Chapter 32: Do Not Look Back

He Lingchuan heard it, of course. He held his breath, focusing inward with meditative discipline, acting as if he were an old monk in deep trance, refusing to acknowledge whatever he heard.

Seeing no reaction from him, the voice changed. It became like a soft, sweet girl in her mid-teens pouring out her heart—tender, adorable, and coquettish. As He Lingchuan listened, he increasingly felt it sounded like a girl he had once had a crush on during his childhood.

He let out a silent, derisive snort. That "sweet girl" had run off with a wealthy second-generation heir from her hometown before she even finished her studies, and within three years, she had given birth to two third-generation heirs. The moment he had seen those two kids with their long, runny noses, he felt how foolish he had been back then. He hadn't done his homework on the Three-Corpse Worms; he hadn't realized that "those who leave you yesterday can never be reclaimed."

Just then, the hull of the boat suddenly shuddered, as if some heavyweight monster had climbed aboard. Immediately following this were the startled cries and screams of soldiers, the curses of sand bandits, and the symphony of blades unsheathing.

A fight had broken out behind them, and it was intense.

The most recent scream rang out directly behind He Lingchuan. He felt as though he had just been conversing with this very soldier.

Then, a monster charged straight toward him, its heavy footsteps sounding as if they were stepping directly onto his heart.

Was this a trick played by the Three-Corpse Worms to lure him into looking back?

But if it were true, staying stationary like this would most likely turn him into a snack for the monster. This was the Dragon-Coiled Desert, a place teeming with exotic beasts; who could guarantee that one or two hadn't climbed onto the boat to feast on humans?

It was getting closer! The heavy sense of oppression made the hair on the back of He Lingchuan's neck stand on end.

He hurriedly looked at He Chunhua. His father was facing him, so he should be able to see the situation behind him.

He Chunhua's facial muscles twitched slightly, his expression even appearing somewhat ferocious, but his gaze was hollow. He Lingchuan found this expression unfamiliar; he didn't know what his father had heard.

How could two parties convey their intentions through eye contact alone?

But with the Three-Corpse Worms present, no one dared to open their mouth.

Fortunately, He Chunhua suddenly snapped back to his senses. He stared intently at his eldest son, and as if hearing his inner thoughts, he suddenly winked his right eye at him.

Such a gesture was rare for a dignified Prefect, yet it directly shattered the solemn and terrifying atmosphere. He Lingchuan breathed a silent sigh of relief, his heart settling.

It was fake!

His father was trying to tell him that no matter what he heard, it was all a lie!

Sure enough, even when the monster's footsteps reached the back of his head and he could hear its heavy panting, the sound vanished in the next second.

All that remained in his ears was the whistling of the wind.

The wisps of phantom smoke beside him also lost interest in him, swaying their heads as they drifted elsewhere.

He Lingchuan had passed the test, and he winked back at his father.

The small red pills everyone had swallowed earlier were "Soul-Withering Powder," specially refined by Grand Preceptor Sun for this journey. The main ingredient was Corrupt-Heart Grass, which grew in places of extreme Yin. Once consumed by humans, it not only allowed them to see "unclean things" for a short time but also allowed their Life-Fires to temporarily mask their presence from the living. As long as the Three-Corpse Worms did not crawl into a person's nine orifices, they would treat them as inanimate objects.

However, the greatest weakness of this method was that one must not turn around easily!

A person's upper body is surrounded by three Life-Fires that protect the heart and mind from external evils. But if you turn your head while being targeted by a Three-Corpse Worm, your Life-Fire will immediately weaken, and you will no longer be able to hide from it.

This was not Sun Fuping's exclusive invention, but a method recorded in the notebooks of a practitioner from the Xianyou Kingdom. Often, your opponent knows you best; the Xianyou Kingdom had fought the Dragon-Coiled City for over thirty years, so they must have spent their days obsessing over ways to deal with the Three-Corpse Worms.

In fact, such things happened frequently in the wild forests and fields at night; a traveler would hear someone calling from behind, and upon an inadvertent turn, their Life-Lamp would weaken, allowing evil spirits to invade.

When He Lingchuan had first received the small pills, a thought had struck him. The Xianyou Kingdom had been destroyed for a hundred years; the notebooks of practitioners from that era would surely be hard to come by. Furthermore, Corrupt-Heart Grass was a rare commodity with extremely harsh growing conditions; it could not be cultivated or mass-produced. Just how much effort would it take to collect the raw materials and refine enough Soul-Withering Powder for three hundred people?

Had the Grand Marshal and Grand Preceptor Sun really only started preparing for the exploration of the Dragon-Coiled Ruins six months ago?

Of course, the thought was merely fleeting, and He Lingchuan did not dwell on it.

He saw that He Chunhua's expression had returned to its original composure, and the Three-Corpse Worms around him had scattered, indicating that his father had also passed the test.

But as his gaze swept over the personal guards behind He Chunhua, he was suddenly startled: "Hey, don't..."

This man actually had reddened eyes, brimming with tears?

Just as the words left his mouth, the guard turned his head.

He Lingchuan watched helplessly as the Life-Fire on the man's left shoulder went out with a "poof."

The light from the other two flames immediately dimmed.

The Three-Corpse Worms hovering nearby were like sharks smelling blood; with a sudden flick of their tails, they burrowed into his ears and nose!

The guard's gaze instantly went vacant.

Seeing his eldest son staring at his back with a face pale with shock, the veins on He Chunhua's neck bulged; clearly, he had exerted immense effort to suppress the instinct to turn around.

He did not turn back, but instead lunged forward two steps.

This was truly a model of successful self-preservation, because the guard suddenly drew the long saber from his waist and aimed a vertical cleave directly at the back of He Chunhua's head!

The two were originally only four feet apart, and his movement was so fast it looked as if he intended to hack his leader's head like a watermelon.

As the blade fell, it was less than two inches from He Chunhua's skull.

He Lingchuan passed his father, lunging forward in a single stride to collide with the guard, taking both man and blade with him.

The guard's movement stopped instantly, a blade tip protruding from his back.

Having escaped death, He Chunhua took several heavy breaths before staring ahead and saying, "Chuan'er, turn around slowly. I will deal with these puppets."

He Lingchuan pushed the corpse aside and saw a wisp of phantom shadow emerge from the deceased's orifices, slipping back into the air and drifting away unhurriedly.

Once a person died, the Three-Corpse Worms could no longer reside within them and were forced to come out.

Keeping his neck still, he used the strength in his waist and legs to slowly turn around. This way, the Life-Fires on his shoulders would not be disturbed or blown out by his own movement.

However, the boat had already fallen into chaos.

The guard was not an isolated case. Despite the prior warnings and repeated instructions, seven or eight others had been bewitched by the voices in their ears, blowing out their own Life-Lamps and allowing the Three-Corpse Worms to take advantage.

Once possessed, they became unrecognizable, hacking at anyone they saw.

In just a few breaths, a riot broke out on the boat; four or five people were wounded, and one unlucky soul had half his head sliced off.

He Chunhua was heading straight for the killer. It was a sand bandit who, even after being possessed by a Three-Corpse Worm, remained agile. Instead of engaging in direct combat, he played hide-and-seek among the crowd, occasionally wounding one or two people.

If a person constantly reminds themselves not to turn their head, their flexibility is bound to be greatly diminished. He Chunhua felt as clumsy as a zombie; his movements to pursue the target were three beats slower than they should be, making it impossible to corner the bastard.

Just as he was about to cast a spell, a dagger flew from behind, "whooshing" straight into the killer's right eye.

It pierced through from front to back, exploding into a spray of blood.

(End of Chapter)