El beso inolvidable de Ghost Lips

Capítulo 30

"Cough...cough..." The girl coughed heavily twice, making my heart jump. I turned to look at her and saw her bent over, looking very painful. I knew I had no time to waste, so I immediately raised the ancient bronze sword and slashed down hard at the snake's head again.

The beast tossed its head, actually using its single horn to meet the ancient bronze sword in my hand. With a loud "bang," my bronze sword collided with the serpent's horn, sending sparks flying and numbing my arm. The beast shook its head repeatedly. I never expected its horn to be so hard. I thought to myself, "This is bad. How can I cut it down?"

As I was thinking, I couldn't help but look down at the maid and the young master, only to see the maid gesturing at me. I was stunned. When the maid noticed that I had noticed her, she quickly raised her flashlight and shone it on the snake's tail.

I froze, then immediately understood the girl's meaning. She wanted me to use my sword to cut down the stone tree connected to the snake's tail, instead of attacking the snake. But would that be useful? What's the point of cutting down the stone tree if I don't kill the snake? Besides, the stone tree is so huge, how could I possibly cut it down?

The girl below kept gesturing to me, and after watching twice more, I finally understood that she wanted me to cut off the part where the snake connected to the stone tree, that is, the part of the snake that had turned to stone.

To be honest, the current state of the serpent is extremely bizarre. Part of it is a living body, while the other part is a petrified tree. This is far beyond my understanding of animals. Since the girl asked me to cut that part, she must have her reasons. Besides, the serpent's head is incredibly hard, and I can't cut it unless I can hurt its vital organs.

Like a gecko, I crawled on the uneven stone wall and moved a little closer to the snake. I felt that its big black mouth, forked tongue, even its black fangs and dense scales, were all within reach.

Suddenly, a loud "whoosh" sounded beside me, and a bamboo arrow shot towards the eerie eyes of the serpent. It lowered its head slightly, and seeing the opportunity, I rushed forward without regard for the danger, and slashed at the part of the serpent that connected to the stone tree with my sword.

With a loud "bang," a stench-filled liquid gushed out. Being on the stone wall, I had no time to dodge and was immediately sprayed all over my face and head, with a few drops even splashing into my mouth, making me feel incredibly nauseous. The serpent whirled around and lunged at me. I didn't bother wiping the snake blood from my face; instead, I frantically swung my ancient bronze sword and slashed at it again.

This ancient bronze sword truly lives up to its reputation as a divine weapon. The first strike severely injured the serpent, and with the second strike, its body twisted and plummeted straight down. I had so easily severed the serpent.

It seemed too easy. If that were truly the case, the ancient spirit beast the girl spoke of wouldn't seem so extraordinary. As I thought this, I couldn't help but glance at the tumbling, tumbling serpent plummeting downwards. But that glance sent chills down my spine. I clearly saw that the beast was actually laughing.

Yes, that beast was laughing, a hideous laugh that was indescribably terrifying, as if by cutting its body in half, I wasn't killing it, but rather granting it a wish.

"Rumble... Rumble..." There was no time for me to think. Just as the enormous body of the serpent fell, the entire stone tree began to tremble.

"Oh no! This stone tree is about to collapse!" the young master shouted, and as he spoke, he grabbed the maid and ran towards me.

Just now, the snake's tail was connected to the stone tree, but now that I've severed it with my sword, a dark hole has appeared at the end, leading somewhere I don't know. Could this hole be the way out the girl was talking about?

There was no time for us to think; the entire tomb seemed to be collapsing. I called to the young master, urging him to quickly take the girl into the cave. The young master shone his flashlight into the cave; it was pitch black, and we had no idea where it led. But without hesitation, he rushed in, pulling the girl in with him.

Countless pebbles rained down on my head, and the once magnificent, excessively tall stone tree was now collapsing like a rotting wall. I brandished my ancient bronze sword to protect my head and face, but I was still struck by stones several times and almost lost my footing and fell off the stone wall.

The girl turned around, urging me on. But my heart was filled with unease. When the snake fell, its grotesque smile was strikingly similar to the eerie,狰狞 smiles on the faces of Shan Jun, Wang Quansheng, and others after their deaths. The instant I darted into the cave, the stone tree behind me completely collapsed, and the entrance behind me was blocked by a huge boulder. We had nowhere to retreat; whatever was inside the cave was our only way out.

The cave was so small that we couldn't even stand up straight; we had to hunch over. The young master was in front, the maid followed behind, and I was at the very back.

The young master held up his flashlight and shone it into the cave. Ahead lay a dark, gloomy place, as if leading to the underworld. Moreover, the cave was small, and those inside felt an indescribable sense of oppression.

The three of us groped our way forward. I couldn't help but ask the girl how she knew there was a passage behind the snake. She said that according to the tomb's architecture, no matter the era, a tomb could never be designed to create a "death trap"—that's a major taboo. Chinese people are very superstitious, believing in the idea that the soul doesn't perish after death, that even after death, the soul still exists. Therefore, no matter the feng shui arrangement, there will always be a way out.

But the owner of this tomb was malicious; the only way out was beneath the serpent. This meant that anyone wanting to escape would have to cut down the serpent, and once the serpent was destroyed, the pillar supporting the entire stone tree would collapse, causing the entire tomb to cave in. Anyone who was even a step too late would be crushed to death by the stones.

I said, since you knew all along that the stone tree would collapse once the serpent was destroyed, why didn't you say so sooner? If you had said so earlier, I would have been able to take precautions. You know, I had just tied myself to the stone tree with a rope, and when the stone tree started to collapse, luckily I was quick-witted enough to cut the rope. Otherwise, I would have been pulled down by the stone tree.

The girl explained that she hadn't known at first, and only realized it when the stone tree collapsed. I couldn't help but smile wryly; wasn't this playing with my life?

