From the fake emperor to the concubine

Chiya had just brought back the kerosene and bundles of hay when he saw this scene, and his face turned pale.

"Back off!"

The old woman shouted, and she was already close by.

Instead of helping the two injured people, she first sprinkled some medicinal powder on their wounds. The powder, upon contact with the grayish-black vapor, hissed and emitted a wisp of white smoke. The Bone Granny's eyes narrowed sharply: "Don't touch the cuts! This stuff will burrow into flesh!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yi's sword strikes became even more ferocious.

He had originally intended to keep an eye on the direction of the gray currents, but now he couldn't afford to be distracted. The throat was too narrow; if these things climbed up and settled down, the ditch diggers and stone movers behind them would immediately be thrown into chaos.

He sank his feet, and the first burst of bone energy, along with the force of his shoulder rotation, surged into his waist and back, causing him to glide out almost skimming the edge of the ice.

The flash of the blade was small, but it was swift.

He severed the half-exposed corpse from its collarbone, and when he raised his hand to block, five finger bones flew off. The third one was the most bizarre; its entire body didn't emerge, but it thrust its head forward and suddenly spat out a spray of grayish-white bone needles.

Zheng Yi sidestepped to let most of them pass, but two still grazed his sleeve and disappeared into the snow behind him.

The snow instantly turned gray, and a thin layer of frost formed on its surface.

Upon seeing this, Wu Chen immediately stepped in front of the crowd to block their path.

"Don't get too close!"

He no longer simply thrust his spear, but instead specifically targeted the "tightest" parts of the bodies of inanimate objects: bone crevices, spine, and shoulder sockets. A powerful, bone-penetrating strike would often not just knock them away, but rather cause them to explode from within. Each time one exploded, a wisp of ash would try to escape, and Zheng Yi would deliver the finishing blow.

The two men, one in front and one behind, actually managed to hold the front few feet of the throat.

But the creatures underwater seem endless.

The ice shards kept churning up, and layer upon layer of bony hands emerged. To make matters worse, the water level behind the throat didn't stop just because these dead things were climbing up; it continued to pour into the channel. Black water flowed down the sides of their boots, so cold it felt like it froze their ankles.

Yan'ao cursed, then turned and yelled at his own men, "Don't stare at the opening, watch the ditch!"

Only then did everyone realize what was happening.

If the throat can be defended, but the ditch is breached, all efforts will be in vain.

Half of the Firemane tribe hunters immediately went to reinforce the stone wedges on both sides. The Black Rock tribe people held firm on the supporting timbers at the weak points that Wu Chen had previously identified. At one point, the soil on the left side had already collapsed due to the water, and the three hunters' shoulders were pressed against the wooden pole, their faces flushed red, and their feet were still sliding backward little by little.

Seeing this, Chiya didn't care about anything else. He grabbed a spare short log and rushed over, wedging himself behind the large log and gritting his teeth as he pushed against it.

The older hunter nearby saw him and roared, "Stand still!"

Chiya immediately spread his legs apart, his whole body seemed to be nailed to the snow, his arms were shaking violently, but he actually managed to hold on.

Bone Granny didn't push her way to the front.

She stood on slightly higher ground, her eyes like hooks, scanning the entire arena. She was the first to notice who was injured, who was slow to react, and which side had an extra wisp of dust.

"Fill the right side with gray!"

"Don't pour the oil over there yet, wait until it crawls out!"

"Red Fang, don't touch your wound!"

Chiya was about to wipe the water off his face with his sleeve when he heard this, so he froze and obediently put his hand down.

Zheng Yi cleaved open another inanimate object, but suddenly everything went silent.

It wasn't that there was no sound around him, but rather that he suddenly heard a different sound that didn't belong here amidst the noise.

underwater.

A very deep place.

It felt like something heavier was slowly moving.

His heart sank, and he abruptly looked up at the churning ice water at the back of his throat.

The next instant, a faint blue light appeared beneath the ice.

It's very light.

But it's familiar.

Wu Chen noticed it too, and the tip of his spear paused: "It's here."

Zheng Yi whispered, "Take half a step back!"

These words were spoken to the people at the very front, but only Wu Chen and Yan Ao truly heard them. The two retreated almost simultaneously.

The next moment, an even thicker, grayish-white bone shadow suddenly burst out of the water.

It wasn't a pounce, it wasn't a crawl, it was a crash.

The ice shell at the rear edge of its throat was blasted open by it, sending shards of ice and black water flying into the air. The tall, lifeless creature with its ice shell covering its face reappeared before everyone.

But this time it was in a more sorry state, and even more terrifying.

A large section of the ice armor on his chest shattered, and the gray-blue mist core inside spun even more rapidly, as if it had been enraged. Two ribs on his left shoulder were missing, but the bone blade in his right hand was longer, its edge wrapped with a layer of gray-white frost that had just been brought out of the water, and every drop of water that dripped down burned a ring of cold smoke on the snow.

Even though Chiya was a little far away, he was still startled and his heart clenched.

"It's that again..."

The Flame Hound had never seen it make its first move, but it could tell at a glance that this was not something an ordinary hunter could handle. It immediately shouted, "Those in the back, retreat! Don't surround it!"

