After the Immortal Disappeared

The potion was dark and unassuming. Dong Rui swallowed it in one gulp. A warmth soon spread from his stomach, and some strength returned to his limbs. Otherwise, after such a long and frantic ordeal—injured and bleeding, no less—he would have nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

"This potion of yours is surprisingly effective," he said matter-of-factly.

"How do we get out of this jellyfish?"

Dong Rui was hardly about to tell him. "Once we’re out of danger, you’ll find out."

"You really know how?" Hee Lingchuan was highly skeptical. "You nearly drowned yourself."

Drowning inside the body of a monster he himself had created was the most ridiculous joke imaginable. Dong Rui’s expression soured. "This is just a prototype! It still needs refinement! It was also my first time... field-testing it."

This prototype hadn’t even entered the trial phase; many of the details hadn’t been ironed out.

And it nearly suffocated its own creator to death.

"How much longer will we be drifting?" They were riding the river’s express current, hurtling downstream.

Looking around, he saw the river’s current wasn’t just not slowing down—it was getting faster. They seemed to have entered a narrower, more winding channel where the rapids churned and the water roared like thunder.

"We have to wait for the current to calm down, at least! Going out now would be suicide!"

The giant jellyfish was frequently forced underwater, revealing another bizarre world. All sorts of debris, both imaginable and unimaginable, danced in the water. Hee Lingchuan even saw animal carcasses being sucked into undercurrents and whirlpools—a scene both grotesque and brutal.

Without the giant jellyfish for protection, even the strongest swimmer wouldn’t have been able to make it through this stretch of the river.

Even a Giant Whale caught in a flood like this would have no chance of survival.

They were even snagged twice on reefs in the middle of the river. Fortunately, the violent current eventually managed to shove the slimy giant jellyfish past the rocks.

Hee Lingchuan poked the gooey substance beside him. "How long did it take you to grow it this big?"

"Three to five months, I’d say. It and its kind were originally only the size of a hat."

Hee Lingchuan didn’t bother asking why he did it—the guy’s brain was clearly wired differently. Instead, he asked, "What’s with the ’thirty-four’? Does that mean this jellyfish is Number Thirty-Four?"

"...It is."

’So this guy has modified at least thirty-four creatures and numbered every single one.’

"What number was that Ghost Ape?" They were just stuck there with nothing to do, and talking was the only thing possible.

"Seventeen."

"But I’ve only seen you use four Demon Puppets." ’And that’s including this jellyfish.’

Dong Rui said sullenly, "Most of them were failures, so I destroyed them." His shoulder was still killing him—all thanks to this guy. ’Why do I have to make small talk with my enemy?’

"So only four successes in total?" Hee Lingchuan chuckled. "Your success rate is a little low, isn’t it?"

Dong Rui glared at him. "What are you getting at?"

"That red potion, what exactly is it for?" The mutated Parasol Tree had left a deep impression on the Yuan People, but even now, the Medicinal Ape hadn’t managed to decipher the strange concoction.

Hee Lingchuan understood it wouldn’t be that easy, of course.

"It’s none of your business." ’So this kid was the one who picked up the lost potion.’ "You people can’t use it anyway."

Hee Lingchuan detected his arrogance. "It only works on Demon Puppets?"

Dong Rui shot him a sidelong glance, not bothering to answer.

’He already knows, so why ask?’

"It seems to be some kind of blood," Hee Lingchuan said, ignoring his dismissive attitude. "Something to do with the Ghost Beasts from the Middle Ages, right?"

Dong Rui rolled his eyes and snorted. "What do you know about it?"

"Am I wrong?"

Dong Rui said proudly, "Ghost Beasts are crude, brainless, and indiscriminately hostile. How can they possibly be compared to my Demon Puppets?"

He could train his Demon Puppets to obey his every command, making them completely subservient.

"Sounds like you’ve done your research on Ghost Beasts."

Dong Rui scoffed. "A layman like you learns a couple of terms and immediately starts sniffing around."

Changing the subject, Hee Lingchuan asked, "What’s the deal with your face?"

"None of your damn business," Dong Rui answered bluntly.

"Is it a curse or poison?"

"Poison," Dong Rui said coldly. "I was testing a potion. It went wrong."

’This guy’s a master of potions, but he managed to screw up a test on himself?’ Seeing that Dong Rui didn’t want to elaborate, Hee Lingchuan changed the subject again. "In that case, have you ever researched the Jindu Ghost Mother?"

"The Jindu Ghost Mother?" A look of surprise finally crossed Dong Rui’s face. "Where did you hear that name?"

"I’ve seen her with my own eyes."

"Where?" Dong Rui’s expression tensed, a hint of urgency in his voice. "Where, exactly?"

"You tell me first."

Dong Rui stared at him for a long moment, as if trying to judge whether he was bluffing.

Hee Lingchuan said unhurriedly, "I only know she can use others’ wombs to bear her young, and she has quite a few in each litter." ’And they brought so much trouble to Panlong City.’

"I’ve only ever heard of the Jindu Holy Mother." Dong Rui put heavy emphasis on the word "Holy." "Who was the one who swapped it with ’Ghost’?"

Hee Lingchuan shrugged.

"But you did get one thing right. She can impregnate human mothers, making them give birth to her cubs."

"That incredible? Do they need to make physical contact?" ’What kind of implantation technology is this?’

"Of course not!" Dong Rui shook his head. "Why else would she be called a Holy Mother?"

"Immaculate conception, huh?" Hee Lingchuan mused. "Why can’t we have that kind of power?"

