Chapter 34: Heartbug

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Aside from a minor inconvenience when the pickled meat thrown by the He father and son was intercepted twice by other earth dragons in the sand, everything went smoothly.

The three walnut boats traversed the sand sea at about half the speed of a galloping horse, but they were superior in stability, endurance, and relative safety—

When the walnut boats encountered strange creatures, the creatures initially seemed eager to approach. However, the overwhelming stench of the pickled meat soon sent them fleeing in terror, wishing they had more legs to escape faster, paying no mind to the humans on the walnut boats.

Although most of these people grew up on the edge of the desert, they had never before seen the sand sea from this perspective, and they were utterly captivated.

He Lingchuan murmured, "You can do it this way too?"

Traveling by boat across the sand sea—it was a first for him in two lifetimes, and quite an eye-opener.

The only drawback was the pervasive stench drifting from ahead, making it difficult to breathe.

The helmsmen of the three walnut boats were cautious, trying their best to avoid tall dunes.

The more imposing the sand dune, the larger its shadow.

And everyone from Blackwater City knew that the shadows in the Coiling Dragon Desert were absolutely forbidden. The scorching sun, hot winds, thirst, sand bandits, and beast attacks combined were not as terrifying as the shadows in the Coiling Dragon Desert.

However, no matter how skilled the helmsmen were, after more than an hour, buildings gradually appeared on the distant horizon.

Getting closer, they could make out the broken high walls and city gate.

This was, in fact, the subsidiary city located southwest of Coiling Dragon City, which originally served as a strategic outpost for the main city.

Of course, it had been abandoned for a hundred years, with only wind and sand as its constant companions.

Yet the city walls remained tall, and the city gate was enveloped in a thick shadow.

Looking inside from the city gate, one would find several other dilapidated buildings, stubbornly refusing to be completely swallowed by the yellow sand.

Against the light, shadows were everywhere.

Having reached this point, there was no avoiding it; the only way forward was to pass through the city gate and cross this ruined city.

Nian Songyu stood on the foremost walnut boat, turned, and blew three long whistles backward.

This was the signal they had agreed upon at the desert outpost.

It was time to activate the next phase of their plan.

The He father and son stood at the bow, shouting to their subordinates, "Ignite your life fires!"

Though they said "ignite," everyone actually pulled out a small red pill from their pockets, opened their mouths, and swallowed it.

Immediately after, a sour and spicy sensation surged up from their stomachs, churning violently.

But this burp had to be suppressed; it could not be let out.

Everyone felt their eyes burning, noses swelling, and mouths watering with sourness, while their bodies shivered with cold. Even though the sun above was scorching, many soldiers began to shiver uncontrollably.

Fortunately, these symptoms subsided after only about ten breaths.

Everyone looked at each other, realizing that a faint, ethereal flame had ignited above each person's head and on each of their shoulders.

Most of the flames were light green, some darker, some brighter, some yellowish, some bluish, but all were tiny flickers, no taller than a pinky finger, trembling as they hovered in the air as if they could be extinguished by a mere gust of wind.

Yet, even though the desert wind was so strong it stung their faces, it strangely couldn't extinguish these three ethereal flames.

In fact, once the three flames ignited, everyone felt the air temperature around them drop by several degrees, and the scorching heat wave was no longer as intense.

These were 'life fires,' also known as 'life lamps,' normally hidden within a person's spiritual hearth—the so-called flame of life. As long as the fire remained, so did the person; if the fire went out, the person perished.

The saying 'when a person dies, their light goes out' comes from this.

After the life fires ignited, each squad leader turned around, facing their team members, and shouted, "Don't look back!"

From all three walnut boats came the soldiers' synchronized shouts:

"Don't look back!"

This was repeated three times.

It was a repeated warning, both to others and to themselves.

Remember, remember, remember!

He Chunhua stood to He Lingchuan's right front. He Lingchuan asked him, "Dad, do you know your life fire is yellowish?"

Commander He was about to shake his head but suddenly remembered how dangerous that movement was. He quickly kept his head still and gave his eldest son a glare: "You brat!"

He Lingchuan grinned, "Just practicing for when we face danger later."

What he said actually made a lot of sense.

"Your life fire is yellowish-red," He Chunhua chuckled. "Youth is truly wonderful."

A life fire directly reflects its owner's health. The stronger the body and the more vigorous the vital energy, the deeper the color of the life fire naturally becomes.

Young people, you see, have a strong fiery nature.

By this point, turning one's head left or right was no longer an option; otherwise, He Lingchuan would have truly wanted to see the color of Nian Songyu's and Grand Master Sun's life fires.

As the boats reached the city, He Chunhua took a deep breath and roared, "Don't move! Everyone, don't move!"

The same warning came from the other two boats.

The three helmsmen cast their lines one last time, guiding the earth dragons to swim directly toward the city gate.

The smoke of past battles and the erosion of present-day wind and sand caused the once-vertical city walls to lean further forward, appearing precarious and on the verge of collapse.

Yet, it had stood there for a century—resilient, silent, and unyielding.

They drew closer and closer. The enormous gate opening resembled a monster's silently gaping maw. He Lingchuan could even discern faint stains on both sides of the city gate.

Perhaps they were layers upon layers of repeatedly splattered bloodstains, vibrant red at first, then turning dark and purplish, and finally, after years of erosion by wind and sand, fading from their gruesome hue, leaving behind only a faint lingering trace.

All clamor and fervor ultimately fade into insignificance.

The world before them darkened as the walnut boats finally entered the shadow beneath the city gate.

A chill, eerie aura washed over them.

The soldiers had already ignited their life fires, and now, in the gloom, they could see wisps of light smoke emerging one after another, rushing towards the walnut boats.

Only upon closer inspection could they discern that these wisps of smoke resembled ghostly human figures, with torsos and limbs, but no faces.

They paid no attention to the earth dragons pulling the boats, but they were intensely curious about everything on the walnut boats, including every human and every piece of wood.

In the blink of an eye, each person was surrounded by four or five wisps of smoke. They drifted in front of and behind the humans, peering in with ill intent. Although they had no eyes, everyone felt intensely stared at, and goosebumps rose on their skin.

These entities were the Three-Corpse Worms!

In the legends of the Coiling Dragon Desert, they were also vengeful spirits hidden beneath any shadow. Travelers, even if they avoided the desert creatures, would be attacked if they stepped into a dune's shadow.

In fact, humans who had not activated their life fires could not see these entities with their naked eyes and thus had no means to defend themselves.

After Coiling Dragon City vanished and its most beloved humans departed, the Three-Corpse Worms could only turn to invading various other creatures. Though not ideal, it sufficed. All living beings in the desert were affected by them, gradually undergoing strange mutations, such as the earth dragons pulling the boats ahead.

Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu, far from being worried, were instead delighted. The existence of these entities indirectly confirmed the existence of the Grand Square Gourd, meaning their journey had not been in vain.

In the ear of every soldier, soft, faint whispers began to sound, as if someone was speaking directly to them.

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