Volume One: The Soul-Calling Gourd, the Soul-Burning Lamp Chapter Eighty-Seven: Heaven and Earth

The three of them, their faces gone white, only felt the towering aloe beneath their feet suddenly lose its balance and crash heavily to one side.

Xiao Yulou, all celestial grace and refined bearing, hurriedly flicked the hem of his Taoist robe, and a blinding sheen of gold burst forth from his body.

Seeing this, Gu Mo lurched downward at once, summoning the ghostly qi within him. With a thunderous boom, his entire body was engulfed in surging green ghost fire.

After unleashing their strange arts, the two of them looked like a pair of giant bulbs, one yellow and one green. Facing the aloe’s slow collapse, Gu Mo and Xiao Yulou even turned their provocative gazes toward Li Hetang.

The latter, meeting those two fools’ stares, merely smiled faintly and drew a high-tech black helmet from his tactical pack, fitting it on at once. Once the orange-yellow visor snapped into place, he looked even more like a full set of gear from a futuristic battleground.

As the aloe tilted farther and farther, with danger looming, Xiao Yulou suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs:

“Time to drive, you two are on your own!”

Whoosh—crack, crack, crack, crack!

The towering aloe finally toppled...

A deafening crash rang out, as though the world itself had collapsed.

Gu Mo, his whole body wreathed in ghastly green fire, had only just glanced at Xiao Yulou and Li Hetang when the sky and earth spun before his eyes, and he was flung hard more than a thousand meters away.

...

After a long while, Gu Mo gradually woke to searing pain all over his body, his organs feeling as though they had been struck by a shell.

Looking around, he found the world overturned, black as pitch, and eerily strange. The damp scent of earth filled his nose.

Beneath him, a sticky green aloe liquid had already spread like a river, completely surrounding him. The enormous aloe that had crashed down was less than forty meters away.

After taking several deep breaths, Gu Mo slowly turned his neck.

Crack, crack, crack...

Good—his neck was not broken.

Next, he moved his limbs.

Hallelujah!

He looked utterly ragged now, his clothes in tatters, a genuine beggar in appearance. His tracksuit had been blown apart completely. Aside from the constant pain and his left arm turning dark purple and bleeding, he was basically still in workable condition.

Then Gu Mo struggled to sit halfway up, wiped the aloe juice from his face as best he could, and looked into the darkness nearby.

Based on the trio’s positions just now, even allowing for differences in weight and air resistance, the landing point should not be more than two hundred meters away.

Xiao Yulou, that shabby old Taoist, had always treated the world as his playground and kept hidden cards in reserve. He should not have died here.

What worried Gu Mo most was Li Hetang. That unlucky bastard was the weakest of the three and had basically no life-saving skills. To fall from such a height and break an arm or a leg would be perfectly reasonable.

Thinking of this, Gu Mo could only draw a deep breath and, rising with great care, grope his way off to the side.

He had not gone far before a sudden tightening seized his mind, and inwardly he began to howl.

Damn it, where was the Glutton Ghost? That thing was carrying all his valuables in its mouth!

At once, Gu Mo reached into every pocket he had.

Suddenly, a few gurgling sounds reached his ears.

Only then did he reach behind himself, and the soft touch under his hand put him at ease.

Their eyes met. The furry little Glutton Ghost stared fixedly at Gu Mo with starry eyes. Then, with a lick of its tongue, the one and only weapon appeared before Gu Mo: the Heaven-Measuring Ruler.

Seeing this, Gu Mo’s heart warmed at once. He reached out and patted the Glutton Ghost’s fluffy head.

“Good job, furball. When we get back, I’ll give you an extra chicken leg!”

The moment it heard there would be a fragrant chicken leg to eat, the Glutton Ghost immediately split open its abyss-like maw, and a stream of crystal-clear drool poured out like a waterfall.

With a splash, a great deal of saliva landed directly on Gu Mo’s left hand. The warm drool had barely touched him when a prickling, numbing pain shot through him.

At that revolting sight, Gu Mo grimaced, his face darkening at once as he looked down on the little creature in his hand with utter disdain.

“Hey, furball! Can’t you be a little hygienic?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Gu Mo hurriedly crouched down, afraid of attracting any giant insects.

A cigarette’s worth of time later, an unbearable itch began spreading across Gu Mo’s left hand. It felt as though ten thousand ants were gnawing at his flesh.

But there was no light nearby, and even if he wanted to see, he could not make anything out.

Helpless, Gu Mo reached behind him toward his pocket.

In an instant, the gaping hole blown through the pocket told him that the once peaceful lighter had already exploded.

“Damn it! Good thing the pocket was still a bit away from my balls, or I’d have blown my dick off!”

After cursing, Gu Mo could only stride off in another direction.

Barely two steps later, a tremendous buzzing came rushing toward him.

At this, Gu Mo’s face turned cold. He gripped the Heaven-Measuring Ruler tightly and plunged into the lake of aloe juice.

A unique, fresh fragrance instantly wrapped around his entire soul.

Can’t see me. Can’t see me. Can’t see me. Important things said three times!

Whoosh, whoosh—

Seven or eight black shadows flashed directly overhead.

The instant those shadows vanished, Gu Mo, his curiosity bursting, raised his head from the aloe lake.

A flying ant more than twenty meters long shot away like a jet fighter, churning the air as it disappeared into the distance.

Seeing this, Gu Mo’s little heart nearly stopped.

Damn it, the air force has been deployed too? Are ants this vindictive?

And besides, it was Xiao Yulou, that shabby Taoist, who had provoked them with fireballs. If they wanted revenge, shouldn’t they go after him?

