Chapter 813 — Cores in the Belly

CHAPTER 813

Cores in the Belly

The Mist Python King came up out of the black water in one long rush, and the hummock shook.

It was three times the length of the python under the blanket. Its head alone was as big as a cart, with a pale ridge of horn above each eye, and fog poured off its scales as if the beast itself were breathing the marsh out. A peak Deity Transformation-grade beast, the strongest thing in the Mist Marsh.

It looked at its dead mate under Hou Tieshou’s blanket. Then it looked at the four of them.

“Calamity never comes alone,” Yue Shaoan moaned.

“That’s the mate,” Shi Feng said, drawing his sword. “Get away from the blanket.”

The King struck.

Hou Tieshou met it head on, because he was in front and because he was Hou Tieshou. He set his feet, roared, and brought both fists up under its jaw. The Mountain-Carrying Fist was a body art built to lift whatever was in front of it, and for one breath the great head actually stopped. Then the King twisted. Its jaw closed on his shoulder, and it threw him ten paces into the reeds.

Two white arrows hit its left eye, one behind the other. Frost spread across the eye and froze it shut.

The King screamed and swung its head toward the archer.

Shi Feng was already under it, standing on the water beside its throat. The grey Sword came up, and the light on it turned the colour of a setting sun. Sunset-Splitting Sword at Perfection didn’t cut scales so much as open a seam in them. Red light ran along the King’s neck for three full paces.

Black blood poured into the marsh.

The King’s tail came round blind and caught Yue Shaoan across the legs. He went down in the shallows with a yelp. The tail came round again, and this time Shi Feng took it on his crossed forearms. Something in his left wrist gave. He slid back a full pace through the water.

Then the light in the seam reached the King’s spine, and the great body went slack all at once.

It sank half into the marsh and lay still.

For a while nobody said anything. Hou Tieshou crawled out of the reeds holding his shoulder. Yue Shaoan sat in the water hugging his shins. Jiao Lanyin walked down from the hummock with her bow arm hanging stiff from the recoil of two full draws.

Shi Feng cut the core out of the King’s skull.

It was the size of a cooking pot, smoky grey, and heavy enough that he had to use both hands. Even in the fog it gave off a faint light. Yue Shaoan’s nose twitched the moment it came out.

“Brother Shi,” Yue Shaoan said unhappily. “That smells. Really smells. Every beast in the marsh is going to know where it is.”

“How far?” Shi Feng asked.

“A li,” Yue Shaoan said. “More, if the wind turns.”

Shi Feng set the core on the hummock and looked at his banner.

Hou Tieshou’s shoulder was torn open where the King’s teeth had gone in. Yue Shaoan couldn’t put weight on one leg. Jiao Lanyin was flexing her bow hand and couldn’t close it all the way. His own left wrist was swelling, and the rib cut from Zhuge Wuyan’s tide had opened again under his robe.

Every teammate was hurt. Shi Feng looked at their core packs, then back at the wounds.

“Where do we stand?” Shi Feng asked.

“Second,” Yue Shaoan said. “Behind the Third Prince’s banner. The warden’s board had them ahead by about two python cores.”

“And this?” Shi Feng asked, nodding at the core.

Yue Shaoan looked at the core and did the sum on his fingers. “About... about a third of our whole tally. By itself.”

“So we carry it to the Tally Pavilion and we’re first!” Hou Tieshou said.

“It’s two days to the Pavilion,” Jiao Lanyin said coldly. “With that thing calling every beast in the marsh. With the grey sleeves coming back. With three of us hurt.”

“Then we fight our way out!” Hou Tieshou said.

“With what arm?” Jiao Lanyin asked.

Hou Tieshou looked at his shoulder.

“…” Hou Tieshou said.

Shi Feng weighed the core in both hands. It was very heavy.

He thought it through plainly. A core that never reached the scales was worth nothing on the board. Carrying this one meant carrying a beacon through the fog for two days with three wounded people, while men who wanted him came looking. One fight at the wrong moment and they’d lose this core and every other core in their packs. He would not risk the whole banner for one core, however valuable.

“On the first day,” Shi Feng said, “I asked the Grand Warden whether a core that’s been eaten still counts.”

“He said nobody had ever asked,” Yue Shaoan replied, staring at the core. “And that it wouldn’t count unless it reached the scale.”

“Then I’m giving up those points,” Shi Feng said. “I know the rule. I’d rather have the strength to bring the rest of you out.”

He sat down on the hummock, put both hands on the core and opened the All-Devouring Physique.

The core didn’t break. It drained. Its grey light ran into his palms and vanished, and in ten breaths the great ball in his hands was dull stone. In twenty, it crumbled.

Hou Tieshou’s mouth fell open.

“You ate it!” Hou Tieshou shouted. “You just ate three thousand points!”

“Two thousand eight hundred,” Yue Shaoan said faintly. “About.”

“Three thousand!” Hou Tieshou said. “In one bite! Like a bun!”

Jiao Lanyin looked at the grey dust on Shi Feng’s knees for a long moment.

“You’d better be worth them,” Jiao Lanyin said coldly.

“I’ll carry every other core out of this marsh,” Shi Feng said. “And whoever comes for them. That’s the trade.”

Then the force of the core arrived all at once.

It came down on him with nothing held back. A whole peak Deity Transformation-grade beast’s life went down into his meridians in one swallow, and every one of them filled to bursting. His vision went white. His hands slammed down on the mud.

“Brother Shi?” Yue Shaoan said.

“Stand guard,” Shi Feng said through his teeth. “All of you. All night. Nobody touches me until it’s done.”

His voice came out very quiet. Then, under his skin, something began to roar.