392: Reward? Or work?

"Are there many of these biting lunatics in the County?" After treating White Shark, Su Yongchun glanced at the insect crawling on the ground and stomped it to death thoughtfully.

"Many? Not really," Bai Zong thought for a moment and shook his head. "As soon as one of these biting lunatics appears, they're killed on the spot by the County yamen constables!"

"No one tries to cure these lunatics? They just kill them?"

Hearing Su Yongchun's question, Bai Zong waved his hand again. "The County yamen says those who have gone completely mad are no longer human! They're just biting corpses. Tell me, how do you treat a corpse?"

At this point, Bai Zong lowered his voice, though his tone remained audible to everyone. "I heard these lunatics are infected with the contagious disease from Yuanquan City!"

"That disease has already spread to our Dehe County!"

"What?!" the surrounding villagers exclaimed in panic.

Bai Zong pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to stay quiet. "So, unless it's absolutely necessary to go out, none of our An Ding Village residents should leave!"

"Also, no one is allowed to tell anyone that Su Wa Zi cured White Shark!"

"If others find out, Su Wa Zi will definitely be snatched away. If someone in our village gets bitten then and Su Wa Zi isn't here to help, something terrible will happen!"

"Right, right, right!"

"We can't say a word, can't say a word!"

Listening to this, Su Yongchun silently left White Shark's courtyard and returned to his own house.

"The Soul-Gathering Gu insects have already appeared," Su Yongchun murmured, having a clear understanding of the current situation in Dehe County.

The insect forced out of White Shark's body was called a Soul-Gathering Gu.

This insect had only one primary ability.

It parasitized the human body and devoured the ethereal Soul within!

Once the Soul was consumed, the insect would control the person's body to find a new host.

By biting a wound into a new host, it would enter their body and repeat the process.

At a specific time, Ghost Visage's subordinates would collect these countless Gu insects.

Then, they would take the Souls devoured by these insects, supplement them with nutrients, and cast them into the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner!

This was one of the many ways Ghost Visage's subordinates collected Souls.

Relatively speaking, this method was considered quite mild.

It primarily targeted ordinary people and low-level Martial Artists in the Body Tempering Realm.

However...

Recalling the original novel where Dragon Xuan entered the ruins where the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner was located and saw the deeper truth of what happened in this era, Su Yongchun felt an increasing sense of urgency.

That was a stain on Whale Country.

It was precisely this stain that gave Dragon Xuan a legitimate reason to trample over the Imperial Family and tear away their mask of hypocrisy.

When the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner was nearing completion, Whale Country deployed the most terrifying means to stop it.

Killing!

Killing whom?

Certainly not Ghost Visage; if they could have killed him, they would have done so long ago.

The two Old Ancestors of the Whale Country Imperial Family were also wary of Ghost Visage, who possessed the semi-finished Ten Thousand Ghost Banner.

Since they weren't killing Ghost Visage, the killing was directed elsewhere.

To prevent Ghost Visage from collecting the Souls of the common people through various means, the Whale Country Imperial Family issued an order: kill the commoners!

The Souls of those killed by weapons soaked in the Imperial Family's Heavenly Spring would shatter within moments.

Without Souls, the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner would have no nutrients, and Ghost Visage's grand plan would end in failure!

In the original novel...

It was precisely this cruel method that caused the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, deprived of Soul intake, to almost completely collapse!

To preserve the semi-finished Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, Ghost Visage was forced to Seal it.

Deprived of the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner's power, the two Imperial Old Ancestors both mobilized to save the world from peril!

That was the progression of events.

This was why Su Yongchun had been so intent on going out to sea after learning which era he was in.

Staying here meant being stabbed in the back by the government!

Looking at the stack of boat tickets in his hand, Su Yongchun pulled out two.

One was for a long-distance voyage ship departing in ten days.

The other was for the Wu Family's boat in twenty days.

If the situation became uncontrollable or if the government started implementing its plan, he would have to leave first in ten days.

If things hadn't turned that dire, he would definitely take the Wu Family's boat.

But before that, he needed to use his talent to make a Breakthrough.

"System! Help me break through the Realm!"

"Ding~ 1,000 experience points consumed. Host has broken through to the Ning Qu Realm. Remaining experience: 6,101 points."

A powerful force surged through his entire body.

No matter how many times it happened...

