Chapter 225: Tongues

Demon Lord was a man with a crooked heart. He was brutal, vicious and a lecher, but no one could deny his talent. It was extraordinary. His rise to infamy had only taken a handful of years, and in that short time, he'd become the Taiyi Sect's public enemy number one.

Even the Taiyi Sect Master, seated so far above everyone else, had called him the most gifted Nocturnal Specter in thirty years. The last person to earn that level of praise was the Female Marshal. Fu Qingyang, even at his level, had not garnered a single word of praise from the Taiyi Sect Master.

Therefore, when the Five Elements Alliance elders heard Yin Ji describe how wary Demon Lord had been of Mute Village and how badly it had rattled him, their hearts sank all at once.

Yuanshi Tianzun was their treasure. A key figure they'd been grooming. The sister of the Zhu family head, who had the backing of the Fu Province Branch, had set her sights on Yuanshi Tianzun, and even though no real harm had been done, the Alliance had blacklisted her without a second thought. If Yuanshi Tianzun actually got hurt, Zhu Rong would suffer far worse than she already had, though she wasn't exactly enjoying life at the moment, since some lunatic had peeled the skin off her face a short while back.

Seeing the Alliance elders turn toward her and the anxious look on Elder Teddy's face, Yin Ji cast her mind back.

"He never gave me the details," she said slowly, "Only that he'd gotten the main point of the dungeon wrong at the start and almost died in there. He said the only reason he made it out was luck."

Both she and Demon Lord were already Saints by the time they got together. Mute Village had been after-dinner chatter, nothing more. He'd brought up the old days in passing, spoke a casual line or two about it, and that was that. He hadn't gone into detail, and she didn't care about Transcendent-tier dungeons, so she never pressed for more information.

Got the main point of the dungeon wrong, Fu Qingyang repeated it silently. He didn't know Mute Village's mission or its Spirit Realm description, so he couldn't judge. But one thing was certain. The dungeon hid some kind of trick, and seeing through the trick was the only way to survive. Miss it, and there would be no way out.

A trick even Demon Lord hadn't caught—that told you how deadly it was. Could Yuanshi clear it?

After that little episode, the Alliance Elders' faces turned grave, and they watched the matches down in the ring with half their attention gone.

The one worrying the most was Elder Teddy, because Yuanshi Tianzun was the direct subordinate of his direct subordinate. Once the boy became a Saint, he'd be a steward under Elder Teddy's own command.

In simple terms, he'd be part of the core roster.

The Taiyi Sect Nocturnal Specters began to mutter among themselves.

"An A-rank dungeon? By the sound of it, it’s brutally difficult."

"A-rank sits right under S-rank. Which A-rank dungeon isn't nasty and hard? But if even Demon Lord nearly died in there... Now that's interesting. And if Yuanshi Tianzun goes and dies inside it, that'll be even more interesting. Tomorrow we'll have big news."

"Don't be so shortsighted. If Yuanshi Tianzun can't survive it, do you think any of us could? What happens when one of us draws that dungeon down the line, huh? Maybe we wouldn't, but what about the ones who come after us? I'd rather he came out alive and fattened up our database. Ugh. And when that day comes, it'll cost a fortune. Elder Sun's head has gone all muddled. If he'd recruited Yuanshi Tianzun back then, our sect would have secured all top three spots in this tournament."

"Speaking of which, where'd Yuan Ting go?"

"Word is, Elder Sun chucked him back into the training camp. Devil grade this time."

"Poor bastard..."

The news raced through the stands, and with the Taiyi Sect's embellishments layered on top, everyone came away knowing Yuanshi Tianzun had walked into a hellish dungeon again.

"What? The Taiyi Sect says the dungeon Yuanshi Tianzun went into is harder than S-rank?"

"What? Demon Lord almost died in there? Is this a guaranteed-death dungeon?"

"What? Demon Lord himself said it's a guaranteed-death dungeon?"

"What? Both Demon Lord and the Taiyi Sect say it's a guaranteed-death dungeon?"

