Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 29

On a whim, I quickly said, "Tie her up with a rope and take the girl up the tree first. I'll cover the rear."

The young master asked, puzzled, "These things come down from the tree. Are we going to go up there and die?" I didn't know how to explain, so I forcefully cleaved the two black corpses in two. Turning around, I saw the girl entangled by several black corpses. I was shocked and hurriedly charged towards the girl again, while fiercely warning the young master, "If you want to live, you have to listen to me."

Seeing that the girl was in danger, the young master panicked and shouted, "Girl, do you still have sanitary napkins?"

Holy crap! What kind of talk is that? I know this stuff is afraid of sanitary napkins, but what's the use of clean sanitary napkins? Are you suggesting that the girl change "that" in front of us? Upon hearing this, the girl was already red with anger. Whether out of fear or anger, she didn't notice and bumped headfirst into a black corpse.

I couldn't call out to the young master. I took a step forward, raised my bronze sword, and slashed at the black corpse. The black corpse didn't even know how to dodge. I cleaved it in two with one stroke, and it fell to the ground, turning into black corpse liquid. At the same time, I hurriedly pulled the girl over. Her hands were ice-cold, and her body was trembling slightly. She had long lost the heroic spirit she had shown when she was about to open Liu's coffin.

Anyone surrounded by such a terrifying creature would likely suffer. Behind me came the young master's shouts and yells. Reluctantly, I grabbed the girl and charged back. The ground was littered with the black corpses I had hacked to pieces. These corpses then dissolved into a highly corrosive black liquid. The only thing remaining was the iron chain that bound them.

"Young Master, hurry, prepare the rope to get up the tree!" I shouted as I brandished the ancient bronze sword. Just now, in the tomb chamber above, only four black corpses had forced us into a sorry state. Now, the entire platform was devoid of anything else; it was filled with those terrifying creatures, a dark mass of them.

I roughly estimated that there were probably over a thousand. Even if all these black corpses stood in a line and didn't move, I would still be exhausted and my arms would go numb.

The young master hurriedly handed the crossbow and bamboo arrows to the maid, took out a four-pronged iron hook, and hastily tied it to the rope. Under my cover, he seized the opportunity and forcefully swung it up at the stone tree branch.

Perhaps it was the help of the young master's ancestors, but he managed to hook the iron hook firmly onto the stone tree branch on his first try, and then he grabbed the rope and started climbing.

Seeing that the young master had already climbed some distance, while the number of black corpses around me was increasing, I was temporarily unharmed thanks to the sharpness of the ancient bronze sword. However, there were simply too many black corpses, so I hurriedly ordered the maid to go up as well. Knowing the urgency of the situation, the maid frantically grabbed the rope and started climbing, but the more impatient she was, the slower she climbed.

Fortunately, the young master was quick and soon climbed to the first fork of the stone tree, at least four or five meters above the ground, which was considered safe. Seeing that the girl couldn't climb up, he shouted, "Girl, hold on tight to the rope, I'll pull you up!"

He meant well, pulling the girl up. But in doing so, he pulled not only the girl up, but also the rope. Meanwhile, the black corpses were focusing their attacks on me, and before I knew it, two of them had circled around behind me. One grabbed me around the waist, and the other used the iron chains on his feet to trip me.

A chill ran down my spine; I now understood what had happened to the body in work clothes lying dead in the crevice outside. It turned out this was one of the methods the Black Corpse used to kill.

With a backhand swift movement, I cleaved the black corpse behind me in two. I was now reeking of a foul stench, so strong it made me want to vomit; thankfully, I hadn't eaten in a long time. Just as I cleaved the corpse in two, the other one lunged at me.

I was horrified and drew my sword, plunging it directly into its head. Before I could even pull the sword out, three more black corpses, with long fingernails, lunged at me, and the stench of decay assaulted my nostrils.

"Old Xu! Catch it!" In this critical moment, the young master had already pulled the girl up the stone tree and thrown the rope down.

I didn't care about anything else, grabbed the rope, and climbed up as fast as I could. I originally thought that these black corpses had no intelligence and wouldn't know how to chase enemies; they were just chasing us out of instinct. But I never expected that these black corpses would try to climb up the rope as well, just as I was doing so.

