Autumn rain fell incessantly. It lacked the savagery of summer rain, but carried a chill that seeped into the bone.
Yongzhou, situated close to and just south of the capital, was humid. During the rainy season, the cold felt particularly clinging. If every household failed to keep their doors and windows tightly shut, their bedding, furniture, and clothes would all become damp.
Just a moment ago, the hall had been filled with laughter and conversation. Now, while the rain drummed steadily outside, everyone fell into an eerie silence.
A Refining Spirit martial artist mused:
“There are always signs before rain, it’s not that special.”
The silence broke. Another martial artist echoed, “Yes, just now, fish in the lake should have surfaced to breathe.”
He supplied a trivial fact about foreseeing rain.
Seeing this, others chimed in, sharing the signs they knew for predicting rainfall.
The more they spoke, the more they felt that the young man’s earlier ironclad prediction was really nothing remarkable. What had left them shocked was how well the heavens had cooperated.
He had declared rain, and rain had come. It felt as if the young man could bend the world to his will.
Gongsun Xiu sipped her wine, noticed the old Daoist deep in thought with a grave expression, and frowned as she asked,
“Daoist Leader Qinggu, you seem to hold a different view?”
Everyone immediately turned to the old Daoist.
The Daoist, known by the Daoist name Qinggu, snapped back to himself, but did not reply at once. He paused for several seconds, then spoke in a low voice,
“Then let this old daoist speak frankly. The heavenly signs are ever-changing. Some rain has warnings, some does not. Sometimes there are signs, yet no rain falls. Sometimes rain falls with no warning at all.
“Knowing we would descend into the tomb tonight, I watched the heavens last night, but saw no sign at all that it would rain today.”
He looked out at the lake, and added, “This is what they call impermanent rain.”
Gongsun Xiu considered, then said slowly, “The fish in the lake did not surface to breathe.”
She was refuting what the martial artist said earlier.
With that, everyone’s expressions grew strange again.
After a while, the Refining Spirit martial artist probed, “If it isn’t just coincidence, then, what sort of realm could he be at?”
For crude martial artists, predicting the weather seemed almost like the methods of immortals.
Not just martial artists, even among the common folk, those who could predict the weather or summon rain were seen as immortals walking the earth.
The old Daoist replied quietly,
“I only know that the Masters of Rain from the Church of the Warlock God can pray for rain, the arcanists of the Sitianjian can read the heavens and determine the calendars, and the shamans of the Southern Marches’ Heaven Gu tribe understand the seasons and the lay of the land.
“And one thing is certain. Those with such abilities are all unfathomably powerful.”
All the martial artists looked at one another, hearts chilled.
Gongsun Xiu rose and left the hall. She gazed into the rain at Yangbai Lake, misty waves and autumn drizzle all around, no trace left of ‘Wang’s Fish Restaurant’.
“Have you forgotten your promise to that person…”
Gongsun Xiu murmured the words to herself.
…
Late autumn. The rain was gentle but persistent. It lasted for four whole hours without stopping.
Xu Qi’an fetched a straw raincoat and hat from the Earth Book fragment while in the privy on the boat; he always prepared for rain when travelling.
The boat of ‘Wang’s Fish Restaurant’ docked slowly at the shore, and the diners all went their separate ways.
Mu Nanzhi frowned, treading carefully, trying to avoid the mud, though it was in vain.
Her embroidered shoes were soon covered in mud, which made her unhappy.
Aren’t you the reincarnation of the Flower Goddess? You ought to love rain and mud… Xu Qi’an, watching her sulk, could not help silently complaining.
Mud, mud… If only I could hide in the mud, no one would find me… No, stop, I mustn’t think like this.
He did his best to resist the side effects of the Dark Gu. The consecutive use of the Dark Gu’s abilities earlier had triggered severe aftereffects.
When he returned to the inn, Xu Qi’an asked the waiter to bring fine wine and food, starting his second lunch.
