Ancient tomb excavation traces

Hissing sounds, like extremely disturbing radio waves, filled the air around him. Bao Cai exclaimed in terror, "This snake...this snake is sounding a rallying cry!"

I was getting goosebumps, cold sweat mingling with the water droplets on my forehead as I looked at the unfavorable scene before me. I stammered, "A whole horde of infantrymen are going into battle first, with the thickest ones on the flanks kept as cavalry. There are many more in the back of the tomb. These snakes are practically an army that knows how to deploy troops!"

Standing beside the shaman and Liang Jiu, Chen Yi said, "It's true, damn it, in this situation, we need to learn from our Party. Back in the Battle of Zhailang Village, didn't they fight a battle where they were outnumbered but won against the Japanese invaders?"

"Don't try to win with fewer troops. The most important thing now is to run away!" Bao Cai said with a bitter face, his body already ready to escape. I told him to calm down, but he lost his composure and splashed around in the water, swimming away.

His move undoubtedly put us in a passive and awkward situation. The first batch of snakes entered the water in an orderly fashion, and Chu Ba quickly dived in, then came out and shouted to us urgently, "They're here!"

Upon hearing this, the patriarch's expression turned solemn, and he said, "One will protect the other. On the eighth day, you will look after Xiao Liuzi. Liang Jiu and Chen Tan will take care of the barbarian girls. Little Celestial Master, you will lead the charge with me!"

Upon hearing this, several experienced henchmen of the ancestor quickly came to our side. But at that moment, the witch suddenly screamed. My first thought was that she had been bitten by a snake, but seeing the pain in her eyes as she looked at the tomb behind the waterfall, I couldn't help but feel strange. At this moment, Chen Yi muttered, "Damn, there are two corpses inside, they're rotten beyond recognition, but look at these clothes..." Chen Yi was thinking.

The priestess suddenly broke down and cried out, "Brother, it's my brother!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Ba and I swam to their location. From an angle, we could vaguely see two severely decomposed people, entangled under the pile of snakes, their skin so white it was almost a deathly gray.

I felt nauseous and gagged a few times, tears streaming down the priestess's face. Just then, a snake suddenly leaped from the water, about to bite the priestess's cheek. Out of male instinct, I pushed her away, but was bitten hard on the shoulder in the process. The snake had long fangs, and I winced in pain, urging her, "Quick...quick, get ashore!"

The shrine maiden stared at me blankly, a look of confusion flashing in her eyes. On the eighth day, seeing my injury, she swam over and asked how I was. I said, "Not good, it hurts like hell!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Ba said with a serious expression, "I'll go cut off the snake's tail right away, you hold on..."

I nodded, but there was no time for sentimentality. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Suddenly, I saw a spurt of blood rising from the water. I had a bad feeling and immediately dove into the water. In the murky water, I saw Chu Ba, surrounded by several snakes. They attacked in an organized manner. No matter how good Chu Ba's knife skills were, he couldn't withstand such a swarm. I saw that his shoulder was being bitten. Their attack method was somewhat like that of piranhas in the Amazon River. In a moment of panic, I swam over to try to pull him out of the water, but the snakes swarmed together one after another, gradually surrounding Chu Ba and forming a nest-like shape. I tensed up and heard him groan in pain in the water.

The situation was urgent, so I swam over without hesitation, pulled out my Mongolian knife from my waist, and started hacking away. Because the attack power was weak in the water, the snakes weren't hit in vital areas and were writhing wildly in the water. In this situation, they already had cuts on their bodies, so I chose to tear them apart.

A crimson blur dissipated in my vision like smoke. I hurriedly closed my eyes, swam across the stench-filled area, and, mimicking my ancestors, pinched the snakes that were biting Chu Ba at their vital points. At that moment, half of Chu Ba's face appeared. He looked at me weakly, his lips seemingly saying, "Don't worry about me, go!"

In this critical moment, how could I abandon him? So I told him to hold on. But as a novice, besides my enthusiasm for saving people, what skills did I have? So when my hand was bitten by two poisonous snakes, the despair in my heart was like the dark water all over my body.

With the third and fourth bites, I could no longer feel the pain. I was just using all my strength in the water to pry open the venomous snakes that were coiled around Chu Ba, but the more I pried, the tighter the snakes coiled around me.

At the crucial moment, I saw a figure swimming towards us—it was Bao Cai! He was holding his own outfit, wearing a ripped sleeveless T-shirt. As he approached us, he threw the shirt at Chu Ba. Instantly, the snake, stimulated by the urine, quickly curled up into a ball. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I immediately grabbed Chu Ba and pulled him closer to the small altar in the middle of the water.

We struggled to climb up, panting heavily. Looking at Chu Ba, we saw that he had more than a dozen wounds of all sizes on his body, and his face had turned completely blue.

Looking at his condition, I suddenly remembered that I needed to find an antidote, so I immediately shouted, "Snake Tail! Snake Tail! Chu Ba has been poisoned!"

However… no one responded. I sensed something was wrong and anxiously looked around. Then, a blood-red hue appeared in the pool. I searched helplessly, but none of our people were there; they had vanished. After a long while, in the deathly silence, I saw Chen Yi's slightly overweight body floating on the surface, his body covered in bite marks. As for Bao Cai, his situation was worse. He appeared behind the waterfall's curtain of water, a snake tightly coiled around his neck. His face was a purplish-red, his eyes staring blankly ahead, devoid of any sign of life.

