Chapter 653: Monster Tree and Mad Sheep

He Lingchuan understood that Fang Canran had never underestimated the difficulty of cooperating with Zuju.

"How much?" He couldn't afford it if it was too expensive.

"It's a gift for you," Fang Canran said, looking at the chains. "The seller told me back then that no more than five sets of this treasure exist. You'll make good use of it, won't you?"

He Lingchuan understood. Fang Canran's implication was that since He Lingchuan couldn't afford it anyway, he might as well give it to him for free. After all, the mission was urgent, and making money was secondary.

"Of course." He Lingchuan said earnestly, "By the way, have there been any updates on the Frost Pellets?"

"Several teams have already returned from the Fra Realm, but none brought back Frost Pellets." Fang Canran reached into his robe and pulled something out. "But I got this."

At first glance, He Lingchuan thought he had taken out a piece of glass or crystal, transparent and colorless.

"Is this glazed glass?"

"Missing a word," Fang Canran handed it to him. "This is the Glazed Gold you need. If you hold it up to the light during the day, its edges will faintly shimmer with gold. By the way, what do you need it for?"

"You actually got it!" He Lingchuan exclaimed, delighted, taking the object. It was roughly the size of a roof tile, irregularly shaped, and about an inch thick. He had no idea what kind of magical artifact or structure it had been removed from.

"The core of the Spirit Gathering Array is a magic artifact, primarily made of Glazed Gold. I need to find a way to break through the Glazed Gold to get inside."

Fang Canran flicked the Glazed Gold twice with his finger. "Is that all?"

"At that time, the Glazed Gold's outer casing will also have a thunderous enchantment."

"The Heavenly Gods are truly shameless; the enchantments they've laid out in Mount Xu are layer upon layer, endless."

Was Fang Canran speaking from experience? He Lingchuan smiled; who wouldn't like stacked buffs?

Fang Canran sighed, "I don't have much faith in you. I hope you won't reveal my involvement if you get caught."

"Don't worry. But what exactly does my operation benefit you, Steward Fang?"

Fang Canran smiled slightly. "If you stir up trouble on Mount Xu, I'll be eternally grateful."

The next morning, in a residence on Xiangmai Street, the main district of Lingxu Lower City.

The weather was unusually warm that day. The servants were up at dawn, working while yawning. This three-mu estate had recently changed hands, and most of the servants had stayed on. The new owner was a fur merchant from out of town who had worked in Lingxu City for fifteen years before finally scraping together enough money for the down payment. The remaining balance was loaned from the money house, to be repaid in ten annual installments. Owning a residence in Lingxu City was a great honor.

However, the servants were not having an easy time, as the new mistress of the house was quite demanding. She was meticulous, demanding every corner be spotless. She complained that the cook's wages were too high for his mediocre food, and that the housekeeper spent too much on purchases that weren't worth the price. Naturally, she was harshest on servants who seemed lazy, often personally supervising their work.

Helper A-Qing had overheard her complaining to her husband the previous night: "These lazy beggars won't work properly unless you watch them closely!"

The fur merchant didn't care for such trivial matters. "Just curse less, or we'll have to hire new people again!"

"You don't understand," she retorted. "We've just moved in, so we need to establish our authority. We have to let these lowlifes know who's in charge, so they don't think we're easy to fool or bully!"

Her husband eyed her askance. "Who could bully you?"

At dawn, before the masters were awake, birds were already chirping incessantly in the large tree in the backyard. This two-hundred-year-old oak tree was lush with branches, its canopy hosting dozens of bird nests. Birds of all sizes squawked daily over territorial disputes. The new mistress disliked them and demanded the oak's canopy be sawed off. The servants, reluctant, hadn't yet acted on the order.

When A-Qing shared what she had overheard the previous night, the servants were all indignant. Someone spat on the ground. "Her family started out with a small business; she used to do these very chores herself every day. How can she, now that she's the mistress, stand there with her hands on her hips, ordering everyone around?"

"What do you know?" said the cook, who was sitting in the back picking vegetables, without lifting her head. "I heard the storyteller at Osmanthus Pavilion say that when a servant becomes a master, they act even more like a master than a true master." Everyone laughed; it felt good to hear that.

"How good the old owner was! He barely showed up twice a year." And thus, there were fewer demands.

Someone commented, "The old owner wasn't from Lingxu City, and it seems he's been particularly short on money lately."

The cook then said to A-Qing, "Didn't the mistress tell you to clear out the old things yesterday? If you don't do it soon, she'll come scolding you again."

After the house changed hands, the former owner's belongings were moved to an empty side room, awaiting sorting and disposal. The new mistress was reluctant to throw everything away. Everything was expensive in Lingxu City, and they themselves were still burdened with a debt of forty thousand taels. Oh no, in ten years, it would be fifty-five thousand taels. Lingxu City was indeed prosperous, but it was also a true bloodsucker.

A-Qing pouted, stood up, and went to the empty side room in the back. A short while later, she emerged carrying several drawers. They contained bits and pieces of miscellaneous items, completely worthless. She had to quickly throw them away to avoid "wasting the mistress's time."

