Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 17

Around the high platform, there was a depression similar to a moat. We ran over to take a look, but it was bottomless, and we had no idea what was underneath.

This "coffin-protecting moat" was probably six people wide; even with a spring, it would be impossible to jump over. After a quick discussion, the girl pointed to the ceiling and said, "There's only one way: go over the beam above."

Looking up, I saw that the beams above had a radial structure, with each pillar supported by a horizontal ridge, and six ridges intersecting in the middle to form the shape of an umbrella. The carvings and paintings on them were all exquisite.

The young master took out a rope and shouted, "Watch my 'Flying Fire Meteor Hook'!" He attached the iron hook and swung it in. The rope flew into the air, but before it reached the crossbeam, it began to descend and then fell into the "coffin protection river".

It seems throwing this thing isn't as easy as it looks in the movies. I helped the young master pull the rope up, but after pulling twice, it seemed to get stuck and I couldn't pull it up.

We pulled the rope to the edge of the moat protecting the coffin and looked down. We saw that the rope was pulled taut, and it looked like it was hooked onto something below.

Without the rope, we couldn't cross this coffin river. The young master and I pulled hard, and the thing actually pulled us up a little. So we put all our strength into it and pulled with all our might. A black thing was actually pulled up from below the "coffin river".

We dragged the black thing ashore and immediately smelled a very unpleasant stench of decay. It was a corpse, but not an ancient one. I saw the blue work clothes on the corpse.

We turned the body over, and saw that it was covered in sand, carrying a smell of yellow sand that I thought I'd smelled somewhere before. I took out my water bottle and splashed water on the body's face. Suddenly, the girl screamed, "Professor!"

When I saw the corpse's face, I turned deathly pale and could hardly believe my eyes.

The corpse was none other than Professor Wang, who had died in Donghua Town four days ago. But how did his body end up here?

The professor's body was still wearing his backpack. When we opened it, we found it was full of grave-robbing tools, and we immediately understood everything.

Did the professor's memorial service not include a farewell ceremony, and did no one go to pay their respects? Was the professor not actually dead at that time? If he died in this ancient tomb with so many tools, was it because he, like us, wanted to rob the tomb?

Then I remembered the corpse in the crack of the pool wall outside, and suddenly I understood everything. It must have been that after the professor discovered that the curse of the ancient coffin was real, he faked his death to buy time, and then brought some people to search for Liu Qu's tomb. But this secret was discovered by Lao Bian. The note that Lao Bian wrote for us before he died revealed the whole story.

But how could the professor have died here? Looking at his rotting face, I couldn't tell if he died from a curse or from accidentally falling into the "Coffin River." Perhaps the professor had already obtained the River-Suppressing Seal?

Suddenly, the young master realized something, cried out "Oh no!", and hurriedly pulled the hook off the professor, threw it onto the roof beam, and then called us to climb up!

I didn't know why he was suddenly so nervous, so I immediately followed and climbed up. When we got to the roof beam, we looked down and, wow, the coffin-protecting river was covered with those strange tentacles we had seen in the sand town. They were all tangled up in clumps, and in the middle of the tentacles, we could vaguely see a huge human face.

As soon as I saw this scene, I immediately recognized what was below. I thought to myself, "Oh my, isn't this the strange octopus-like thing we see in the Yellow River?"

In the center of the high platform was a white jade coffin bed. What we found strange was that, instead of a coffin, there seemed to be a corpse wearing armor lying on the coffin bed.

The young master, having seen many such cases, was also taken aback and asked me, "Holy crap, what happened? How did the corpse get out?"

I've never seen this kind of burial before, so I don't dare to draw any conclusions right away.

I thought to myself that this high platform placed in the underground palace was likely a tomb within a tomb, and Liu Qu's coffin might be inside this platform, while the armored corpse on it might just be a gimmick, or perhaps a fake.

He called out to them, telling them to be careful, and the three of them walked up to the platform.

We walked along the way, almost trembling with every step, carefully wary of the traps set up. But the young master told us that there are usually very few traps inside the tomb chamber, because the layout of the tomb chamber is designed to be peaceful and tranquil. Setting up traps here would violate the basic principle of harmony between man and nature.

We reached the jade platform and held our breath, wanting to see the corpse on it. Was it a real person or a dummy?

The corpse wore a six-eyed mask. Inside the eye sockets of the mask, nothing could be seen; it was pitch black. It seemed that the flesh inside the armor had completely rotted away, leaving only an empty shell of armor.

