Wu Xin: The Monster Killer

Chapter 51 On the Verge of Eruption

Judging from the little boy's clothes and appearance, he was definitely not a recent figure; children these days certainly wouldn't have pigtails anymore. Chuchenzi refused to look directly at the little boy's face, instead using the lantern to illuminate it; Wuxin, on the other hand, put the little boy back on the ground and patted him from head to toe. Finding nothing, he squatted down and stared down at the little boy. As he looked, he reached out and wiped a finger on the little boy's face.

Blood is at the same temperature as the outside world. He lowered his head and sniffed; it was the normal smell of blood. No matter how isolated the Thousand Buddha Cave was, there was no reason why the corpses inside wouldn't decompose. But the little boy was indeed not decomposed—of course, not completely, but only to a limited extent. Apart from his face being pressed against the ground for too long and difficult to separate, the rest of his skin was still quite intact.

He pulled the little boy's hand up to his nose and sniffed it; there was a faint stench. Wuxin wiped the blood from his fingertips onto the ground, then stood up and said, "Taoist Master, have you noticed? There are no living creatures in the cave."

Chuchenzi avoided looking at the little boy and nodded to Wuxin with deep agreement: "Not bad."

There was nothing alive, just a small, delicate corpse lying on the ground, not even a maggot could be found. Wuxin recalled the little boy's initial posture and realized that he seemed to have been running away, baring his teeth and claws, when he tripped and fell, and never got up again.

He understood, and so did Chuchenzi. They exchanged a glance, then tacitly looked deeper into the cave. Wuxin stepped over the small corpse and continued forward, asking, "It seems your master committed some evil deed in the cave."

His master remained silent, and Chuchenzi had no choice but to defend him. While chasing Wuxin, he glanced around and noticed the Buddha statue changing drastically. Although its posture remained dignified and graceful, its face gradually shifted from a sinister smile to a ferocious grin, eventually becoming large-eyed and gaping like a demon. Chuchenzi, accustomed to a life of luxury, could no longer bear it. He flicked his sleeve, revealing a command flag, and whispered to Wuxin, "Halt! The road ahead is dangerous. Let me test whether there are any ghosts causing trouble!"

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Wuxin, without turning his head, whispered harshly, "Take it back! Whether you have a soul or not, I know before you do!"

Chuchenzi pointed at his retreating figure: "Well, you dare to rebuke this Daoist master! You—"

Before he could finish speaking, Chuchenzi suddenly lost his voice. With his arm outstretched in a stiff posture, he realized that Wuxin in front of him had disappeared.

Although Chuchenzi and Wuxin didn't get along, he had no intention of abandoning him in the cave. He raised the lantern and shone it around, then panicked: "Wuxin! Wuxin?"

A pale hand suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed his wrist. Chuchenzi's eyes widened, and he was about to cry out when Wuxin's voice rang out: "It's time to turn. Can't you see clearly even with a lantern in your hand?"

Chuchenzi silently let out a long breath, took a large step, and found that there was indeed no road ahead; he really had to turn right. Wuxin turned first, standing still to wait for him, thinking that it would be better to take Lord Gu instead of Chuchenzi. When Lord Gu was pushed to the limit, he could unleash a murderous aura that could scare both people and ghosts. Chuchenzi did have some skill, but unfortunately, his skill was weak, and so was his courage.

The two had already turned right once, and now they turned again, unsure of where the passageway led. Chuchenzi, seeing the flat, clear path ahead, devoid of any strange Buddhas or corpses, picked up his lantern and prepared to proceed; but Wuxin raised his hand to stop him, asking in a low voice, "Daoist Master, do you see anything nearby that can suppress ghosts?"

Chuchenzi paused for a moment, then asked, "What do you mean?"

Wuxin closed his eyes: "Just one step away, and you'll find ghosts!"

Upon hearing that it was a ghost, Chuchenzi was no longer so afraid. He held up the lantern and carefully examined his surroundings. Finally, he said to Wuxin, "My master did indeed set up a soul-locking formation."

