Chapter 144: Human Filth Pill

How could that stout Miao man possibly let the corpse escape? With a flick of his wrist, a soybean-sized pellet materialized in his hand. The moment the Miao man produced the pellet, the corpse instantly stopped fleeing, turned its head, and twitched its nose. It was evident that the pellet held an irresistible temptation for the creature.

"Brother Yi, what on earth is that thing?" Baozi whispered.

"Quiet!" Zhou Yi hurriedly hushed Baozi. He had no idea what level of cultivation the stout Miao man possessed; if they spoke too loudly and were discovered, the two of them would undoubtedly come to grief.

Yet, just as Baozi finished speaking, the stout Miao man's ears twitched slightly, clearly having overheard them. He glanced back toward their hiding place and offered a chilling, sinister smile.

By this time, the corpse had already swallowed the soybean-sized pellet. A moment later, it began to sway unsteadily on its feet before toppling backward with a heavy thud.

Seeing the corpse fall, several Miao men rushed forward to bind it tightly with ropes and drag it out of the burial chamber. As they headed back to the surface, the stout Miao man cast one final, chilling glance back at the spot where Zhou Yi and Baozi were hiding, as if implying something.

A sense of alarm gripped Zhou Yi as he witnessed that cold, lingering smile just before the Miao man exited the chamber, though he could not quite pinpoint what was wrong. He furrowed his brow, trying in vain to fathom the Miao man's true intentions.

Just then, a faint scent of gunpowder drifted over. Zhou Yi sniffed the air, then looked down beneath the coffin, only to discover that the space underneath was packed to the brim with explosives.

Baozi was still fixated on the mysterious pellet, leaning against the wall of the tomb tunnel and asking, "Brother Yi, what exactly was that pill?"

"Damn it, run!" Zhou Yi had no time to explain the nature of the pill to Baozi; he grabbed him by the arm and bolted.

They had barely run far when a deafening roar erupted from the burial chamber behind them. The entire chamber collapsed with a thunderous crash, immediately triggering the explosives hidden along the tomb tunnel.

The two ran at full speed as the deafening concussions of the explosives echoed endlessly behind them. Explosions in such confined spaces generated immense shockwaves; with the tomb chamber at the other end already collapsed, the blast wave hurled both of them directly into the burial pit.

Another tremendous explosion shook the area, sending dirt raining down from above. Zhou Yi looked up and saw that the burial pit was on the verge of collapsing as well. Without a second thought, he frantically clawed at the opening of an earth tunnel. The moment they squeezed inside, a massive secondary cave-in engulfed the entire region of Zhuolu.

The tremors lasted for a full five minutes before finally subsiding. The two men let out sighs of relief, realizing how fortunate they were—had it not been for this tunnel, they surely would have been buried alive in Zhuolu.

---

The massive collapse across Zhuolu had also caused several cave-ins within the tunnel itself. Baozi took the lead, digging away the fallen earth with his hands as he crawled forward.

"Brother Yi, what on earth was that pill just now? Why did the corpse stop running the second that fatty took it out?" Baozi could never let things go; if Zhou Yi didn't tell him, he would pester him about it for days.

"That pill was made from human grime. Stop talking, there isn't much oxygen left in here. Take a rest and let me dig!" Zhou Yi explained. With the two of them talking, the air in the tunnel was growing increasingly thin.

Fortunately, there was no foul stench present; if it smelled like the bat cave, it would be hard to say whether they could make it out alive.

Baozi shook his head to signal he wasn't tired and continued digging. Yet, after only a short while, he began to pant heavily and hastily motioned for Zhou Yi to take the lead.

Though Baozi's body was resting, his mind remained active. "Brother Yi, the human grime you mentioned—isn't that just dead skin cells? Everyone has that. Would mine work just as well?"

Zhou Yi made no reply, as the oxygen in the tunnel was running dangerously low. The embryonic breathing technique was useless here; while it slowed down one's breathing rate, the body still required an adequate volume of oxygen with each inhalation.

Oxygen deprivation led to dizziness, and dizziness dulled the mind. Neither of them even thought of the most direct escape route: digging straight upward.

However, not digging upward turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for the Miao men had not yet departed. Had they emerged right then, they undoubtedly would have fallen straight into their clutches.

After exerting themselves fiercely for quite some time, they finally broke through the tunnel and reached the surface in the dead of night. They collapsed onto the ground, taking massive, greedy gulps of air. Only at times like this did one realize how wonderful fresh air truly was.

With the immediate crisis of oxygen deprivation temporarily resolved, Baozi's mind wandered back to the human grime. Still panting heavily as he lay on the ground, he turned his head and asked, "Brother Yi, you said that pill was made of dead skin, but how on earth could skin make a corpse pass out?"

Zhou Yi turned to glance at Baozi and sighed helplessly. "It must have been processed with glutinous rice water and human hair, but I don't know how to make it!" Knowing Baozi's stubborn temperament, Zhou Yi realized that if he didn't give him an answer, Baozi would keep bringing it up whenever the thought crossed his mind.

"So if I process the dead skin from my own body, would it work too?" Baozi reached out and rubbed vigorously against his skin, genuinely rolling up a piece of grime the size of a rice grain after a brief moment.

"Brother Yi, look at this, is it any good? Go back and study it so we can use it the next time we run into a corpse!" Baozi said, holding out the little dirt ball toward Zhou Yi.

---

Zhou Yi quickly scrambled backward a couple of steps and frowned. "Throw that filthy thing away right now! How disgusting. I already told you I don't know how to make those things!"

Hearing Zhou Yi call it disgusting, Baozi curled his lip, uttered a disappointed "Oh," and casually tossed the dirt ball onto the ground. Even so, he remained deeply fascinated by the pellet. With his characteristic single-minded dedication, he secretly resolved to figure out how to make that pill!

"We've rested enough. It's time to find those Miao men and see where they took the corpse!" Zhou Yi knew exactly what was going on in Baozi's mind just by looking at him, and could only shake his head in resignation—this fellow was about to become obsessed again.

In truth, Zhou Yi already knew the destination of the Miao men, having been taken there by them once before. Back then, however, his head had been covered with a sack, so he only knew it was roughly ten miles away from the potter's field. After running all the way to Zhuolu and back, all he knew was that the children were safe; he was entirely clueless about everything else.

Yet Zhou Yi was not discouraged. It had already been seven or eight days since Zhou Danjiang went missing, and his current condition remained entirely unknown. Putting further thoughts aside, the two men resumed their pursuit toward the northwest.

Meanwhile, after Mu Chen returned to Dunhua City, he headed straight home. Upon meeting Jie Chen and Princess Fu, he recounted every detail of what had transpired, leaving the two of them utterly astounded.

Jie Chen was horrified because the matter concerned the fate of all living souls under heaven. Not daring to take it lightly, he immediately entered a state of meditation, preparing to transmit a message back to Shaolin using the technique of daylight dream-projection.

Princess Fu was shocked by the sheer brutality of the affair, far exceeding her worst expectations. Furthermore, consumed by anxiety for Zhou Yi's safety, she immediately stood up and began packing her bags upon hearing Mu Chen's account, determined to go out and search for him.

"Princess, you cannot go! It's far too dangerous!" Mu Chen frantically grabbed her to hold her back.

"Dangerous or not, I must go. I need to be by his side!"...