, this brat has only east, west and north to escape from. My flying zombies have already reached city west and city east and no traces of him could be seen there. In that case, he must have gone up north."
He immediately moved and headed north.
After a short distance, Senior Uncle Qiao met the single arm elder again. He looked at the hollow sleeve of the elder who walked slowly and steadily towards the north.
Senior Uncle Qiao had no intention to take heed of him. Some of his corpse beetles formed a red cloud and carried him into the air while the rest flew into the forest to search for any traces that Qin Mu might have left behind.
Squash, squash.
The single arm elder crushed another two corpse beetles and Senior Uncle Qiao raised his eyebrows while holding back his anger. The swarm of corpse beetles slowly descended but they didn't land on the ground, keeping the distance of a yard away from the ground and two yards away from the elder.
Senior Uncle Qiao bowed and greeted, "This elder, these corpse beetles are raised by me. It's fine if you squashed one to death but why did you have to squash two more of them?"
The single arm elder stopped and replied, "I thought they were ownerless bugs that were flying all around. So they were raised by you, excuse me, excuse me."
Senior Uncle Qiao smiled, "One who does not know is not guilty, elder please be more careful next time…"
Squash.
The single arm elder raised his feet and crushed another bug to death. Senior Uncle Qiao's expression instantly changed. The single arm elder immediately moved back and said, "I didn't do it on purpose…"
Squash.
Another few corpse beetles flew under his feet for no reason and were crushed into red color juice.
Senior Uncle Qiao sneered and flying zombies came out from the forest and surrounded the single arm elder. Senior Uncle Qiao asked with a grim expression, "Elder, are you here to toy with me? Purposely crushing the corpse beetles I've raised, can it be that you're bullying us Corpse Immortal Cult?"
The single arm elder immediately explained, "So you are an expert from Corpse Immortal Cult. Don't be misunderstood, your bugs had made their way under my feet by themselves. You can't blame me."
Senior Uncle Qiao didn't know the depth of his cultivation and was slightly afraid. His expression eased and forced himself to say, "Since it's not on purpose, let's leave it at that."
As he was about to leave, he heard another squash. Senior Uncle Qiao flew into fury and his fear grew into guts. With a thought in his mind, the flying zombies pounced on the elder!
His flying zombies were different from He Yin's. He Yin was merely just an entry disciple of Corpse Immortal Cult who had just cultivated to Six Directions Realm and cultivated his divine arts. Whereas he was a figure of the older generation in Corpse Immortal Cult with the cultivation of Seven Stars Realm. His flying zombies had long been refined into copper armored corpses which had copper tendons and iron bones. They were all packed with astonishing power!
Furthermore, he had refined quite a number of corpses and with so many copper armored corpses pouncing on the single arm elder, it was naturally very easy to get him!
Before those flying zombies could pounce on that elder, a resonating name of Buddha sounded out and the aura of Buddha erupted out. Senior Uncle Qiao's blood ran cold and could only feel a Buddha standing in front of him. He couldn't help getting frightened out of his soul and knelt down on the ground at once to kowtow deeply, "Spare my life!"
Meanwhile, the flying zombies were shone by the Buddha's aura and they fell flat onto the ground. The connections between him and his zombies were completely cut off. They were instantly enlightened by the single arm elder and could never harm people anymore.
"Stand up."
The single arm elder gave him a look and walked away, "Anyone can make mistakes, forgive them when possible. I shan't kill you but I wish you could spare people if it's possible to let them off."
Senior Uncle Qiao raised his head and looked at his surroundings. He let out a sigh of relief and thought to himself, "Luckily I'm smart. If trained properly, any skill would be able to save lives, for example, kneeling when you can't win."
He got up and composed himself with a pained expression on his face, "These flying zombies cost countless years of my blood and sweat to create, never would I expect all of them to be destroyed! Who is that single arm elder? He's really powerful. He even didn't attack and just shone once with his aura to destroy my precious… However, when I catch that brat and take away that first ranking high official's treasure sword, everything would be worth it!"
Qin Mu rapidly sprinted into the forest and suddenly stopped. He bent over and plucked a small grass that had a flower with three purple petals. Hu Ling'er was bewildered, "Young Master Mu, what flower is this?"
