amaotonovel Chapter 282: Insects Tracing the Deep Cave
Chapter 282: Insects Tracing the Deep Cave
Chapter 282: Insects Tracing the Deep Cave
The water waves gradually expanded, ripples appeared, and a strange humming sound seemed to come from the deep pit of the ruined tomb. The strange shadow of Lin Chuang was immersed in the cold tomb pool, as if it had turned into a floating bag and wrinkled drowned corpse, staring motionlessly with its fishy yellow pupils turning up, as if staring above the water surface.
Tian Qingwen did not have time to utter a scream. After all, this was the first time in her life that she had a head-on encounter with an inhuman creature. As all kinds of panic surged into her mind, even her breathing became jerky and difficult. But at this moment, a short figure suddenly leaped past her and jumped into the bottomless tomb pit like the wind.
"Kanglong has regrets!"
Little Stone shouted at the critical moment, his ears filled with the whistling sound of the wind.
He didn't know why he had to shout like that, but his master once said that a martial arts master could increase his strength by three points by shouting before making a move, and it would be even more powerful if it was accompanied by his own unique music.
In the past, Xiao Shitou often disdained to do so, and just wanted to save some strength to attack, but now he suddenly needed to increase this three points of strength to subdue the enemy monster and find his junior brother.
Taking advantage of the situation, he leaped down and raised his palm angrily. Xiao Shitou had no regrets about "Kang Long You Hui" and had already surpassed the limit of storing power. Only the sound of a dragon's roar could be heard echoing in the narrow tomb. Not only did he have several hundred kilograms of brute force, but he also had a long and endless palm force that suddenly erupted from the remaining power.
At this moment, Little Stone had unknowingly deduced a new move, "The Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing", from the Upper Nine, "The Dragon Has Regrets", to the Nine Five, "The Dragon Is Flying in the Sky"!
"Flying Dragon in the Sky", as a powerful weapon in the "Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing", Jiang Wen had intended to teach it to Xiao Shitou a long time ago. However, Jiang Wen saw that the child knew nothing about martial arts theory, and could not understand his argument that "the one with the higher head altitude in the battle is the winner". Also, due to Xiao Shitou's height, he could not understand this sentence for a long time. Therefore, he gave up after only demonstrating it twice.
But the speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Jiang Wen did not expect that Xiao Shitou would take this opportunity to comprehend this palm technique of leaping into the air and striking from a high position. In an instant, it became extremely powerful. As a loud thunderous sound was heard in the ancient tomb, cold water splashed from the bottom of the tomb all the way to the sky above the cave entrance, instantly penetrating the lingering evil spirit in the tomb!
Tian Qingwen reacted only then, and hurriedly lay down on the edge of the tomb to look. He felt mist and hazy shadows underneath, and the exciting sounds stirred up the waves, as if the chaos would never stop. However, among the surging dirty waves, he could not find the little stone.
"Little Stone! Little Stone! Where are you!"
She was calling out anxiously, and Zhao Erguan squinted his somewhat confused eyes and looked at the cave entrance together. Seeing that there was no movement in the water for a long time, he picked up a stone and threw it down.
All you could hear was the sound of stones thumping on the brick wall, and finally they fell into the tumbling tomb pool. Then, a round little head suddenly popped up from the murky and dark water, with an almost crushed stone in its hand, and it said angrily.
"Who hit me?"
Zhao Erguan scratched his head embarrassedly: "It's me, Junior Brother Hong hit me like that the other day."
Little Stone hesitated for a moment, then threw the stone away and replied with a silly smile: "Oh, that's okay."
Tian Qingwen was almost laughing at the behavior of these two people, but she was always worried that the monster in the tomb would take the opportunity to come back and drag away the small stone, so she shouted to the people below.
"Little Stone, wait for me! I'll make a vine rope and pull you up!"
However, Little Stone did not appreciate the kindness, but waved to the two people above: "I'm not going up, you guys come down quickly."
Tian Qingwen asked impatiently: "Why go down there! The monster might be back soon!"
But before she could finish, Zhao Erguan lifted his robe and jumped in. Since he didn't know any martial arts, he fell straight into the water like a stone, causing another huge splash.
"You! You guys! What on earth are you doing!?"
Tian Qingwen felt as if her head was as big as a bucket, but the two people in the water were clumsily treading water to float up, and said to her in unison: "Go find your junior brother."
