The Snake-Tongue Sword was forged using the secret techniques of the Twelve Divine Forms of the Bone Path. Its primary material was the white-bone dharma form of the Snake-Mask, condensed from the ethereal into the solid.
Slender and sharp like a serpent's tongue, after being infused with Dao essence, the blade could soften into a pliant form.
It was a vicious and ever-changing sword.
The corpse of the Snake-Mask fell backward. Since Jiang Chen held the Snake-Tongue Sword without moving, the blade slowly withdrew from her chest.
Using her clothes to wipe the blood from the Snake-Tongue Sword, Jiang Chen took out the small casket she had been carrying in her bosom.
When he had previously located her Ethereal Palace, he had "incidentally" also sensed the existence of this casket.
Robbing after killing was something Jiang Chen had done plenty of times before he had ascended to the extraordinary realm. He had no qualms about targeting bandits and thieves. Both he and Ling He relied on those mountain bandits to supplement their living. Even Zhao Rucheng and Fang Pengju refused to accept a single coin less in their shares, sometimes arguing for half a day over who deserved a bit more.
This exquisitely carved small casket was a Storage Casket secretly crafted by the Mo sect.
The value of a Storage Casket lay in its materials and its secret array patterns.
Its rarity was determined by the size of its storage space.
To speak frankly, Jiang Chen currently didn't possess many valuable items that required being kept on his person, so it had never occurred to him to acquire one. Of course, his lack of funds was also a factor.
The Snake-Mask's Storage Casket had an actual space of about one cubic unit.
Its value was around ten thousand Dao Essence Stones, or equivalently, ten ten-thousand-essence stones.
Recall that when Jiang Wuyong had wagered with Jiang Chen, the additional stake he had placed atop the secret Dao arts was merely ten ten-thousand-essence stones. This shows just how precious a Storage Casket was.
The principle behind a Storage Casket was actually not that complex. Many arrays could invert coordinates and shift space. Expanding and contracting space was hardly rare, and arrays that could trap entire armies of thousands were not uncommon.
In fact, many factions possessed the ability to craft Storage Caskets and indeed used their own homemade versions, refusing to purchase from the Mo sect.
However, first, in terms of usability and versatility, the Mo sect's secret array patterns for storage remained the most superior. Second, the raw materials for crafting Storage Caskets were mostly monopolized by the Mo sect.
This had led the Mo sect to essentially turn Storage Caskets into one of their exclusive businesses.
And even purchasing a Storage Casket from the Mo sect, despite its exorbitant cost, was still much cheaper than the cost of producing one yourself...
Opening this Storage Casket carved with unknown flora, the items inside were stored in a reduced size. Once taken out, they would return to their original state.
Upon closer inspection, they were mostly clothes, rouge and powder, and similar personal items, along with a Snake-Mask.
The only truly valuable items were two ten-thousand-essence stones, one of which had been used down to just three thousand three hundred Dao essence.
It seemed the Bone Path was not having an easy time under the pursuit of the Kingdom of Zhuang.
At the very back, wrapped in a piece of jade-silk brocade, was likely the most precious thing the Snake-Mask possessed.
This kind of cloth was renowned for nurturing items and was already valuable in its own right.
What kind of treasure could be wrapped and preserved within such a cloth?
Even Jiang Chen could not resist his anticipation. He carefully took it out and unfolded it to look—
It was a shattered Dog-Mask.
It was broken beyond recognition and utterly worthless to him.
Could it be that even someone as notorious as one of the Twelve Masks of the Bone Path had people and things they cared about?
He had always felt that the Snake-Mask's fighting will was weak, as if someone had once terrified her out of her wits. Now thinking back, it was probably the time when the owner of this Dog-Mask had died.
Jiang Chen did not linger on his sentiments. He wrapped both the shattered Dog-Mask and the Snake-Mask back up in the jade-silk brocade and placed them on the Snake-Mask's corpse.
He then took out all her other belongings and piled them atop the remains, keeping only the two ten-thousand-essence stones from the Storage Casket and the Snake-Tongue Sword.
He then tossed down a Flamebloom, setting it all, along with the Snake-Mask's corpse, ablaze.
But just as the flames ignited, he suddenly noticed a small bell hanging from the Snake-Mask's hand, glimmering with a dull gray light within the fire.
It was strange. He had clearly been very concerned about this small bell the entire time. During the battle, it had indeed caused him significant interference. He had even specifically asked about it during the interrogation.
Yet when he was taking stock of the spoils, he had completely "ignored" it!
How could this happen?
Jiang Chen furrowed his brow and beckoned with a finger.
A fire serpent parted from the flames, clamped the small bell in its mouth, and brought it before him.
He opened his palm, the fire serpent dissipated, and the bell fell into his hand.
The small bell, threaded with a blue tendon, landed in his palm.
Suddenly, it shattered, exploding into countless gray points of light.
"Who... is it."
A parched, lifeless voice echoed between the gray motes.
Though it was phrased as a question, it lacked any inquiring tone. Instead, it sounded more like a statement.
An extreme sense of cold indifference mixed with a primal fear that seemed to drill straight from the depths of his heart.
Jiang Chen's hair stood on end. Before he could even think, his body had already reacted, launching him into a sprint.
He fled into the forest at the same top speed he had used to chase the Snake-Mask, then burst out the other side.
He ran for a full half-hour, not stopping until the feeling of terror finally receded.
By then, his body was covered in red, swollen welts, and one spot had even begun to fester!
His throat ached so badly he could barely speak, and his forehead burned like a branding iron.
This was a plague a hundred times more severe than before, and the owner of that voice hadn't even truly struck out from a distance.
Jiang Chen immediately sat cross-legged and circulated the Four-Spirit Body Refining Art to resist the plague toxin's invasion.
At the same time, he continuously cast Poison-Devouring Thorns to absorb the rampant plague toxin ravaging his body.
One Poison-Devouring Thorn after another burst apart as his body fluctuated between extreme cold and heat. His innate life force and the invading plague toxin fought a relentless battle...
It was not until night had fully fallen that he finally managed to barely hold off the invasion and restore his body to health.
What a terrifying plague toxin, what a terrifying person!
The Holy Sovereign of Bone Path?
He had a vague suspicion forming in his mind.
He naturally remembered Zhang Yuan's voice. Lu Yan and Dean Dong's roars above Maple Forest City were something he would never forget for the rest of his life. As for Miao Qing, that went without saying.
Among the absolute upper echelons of the Bone Path, the only voice he hadn't heard was that of the Holy Sovereign of Bone Path.
And if this plague bell was connected to the Holy Sovereign of Bone Path... didn't that mean the rat plague in the Kingdom of Yang was part of the Holy Sovereign's own scheme?
This was an incredibly important piece of intelligence!
If handled correctly, perhaps...
Of course, if you asked Jiang Chen to go back now and see what state the plague bell had become, he would absolutely refuse.
A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.
He would not take unnecessary risks.
Jiang Chen rose from the wilderness, roughly judged his direction, quickly found the nearest main road, and began walking along it.
The vast, gray night ebbed and flowed around him, as if some hidden beast was lurking in the darkness, drooling, ready to lunge out and swallow him whole at any moment.
He seemed completely unaware of it, and felt no fear.
As he walked, a tall, imposing city came into view in the distance.
Two large characters were carved above the city gate—Cangfeng.
"Cangfeng" meant abundant harvests, making the people well-off—a wish as simple and unadorned as could be.
As he approached the city gate, Jiang Chen suddenly recalled that the assassin named Su Xiuxing seemed to originate from an assassin organization within this very city's domain.
That small assassin organization apparently had a rather resounding name—
It was called Towers of the World.