After Mu Nanzhi entered the room, she kicked her embroidered shoes behind the door, walking around barefoot on her tender white feet.
She opened the window, then closed it immediately, pouting as she said, “I don’t like Yongzhou at all. It’s damp and cold.”
It was, after all, her first winter since leaving the king’s manor and setting aside her identity as princess consort. She had bid farewell to the luxurious underfloor heating, and this would be a difficult winter.
“You know it is cold, yet you still walk about barefoot?”
Xu Qi’an glanced down, then looked away.
Fine skin and full, white feet clad in light silk shoes with red soles… This is truly the sort of peerless beauty that can be called a divine artefact.
Xu Qi’an had spent the night with many an oiran at the Jiaofangsi, but none of their feet could compare to Mu Nanzhi’s exquisite toes.
Firstly, because the oiran at the Jiaofangsi had to practise dancing, they could not develop soft, boneless, rosy-white feet like hers. Secondly, beauties also varied in calibre, and everyone had flaws; no one could be perfect.
Only this first beauty of the Great Feng before him, Flower Goddess reincarnate, was truly endowed with heavenly charm. Even the most critical gaze could not find fault with her body or appearance.
Hmm, that assessment might be a little hasty, after all, Xu Qi’an did not know her intimately just yet.
“When did you become such a big eater?” The princess consort sat by the table, resting her cheek in her hand, watching him with a beaming smile.
“Ever since I was crippled, everything tastes wonderful, and my body is stronger than ever.” Xu Qi’an joked with self-deprecation.
He quickly finished the sumptuous dishes spread across the table, called for the waiter to clear away the plates, and Mu Nanzhi quietly tucked her exquisite feet back under her skirt.
When it came to “hiding her light”, she was almost a self-taught master. As the reincarnation of the flower goddess with endless charm, merely covering her face was not enough; her voluptuous figure was also a strong temptation for men, so she always wore clothes deliberately sized larger.
The sky gradually darkened. Xu Qi’an stood by the window for a while and said:
“I have to make a trip to the underground palace tonight to see that thousand-year-old corpse.”
Mu Nanzhi: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
“I am going to check its condition and borrow a few items from it while I am there. Do not worry, I will be back before dawn.”
Xu Qi’an reassured her.
Just then, a carriage drove past. Xu Qi’an’s figure suddenly vanished, reappearing beneath the carriage, hiding in its shadow as it rolled away.
Xu Qi’an leapt from one carriage to another, gradually drawing near the city gate. He escaped outside the city in the faint reflection cast by an ox cart.
With his current control over the Dark Gu, the maximum range for shadow-jumping was fifty metres, and he could not stay hidden in a shadow for more than a quarter of an hour.
The ox cart headed west along the official road, driven by an old man. From the vegetable leaves on the cart, he was likely a market gardener from a nearby village.
Xu Qi’an slipped out of the shadow and watched the ox cart disappear into the distance. Then, drawing an ordinary sabre from the Earth Book fragment, he turned and walked south.
By then the sky was dark, night had fallen. He walked alone in the rain, clad in azure clothes, carrying a sabre but no umbrella.
Silent and alone, Xu Qi’an left the main road, making his way through the mud towards the southern mountains. He walked for a long time, until the outline of the southern mountains became clearer.
Then, he saw a pitch-black deep pit in a hollow of the mountain.
Withered grass grew around the entrance, and it seemed to have collapsed due to loose soil.
Xu Qi’an gave the deep pit a long, meaningful look, then resolutely turned away.
A few minutes later, he came back.
There’s still time. If I enter the underground palace now, it will be like paving the way for them…
Besides, today’s four hours of ‘solitude’ are not complete, all for the sake of cultivation…
Damn it, I never thought that one day, a pit would entice me even more than a woman…
Face twitching, he jumped in.
…
Southern Mountain Range.
By the side of a level mountain path, a few tents had been set up on a cleared patch of ground.
