Chapter 2295: Strange Tang Jingye

This time, before Helianchuan could respond, Dong Rui, who was standing by, reached out first and took it, asking, "What is this?"

"It's a foreign object from Xu Wenqin's chest cavity." Having managed the Bingyuan Division for so many years, Liu Qingdao had long since learned to prepare thoroughly before an audience with the emperor. "Several disciples accompanying him confessed after being captured. Before we arrived, Xu Wenqin himself had drawn his blade, cut open his chest and abdomen, pulled out these things, and then burned them with true fire. And then—"

"—we arrived. Xu Wenqin, enraged and shocked, then activated his spirit to fight. He couldn't sustain himself, which made it easy for us to capture him." He looked at the contents of the tray, a lingering fear in his heart. "It's truly bizarre that this thing could so severely harm a celestial being. Mr. Lingguang said that this thing cannot be completely removed; whatever remains in Elder Xu's body will continue to grow wildly."

Lingguang added from the side, "If I hadn't used the medicinal film, Elder Xu would have already perished. But after covering him with the medicinal film, I found that those monstrous things absorbed the medicine's power even faster than Elder Xu!"

Dong Rui, seemingly out of nowhere, produced a pair of tweezers. He poked the jelly-like substance on the tray twice, then said, "It's still alive, but its activity isn't as high as before, hmm..."

He walked out and asked someone to bring a live chicken.

Soon after, a lively rooster arrived.

Dong Rui stuffed the sticky mass into the chicken's beak. Immediately, the rooster began to tremble all over, in immense pain.

Just a few breaths later, white fungal threads emerged from its mouth and nostrils.

This state was even worse than Xu Wenqin's.

"As expected, these fungal threads quickly die once they leave living flesh." Dong Rui's hypothesis was confirmed. "It's truly a sophisticated design; it can harm people but won't spread uncontrollably."

Helianchuan asked directly, "What exactly is this thing? Can you figure it out now?"

"Of course not! Do you really think I'm a deity who can see through everything at a glance?" Dong Rui rolled his eyes. "Doesn't this require time for research?"

That being said, he inexplicably produced another ferret-like demonic puppet and stuffed the white fungal threads into its mouth.

This demonic puppet lasted longer, but its death was equally painful.

After the white fungal threads consumed two creatures, Dong Rui took out a cave spider web to contain it. To his surprise, he immediately heard continuous sizzling sounds as the pure white spider web turned black and was corroded into a large hole.

Dong Rui then took out a jade purification vase. He aimed its mouth at the white fungal threads, lightly patted the bottom of the vase, and commanded, "Absorb!"

The jade purification vase unleashed a powerful suction, and with a whoosh, it sucked in the mass of white fungal threads.

While it could kill a celestial being inside Xu Wenqin's abdomen, once it left its host, though it could still wriggle, it was as helpless as glutinous rice cake.

Everyone then looked at the web again. Although cave spider queen silk had various strengths and this wasn't the toughest type, the corrosive nature of this substance was still astonishing.

"This acidic poison is too corrosive to living organisms. No wonder even a celestial being's internal organs couldn't withstand it."

At this point, Lingguang pointed at the sword wound on Elder Xu's chest and suddenly tapped it twice with his knuckles.

Thud-thud, a dull sound echoed.

Helianchuan's gaze immediately sharpened.

Lingguang then said, "Also, his body is continuously turning into wood."

Dong Rui immediately used a silver needle to pick out a strand of spider silk. He examined it carefully, then said, "Look at this!"

This strand of spider silk hadn't been corroded through, but its color had changed from white to brown. Dong Rui gently tapped it a few times with the silver needle, and only then did the two of them realize that the spider silk had actually hardened!

Dong Rui casually grabbed the demonic puppet and dissected it on the spot.

Since he couldn't dissect Elder Xu, he had to dissect the demonic puppet instead.

When the knife cut into the abdomen, it met with resistance.

"Did you hear that?" He scraped it a few times with the blade, producing a dull sound. "Now look at this texture."

"Wood grain." Liu Qingdao was surprised. "So it seems Xu Wenqin's internal organs have also turned into wood, just like this demonic puppet?"

"This is a woodification spell." Helianchuan and Dong Rui were both familiar with it. "Such demonic arts are rare in the world, especially after the death of the Wood Spirit Sovereign. We do know that the Ghost Mother of Jindu once bore a ghost spawn that possessed such an ability."

If it were only the woodification spell, it might not have been able to overcome Elder Xu. The vitality of a celestial being's body is exceptionally vigorous and can suppress the speed of woodification.

Previously, when Madam Zhu donned her sister's spider-celestial shell to fight the Wood Spirit Sovereign, she also fell victim to a woodification spell. Her countermeasure was to use immense power to suppress the speed of woodification, then transfer the damage to her eyeball spiders, and calmly discard the now woody eyeball spiders.

Another leg couldn't recover, so it simply detached itself, knowing it could always regrow later.

Elder Xu, however, did not possess such a talent. Furthermore, the affected area was his internal organs, and no one had spare internal organs.

"This glutinous rice cake-like substance can corrode a celestial being's internal organs and also turn flesh into wood?" Liu Qingdao murmured. "These two abilities shouldn't belong to the same monster, should they?"

"No, they shouldn't, which is why it seems so distorted," Helianchuan agreed. "The person who ambushed Elder Xu truly seems afraid he wouldn't die fast enough."

"Distorted? What distortion!" Dong Rui didn't like hearing that. "This is called embedded fusion!"

Helianchuan understood as soon as he saw his expression. "So this is also a demonic puppet?"

"It's possible." Dong Rui maintained a rigorous attitude. "Further experimentation is needed."

Meanwhile, Liu Qingdao continued his report:

"We interrogated the captives, and this thing was likely intentionally consumed by Elder Xu."

"I can see that. Otherwise, how could it have grown inside Xu Wenqin's internal organs? Was it mixed with something?"

"Seaweed jelly. Elder Xu has been very fond of eating it recently," Liu Qingdao continued. "So Tang Jingye bought two bowls every day to honor him."

"Tang Jingye?" Helianchuan's gaze sharpened. "Is that the contact person Tianwu mentioned? Where is he?"

"That's the strange part—" Liu Qingdao said solemnly. "Those two captives insist that Tang Jingye was personally killed by me outside the Rongshan Sect's encampment."

"By you...?" If it weren't for the gravity of the matter, Helianchuan would have almost burst out laughing. Since he began managing the state of Cangyan, it had been a long time since something this interesting had happened. Alas, managing state affairs was the most tedious thing in the world: exhaustive, day after day, endless. "I thought he had died in the mountains of Tongyue Town a few days ago."

"His body was never found," Liu Qingdao continued. "I asked what else this Tang Jingye had done recently, and the captives confessed that Tang Jingye had brought back news of Tianwu's capture a few days ago. Therefore, the news that Qixia Sect was about to emerge had been exposed, which is why they decided to strike first. Moreover, the plan to create mountains with Golden Cores and cut off Weian City's water supply was also Tang Jingye's suggestion to Sect Master Yuan."

"Good question!" Helianchuan knew that Liu Qingdao had also sensed something amiss, which was why he pressed for information about Tang Jingye. "So it was his idea to use the Golden Cores."