The Firemane and Blackrock tribes reacted quickly, immediately spreading out to the sides to clear the space in front of their throats.

The tall, lifeless creature was not immediately attacked.

It stood between the black water and the broken ice, its head slightly tilted, and the faint blue light beneath its icy shell pierced through the crowd and fell directly on Zheng Yi's face.

The voice came again in Zheng Yi's ear.

This time it's not just one word.

"You... you moved the water."

Like bubbles bursting at the bottom of the water, the sounds are intermittent, yet I can understand them.

Zheng Yi slightly turned the short knife in his hand, and the cold light on the blade stabilized.

"Are you unhappy?"

The tall, lifeless creature emitted a series of soft, crackling sounds from its throat, like laughter, or like many joints rubbing together simultaneously.

It didn't answer, but simply raised its bone blade.

The black water behind the throat suddenly surged up.

The skeletal remains that had been crawling outwards suddenly stopped their aimless flailing and instead lay low, as if pulled backwards by some invisible force. Then, dozens of grayish-white bone spikes shot out from underwater simultaneously, raining down on the throat and the front of the guide channel!
"careful!"

Wu Chen blocked with his spear, sending a swarm of spikes flying. Yan Ao swung his heavy black iron chisel, smashing away the spikes that were heading straight for him. But most of the bone spikes were aimed at the crowd and the supporting logs.

A piece of wood pierced the right-side wooden support, and the wood immediately made a "hissing" sound, its surface quickly turning gray, as if it had been rotten.

Another blade grazed the calf of a stone hunter, who groaned as his trousers froze instantly, nearly causing him to kneel. The Bone Woman, prepared, tossed a handful of powder over, covering the edge of the wound: "Sit down, don't move!"

Zheng Yi didn't look back; he charged straight at the tall, lifeless object.

We can't let it stand still and use its methods.

This time, instead of slashing at the chest first, he aimed straight for the head and neck. The short sword, carrying a sharp, cold glint, slashed diagonally down from the upper left, forcing his opponent to raise his blade.

clang!
The bone blade and the short sword clashed together, producing a sharp, piercing sound.

The tall, inanimate object was heavier than before, and Zheng Yi's hand immediately went numb. But he used the force of the impact to spin his body and his left palm was already pressed against the cracked ice armor on the other's chest.

It is not a spiritual fire.

Instead, it was a more concentrated, icy spiritual energy that pierced straight into the outer edge of the mist core.

The tall, lifeless object indeed paused.

It seemed not to have expected Zheng Yi to use the cold power of its own kind to break it; the gray-blue mist core on its chest suddenly shrank, and a ghostly blue light flashed.

Wu Chen seized the moment, taking a step diagonally to its side and rear, and thrusting the bone spear straight in from under its armpit.

The spear went in very deep.

The spearhead protruded almost from his chest, carrying a deep, suppressed force that had been building up for a long time, and pierced the edge of that gray-blue mist core.

Click.

It wasn't bone fragments. It looked like a layer of a hard shell had cracked.

For the first time, the tall, lifeless object emitted a truly sharp sound, suddenly sweeping out a backhand slash.

Wu Chen was prepared and withdrew his spear, but was still grazed on the shoulder by the wind of the blade. His skin was torn open, and before the blood could flow out, it was frozen by the cold air.

Zheng Yi pressed on relentlessly, his blade slicing once more at the previously opened spot.

But this time, the tall, inanimate object couldn't block it head-on.

Its chest core suddenly spun, and a cloud of grayish-white mist, carrying ice shards and bone fragments, billowed up around its body, deflecting Zheng Yi's blade path by half an inch. Immediately afterward, its other hand spread its five fingers, and several extremely fine bone threads suddenly shot out from its fingertips, aiming straight for Zheng Yi's wrist and throat.

Zheng Yi leaned back to avoid the needles in his throat, but his wrist was still grazed by a bone thread.

The feeling was extremely cold, like a thin snake crawling into the flesh.

His expression remained unchanged. He slashed his sleeve with a backhand stroke, cutting off the piece of cloth and bone threads that were stuck to it, and then used the momentum to step back.

The Flame Hound seized the opportunity and slammed down from the left.

His weapon was ineffective; he relied solely on its weight. The heavy black iron chisel struck the side of the tall, lifeless creature, not knocking it away, but rather causing half of its body to sink, cracking the ice beneath its feet.

"So you can be crooked too!"

After the Flame Hound roared a second time, it arrived again.

But the tall, lifeless creature clearly understood the strength of the red-haired strongman. It stopped trying to take the hit head-on, slid its body, and skimmed half a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) across the ground. With a backhand slash, it shaved off a piece of the heavy chisel in the Flame Hound's hand.

Flame Hound's eyes narrowed, and instead of retreating, it rammed into him with its shoulder.

This impact was entirely driven by the brute force of the wasteland people. The tall, lifeless object was knocked backward, its heel already touching the edge of the broken ice in its throat.

Zheng Yi had been waiting for this moment.

"Black Sinking!"

Wu Chen did not respond; he had already arrived.

