Chapter 769: Chapter 58 Gandu Kala

Cha Xiaodao took a sip of strong liquor and let his gaze wander. Suddenly, he noticed a mark on the trunk of a nearby dragon-brain tree–a red mark made of a sun and crescent moon. This was a paint unique to Lantau Island, which could stay intact in calm seawater for a whole day, usually used to mark the forward lines of attack for naval firepower.

Without a doubt, this mark was left by Jie Xiaodao Xiaodao.

Cha Xiaodao took a few steps closer, wanting a more detailed look.

Meanwhile, Ruchika’s attention was drawn to the carcass of a cloud leopard by the riverbank. The leopard’s death was a gruesome one, with eyesockets burst forth by clusters of Xipala mushrooms the size of human heads sprouting even in death at a visibly swift rate from its bloodied flesh. The red, umbrella-shaped mushrooms even burst the leopard’s eyesockets, hanging out crookedly.

The body was surrounded by many carrion flies, each the size of a baby’s fist–likely a species unique to the island. Most of them lay listlessly on the tree branches, with similar parasitic mushrooms growing on their bodies. Upon seeing a living person, these giant flies instinctively charged.

Before Ruchika could react, a streak of black flame passed by and Cha Xiaodao had already effortlessly slain them. The fiery red, fan-shaped mushrooms fell to the ground amidst the flames.

“Be careful.”

Cha Xiaodao picked up a small Xipala mushroom from the ground to examine it, and suddenly, a string of words caught his eye.

Xipala Mushroom (Malnourished)

Poisonous

You have discovered a clue about the ingredients of the “Food Banquet”…

Cha Xiaodao raised his eyebrows. The Food Banquet, similar to the prized recipes of the Duke Huan of Qi’s ritual feasts, was an extremely rare cuisine. Legend had it that it was created by legendary chef Yi Ya. However, the methods and sources of the ingredients in the banquet were extremely unusual and even brutal. The effects of the dishes could be highly extreme, often a double-edged sword that harmed both the eater and others.

In fact, Cha Xiaodao had come across clues about the Food Banquet quite early on, but because the content related to the banquet was overwhelmingly malignant, he put it aside. Now, his mastery in the culinary arts of the banquet was amongst the best in the Yan Zhao Club, and with the Duke Huan of Qi’s prized recipes to pursue, he was not interested in chasing after the Food Banquet any longer.

“Sir, you must come look at this.”

Ruchika, who had put on a pair of white gloves at some point, was solemnly examining the cloud leopard’s carcass. He pried open the animal’s mouth to assess the degree of wear on its teeth to estimate the age of the poor dead leopard, his brows furrowing even deeper.

Cha Xiaodao jumped down and asked, “Seen this, the animals around here have all been killed by those spores you mentioned. Is there something special about it?”

“My teacher once taught me, survival is the most fundamental instinct of all living creatures. The essence of the Xipala Giant Mushroom is parasitic fungi. If it kills its host too quickly, it is actually counterproductive to survival. This goes against natural law. Ordinary people die quickly from Xipala mushrooms because the spores come from stronger, more primitive animals with more vigorous blood circulation. The fragile bodies of ordinary people simply cannot withstand the nutrient demands required by the growth of such strong spores from powerful primordial animals. I have witnessed the strongest Xipala Mushroom parasitic host, a nine-meter-long, fifty-ton African elephant king that had achieved a bizarre symbiotic relationship with the giant mushrooms on its head, worshipped as a deity by local tribes. But even the spores from that elephant king couldn’t have killed a strong adult cloud leopard in such a short time. Let alone that this is just the periphery of a spore explosion.”

Paused, Ruchika continued, “Killing that elephant king was a task my teacher took on with another Holy Scholar, leading a fully organized regular army to barely extinguish it, and the casualties were not small. The signs here suggest that there’s a Xipala host in this primeval jungle even more powerful than the African elephant king.”

Cha Xiaodao shrugged indifferently and said to Ruchika, “So, there’s a good chance that the Treasure Ship King and his men failed to resist the parasitism of the spores and died off.”

Ruchika bitterly smiled, “There’s a high possibility of that.”

Cha Xiaodao sighed as he twirled his knife into a flourish, “Alive, we must see the person, dead, we must see the body. Let’s hurry up.”

The lush, dense jungle blotted out the sky, and the soft, moist, reddish-brown earth underfoot made walking extremely difficult. Animal corpses littered the path, and without exception, all of them were covered in blood-colored fungi. The two did not encounter any significant attacks along the way. Occasionally they came across aggressive plants, like the bird beak orchid that could shoot poisonous spines from its flowers or the devil cage plant whose serrated vines would snap shut instantly if disturbed. Cha Xiaodao easily dispatched them all.

Following the markers left by Gaoli ghost Xiao Qi, they arrived in front of a cluster of wooden huts that were quite primitive in construction. There was no sign of life here now, only a few strings of human skulls used as decorations hanging under the eaves and a huge pot bubbling white foam on a fire, proving that people had lived here not long ago.

The retreat of the tribal people was very hasty, leaving many belongings behind, especially notable was a boat-shaped coffin standing in the middle of the square. An unknown fresh blood had formed a trail beneath the coffin, leading all the way to the entrance of the most garish hut, adorned with human skulls.

The coffin had been broken open, and it was empty inside.

[Angered Soul Coffin (Gandu Kala Coffin)](Empty)

“This resembles some sort of ritual for burying a witch, with fresh blood used to cleanse the spirits attached to the witch’s body. It’s a ritual so that the witch can rest in peace underground.”

“Rest in peace? I think quite the opposite.”

Cha Xiaodao replied with a hollow smile.

“Yes.”

Ruchika nodded gravely, “I remember my teacher once mentioned, some primitive tribal witches would seal their own corpses with sorcery before dying. When the tribe faces a crisis of life and death, they use their own bodies and coffins as mediums to summon spirits. They annihilate the invading enemies, and the older the witch’s coffin, the more powerful the force.”

Following the paint markers left by Gaoli ghost Xiao Qi, Cha Xiaodao and Ruchika passed through several villages, and without exception, they found the blood trail ritual and the broken coffins in each one, most with one coffin, some with two placed together, and very rarely a large village would have three coffins arranged in a character ‘Pin ‘ formation.

Finally, they came upon a desolate scene. The battlefield had clearly been cleaned up, with remaining flames stamped out and the bodies of Han people and familiar tribes collected. Only the corpses of the tribal warriors lay on the ground. Particularly striking were the few dozen green giant corpses, the smaller ones over two meters, the largest up to five meters, riddled with shrapnel and blast marks, the blood-colored patterns on their chests and limbs faded and blurred, all without exception having suffered severe damage to their heads, making it clear that only by destroying their heads could these giants be killed.

[Gandu Kala](Dead)

A product of Borneo witchcraft, Corpse Fiends summoned using the bodies of deceased tribal witches as a medium.

“These tribal warriors were left as a rear guard to buy time. It seems we’re not far from their submission,” Cha Xiaodao concluded.