***

Inside Mute Village, Zhang Yuanqing stood outside the courtyard gate, gripping the old man's wrist so he couldn't bolt away as he manipulated the yin corpse to answer for him.

"If you don't mind, then I'll come in."

Immediately after he said that, the old man suddenly thrashed hard, his wrinkled face twisting with terror as he shook his head violently.

Zhang Yuanqing caught the reaction. The old man seems scared stiff of Wang Xiao'er. He doesn't want me going in?

Something clicked in his head, and he quietly triggered Soul Devouring. Black, syrupy energy welled up under his eyes and filled the sockets. All at once the stone house ahead of him seemed to catch fire, with flames of yin energy pouring off it like thick smoke, as if it weren't a house at all, but a tomb cradling some thousand year corpse in its sleep.

Zhang Yuanqing's stomach dropped. Wang Xiao'er possesses such ridiculousamounts of yin energy?

Just then, from the inside, Wang Xiao'er rasped, "Come on, why aren't you inside yet, I'm so tired, I can't talk to you when you're all the way over there..."

The old man fought harder, wailing, his face frantic, like he was begging the young fellow next to him not to step through the door.

Zhang Yuanqing steered the yin corpse toward the stone house, one pace at a time, across the small courtyard, up to a pair of black, half-rotted wooden doors. No lock was hung on them. They were half open too, and the gap between the two doors held a dense, lightless dark.

Corpse No. 1's eyesight could not pierce that darkness, so Zhang Yuanqing couldn't make out what lay inside.

If I didn't have the yin corpse, the smart play would be to pull out the Burst Pistol, plant my feet, and blow both doors to splinters... Instead, Zhang Yuanqing had Corpse No. 1 raise a hand and gently push open the wooden doors.

Faint light spilled into the stone house. Past the threshold was an outer hall with a square table, and on the table sat a dark, indistinct lump.

Zhang Yuanqing steered Corpse No. 1 over the threshold and into the room. He could see more clearly now. Thin hemp cords hung down from the roof beams, and every last one had a tongue tied to the end of it, strung up like cured meat.

Right then, the dark lump on the table turned around. It was a human head, its hair loose and wild and matted with filth. It swung its face fully toward the new arrival, its eyes wide open and shot through with red veins, while black syrupy blood dribbled from its mouth.

Through the phlegm clotted in its throat, it mumbled, "You're here, I'm so hungry..."

The two rotted doors clapped shut with a loud bang. In the same instant, Zhang Yuanqing lost his grip on the yin corpse, and his consciousness was forcibly driven back into his body.

"Aaah, aaah~" At the sight of it, the old man went ashen and screamed himself hoarse.

In the windows of the nearby and stone houses, pairs of cold eyes appeared and trained themselves on them.

What a pain, Zhang Yuanqing groaned inwardly as he swung his hand knocking the old man out cold, and left Little Goofball behind to mind him and keep watch on the surroundings.

He strode into the courtyard and called the Thug's Gauntlets out of his inventory.

Thud, thud, thud... Zhang Yuanqing sprinted to the sealed wooden doors and slammed both fists together.

BOOM!

It was as if a high-explosive grenade had gone off. The shockwave blew the doors clean away, scattering them into scorched black fragments.

The tongues strung up inside swung wildly in the blast, and the swelling firelight drove back the dark, lighting up the hall.

Corpse No. 1 lay sprawled on the floor, and a head with greasy, filthy strands of loose hair matted with dried blood was gnawing at Corpse No. 1's skull.

Crunch, crunch...

The sound of a cranium being chewed through set his scalp crawling. A good chunk of Corpse No. 1's head was already gone, and red and white matter was leaking out of it.

Zhang Yuanqing's mouth twitched. That disembodied head had strong jaws. He clawed Corpse No. 1 back under his control with one part of his mind while, with the other, he pulled out the Burst Pistol and the Observer glasses before squeezing the trigger.

The Burst Pistol and the Observer glasses were a matched set. Without the latter, given Zhang Yuanqing's aim, odds were the bullet would've ended up in his own yin corpse's skull—no, in its brains.

Bang, bang!

