bestfiction Chapter 3 "Miracle Cure"
Chapter 3 "Miracle Cure"
The next morning, enraged, Zhong Ming searched his dilapidated house thoroughly and stormed out.
While regretting that he must have been out of his mind yesterday, how could he forget to tie the dragon scale and the imperial gold medal to his waist together.
He went out and looked around, but there was no one in the alley. After taking only two steps, he went back and picked up his "carrying pole and bench" again.
What if it's a diversionary tactic? He lives alone and has just received a huge sum of thirty taels and four mace of silver. To be on the safe side, he has no choice but to carry all his valuables with him.
Zhong Ming took a deep breath, picked up his carrying pole and stool, and walked out of the alley as usual.
They went to the government office; this bastard has stolen from a marquis's house! He's got some nerve!
There was no one on the street.
The sky was a dark blue, the sun had not yet risen, and the whole town was quiet.
Zhong Ming guessed that the dragon meat was too nourishing, and the celebration last night had been so late that the whole town must have been sleeping in.
But the further we walked, the more something felt off.
The wild beasts attracted by the dragon's meat yesterday were slaughtered and eaten, and the stench of dragon blood lingered in the river. Zhong Ming touched his forehead; yesterday, the entire village kowtowed until their foreheads bled, making the town smell extremely bloody now.
There was no sound; the overwhelming bloodlust of the town must have scared away the birds and insects.
Zhong Ming was filled with doubt and uncertainty. He turned another corner and arrived at the riverbank.
The stream is no longer clear. For some unknown reason, the stench of yesterday's blood has not been carried away by the flowing water. Instead, it continues to expand, depositing a large patch of dark red flocculent material on the bottom of the stream, which undulates with the waves like aquatic plants.
Zhong Ming composed himself and looked along the river. Finally, on the bridge in the distance, he could vaguely see a few shadows.
They stood there quietly.
"Is Second Master Gao giving out good stuff again? Hurry up and get in line." This was Zhong Ming's first thought, and he immediately strode forward.
As the distance shortened, Zhong Ming could see more clearly. The people in line seemed to have gotten up very early and rushed over as soon as they heard the news. Their clothes were haphazardly dressed, and the tall man at the end of the line even stood on the bridge wrapped in a blanket, completely covered up.
The surroundings were unusually quiet, and Zhong Ming was too embarrassed to shout loudly. He covered his mouth with one hand and patted the other person's shoulder with the other.
"Hey, Gao..."
The next moment, his hand, which had just been strengthened by the dragon meat, pressed tightly against his mouth, forcing himself not to make a sound.
The tall man in front turned around. Zhong Ming recognized him; he was Old Qin, the bamboo craftsman, who was usually skin and bones and rarely made any money.
But now... his belly is frighteningly large, as if he had been feasting for three days and three nights, swollen like a ball, and his exposed skin is covered with black lines, densely packed like a cracked porcelain, with black viscous liquid constantly seeping from the cracks.
Zhong Ming stood frozen in place, enduring his physical discomfort, and slightly raised his head.
All the black lines converged on Lao Qin's forehead, and the area that was originally full of forehead wrinkles became deeply sunken, emitting a familiar glow.
Zhong Ming had been thinking about that luster all morning – it was dragon scales!
The wounds from yesterday's kowtows were covered in blood, and there were dragon scales stuck to them.
"Old Qin, you..."
"Creak...creak..."
The tall man kept chewing something, his expression blank. When he saw Zhong Ming, he protectively raised his hand from under the blanket and pressed it to his chest, tightly gripping a piece of jerky.
"Old Qin, your stomach... stop eating."
Zhong Ming reached out to stop the man, but the moment his fingers touched him, the tall man's demeanor changed instantly. His murky eyes flashed with a fierce light like a mountain demon, and he pushed Zhong Ming away forcefully.
The "Marquis," carrying a shoulder pole, slumped onto the stone bridge. The cold stone bricks pressed against his warm body, and an uncontrollable chill spread through Zhong Ming's entire body.
He saw clearly the other end of the "dried meat" that had been hidden by the gray-white quilt.
It has five fingers!
That wasn't dried meat; it was an arm, an arm whose blood had been completely drained! It wore the Qin family's heirloom jade bracelet, which, under the violent shaking, collided with the dry, hard forearm, which was as stiff as a rusty iron rod, producing a "crisp" sound. The broken bones were clearly visible at the wound.
That wasn't cut off, it was ripped off... his wife's arm.
Zhong Ming finally realized what it tasted like: it wasn't dragon blood, it was human blood!
A thick aura of death enveloped the entire town.
Old Qin stopped chewing.
The chewing sounds didn't stop.
Before the bridge, through the hall... the sound came from deeper within. Zhong Ming looked around and saw countless people standing like walking corpses on the road leading to the Gao family. Of the town's more than 13,000 people, overnight, only 2,900 family heads remained, or rather, slaves of the Dragon Scales.
They chewed on the bodies of their relatives, their heads covered in scales, and walked woodenly toward the Gao family.
The entire town was transformed into a living hell.
Zhong Ming covered his mouth tightly, his teeth and fingers working hard, as if constantly tensing his muscles could bring him a little bit of a sense of security.
How is this going?
......
As the rising sun shone into the "rich area," a blue figure shot into the sky.
"Hahaha, the auspicious time has arrived!"
The Immortal Master Qingliu stood in mid-air, his robes fluttering in the wind. With a flick of his sleeves, a gray mist surged out from within, obscuring the sky.
The earthquake trembled as if a dragon were turning over, ancient trees shook, courtyard walls collapsed, the entire stone bridge crumbled in an instant, and countless white bones shot up from all directions of the town, tumbling and combining in the air, eventually coalescing into a white bone dragon.