Throughout this stretch of forest, people from the Gongsun family were stationed, responsible for driving away vagrants from the jianghu who tried to sneak into the mountains to steal and pilfer.
Gongsun Xiu sat in a tent with the old Daoist Qinggu and several juniors of the Gongsun family, gathered around the charcoal fire, drinking hot tea.
The tent flap was lifted, and Gongsun Xiangming strode in, draped in a straw raincoat, removing his conical hat as he spoke:
“Xiu’er, this rain is getting heavier and heavier. We either head down to investigate quickly, or we wait until the weather clears. I am worried the rain will cause the entrance to collapse again.”
Gongsun Xiu frowned and shook her head, saying, “Sixth Uncle, let’s wait a bit longer. If nothing from the tomb takes the bait, we won’t go down.”
In truth, what she said on the boat during the day was only half true. It was indeed a hunter who first discovered the underground chamber, but he was already dead.
When he did not return home for a long time, the other hunters from his village searched for him and found a severed arm in this collapsed cave entrance. It seemed to have been violently torn off by something.
Other than the severed arm, none of his other body parts were found. The hunters dared not stay any longer and hurried away with it.
Afterwards, the strangeness of this place attracted the attention of the authorities as well as people from the jianghu. No one who went deep into the tomb returned alive, including two Refining Spirit experts from the Gongsun family.
Those people might have died to traps in the tomb, or to some unknown monster.
To lure out the man-eating creature in the tomb, Gongsun Xiu hung a freshly-slaughtered pig’s head on an iron hook and threw it into the hole, attempting to attract it with the scent of blood.
“The rope still hasn’t moved.”
Gongsun Xiangming shook his head.
“Let’s wait a while longer.”
The old Daoist Qinggu smiled and said, “Yin creatures in a grand tomb lurk there for years, lacking food. Their feeding intervals are not frequent, and they only hunt when ravenously hungry.
“If it does not take the bait tonight, this daoist suggests continuing to wait.”
A young member of the Gongsun family, unable to suppress his curiosity, asked, “Daoist, when you say Yin creature, do you mean a zombie?”
The old Daoist Qinggu let out an “Mm”:
“It could be a zombie, but it might also be some other kind of creature, or perhaps a puppet. Judging by its appetite for flesh and blood, it’s likely one of the first two. Zombies or monsters alike, staying underground for a long time, generally fear light. To lure it out, one must do so at night.”
Gongsun Xiu added, “Many experts have died inside, ordinary zombies would not have that kind of strength.”
The raindrops pattered against the tent, crackling. When there was only this single sound left in the world, the sense of quiet became even more pronounced.
Drinking her hot tea, Gongsun Xiu suddenly said, “Today at Yangbai Lake, I met an expert. If only we could invite him here, this trip into the tomb would be as good as done.”
Gongsun Xiangming was surprised, “What happened? Tell us the details.”
Gongsun Xiu briefly recounted her chance encounter with a man in an azure robe.
Gongsun Xiangming frowned, “That might not be an expert. He could have been bluffing, or it could have been a coincidence.”
The old Daoist Qinggu smiled, not arguing, and said, “Sixth Master makes a good point. It’s all just this old Daoist’s speculation.”
And indeed, that was the truth.
Gongsun Xiu asked, “Sixth Uncle, you’ve stayed in the capital for a few years in the past. Have you ever heard of anyone called Xu Qian?”1
Gongsun Xiangming shook his head and gave a wry smile:
“The capital is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, but most true experts are low-key, not by nature, but because no one dares to act brazenly in the capital. The ten Gold Gongs of the Nightwatcher Constabulary and the Jianzheng’s six disciples are all highest-class figures, powerful yet discreet.
“In addition, there are skilled experts in the army, and guests at the mansions of the great and powerful. The number of Rank Four experts far exceeds your imagination. These people do exist, but their names are little known.