Damn it! I licked my slightly chapped lips and, without thinking, swung my sword at the two black corpses.

"Brother Xu, cut the rope..." came the girl's anxious voice from above.

Yes, how could I be so stupid? With a single sword stroke, I cut the rope, and the young master and maid pulled hard on it, dragging me toward the stone tree.

I stopped on the rock tree and took a deep breath, while the young master frantically pulled up all the ropes. Before I could say anything, the maid suddenly exclaimed, "Brother Xu, look!"

Following the direction the girl was pointing, we were startled to see that the black corpses were climbing up the trunk of the stone tree like geckos, seemingly determined to kill us intruders.

"Damn it! Run!"

I shouted loudly and hurriedly climbed up the stone tree. The young master and the maid followed behind me, quickly climbing to the top of the huge stone tree.

As I climbed higher, I could clearly see that black coffins were suspended from the stone tree trunks by black iron chains. Now, the bottoms of all these coffins were broken, and the black corpses that had been inside had all fallen. King Liu Qu of Guangchuan's move was indeed ruthless. Anyone suddenly faced with countless corpses falling from the sky would immediately lose their composure and would be doomed under the attack of thousands of black corpses.

In the midst of panic and tension, fearing being overtaken by the black corpses behind us, our only thought was to climb upwards as quickly as possible, upwards...

Only when the young master suddenly turned around and didn't see the black corpses, telling me and the maid, did the three of us breathe a sigh of relief. I gasped for breath; my clothes, which had been soaked in the water and were half-dry after the fight, were now drenched in a mixture of cold and hot sweat from the tension and panic.

The young master clung to the trunk of the stone tree and asked me, "Old Xu, where are we going?"

I rolled my eyes at him, looked up, and still couldn't see the top. I was puzzled. We'd just been running away; we must have climbed at least tens of meters high! What did that mean? Could it be that this tomb was tens of meters underground? And now, where was the way out?

The girl asked me what to do now. I thought about it and realized that we absolutely couldn't go down there. Those black corpses had been starving for thousands of years, and they wouldn't let go of a living person so easily. As for the top, I didn't know where it led or if there was any way out.

What's worse is that after that fierce battle, with life and death hanging by a thread, everyone was extremely tense. Now that we've relaxed, I've realized that my poor stomach is completely empty, like a ghost town.

"What a pity about the golden robe..." the young master shook his head and sighed.

At this moment, he was still thinking about the golden robe on the body of Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan. I smiled bitterly and said, "I would rather exchange it for two hot steamed buns."

The young master licked his lips and fell silent. When he mentioned the golden robe, I sighed. That white fox demon must have been the guardian spirit of the coffin. And the reason why King Liu Qu's corpse had been preserved for a thousand years without decaying, just as the maid had said, was entirely due to that golden robe. Seeing that we were about to strip the golden robe, the fox demon, in desperation, smashed its head against something and died, attempting to use it to stop us from stealing the robe.

As a result, its blood splattered on Liu Qu's corpse, causing it to turn into a zombie. Left with no other choice, I killed it with a single sword strike—or perhaps I shouldn't say that, as turning into a zombie doesn't necessarily mean it's alive. We still couldn't take that old pervert's golden robe with us; I wonder if it will crawl back into its coffin and continue lying there now.

That's right! The girl found the epitaph of Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan, in the agate pillow. Maybe it contains a way to leave? Thinking of this, I suddenly realized that the girl seemed strange. She hadn't spoken or offered any opinions for so long, so I immediately looked at her.

The girl pursed her lips tightly, but her hand gripping the flashlight was trembling. I assumed she had just been frightened and comforted her, "It's alright, little one." As I spoke, I couldn't help but reach out and hold her hand. To my surprise, her hand was burning hot.

The girl has a fever!

At this moment, what she needs most is a hot bath, to change into dry clothes, and to rest in bed. Ideally, she should also see a doctor, get an injection, and take medication…

But this right, which almost everyone should enjoy under normal circumstances, is harder to achieve than climbing to heaven for us. In this underground tomb, the only thing there is, besides, corpses, and nothing but corpses.

"Girl, you're sick..." I held her hand tightly, feeling her whole body trembling. Hearing this, the girl turned her face and forced a smile at me.