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In the end, Tian Qingwen jumped down and soaked in the cold and smelly water. If it weren't for her admiration for Hong Wendi, she might have fainted from anger.
But reason told her that what Xiao Shitou said seemed to be right.
Just now, Xiao Shitou's attack from above had scared away the Lincun monster. The two sides didn't even fight, but Xiao Shitou had already gained the upper hand. This proved that Tian Qingwen's previous inference that "Drought Demon cannot wreak havoc during the day" was correct. If they wanted to rescue the abducted Hong Wendi, they should now take advantage of the victory and pursue the enemy directly to the lair of Drought Demon.
However, the problem also arises here.
What she imagined was that she would fight with wits and courage, unravel the mystery, find the drought demon, rescue Hong Wendi who was trapped in the magic cave, and then take the opportunity to ask for his body in return for the favor, and then go back to Wuyi Mountain together to let his Taoist master be the matchmaker - what a wonderful development, it should never be like now, following two fools in dirty water.
"The monster didn't dive just now."
The small stone was soaked in the water, looking at the circular brick tomb chamber with a dome top. Various talisman patterns were painted on the brick walls with white lime. The strokes were like sword blades and full of murderous aura. They were definitely not talismans used to settle down and ward off evil.
He began to recall the trajectory of the "Flying Dragon in the Sky" he had just performed.
When his palms chopped down, they went straight into the deep water. However, even though he had been in the water for a long time, he did not catch even a single hair of the drought demon, nor did he have the feeling of hitting a rotten leather bag that night. It was obvious that the opponent's escape route was not downwards.
He recalled the posture that Hanba had maintained at that time. It seemed that his head was facing the dark corner of the tomb roof that had not collapsed. So he slowly walked towards the corner. Zhao Erguan must have noticed something as well. He was not shy about the dirty corpse-soaking sewage. He swung his arms and started groping around. Not long after, he said with shining eyes.
"Hey! There's a hole here!"
Tian Qingwen looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a thick, impenetrable darkness hidden in the corner of the tomb wall where the roof had not yet collapsed. The direction that Zhao Erguan was pointing to with his bent back was at a height slightly below the horizontal plane. Due to the lack of light, it was difficult to detect any clues from the outside.
She waded over hesitantly and asked in a low voice, "Is this where the monster escaped? Could it still be hiding in the cave and ambushing us?"
Zhao Erguan patted his chest and said confidently: "Absolutely not!"
Tian Qingwen calmed down a bit and asked quickly, "How did you know?"
Zhao Erguan and Little Stone smiled at each other, then replied with a big grin, "My mother said there's no air underwater. If it had been hiding for so long, it would have suffocated to death!"
Tian Qingwen, who was originally hesitant to enter the cave, suddenly stepped back as if he had received an electric shock: "How can a ghost suffocate to death! You fool!"
Zhao Erguan did not take it as an offense. He pointed at the little stone standing beside him and said with a silly smile: "Ghosts can't die, so why would he be afraid of the little stone?"
"..."
From this moment on, Tian Qingwen made up his mind to keep his mouth shut, talk less, and walk at the end of the team, so that he would be the first to run away if there was any problem.
After taking a deep breath, the three of them climbed up the hole where the tomb bricks were broken and the sealing mud was rotten, and then they crawled in from underwater.
They had originally expected to explore in the muddy water for a long time, but the fact was that just a few breaths after they entered the cave, the mud cave turned a slightly upward arc, and the water level gradually changed from submerged to chest level, and then only to ankle height, just enough for them to lower their heads and trudge through the dark cave.
There was air in the cave at this time. Little Stone was sniffing along the way with his nose, and his hands were stroking the remaining traces of the mud cave, leading the way in front.
Vision was lost in the darkness, so other senses became acute. Tian Qingwen only felt that the smell in the mud cave was a bit pungent, and he could smell a hint of lime in the fishy smell. There were faint signs of air flow on his skin, but the only sound he could hear was the regular and monotonous footsteps of three people.
"Uh, don't you think it's a bit strange..."
Tian Qingwen struggled internally for a long time.
Standing at the end of the team, she always felt that someone was following her, so she held on to Zhao Erguan's collar and followed him, deciding to chat about something to give herself courage and make herself appear less redundant.
Seeing that no one responded, she cleared her throat and continued, "The mud hole we are walking in now looks very much like a tomb robbed by a grave robber. Someone must have wanted to steal this ancient tomb and dug in here without anyone noticing..."
