Chapter 00031: The Bewitching Heart Worm
# The Bewitching Heart Worm
Chapter 31
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 31: The Bewitching Heart Worm
Aside from a minor hiccup caused by the salted meat chunks thrown by the He family father and son being intercepted twice by other sand dragons beneath the sand, everything went smoothly.
The three walnut boats sailed across the sand sea at a speed roughly half that of a galloping horse, but they were steady, enduring, and relatively safe.
Occasionally, the walnut boats encountered strange creatures.
Initially, these creatures seemed eager to approach, but the overpowering stench of the salted meat was too much for them.
After a while, they fled in terror, wishing they had more legs to escape faster, leaving the humans on the walnut boats alone.
Most of the people here had grown up near the desert but had never seen the sand sea from this perspective.
They were all wide-eyed with amazement.
He Lingchuan muttered, "So this is how it's done?"
Sailing across the sand sea was a first for him in both lifetimes, and it was quite an eye-opener.
The only downside was the persistent stench wafting from ahead, making it hard to breathe.
The helmsmen of the three walnut boats were cautious, doing their best to avoid the towering sand dunes.
The grander the sand dune, the larger its shadow.
And everyone from Blackwater City knew that the shadows in the Coiling Dragon Desert were to be avoided at all costs.
The scorching sun, hot winds, thirst, sand bandits, and attacks by strange beasts—none of these were as terrifying as the shadows in the Coiling Dragon Desert.
However, no matter how skilled the helmsmen were, after a little over an hour, structures began to appear on the distant horizon.
As they drew closer, they could see the broken high walls and city gates.
This was the auxiliary city located southwest of Coiling Dragon City, originally forming a strategic pincer with the main city.
Of course, it had been abandoned for a century, with only the wind and sand as its constant visitors.
Yet the city walls remained tall, and the gates were shrouded in deep shadows.
If one peered through the gates, they would find several dilapidated buildings inside, stubbornly resisting being completely swallowed by the yellow sand.
They stood against the light, with shadows everywhere.
At this point, there was no way to avoid it; the only path was through the city gates, traversing this ruined city.
Nian Songyu stood on the foremost walnut boat and turned to blow three long whistles toward the rear.
This was the signal they had agreed upon at the desert驿站.
It was time to initiate the next step of their plan.
The He family father and son stood at the bow, shouting to their subordinates, "Light the life flames!"
Though they said "light," everyone actually pulled out a small red pill from their pockets and swallowed it.
Immediately, a sour and spicy sensation surged from their stomachs, churning like a stormy sea.
But they had to hold back the urge to burp; it couldn't be released.
Everyone felt their eyes burning and noses swelling, with sour water bubbling in their mouths, while their bodies shivered with cold.
Despite the scorching sun overhead, many soldiers began to tremble.
Fortunately, these symptoms only lasted for a dozen breaths before subsiding.
Everyone looked at each other and noticed that a ghostly flame had ignited above each person's head and on their shoulders.
Most of the flames had a light green base, some darker, some brighter, some more yellow, some more blue, but all were small flames about the size of a pinky finger, trembling in the air as if a gust of wind could extinguish them.
Yet the desert wind, strong enough to slap faces painfully, couldn't blow out these three ghostly flames.
In fact, once the three flames ignited, everyone felt the temperature around them drop by several degrees, and the scorching heat waves became less intense.
These were the life flames, also known as life lamps, usually hidden in the human spirit stove—commonly referred to as the flame of life.
As long as the flame burns, the person lives; if the flame extinguishes, the person dies.
The saying "a person's death is like a lamp going out" comes from this.
After the life flames were lit, the squad leaders turned around and shouted at their team members, "Don't look back!"
From the three walnut boats came the soldiers' unified shouts:
"Don't look back!"
This was repeated three times.
It was a warning to others and a reminder to themselves.
Remember, remember, remember!
He Lingchuan stood to the right of He Chunhua, who asked, "Dad, do you know your life flame is slightly yellow?"
The He County Governor was about to shake his head but suddenly remembered how dangerous that action was and quickly steadied his head, giving his eldest son a sharp look.
"Brat!"
He Lingchuan grinned.
"Just practicing, better safe than sorry later."
Actually, he had a point.
"Your life flame is yellow with a hint of red," He Chunhua smiled.
"Youth is a good thing."
The life flame directly reflected the owner's health.
The stronger the body and the more vigorous the blood, the deeper the color of the life flame.
Young people, after all, have more fire in them.
At this point, they couldn't turn their heads left or right, or He Lingchuan would have liked to see the colors of Nian Songyu and Imperial Preceptor Sun's life flames.
As the boats approached the city, He Chunhua took a deep breath and shouted, "Don't move, everyone, don't move!"
The same warning came from the other two boats.
The three helmsmen made one final push with their poles, guiding the sand dragons toward the city gates.
The once vertical city walls, battered by past battles and eroded by wind and sand, now leaned precariously forward, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
Yet they had stood here for a century, resilient and silent, refusing to yield.
Closer and closer, the massive gate opening resembled a monster's gaping maw.
He Lingchuan could even see faint stains on either side of the gate.
Perhaps these were layers upon layers of bloodstains, once bright red, then turning black and purple, and finally fading under the relentless冲刷 of wind and sand, leaving only a faint afterglow.
All noise and fervor eventually return to tranquility.
As everyone's vision darkened, the walnut boats finally entered the shadow beneath the city gate.
A chilling aura扑面而来.
The soldiers had already lit their life flames, allowing them to see wisps of smoke emerging from the shadows, rushing toward the walnut boats.
Upon closer inspection, these wisps resembled human silhouettes, with torsos and limbs but no faces.
They ignored the sand dragons pulling the boats but were intensely curious about everything on the walnut boats, including every human and every piece of wood.
In the blink of an eye, four or five wisps surrounded each person.
They drifted around the humans, peering maliciously.
Though they had no eyes, everyone felt as if they were being watched intently, their skin prickling with goosebumps.
These things were the Three Corpse Worms!
In the legends of the Coiling Dragon Desert, they were also the resentful spirits lurking in any shadow.
Travelers who managed to avoid the desert's creatures would still be attacked if they stood in the shadow of a sand dune.
In reality, humans without visible life flames couldn't see these things with the naked eye and thus had no way to defend against them.
After Coiling Dragon City disappeared, its beloved humans left, and the Three Corpse Worms had to settle for invading various creatures.
Though not ideal, it sufficed.
All living beings in the desert were affected, gradually undergoing strange mutations, like the sand dragons pulling the boats.
Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu were not worried but pleased.
The existence of these things indirectly confirmed the existence of the Great Square Pot.
Their journey hadn't been in vain.
In each soldier's ear, a faint whispering sound could be heard, as if someone was speaking to them.
(End of Chapter)