PNB Chapter 590 Crab
Chapter 590 Crab
After Shen Muchun left, Jiang Li wrote several more secret letters and had Jifeng and Zhufeng deliver them one by one.
Xie Chang'an solemnly said, "This matter is of great importance. Let's discuss it with the four children."
Perhaps, that opportunity is just around the corner!
"it is good."
Jiang Li summoned Qingfeng and Mingyue and asked them to bring the two princes and the two princesses.
"We need to hold a secret meeting, and the location will be inside the Dragon Palace."
Seeing their parents' serious expressions, Xie Buli, Xie Buqi, and the other three were a little nervous.
Xie Wuchou felt a vague unease.
The meeting was held the following day in the secluded Dragon Palace.
The attendees included Jiang Li's family of six, as well as Long Dan, Mingzhu, and the Jiaolong couple. Even Yulong participated in the meeting.
They secretly discussed the matter for half a day, and then Mingzhu, Jiaolong, Huomang, and Yulong went off to carry out their respective tasks.
After the four Xie siblings emerged from the Dragon Palace, they all wore expressions as if in a dream, but their slightly trembling shoulders and unconsciously clenched hands revealed an undisguised excitement.
Xie Buqi's playful expression vanished, replaced by a hint of unease: "What did you say?"
Xie Wuchou replied without hesitation, "Of course I will follow my parents."
Xie Wuyou said, "It is my duty to eliminate demons and protect the righteous path, and I cannot shirk it."
Xie Buli smiled slightly: "Brothers fight tigers together, fathers and sons go to war together. Our family should naturally be together."
She glanced at Xie Buqi sideways and said, "You're the weakest, so you can stay behind and guard the rear."
Xie Buqi jumped three feet high in anger, "Who said I'm the weakest? Don't look down on me!"
Xie Wuchou chuckled and said, "So, brother, are you planning to compete with sister in fists and feet, or with me in swimming, or with brother Wuyou in magic?"
Xie Buqi rolled his eyes: "Using your strengths to attack my weaknesses, you have quite the scheme, your calculations are truly impressive!"
Xie Wuchou chuckled and said, "I'm certainly not as good as you, brother, when it comes to planning, but on the battlefield, you're definitely not as good as me!"
Xie Buqi said with a long face, "If I had known, I would have joined the army with Buli too."
It's a pity that you never know things beforehand. Only when you're about to go to the battlefield do you realize what it means to be a scholar who is utterly useless!
Xie Buli patted his shoulder: "You have a foundation. I'll give you some special training these next few days, and you'll be able to protect yourself."
"Okay."
Xie Buqi still looked worried. In terms of martial arts, he and Xie Buli were both born with superhuman strength. With the help of their parents' divine sense and medicinal baths, they had mastered the first level of the Divine Speed Body Refining Technique, making them invulnerable to swords and spears.
Compared to his peers, he was undoubtedly one of the best, and even many martial arts masters were no match for him.
At least he can take a beating!
However, this time they were facing an incomparably powerful demon cultivator!
That demon cultivator had been fighting with his parents for many years, like an unkillable cockroach, always managing to escape from a desperate situation. Even his parents had a lot of headaches. Now that they might face each other directly, how could he not be uneasy?
He was unlike Wuchou, who possessed the Pearl of the Mermaid King within him, nor was he like Wuyou, who was proficient in Taoist arts and even better at drawing talismans. In fact, his Divine Speed Body Refinement Technique was the worst among the four siblings.
Indeed, as Xie Buli said, in terms of martial arts and physical strength, he was the weakest among his brothers and sisters.
But he didn't want to back down. As the eldest son of his parents, how could he shrink behind his parents and siblings?
The four siblings each had their own responsibilities, and they immediately went off to carry out their respective tasks.
Shen Muchun came to see Jiang Li and Xie Chang'an with a solemn expression.
"Sixteenth Sister, your guess was correct."
He took out two medical records, "which indeed match the symptoms of the Empress Dowager and the Duke of Zhenguo back then."
He didn't think about it at the time, mainly because the recent cases were not progressing quickly. From the onset of a cold to gradual weakening, it often took more than half a year, during which there were repeated relapses. Unlike Empress Zhang and the Duke of Zhenguo, whose illnesses came on like a landslide and who were only able to survive for half a year thanks to the Great Rejuvenation Pill and countless precious medicinal materials.
Looking back now, both were instances of life constantly slipping away, the only difference being the speed of that loss; the former was like a river bursting its banks, while the latter was like water dripping on stone.
Jiang Li and Xie Chang'an both felt a chill in their hearts.
The Soul-Sucking Insect self-destructed back then, and it turned out it wasn't completely dead after all!
After fifteen years of recuperation, he has made a comeback!
"Sixteenth Sister, is that soul poison truly incurable?"
Jiang Li rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "Didn't I ask you to research this a long time ago? You've been researching it for so many years, and you're still asking me?"
Shen Muchun spread his hands: "You yourself said he is a demon from the upper realm. How can I, a mere mortal, cure this poison from the upper realm? Aren't you making things difficult for me?"
Jiang Li was extremely troubled: "What should we do about such a large-scale poisoning?"
I'm afraid this poison will spread further and might really destroy the world!
Shen Muchun, however, had full confidence in Jiang Li and Xie Chang'an: "The Book of Changes says that the number of the Great Expansion is fifty, but its use is forty-nine. People escape one of them. There is always a glimmer of hope in everything."
"I think, Sixteenth Sister, you and Brother Chang'an are that glimmer of hope!"
Jiang Li sighed, "Alright then."
Now that things have come to this, it's probably the final battle to the death. We have to do it, even if it's impossible!
"Let's go through it again from the beginning."
Shen Muchun said, "Alright. First of all, most of the people who fell ill had eaten hermit crabs from the Huichang Canal. Is it that the hermit crabs in the Huichang Canal are poisonous, or do all hermit crabs carry this poison?"
Jiang Li said, "The aquatic and sea creature armies have all gone to hunt hermit crabs. I'll have them send over samples from different regions later."
Xie Chang'an asked curiously, "So, that monster spreads 'soul poison' through hermit crabs? How exactly did it do that?"
Jiang Li thought for a moment: "Back then, his remnant soul self-destructed, and his soul, along with the shards of the mirror, turned into countless fragments, which were washed away by the waves. Fifteen years later, these fragments have reassembled, perhaps..."
She pondered, "It turned into a conch shell or a mollusk shell? I heard from Wuchou that hermit crabs change their shells every now and then..."
Xie Chang'an suddenly realized: "A hermit crab found that shell!"
Thus, this hermit crab became the host of the soul poison, and its offspring multiplied generation after generation, all becoming "poisonous crabs".
Shen Muchun clapped his hands excitedly: "That's right! This explains why the symptoms of those who are poisoned now are much milder than those of Empress Dowager Zhang and the Duke of Zhenguo."
However, regardless of the severity of the symptoms, if there is no cure for this poison, it will not last much longer and the person will eventually weaken and die.
Jiang Li was even more worried about something else: "If the life force lost by these people becomes nourishment for that monster, it will grow stronger and stronger!"
Shen Muchun was horrified; this was indeed a very possible thing!
Xie Chang'an then asked, "There is still one thing I don't understand. The original hermit crab should have found the shell of the monster in the sea. How did its descendants come to Huichang Canal?"
The Huichang Canal draws water from the Yangtze River. Although the Yangtze River eventually flows into the sea, hermit crabs have to swim upstream from the sea to enter the Huichang Canal. For a crab, such a long and arduous journey is almost impossible to complete!