We removed his mask and saw that the body inside was indeed gone, but there was a small ring on the spot where his brain was, which looked quite similar to the pattern on the bronze coffin.

Could this be the River-Suppressing Seal?

(Part 1 Complete)

Yellow River Ghost Coffin 2: Corpse Transformation in the Nine Dragon Pit

Author: Nanpai Sanshu

Following the phenomenal success of the first volume of "The Yellow River Ghost Coffin," here comes the highly anticipated second installment! Buried beneath the Yellow River is not a dragon, nor a river-suppressing seal, nor a legendary artifact. The iron chains, uncorroded for millennia, seek only to imprison the legendary demon king Chi You. A curse is inscribed on the coffin: "Descendants of the Chinese nation, do not open this coffin!" Caught between life and death, what will become of Chi You? As the ghost coffin is opened, the truth of the ancient legend gradually becomes distorted. Who will tell us who our true ancestors are?

Chapter One: The Great Battle Against the Ghost Corpse

The young master, the maid, and I looked at each other. The flashlight beam reflected off the jade platform flickered across our faces, casting a bluish-green glow that made us all look like ghosts.

On the flawless white jade platform lay a suit of armor, completely empty. It was unclear whether the body had completely decomposed or if there had never been a body to begin with. From where we stood, the interior of the armor appeared pitch black, as if a ghost had been buried within, swallowing up all light.

After hesitating for a moment, the young master finally couldn't help himself. He swallowed hard, looked at me, and said, "Old Xu..."

I knew what he was going to say, so I nodded and said, "Put on your gloves and be careful."

The young master nodded, carefully put on his plastic gas gloves, and reached out to touch the head of the armor. The maid and I stared at him intently. Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound, like human footsteps. I was suspicious; I'd often heard that people hallucinate in excessively quiet environments. Could it be my imagination? I glanced at the maid; she was intently watching the young master—no, she was staring at his hand reaching for the empty armor…

For some reason, an indescribable sense of terror suddenly rose in my heart. I felt as if someone was approaching us, and the rustling footsteps echoed in my ears.

"No!" For some reason, I had a bad feeling and suddenly shouted. But it was too late. The young master had already reached for the Zhenhe Seal on the head of the armor, but he couldn't lift that small thing. The young master then lost his temper and pulled hard.

"Clang, clang..." A sudden clanging sound of iron chains rang out, particularly jarring in the empty tomb chamber.

The girl seemed startled; like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she jumped up and immediately climbed onto my back. She asked in surprise, "What was that sound?"

"It sounds like the sound of chains." I reassured the girl, "It's alright, it's probably just that the young master was clumsy and triggered some mechanism..."

Before I could finish speaking, the young master suddenly roared, "Old Xu, what... what is this thing?"

As he spoke, the young master shone his flashlight towards the source of the sound. I looked up and gasped in shock. What was that? A person? A corpse? Or something else?

In the southeast corner of the tomb chamber, a door had inexplicably opened. Strangely, we hadn't noticed it when we came in. The door opened in a very strange way, and what was even more alarming was that, as the door opened, four dark, ghostly figures, each with iron chains around their feet, were walking towards us step by step.

The iron chains beneath their feet rattled on the ground, confirming their real existence, and not... a hallucination we had.

"Brother Xu, what is this?" The girl was so frightened that she stammered.

"Damn it, I don't even know what this is, or maybe it's not even a thing!" I cursed angrily. To be honest, this black corpse somewhat resembled the ones I'd seen in the cracks of the stone wall earlier, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't quite the same. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. The only similarity was that they were all chained. Those black chains looked as if they had been weathered for millennia…

The thought of the black corpse lurking in the crevice of the stone wall sent chills down my spine. That black corpse was not to be trifled with; I almost lost my life there just now, and even took an arrow from the young master because of it.

The young master had already gripped the crossbow, aimed at one of the black corpses, and fired with a "bang." I knew the power of this crossbow, and I knew the young master's aim. We watched helplessly as the bamboo arrow pierced the head of one of the black corpses without any suspense. However, the black corpse seemed oblivious, its steps not faltering for a moment, and it continued to approach us.

"Ah... Old Xu, what do we do?" The young master panicked when he saw that the crossbow was useless. Right now, the crossbow is our only weapon; if even that fails, what else do we have to rely on?

"What are you afraid of?" Seeing the girl terrified, her face deathly pale, trembling behind me, and the young master seemingly losing his composure, I roared, "People fear the fierce, ghosts fear the evil! You're a living person, why are you afraid of such things? Besides, we're going to die anyway. If we fight, there might be a glimmer of hope. If we don't, you might die here, but Liu will keep you company, and there's this magnificent underground palace. It's not a loss..."