The bullets slammed directly into the ugly disembodied head, and the burst effect released an enormous amount of force, sending the head rolling away like a ball that had been kicked.

"It hurts, it hurts!" The head let out a shrill wail. "My body, my body..."

Amidst its cries, a clatter came from the inner room, like a wooden board tumbling to the ground. Zhang Yuanqing swung the muzzle around at once, his sights on the inner doorway and the hanging black cloth that covered it.

A figure came out, walking with stiff, monotonous steps. It wore coarse hemp clothes, its arms hanging at its sides, its nails black and sharp. Above its neck, there was nothing, no head. The headless body walked over to the disembodied head, reached out with those black-nailed hands, scooped it up, and pressed it onto its neck.

The flesh at the neck writhed as both sides stitched themselves together. From the inside came the sickening crack of bones connecting back together.

Wang Xiao'er's eyeballs jittered in their sockets, rolling up, down, left and right without any discernible pattern, as though his eyes could spin about in a full circle.

Gluk, gluk...

Wang Xiao'er's eyeballs rolled upward and his pupils disappeared. The next second, with another sickening "gluk," they dropped back down, and he stared straight at Zhang Yuanqing.

"I'm so hungry, so hungry.... I'm gonna eat you!" he shrieked, and like a beast that had lost its mind, he lunged.

Wang Xiao'er's turned into a yin corpse...!

Zhang Yuanqing lifted the muzzle and pulled the trigger. The bullets burst, gouts of fire blossoming against Wang Xiao'er's chest, yet not one of them slowed him down. The yin corpse, nothing but flesh and blood, had eaten the Burst Pistol rounds with no discernible effect.

Seeing that, Zhang Yuanqing holstered the pistol, summoned the Bloodthirsty Blade and ordered Corpse No. 1 forward to meet the enemy at the same time.

Bang!

Wang Xiao're slammed into Corpse No. 1 and sent it flying. Corpse No. 1 crashed down, smashing the square table to pieces then tumbling into the wall with a loud thud, triggering a large cascade of dust.

Wang Xiao'er staggered, but he regained his footing fast and barreled toward Zhang Yuanqing again.

"I'm so hungry, so hungry... Your meat tastes better..." he gurgled mindlessly.

Copper skin and iron bones? What grade of yin corpse is this? Zhang Yuanqing's pupils shrank a fraction, and he activated Night Wandering without hesitation.

Wang Xiao'er lost his target and looked around blankly.

Fwip.

Zhang Yuanqing appeared behind him without a sound, and the Bloodthirsty Blade sliced its way into the nape of Wang Xiao'er's neck.

The weapon still did him proud. It bit deep into the flesh and lodged itself in a bony part of the neck.

Wang Xiao'er whipped around, his arm swinging behind him in a wide sweep, screaming through the air.

Zhang Yuanqing let go of the Bloodthirsty Blade without hesitation, ducked low under the sweep, and snapped his fingers.

Off in the corner, Corpse No. 1 followed its master's order and rushed forward with heavy steps, ramming into Wang Xiao'er like an armored tank as a dull gray screen of light appeared over the surface of its body.

The defensive barrier, which had been saved up for so long, finally activated.

The two yin corpses collided like heavy iron balls smashing together. Their feet sank deep into the ground, sending black clods of dense earth spraying upward.

Zhang Yuanqing pulled the black skull mask out of his inventory, held it in his hand, and then his body went abruptly rigid as his spirit body slipped free. Astral Projection.

A shadow, half real and half illusion, drifted out of his body and flew toward Wang Xiao'er.

Wang Xiao'er's body snapped stiff, then shook all over, like a man in the grip of a seizure. Zhang Yuanqing's spirit body was trying to possess him, fighting for control of Wang Xiao'er's frame.

While the two of them were locked in the struggle, Corpse No. 1, obeying its master's order, turned and walked over to Zhang Yuanqing's real body, took up the Silencer mask, and placed it over Wang Xiao'er's face.

Every movement, every sound, was abruptly cut out. Wang Xiao'er stopped struggling and stood rooted in place.