The bone spear didn't stab, but rather flicked, aiming straight up at the thinnest piece of broken ice beneath the feet of that tall, lifeless creature.

The spear tip pierced the ice, its force exploding outwards.

Crack!
The entire ice floe collapsed downwards.

The tall, lifeless creature sank, its right leg sinking halfway into the black water.

Only then did it show a hint of urgency.

It's not that I'm afraid of falling into the water, but that I'm afraid of being dragged back.

Zheng Yi saw it clearly, and a thought flashed through his mind: it can move freely in the water, but it may not want to lose its balance in such a shallow and chaotic place as the throat.

Since that's the case—

He raised his hand and unleashed a burst of spiritual fire, not striking the creature's body, but instead striking the black water beneath its feet.

boom!
A cloud of white steam erupted from the water at the throat's edge; the collision of fire and water produced a piercing shriek. The ice beneath the towering, lifeless creature's feet shattered further, and half of its body sank into the icy depths.

At the same time, its chest core seemed to be stimulated by this sudden cold and heat wave, and its rotation suddenly became erratic.

Wu Chen let out a low shout and launched the bone spear for the third time.

The spear struck the crack that had appeared earlier, precisely and accurately.

puff.

It was heavier than the previous two times.

The spearhead pierced almost completely into the shaft.

The tall, lifeless creature stiffened abruptly, and the gray-blue mist core on its chest finally emerged mostly from the crack. It wasn't a complete round core, but rather a clump of tiny bone fragments and ice crystals, with a tiny, eerie blue flame flickering inside.

Zheng Yi's eyes flashed, and the blade fell straight down.

Just as the blade was about to strike, a large wave of black water suddenly surged up from behind his throat.

It wasn't the waves that started on their own; it was the countless skeletons and dead objects below that pushed upwards at the same time.

They lunged at the edge of the throat like madmen, not to kill, but to snatch back the tall, lifeless object. Bone hands, spine, and skull were a jumbled mess, forcefully piling up into a platform in the water.

The tall, lifeless object, aided by that support, managed to swerve its chest at the last moment!
Zheng Yi's strike failed to cleave the mist core; it only severed half of its breastplate and a string of outward-facing ribs.

The faint blue flame within the gray-blue mist core suddenly retreated into its depths.

The next instant, the tall, lifeless creature was pulled backward by the bone mass below.

Wu Chen tried to draw his spear to give chase, but found that the spear tip was being held firmly in the chest by something, and he couldn't pull it out for a while.

"Discard the spear!"

Zheng Yi shouted.

Wu Chen let go almost without hesitation.

The towering, lifeless creature, along with the section of its chest that was biting the bone spear, was dragged back into the black water by the bone mass behind it. Before it sank, the faint blue glint beneath its icy shell lifted slightly, still staring at Zheng Yi.

The voice in my ear was as thin as silk.

"Give it back..."

Immediately afterwards, the black water surged forth.

It disappeared.

Along with the surrounding surging skeletons and dead creatures, as if receiving some order, they began to retreat in the blink of an eye. Things that had been desperately climbing upwards suddenly shrank downwards from the crack, their skeletal hands gripping the ice loosening one by one, and their skulls, spines, and claws sank back into the water in a chaotic mess.

Suddenly, there was no space in front of my throat.

Only black water continued to flow out along the drainage ditch, carrying with it a layer of increasingly noticeable grayish-white bone fragments.

Wu Chen stood on the edge of the ice, his chest heaving violently, blood seeping from the wound on his shoulder.

The Flame Hound was still holding the half-broken black iron chisel in its hand, and it didn't put it down immediately.

Chiya stood far away, staring at the now-calm black water, and after a long pause, he finally managed to stammer out, "It...it got away?"

Zheng Yi did not answer immediately.

He stared at the water's surface, waited a few more breaths, and then slowly exhaled.

"This time it is."

The old woman, leaning on her cane, walked over step by step.

She first looked at her throat, then at the water still flowing in the ditch, and finally at Zheng Yi and Wu Chen.

"Those who can stand, stand still. Those who can't stand, bandage your wounds first." Her voice remained steady. "Just because it's receding doesn't mean the wound is safe."

One sentence brought everyone back to their senses.

Yan'ao finally put down the heavy chisel, looked down at the corner of his weapon that had been cut off, and his face was very ugly.

"That thing really knows how to hide."

Wu Chen bent down and picked up a broken rib from the ground, catching his breath: "It's not just hiding. It's testing whether we can hold on."

Zheng Yi nodded: "We're also testing whether we dare to continue releasing [the virus]."

Only then did Chi Ya dare to approach a little. He first looked at the blood on Wu Chen's shoulder, then at the light white marks on Zheng Yi's wrist caused by the bone threads. His voice was a little weak.

"Then...should we still release it?"

Yan'ao glanced at him: "What do you think, you little puppy?"

Chiya instinctively wanted to talk back, but looking at his throat and then at the gray-black water that had filled most of the ditch, he opened his mouth but couldn't get it out.

The bone-groom spoke for him.

"put."

As soon as she uttered that word, even Yan'ao turned to look at her.

The old woman pointed to her throat, then to the rubble pit. (End of Chapter)