Wuxin asked again, "I can get through, can you?"

Chuchenzi immediately took out a yellow talisman from his pocket and slapped it on his forehead with a "smack": "Yes."

Unbeknownst to him, Wuxin had become the leader. Walking ahead with his eyes closed, he could feel the ghosts around him swirling and churning like undercurrents, clearly trying to overwhelm any living beings who might enter. He himself had no soul, so he wasn't afraid of his body being taken; Chuchenzi had a yellow talisman protecting his brow, so he was presumably unharmed. Slowing his pace to wait for Chuchenzi to catch up, Wuxin suddenly remembered something: "Daoist Master, since the formation is for locking souls, what would happen if a living person with strong yang energy were let in?"

Chuchenzi thought and thought, and finally blew on the yellow talisman hanging in front of him and said, "I am not good at setting up formations."

Then the two of them turned their heads together and looked at each other again—once the formation is broken, it will be no joke!

As if telepathically connected, the two quickened their pace, running and leaping forward. They ran to the end, only to find themselves at a left turn. Knowing that Chuchenzi relied solely on the lantern for light and wasn't as agile as himself, Wuxin grabbed his wrist and swiftly turned left. The long passageway before them had transformed into a square stone chamber. Before Chuchenzi could react, Wuxin saw clearly—several paper talismans were pasted on the entrance wall, and the floor of the chamber was piled high with corpses!

The situation is now completely clear. Chuchenzi's master, wanting to comprehend Yue Qiluo's abilities on his own, cannot rely solely on theoretical knowledge. It's unknown how many people he killed within the cave, for he needs souls and bodies. Yue Qiluo even committed suicide in her first life; since Chuchenzi's master has become obsessed with cultivation and cannot extricate himself, his fate is likely unimaginable. The separation of the corpse and soul by the formation must have a reason.

Wuxin dared not linger, dragging Chuchenzi along as they continued running. Chuchenzi had barely grasped reality when he involuntarily stepped onto a corpse. The corpses resembled the child corpses in the outer passageway, all from the pre-Qing Dynasty era, both male and female, but all were prone, so their faces were obscured. Shortly after death, a person's body gradually hardens, but after a day and a half, it slowly softens again. Chuchenzi stepped down one after another, feeling himself sinking deeper. Helpless, he could only lift his legs high and take large strides, hopping and stumbling towards the exit. Wuxin's hand gripped his wrist like an iron clamp. The two swept past the pile of corpses like a gust of wind. Finally, Wuxin jumped down at the other end of the stone chamber's exit, tripping over a corpse with his left foot, which he kicked over. Chuchenzi glanced down by the firelight and his heart skipped a beat—it was a female corpse, her eyes and nose severed by a sharp blade, leaving three bright red holes in her pale face. The more gruesome the death, the stronger the resentment, and the more ferocious the ghost. This is probably the origin of the torture inflicted on female corpses.

The stone chamber was square and orderly, but after exiting, they encountered a wall and realized they had to turn left. Seeing that the path ahead was another passageway, Wuxin didn't care about anything else and continued running wildly with Chuchenzi.

The two made three more turns without incident. Finally, they reached a dead end—two iron gates stood ahead.

The iron gate was tightly shut, much like the gate of an ordinary household. Chuchenzi stepped forward, lit the lantern, and searched high and low, but couldn't even find a doorknob. Turning to face Wuxin, he frowned and sighed, "My late master's intentions are truly unfathomable."

Wuxin was also at a loss. The passageway was wide enough, and the iron gate was floor-to-ceiling, with no way to climb over it. There were no handles or keyholes, making it impossible to pry open. Chuchenzi removed the yellow talisman from between his eyebrows and stuffed it into his sleeve, and the two of them paced back and forth in front of the gate. Just when they were at their wits' end, Wuxin suddenly stopped in front of a door. He put his hands behind his back, raised his head, and suddenly kicked out. With a clang, the door opened half an inch inward.

