Xiao Taos Geistergeschichten (Vollversion)

Kapitel 34

Before he could finish speaking, Ling Li immediately took out a lighter from his pocket and said to Qi Linpo, "As long as there is a gap, there will be air convection. You can tell by looking at the flame."

Reminded by him, Qi Linpo immediately chanted an incantation, flicked a spark from his fingertip, and instructed Tao Rujiu, "Ling Li and I will try to find the location of the door. You just keep shining the lamp on the white paper figure on Hua Kai's face. If he makes any noise, tell us immediately!"

Tao Rujiu nodded in agreement and immediately turned around to grab a flashlight to find the steps under his feet.

By this time, Qin Huakai had already taken advantage of the darkness to climb several steps up, and he had raised the rusty long knife above his head. In addition, his face, whose features were covered by white paper figures, looked eerie and terrifying in the dim light, making Tao Rujiu's hair stand on end.

He hurriedly shone the flashlight on Hua Kai's face as instructed, but the trembling of his wrist caused the light spot to flicker incessantly. In that short time, Hua Kai had already swiftly passed the archway and the offering table, arriving in front of the stone incense table.

"Don't come any closer!"

Seemingly to bolster his courage, Tao Rujiu roared and gripped the flashlight tightly with both hands, finally shining the light onto the legs of the white paper figure.

As soon as the white paper figure came into contact with the light, Qin Huakai hissed softly and took a big step back into the darkness.

Then Tao Rujiu took a flashlight and cautiously kept watch.

Using the flame's keen sense of air, Ling Li and Qi Linpo quickly discovered the sealed stone door. It was a single rock, about one and a half meters wide and two meters high, covered with a mixture of lime, sand, and clay. Over time, a series of intermittent gaps appeared where it met the wall, but the widest part was less than half a centimeter, almost too narrow for even an iron rod to be inserted!

Ling Li and Qi Linpo immediately tried to break down the door, but failed several times due to insufficient strength. For some reason, the pain in Qi Linpo's waist wound was also gradually worsening, preventing him from engaging in such strenuous exercise.

"Can't open..."

Qi Linpo's forehead was already covered in cold sweat. "I'm afraid it will take three or four people to ram him together."

Ling Li, unusually, also agreed with his view.

"What do we do now? Go back and get the explosives?"

Qi Linpo gave a bitter laugh: "Maybe this really is the only way..."

Just as the two were at their wits' end, the light around them suddenly dimmed a few times. It turned out that Tao Rujiu's flashlight had suddenly flickered a few times.

"What's wrong?" Ling Li rushed over.

Tao Rujiu shook his head in equal confusion, saying, "I'm not quite sure either...maybe the batteries just ran out."

As they were talking, the light struggled for a while, flickering between light and darkness, before finally fading into complete darkness.

Use mine.

Ling Li immediately handed him his light: "Be careful not to let the flowers get too close."

"Ah...I almost forgot!"

Reminded, Tao Rujiu immediately looked up at the corner where Qin Huakai had been standing, but the boy was nowhere to be seen!

The two immediately tensed up and looked around, but the wide sacred path remained deathly silent, so quiet it was frightening!

"Everyone, please be careful."

Ling Li reached out and pulled Tao Rujiu to his side, scanning the area with a light source in one hand. Only after confirming that Qin Huakai was not nearby did he remember to meet up with Qi Linpo, who had been staying near Baoding.

However, just as they turned around, they witnessed something extremely bizarre!

Having been possessed, Qin Huakai crawled along the cave ceiling like a gecko, then easily jumped to the nearly three-meter-high Baoding Peak. He raised his long sword and swung it down at Qi Linpo, who was standing in front of the Baoding Peak!

Tao Rujiu shouted frantically, "Cat Fairy, watch out!!"

Before he finished speaking, Ling Li threw the light in his hand at Qin Hua, and the surrounding area became so dark that it was almost impossible to see one's own hand in front of one's face.

All the light came from the last flashlight in Qi Linpo's hand. His senses were dulled by the pain in his waist, and he didn't react until Qin Huakai jumped onto the top of the treasure mound. He didn't turn back to check; instead, he decisively dropped the flashlight, rolled over, and just as he felt the chilling wind behind him subside, he heard a crisp sound of something colliding with a long sword.

It was the flashlight that was thrown so fiercely that, after knocking the long sword down, bounced back and injured Qin Huakai's forehead.