In the dim light of the flashlight, I could clearly see that the girl's originally pale face was now an unnatural red. The young master also rushed over to check on her, but the girl just shook her head and didn't say a word.

I am a few years older than the young master and have had women before, so I know that during a woman's special period, she needs to take good care of herself, avoid getting cold, and not eat raw or cold food. However, the girl not only soaked in cold water for a long time, but also had an upset stomach. In addition, a series of worries, hunger, and cold all contributed to her illness.

We need to get out of here quickly, otherwise, even if we don't encounter any danger, the girl won't last much longer.

"What should we do?" the young master asked me. He liked the girl, and now that she was sick, he was even more anxious and had lost his composure.

I thought for a moment and made a quick decision: since we couldn't go down, we had no choice but to go up. I instructed the young master to take good care of the maid and then climbed up the stone tree myself. As I climbed, I wondered to myself, was this underground stone tree naturally formed, or was it man-made? If it was man-made, how many people and how much effort would it have taken?

Thinking this, I quickened my pace as I climbed. The girl had no time to waste; we had to get out of there as soon as possible. Luckily, we climbed another four or five meters. I shone my flashlight up; it was pitch black above—we had reached the top. However, all around were solid rock walls; there was no way out.

I was terrified. There was no way out here. If we turned back, not to mention the black corpses below, where would we find a way out? With the young master's support, the girl walked to my side. Looking at her abnormal face, I felt extremely agitated. I gripped the ancient bronze sword and touched it here and there, hoping to find some mechanism.

"Old Xu, look over there!" Just as I was getting restless, the young master suddenly pointed to a protruding rock and said.

Curious, I took the flashlight from the maid and shone it over. But it was just a protruding rock. I had initially thought the young master had discovered something, but now, seeing it was merely a rock, I was disappointed and sighed helplessly. Just as I was about to return the flashlight to the maid, suddenly, the rock moved.

Stones don't move, of course; anything that can move isn't stone! A chill ran down my spine. This ancient tomb was fraught with danger; I had no hope of encountering anything terrifying again. The young master lowered his voice and said, "Just now I clearly saw something reflect light on that stone; maybe there's some kind of mechanism."

I nodded, handed the flashlight to the young master, and whispered, "You protect the girl, I'll go check it out." As I spoke, I drew my bronze sword and began to climb towards the protruding rock. One step, two steps, three steps, I was getting closer and closer to the rock when suddenly a loud rumbling sound came, as if the entire stone tree had shaken.

"An earthquake?" I exclaimed in alarm, and quickly looked towards the maid and the young master. The young master was holding the maid tightly, gripping the branches of a nearby stone tree, and thankfully they didn't fall off.

I was puzzled. How could there be a sound like thunder out of nowhere? I knew that even if thunder didn't happen here, I shouldn't hear it. In that moment of distraction, suddenly, the protruding rock in front of me moved again.

I hurriedly grabbed the tree branch for support, holding the ancient bronze sword, and stared intently at the rock. The rock, which was originally only a meter square, seemed to gradually enlarge under the flashlight's beam.

"Old Xu, get out of the way..." the young master cried out in terror. Even as he spoke, I sensed the danger and frantically turned to run. But it was too late. A foul wind rose behind me, and a tremendous force rushed towards me.

I didn't have time to turn around. In my panic, I grabbed a branch of the stone tree and shrank my whole body, trying to avoid the fatal blow from behind.

With a "whoosh," the young master, seeing that I was in danger, handed the flashlight to the maid again, and the bamboo arrow was already flying towards me.

In my haste, I glanced back and was utterly terrified. What was that? A snake? Or a monster? It was a jet-black, snake-like creature, nearly a meter thick, with a triangular head like a snake's, covered in thick scales, baring fangs, and a forked, jet-black tongue right behind me. And on this animal, which possessed almost every characteristic of a snake, grew a single, blade-like horn!

As everyone knows, snakes don't have horns. If a snake has horns, then it's not a snake, but a dragon!

"Old Xu, come here quickly!" The young master called to me hurriedly after shooting three bamboo arrows in succession. I wanted to go over too, but I was too close to the strange snake, and now I was clinging to the trunk of the stone tree, not daring to move an inch. The monster seemed to be enraged by the young master's bamboo arrows, and unable to reach him, it suddenly charged at me like a madman.