“Those heroes who wield great fame in the jianghu do not even dare utter a peep once they enter the capital. Even if this Xu Qian truly is a master, I would not necessarily know of him.”
A young family member from the Gongsun clan remarked with emotion, “Precisely because of all that, Silver Gong Xu stands out all the more.”
Since his debut, Silver Gong Xu had always been high-profile, and he became more and more so. At first he made headlines solving cases, then it was slaying Dukes, and just recently, once again drawing attention. This time, the Emperor had died.
When the court bulletin reached Yongzhou, no one dared believe it.
A fair few people from the jianghu in Yongzhou went to the capital in person to find out the facts.
Gongsun Xiangming waved his hand: “In the six centuries since the founding of the Great Feng, how many people like Silver Gong Xu have appeared?”
Gongsun Xiu listened with a smile. Recently, chatting with her elders and peers, the legendary man would inevitably come up.
Before outsiders or men, she would maintain her reserve, but with her sisters from the family, she would open up much more and gossip about Silver Gong Xu with them.
At that moment, a shout came from outside the tent:
“Miss, Sixth Master, it’s taken the bait!”
Inside the tent, the atmosphere changed instantly. Gongsun Xiu dashed out first, followed by Gongsun Xiangming, and then the juniors of the Gongsun clan.
In the pouring rain, more than a dozen warriors held torches soaked in fire oil, while several others worked together to pull on a rope as thick as a baby’s forearm. The rope was stretched taut, leading deep into the collapsed pit.
It had finally taken the bait… Gongsun Xiu was both shocked and delighted, shocked that even with the strength of several warriors combined, they could not drag out the Yin creature, and delighted that their wait tonight had not been wasted.
“Prepare the fire oil and iron mesh!”
Gongsun Xiu shouted out orders as she rushed over. She grabbed the rope, woven from iron wire and hemp, and, calling out sharply, pulled together with the other warriors.
“Waa waa…”
From the cave came a sharp, infant-like cry, and a black shadow was dragged out. In the wind and rain, flickering torchlight revealed the Yin creature’s appearance.
It was ten feet long, resembling a lizard, its whole body covered in keratin, but with a face uncannily like a human being. Its eyes were greyish-white and rather dull, and it seemed nearly blind.
Black blood streamed from its mouth, and the iron hook had sunk deep into its upper jaw.
Bathed in the torchlight, the Yin creature let out another shrill infant-like cry and turned to scramble back into the cave.
“Cast the net!”
Gongsun Xiangming bellowed.
The Gongsun juniors, already ready, threw their net, aiming for the Yin creature.
Clang, clang… The monster was enormously strong. Its claws tore the iron mesh, ripping open a large hole, and it darted out, hurrying towards the cave entrance.
Sensing danger, it exploded with an astonishing burst of strength.
Gongsun Xiu staggered, nearly dragged down by it. This graceful young woman, who had already entered Transforming Force at a young age, flushed bright red and veins bulged on her smooth forehead.
She lifted her foot, hooked the rope, wrapped it several times, and stomped down hard.
The Yin creature’s head was suddenly yanked upwards, and yet more black blood gushed from its gaping maw.
At that moment, Gongsun Xiangming seized the chance. With a fierce shout, he drew his iron sabre, channelled his qi, and stabbed at the creature’s throat, the spot not covered by the keratin, its weakest spot.
It was as if the downpour was torn apart in an instant.
The raindrops unlucky enough to touch the sabre sizzled as if landing on hot iron, turning immediately into billowing steam.
Splurt!
The iron sabre pierced the creature’s throat, and black blood instantly welled out like a spring from the earth.
“Waa…”
The creature shrieked miserably, its strong, long tail sweeping sideways and slamming against Gongsun Xiangming’s chest with a clang, flinging him away like a kite with a broken string.
Bronze Skin and Iron Bones!
The yin creature, having suffered a huge blow, became agitated and, instead of trying to escape, twisted its body, bracing its limbs, and lunged towards Gongsun Xiu as a dark blur.
