Before long, Lou-Metal Dog reappeared at the edge of the forest. His silver-white pupils gleamed coldly under the moonlight, and his nose twitched incessantly as he tried to catch the scent of Chen Zhou and the others.
But he failed. The chaotic moonlight flooding the forest disrupted his senses, leaving him deeply frustrated.
Behind him, hundreds of white beasts followed in a dense pack.
The Plague Rat leaped onto the branch of an ancient tree, spat out the grass stem in his mouth, and peered down.
Lou-Metal Dog was passing directly beneath him, his nose pressed to the ground as he sniffed around, less than three zhang away.
Yet, he simply could not see him.
The Plague Rat was highly amused.
He hopped down from the tree, landing silently behind Lou-Metal Dog, and waved his hand in front of the dog's face.
Lou-Metal Dog showed no reaction, continuing to sniff the ground with his head lowered as drool constantly dripped from the corners of his mouth.
“Tsk, tsk. This moonlight is incredibly useful.”
The Plague Rat circled around to stand directly in front of Lou-Metal Dog, face-to-face, his nose nearly touching the dog's.
Lou-Metal Dog's silver-white pupils stared straight ahead. Even though the Plague Rat was standing right in front of him, he acted as if he were looking at thin air. His gaze passed right through the Plague Rat's body, focusing on the distant woods.
The Plague Rat couldn't resist.
He raised his palm and slapped Lou-Metal Dog across the face.
Smack!
The sound was crisp and echoed loudly in the quiet forest.
The slap knocked Lou-Metal Dog's head to the side, causing his entire body to wobble.
He whipped his head around, his silver-white pupils staring intensely in the direction of the Plague Rat. His nose twitched frantically, but he caught absolutely nothing.
“Kill you?!”
“Kill you?!”
The Plague Rat backed away and squatted on a tree root three zhang off, slapping his thigh in laughter.
“Hahaha! What a dumb dog!”
Lou-Metal Dog spun around frantically in place, his claws flailing wildly in the air in impotent rage, shredding the surrounding trees until woodchips flew everywhere.
“Kill you! Kill you!”
The Plague Rat laughed boisterously, preparing to go for another round to tease the dog that had given them so much trouble earlier. However, Jian Huaishuang reached out and grabbed him.
“Stop messing around.”
The Plague Rat shook his arm free. “What? I'm having fun here.”
Jian Huaishuang said nothing. He merely tilted his chin, gesturing for the rat to look at his own hand.
The Plague Rat looked down.
He froze.
The tips of the fingers on the hand he had used to slap Lou-Metal Dog were turning white.
The Plague Rat's smile stiffened on his face. He quickly wiped the grin away, raising his hand to examine it closely.
The whiteness was still spreading. It wasn't fast, but it was steady, consuming his flesh inch by inch.
“Shit.”
The Plague Rat cursed, offering his hand to Jian Huaishuang.
Jian Huaishuang drew his sword, the greatsword tracing a clean arc through the air.
Slash!
The Plague Rat's entire arm was severed at the shoulder. Dark green death qi surged from the stump and condensed in the air. Within a few breaths, a brand-new arm regrew.
The Plague Rat flexed his newly grown fingers, grimacing in pain. “Is this bastard's rabies getting even worse?”
Previously, one had to be bitten to get infected, but now a mere touch was enough to transmit it?
Jian Huaishuang didn't answer. He stared deep into the forest, his brow furrowed.
“Look at those white beasts.”
The Plague Rat looked in the direction he pointed.
The hundreds of white beasts brought by Lou-Metal Dog were scurrying aimlessly through the forest.
Like Lou-Metal Dog, their senses had been disrupted by the moonlight. Unable to discern directions, they charged blindly through the trees.
Whenever one of the beasts accidentally crashed into a tree trunk, it would leave a white mark behind.
The marks were small, only about the size of a palm, but they were highly visible, standing out starkly against the grayish-brown bark.
Then, those white marks began to spread slowly, like ink dripping into water, bleeding outward bit by bit.
“They are infecting the forest.”
Jian Huaishuang's voice was calm, but the Plague Rat detected a trace of solemnity.
“Infecting the forest?”
The Plague Rat took a closer look.
Sure enough, the bark that had turned white began to twist and deform, while the leaves warped into irregular shapes.
The whiteness then crept down the trunks and seeped into the ground. The earth began to squirm, rising and falling as if it were breathing.
Soon, a new white beast burst forth from the soil.
“Shit.”
The Plague Rat cursed again.
“This dog bastard has gotten smart.”
Knowing he couldn't find his targets, he had simply stopped searching.
By directly polluting the environment, more beasts would be born as the contamination spread. Even if the moonlight remained, they could rely on sheer numbers and blind charging to locate the hidden stronghold.
“We can't let them keep spreading this pollution.”
With that, the Plague Rat leaped down from the branch and charged toward the nearest pack of white beasts.
“Wing-Fire Snake, Jiao Mu Jiao, with me!”
Wing-Fire Snake slithered down from the canopy, transparent flames burning within the gaps of her bones as she spewed a torrent of fire at the white beasts.
The beasts' bodies began to melt, turning into puddles of white liquid.
However, as the white liquid seeped into the ground, the polluted area of the earth expanded even further.
Jiao Mu Jiao flanked them from the other side, while the Plague Rat rushed into the center of the pack. He unleashed his Great Plague Heaven, and dark green mist enveloped an area of dozens of zhang.
Within the mist, the bodies of the white beasts began to fester, their skin peeling off in chunks. Yet, they felt no pain and continued to thrash around wildly, attempting to spread the pollution even further.
Jian Huaishuang unfolded his Lie Sword Domain to support the group while he began charging his Hidden Sword.
By infusing the power of deception into the blade, he completely erased the sword's presence, preventing his opponents from sensing it at all.
By the time the strike was unleashed, the blade would already be right before them, completely unavoidable.
The current chaotic situation was the perfect opportunity to charge the attack.
While keeping an eye on Lou-Metal Dog's movements, Jian Huaishuang also observed the battlefield.
He was thinking far more deeply than the Plague Rat.
The other Mansions outside the realm knew how to coordinate and divide their labor.
Mao Ri Ji sealed the battlefield, Kui Mu Lang engaged in close-quarters combat, Bi Yue Wu created distractions, and Wei Tu Zhi provided long-range support.
With the coordination of these four Mansions, his side had been completely overwhelmed.
But what about Lou-Metal Dog?
He was clearly one of the Western Seven Mansions as well, so why had he pursued them alone?
Even if his true body wasn't here, and even if he didn't fear death, he shouldn't be acting so brainlessly.
His pollution ability was formidable—highly overpowered compared to the other six Mansions.
Yet, on his own, it would be difficult for him to cause significant casualties. After all, both Jiao Mu Jiao and Wing-Fire Snake possessed a certain degree of resistance to the white pollution.
Now that their Lord was not present and could not steal Mao Ri Ji's sunlight, Lou-Metal Dog only needed to call his companions to join the encirclement to leave Jian Huaishuang's side with virtually no room to fight back.
Yet he hadn't done so, which gave Jian Huaishuang a nagging sense of foreboding.
When things went so far out of the ordinary, there had to be an underlying reason.
Their Lord had instructed Dou Mu Xie to generate moonlight to cover the Graveyard of Ten Thousand Beasts. This was to buy enough time to find the remaining three Mansions left by Xuan Cai, which would allow them to sound the horn for a counteroffensive.
In that case, what was the enemy's reason for sending only Lou-Metal Dog to harass them? Could they be biding their time as well?
Rate on N.U.