As she passed under the old oak tree, A-Qing suddenly heard a cacophony of sharp bird cries near her ear. Before she could make sense of it, two clumps of feathers struck her face. It was a red-billed blue magpie and a koel, fighting furiously, descending from the tree, using their sharp beaks and claws. Perhaps the koel had tried to lay an egg in the magpie's nest, but the magpie had discovered it and was relentlessly attacking.

A-Qing was unfortunately caught in the crossfire. Her face stung immediately, and she didn't know how many pecks she had received. Luckily, she had closed her eyes in time, otherwise, her eyeballs might have been scratched. Startled, she screamed and raised her hands to protect herself. The drawers were flung away, and the bottles and jars inside crashed onto the tree roots with several clangs, shattering. The two fighting birds squawked loudly and flew away. Others gathered around, asking, "Are you alright?"

A-Qing was still shaken, her face scratched with several shallow marks. She cursed the "dead birds" as she looked at the drawers on the ground; she would have to clean up the mess. But before she could bend down, the ground two feet away suddenly moved, and something long and thick emerged. She leaped back in fright, thinking it was a snake from underground, only to realize, upon closer inspection, that it was a tree root? But this tree root was rapidly growing thicker and longer, spreading in all directions, and developing huge nodules one after another.

A-Qing screamed and ran backward. It was a good thing she ran fast, because the changes in the tree trunk were truly terrifying: One massive branch after another burst forth from the trunk, growing into new trunks within a dozen breaths, a process that continuously repeated itself.

"Master, master's house..." A-Qing pointed to the fur merchant's main building, her voice trembling.

The large tree was also growing horizontally. It was already not far from the master and mistress's bedroom, and as it spread sideways, the sturdy building was quickly crushed. Everyone heard screams from inside that didn't sound human. Save them? Or not? Several laborers had the will, but not the courage to approach the mutating tree. Just a few breaths later, the entire small building was pulverized, as if fed through a mill, and the screams ceased.

All the eyewitnesses turned and fled; no one dared to stay. When they reached the main gate and looked back, they were all dumbfounded: The old tree had transformed into a remarkably swollen, massive wooden lump, not only reaching an astonishing height of ten zhang but also a width of five zhang. The birds' nests were destroyed, and they shrieked in terror, their cries audible three to five li away. Human cries, bird calls, and collapsing houses—it was incredibly noisy.

This was a busy downtown area of the Lower City, and neighbors rushed out to see. They had initially intended to complain, but upon seeing the bizarre spectacle, their words caught in their throats. The monstrous tree continued to grow, beginning to advance towards the neighboring houses. A furious neighbor came over to ask what was happening, while A-Qing and the others looked bewildered. The neighbor bellowed, "Where's your master? Tell them to come out and talk!" expecting them to pay until they were bankrupt.

"Dead," A-Qing said, pointing at the monstrous tree. "The house was knocked down by it; the master and mistress were both inside."

With such a strange incident occurring, the servants quickly ran to report it to the authorities. However, at that very moment, several screams erupted from a neighboring house. Several people burst out, shouting, "The sheep are eating people! Run!"

Before anyone could understand what was happening, the courtyard wall was smashed with a bang, and a massive figure charged towards the onlookers. It was a sheep, or rather, it had once been a sheep. But now its size was comparable to the bull demon He Lingchuan had seen at the Han River encampment. Its muscles bulged outwards, and its veins and tendons were all prominent. A huge lump was growing on its neck, and with a "plop," it burst. Everyone thought it was about to die, but instead, a second head grew there!

The sheep's eyes were blood-red, and blood spurted from its nose, yet it charged at people with a pair of sharp horns. It's worth noting that these horns had originally been short, round, and blunt. Now, they were a foot long, curved and spiral-shaped, with tips like awls. A single thrust into a person would create two bloody holes! A slow-escaping boy was rammed by it, the horns piercing straight through him from back to front. The monstrous sheep flung him against the wall with a splat, and he slid down, leaving blood smeared all over. It didn't stop, continuing to chase and attack others.

Pedestrians scattered like startled birds, and residents quickly bolted their doors. But wooden doors couldn't stop this creature; it could smash them open with a single ram and burst inside to slaughter. After it had killed seven people, two bear demons finally rushed out from nearby, attempting to subdue it together. To their surprise, the creature possessed terrifying strength, even managing to take down the bear demons.

It rampaged through two entire streets before officials finally rushed to the scene. But the expected bloody battle never occurred, because after pushing down a section of a courtyard wall, the demon sheep suddenly collapsed to the ground without warning, convulsing all over. The tumors and blood vessels on its body burst one after another, and after a dozen breaths, it breathed its last.

What the officers saw was the chaos of two streets and widespread destruction. There was blood everywhere, damaged buildings everywhere, and a strange tree not far away. That morning, Xiangmai Street became utterly chaotic.

The authorities immediately summoned all relevant individuals for questioning. Neighbors reported that after the old oak tree mutated, their demon sheep, being foolish, had actually gone over and nibbled on a leaf.