Ancient tomb excavation traces

I suddenly found the woman in front of me terrifying. I should have listened to Bao Cai; he told me to be wary of Miss Chu, saying that brainwashed people shouldn't be trusted, but I had been negligent. At that moment, I felt a pang of regret, just as she silently pointed her bayonet at Lan Quexi's temple, and Miss Lan seemed completely unaware.

I knew that reminding her now would only hasten her death, and if I rushed at her, Lan Quexi would inevitably get hurt. Just as I was frantic with worry, Lan Quexi's eyes suddenly sharpened. She quickly ducked down, braced herself on the muddy ground, and with a swift kick of her right foot, accurately sent the sharp knife flying!

Miss Chu never expected Lan Quexi, who had just asked her what was wrong, to make a move. She lost her balance and fell backward to the ground. Just as she was bracing herself with her hands and trying to get up, Lan Quexi swiftly crouched down, a dagger against her neck. I hadn't expected Lan Quexi to be so quick-witted and skilled. I had a bellyful of questions to ask this theatrical Miss Chu, but in the end, I only managed to blurt out one question: "Does the Dust-Avoiding Pearl actually exist?"

But she showed no fear, nor did she answer my question. Her eyes met Lan Quexi's, and she said, "You won't kill me..." There was a hint of provocation in her voice.

Upon hearing this, Lan Quexi flashed her dagger and struck swiftly, leaving a bloody gash on Miss Chu's neck. She coldly said, "Do you think you can come back to life like Sima Yan?" Blood slowly gushed out, and I couldn't help but sigh, women are indeed much more ruthless than us men when it comes to doing things.

Miss Chu pinched off a drop of blood, gave a cold laugh without a care, and swept her gaze over us, saying, "There is indeed a Dust-Repelling Pearl, but you can't get your hands on it!"

"Where?" Lan Quexi's knife pierced deep into Miss Chu's skin.

Miss Chu said nonchalantly, "I don't know, you can look for it yourself. It might be in a tree, or it might be underground!" Looking at her shameless appearance, I wanted to slap her a few times. The contrast between her pitiful appearance just now and her current demeanor was simply two-faced!

Before she could get any answers, Lan Quexi struck Chu on the back of the neck, and Chu's eyes rolled back as she fainted. Lan Quexi used a dagger to cut a piece of cloth from Chu's body and placed it on her neck, fearing she was bleeding too much.

When I first met Lan Quexi, I thought she was the kind of cold and ruthless woman. But after spending a few days with her, I realized that her ruthlessness was only on the surface, while Miss Chu was poisonous to the core.

Having confirmed the existence of the Dust-Avoiding Pearl, Lan Quexi and I disregarded the countless corpses beneath the mud and circled around to the back of the Netherworld Tree. However, what we saw before us left us utterly astonished. A large portion of the Netherworld Tree's rear had been hollowed out, and embedded within it was a human head—or rather, fused into it. This head was one with the tree; it had no ferocious expression, only closed eyes, eerily calm, a calm that was chilling.

He was hidden in the darkness, his face deathly pale, as if covered with several layers of lime powder, and his deep-set eyes gave him an ancient and gloomy look.

In the hollowed-out part of the tree, there was a dark yellow, cauldron-shaped container. The mouth of the container emitted a faint green light, like the will-o'-the-wisps we had just seen. The light reflected off human faces, making it indescribably frightening.

Upon closer inspection, the container was made of gold and inlaid with three malachite stones. The malachite stones, arranged vertically, represent "heaven, earth, and man," holding significant symbolic meaning in Mi Ling's tomb. I told Lan Quexi that there might be something inside, so we mustered our courage and peered into the golden cauldron. Inside, there was a pale green water, with a beaded holder fixed beneath it. On top of the beaded bead was a deep green, transparent bead, within which a faint fluorescent light flowed.