Every upgrade given by the System gave him a great sense of fulfillment.

"This time, add points to the second-rate martial art 'Wild Goose Butterfly Trace Steps' until it's maxed out!"

With two 'pumps' working for him, Su Yongchun was rarely this generous.

However, one couldn't be stingy with a Cultivation Technique meant for running away.

"Ding~ 1,000 experience points consumed. 'Wild Goose Butterfly Trace Steps' has reached Perfection. Remaining experience: 5,101 points."

"Add more to the others! I have points!"

Su Yongchun waved his hand grandly.

With danger approaching, only greater power could provide him with more security.

Half an hour later.

Host: Su Yongchun

Realm: Ning Qu Realm Second Stage [7000/9000]

Acupuncture (Unranked): [Perfection]

Spirit Pattern Body (Second-rate): [Perfection]

Gold Stone Punch (Second-rate): [Perfection]

Magic Moon Blade Art (Second-rate): [Perfection]

Wild Goose Butterfly Trace Steps (Second-rate): [Perfection]

...Available Experience: 1

With over seven thousand experience points invested, his strength had undergone an earth-shaking transformation!

Various max-level martial arts gave Su Yongchun an even deeper foundation!

Looking at the delighted host, Ye Tian glanced at the over thirteen million points accumulated in his own account and felt a bit embarrassed.

It was better to give a little more reward.

"Ding~ Host's strength has achieved a major Breakthrough, triggering a System reward. One real-time refreshed Treasure Map!"

"A reward was triggered?" Su Yongchun was doubly overjoyed.

The next moment, a map made of an unknown material appeared in his hand.

It was like a map app.

A map centered on himself.

Su Yongchun could see all the terrain within a hundred kilometers around him.

And on this Treasure Map, there was a marked area with varying brightness.

"Hmm? Are these all treasures?" Looking at the marked areas on the map, Su Yongchun's heart stirred.

Since the map was called a Treasure Map, it was clearly for him to find treasures.

Would something recognized as a Treasure Trove by the System be ordinary?!

He looked at the small light point closest to him.

It was about forty li away, outside of Dehe County.

Su Yongchun couldn't hold back.

He mainly wanted to test exactly how fast the perfected second-rate martial art, 'Wild Goose Butterfly Trace Steps', really was.

Since the System said there was a treasure, it definitely couldn't be wrong!

Making up his mind.

Su Yongchun looked at the pitch-black night, put on a mask, and set out light.

Whoosh—

In the dark night, he was like a ghostly shadow, moving at extreme speeds, covering twenty or thirty meters in a single step!

With the second stage of the Ning Qu Realm and the deep foundation built from so many martial arts, Su Yongchun's blood Qi far exceeded that of Martial Artists in the same Realm!

Before long.

Checking the map, Su Yongchun slowly stopped his pace.

The System's treasure location was right here.

Looking around, he was a bit puzzled.

This was just a small hillside, though there was a faint smell of decay.

Following the scent, Su Yongchun walked in a certain direction.

And when he stepped onto the top of the hillside, his eyes suddenly narrowed!

"Isn't this... a mass grave?"

"Why are there so many corpses?!" Su Yongchun's expression became solemn.

Dehe County was just a County town with a population of four or five hundred thousand, yet the corpses piled here had completely filled this small mountain hollow!

By a rough estimate, there were at least thirty thousand corpses!

Seeing the rigid state of these corpses, Su Yongchun finally realized that most of these people had died due to being parasitized by Soul-Gathering Gu insects.

So this was the true situation in Dehe County? It was critical to the extreme!

But... after snapping out of it, Su Yongchun was a bit dazed.

He reached out and took out the map to compare.

This place was the treasure location the System spoke of? Where?

Could it be inside the pile of corpses?

"These corpses are the treasure; they can be converted into points through the [Experience Collector]." Ye Tian gave the host a reminder.

Xiao Zao, who had been watching from the side for a while, curled his lip. "It's clearly making him continue working for you, what kind of reward is that?"

As an employee, Xiao Zao felt indignant for this fellow laborer of a host.

Unfortunately, the kid's eyes lit up.

He was likely itching to collect these corpses to earn experience points.

Noticing Ye Tian's glance, Xiao Zao immediately shut his mouth, turned around, and floated away. Seeing the Funeral System cowering in the corner, he floated over with a wicked grin.