Chapter 43: Chapter 44: Advent of the Raging Sand

Nian Songyu and Hee Chunhua looked thoughtful and no longer went at each other.

Perhaps their luck was turning, for just a short while later, another Exotic Beast took the bait.

The creature had the bloated body of a hippopotamus, but its limbs were fins, and it had a long tail and neck. In contrast, its head was bizarrely small.

As a creature of low intelligence, it refused to let go once it bit the hook, making it even easier to catch than the Earth Dragon.

The only problem was its immense size. It took up an entire Walnut Boat by itself, and its weight still made the vessel rock precariously.

Fortunately, the Walnut Boat was close to the stone bridge, and more than a hundred soldiers grabbed the tow ropes and hauled the beast onto the bridge.

What followed was a massive butchering scene.

The men found buckets in the city’s abandoned houses and bled the two monsters, carrying the blood bucket by bucket to the Divine Temple.

Their massive bodies were like water jugs, and the blood that poured out was thick and plentiful, filling the air with a metallic stench.

Watching from the side, Hee Lingchuan caught a whiff and thought, ’I hope the Grand Square Pot isn’t too picky.’

In front of the main hall, the water in the pool grew increasingly red.

To their great delight, after more than thirty buckets of beast blood had been poured in, the surface of the pool began to expand!

"It’s working!" Sunx Fuping was ecstatic, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the pool. "More, more!"

At last, after the final few buckets were poured in, the bloody water just barely covered the bottom of the pool, forming only a thin layer.

Zeng Feixiong and his men tossed their buckets aside. "Now what?"

"We wait!" Sunx Fuping said, his eyes glued to the water’s surface. "All we have to do is wait!"

Hee Chunhua suddenly remarked, "The wind in the city died down a while ago."

Only with his reminder did the others realize it. When had the ever-present, chilling wind stopped?

At some point, the bright moon had hidden behind thick clouds, and everyone sensed the light in the city growing dimmer.

The words had barely left his lips when a string of small bubbles broke the long-still surface of the water, sending out a faint ripple.

"There must be a hole..."

Zeng Feixiong had just begun to speak when Sunx Fuping shushed him, raising a hand to cut him off.

The vast plaza of the Mitian Temple fell utterly silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

That in itself was unnatural.

Another string of small bubbles surfaced.

Sunx Fuping lowered himself, about to get a closer look, when with a loud SPLASH, something shot out of the water, nearly smacking him in the face!

The others could only make out a dark shadow, but that didn’t stop them from crying out in alarm.

Only Nian Songyu and Hee Chunhua, among others, were able to see it clearly in that fleeting moment. It was a wolf-like monster. Its head, tail, and limbs were canine, but its body was covered in rough fissures, less like animal hide and more like tree bark. And in its deeply sunken eye sockets, there were no eyeballs—only pinpricks of crimson ghost fire!

The creature emerged from the water directly facing Sunx Fuping, so it wasted no time in opening its great maw and lunging for his throat.

Its mouth could open to a hundred and twenty degrees, looking as if it could swallow a head whole. They were so close that in the blink of an eye, Sunx Fuping was about to be decapitated.

But the National Preceptor lived up to his title. He remained calm in the face of danger and thrust his Magic Staff into the monster’s face.

The beast head atop the staff opened its mouth and, with a WHOOSH, spat out a dazzlingly crimson Fireball.

The monster let out a piercing shriek and was instantly annihilated, turning to ash and smoke.

Nian Songyu was startled for a moment, then exclaimed with delight, "A Resentful Soul!"

The monster had no physical body; it was a Resentful Soul.

People always assumed it was Resentful Souls that hid in the shadows of the Panlong Desert, confusing the minds of men. In truth, the culprits were the Three Corpses Insects. This was the first *real* Resentful Soul the group had encountered since entering the Panlong Desert.

Its appearance made Nian Songyu overjoyed. This proved they were on the right track!

Ash dusted Sunx Fuping’s face, but he didn’t bother to wipe it away, instead lowering his head to inspect the water’s surface.

Hee Lingchuan had a malicious thought. ’If he leans down another inch, the next monster that pops out can smash right into his face.’

By now, the entire pool was bubbling, the froth growing denser and more widespread.

It was as if a fire had been lit underneath, bringing the surface to a boil.

The ripples didn’t dissipate when they reached the edge of the pool. Instead, they grew stronger as they spread, eventually forming into actual waves.

The waves crashed against the pool’s edge, then recoiled, further churning the surface.

The expressions on everyone’s faces soured.

If a single stream of bubbles meant one monster was emerging, then this dense, roiling mass of them meant...

Sunx Fuping suddenly spun around and roared at the crowd, "Take the Soul-Preventing Powder! Light your Life Fire! Now, now, now, now, now!"

The roar was imbued with True Power, a thunderous, deafening sound that shook the plaza and betrayed his palpable anxiety.

Everyone immediately sprang into action.

Fortunately, the hundred-odd soldiers who had helped with the fishing in the Desert Sea had already taken the Soul-Preventing Powder. Now, it was just up to Sunx Fuping, Hee Chunhua, and the others to do the same.

As soon as they swallowed the small pills, Sunx Fuping gave urgent orders. "Hold your breath and stand by the pool! Don’t look back! These monsters are much harder to deal with than the Three Corpses Insects!"

His last sentence sent a chill through everyone’s heart. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Sunx Fuping stressed again, "Hold your breath! Hold it!"

The words were barely out of his mouth when the surface of the water exploded!

The scene was like a volcanic eruption. The pool’s surface was the caldera, and the spewing lava was an uncountable mass of bizarrely shaped Resentful Souls!

Some resembled humans, some beasts, and some plants, while others were a mix of all three, making it impossible for the living to discern their original forms.

But there were simply too many Resentful Souls pouring out. No one had time to observe individual shapes; all they could see was a spectacular plume of black smoke, like volcanic ash, shooting straight into the sky before spreading in all directions.

The most terrifying part was that every single Resentful Soul opened its mouth in a long, piercing, ear-splitting shriek filled with pain and resentment.

Without needing to be told, everyone instinctively clapped their hands over their ears and clamped their mouths shut.

But the sound reverberated within each person’s Sea of Consciousness, shaking their very souls and making them feel dizzy and disoriented.

Most of the emerging Resentful Souls flew high into the sky, but a few circled twice above the main hall before swooping back down!

No one dared to even breathe.

National Preceptor Sunx had been right; these things looked far more vicious than the Three Corpses Insects.

Three tufts of Life Fire ignited on each of their bodies, while the Soul-Preventing Powder did its best to conceal the aura of the living.

The Ghost Souls wove through the crowd, but they treated the people like clay statues, drifting away after a short while.

Hee Lingchuan looked up at the sky and saw that the circling Ghost Souls now filled the night, causing the weather to change rapidly.

The wind began to blow.

Twenty breaths passed.

Forty breaths passed.

Thousands of Resentful Souls surged out with every breath. By now, tens of thousands had appeared, yet they continued to gush forth with no sign of slowing down.

Outside Panlong City, the wind grew progressively stronger. Sand devils began to form, growing larger and larger until they became gigantic funnels, one end touching the heavens, the other the earth.

It was as if nothing existed between heaven and earth but the raging sand and furious wind.

Even though the wind and sand stung their eyes, the men had to rub them and keep watching.

The Sandstorm Season was a part of life for most of the Black Water City People, but how many had ever witnessed its true origin with their own eyes?

As time passed, the soldiers’ faces grew redder and redder from holding their breath, turning almost the color of liver.