I was filled with indescribable excitement, thinking that this must be the Dust-Avoiding Pearl. I reached out to take it, but Lan Quexi grabbed my hand and said, "Young Master Feng, there's something strange about this water!"

Because the beads were underwater, my hands would definitely get wet if I tried to retrieve them. For a moment, I don't know what came over me, but I acted impulsively and lost my sense of caution. Luckily, Lan Quexi reminded me.

She took the sharp knife from Miss Chu and slowly dipped it into the water. Strangely, the knife quickly melted, bubbling with white foam, like an acidic corrosive liquid. When Lan Quexi took the knife out, only a small piece of the handle remained.

I gasped. If Lan Quexi hadn't stopped me, my hand would be gone. But just now, after corroding the dagger, the water returned to calm.

When I was in school, I was pretty good at physics and chemistry, but when I encountered this strange, colorless, and odorless water, my mind went blank.

Lan Quexi stared at the water and said, "This is Netherwater..."

"Netherwater?" After living for over twenty years, I'm really becoming more and more ignorant.

"This is water from another world. It's connected to the underground and formed from yin energy. This Netherworld Tree is their medium for communication..." After saying that, she rolled up her sleeves. I was still thinking about whether to pick up some soil from the ground and use it to fill the golden cauldron so that the water would overflow. But at that moment, Lan Quexi quickly reached her hand in.

I gasped, staring at her hand in disbelief, the words stuck in my throat, my heart pounding as if it would burst out of my chest.

However, Lan Quexi looked at me and chuckled, saying, "It's alright. The Netherwater is formed from Yin energy. As long as you are fearless, you won't be corrupted."

Hearing this, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to myself how incredibly bold this girl was. What if she made a wrong judgment… I dared not think further. But then again, “witchcraft” is one of the earliest religions in China. In its early stages, Taoism absorbed a great deal of witchcraft culture; its practitioners could communicate with spirits and, like young Taoist priests, exorcise evil. Therefore, Lan Quexi's identity as a witch gave her considerable knowledge of the sinister and malevolent.

Just as hope seemed within reach, a "buzz"—a sound like electromagnetic interference—was followed. A powerful red light, centered on the dust-repelling bead, burst forth in all directions, forming a disc-shaped beam like a formidable shockwave. It emitted a muffled sound, and the entire rear chamber was struck, shaking violently. Lan Quexi was thrown back. Afraid she would hit the cave wall behind her, I immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her into my arms, while I, propelled by the momentum, slammed my back heavily against the jagged wall. I cried out in pain, and suddenly heard a woman's ethereal, melodious laughter, as if a ghost was watching us from the dark rear chamber. However, the sound was fleeting…

I looked up at the quiet space, trying to find the source of the sound, but only felt a tingling sensation in my chest. Lan Quexi was in my arms, her body stiff. I was stunned for a moment, then remembered the person in my arms, my face burning instantly, and I quickly pulled away as if I had been electrocuted. Lan Quexi also quickly got up, biting her lip, her face full of shyness.

Although I often banter with Chen Yu, we brothers are all busy with our own things. Chen Yu wants to find a girlfriend and his eyes are always on my younger sister, while I often criticize him. In reality, I am not as carefree about relationships as Bao Cai's nickname for me, "playboy." I have only been in one relationship.

To ease the awkward atmosphere, I stood up and casually asked her, "Miss Lan, did you just hear a woman laughing?"

Lan Quexi stood quietly and said, "No..." She slowly raised her head, looking at me silently with gentle eyes. I remembered Chen Tiao and Bao Cai's insults, and my heart tightened. I immediately turned to look at the Golden Cauldron, feeling utterly bewildered...

Lan Quexi stood behind me and called out softly, "Young Master Feng..."

I was taken aback for a moment. She gave a bitter smile and said, "No need to get it, it's already in my hands!"

Hearing this, I turned around awkwardly. Lan Quexi opened her arms, looking rather charming and cute, quite different from her usual coldness... I stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then came back to my senses and saw the dust-avoiding bead in her hand, with its fluorescent light flowing inside.