Thinking this over, Gu Mo stayed hidden a while longer, afraid that the “air force” might have reinforcements.

Boom!

At that moment, a tremendous explosion rang out not far away. A pillar of fire shot upward and burned open the darkness before his eyes, searing the entire world.

Seeing this, Gu Mo’s expression sank immediately, and with a twisted face he blurted out a string of curses.

“We’re done for! You can tell by the smell of it that it’s Xiao Yulou, that miserable old Taoist! Can’t that bastard ever lay low and build himself up? Whatever he does, he has to make such a huge spectacle!”

But curse as he might, Gu Mo still sprang up at once, wiped the aloe juice from his face, and rushed toward the flames.

After about a cigarette’s worth of time, the darkness before him was gradually driven back by the firelight. A thick stench of scorched flesh and charred earth stabbed into Gu Mo’s nostrils.

And as Gu Mo, hiding behind a large rock, peeked out, what he saw nearly made him clamp up in terror, tremble all over, and lose his soul.

Wooo—wooo!

What entered his vision was this:

More than ten black flying ants, each over twenty meters long, were circling beyond the high flames, waiting for a chance to ambush Xiao Yulou. On the ground, over twenty black worker ants bared their teeth just outside the ring of fire, opening and closing massive steel-like mandibles.

That towering aloe had undoubtedly been bitten through by these ants, tooth by tooth.

Ants really were vindictive.

Never mess with ants.

And Xiao Yulou, dressed in black robes, stood atop the broken bodies of seven or eight worker ants with a look of utter resolve, continuously driving out sword fingers. Seven or eight blazing fireballs of Zhu Rong forced the onrushing ants back again and again.

Indeed, the Zhu Rong fireballs Xiao Yulou had unleashed were both offensive and defensive!

Once again, that air of immortal grace and martial elegance filled the scene.

Looking over, the worker ants that were about to lose their lives still kept moving their abdominal legs. Their opening and closing steel mandibles made terrifying clacking sounds.

How the hell was this supposed to be handled?

Panting hard, Gu Mo felt troubled. If he rushed in, it would be no different from drawing a circle on the ground and calling it a prison. If he stayed out, Xiao Yulou, that shabby Taoist, would sooner or later be exhausted to the point of death.

Ants are social creatures that are attracted to light. After mating, they begin laying eggs in eight to twenty-one days, with the first batch numbering two to three hundred. After about fourteen days and several molts, the eggs become young worker ants.

God only knew how close the nest was. These vengeful ants might only be the advance guard. If the entire colony poured out, Xiao Yulou would die a truly ugly death.

Thinking of this, Gu Mo clenched his teeth and broke into a cold sweat for Xiao Yulou, who was fighting desperately within the ring of fire.

Just then, Gu Mo suddenly felt someone tap him lightly on the shoulder.

Startled, he immediately swung the Heaven-Measuring Ruler with force.

With a slap, his wrist was caught in a vise-like grip. But when Gu Mo looked closely, he saw no one at all. It was as though only air stood behind him, and nothing else.

Fear, worry, anxiety—many emotions surged up at once.

Suddenly, just as Gu Mo lifted his left leg, a familiar voice sounded by his ear.

“Mr. Gu, it’s Li Hetang!”

In a flash, Gu Mo’s bewildered eyes caught sight of a blue glow fading like a tide. And Li Hetang, clad in a black battle suit, was now pressing a button on his helmet with his left hand.

Seeing this, Gu Mo’s features twisted as he stared at the man before him in astonishment and confusion.

“Damn—what kind of gear are you wearing? You can go invisible?”

At this, Li Hetang frowned and said softly,

“Forget about that for now. Leave the flying ants in the air to me. You handle the worker ants on the ground. When the time comes, do what I signal with my eyes.”

Before Gu Mo could even nod, Li Hetang pressed the button on his helmet again. In a wash of blue light, that unlucky bastard vanished once more before Gu Mo’s eyes.

After a few faint footsteps, Li Hetang disappeared without a trace.

Gu Mo, still gripping the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, was left utterly adrift amid the firelight.

What the hell? Do as you signal with your eyes? You’re invisible, for crying out loud—how the hell am I supposed to read your eyes? Is this guy an idiot?

The answer was yes.

But things had come to this, and Gu Mo could hardly drag the invisible Li Hetang back and beat him senseless.

After thinking it through, Gu Mo could only furrow his brow and look toward Xiao Yulou, who was still locked in battle ahead, waiting for that so-called “fend for yourselves” to prove its worth.

In that instant, life and death hung by a thread.

From not far away came the sharp sound of bowstrings being drawn.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Three feather arrows thin as toothpicks had already struck the flying ants circling in the air. At the tail of those arrows, red points of light were flashing more and more rapidly.

Seeing this, Gu Mo immediately realized it was Li Hetang’s signal.

The next second, Gu Mo clenched his teeth hard and, wrapped in eerie green ghost fire, charged straight out!

Xiao Yulou, looking down from above, saw the reinforcements and immediately broke into a grin.

Boom, boom, boom!

Three horrifying explosions rang out.

The flying ant struck in the head by the feather arrow instantly crashed from the sky in thick black smoke.

Seeing this, Gu Mo was utterly stunned.

That composite bow had been pulled by his ghostly qi before; the draw weight was unimaginably heavy, probably at least two hundred pounds!

But even if Li Hetang was broad-shouldered, there was no way he could draw a bowstring that heavy by brute strength alone. The only possibility was that strange battle suit. Maybe that thing could enhance a person’s potential.

Just as this thought flashed through his mind, the world before Gu Mo suddenly went dark.

A black worker ant more than twenty meters long had already stood directly before him.

“Damn it!”

...