Thanks to a martial artist’s danger sense, Gongsun Xiu rolled sideways and dodged perfectly. The two Refining Spirit martial artists behind her also evaded in time, but the remaining three, lacking the abilities of the Refining Spirit stage, were unable to anticipate the attack and failed to dodge.
Their bones snapped and tendons tore, killing them instantly.
After rolling a few times, Gongsun Xiu leapt up smoothly without losing momentum. Only a martial artist with Transforming Force could move with such fluid and natural grace. She snatched a jar from a fellow warrior’s hand, and with a kick, sent it flying at the yin creature.
The other warriors followed suit.
Bang, bang, bang!
The jars smashed against the yin creature’s thick, keratinous armour, drenching it in fire oil.
With a torch in hand, Gongsun Xiu sprinted towards it. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees and leaned backward, sliding forward just as the creature sprang at her again.
The two narrowly missed each other, one above, one below.
Her martial instinct had warned her of its attack.
Calmly, Gongsun Xiu raised her torch and drew it across the monster’s belly, igniting the fire oil. Flames spread rapidly, engulfing the yin creature.
Rain could not douse the fire oil. The creature screamed shrilly, rolling madly in the mud in a desperate bid to extinguish the blazing flames.
Gongsun Xiu calmly gave the order: “Spears!”
A dozen warriors dragged out the prepared spears, twisted their waists, and hurled them with all their might.
With squelching sounds, some spears pierced the burnt, brittle carapace and impaled the creature within; others bounced off the armour.
Soon, the yin creature was riddled with spears like a hedgehog. It gradually ceased struggling. The flames still burned, and the air filled with a charred and strangely foul stench.
These creatures were highly poisonous, even the fumes from their burning corpses carried lethal toxins.
Cheering erupted all around.
The Gongsun family’s juniors found Gongsun Xiangming in the bushes. The clan leader’s sixth brother had suffered severe internal injuries. The divine radiance on his skin had dimmed, and he had barely avoided damage to his Bronze Skin and Iron Bones.
“Sixth uncle, are you alright?”
The mud-soaked Gongsun Xiu stepped forward to check on him.
“An hour of rest and I’ll recover.”
Gongsun Xiangming swallowed a few medicinal pills and went back to his tent to meditate and heal.
Having stood out during the recent battle, the Gongsun family’s eldest daughter led Daoist Qinggu and the others to inspect the half-charred corpse of the creature.
“Cover your mouths and noses, everyone. This creature is extremely poisonous.”
Daoist Qinggu tore off a wet piece of clothing, covered his mouth and nose with one hand and inspected the monster’s corpse with a torch in the other.
The others followed suit and gathered around the corpse to investigate.
“What kind of monster is this?”
“It gave no warning of danger, and there’s no yao core, so it doesn’t seem to be a Yao, but its speed and strength surpasses even a Refining Spirit martial artist.”
“No, it’s stronger than a Bronze Skin and Iron Bones martial artist. Didn’t you see how sixth uncle was sent flying earlier? If it were one-on-one, I fear even Sister Xiu would have been no match for it.”
Amidst the discussion, Gongsun Xiu asked Daoist Qinggu for his opinion. “What do you think, Daoist?”
Daoist Qinggu pondered and said,
“This should be a tomb guardian beast. Having lived underground for so long, it has mutated over generations and become a wholly new kind of monster. It’s impossible to tell what its ancestors were.
“For a tomb guardian beast of such strength, the tomb owner must have been extraordinary.”
Everyone felt a mix of tension and excitement. Risk and reward always go hand in hand, the greater the danger, the greater the potential gains. Of course, the risk might only increase from here, with even greater dangers to come.
An hour later, once Gongsun Xiangming had recovered, the group lit their torches, gathered their weapons and tools, and proceeded down into the tomb in an orderly line.
