Trigger warning: slight gory content
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The banks of the brook were littered with corpses.
Yan Xing's expression turned frosty under the mask. The corpses were wearing a military uniforms.
They were the dead soldiers of the Khusafs!
They were the soldiers who died for their country. Even though, they were the enemies of the Yan Empire they were after all proud soldiers of their country. They had their dignity too. As one of the Deputy General of the Black Eagle Cavalry who had guarded and fought for his country, Yan Xing knew the feeling of being a soldier.
Looking at the corpses, Yan Xing knew that they had been turned into a soulless puppets before being killed again.
A month ago, the Black Eagle Cavalry defeated the Khusaf's army at the southwest border. It was a month ago, which means that, a month ago, those remnants were also on the southwest border and as soon as the Black Eagle Cavalry left, they went to collect the dead bodies of the soldiers so that they can use their corpses and turn them into a soulless puppet.
"The remnants of 'that sect' had no morality or principles. They can go as far as collecting the corpse of the soldiers to achieve their goals", Yan Xing gritted his teeth and said.
The brook was dyed scarlet with blood and was littered with the remains of soulless puppet corpses that had been killed not long ago. All of them had their heads cut off or stabbed in the chest. The corpses lying inside the water were swollen, and they were emitting a foul stench no different from the earlier one in the woods. The only difference is that these corpses didn't have a creepy smile on their faces.
"Senior brother, they had raised an army of soulless puppet corpses", Jingsheng gulped and said in a trembling voice.
Yan Xing nodded and replied in a frosty tone, "They are seeking death"
If the Khusaf's were to find out that the dead bodies of their soldiers were turned into soulless puppet corpses inside the territory of the Yan Empire, they will not hesitate to launch a full-scale war on them.
Both Yan Xing and Jingsheng were aware of what the consequences will be if this thing gets out. They couldn't help but frown because war during this time was not a good thing. The Emperor was getting on his years and he had yet to appoint a Crown Prince. The situation was quite sensitive.
Yan Xing massaged his temples and frowned. He has an inkling that, things were not simple and that something is wrong. Especially, the appearance of the dead bodies of the Khusaf's soldiers gave him the feeling that somewhere, someone is plotting the whole thing.
They went down the brook looking for traces. There were traces of battle along the banks of the river.
The more corpses they saw, the more their expression turned frosty.
Cruel and Ruthless!
Yan Xing and Jingsheng came to a small house near the brook. The house was destroyed, and the walls had turned into debris.
There was a vegetable garden near the house. No, to be exact, it was a medicine garden.
Only one kind of plant was planted on it. Yan Xing and Jingsheng looked at each other and moved forward to look closely at the plant.
The plant had small leaves similar to carrots and small white baubles. It looked a little similar to wild celery and water parsnip from afar.
Jingsheng uprooted one and smelled it. He creased his brows as the smell of acrid celery assaulted his nostrils.
"What are you doing?" Yan Xing howled at him as he knocked down the plant in Jingsheng's hand.
"It smelled like celery", Jingsheng said, clapping his hands to get rid of the dirt.
"Are you a dog? Don't casually go around sniffing everything you see. What would you do if it turned out to be something poisonous? Fool".
Yan Xing snorted and called Xiao Yi out, who was following them from the shadows.
"Carefully uproot one and sent it to our base to investigate it once we go back", Yan Xing instructed.
If Zhao Ling was here, she will immediately recognize the plant. The plant was none other than the poisonous Hemlock water Dropwort.
Jingsheng was lucky that he didn't put it in his mouth to taste it. Or else, he might die too with a creepy smile on his face like the corpse they saw earlier.
After being retorted by Yan Xing, Jingsheng obediently didn't touch anything this time.
Looking around the house, Yan Xing found that the house was simple, with only ordinary cooking utensils and bedding. There was nothing notable.
It looked too ordinary and that made Yan Xing have doubts.
There was only one room which was half destroyed. The bed inside the room was broken. Yan Xing carefully inspected the house, looking for some traces. Jingsheng walked towards the bed and removed the broken plank of woods.
Jingsheng frowned when he saw the floor under the bed. Yan Xing came over and noticed the abnormality.
The floor underneath the bed was too clean and there were traces of being touched frequently. Jingsheng touched the floor and investigated how to open the floor but in vain. There was no mechanism either.
They looked at each other and nodded their heads. Yan Xing took a few steps back and watched.
Jingsheng unsheathed the sword which had been hanging on his waist and directly attack the floor with his sword.
The wooden floor was thick and after a few swords attacks the floor crumbled and dust flew up.
"Looks like they had built an underground base here", Jingsheng said, taking a few steps back and avoiding the dust.
Yan Xing, who had been standing behind Jingsheng, saw something jumping out from underground along with dust. His pupils constricted and immediately grabbed Jingsheng's shoulder and jumped backward using his exquisite footwork.
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A/N: Everything I wrote about Hemlock Water Dropwort is true.
Raise your hand if you already knew it
(^.^)/ \(•.•)