Headless Immortal

Chapter 45 Picnic with Crab

Lu Xun wiped his mouth, put down the gourd, and raised his fists forward.

At first, he only felt strange at the pawnshop, but he didn't dare to ask too many questions because of his status. He never expected that something would happen in just one day and two nights.

His five-headed god and three-legged cat head both need to absorb and expel the moon's essence.

Only when he was perched on the rooftop late at night did he realize that something strange was happening in the city.

The village chief was in human form, but he couldn't make out what kind of monster was wearing a straw hat and raincoat. He only felt a strong, pungent smell coming towards him, a stench of mud, sand, and rotting wood.

The man in the straw raincoat slowly withdrew the bone club.

Snap!

A mouthful of dark, murky mud emerged from under the straw hat.

Lu Xun dodged the attack, swiftly closed in, and unleashed a powerful punch.

The bone stick hit his stomach first.

Lu Xun felt his insides churning, and the crumbs of the flatbread mixed with water surged up his throat. He clenched his teeth, tightened his jaw, and forced himself to swallow back the churning in his stomach.

He wiped the bitterness from the corner of his mouth and carefully examined the person wearing the straw raincoat.

The man in the straw hat was tall with slender limbs, and with his bone club, he resembled an armored soldier.

An inch longer, an inch stronger—the ancients were right, they were not deceiving us.

The difference between having weapons and not having weapons is too great.

This man in the straw raincoat was different from the little demons he had encountered earlier. Those were at most spirits that had gained sentience, not demons at all. This one did indeed resemble one.

Lu Xun's martial arts skills are mediocre; to win, one would need overwhelming strength and speed.

"It's just that I don't know martial arts."

Seeing the pale-faced giant rushing closer again, the man in the straw raincoat didn't try to push him away this time, but instead swung his bone club with all his might.

A damp, inclement wind swept over us.

The scene of brains splattering out seems to be right before my eyes.

It wasn't that Lu Xun died, but rather that his long arm was caught in mid-air.

A snow-gray iron arm pierced straight at the face of the man in the straw raincoat. His wide straw hat was suddenly flipped off, revealing a head that was not a head at all, but rather a pair of lantern-like eyes sticking out from inside the thick straw raincoat.

Wu Tong Lu Xun suddenly changed his move, slamming down with his ape arm, knocking open the hunched flat head.

Grabbing the arm connected to the bone club, Wu Tong Lu Xun changed from smashing to grabbing, aiming straight for the crab demon's head.

The crab demon twisted and rolled away, choosing to sever its arm to survive. Its bright eyes were filled with horror. How could it not recognize that the Snow-haired Mountain Lord in front of it was a monster with great power and cultivation? How could a mere crab soldier like itself possibly contend with it?

They immediately tried to dive into the nearby stream.

"Roar?!"

Wu Tong Lu Xun arrogantly shouted, his hoarse beastly roar escaping along with his figure.

With one kick, he pinned the crab demon, which was trying to burrow into the river, to the wall.

The loud noise immediately caused a commotion in everyone's homes.

Dogs bark, babies howl.

The male voice was mixed with the woman's swearing.

"Help!"

A desperate, hoarse scream came from the alley.

The night watchman's torch was lit, and the sound of armor clashing came from the ranks of soldiers with open flames. In an instant, the streets and alleys were completely surrounded.

Lu Xun leaped forward, grabbed the crab demon, and then jumped back into the river, diving to the bottom to observe what was happening.

The octopus-like crab struggled frantically to break free from the iron claws of the Five-Tong Mountain Lord, only to be met with an even fiercer iron fist.

In just one moment, the crab tilted its head and blew bubbles.

……

"What's going on?" the squad leader, holding a knife at his waist, demanded sharply.

"There are monsters!"

Wang Si pointed to the small river connecting the ditch: "The monster is down there."

The armored sergeant jumped back in fright. He still remembered the battle against the Five Gods half a year ago. If it weren't for the provincial captains who were there to cover the battle, those dozens of brothers would have lost their lives. Even so, several of them were crippled. He didn't know what kind of monster that snow-haired ape was. It was stronger than an ox and its armor couldn't protect it.