I was terrified. With nowhere to hide, I had no choice but to charge forward with my sword. The strange snake seemed to know the power of the ancient bronze sword in my hand. Seeing the sword's cold gleam, it quickly lowered its head and shrank back. I took the opportunity to steady myself and carefully examined the strange black snake.

It's strange, I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen this snake somewhere before. But I know that's impossible. If I had seen such a big snake before and survived, it would have been enough for me to remember it forever.

However, seeing that I didn't attack, the black serpent also cowered on the large rock tree, its black eyes gleaming with a chilling, eerie light, staring intently at me. Only then did I notice that this damned serpent's body was half-attached to stone. No, that's not right, it was originally stone.

I couldn't see the specifics clearly. It seemed that the entire giant stone tree was its massive body. Only its head could move; its tail had been completely petrified and fused with the giant stone tree.

Petrification? A sudden thought struck me, and I realized why the snake looked so familiar. Back in the passageway, beneath the strange bronze figure, weren't there nine enormous snake tails? Could it be that someone had actually cut a large snake in two, placed the head here, and attached the tails to the bronze figure?

I was stunned by this absurd idea myself. How could this be? A snake cut in two and still alive? Of course, anything is possible in this ancient tomb.

I was locked in a standoff with the large, horned black snake. Its eyes were pitch black, reflecting the light from our flashlights like flickering will-o'-the-wisps in the darkness.

The girl, who had been silent until now, suddenly raised her voice and said, "Brother Xu, I remember now..."

"What?" I instinctively turned to look at the girl. Had she remembered something? But in that instant, the black serpent, which had been motionless, suddenly moved with lightning speed and charged menacingly at me. I was shocked and hurriedly raised my bronze sword to meet it. But the black serpent, though half of its body was petrified, was surprisingly quick-witted. Instead of clashing head-on with the bronze sword, it tilted its head and viciously rammed into the stone tree trunk I was leaning against.

Damn it! Although I already knew the black serpent's intentions, it was too late to stop it. The serpent was incredibly fast; the stone tree trunk shook violently after being struck by it, and then, quite pathetically, snapped in two with a "crack."

I screamed, and with nothing to hold onto, I plummeted downwards. This bare rock tree was at least several tens of meters high; if I fell, I'd be smashed to pieces. In my panic, I grabbed wildly with both hands, and thankfully, I managed to grab onto the trunk of the rock tree below.

With a "snap," a rope fell down, and the young master called out anxiously, "Old Xu, quick, grab the rope, I'll pull you up."

Without thinking, I gripped the rope tightly. The young master and the maid pulled me up again. Once I was with them, I squinted and looked up. The back half of the strange snake's body was indeed petrified. Only its head, about three meters long, could move. It looked incredibly bizarre, with a thick body but only a tiny bit of length.

“This is a snake transformation…” the maid said. Her face looked even worse, and her voice was hoarse.

"What..." I was shocked, suddenly recalling the desolate and helpless sigh I heard when I obtained this ancient bronze sword, and those sixteen words that seemed both poetic and lyrical:

The Eight Trigrams and the Sixty-Year Cycle: Divine secrets and hidden mechanisms, transforming into snakes and dragon bones, heaven and earth incomplete!

A serpent? Could there really be such a strange serpent? Could it be that the voice I always thought was an illusion actually exists? Otherwise, how could the girl recognize it as a serpent?

The girl, unaware of my thoughts, hurriedly explained, "Yes, I've seen it in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. The serpent is incredibly large, with nine tails and a single horn on its head; it's a very ominous creature. I just don't know how this serpent ended up in the stone. However, I can guarantee that there must be a way out behind its body. The original owner of this tomb was truly generous, managing to have an ancient divine beast guard his spirit."

I didn't have time to think about any ancient mythical beasts. What I needed to think about now was how to get out of here as soon as possible so that the girl could have something to eat and some medicine. Otherwise, we would be trapped here to die sooner or later. If we didn't feed the snake, we would have to eat the snake ourselves.