Taking advantage of this brief respite, Qi Linpo quickly reunited with Ling Li and the others in an unseemly manner. And the first thing he said after reuniting was a complaint.

"What are you doing!" he roared. "You've damaged the flowers!"

"Do you even need to teach me this?!" Ling Li roared back defiantly. "Do we even have time to argue about this? Look at your own back!"

These words seemed to remind Qi Linpo of something. His face turned pale, and he was about to say something, but the words that came out were a warning.

"Watch out! The flowers are blooming again!"

Tao Rujiu and Ling Li were startled and hurriedly turned around, just in time to see Qin Huakai jump down from the top of the treasure and run straight towards them with his arms outstretched.

"I'll hold this position for now!"

Ling Li suddenly shouted and pushed Tao Rujiu into Qi Linpo's arms.

Seeing his selfless devotion, Tao Rujiu couldn't help but feel a surge of goodwill towards him, but Ling Li actually had another sentence he was about to say...

"...Quickly, find a way to open that stone door!"

I knew he wouldn't be so kind; it turns out he was just passing on an impossible task to someone else.

Qi Linpo and Tao Rujiu were both amused and exasperated, but the situation left no room for complaint. Just as Qin Hua charged towards Ling Li with his claws outstretched, Tao Rujiu helped Qi Linpo sneak back to the vicinity of Baoding under the cover of darkness, where Qi Linpo's flashlight, which he had just dropped, lay on the ground.

In the vast cave, all the light came from this small flashlight, which could disappear at any moment and return to darkness.

Based on their usual physical strength, Tao Rujiu was not worried that Ling Li would be at a disadvantage in a one-on-one contest with Hua Kai; so he forced himself to calm down and try to break open the stone door.

Failure seems inevitable.

Despite the excruciating pain from the impact, all Tao Rujiu could do was reaffirm the sturdiness of the stone gate; despite his best efforts to push it, it remained completely unmoved.

As misfortunes never come singly, at that moment he unexpectedly heard a sharp, angry, and painful shout.

"Holy crap! What the hell is this?!"

Just as Tao Rujiu had predicted, Ling Li didn't truly consider Qin Huakai a worthy opponent. In his view, even if he was possessed by a ghost, how much power could that thin, frail body possibly unleash?

However, he was wrong.

When Qin Huakai actually pounced on him and grabbed his arm tightly, Ling Li realized he was wrong.

The body he touched felt cold and hard. The boy's hand, which he used to play the erhu at most, now possessed the strength of a pair of pliers, firmly gripping the sharp wrist.

The man tried to break free, but only suffered more pain as the boy's thin fingernails almost dug into his palm.

Gradually, Ling Li felt his entire right hand grow cold, a sign of poor blood circulation. If this continued, his entire hand might be ruined.

Therefore, he had to rebel.

With a fierce determination, Ling Li kicked Qin Huakai in the shin. The boy trembled slightly, and the man took the opportunity to pull his wrist back.

"careful!"

Before he could catch his breath, Qi Linpo shouted a warning again, and at the same time Qin Huakai's hard, rock-like arm swept over, colliding fiercely with the sharp upper arm, producing a dull "thump thump" sound.

Only Ling Li himself could describe the feeling he had at that moment.

He vaguely heard the sound of bones cracking, followed by a series of blackouts before his eyes, and he involuntarily staggered back several steps and sat down on the ground.

Even the two people standing by the treasure mound were stunned.

"His strength is immense!" Ling Li explained with difficulty to the two, "I'm no match for him at all!"

Upon hearing this, Tao Rujiu immediately wanted to come and help. Without thinking much, he ran towards the boy with his hands empty.

"Get out of his way!" Ling Li shouted fiercely. "You're no match for him!"

Tao Rujiu could never have imagined how formidable this "Qin Huakai" was; by then, it was too late to avoid him.

The white paper figure stained with someone's blood was right in front of him. Then Tao Rujiu felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, as if he had crashed into a rocky cliff. In addition to the pain of his body being torn apart, he also felt a bone-chilling cold seeping into his body.

He groaned involuntarily, hugged himself tightly, and curled up into a ball on the ground.

"Tao Rujiu...!"