"Damn it!" I cursed angrily, on the verge of tears. Just then, I felt something moving behind me. I turned around in alarm and saw Chu Ba staring at me coldly, holding a gleaming short knife in his hand.

I felt a chilling murderous intent and wanted to retreat into the water, but I found that poisonous snakes were waiting for me to step into hell.

Was I wiped out? Where are my ancestors? Just as I was thinking this, Chu Ba suddenly pointed his knife at my head and slashed down hard. The moment came too fast, and I already had a premonition that I was doomed.

Just then, I heard a "smack," and my face burned with pain. I covered it, and a woman's face appeared in front of me—it was the witch. She held a knife in her hand and looked as cold and ruthless as ever. In her hand, I saw a slightly purple snake tail!

I was completely confused. Then I looked at the pool and saw my ancestors shouting from inside: "Kill them!"

What was going on? Before I could even figure it out, the priestess suddenly grabbed my head, pinched my cheek, and shoved the snake tail from her hand into my mouth. Then she said to me, "Eat it to cure the poison!"

Eating a snake's tail raw? I'm not Bear Grylls, I don't have that ability. But before I could even spit it out, the witch, expressionless, warned, "If you don't eat it, you'll die immediately!"

I glanced at her, thinking, "Why is she being so kind, even giving me the antidote? Is this a second attempt to harm me?" Just as I was debating whether to swallow it, Chu Ba, sitting by the altar, was chewing on a snake's tail with relish. He then said to me with a satisfied look, "Young Master, it tastes pretty good. Eat it quickly, and then continue the battle!" Seeing the snake blood on his lips, I quickly covered my mouth and spat it out. He looked at my reaction and laughed, "Oh dear, Young Master, you just saved me. From now on, you're my benefactor, Chu Ba. I can't bear to see my benefactor die!" As he said this, he picked up the snake's tail I had spat out, deftly shaving off the outermost disgusting part, then cut it into small pieces and placed them in front of me.

This thing looked like snake sashimi to me, so I forced myself to swallow it despite feeling nauseous.

Just now, after I was poisoned and hallucinating, it was the priestess who saved me, which I didn't expect. What surprised me the most was that in this battle, everyone was bitten by snakes, but the priestess was unharmed, as if the snakes didn't care about biting women at all.

However, I soon learned the answer. The witch said that she had been a poisonous being since childhood, possessing a constitution that could be conjured by all poisons. She was unaffected by any poison. At most, the snake would try to bite her, but she would definitely not be poisoned.

Her words filled me with immediate regret, regretting my earlier attempt to play the hero. But seeing her red, swollen eyes, my heart softened, and I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for her. In movies and novels, people with this kind of poisonous constitution endure immense hardship from childhood to develop immunity, and it's said that those with such constitutions have short lifespans. I glanced at her; she was looking at me too. Our eyes met, and while I didn't react, the girl awkwardly avoided my gaze. I chuckled, thinking, "Damn, is she shy?" However, I didn't dwell on it. The battle with the snakes wasn't over. After being bitten, my fear of them had lessened, but returning to the water still felt unpleasant. The thought of those creatures coiling around me could suffocate me. And they seemed endless, impossible to eradicate completely.

"There are too many! If only we had a cannon, I could just smash this snake nest to pieces!" Old Tiao gasped for breath in the water.

The old ancestor said, "They're not dead yet, so there's hope. To deal with these snakes, you either need to have an endless supply of urine or you need to fight them hand-to-hand. If they don't die immediately, keep going until you're satisfied!" As he spoke, he took a curved knife from the water and cut another snake in half.

Chen Yi was the kind of person who could be fully revived with a little encouragement, no matter what setbacks he encountered. After the ancestor said that, he swung his knife even more fiercely, slicing off one snake after another while shouting, "Damn it, you snake bastards, your grandpa is here, come and die!"

Seeing their high-spirited expressions, my blood boiled instantly. Today, we fought a massive battle against the snakes; how thrilling it would be to recall it in the future! Thinking this, I dove into the water and desperately swung my Mongolian knife. Although I was bitten again, thanks to Bao Cai's extensive knowledge, we found the snakes' weakness, ensuring our survival in the battle.

We were all fighting hard. Bao Cai suggested we take a break, but we didn't dare give the snake a chance to bite back, so none of us stopped.

Gradually, the lead snakes completed their mission and slithered back behind the waterfall curtain. Several snakes hanging down from the side of the waterfall then took their place. They were a bright red color, and their triangular heads were larger than the previous group. What was chilling was that their scales suddenly stood up with a hiss. The scales were spiky, sharp, and dense, making one's scalp tingle.

"Oh my god! What's going on? Has this snake mutated?" Old Tiao exclaimed in surprise.

"This snake is male. You were dealing with female snakes just now. If you were bitten by the male snake or pricked by its scales, you would all die," the priestess said coldly as she stood on the altar.

She knows a lot about poisons, but in this situation, giving us such bad news undoubtedly dampens our morale and increases our fear.

I asked her if the snake was afraid of anything, like urine. She laughed dismissively, "Your urine might work on female snakes, but it's useless against this rare 'spirit-possessing male snake'!"

"Spirit Serpents? What does that mean?" Bao Cai blurted out, "Aren't they Crimson Flame Alchemy?"

"Crimson Flame Alchemy?" The priestess glanced at the male snake not far away and sneered, "This snake was originally worshipped by my ancestors as a sacred serpent... You cannot defeat them; only death awaits you..."