Chapter 94, Medicine King and White Stones

Translator: StarReader

 

“This…!” The crowd of leaders exchanged glances, shaking their heads helplessly. They were top-notch experts on land, but underwater, their skills were practically useless. A mere second-rate pirate could give them a run for their money in the lake’s depths.

 

Just as despair set in, Sun Baihong, the leader of the Medicine King Group, stepped forward with a confident smile. “Fear not, friends. I have a plan to deal with these water ghosts.”

 

“Elder Sun has a strategy?” The leaders asked eagerly, urging him to share it.

 

Sun Baihong nodded and turned to the hundreds of merchant ships behind them. With a voice like thunder, he commanded, “All disciples from the allied forces, listen up! Get aboard the ships immediately; do not engage with the water devils beneath the surface—doing so would be suicide. And… quickly slash open a burlap sack with your swords and pour out its contents of white stones into the lake!”

 

The command echoed clearly across several miles, reaching every large and small cargo ship and fishing boat.

 

Those martial disciples who had already leaped into the water were helped back onto the ships by their comrades. Each group of disciples then grabbed a heavy burlap sack from the boats, tearing it open to reveal white powder and stones inside.

 

They didn’t stop to examine the contents; instead, they heaved these heavy sacks into the lake, covering several miles of its surface in an instant.

 

Thousands of sacks were emptied into the water. Immediately, bubbles began to rise from the bottom of every boat, releasing intense heat and white foam like a boiling pot of water. The lake’s surface churned with thick, milky-white froth, emitting a powerful, acrid stench.

 

“Ah! It burns!”

 

“I can’t see!”

 

Screams filled the air as disciples surfaced from the lake, their eyes scarred and useless. Among them was Ding Shisan, who thrashed desperately in his blindness before being struck down by a gleaming blade.

 

Soon, hordes of water devils emerged, howling in pain as they struggled to escape the ships and flee several miles away.

 

“Kill!”

 

The alliance’s boats burst with activity as martial disciples swung blades and thrust spears at the helpless water devils, who could neither see nor escape the boiling lake.

 

A boiling lake was more merciful than what awaited them. Their entire faces and limbs were soon covered in blisters from the scorching water, flesh sloughing off like boiled fish.

 

Panicked survivors at the outskirts fled, their shock palpable as they escaped the terror-filled lake and the formidable fleet.

 

The lake’s surface became a graveyard of floating corpses and belly-up fish. No more water devils stirred beneath it.

 

Several leaders, along with three thousand soldiers and tens of thousands of disciples, stared in disbelief at the massacre. Even Grandmasters Han Shan, Li Shuo, and Han Pingshan looked to Medicine King Sun Baihong in awe.

 

A thousand men wiped out in a breath? That was a feat even these Grandmasters couldn’t match.

 

“What is that white stone?” someone asked, voice barely above a whisper. “It’s terrifying.”

 

“That… those are toxins,” another stammered. “So potent they boil the lake, killing both men and fish!”

 

“Never heard of stones boiling water, only wood!”

 

The leaders, veterans of the Wu Region’s martial world, had never seen such deadly toxins.

 

Sun Baihong laughed, a gleam in his eye. “I’ve always loved concocting medicine and elixirs. I found this white stone on a mountain. Ordinary, but when fired, it becomes a living stone. Initially intended for medicinal purposes, pest control, dampness…”

 

He paused, then continued mischievously, “One day, I tossed it into water, and it boiled. So, I had my disciples gather thousands from the mountains and fueled fires night and day for months to prepare enough living stones.”

 

His eyes narrowed. “Kept it a secret. I don’t want word getting out. And look!” He gestured to the lake, grinning. “One strike, and we’ve crippled Whale Gang!”

 

Sun Baihong, ever the composed one, now couldn’t help but wear a smug expression. In the Wu Region’s martial world, there were seven Grandmasters, and most had surpassed him in martial prowess. He was the least among them. Yet, Sun Baihong took greater pride in his extraordinary alchemy skills, which had yielded countless unusual concoctions, making him truly unparalleled in the Wu Region’s martial world.

 

“Impressive indeed, Old Sun!” Daoist Han Shan exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with astonishment. He’d traversed the martial world for decades, meeting numerous peculiar individuals, but he’d never heard of such a unique living stone poison.

 

He’d heard whispers of Medicine King Group secretly transporting hundreds of stones in burlap sacks, but he hadn’t known what they were or their purpose until now. Sun Baihong’s reputation as Medicine King was well-deserved.

 

The various leaders finally realized the situation and wore expressions of shock and lingering fear. After this battle, Whale Gang’s water devils would likely be spooked, too scared to dive into Vastest Lake again.

 

“With our first victory, Old Sun has made an incomparable contribution!” one leader praised. “This drug can save countless lives, but it also strikes fear without drawing a blade. The enemy wouldn’t even know how they died! Whale Gang’s water devil tactic has decimated many official troops and martial groups attempting to besiege Vastest Lake. Our alliance will likely suffer heavy losses too, losing thousands of disciples before we can force our way onto the island. Yet Old Sun accomplished all this without spilling a drop of blood. With just a flash of these unheard-of boiling water living stones, he wiped out over a thousand water devils, breaking Whale Gang’s most feared tactic and leaving them reeling in pain.”

 

“Such a ruthless move!” the leaders marveled. “With this method, no water devil would dare enter the lake again. Our alliance suffered fewer than a hundred casualties, while Whale Gang lost over a thousand. A decisive victory indeed!”

 

Sun Baihong stroked his beard and chuckled, “Oh, come now, I’ve merely got this one trick up my sleeve. It should help our allied forces reach the island. But it’s not enough to defeat the Whale Gang on the Vastest Lake. We’ll still need your valor once we’re ashore!”

 

He was modest indeed, well aware that his white stones had their limits.

 

The Vastest Lake spanned hundreds of miles, and its depths were unfathomable. Even a thousand bags of living stones tossed into the water would create only a localized effect, boiling the water and emitting toxic gases for just a few miles.

 

Fortunately, the lake was calm, with no currents to swiftly disperse the heat. So, while the effect didn’t last long like rivers, it lingered enough to give the pirates no escape. It was a one-time use, though; after such a brutal lesson, the Whale Gang’s pirates wouldn’t dare ram ships again.

 

They seemed baffled by these white stones, too frightened to approach any vessels, settling for distant surveillance instead.

 

With this initial victory, the three thousand soldiers and ten thousand martial group disciples were greatly reassured. Their morale boosted, they rowed furiously, accelerating towards Cave Mountain Island.