VESSEL - Extinction Countdown 919: Array Shatters the Clay Embryo

“Ah!” Yi Qing yelped, clutching her eye as she collapsed to the ground.

When she woke again, stirred by discomfort in a certain spot, dawn’s faint glow had crept in.

She looked again—and found herself sprawled awkwardly across Ye Shisan's back, clinging to him like a rider. His broad shoulders gave off a heavy, musky sweat—a raw, masculine scent that teased her nose, sharp yet strangely pleasant. She’d never known a man’s smell could be so appealing. Or was it just Ye Shisan?

How many hours had he trudged through these mountain paths with me on his back?

As for the source of that “odd discomfort”— Yi Qing soon discovered it. Ye Shisan, likely too exhausted for proper posture, wasn’t carrying her in the usual way. Instead, he had locked his fingers behind his back, using the friction between his knuckles to support her weight— specifically, beneath her hips.

According to classical mechanics, sustained friction over time can lead to certain physiological responses. For instance: a surprising sense of comfort. And then… increasing comfort. And, well, a very urgent need to pee.

Yi Qing wanted to get down and find a place to relieve herself. But deep down, a strange thought lingered— she feared that once she left Ye Shisan’s back, she might never get the chance to be carried by him again.

Of course, humans are fragile creatures, and no one can resist basic bodily needs.

Resting her head on his shoulder, she whispered, “Put me down.”

Ye Shisan grumbled, “We’re already at Touxiang Village’s entrance! You slept like a log, snoring and all! My arms are completely numb, so let’s just push into the village first!”

“Stinking punk… I—I need a bathroom!”

“Wow, Sister Yi Qing gets shy?”

Hong Lin’s tiny voice chirped from Ye Shisan’s chest. Yi Qing peeked—Ye Shisan was wearing his backpack reversed, the flap wide open. Inside, nestled snugly, was Hong Lin, her little black head poking out.

Yi Qing snorted, leaping off Ye Shisan’s back and darting into the roadside bushes. Ye Shisan plopped onto the ground, shaking his completely numb hands. “You’re kinda heavy!”

From the bushes, Yi Qing roared, “You calling me fat?! Where am I fat?!”

Ye Shisan realized his slip and wisely said nothing more.

Then Yi Qing spoke softly, almost to herself. “Aren’t you curious how I knew Array Spirit Evil-Slayer had no physical form?”

“You worked at that place called Fireseed Corps, right? Stuff like this was routine for you.”

“You’re overestimating Fireseed. From what I know, in their entire history, they’ve never encountered anything on the level of an array spirit!”

Ye Shisan’s face grew grim. “Hong Lin said array spirits are powerful. Did we really stumble into a jackpot?”

Hong Lin licked a paw, chiming in, “Daddy, we didn’t just hit the jackpot. Sister Yi Qing has no clue how badass she is now! That eye of hers… tsk tsk, I kind of want it myself!”

“Little ghost, dream on!” Yi Qing emerged from the bushes. “Let’s go! Into the village! …Ye Shisan, remember Professor Pi?”

“What about Old Pi?”

“When the car flipped, my backpack spilled everywhere. Professor Pi’s notebook landed right by me. If I hadn’t glanced at it by chance, Evil-Slayer might’ve fought you to the death!”

Ye Shisan’s eyes widened. “Old Pi’s tied to Touxiang Village? You mean…”

“Yeah. Professor Pi had a reason for warning you off Touxiang Village. He recorded fragments of information in his notebook. But based on what he knew, he didn’t realize there was a cultivator’s grand formation hidden within Touxiang’s borders!”

“Old Pi was a chemistry professor. Back at the asylum, he’d ramble about ‘chemistry as one of the fundamental laws of the universe’ or ‘the ultimate interpretation of chemistry is philosophy’…”

Yi Qing nodded. “He wasn’t wrong! Maybe his deep grasp of chemistry let him spot clues in the data. He couldn’t leave the asylum, so he entrusted his students to investigate Touxiang Village. Their final conclusion? It’s a giant Energy Reaction Field!”

“But this energy isn’t released through chemical reactions—or any form humans can readily comprehend. Instead, it’s been eroding and leaking over time—that, in truth, is the current state of the Three Pure Ones Barrier Formation!”

Seeing Ye Shisan deep in thought, Yi Qing pressed on. “The weirdest part is—Professor Pi discovered that within Touxiang Village there exists a counterbalancing energy. And through his personality analysis, he confirmed your body carries the same part of it. That’s why he told you not to go back!”

Ye Shisan fell silent. To think Professor Pi did all this behind the scenes—just for a nutcase he met in an asylum!

Maybe that’s what they call kindred spirits in suffering.

Ye Shisan was lost in thought when suddenly, a voice came from the backpack behind him. “Father! Look!”

He and Yi Qing turned to look—Touxiang Village was just up ahead. But it was in chaos. A dozen elders and a gaggle of kids was crowded around the threshing ground.

Their hearts sank. Something was wrong. Ignoring their aching bodies, they rushed forward without hesitation.

Pushing through the crowd, they saw a shattered clay figure on the ground, life-sized, its features eerily identical to You Long’er!

Village Chief Dong wailed, pounding his chest and stomping his feet. “Damn heavens! Why are you so blind? Such a good girl, turned into a clay embryo by the mountain god! If word gets out, Touxiang Village is done for!”

The old man was sobbing and shouting, completely hysterical, unstoppable even by his sturdy daughter-in-law, Qian Dani.

Ye Shisan barged in, frantic. “Chief Dong! What the hell happened?!”

The old man saw Ye Shisan return and broke down sobbing like a child. “Boss, I’ve failed you! I… I don’t know how, but Miss You ran off to the back hills! I searched all night, found her at the graveyard, but… but…”

He babbled, gasping for breath, then fainted with a roll of his eyes.

Qian Dani was beside herself with worry, patting the old man’s back as she spoke. “Boss, you don’t know—Miss You was brought back by my father-in-law. But once she stepped into the village, she stopped speaking. Just a few steps later, she collapsed and… turned into a clay embryo figure! You can’t blame my father-in-law for this… Vanilla saw it too… Wait, where’s Vanilla?”

Ye Shisan looked around. Only the village elders and children remained. There was no sign of Vanilla.

His head buzzed, a throbbing pain exploding within.

A nameless fire ignited in his chest, spreading like wildfire across his entire body. What followed was a world where every face within his sight turned loathsome. Old men watching like it was a show. Gossiping old women. And clueless kids roughhousing, unfazed by a death.

These heartless, life-dismissing bastards—millions like them out there!

Cold. A bone-deep chill rushed in to meet him.

Suddenly, his vision warped, as if a bizarre world had opened. All the bizarre scenes he’d witnessed in life played out alive before him as vivid, breathing tableaux.

A corpse floating just meters away, while a fisherman sat calmly on the shore, casting his line.

A collapsed patient, surrounded by onlookers— none lifting a hand to help.

And the countless faces he’d seen— eyes filled with mockery, hearts steeped in indifference, wishing misfortune upon others as if it were sport.

Cold. A cold so sharp it tore through him like a blade.

Was this no nightmare, no hell, but the real world I live in?

Unnoticed, a strange hand emerged from his back— dry, slender, inhuman in shape, yet forming an uncanny hand seal.

Then came a second, a third… until dozens of hands fully stretched out, like a thousand-handed monster!

A voice echoed, as if carried from a distant time and space:

“Ye Shisan… it’s time we met…”