Chuchenzi was dumbfounded. It turned out that the iron gate was really just two iron gates, with no hidden secrets. Wuxin nodded after regaining his footing: "Your late master's intentions were indeed unfathomable."

The two immediately joined forces, struggling to push open an iron door. Although the door had hinges, the heavy door panels and the friction against the stone wall made it very difficult to move. Once the gap was wide enough for one person to squeeze through, the two filed in. After entering, Wuxin's eyes lit up as he discovered a whole new world.

Before them lay another stone chamber, its walls smooth and neat, resembling a house. Suddenly, flames flickered on either side of the entrance; Chuchenzi had discovered an oil lamp holder protruding from the stone wall, the lamp still containing half a bowl of oil.

With the oil lamp providing illumination, Wuxin's vision became clearer. The scene ahead resembled Chuchenzi's reception room—in the center stood a wooden daybed, upon which sat an old Taoist priest with white hair and beard, his legs crossed. The old priest was dressed in a black robe and was in a meditative posture, but one of his heads was tilted strangely, almost resting on one shoulder.

Chuchenzi bent slightly and tiptoed forward to examine the old Taoist's face closely. Wuxin followed and asked softly, "Is this your late master?"

Chuchenzi turned his head with his mouth agape, and nodded tremblingly: "Yes."

Then he raised his hand and lifted the old Taoist's long hair, revealing a glaring knife wound on the man's neck. Not only had the tendons been severed, but the neck bone was almost broken. The blood had long since drained away, and the white bone fragments were exposed, a truly horrifying sight.

Chuchenzi lowered his head and let out a long breath, his raised hand falling limply to the ground; at the same time, he realized that the reason his master's Taoist robe looked black was because it was soaked in blood.

The person had passed away, and several decades ago at that, causing Chuchenzi to grieve without being overwhelmed with sorrow, unable to feign any dramatic outbursts. Wuxin, however, shifted his gaze to either side of the daybed. Like any ordinary room, it was furnished with tables, chairs, cabinets, and bookshelves. Wuxin walked to the bookshelves and found them dust-free, the books neatly arranged. He pulled out one by one, examining the covers, and began searching for the secret manual.

He acted, and Chuchenzi wasn't idle either. He reached out and touched the bedding on the Arhat's bed, then lifted the hem of his master's robe to look inside. Suddenly, he exclaimed, "Ah!" He pulled out a thin booklet from under the bedding at the corner of the bed, saying, "Found it!"

Wuxin hurried over to take a look, and sure enough, the cover of the booklet only had the words "Secret Manual" on it. Chuchenzi opened the booklet, but there were no words inside; page after page were patterns of talismans. Most talismans are drawn on long strips of paper, but the talismans in this booklet were different. They filled the entire page without end, looking like a tangled mess at a glance.

Looking up at Chuchenzi, Wuxin asked, "Can you understand it?"

Chuchenzi nodded thoughtfully: "I know a little."

Before he could finish speaking, a metallic clang rang in his ears. Looking towards the sound, he saw an arm thrust straight in through the crack in the door, followed by a woman's head protruding from above, its face riddled with three bloody holes!

Chuchenzi shuddered instantly, while Wuxin immediately understood and rushed towards the iron gate: "Damn it, he's been resurrected!"

Before his hands could even touch the iron gate, Chu Chenzi drew his pistol, aimed at the crack in the door, and pulled the trigger. The bullet was extremely powerful, causing the female corpse to slump backward. Wuxin seized the opportunity to push the iron gate, trying with all his might to close it tightly again. But before he could even finish his effort, another iron gate beside him stirred. Chu Chenzi lunged forward, bracing against the gate, his face pale, and asked, "Reincarnation?"

Wuxin braced himself against the iron gate, his feet planted firmly on the ground: "The soul-locking formation must have malfunctioned; the ghosts in the cave are now free!"

Something was banging on the iron gate outside. Chuchenzi, imitating Wuxin, also used his feet to push off the ground. His ponytail came undone, revealing his head and face covered in hair: "What do we do?"

Wuxin almost forgot to breathe: "I don't know!"

(End of this chapter)