Ancient tomb excavation traces

(Thanks to Lao Xie for the 500 Qidian coins)

A legion of ghost soldiers! I almost forgot that after Mi Ling died, the King of Chu asked her to borrow ghost soldiers. In other words, this is actually the most dangerous place in the entire ancient tomb!

Listening to the young Taoist's speculation, I finally understood why the corpses in the ancient tomb were so eerie. It turned out to be because of the Dust-Avoiding Pearl, which was locked in a struggle with the Five-Colored Exquisite Heart. Sima Yan had accurately predicted that today was an extremely unlucky day, the day for sacrifice and breaking open the coffins. So today was actually a game of resurrection, a grand party of demons dancing wildly. I felt a deep sorrow; it seemed we had come here only to be wiped out, just for the sake of the festivities.

I turned my gaze to the white-haired Princess Mi Ling of Chu, whom Chu Ba was carrying. She regretted her choice of the mountain where the Five-Colored Exquisite Heart existed after her death. If she had a spirit in heaven, would she know that she was tricked by Sima Yan?

I looked at her face, which resembled a dried-up old tree root. She had a strange fragrance about her, suggesting she was made into a mummified corpse using some kind of spice. However, because the golden nanmu coffin had just absorbed blood, the blood now clung to her face and white hair, making her look especially gruesome. I remembered seeing her back in my hallucination; she must have been a beautiful woman. Seeing her like this, I couldn't help but sigh. No matter how beautiful a woman is, in the end, she's nothing but withered and lifeless. No wonder so many powerful and influential people in ancient times pursued immortality at any cost. Who would willingly become like this?

Fear gripped our hearts. Wisps of white smoke from the muddy ground transformed into a ghastly thick fog, billowing in and threatening to engulf us. Visibility inside was already poor, and now, as we were slowly swallowed by the fog, it was even worse. At the same time, the thumping sounds from the trees grew louder and more frequent, like the sounds of construction work from a high-rise building, particularly jarring.

Hearing such a sound in such a dark and secluded environment was terrifying, but the most frightening thing was not the slapping sound, but the chilling sound of teeth grinding. The sound was continuous and made me feel cold. I swallowed and felt my heart pounding in my throat.

What to do? A thought flashed through my mind: "If we nip it in the bud, will we be saved?" With that thought, I asked Lan Quexi for the Dust-Avoiding Pearl, intending to smash it and restore peace, but I heard the young Taoist priest coldly say, "It's too late, the corpses have already risen..."

"What should I do? Am I really going to die here?" I didn't dare to think about what would happen next.

The young Taoist priest shook his head, frowned, and said, "Given the situation, we can only take it one step at a time and try to live a little longer."

I sighed. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there were no weapons that could directly smash corpses to pieces. All we had were cold weapons, so we had to fight hand-to-hand. With our current combat strength, we could barely manage to deal with seven or eight mutated corpses. If there were a whole bunch of them, we would probably be doomed.

Our ancestor told us to stay close to the center of the tree trunk, so our backs would have support and we wouldn't be attacked from both sides or get lost in the fog. We did as he said, but then we realized Lan Quexi was missing. When we finally saw her, she was gritting her teeth and dragging Miss Chu away. I hadn't expected her to still care about this woman who had almost killed her, and a feeling of admiration welled up inside me. Ignoring how annoying Miss Chu was, I helped Lan Quexi pull her to the tree. Chen Yi asked me what was wrong with the woman, and I briefly explained the situation.

He was furious and said, "What? This girl, so venomous and lacking any sense of judgment, might as well just be thrown into the mist and let her keep the things below company!"

No sooner had I finished speaking than I saw a hand emerge from the ground. My heart skipped a beat, and I almost screamed. But the terrible situation didn't end there. Another hand pierced straight through the soil, its five knuckles moving mechanically, grasping at the air... I looked at these hands, pitted and scarred, with several corpse worms hanging from them, and my heart pounded with panic.

Bao Cai was terrified, his body pressed against the tree trunk, whimpering and moaning, wishing he could become one with it. I saw him with his hand on his chest, looking utterly dejected and desperate, muttering, "It's over, the fierce corpse has been unleashed, I, Liu Bao Cai, am going to die here today!"

There were eerie noises coming from the tree, and more rotting corpses were about to emerge from the mud. Chen Cai, leaning against the tree trunk, said, "This is too creepy, Boss Feng. I, Chen Cai, can give up my fat body, but I absolutely cannot let so many rotting corpses ruin me. What should we do now?"

