Lord of Rot

The convoy continued onward.

They had officially entered Monkey Territory.

From a glance at the map, Monkey Territory was about the same size as Waterfall Land—not particularly large.

Of all the territories he had passed through, Porcupine Territory was the smallest. At best, it was only about the size of a small county town. Dense forests covered nearly half the land, and after accounting for the uneven terrain and the coastline unsuitable for farming, there was little truly usable land.

The trees were a resource, capable of withstanding Leech’s frenzied logging. The cleared areas could be used for cultivation or building factories, so it was definitely not a loss for Leech.

Baron Simon’s territory of Iron Stone City wasn’t large either, but he had iron mines. There was no comparison.

Waterfall Land stretched from east to west. After observing it several times with the ”Eagle Eye” Magic and making a rough estimate, Leech figured it was at least ten times the size of Porcupine Territory. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to mobilize tens of thousands of people for a war with a single call to arms. It was roughly the size of a small third-tier city on Earth.

The largest territory he had ever seen was Linta Bay, his maternal grandfather’s domain. He was absolutely certain its area far exceeded the range of his Spiritual Power.

Based on a rather inaccurate map and by comparing it to the size of Waterfall Land, he could roughly determine its area was equivalent to one and a half times that of Taiwan Province, probably similar to Harbin.

In reality, there were bound to be discrepancies; it was just a convenient way for him to form a concept in his mind.

Now that they had reached Monkey Territory, Leech could still feel his connection to the ’stone man,’ Corpse Ghost Nils, who was far away near Longship Castle. This meant the actual distance wasn’t too great and he hadn’t gone out of range. His connection to Porcupine Territory, however, was completely gone.

’If they just repaired the waterways in Waterfall Land and straightened them out, the travel time on this route would definitely be less than a day and a night,’ he thought.

The party moved on.

Fortunately, Guy was with them. He had participated in the battle for Burning City and was familiar with this road. The group should be able to reach Burning City in four or five days.

The carriage wheels rumbled, the wooden rims bumping against stones. The carriage itself would jolt up slightly before settling back down.

They were about halfway through the tedious journey.

”Stop the carriages!” Leech suddenly called out.

The convoy halted, quietly awaiting the Baron’s orders.

Leech had noticed the ”red dot” in his vision move. This meant that the red dot’s position was now in the same dimension as him.

His primary goal in coming to Burning City was to make contact with the Round Table and attempt to connect with other Transcendents.

His second goal was to get rid of the red dot in his eye.

Even for a laid-back person like him, it was starting to feel like an obsession he was compelled to address.

Leech got out of the carriage and glanced at the sky. It was almost dark. Coincidentally, there was a suitable place to make camp just ahead. He gave his orders, ”We’ll rest up ahead. Sir Guy, you and the others come with me.”

”Yes,” Guy nodded.

Hearing Leech’s command, the Soldiers didn’t think much of it. They just assumed the noble lord had his own matters to discuss, probably related to Burning City.

After all, Burning City belonged to the Giant’s Foot faction, which had a natural animosity with the East Gorge People.

The war was over and peace had returned, but you couldn’t expect people to simply let go of their prejudices.

To the upper class, war was a transaction of interests; they could hold hands and become best friends at any moment as long as it benefited them. But for the common folk, war meant deep-seated, bloody feuds.

They assumed their Lord was discussing matters concerning their arrival in Burning City.

After leaving the Corpse Demon Giant Lizard behind to silently guard the convoy, Leech led the Corpse Ghosts toward the red dot’s location.

”This is the area?” Leech asked.

Guy nodded. ”Yes.”

They walked for a while longer. The path ahead was overgrown with weeds and the trees grew denser, making it very difficult to proceed.

Fortunately, Leech was a Transcendent; his clothes just got a little dirty. If he had tried to ride a horse in here, it would have been truly impossible to move.

’I should have brought the Corpse Demon Giant Lizard,’ Leech thought to himself.

If the Corpse Demon Giant Lizard had charged ahead, it would have undoubtedly flattened a path for them, though it would have made a huge ruckus.