The more she analyzed, the smoother her thinking became, and the fear in her heart dissipated a little. "Yes, it must be that the tomb robber accidentally broke into the ancient tomb and released the drought demon, causing the monster to wreak havoc everywhere. The people of Chong'an County realized something was wrong and chased after the ghost demon, which is why they opened the roof of the ancient tomb and exposed it to the outside!"
In the darkness, Zhao Erguan paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about something. After a long while, he said hesitantly, "Why doesn't the gravedigger dig from top to bottom?"
Tian Qingwen said decisively: "They must have been unable to find it from above, or unable to dig it open, so they dug around it."
Zhao Erguan was still very confused: "But the ghost cave is so high, and there are no holes on the three sides outside, and the last side is connected to the mountain..."
Tian Qingwen was stumped by the question, and she suddenly understood something.
Guichui was originally a large mound of earth more than ten feet above the ground. Even though this ancient tomb was buried very deep and the earth hole was even deeper, they had been climbing along the slope for a long time. So their current position should be only slightly lower than the fields outside.
If this tunnel was really dug from the wild, there would be fields and paths just a few feet above their heads. The red soil in Chong'an County is sticky and loose, and there are landslides in the mountains every time there is continuous heavy rain. This flooded tunnel should have collapsed long ago.
Could it be that they really started working in the mountains and dug the tunnel along the terrain?
Tian Qingwen laughed in silence. The tomb robber was not the reincarnation of a pangolin, so he shouldn't have spent so much effort just to deal with a wild grave that even the villagers could dig up, right?
The more Tian Qingwen thought about it, the more strange it seemed, and suddenly he had another association.
"What do you think? Could it be that the tomb was built first, and then the ghost appeared?"
"Build the tomb first and then cover it with soil? That's a good idea..."
Little Stone, who was leading the way, also quietly joined the discussion and was seriously considering this suggestion: "Dad wants to find a Feng Shui treasure land in the mountains for grandpa. In fact, isn't it enough to find the treasure land first and then pile up some soil?"
Tian Qingwen choked for a moment, and took two deep breaths before continuing.
"…It is said that in ancient times there was a kind of sixty-year-old tomb, which was built in advance for the elderly who reached their sixtieth birthday. At that time, people were proud to abandon the elderly. On the day of their sixtieth birthday, the elderly would be locked in the tomb to fend for themselves, so their children did not need to take care of them and bury them, or buy coffins."
"Look at the tomb we just saw. There is neither a coffin nor a coffin bed inside. It is as clean as an empty house. There are also some daily necessities such as coarse bowls, lamps, and stone pillows deliberately placed there, which look like things prepared for the living."
"Could it be that many years ago, this was just a sixty-year-old tomb that was above the ground, and it was not until later that someone added soil and planted trees on the tomb, turning it into the ghost cave that no one dares to enter? And the "robber's hole" we walked through was actually a small path that the old man in the tomb secretly dug into the mountain because he was afraid of being watched outside? !"
She had heard from the villagers that things turn into spirits when they grow old, and people turn into ghosts when they grow old. If a person is still alive after a hundred years old, his appearance will be deformed, his speech and actions will be slow, his body odor will be strong, and his personality will be bad. Until his coccyx gradually grows into a tail, strange hairs will grow all over his body, and he will walk on the ground with his hands all day long, and even forget his children and grandchildren, and cannot speak the language of living people. He will escape into the mountains and become a beast that looks like a human but is not.
Hunters from the Tianlong Gate often told people that they often saw people with red hair and golden eyes, without clothes and black hair on their bodies, at the cliffs in the mountains. Once they got close, they would jump over pits and valleys as if flying away. Those people were the old men who were abandoned into the mountains during the turbulent times of the Song and Yuan dynasties and turned into immortal old ghosts who were hundreds of years old.
The more Tian Qingwen thought about it, the more scared he became. He suddenly felt that the shape of the ghost and the drought demon was indeed very similar to the octogenarian with chicken skin and white hair that he had seen before. For example, the wrinkles and cracks on the body were the loose skin of an old man, the mottled lines like those of an ancient pine tree were the wrinkles of ravines, and the fluffy hair was the messy hair that had never been trimmed...
"You said... Could it be that Hanba is not a zombie, but an old man who was abandoned in the ancient tomb and transformed into an old ghost many years later..."
Before he finished speaking, Little Stone suddenly stopped.
(End of this chapter)