"You’re not a Deity."

"What?" Hee Lingchuan was stunned. "The Jindu Ghost Mother is a Deity?!" ’That’s an answer I never would have expected.’

"The children of a Deity can be that hideous?"

"And you think Deities are supposed to be beautiful?" Dong Rui shot him a contemptuous look. "Have you ever seen one?"

’This guy has a sharp tongue.’ Hee Lingchuan decided not to stoop to his level. "I haven’t, but the cubs she gives birth to have nothing ’holy’ about them."

"They’re ugly?" Dong Rui was suddenly focused. "How ugly?"

"Well, yeah, I saw them with my own eyes. They all look different, too. Some are fierce, some are agile, some are scrawny and small. Some are barely bigger than a cat, while others are bigger and stronger than either of us."

"Yes, yes, those are Jindu Cubs!" Dong Rui nodded emphatically. "Legend says she can have up to nine children in a single litter, and each one is different."

"I thought only dragons were that fertile." ’Isn’t there a saying about dragons having nine sons?’

"Who fed you that nonsense?" Dong Rui said bluntly. "If dragons were really that prolific, the rivers and lakes would be teeming with them. I’ll ask you, have you ever even seen one?"

’So the guy’s a natural-born contrarian.’ Hee Lingchuan actually had seen a dragon, though. It was in the Coiling Dragon Illusion Realm, after the Black Flood Dragon absorbed the Heroic Souls of the Great Wind Army and ascended into a true dragon.

’Does that count?’ Of course, he couldn’t exactly bring that up. So he had to concede. "You’ve got a point. You win. Let’s get back to the Jindu Ghost... I mean, Holy Mother. Can’t she give birth herself? Why does she need to use human mothers?"

"Of course she can!" Dong Rui analyzed. "But by using human mothers, she can control the location of her cubs’ birth."

"Control the location of their birth..." Hee Lingchuan was stunned. "Don’t tell me she can impregnate a woman from thousands of miles away?"

Of course, his mind wasn’t on anything else; he was just thinking that Panlong City would probably never be able to catch the true culprit. The Jindu Ghost Mother was likely not even in the Panlong Wasteland.

"Oh? And have you figured out the principle behind it?"

"Thousands of miles? Try farther," Dong Rui sneered. "The Deities aren’t even in this world!"

Hee Lingchuan blinked. And blinked again. ’Not even in the same world, and a Deity can get a woman pregnant?’

’Then again, I shouldn’t be so shocked. I seem to recall hearing about cases like this before I crossed over, right?’

"How could you or I possibly fathom the great power of the Deities?" Dong Rui sighed. "The more you learn, the more you realize how unfathomable they are. In their eyes, we’re worth less than ants."

"Don’t be fooled by the ’Holy’ in the Jindu Holy Mother’s name. I’ve heard she’s merely a lesser Deity, one who must serve those of higher station. And because her cubs are born from humans, they have a so-called ’Innate deficiency.’ This makes them far weaker than the cubs the Jindu Holy Mother would bear herself, but it also makes them better adapted to our world."

"Better adapted to our world?"

"Of course. From birth, they are half-human and half-god, so they aren’t completely rejected by this world. You were lucky, though. You probably didn’t encounter the strongest of the Jindu Cubs."

Hee Lingchuan paused. "There’s a strongest one?"

"Of course. When a wolf or tiger has a litter of three to five pups, there are always strong ones and weak ones. The strong grow fast, and the weak perish. The Jindu Mother can have up to nine cubs, so this rule is even more pronounced. However..." he said slowly, "the first pup born to a wolf or tiger is often the strongest, and the last is the weakest. For the Jindu Mother’s children, it’s the exact opposite."

"The earlier they’re born, the weaker they are, and the last one is the strongest?" ’Does that mean the two I fought were some of the weaker cubs?’

"The earliest ones aren’t necessarily the weakest, but the last one to be born—the runt of the litter—is definitely the strongest. It steals nutrients from its siblings while still in the womb, forcing them to be born prematurely, lest they be devoured by it. This last one will also have some unique characteristics."

Hee Lingchuan asked humbly, "Such as?"

"Like... it doesn’t come out!" Dong Rui snapped, his eyes wide. "How am I supposed to know the fine details?"

’He already knows quite a lot of details,’ Hee Lingchuan thought. ’Information about Deities is rare. I wonder where this guy dug it all up.’

’More importantly, why was he collecting it in the first place?’ "How do you know so much about the Jindu Mother?"

"I saw a Jindu Cub once, so I started gathering information about them wherever I could," Dong Rui said with a long sigh. "It’s incredibly difficult. The surviving information on Deities is pitifully scarce." It took a great deal of effort for him to learn even this much.

Hee Lingchuan blurted out, "Where?"

"In a cavern underground," Dong Rui said, looking smug. "But it was just a corpse that had been desiccated for who knows how many years. Not like you, finding a fresh one."

Feeling he had held up his end of the bargain, he urged Hee Lingchuan, "I’ve given you plenty of details. Now, where exactly did you find the Jindu Cub?"

"The place I came from."

Dong Rui paused for a moment. "That remote backwater of yours... what was it called again? Qiansomething County?" When his former employer had given him the intel, he hadn’t even bothered to remember the name. It was just too remote.

"Qiansong County," Hee Lingchuan said with a straight face. "I saw them in Panlong City."

"Panlong City?" Dong Rui, in contrast, was sharp when it came to that name. "Zhong Shengguang’s Panlong City? But isn’t that just a ruin now?"