The exploration party totalled eighteen people, with the weakest at the Refining Qi stage, while the strongest was Gongsun Xiu, a fifth-rank martial artist at Transforming Force.
In terms of the jianghu, this was a force powerful enough to dominate an entire province.
Weapon-wise, they had long spears, fire oil, iron mesh, chains, insect-repellent powder, and materials filled with yang energy like black dog’s blood.
Entering the cave, they held their torches aloft, advancing cautiously and examining their surroundings closely.
The deeper they went, the more surprised they were. At first, they thought only part of the tomb had collapsed, but after a long walk, obvious signs of collapse persisted on all sides. If not for the occasional qinggang stone walls, they would have wondered if they had come to the wrong place.
“It looks as if the collapse was total, the tomb chambers are all buried,” Gongsun Xiu said, holding her torch while navigating the rubble-strewn underground palace.
“There hasn’t been an earthquake in Yongzhou for years, how could there have been such a collapse?” Gongsun Xiangming frowned deeply.
Continuing onward, before long they arrived at a half-collapsed burial chamber. Half of its area was buried under rubble, while a stone coffin lay exposed, scattered with several severed limbs and heads.
These limbs were black and shrivelled, not human.
“Zombies…”
Daoist Qinggu frowned. “I suppose the creature dug them up and ate them.”
As soon as he finished, Gongsun Xiu frowned and said, “No, this severed hand has a neat cut, it was sliced off by a sharp blade.”
Gongsun Xiangming analysed, “It might have been done by the creature’s claws.”
That creature’s claws were sharp, no less than a sabre tip.
Gongsun Xiu nodded, accepting the explanation. After searching the area, they found no burial goods.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and they still had not encountered a second creature, it was unexpectedly quiet and peaceful.
Until a majestic stone gate, several zhang high, appeared before them.
At the sight of the gate, everyone perked up. Seeing the scale of the stone gate, it was easy to judge that the main tomb, the master’s chamber, lay beyond.
Gongsun Xiu stopped and looked at the two Refining Spirit martial artists, instructing them to push the stone gate.
At this stage, these martial artists had sharp instincts, useful for dodging traps and danger.
Creak…
The gate slowly swung open. The two martial artists, torches in hand, looked back and said, “It’s safe!”
Gongsun Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and led her excited companions inside.
She first checked the state of the torches. Seeing they only dimmed slightly before returning to normal, she felt reassured. It seemed that thanks to the collapse, the underground palace was full of breathable air; there was no need to worry about suffocation.
However, when the torchlight shone forward, she froze.
There was no passageway ahead, or rather, not the kind of passage she had imagined.
The cracked ground was strewn with rocks of various sizes. Piles of rubble made it feel more like a chaotic mining tunnel than a burial chamber.
“Has it collapsed here too?”
A jianghu martial artist spoke in a low voice.
“Bring a jar of fire oil!”
Gongsun Xiu took a fire oil jar from one of her clansmen, smeared the torch across the neck of the jar, then hurled it forcefully ahead.
Bang!
The jar exploded in mid-air, spraying fire oil in all directions and turning into a flurry of dazzling sparks that scattered everywhere.
The entire tomb chamber was suddenly illuminated, and everyone took the opportunity to see the state of the main tomb. There had indeed been a collapse here. Rather than a tomb chamber, it was more accurate to describe it as a stone cavern.
Apart from the piled rubble and the jagged stone walls, there was nothing else inside the main tomb.
Suddenly, Gongsun Xiangming’s pupils contracted slightly, and he said in a low voice, “What is that?”
Everyone followed his gaze and vaguely saw a dark silhouette sitting cross-legged in the distance. However, by this time, the shower of meteor-like flames had all fallen and faded, burning silently and failing to illuminate far away.
Gongsun Xiu reacted immediately. Relying on her sense of direction, she threw the torch in her hand. The torch spun as it flew into the distance, landed, and sent up a spray of dazzling sparks.
It happened to land directly in front of that dark silhouette.
