Chapter 149: Savage Qi

Si Wenming and Manman both looked over at the same time.

Si Wenming simply stood in his spot, gazing intently at this wisp of bloody aura. Manman, however, brought her entire face right up to Ji Hao's chest, wide-eyed and fully focused, staring fixedly at this exceptionally thin line of blood.

"They've activated it. Should I spit blood now, or should I scream in agony?" Ji Hao asked, smiling at Si Wenming. "Uncle, my two little snakes told me that those three-eyed little monkeys are the ones behind this. With the beast tide outside being so fierce, I was thinking of luring the people behind them out."

Si Wenming smiled and nodded. "This beast tide is unusual; the strength of those few individuals alone is certainly not enough to drive these wild beasts and fierce birds into such a frenzy. The power behind them is not weak at all. Feigning severe injuries to draw them out is indeed a viable method."

Just as Si Wenming finished speaking, Manman's already huge and bright eyes suddenly widened. In the next instant, her twin Mountain-Suppressing Hammers roared, smashing through the wall of the small building one after the other, ruthlessly crashing into the adjacent building.

Despite Manman's usual carefree demeanor, ever since Ji Hao and those individuals had the conflict at the tavern, she had firmly memorized the locations of their residences. She had even simulated the action of swinging her hammers to smash the place countless times in her mind.

The two heavy hammers roared out one after another, hitting precisely the spot where the five men were gathered inside the building, without the slightest deviation. Manman could not see what they were doing inside the room, but the fact that she could hurl her hammers with such pinpoint accuracy showed that she possessed an extraordinary, natural talent for throwing things at people.

As the hammers flew out, a surge of divine power that Manman had just awakened poured into them. With a sharp crack and a burst of flashing flames, the hammerheads—originally only three feet square—suddenly expanded to several zhang in size, their entire bodies surging with raging fire like falling meteors.

The entire city of the Turtle Spirit Caravan shuddered violently. The three-tiered metal building, standing six zhang tall, collapsed with a deafening crash amidst the soaring flames, leaving behind a huge crater where the dense cabin rooms of the lower residential tier could be clearly seen.

Five bald men were hiding stealthily inside the building, practicing their sorcery, never dreaming in their wildest dreams that the moment their blood curse was activated, Manman would brutally strike them with a hammer. No excuse, no reason, and no evidence were needed. Based merely on the deduction of Ji Hao and Si Wenming, catastrophe had crashed down upon their heads.

The two heavy hammers, whose weight and might both surpassed those of a Great Wizard, descended. Four of the bald men let out miserable groans, beaten to dust amidst the blazing fire by the heavy hammers. Only the bald leader let out a bizarre shriek. Countless dense, black runes seeped out from beneath his fair skin, and his body suddenly expanded to a height of five meters. Raising his hands toward the sky, he desperately blocked one of the falling hammers.

Flames flew in all directions and heat rolled in waves as the hammerhead ground ruthlessly downward. The bald man shrieked wildly, the terrifying weight pressing down upon him like the crushing force of a giant mountain, causing the bones all over his body to crack audibly. His lower body had already sunk deep into the alloy-cast floor.

The three-eyed little monkey shrieked in panic and confusion, no longer able to focus on chanting the spell to drive the blood curse. Instead, beams of green light erupted simultaneously from its three eyes, helping its master prop up the hammer plunging down from above. This little monkey clearly did not excel in brute physical strength; it had to channel the evil curse within its body to unleash its might, and tens of thousands of bizarre runes poured forth from its body one after another.

"It's over!" the bald man sighed in utter despair.

Indeed, it was over. The runes spewed from the body of the three-eyed little monkey were vivid and lifelike, looking precisely like fierce, ferocious beasts and birds of prey. Moreover, they were entwined with a red glow and reeked of a monstrous, baleful aura. Nourished by the vital blood and souls of countless slaughtered beasts and birds of prey, these runes were so lifelike they seemed practically alive.

One did not need to be a formidable wizard priest; any Great Wizard with even the slightest study of wizardry curses could tell at a glance the connection between these runes and the beast tide outside!

Ji Hao shook his head, gently patting Manman's little head with his right hand, and walked over to the large hole smashed into the wall by her heavy hammer, looking down at the bald man who was pinned down and unable to move by the giant hammer.

Si Wenming crossed his arms over his chest, a gentle smile on his face, and said to Old Man Gui, who had suddenly appeared like a ghost: "Old Man Gui, this beast tide was stirred up by this bunch, and so are those blood curses. No need to thank us; how about waiving our travel fee this time?"

Old Man Gui smiled until his face was full of wrinkles. He bowed to Ji Hao and Si Wenming, then baring his teeth, he enthusiastically reached out his hands toward the bald man. "Hehe, many thanks to the honored guests for helping us ferret out this bunch of bastards! Our caravan has lost over thirty good hands!"

Old Man Gui's body was trembling slightly. Those lost caravan guards were veterans who had served their caravan for generations. Many of them had followed him, Old Man Gui, in and out of the Southern Wasteland time and time again—it was a bond forged by saving each other's lives amidst wind and rain, blades and swords, and the claws and fangs of wild beasts.

Fine, sturdy young lads had been turned into such ugly puddles of bloody water by such vicious wizardry curses. Old Man Gui's heart was filled to the extreme with bitter hatred, and the way he looked at the bald man had completely changed.

With a full smile on his face, Old Man Gui gripped the bald man's shoulders tightly and sneered, "Respected guest, since you've come to our Turtle Spirit Caravan and given us such a generous gift... we must treat you properly!"

The bald man's breath suddenly deflated. He looked at Ji Hao and shook his head. "Good grief, you actually evaded the blood curse of the Three-Eyed Demonic Soul Beast. You have a legacy wizard treasure protecting your body? Heh, heh heh."

He then looked at Old Man Gui and said calmly, "Mere Turtle Spirit Caravan. If we die here, someone will come to settle accounts with you."

With a soft laugh, the three-eyed little monkey emitted a reluctant, mournful screech, opened its mouth to spew a ball of green fire, and tightly enveloped itself and the bald man within it. Their bodies began to melt away bizarrely like candles before a furnace.

The bald man gazed intently at Manman and said calmly, "Little girl, so young and yet possessing such great strength. When you grow up, you might become another troublesome problem. You must die! Truly..."

Before he could finish his final sigh of grief, the bald man's body completely melted, turning into a messy puddle of bloody water that flowed all over the floor. Even the wizard priests most proficient in ghosts and the ways of the soul would be unable to extract a shred of his soul aura from this puddle of blood or find any useful information.

The three-eyed little monkey let out a few strange, cackling laughs. It clearly possessed a higher resistance to its own fatal curse.

A ball of green fire flickered within its body for a moment, and then it exploded violently.

The giant turtle let out a low roar, and a circle of transparent light and shadow appeared around the three-eyed little monkey.

The monkey's body burst apart, green light and bloody aura soaring into the sky, yet they failed to break through the confinement of this thin ring of light and shadow, failing to harm a single person.