Wang Si spoke with absolute certainty, and the sergeant dared not delay, ordering the soldiers beside him to go back and report to the county magistrate. Then, he organized the men and reorganized the able-bodied men who had come to watch the spectacle.

Every household had harpoons and nets, which they all used to catch the monster.

"Search!"

The fishermen searched along the stream.

The city's inner river was lit up all night.

...The stream is a tributary of the Xunyang River.

A strange creature leaped from the shimmering water, its gilded beastly eyes darting around.

Under the moonlight, the demon shook off its fur and, carrying the deflated but still millstone-sized crab demon, strode towards the shore.

After twisting off the crab demon's head, Lu Xun examined it carefully. The wet water stains looked like ink, spreading and blurring in front of him like ink-wash characters.

The skull of the "Gutless Soldier" from Peach Blossom Village

Species: Insect (crab)

Quality: Normal

Spell: Hardened Armor

Commentary: When the autumn wind blows, debt collectors and enforcers run rampant in the countryside, and are called "shrimp soldiers and crab generals".

[Collecting Debts]

Wu Tonglu opened his fanged maw slightly.

[Will it devour the skull of the 'Gutless Soldier' ​​of Peach Blossom Village?]

"no!"

Last time, Lu Xun had Wutong Mountain Lord swallow the head of a toad, but only the spell was highlighted and nothing changed. It was only after using the employer's gift that Xishui was able to reach the point of being able to enter the inner sanctum.

He had gained some understanding of the heads, but needed to experiment further to get a clearer picture.

Since there are two options for the skull: one that enhances the spell and one that doesn't, the amount of ashes obtained after crushing the skull should also be different.

[Will the skulls of the "gutless soldiers" of Peach Blossom Village be shattered?]

"Crush."

[Received ashes: 1.2 taels]

"really!"

A strange light flashed in his golden eyes, and the ashes obtained from the shattering were more than an ounce, more than the four beams and eight pillars that were beheaded on the execution ground.

"Assuming that shattering a skull causes some damage, why can some skulls be directly enhanced with spells while others cannot?"

Lu Xun vaguely felt that he had grasped the key. He remembered that the head of the Three-Legged Old Cat had also been strengthened, as had one of the tricks of the Five-Tong Mountain Lord.

There should be commonalities between them.

With too few variables to represent a general rule, Lu Xun stopped racking his brains.

There are countless guesses and ideas, but who knows which one is right? It's better to slowly accumulate enough thoughts to create two sets for comparison before we can understand the reason more clearly.

Gulu.

Lu Xun pursed his lips and touched his stomach.

They would rub dry branches with the claws of a hairy animal until they drilled into wood until it smoked, then gather the collected hay into a ball and carefully blow smoke into it.

call.

The smoke dissipated and the fire was lit.

Lu Xun casually set up a crooked barbecue grill, skewered the blue crabs on two dry branches and started grilling them. He removed all eight legs and grilled them separately, while the two crab claws looked like sledgehammers.

Before long, the aroma had already made Wu Tong Lu Xun's stomach rumble.

This is because his stomach is acting up, urging him to quickly offer up the best food and drink.

……

"smell good!"

The old man in the long robe and purple beard twitched his nose: "Can you smell it?"

Several men who looked like guards looked at each other and sniffed hard.

There was indeed a strange fragrance permeating the air.

The man in the tight-fitting clothes stood up alertly. He was as muscular as a small mountain with a broad back and a narrow waist. His large hand rested diagonally on his waist knife: "Why would someone be having a picnic by this mountain stream? Could it be a monster?"

"Whether it's a monster or not, we'll find out soon enough."

The purple-bearded old man chuckled, making no attempt to hide his feelings. He patted his bottom, stood up, and ordered, "Bring two jugs of good wine."

Following the fragrance, the group ventured out of the jungle and arrived at the riverbank.

A bonfire blazes along the riverbank.

Clothes were hanging on the racks that had been set up.

A short-haired, burly man in cropped wide-legged trousers was busy with something that didn't quite work out.

As if noticing the pedestrian, the burly man suddenly turned his head.

(End of this chapter)