A martial artist of the Transforming Force realm could control their strength down to the finest detail.
The blazing torch revealed the true appearance of the figure. He wore a tattered, ancient-looking yellow robe of indeterminable age. His hair was sparse, his skin tightly wrapped around his facial bones, looking withered and an azure-black hue.
His nose was reduced to just two nostrils, his eyes were closed, and he stayed motionless.
This was a corpse that had lain here for countless years. Instead of lying in a coffin, it sat cross-legged in the ruins.
A zombie?
No, how could a zombie possibly know how to meditate…? Either it was a most unusual zombie... Gongsun Xiu, bold and skilled, was about to lead everyone closer.
However, that dried corpse suddenly opened its eyes first. In its somewhat hollow eye sockets, there was a pair of jet-black eyeballs.
Noticing living beings trespassing in its domain, a red gleam flashed in those black eyes. The dried corpse opened its mouth and inhaled forcefully.
In an instant, a vortex of air swirled. The corpse’s mouth became like a whirlpool, pulling everything nearby inward.
Including Gongsun Xiu, all eighteen martial artists felt a terrifying force locking onto and dragging them towards the mummified corpse bit by bit.
Wh-what a terrifying zombie. No ordinary person can possibly stand against it… Gongsun Xiu’s heart turned cold. Fear, shock, and regret all surged within her. Then, she felt something leaving her body.
She struggled to turn her eyes to the side, and instantly her eyes widened.
A companion beside her shrivelled up rapidly, their skin wrinkling and sticking to the bone. Within a dozen seconds, they had turned into a mummy, all their vital essence completely sucked dry.
Everyone present lost some of their essence and blood to varying degrees. The strong, like Gongsun Xiu, could still hold out for a while.
The weaker ones were mummified within thirty seconds.
Having absorbed fresh blood essence, the dried corpse became even more powerful, and the vortex grew stronger.
The death toll continued to rise, two, three, four…
Those who survived grew ever more terrified. Gongsun Xiangming’s eyes bulged, bloodshot, his muscles spasming as he desperately resisted, but to no avail. His essence and blood drained away madly.
He had roamed the jianghu for many years and had never encountered such a terrifying, bizarre zombie, nor had he ever felt so helpless and afraid.
He could only watch as death drew ever closer.
As Old Daoist Qinggu was not a martial artist, he was at the very back of the group and had narrowly escaped death, but could not avoid misfortune. He instantly aged by ten years, his whole person like an old man on the verge of death.
A-am I really going to die here…? Despair welled up in Gongsun Xiu’s heart. Suddenly, she remembered the man in azure she had met during the day and recalled that he had warned her that the underground palace was perilous.
Now his words had come true.
That’s right, he had said that if she faced danger in the tomb that could not be resolved… With no other choice and clinging to hope, Gongsun Xiu cried out loudly,
“Have you forgotten your promise to that person?”
This sentence seemed to carry some sort of power. The terrifying vortex vanished, and the loss of essence and blood stopped.
The nine surviving martial artists, along with the old Daoist, all simultaneously collapsed to their knees and then sat numbly on the ground.
“W-we’re saved?!”
Gongsun Xiangming was both surprised and delighted. He felt the joy of a reprieve from certain death, mingled with confusion and bewilderment.
The others felt the same, not understanding why this wicked zombie had suddenly shown mercy.
I-it really worked… Gongsun Xiu’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“There aren’t many who have made an agreement with me. In the world today, there’s only him. What’s your relationship with him…?”
The dried corpse recalled the promise that man had once made to him. He was to return within ten years to repay the fortune. At once, the corpse became agitated:
“Where is he? Did he give you something to give to me? Did he give you something to give to me~~~! Little girl, answer me quickly!!!”
Just another reminder of Qian vs Qi’an, this will be a recurring thing throughout this volume and it’s just a similarity problem in the english translation that doesn’t exist in Chinese ↩
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