Zhang Yuanqing's spirit body drifted free and returned to his flesh.

Zhang Yuanqing walked over to Wang Xiao'er and frowned. I can't devour the spirit body.

A Nocturnal Specter in his spirit body state could still use Soul Devouring. It was the single most effective way to deal with a yin corpse, but it just wasn't something two Nocturnal Specters fighting each other ever really used, because when one used Astral Projection, they were finished. Their flesh body would become meat on the chopping block, and their spirit body would be pinned down by an enemy who was also a Nocturnal Specter.

When he'd possessed Wang Xiao'er earlier on, he'd tried to devour his spirit body, but it hadn't worked. This was similar to the vengeful spirit back at the Three Paths Mountain Goddess Temple. The Level 1 Nocturnal Specter had written in his partial guide that the spirit couldn't be devoured.

It was a protective mechanism of the Spirit Realm. Some of the more important NPCs couldn't be wiped out in this manner, whereas the likes of Widow Xu's children back in Yin Yang Town could be devoured at will. Those little vengeful spirits weren't irreplaceable spirit bodies.

Even so, Zhang Yuanqing was slightly puzzled. Logically, the NPCs in a dungeon will respawn in a new instance. If they can respawn, then why can't they be devoured? This is a little strange...

He didn't let himself get hung up on the Spirit Realm's mechanics. He took the Bloodthirsty Blade and dismembered Wang Xiao'er's body on the spot, then smashed the head to pulp.

The yin corpse went completely still.

With that done, he sent Corpse No. 1 to fetch a bowl from the inner room, and filled two big bowls to the brim with yin corpse fluids. Corpse oil and blood were both excellent Yin material.

He stowed the bowls of corpse fluid into his inventory. The inventory could hold some smaller objects from the Spirit Realm, though larger ones wouldn't fit.

From what I remember about the Spirit Realm's description of this dungeon, Wang Xiao'er carried burial goods out of the tomb. Those burial goods have to still be here.

However, aside from a coffin, a bed, and a few wooden cabinets, there was no other furniture in the inner room. Zhang Yuanqing searched the entire place, turning everything over, and came up with nothing.

He frowned, puzzled. That's not right. Where did the burial goods go?

There wasn't a single lead. It didn't add up. In his experience, Wang Xiao'er, as one of the dungeon's key figures, would surely leave behind a clue. There was no way a Walker would be made to fight tooth and nail, finally clear out the danger at the risk of their lives, and end up walking away empty-handed.

Zhang Yuanqing thought for a few seconds, then his eyes lit up. He strode back to the outer hall and went straight for one of the tongues hung from the roof beams. He swung the Bloodthirsty Blade, cut through one of the hemp cords, and caught the falling tongue.

A few seconds later, the item information surfaced.

【Name: Tongue】

【Type: Soft tissue, oral】

【Function: Speech】

【Description: A tongue cut out of a villager's mouth. If you've come by it, please return it to the villager.】

【Note: There's no telling whose tongue is whose anymore anyway, so, whatever. Do what makes you happy.】

So, the tongue's the clue, he realized. Give the tongue back to a villager, then get information out of their mouths?

As he read through the information given by the Spirit Realm, Zhang Yuanqing immediately knew the right way to use the tongue. He walked straight out of the stone house, went back across the little courtyard and over to the unconscious old man, and stuffed the tongue into his mouth.

The next second, the tongue miraculously knit itself back in place, as if it had never been cut out at all.

Slap!

Zhang Yuanqing brought a palm across the old man's face to wake him.

The old man's eyes flew open, and he shot up in terror and swore. "You little shit, you little shit... Huh, I can talk?!"

Delight washed over the old man's face. He called out "little shit" a few more times, confirming he really had his voice back.

"Old man, I've got questions for you," Zhang Yuanqing said.

"You little shit... Questions? I have a question—"

The old man saw the young fellow lift a gleaming, bright blade, and changed his tune. "You've got real guts boy. And great skills too, since you killed Wang Xiao'er for all of us. Whatever you want to know, this old man will tell you every last bit of it."