With that thought in mind, I turned to look at the eerie, hideous black serpent covered in black scales. I had absolutely no interest in eating snakes, much less in being eaten by one.

Since the girl said there was a way out behind the snake, I had to find a way to get rid of this big guy and see if there was a way out. But here's the problem: although this thing is only about three meters long, it can definitely swallow me whole with one open mouth.

I asked, "Then what do we do now?" The girl said, "We have to find a way to cut it down." I looked at the enormous serpent and couldn't help but compare it to my own waist. After a long while, I said, "I can't cut it down. I'm afraid it's been starving for thousands of years and is planning to use the three of us as snacks to fill its stomach."

The young master asked in a very lewd manner, "Old Xu, you said the snake's body has turned to stone, so what if he wants *that*? What should we do?"

I was just thinking about how to chop down this snake-like toad when he asked me, and I was immediately confused. I frowned and said, "What do you mean, 'that'?"

The young master said, "It's just that after it eats, it has to digest, and after digestion, it has to excrete. But the back half of its body is petrified, so how can it urinate or defecate?" I was stunned when I heard this. What kind of time is this? The girl is sick, and he still has the mind to joke? I immediately glared at him and couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him.

To everyone's surprise, the girl's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she nodded, saying, "No wonder I felt something was wrong earlier; that's why."

I asked what was wrong. The girl told me to go over there without worry, just keep slashing at the serpent, and not to be afraid of it. Because it couldn't swallow anything, not even a mouse. I still didn't understand, and the girl wouldn't explain. Seeing her face turn bright red, I spat into my palm, rubbed my hands together vigorously, and said, "Since that's the case, damn it, I'll deal with this big guy..."

As I spoke, I tied the rope around my waist and instructed the young master to tie the other end to the thick trunk of the old stone tree, just in case. The snake had nearly killed me earlier, so I couldn't afford to be careless this time. The girl said this thing wouldn't eat people, but I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't kill me with a single headbutt.

After everything was ready, I once again crawled along the uneven rocks towards the serpent. The big guy stared at me with his eerie eyes.

I gently drew the ancient bronze sword and stared at it. After a moment of hesitation, I still dared not approach. Behind me, that unscrupulous young master roared, "Old Xu, stop talking the hell out of it and get to work!"

I was seething with frustration. Hurry up! He thinks this is just a little water snake from a ditch? I could cleave it in two with one sword strike! But this is a Huashe, a ferocious beast, a monster even recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

I held up the ancient bronze sword, and just as I moved, that beast tilted its head and charged forward. To my utter fury, I almost banged my head against a wall, but then the young master was still yelling and shouting behind me, as if afraid the snake demon couldn't hear me. Seeing that I hesitated to act, the young master, for some unknown reason, grabbed a crossbow and bamboo arrows, and slammed it into the snake demon's head.

I never expected that the young master would be so reckless. Now that I am within the attack range of the serpent, if he makes a rash move, the serpent will not be able to reach him, but what about me? However, since the young master has made a move, I saw the bamboo arrow shooting towards the serpent with a sharp whistling sound, so I immediately raised the bronze ancient sword and slashed directly at the serpent's head.

Our ancestors taught us that to shoot a man, you must first shoot his horse; to capture a thief, you must first capture his king. So, if we were to cut down the serpent, we naturally had to aim for its most vital part. But I never expected that the serpent wouldn't even glance at the bamboo arrow the young master had shot at it, instead charging straight at my bronze sword like a madman.

I was taken aback, but quickly regained my composure. My ancient bronze sword is a divine weapon from antiquity; who's afraid of whom? Without hesitation, I met it head-on.

With a loud "bang," my sword struck as if it had hit a piece of metal, sending sparks flying. Even worse, I was only standing on uneven rocks, and the force of the serpent's impact nearly made me lose my footing and fall. Even so, I managed to regain my balance in a flurry of activity.

To my surprise, the snake didn't take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack; it just stared at me coldly with its eerie eyes.

After regaining my footing, I finally had a chance to look at the serpent. What I saw there shocked me once more. The ancient bronze sword in my hand could easily cut through iron chains, yet in our close combat, I hadn't managed to harm the serpent in the slightest. This creature was truly incredibly tough. No wonder it ignored the young master's bamboo arrows completely.