I was thrilled, thinking that the eighth day of the lunar month was saved. Just then, I heard a thud, and someone rushed in frantically!

"Quick, damn it! Close the door!" That was Chen Yi's voice. They had reached the back storage room! Could it be that Old Monster Sima was already dead? I was immediately excited, but then my face darkened. No, their tone suggested that they had encountered something extremely terrifying. What on earth had happened?

Lan Quexi and I exchanged a glance, put away the dust-avoiding bead, and went around the tree. We saw Bao Cai tumbling and crawling to the tree, his face full of terror.

They were so anxious they didn't care about me. Chen Yi shouted, "Damn it, what kind of bugs flew out of those bronze terracotta warriors?!"

The old ancestor, supporting the unconscious young Taoist priest, placed him on the ground and looked out the door, saying, "It was too hasty, I didn't see clearly, but something that could burrow inside a bronze terracotta warrior for hundreds of years must have been a worm raised inside a corpse, possibly a form of Gu magic."

Bao Cai steadied his breathing, his voice trembling as he said, "More insects... Why does that Sima freak love making biological weapons so much!"

Chen Yu spat out a mouthful of blood and said, "Damn it, this is an anti-theft system, designed to target us. Damn it! We're quite honorable, causing a ruckus in the underground palace and even getting the big boss Sima to join the battle!" He grimaced as he spoke, hissing a few times. He was seen clutching his stomach and leaning against the Netherworld Tree, clearly having been hit by the same trick again.

Bao Cai said, "Glory my ass! You're already in this state, and you're still talking nonsense!" As he spoke, he went to Lao Chou's side to check on his injuries, despite his tough exterior.

In an instant, I seemed to know what they were hiding from. I remembered seeing a tiny shadow in the exposed flesh of the bronze terracotta warrior. It turned out to be a worm burrowing in the flesh!

I stood silently. The old ancestor stood by the door, half-crouched, his ear pressed against the door panel. He heard no sound, then stood up and looked behind the carved wooden door, muttering, "Strange. We brought all of that old monster's women with us, so why is he just standing there instead of rushing in? And where did those swarms of insects go?"

On the eighth day, he put down the corpse he was carrying on his back and said, "Could it be that this door can ward off evil spirits?"

The old ancestor shook his head, his brows furrowed slightly, and said in a heavy tone, "No... that century-old monster can't be stopped by ordinary talismans. I'm afraid there's something even more dangerous here..." As he spoke, he suddenly slapped his forehead and said with a sorrowful expression, "Oh dear, I almost forgot that Little Rogue is in there."

Seeing how hurried they were, my heart was also on edge, so I forgot to make a sound. But being able to hear my companions' voices in this dark and eerie place calmed my anxious heart a lot.

The old man glanced hurriedly towards the tree trunk. I walked over to him and said, "I'm fine, I found the Dust-Avoiding Pearl..."

I wanted to tell the ancestors that this door could block out outside noise, but at that moment, a hollow, knocking "thump-thump" sound came from the back chamber, as if it came from another world.

We looked up at the tree trunk warily, and the sound came from above, one after another, like the eerie sound of a hammer striking a handrail in the corridors of different floors in the middle of the night.

At the same time, Bao Cai jumped up from the ground in fright and said, "Damn it, why is there a big tree here? And why is white smoke coming out of the roots?" Because they came in in a hurry, they didn't have time to observe the situation inside. As he was speaking, he suddenly screamed again, "My God, there are hands down there, and white... ugh... big fleshy worms." After saying that, he covered his mouth and started gagging.

The ancestor stared at the tree, a slight look of surprise on his face. "There's a Netherworld Tree here! It connects to the underworld... Could this place be...?"

"The Corpse-Raising Ground... the ghost army of the King of Chu back then..." The young Taoist priest, having regained his senses at some point, said coldly.