"Damn it, Old Xu, what nonsense are you spouting?" The young master got angry when I teased him like that. He grabbed a bamboo arrow, handed it to me, and said, "I'm not afraid of living people, why would I be afraid of this?" As he spoke, he grabbed a bamboo arrow and charged at the black corpse.

I was startled, thinking of the strange corpse that had died in the pool. The young master's actions were far too reckless. I had only intended to encourage him, never to have him confront those black corpses head-on.

"Hey..." The girl seemed to want to say something, but the young master had already rushed up and didn't hear anything at all.

"That reckless fellow," I cursed inwardly. But at a time like this, I couldn't let my young master risk his life alone. I grabbed the bamboo arrow and charged after him. Whatever, he didn't have much time left anyway, so I might as well take the plunge.

I grabbed a flashlight in one hand and tightly gripped the bamboo arrow the young master had just given me in the other, rushing towards a black corpse. Upon closer inspection, I couldn't help but be startled again—was this a person or a corpse? Its exterior was completely black, and even its eyes, nose, and mouth were severely rotten. Yet, for some reason, its eyes were still open, bright red…like fresh blood.

The black corpse's feet were chained, but unlike the ones in the mountain crevice, it wasn't chained to its back. Its body wasn't jet black, but rather a deep reddish-black. It appeared to be desiccated flesh. The thought sent a wave of nausea through me.

As I charged toward it, the black corpse, with its blood-red eyes wide open and its neck stiffly twisting, actually grinned at me.

It's not that I, Xu Sanqing, am a coward, but I still couldn't help but feel my legs go weak with fear, wishing I could drop the bamboo arrow in my hand and turn and run. But the problem is... where could I run to?

Just as I was momentarily stunned, a stench suddenly assaulted my nostrils. These black corpses reeked of rotting flesh, making me want to vomit.

"My God..." the young master next to him shouted, "Old Xu, what do we do?"

What should I do? How should I know what to do? I dodged the black corpse's attack and turned to thrust a bamboo arrow at its forehead. But the black corpse didn't dodge at all, and the bamboo arrow in my hand pierced its eye socket without any resistance. But in that moment of hesitation, it bent down and reached out to grab me.

"Watch out..." I heard the girl's scream, and smelled the stench of rotting corpses. My brain almost stopped working. But my survival instinct kicked in, and I managed to twist my body at an almost impossible angle and dodge to the side.

However, my movements seemed a fraction too slow; a sudden tightening around my waist revealed myself being gripped by the black corpse. I turned around and was immediately confronted with a terrifying black ghost face. Red liquid flowed from its blood-red eyes, and its mouth was wide open, revealing equally black teeth, poised to bite me…

"Ah..." I was shocked. I struggled with all my might and at the same time raised my foot and kicked the black corpse hard in the abdomen.

With a sharp "rip," a large piece of my clothing was torn off by the black corpse, barely escaping its clutches. Just as I was about to catch my breath, I heard the young master's cry of alarm beside me. Turning around, I was shocked to see that he was entangled by two black corpses. He had many bamboo arrows, and dozens of them were stuck in the bodies of the two corpses. But these arrows couldn't harm the black corpses; instead, the young master was gripped by them, watching helplessly as they opened their foul-smelling mouths and lunged to bite his neck.

Ignoring my fear, I rushed forward and kicked one of the black corpses hard while grabbing at the young master. With my eyes closed, I used all my strength to snatch the young master from the hands of the two black corpses.

"Old...Old Xu..." The young master asked, still shaken, "Am I still alive?"

Three black corpses, feeling no pain, and we were no match for them. Although we'd managed to snatch the young master, my shoulder blade was throbbing with pain, likely from the strenuous activity that had aggravated my wound. Hearing this, I snapped, "You're dead..."

"Ah... if I die, then you die too..." the young master said, as he suddenly plopped down on the ground. He looked completely resigned to his fate.

"Young Master, what are you doing?" I was startled. While staring at the three black corpses, I tried to pull the young master away.

"Ah..." Suddenly, the girl screamed, startling me. I turned to look: she was still in front of the white jade coffin bed, a black corpse relentlessly chasing her. The girl, relying on her agility, had run around the coffin bed several times, now facing imminent danger.

The young master, who had been sitting on the ground pretending to be dead, jumped up at the sound of the voice. He pounced on the maid with even greater speed than when he was being chased by a ghost. His movement, however, brought misfortune upon me; three black corpses simultaneously coiled around me. The stench of corpses assaulted my nostrils, and from each of their six blood-red eyes flowed a red liquid, seemingly blood.