Zhong Ming and the collapsed stone bridge fell into the water together. He struggled to look up and saw a blurry immortal figure carrying a large banner on his shoulder, with one foot on the head of a white bone dragon. Several white jade beads surrounded his body, intimidating all directions.
The waves instantly engulfed Zhong Ming, and the turbulent current spun him around in the water. He struggled to open his eyes, trying to distinguish between the bottom and the surface of the river.
He witnessed an unbelievable scene. Underwater, the madmen who had fallen into the water with him were not drifting with the current, but instead stood steadily on the bottom, making their way step by step towards the Gao family's house.
Zhong Ming's shoulder was still pressed against the carrying pole and bench. In the instant he fell into the water, Zhong Ming, who regarded it as his life, subconsciously held on to it tightly. At that moment, in the turbulent current, the carrying pole and basket got stuck on a wooden railing on the bridge.
Zhong Ming clung tightly to the two intertwined lifelines, forcefully pushing his face above the water.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the Gao family compound had suddenly risen several stories high, like a furnace reflecting a terrifying red light.
People are recklessly jumping in.
Gao Jin, in mid-air, waved his banner and laughed loudly:
"The vast and profound words of historians span a thousand years, the boundless and mysterious path lies in a single sleep."
Shedding worldly desires and purifying oneself, one ascends to immortality alongside those of noble character.
"Gentlemen, please enter the Emperor's Banner and assist me!"
Suddenly, black smoke billowed from the banner, obscuring the sky and the sun. Below, from the Gao family compound, semi-transparent figures flew out and entered the "Human Emperor Banner".
At the same time, countless blood-red fleshy balls also took flight. The people with dragon scales on their heads were now twisted into huge fleshy balls, getting smaller and smaller as they rose. In the end, they became the shape of "pills", with dragon scales attached to the blood-red "beads" like rice balls covered with seaweed.
They flew all the way to the back of the dragon's head and then circled around "Master Qingliu". In no time, the white bone dragon was full of flesh and blood, and the dragon that had been eaten by everyone yesterday had been reconstructed.
The human flesh pills gathered together like scales, transforming into a crimson dragon soaring into the sky and pressing down on the sun.
Seeing this, Zhong Ming was filled with despair, unconsciously murmuring, "No, no, no..."
A small wave crashed over him.
All I could hear were the sounds of rushing water, heavy objects falling into the water, and collisions... Only when I surfaced could I hear fragmented words:
"That damned shaman... he actually... used his Daoist partner... to curse him... today the Gao family... has no bloodline left... killing three birds with one stone, truly heaven is on my side, hahaha~"
.....
Zhong Ming had no idea what Gao Jin was thinking; he only felt a chill run down his spine and his whole body was ice-cold.
We have to run, run at all costs.
Gao Jin's display of magical powers yesterday left Zhong Ming with no desire to resist whatsoever; his mind was only focused on how to escape from here.
Zhong Ming took one last look at Gao Jin in the sky, memorizing the terrifying scene. He then grabbed the wooden handrail of the arched bridge that was floating down, and together with the "carrying pole and bench," he folded them into a cross shape. He took a deep breath and dived into the water, using the two planks as support to rush down the river.
This hatred is irreconcilable!
......
The Qinghe River gradually widened and eventually flowed into the Yelan River.
The river water rose and fell, carrying filth and debris from upstream.
Hunger has returned to its peak; the river of hunger stretches endlessly, with no end in sight.
The bell tolled on and off in the river for an unknown amount of time, and the fear and confusion in its heart were amplified infinitely in the predicament of its ups and downs.
Where should he go? What should he do?
In the blink of an eye, a strong force suddenly came from the "carrying pole and bench," and Zhong Ming's left shoulder sank, as if his entire arm was about to be torn apart.
Fear shattered all his defenses like a hammer blow, and an uncontrollable thought amplified and filled his mind.
If there truly are descendants of dragons in this world, could it be that there are also dragons lurking in this great river?
The confusion was overwhelmed by fear at this moment. The fear of the unknown power and the remaining dragon nature in the dragon flesh merged together, running rampant on the Zhongming Heart Lake, casting a shadow that seemed to be the end of the world.
But at the bottom of the lake, beneath the deep surface of the soul, an even greater power is surging forth.
......
Two baskets were hanging on the carrying pole and bench.
A load of whetstones filled the air, and all the men in Qingxi Town chatted and laughed with Zhong Ming amidst the sound of sharpening knives.
With a load of polished bricks, the women of the town would either openly chat with him about crude things, or secretly peek at him from their boudoirs, or serve him tea and water with sweet words to try and get a discount.
I... am the last person in the town.
I am a mirror and knife sharpener from Qingxi Town.
I am a marquis bestowed by the supreme emperor, who bestowed upon me the title of Marquis!
Humanity's most primal instincts finally awakened after Zhong Ming devoured the flesh of the dragon, the king of all beasts. He lay at the bottom of the Heart Lake, quietly watching everything floating above.
That layer of the lake is called humanity.
Zhong Ming sped through the waves, the powerful dragging force seemingly about to tear him in two. The waves squeezed his flesh, each tiny ripple like a steel rod hitting a meatball, determined to smash his muscles into mincemeat.
A few breaths later, the dragging force changed instantly, pulling vertically upwards. The moment Zhong Ming left the water, he felt a sweet taste in his throat as blood filled it.
He wanted to scream, to shout, but the blood in his neck couldn't stop his rage. His words, stained with the thick, crimson liquid, lost their function of conveying information and ultimately transformed into a deafening dragon roar.
......
An old man asked in bewilderment, "Huh? Can a straight hook really catch fish?"