"This is Earth Origin Grass. It has a scent that human and beast cannot smell."
Qin Mu carefully plucked the small purple flower. He threw away the flower and kept the leaves and rhizoma. He continued to wander around the forest and search for another few herbs which were common herbs that could be seen in the forest, "However, the scent of Earth Origin Grass was abnormally fragrant to insects. Yet this grass has a poison which is not toxic to humans but deadly to insects, therefore it is called the bane of hundred insects. These other herbs that I have picked don't have other uses other than to multiply the scent and toxicity of Earth Origin Grass by a hundred times."
He quickly rushed forward. As he was running, his vital qi burst forth and propped the few herbs in the air. Using vital qi as a cauldron, he refined the medicine in the air.
Flames burst forth in his other hand and roasted the herbs. At the same time, Black Tortoise Vital Qi was used to moisturize the herbs to prevent them from getting burnt.
Before he crossed the col, Qin Mu had finished refining the medicinal energy of these herbs. Removing the medicinal dregs, his hands interlocked each other and instantly some liquid that was like clear oil appeared in the middle of his palms.
Qin Mu looked at the surroundings and found a clear spring in a col nearby and went over to wash his hands. He then exerted force and rushed away.
Not long later, a red cloud came flying over in the sky which was omnipresent. It was the red corpse beetles of Senior Uncle Qiao.
These red corpse beetles followed Qin Mu's trails and immediately caught up to Qin Mu. Suddenly the corpse beetles couldn't control themselves and flew down to the clear spring in the col.
Senior Uncle Qiao who was controlling the corpse beetle swarm from behind was startled and rushed over at once. Looking at the red color bugs that laid dead around the whole mountain and wilderness, he felt his heart turning cold. The corpse beetles that he had painstakingly raised had all died completely!
To be able to poison his corpse beetles all in one go, this ability made him tremble with fear!
"Furthermore, the most crucial thing was…"
Qin Mu who had now gone far away smiled and told the little fox hiding in his backpack, "Corpse beetle is also a type of poison and is a great poison. The red corpse beetles are even more poisonous! The poison oil that I had just refined has no effect on humans but if eaten by the red corpse beetles, it would merge with the toxicity of the red corpse beetles and turn into another poison which is even more terrifying. As long as one touches the poison, their flesh and blood will start to rot and their body would be paralyzed. They wouldn't be able to move and can only look at themselves rotting away!"
Hu Ling'er jumped in shock and cried out, "Young master, will the strong practitioner from Corpse Immortal Cult be poisoned? I see that his cultivation is quite high!"
Qin Mu said faintly, "That would depend if he would touch those corpse beetles or not."
Looking at the sky, he gently said, "This toxic will detox itself. When the sun shines on it, the toxicity will break down and become weaker and weaker. After getting exposed to the scorching sun for an hour, the toxicity will be gone. However in the next hour, whoever touches it dies!"
At the col, Senior Uncle Qiao's body trembled and he suddenly sneered, "Luckily I still have more corpse beetles and the beetle queen is still here…"
At this moment, the corpse beetles on his body climbed out frantically and flew towards the poisonous spring in the col. Even the beetle queen also flew out. Senior Uncle Qiao gave a cry of alarm and immediately grabbed at the beetle queen but the flying speed of the beetle queen was extremely fast. It had already come to the spring and drank the spring water.
Senior Uncle Qiao grabbed the beetle queen from behind and was about to give a sigh of relief when his body suddenly turned stiff. The skin on his palm rapidly rotted and this rot was spreading up his arm. His muscles started to fall off from his arm and dropped to the ground, rapidly turning into pus.
He could see his arm rotting but he couldn't feel any pain.
He wanted to chop off his arm but his consciousness seemed to be separated from his body and couldn't control his body. Gritting his teeth, Senior Uncle Qiao mustered all his strength to lift his other arm. Suddenly his body lost balance and collapsed onto the floor. With his face on the floor, there were several more corpses of the dead corpse beetles under his face.
"Grandpa Apothecary was right. He told me if I can't win, I'll just have to use poison." The cowherd boy from Disabled Elderly VIllage sighed ruefully in the distance.