In the end, only Qi Linpo remained standing, albeit with difficulty. However, it was clear that if Qin Huakai were to strike him in the waist, he would be more seriously injured than the two on the ground. Given Qi Linpo's personality, he would never easily bow down to anyone, and besides, in the current situation, submission seemed pointless.

"You think I'm afraid of you?!" he shouted through gritted teeth. "...Come and try me!"

As he spoke, he was about to make a hand seal to fight against the resentment, but before he could activate his dantian, he suddenly felt a piercing pain in his waist.

At this moment, Qin Huakai, who could no longer be described as a "human," burst into laughter. He walked slowly toward Qi Linpo, as if everything was already under his control.

But before the laughter could completely disappear, something suddenly pounced on him from the darkness.

"You..." At this moment, Ling Li could not utter another word, his chest filled with a complex mix of ecstatic joy and heartache!

Summoning courage from who-knows-where, Tao Rujiu suddenly stood up again and rushed over to hug Qin Huakai around the waist. However, Qin Huakai merely glanced down blankly at this insignificant amount of strength, then raised his hand and punched Tao Rujiu in the back!

Ling Li saw blood and foam spurting from Tao Rujiu's mouth. An indescribable pain and itching sensation began to spread in his chest, and Tao Rujiu suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented. However, when he slowly regained consciousness, he found that Qin Huakai had stopped attacking him.

That's because just before the second punch landed, a beam of light shone on Qin Huakai's face.

Ling Li grabbed the flashlight from the ground.

"Come here!" The man deliberately let the light wander over Qin Huakai's body, occasionally sweeping across his face.

Stimulated by the light, the paper figure, controlling Qin Huakai, let out a sharp screech. It was clearly enraged, seemingly ready to pounce on Ling Li at any moment and tear the man to shreds with its monstrous strength! Tao Rujiu couldn't help but pray that the flashlight wouldn't malfunction at this moment, but before he could even react, Ling Li actually moved the beam away from Qin Huakai on its own.

In the dim light, the two people watching from the side were stunned, while Qin Huakai, who had been empowered by the darkness once again, immediately pounced on Ling Li!

What is he going to do?

Tao Rujiu watched the man's suicidal act. Surprise, fear, sadness… a multitude of indescribable feelings suddenly welled up within him. His mind was a jumbled mess; everything that had happened in the past blurred, and at this moment, only Ling Li's words from just moments before remained clear: "Come, come to me!"

Ling Li's flashlight only illuminated a small patch of ground in front of him, but he could still clearly see that Hua Kai had rushed towards him. Just before the two were about to make contact again, Ling Li suddenly leaned against the rooftop and darted to the left.

The dome itself had a smooth curve, which made it easy for Ling Li to dodge. In less than two seconds, he had moved to the shadows behind the dome. Where he had stood, a strange white smoke rose, accompanied by a series of loud crashing and tumbling sounds of stones.

Controlled by the white paper figure, Qin Huakai actually smashed open the stone door, which already had cracks, and spewed out a white, cold air, causing the entire treasure ceiling to be covered with a thin layer of silver frost in a short time!

As the chill gradually dissipated, everything returned to its deathly stillness. Concerned about the flowers blooming, the group slowly approached.

Before him lay a gaping, pitch-black maw leading to a mysterious underground palace. Qin Huakai had clearly already fallen down the steps inside and into the depths of the underground palace.

Ling Li held a flashlight and peered into the tomb. Qi Linpo and Tao Rujiu exchanged bewildered glances; opening the tomb in this way was truly unbelievable.

"...Will the flowers bloom...?" After hesitating for a long time, Tao Rujiu asked softly, "It seems to be very deep in here, I'm scared..."

“I think he’s fine,” Qi Linpo interjected. “As long as he’s still possessed by that malevolent energy, he’ll be alright. But that might also mean that we’ll still have to fight him after we go down there.”

"Seeing is believing." Ling Li interrupted him uneasily. "Let's go down first and talk about it then."

The hole that Qin Hua had smashed open was about one square meter in size, and under the flashlight beam, a stone staircase slowly descended into the ground. At the end of it should be the tomb chamber where Dong Li's unbroken coffin was placed.

Ling Li glanced down at his watch; it was already five in the afternoon, the very moment of dusk—the legendary "moon hour."

In less than half an hour, the sunlight could no longer restrain Dongli Bupo's pace.

"There is no time to lose."

He took a sharp and decisive step inside, but the other two did not immediately follow.