Divine War Pill Emperor

Chapter 318: Chapter 316: Playing Dead

Zhan Yang, JinLing, and Lu Beifeng traveled with Niu Tuo, who carried Jiang Chen on his back, heading ever westward.

The sandstorms they faced were at times terrifying, but they managed to pass through them safely, and they didn’t encounter any of the strange people controlled by Corpse Heart Insects.

They traveled like this for three straight days.

On this day, they stopped.

"There’s a river."

JinLing, her mouth dry and tongue parched, pointed ahead.

In the desert ahead, a river had abruptly appeared, flowing slowly through the barren landscape.

All four of them were astonished.

"Jiang Chen was right, there really is water."

"I just don’t know if this is the Black Water he was talking about."

"Come on, let’s go take a look."

Niu Tuo, still carrying Jiang Chen, continued forward.

The group finally reached the riverbank.

From a distance, it didn’t seem like much, but up close, the river was a good three to four hundred meters wide.

If they had Martial King Cultivation, they could have flown across.

But with their current Cultivation, flying across was impossible.

At the same time, they noticed the river’s water was black.

Because the terrain here was flat, it looked very calm.

They just didn’t know how deep it was.

"It really is Black Water."

"This must be the place Jiang Chen was talking about."

They were all certain. This was definitely the Black Water.

And according to Jiang Chen, this Black Water was supposed to have insects.

But no matter how they looked, they couldn’t see any.

"There aren’t any insects, Jiang Chen. Are you sure there are insects here?"

JinLing stared for a long time but found no insects.

She hurriedly asked the semi-conscious Jiang Chen.

"Put... down..."

"Ground..."

Jiang Chen’s voice came out in fits and starts again.

JinLing heard him and mostly understood, telling Niu Tuo to put Jiang Chen down.

Right on the earth by the riverbank.

Still, they saw no insects.

Not long after Niu Tuo had laid Jiang Chen down.

POP!

A bubble suddenly formed out of nowhere in the soft mud by the river.

Then, under everyone’s astonished gazes, a white figure slowly drilled its way out of the mud.

It was a white worm.

The worm quickly poked its head out, looked around, and soon locked onto Jiang Chen.

It seemed to have discovered that Jiang Chen was on the verge of death.

The Corpse Heart Insect’s favorite thing was undoubtedly a corpse, even wearing one to run around in.

After observing for a moment, it was seen burrowing back into the mud.

"Grab it!"

By the time JinLing and the others tried to grab it, the Corpse Heart Insect had already burrowed into the mud. They dug for a long time but couldn’t find it.

Unbeknownst to them, beneath the surface, the worm was tunneling through the earth, stealthily creeping toward Jiang Chen.

Don’t be fooled by the Corpse Heart Insect’s weakness; in fact, they are extremely intelligent.

But Zhan Yang and the others were unwilling to give up. They dug all over, searching for the Corpse Heart Insect.

Only Jiang Chen lay by the river, just like a corpse.

POP!

A worm suddenly burst out from under Jiang Chen and quickly burrowed into his body.

Jiang Chen, who had been lying on the ground, twitched.

The next moment, with a flash of white light, the Corpse Heart Insect shot back out, having discovered it was a living person.

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK...

It realized it had been tricked—fooled by Jiang Chen playing dead—and was about to flee.

But Jiang Chen snatched beneath him.

SWISH!

A large worm was caught in his hand.

He mechanically stuffed it straight into his mouth.

CRUNCH...

As he ate the large worm, Jiang Chen’s brows furrowed. The Corpse Heart Insect was simply too foul-smelling.

But in order to heal his soul, Jiang Chen couldn’t be bothered with such things.

After he ate the Corpse Heart Insect, Jiang Chen’s soul recovered a little more.

He even slowly opened his eyes.

Although it was still a struggle, he could now move more.

Knowing he was now at the bank of the Black Water River, Jiang Chen was well aware that many Corpse Heart Insects existed here.

They just couldn’t be seen normally; only the appearance of a corpse would attract them.

He tilted his head slightly and saw Zhan Yang and the others digging everywhere in the riverbank mud, yet they could never find a Corpse Heart Insect.

Jiang Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

’It would be a miracle if you could dig one up like that.’

The Corpse Heart Insects were naturally cunning and wouldn’t approach living people.

He prepared to play dead again.

Using the Nine Heavens Spirit-Seizing Technique, he dispersed all the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in his body.

And began to play dead.

The effect of his act appeared quickly.

POP!

Another Corpse Heart Insect silently emerged from the riverbank mud.

After inspecting Jiang Chen’s "corpse," it immediately shot toward him like a lightning bolt.

Meanwhile, Zhan Yang and the others had wandered far away in their search for the insects.

Thus, the Corpse Heart Insect had no reservations as it moved to control Jiang Chen’s body.

SWISH!

The Corpse Heart Insect was bizarre. The moment it touched Jiang Chen’s body, it vanished inside him with almost no resistance, not even leaving a hole.

A strange smile appeared on Jiang Chen’s face.

’Excellent.’

He hurriedly released the aura of a living person. The Corpse Heart Insect sensed this, shrieked, and, realizing it had once again entered a living body, tried to escape.

The aura of a living being would cause a Corpse Heart Insect to panic; it could even kill it.

The Corpse Heart Insect could only flee for its life.

Jiang Chen grabbed the Corpse Heart Insect, stuffed it directly into his mouth, and, ignoring the stench, swallowed it in one big gulp.

The body of the Corpse Heart Insect appeared in his sea of consciousness, once again helping Jiang Chen’s soul recover.

From then on, it was much easier. Jiang Chen just kept playing dead, tricking the Corpse Heart Insects into coming. In a short while, he had captured more than ten of them.

His soul was now as good as new.

Not only that, but Jiang Chen was even more surprised to discover that the Ghosts that had remained in his sea of consciousness were now being devoured by his soul.

Before, the Ghosts had been devouring his soul; now, his soul was devouring the Ghosts.

As his soul devoured the Ghosts, slivers of power emerged, causing his soul to grow stronger.

’Devouring Ghosts can actually increase my Soul Power.’

Jiang Chen was pleasantly surprised.

With the help of the Corpse Heart Insects, dozens of Ghosts were completely devoured by Jiang Chen, causing his soul to become nearly half again as strong as before.

The souls of Martial Cultivators are generally not strong, so they are easily damaged.

But Jiang Chen was an Alchemist, and his soul was much stronger than that of an ordinary Martial Cultivator.

For it to now grow stronger by another half was a massive gain.

Unfortunately, just as he wanted to continue strengthening his soul, there were no Ghost remains left.

’I wonder how I can catch Ghosts. That way, I could use them to continuously increase my Soul Power.’

Jiang Chen’s mind raced.

But he had no way to capture Ghosts.

After all, he couldn’t risk having his soul devoured by Ghosts again. If he couldn’t find Corpse Heart Insects next time, recovery would be extremely difficult.

He knew the only thing that could deal with Ghosts was the Vermilion Bird Fire.

Fortunately, this experience had taught him a valuable lesson.

Even though he had recovered, Jiang Chen continued to play dead, acting as a corpse to constantly attract Corpse Heart Insects.

He even used Magic to make his body emit the stench of a corpse.

One by one, the Corpse Heart Insects were drawn to him.

’I’ll catch a bunch of these Corpse Heart Insects. They’ll definitely be useful later.’

The uses for Corpse Heart Insects were definitely significant. Having entered a Treasure Mountain, Jiang Chen didn’t want to leave empty-handed.