PCJ – Chapter 420 Pretending to Be Dead

The turtle was covered in wounds, blood flowing freely. Its mouth was open, its neck stretched out as if it had been snapped.

“It’s dead. Don’t worry, we can stew some old turtle meat tonight,” Chen Jing said.

“Be careful, this old turtle has turned into a spirit. It might be pretending to be dead to trick you,” Bai Daxian quickly warned.

Chen Jing smiled, “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

Chen Jing used his sword to lift the turtle’s neck and examined it, then turned around and said, “The neck is broken. I don’t believe it can come back to life.”

Just as Chen Jing turned his head back, the spirit turtle’s eyes suddenly opened wide, and it desperately lunged forward, leaping to a height of a person. It opened its mouth and bit at Chen Jing’s neck.

“Watch out!” Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren both shouted in alarm.

Seeing the drastic change in their expressions, Chen Jing immediately realized something was wrong. Without thinking, he raised his right hand to protect himself.

“Crack!”

The turtle’s mouth was huge, like a wild boar’s. With all its strength, it bit down hard and managed to sever Chen Jing’s hand.

The turtle violently swung its head, tearing off Chen Jing’s arm.

“Ah!” Chen Jing screamed in pain, blood gushing from the severed arm.

But Chen Jing was tough. He immediately used his severed arm as a weapon and plunged the broken bone into the turtle’s neck.

Puchi!

The turtle, already weakened and defenseless, was pierced straight through the throat by Chen Jing’s broken bone, collapsing to the ground, dead for good.

“Ah!” Chen Jing cried out, pulling the severed arm out of the turtle’s neck. Blood continued to pour from the wound, but Chen Jing used his left hand to quickly apply pressure to the stump, stopping the bleeding as though a switch had been flipped.

“Chen Dao-you, are you alright?” Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren rushed over.

The three of them had a good relationship, and their concern was sincere.

“Sigh, I was careless,” Chen Jing said with a touch of shame.

“Even tigers nap sometimes. A disaster avoided is a blessing,” Bai Daxian tried to comfort him.

“Blessing my foot! My right arm is gone, and now I’m useless. From now on, I’ll just live off my savings,” Chen Jing said with a defeated look on his face.

Wang Zhenren took out a small vial, sprinkling some medicinal powder on Chen Jing’s severed arm. “It’s a pity this arm was completely shattered by this cursed creature. There’s no way it can be reattached.”

“Don’t worry, Daoists, I’ve been mentally prepared for such an outcome ever since I started my journey in the world. At least I’m still alive. That’s already a good result,” Chen Jing said, allowing Wang Zhenren and Bai Daxian to bandage him. He picked up his severed hand and walked off without even looking at the spirit turtle he had killed. Wang Zhenren and Bai Daxian, however, were busy collecting the turtle’s blood. The blood of such spirit beasts was a very useful material for cultivators, and they couldn’t let it go to waste. The whole turtle was valuable, and neither Wang Zhenren nor Bai Daxian would let any part of it slip away.

Since Chen Jing had been injured, he lost the right to share the spoils with Wang Zhenren and Bai Daxian. If he tried to claim a share, they wouldn’t be as polite with him.

“Chen Dao-you, take good care of yourself. As for the reward, we’ll compensate you properly,” Wang Zhenren called out to Chen Jing’s retreating figure.

Chen Dianzi, watching the spirit turtle’s corpse, felt some regret. “These two bastards got away with everything.”

“Why don’t you go take advantage of the situation and get the benefit yourself?” Zhang Jiaohua said with a smile, noticing Chen Dianzi’s regret.

“I’m not interested in stealing from the dead. If they stop now, they’ll be fine. If they’re greedy, they’ll die for sure. Since they’ll definitely die, why should I fight two dead men over the spoils?” Chen Dianzi said disdainfully.

“That’s not necessarily true. You were the one saying they couldn’t defeat that big fish, but now, they somehow managed to bring the fish back,” Zhang Jiaohua retorted, always going against Chen Dianzi.

“You don’t know anything,” Chen Dianzi shot her a glare.

“Chen Dianzi, what’s so strange about this pond?” Zhang Jiaohua asked suddenly.

With the turtle’s death, the water in the pond suddenly splashed, as if it had vanished in an instant. The pond had completely drained, revealing the mud at the bottom, along with scattered rocks. Fish and shrimp were jumping around in the mud. In the center of the pond, a huge black hole appeared, like an enormous mouth opening wide.

“Where did the water go?” Zhang Jiaohua exclaimed, standing up in surprise.

Chen Dianzi also opened his mouth in shock. He had not expected such a large hole to appear in the center of the pond. What was most puzzling was that the pond, which couldn’t be drained by a pump, was now completely dry. Where had the water gone?

“Look! What’s that?” Bai Daxian pointed at the huge black hole in the center of the pond.

“That must be the entrance to the great tomb!” Wang Zhenren said confidently.

“Right, what should we do? Should we go down and take a look?” Bai Daxian asked.

Wang Zhenren shook his head. “Just dealing with the guarding spirit beast was so difficult, how could the tomb not have other defenses?”

Bai Daxian nodded. “So, what does the real Daoist mean?”

“Naturally, the exploration should be left to Boss He,” Wang Zhenren said with a smile.

Bai Daxian nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes. Let them go first.”

After hearing Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren’s discussion, He Shouye was thrilled, completely ignoring the heavily injured Chen Jing. Since Chen Jing was now useless, he had no further value. He sent Chen Jing off with a bit of money.

“Daoists, what should we do next?” He Shouye asked.

“Boss He, you asked us to help deal with the spirit turtle, and now we’ve lost some men to complete this task. As for what comes next, we probably won’t be able to continue. Our lives are more important,” Wang Zhenren said.

He Shouye hurriedly said, “Wang Zhenren, Bai Daxian, you are both great immortals. I wouldn’t dare hide anything from you. This is an ancient tomb, and we discovered it by accident. The tomb is full of dangers, and we really need your help to explore it.”

“Boss He, Boss Long, both of you are powerful figures in this circle. I’ve heard of some of your stories. As for Taoism, we know a little, but when it comes to tomb exploration, the two of us together don’t measure up to either of you. We really can’t afford to make a fool of ourselves,” Bai Daxian quickly declined.

The group of them were old foxes, each one bargaining. None of them wanted to reveal their hand first.

Zhang Jiaohua and the others didn’t know what to do next.

“What now? Should we follow them down?” Zhang Jiaohua asked Chen Dianzi.

“I’m not going to die for nothing. This tomb is no simple matter,” Chen Dianzi shook his head.

At that moment, Zhang Jiaohua suddenly noticed a bright light reflecting from the pond.

“Huh? What’s that?” Zhang Jiaohua seemed to recognize it.