They walked on. The sky gradually dimmed. Looking back, he could see only the clouds set ablaze by the sunset, and the red sun with half its face hidden behind a mountain.

They continued forward, using the last of the evening light.

The red dot in his vision suddenly plunged downward in front of him. When Leech looked down, the red dot became a yellow one. As he tilted his head, the yellow dot turned green.

He was here!

Leech stopped. He had accidentally kicked a small stone, sending it tumbling down.

SPLASH! The sound of the stone hitting water.

Looking down, he saw the sunset’s light spilling into a cavern, its reflection wrinkled by the water’s surface.

”There’s a body.” Leech’s eyesight was excellent.

He saw the corpse floating in the water. It was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, looking very much like the body of the Water Nymph from Guy’s memories.

’Has it been this long, and the body still hasn’t decayed?’

A surge of curiosity rose in Leech. He leaped down into the cavern, and the Corpse Ghosts immediately followed him into the pit.

He landed with his knees slightly bent.

This cavern wasn’t very large, about the same as in the memory. A pool of water took up most of the space, leaving little room for footing.

He reached out and pulled the mangled corpse onto the ledge.

The corpse was fresh.

Extremely fresh! A very long time had passed since Guy killed the Water Nymph, yet the body hadn’t rotted, developed maggots, or even become bloated from the water. It had just been floating there quietly.

If Leech hadn’t specifically come looking for it, the body might have just kept floating like this forever.

’It’s completely mangled.’ From its frame, one could vaguely tell she must have had a graceful figure in life, but now there was nothing to see but a ruined torso.

Now, only one question remained for Leech: should he turn it into a Corpse Ghost and use a large amount of gold to repair it?

Considering the state of the Water Nymph’s corpse, the amount of gold required would be about the same as casting half a person out of pure gold.

Leech turned to Guy. ”Get in the water and take a look.”

If the Water Nymph truly preyed on humans, then who knows how long this cave had existed? There was bound to be no shortage of unlucky souls who had accidentally stumbled in here.

Dead people meant inheritance.

Guy decisively jumped into the pool, and Leech’s mind entered his body.

The underwater environment was dim. He sank for about ten meters before hitting the bottom.

At the bottom were white bones, armor, cargo boxes, and the like.

”Start salvaging immediately!”

’If there are goods and people, there must be money!’

Aina also jumped into the water. The two Corpse Ghosts worked together, hauling up all the miscellaneous junk from the bottom.

There was a pile of white bones and rotting, rusted armor. He couldn’t make out any family crests, and the styles were unclear.

Then came two chests of jewelry.

Gemstones, gold, pearls, and more—it was a huge haul! A rough estimate put the value at around 1,000 Jinri!

If sold, the exquisite golden masks and golden cups would be worth even more than their weight in gold.

The cargo boxes were also brought up, but they had completely rotted through, and their contents were ruined.

’I have the jewels now, so should I make the Corpse Ghost?’

If he chose to do it, the Water Nymph would be the first magic-type Extraordinary creature Leech had ever created. It was even possible she had transcended the Extraordinary realm and was some kind of even more special existence.

Moreover, the Water Nymph didn’t rot.

A corpse that doesn’t decay held immense appeal for Leech.

He quickly made his decision. ”I’ll wait until we get to Burning City and are settled, then I’ll refine her into a Corpse Ghost.”

He had a strange artifact on hand, so creating a Corpse Ghost wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, Leech had no intention of bringing the Water Nymph’s cave back to Porcupine Territory. The place was too narrow, and the pool was just stagnant water. It was completely unnecessary.

He’d treat it as a disposable portable space and set it up inside Burning City.

It would be like planting a nail in the enemy’s camp, right?

Though it would be pretty damn useless.

Leaving the corpse and treasure in the cave, Leech and his Corpse Ghosts each used their own methods, relying on their Extraordinary power to climb out. If an ordinary person had fallen in, it would have truly been a dead end.

A vertical cavern covered in moss—once you fell in, you could forget about climbing back out.

After a night’s rest, they continued their journey.

Finally, after more than ten days, they arrived at Burning City.