The ancestor looked at the ground and repeated, "What should we do?" He pointed upwards with his finger and said, "There's still a glimmer of hope up there, run!"

"Run? Are you going to climb a tree?" Chen Yi exclaimed in surprise. In fact, climbing trees was his worst skill. When he was a child, he went to the mountains to pick wild fruits, but the branches couldn't support the cheerful little chubby boy and snapped with a "crack"... He fell from the tree, tumbling and scrambling down the mountainside, landing headfirst in a crevice of a small mountain spring. His head got stuck there for a long time before he finally managed to pull it out, his face badly scraped. After that, he vowed never to climb a tree again.

Beyond the wooden door stood the Insect Army and Sima Yan, leaving us with no other option. As our ancestors said, perhaps the opening at the top of the tree was our last hope. But the tree was very tall; we'd probably be exhausted by the time we reached halfway up, and most of us were injured. The branches of the Netherworld Tree were also quite a distance from the ground, making the climb incredibly difficult.

Just as I was thinking, Bao Cai cried out again. I followed his gaze and saw two blurry, dark figures swaying towards us through the mist. They had already emerged from the ground... If we were to fight these corpses now, we would be courting death, because we had no idea how many more like them were buried below.

The old ancestor lowered his voice and said, "I'll use my grappling hook to climb up the tree branch. Miss Lan, go up first. Those behind you are the most seriously injured. The rest of you who haven't gone up yet, cover them!"

We nodded and said yes, but Bao Cai said, "No way, there's something terrifying up there. If we go up, we'll just be throwing our lives away. My legs go weak when I'm scared, and I'm afraid I'll fall down and feed the thing down there."

"Brother Liu, nothing ventured, nothing gained..." Before the words were finished, the thing in front of him had passed through the mist, revealing a mutilated face.

Bao Cai gasped in shock. Chen Yi, fearing he was about to scream again, immediately covered his mouth and nose, dragging him behind a tree. We followed quietly, but unfortunately, in my panic, I didn't pay attention to the ground and stepped on a landmine. My heart skipped a beat, and before I could pull my leg back, the thing below grabbed my ankle. I instinctively screamed, knowing I was in trouble, and quickly pulled out the Candlelight Mirror, shining it on the grayish-white hand. The Candlelight Mirror was indeed an ancient exorcising mirror; the hand quickly withdrew. I was overjoyed, but at that moment, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a strange face craning its neck beside me, silently watching me. I instantly froze, unable to swallow, and cold sweat poured down my forehead.

The sounds of the commotion in the corpse-raising ground still filled my ears. I dared not scream, and my hands trembled violently. I tried to raise the bronze mirror to point at the strange face beside me, but my hands wouldn't obey me. I mentally cursed a few times, then mustered my courage and mechanically turned my head. What I saw made me want to smash my head against a wall! There wasn't just one strange face beside me. They were staring at me blankly, four or five of them, like curious children.

Behind me, my ancestors dared not move, for this tense standoff was a matter of who could seize the opportunity to strike first. If they failed to strike first, I might be chewed up by the yellow-spotted teeth of the rotting corpse.

I followed Bao Cai's example, chanting Amitabha Buddha countless times, and silently praying, "Princess Chu, have mercy! Considering that our ancestors took your body and made you their porters, please help us suppress them and help us fulfill your lifelong dream." But after praying so many times, no miracle occurred!

Several more corpses staggered closer to me from the thick fog behind me. Their rotting flesh was covered in maggots and clung to a lot of dirt. I had imagined countless times what it would be like to encounter walking corpses and fight them with a machete, but I never imagined that seeing them in reality would be so terrifying, especially considering my own wretched state. If it weren't for my ancestors behind me, giving me even a sliver of security, I probably would have collapsed, my eyes rolled back, and I would have passed out.

Sweat streamed into my eyes, making them sting unbearably. I dared not blink, dared not move, standing like a wooden puppet, staring at the nauseating corpses standing before me one by one. To be honest, at that moment, my heart was filled with despair. I thought that since I was going to die anyway, I should at least do something for those behind me. So I bit my lip, preparing to offer my body. But then, something miraculous happened! These corpses stretched their necks to look at me, and then, on their own, walked behind me. My heart, pounding wildly just now, had reached its limit. After calming down slightly, I thought, "What's going on? Could it be that the Bodhisattva and Princess Chu have appeared to me?"

I stared in utter astonishment at the highly decomposed corpses that kept appearing in the mist. They headed behind the trees, behaving strangely, seemingly oblivious to our large group, as if we were one of them.