I know they are all dead bodies with no blood left, but the question is, how can they still move so freely? How are they controlled? What frustrates me the most is that these black corpses clearly have no feeling, so why can they still see us?

In that moment of distraction, I almost got grabbed by one of the black corpses. The young master ran to rescue the girl, and in a one-on-one fight, he managed to take her place, putting her safe for the time being. However, for some reason, the girl suddenly started running desperately towards me.

"Girl, don't come any closer..." I was anxious. The three black corpses moved like the wind, and I had no way to fight back. In fact, fighting back would be useless; they didn't feel pain at all unless I used a missile to blow them to pieces. Otherwise, those bamboo arrows would be completely ineffective.

"Brother Xu!" the girl called out anxiously.

In the midst of my busy schedule, I turned around and saw that the girl's face was flushed. My heart skipped a beat, and I asked in surprise, "Girl, what's wrong?"

The girl is an archaeologist, she often encounters ancient corpses, she shouldn't be afraid of them. Even if the black corpse she's facing is strange, it definitely wouldn't scare her like this, right?

"I...I have a stomachache..." the girl stammered, "I...I can't hold it in anymore..."

I cursed under my breath, quickly rolling around to dodge the attack of a black corpse in front of me, while shouting, "Find a place to crouch down..."

Upon hearing this, the girl blushed and ran behind the white jade coffin bed, unbuttoning her pants behind everyone's back. To make matters worse, the three black corpses that had attacked me, probably seeing that I was as slippery as an eel and difficult to catch, actually sent one of them to circle around the white jade coffin bed and sneak towards the girl.

"Young Master, stop it!" I exclaimed in alarm. Forgetting all about the flashlight I was holding, I smashed it hard against the head of one of the corpses, cursing, "Don't think I'm afraid of you... Damn it, I'm about to die too, why would I be afraid of you?"

Upon hearing this, the young master turned around to block the black corpse chasing after the maid. However, he was already entangled with one black corpse and unable to break free. Now, he was caught off guard and the black corpse behind him grabbed his neck. Meanwhile, another black corpse had already circled around behind the white jade coffin bed.

"Ah..." The girl's angry scream came again, and then I heard the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

I thought to myself, "Oh no, the girl is probably in danger. Damn it, young master..." But when I turned around, I saw the young master being choked by a black corpse, his tongue sticking out. I didn't care about chasing my two black corpses anymore, and I scrambled towards the young master, screaming in alarm.

The two black corpses behind me were relentlessly pursuing me, and a stench wafted towards me.

As I reached the young master, two black corpses lunged at me from behind. I ducked, threw myself to the ground, and rolled, causing the black corpse behind me to collide with the one holding the young master. The impact caused the black corpse to stumble. Taking advantage of the moment, I grabbed a bamboo arrow from behind the young master and thrust it fiercely into the black corpse's throat.

At the same time, I grabbed the young master hard and pulled him over, and the two of us fell to the ground at the same time.

"Cough...cough..." The young master coughed incessantly. I was very close to him and noticed a deep black mark on his neck. I couldn't help but feel worried—this black corpse smelled incredibly foul, and I wondered if it was poisonous. If I were really infected with corpse poison, it would be a very serious matter.

In the blink of an eye, less than a second after we fell to the ground, three black corpses pounced on us at the same time.

The young master and I were still on the ground, nowhere to hide, and no match for him. I closed my eyes, thinking we were doomed. We weren't cursed to death, but we died here. However, Liu's underground palace was magnificent, so it was all worth it…

However, after waiting for a while, the black corpses did not pounce. Opening my eyes, I saw the girl standing there, trembling all over. On the contrary, the three black corpses had all fallen to the ground, beginning to rot and turn into black liquid.

"How could this happen?" The young master seemed to have come to his senses and asked first.

I have sharp eyes and noticed that the girl seemed to be holding something in her hand. I had just heard a loud thud and thought she was dead, but seeing her unharmed, I was overjoyed and asked anxiously, "Girl, are you alright?"

"Wah..." I should have asked, because as soon as I did, the girl burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" Upon seeing this, the young master scrambled to his feet, asking repeatedly, "What's wrong... what's wrong?"

By this time, I could clearly see what the girl was holding. That…that was…Holy crap, I wasn’t mistaken. It was clearly a woman’s sanitary napkin, and a used one at that, with red bloodstains on it…