Ancient tomb excavation traces

In the thick fog, only the madwoman Chu could be vaguely seen. Lan Quexi, with a soft heart, called her up, but we stopped her. I knew that for her, Chu was a reflection of her former self, only their fates were the same, but their essences were different. I comforted her, "Fate is a choice. Since she chose to run into Sima Yan's arms, it means she's beyond saving. Even if we tie her up and bring her up now, she'll still come back to harm us without hesitation."

Hearing this, Lan Quexi nodded helplessly. At this moment, the continuous sounds from another world pounded against our hearts. In the light filtering into the main coffin chamber, we could see that Sima Yan's shadow had emerged more than halfway out. The shadow was chilling, as if it were the final form of a demon from the underworld. His head vibrated mechanically. Because the shadow itself was not a solid object, I could only see his two eyes and his abnormally wide, evil mouth. The mouth was so exaggerated that the corners of his mouth stretched all the way to his earlobes.

Everyone stared blankly at the horrifying scene under the tree. A layer of dark shadows detached from the bodies of those piles of corpses and surged out of them like waves. At first, they were half-lying down, but they quickly stood up.

Bao Cai stammered, "Yin... Yin soldiers..."

These people were dressed in black, illusory armor, their faces a deathly gray, like condensed smoke. They stood expressionless and cold, holding spears that looked like bee stings. Because they were not solid and were accompanied by a pale, thick fog, they looked ethereal and terrifying.

The ghostly soldiers gathered silently in one place, their numbers incalculable... At the front of the procession were several leaders, wearing barrel-shaped military caps, their attire very similar to the mummified corpses of the royal soldiers we had seen earlier.

They were an elite guard, and a chill ran through us. Our hands, feet, and eyes felt locked, unable to move. These were the soldiers who had been buried alive with Mi Ling by the King of Chu. Were they going to the battlefield now? Hundreds of years had passed. Times had changed, and things were no longer the same. What would happen if they really went out?

When I was a child, I heard stories of ghost soldiers. They said that they had not completed their mission in life, and their minds were stuck in the passionate moment of their past. They had no idea that they had died, so their spirits lingered and were always ready to go into battle.

According to the silk manuscript, when the King of Chu's army was defeated, he arranged for his soldiers to be buried alive with him. It is said that the Chu army was very brave and especially patriotic. In order to win the victory, they followed the King of Chu astray, and most of them chose to be buried alive with him, becoming ghost soldiers who have never disappeared since...

Warriors should die on the battlefield, never in this way! Looking at their cold and heartless faces, I felt a deep sorrow. They must have been about the same age as the young Taoist priest when they were buried alive, harboring dreams of serving their country, yet they were ultimately buried in this gloomy, chaotic burial ground, waiting for a grand dream that could never be realized.

As she pondered this, Miss Chu, seemingly possessed, weaved through the expressionless ghostly soldiers. These soldiers, a head taller than her, exuded an aura of imposing power and chilling solemnity, appearing like rows of illusory wax figures. At the same time, we heard the thunderous sounds of horns and war drums, followed by a powerful, resonant male voice, filled with awe and righteous energy. These sounds reverberated in our ears, bringing fear and despair. This scene reminded me of a poem by Xu Xilin:

Singing military songs with swords clasped around their necks, they vowed to annihilate the barbarian invaders and march out of the Jade Gate.

They only understand dying for their country on the battlefield; why should they need to be wrapped in horsehide to return home?

Such a tragic scene was especially moving. I swallowed hard, and Chen Yu above me said anxiously, "Liuzi, don't look anymore! Those are ghost soldiers, their willpower is strong, and their combat power is off the charts! You want to keep watching—"

Before he could finish speaking, a mummy of a royal soldier suddenly raised a huge bronze sword and slashed at Miss Chu's neck. In an instant, Miss Chu, who had just been alive, collapsed to the ground.

This scene unfolded so suddenly, leaving me utterly stunned. Because of the smoke, I couldn't see Miss Chu's severed head, nor could I make out her face, so I had no way of knowing if she felt any remorse at that moment. But her death was so sudden, she had no time to think. Perhaps, if she had a spirit in heaven, knowing that she could never be reborn, she would regain her senses. At this moment, I couldn't describe the feeling in my heart; a sense of melancholy and loss lingered…

The death of Miss Chu greatly boosted the morale of the Yin soldiers. They kept striking the ground with their spears, making chilling whistling sounds, like gusts of wind. Even though I was at the top, I still felt the cold air.

I had never seen anything like it in my life, and I was so rooted to the spot that I couldn't move. Before long, the ghost of the king suddenly signaled the soldiers to stop. In an instant, apart from the scurrying of insects, everything in the air became eerily heavy. His eyes, which seemed to come from the underworld, scanned the surroundings and finally settled on us. They were the eyes of death, and I felt as if I were enveloped in a chilling aura, unable to move.

"We can't fight! Pull! Pull! (Run!)" The ancestor, with his foresight, shouted, and everyone reacted, quickly climbing upwards. The wailing sounds below were like the howls of thousands of ghosts. I was incredibly nervous, gritting my teeth and climbing upwards like a madman. However, my back was chilled by boundless panic. I had a feeling that they would suddenly grab me and drag me to their center, and then my fate would be the same as Miss Chu's! This time, I had no intention of looking down anymore, and fled with those insect masters in fear.

The "celestial dog eclipsing the sun" phenomenon shouldn't have lasted long; white light should have been streaming in by now. But the sky seen through the mountain pass was a deep gray-black. A thick, dark cloud was churning and pressing down on the pass, with several red cracks visible within its dense layer. Looking at this, a nameless dread gripped me. I had been hoping for light, but now the entire bottle-shaped rear chamber was shrouded in a deep, almost nighttime darkness, everything blurred and indistinct. Staring at the thick, heavy clouds, my heart sank; it seemed as if the sky was about to collapse! After the eclipse, the yin energy should have dissipated, and the ghostly army should have vanished. But these tightly packed clouds seemed to be saying, "Daylight will never return!"

Humans are especially insignificant under the changing nature of the world, and darkness has plunged our hopes into an abyss. Besides me, our ancestors and the others were also frantically climbing, their exhaustion now swept away by fear, their ears filled with the deadly cries of the ghostly army. We knew very well that we might have a chance against the rotting corpses, but against the things of the underworld, it was basically like throwing an egg against a rock. The thought of the ghosts' ability to steal souls and spirits sent chills down my spine. I climbed towards the inner branches of the tree, not wanting to leave my back exposed and give the ghostly soldiers an opportunity to attack.

But just then—Chen Yu disappeared! I was so focused on climbing that I completely forgot about my friend who was in the worst situation. I was frantic and told Bao Cai to stop and ask him if he had seen Chen Yu.

He realized something was wrong and looked around frantically. Two living people like us—we'd lost him! My first thought was that he'd been held back by the ghostly soldiers. I quickly looked down, and just then, something extremely cold grabbed my neck. I screamed in fright, and Bao Cai cried out, "Young Master!"

A chilling sensation, unlike anything I'd ever felt before, told me I was being entangled by ghostly soldiers. No matter how I struggled, the arm gripping me didn't loosen its hold. An extreme cold seeped into my very bones. My head was forced back against the force of his grip, and through a blur, I stared at the face formed from yin energy. He slowly opened his mouth, and his voice, seemingly from the depths of hell, was so long and drawn out…