Chapter 226 The Enemy's Heart
A swarm of greyish black insects flew out from the black witches' robes and looked as though a pool of black water flew through the air.
By the light of the torches, Ye Shaoyang saw that the insects looked like cockroaches at a glance, but they each had a pair of fangs, no wings and were three times bigger than a cockroach. They crawled quickly toward Ye Shaoyang.
Ye Shaoyang had entomophobia and was especially freaked out by the unusual appearance of insects. He almost fainted when he saw the tens of thousands of insects crawling toward him.
Xiao Ma was panicked too. He shouted in fear, "OH MY GOODNESS! What are these scary little insects!"
"They are bloodsucking lice, one of the Gu. They have corrosive venom. Stand behind me now. I'll handle it," Tan Xiaohui said as she put down the cauldron. She grabbed a handful of soybeans from her backpack and cast them around the cauldron. Then, she searched in her backpack and took out two eggs.
Ye Shaoyang and Xiao Ma were amazed that the eggs were still intact after such a long journey. How did she do that?
While both of them hiding behind Tan Xiaohui, she cracked the two eggs, left the egg yolks behind and poured only the eggs' whites into the cauldron. Then, she added a few other powders of different colors and mixed them. After a while, she covered the cauldron with the mesh, walked to a torch and heated the cauldron with a little constant sway.
A sound like fish swimming and splashing in the water came from the cauldron and grew louder.
Tan Xiaohui did these steps in one go. When the bloodsucking lice approached her, she removed the mesh, and multiple tiny gold snakes slithered out. The bloodsucking lice turned into pus once the snakes licked them.
The bloodsucking lice were quick too. They flocked to the snakes and gave up attacking Ye Shaoyang and the others. They spat greenish sticky fluid and gnawed on the snakes with their sharp fangs.
Maybe the gold snakes were the natural enemy of the lice. The attack seemed to have little effect on the snakes. On the contrary, a great number of lice died every time a gold snake flicked its tongue over them.
Xiao Ma was terrified of the scene. He stared at the cauldron and asked curiously, "I don't quite understand how soybeans and two eggs could transform into a great number of snakes?"
Tan Xiaohui glanced at Xiao Ma; she answered, "Soybeans and eggs can't transform into snakes. They are used to hatch the snakes and feed them. The snake eggs were mixed with the powders and heated to hasten the speed of hatching."
Ye Shaoyang and Xiao Ma exchanged a look; the explanation had left them in speechless.
Looking back to the fight between the bloodsucking lice and the gold snakes, Ye Shaoyang could not help to sigh, "Miaojiang witchcraft is truly profound and broad."
Suddenly, Wang Ting shouted from above, "Big Brother Shaoyang, Jin Shuai is running to the altar. He is planning to release the undead king. Hurry and stop him!"
Ye Shaoyang startled; he looked up and saw that the black witches had formed a line and blocked the view behind them.
Jin Shuai was missing!
He realized why the black witches did not stop Tan Xiaohui from performing witchcraft and stopped attacking them. It was a trick to gain time for Jin Shuai and deceive Ye Shaoyang into believing that Jin Shuai still remained in the crowd. The black witches were cunning!
He did not care about his entomophobia right now. He sprung forward and stepped on the bloodsucking lice as he rushed into the valley.
Fizz! Fizz!
Lots of lice burst when Ye Shaoyang stepped on them causing Ye Shaoyang to feel sick, but he tried to hold on.
"Xiaohui, block them! Let me go, and deal with Jin Shuai!" Ye Shaoyang shouted as he saw the black witches approaching and blocking him so they could buy time for Jin Shuai. As he finished his words, multiple white silk threads flew around him and twined around each black witch. The silk threads stunned the black witches temporarily.
Arctic silk threads?
Ye Shaoyang recalled that Tan Xiaohui had another ultimate ritual tool inherited from the supreme witch family: the arctic silkworm. She had not used it since he rescued her. Out of curiosity, he turned around wanting to know how she performed the witchcraft when Tan Xiaohui's voice suddenly sounded in his ears, "Big Brother Shaoyang, please don't look back. I beg you. Please."
Ye Shaoyang's heart sank. He wondered why he could not look back and why Tan Xiaohui's voice sounded sorrowful.
Although Ye Shaoyang was in the state of utmost curiosity, and he could discover her secret if he just turned around, he chose to respect her plea and forced his eyes to the path ahead. He took out his soul binding chain, cleared the two black witches in front of him, and rushed through the gap.
Snap! Snap!
The black witches broke the arctic silk threads; they chased after Ye Shaoyang furiously but were too late. Ye Shaoyang had been far ahead of them. He did not meet any obstacles along the way. Just as he arrived at the altar, Jin Shuai placed a giant black worm on the cover of the coffin. Immediately, the worm crawled to the center.
Ye Shaoyang looked carefully, the worm was semi-transparent, and a thick black Qi flowed within its semi-transparent body. At once, he understood that the black Qi was part of the power stolen from the Five Spirit Moving Mountain formation. He didn't know how Jin Shuai sealed the power in a Gu.
In a blink of an eye, the Gu crawled to the center of three jade rings. In the center of the rings was a pitch-dark, fist-sized hole. In another second, the Gu went inside.
Ye Shaoyang knew he could not do anything to stop it. He observed the three jade rings and their surroundings. Each ring rotated in a different direction, and there was a gap in each ring. When the gaps met each other, the blood of animal sacrifices would flow through the hole. Then, the rings rotated again and closed the hole.
Ye Shaoyang guessed the process of the undead king absorbing the blood had to be done slowly.
At this moment, he heard a happy groan from the hole.
The ancestor of the black witches, the Blood Gu undead king, had awakened!
At the same time, a powerful blood Qi puffed out of the hole as though someone was exhaling.
Jin Shuai did not notice Ye Shaoyang was watching him from behind. He was completely immersed in the ritual and unaware of his surroundings. He extended his arms and rested his body on the coffin.
His body trembled with joy, and he shouted emotionally, "Oh my dear ancestor, you are finally awake! Dear ancestor, please grant me the Demon Witch Blood. Oh no, how can I forget the last step? The enemy's heart! The enemy's heart!"