But the girl's situation is not optimistic. How can I blame her? I just want her to get out as soon as possible and find another way.

The young master walked at the front, his body hunched over, for about five or six minutes. Suddenly, there was a "plop" sound; he had lost his footing and seemed to have fallen into the water. Then, I heard him shout, "Oh no! Old Xu, I've fallen in..."

Upon hearing this, I almost lost my mind. Another waterway? How could the girl, looking like that, go into the water? Wouldn't that be killing her? But without a word, the girl jumped in with a "plop" after the young master. Only then did I see clearly that the stone cave had reached its end, and because it was completely dark all around, the young master, hunched over, had only been looking ahead and hadn't been paying attention to his footing, which caused him to slip and fall.

To be honest, this dark pool of water looks a bit like an open latrine. Because it's level with the ground, you could easily fall in, even in broad daylight, let alone in this darkness.

"Old Xu, come down quickly, there's another passage here. Damn, it stinks..." the young master said as he called to me.

I hadn't even gone into the water yet, but I could already smell the stench of rotting yellow sand, as if it were the rotten sand from the Yellow River. Since the maid and young master had already gone in, even if it were a real latrine, I had no choice but to jump in, let alone the stinking water.

Chapter Eleven: A Treasure Land for Raising Corpses

With a "plop," I jumped in as well. The young master pointed to the other side and said, "There's another underwater passage here, but I don't know where it leads, how long it is, or if we can swim across."

The young master took a breath, waved the flashlight, and said, "He'll go first, the girls in the middle, and I'll bring up the rear. We need to look out for each other if anything happens!"

I nodded in agreement. The young master, holding up the flashlight, took a deep breath and plunged into the water. The maid, a good swimmer as well, followed behind. I dared not hesitate for a moment, and quickly plunged into the water as well, holding my breath tightly, and moving forward swiftly in the dim light of the flashlight in the young master's hand.

The underwater world was even darker than the surface, making the flashlight beam appear even dimmer. I held my breath and followed behind the young master and maid, watching the shadowy figures ahead, which looked like ghosts. For some reason, I suddenly had a strange feeling—am I still alive?

The thought had barely crossed my mind when I was suddenly startled. Why was I having such a strange feeling? Perhaps I had been in the dark underground for too long. I had to get out of there quickly. Otherwise, not only would the girl's illness be affected, but I would also eventually die of depression.

Just as I was lost in thought, the young master walking ahead let out a cry of alarm. Then came the maid's scream. I was startled, then relieved. Startled because the maid and young master were in danger, but relieved because screams are absolutely forbidden underwater; they must have already surfaced.

Thanks to their reminder, I drew my bronze sword, swung it in front of me, and used it to protect my face. A soft "snap" sounded, as if I had cut something in two. At the same time, I burst out of the water. I finally exhaled the breath I had been holding for so long.

A startled cry came from beside him: "Old Xu, watch out!"

I whirled around, and oh my god, it's that thing again? Before me were clumps of tentacles intertwined. The young master and maid were both entangled, the young master desperately stabbing wildly with his bamboo arrow, but he was struggling to keep up. What kind of place is this? Why are there these strange tentacles here? I quickly brandished my bronze sword, slashing at the clumps of strange tentacles.

Although these tentacles were incredibly numerous, they all snapped off due to the unparalleled sharpness of the ancient bronze sword. I brandished the ancient bronze sword, holding it in front of me, and moved closer to the young master. The young master was wrapped around the waist by a large tentacle, in great danger, but he still desperately shielded the girl behind him.

"Old Xu, quick, pull the girl out. This is Liu Qu's protective moat." I was startled when I heard this. How did we end up back in Liu Qu's tomb after wandering around?

While the young master was distracted by his words, he was suddenly pulled and dragged towards the bottom of the protective moat by those strange tentacles. I was shocked and quickly raised my sword to slash at a large clump of tentacles. The tentacles severed with the sword, and a foul-smelling yellow liquid oozed from the cuts. Taking advantage of this moment, I looked around, and sure enough, this really was that old pervert Liu Qu's protective moat.

The moat protecting the coffin wasn't very wide, only about six people across. I rushed to the girl's side, wielding my ancient bronze sword, severing countless tangled tentacles as easily as cutting tofu. I tried to pull the girl away, but couldn't budge her. The girl's face was deathly pale, her eyes unfocused, devoid of their former liveliness.

I was terrified. Forgetting about the young master, I pulled the girl towards the riverbank with all my might. After severing countless strange tentacles, we finally reached the shore. I climbed ashore first, then desperately tried to pull the girl out. But her body was incredibly heavy; it took me almost all my strength to pull her upper body out of the water.

Just then, a scream came from the moat protecting the coffin. I looked up and saw that the young master was about to be pulled under the water by those strange tentacles. In a moment of panic, I don't know where the strength came from, but I managed to pull the girl out of the water. But right on the girl's feet, there was a pair of pale white hands, gripping her ankles tightly.

My heart skipped a beat; I knew something was wrong. I'd wondered why the girl was so heavy. I couldn't worry about that now; I could only pull her up with all my might.

The owner of the deathly pale hand underwater gradually surfaced as I pulled hard. A face, pale from being submerged, grinned grotesquely, already slightly decaying. But I recognized the blue work uniform immediately. This person was none other than Old Bian, who had mysteriously died, inexplicably appeared in Liu Qu's tomb, and then disappeared again.

Looking at Old Bian's already rotting, yet still grotesque and terrifying smile, my heart sank to the bottom. His two hands were still tightly gripping the girl's ankles. Ignoring all restraint, I tried to pry Old Bian's hands off. But to my surprise, those slightly rotten, deathly pale fingers were as stiff as cast iron; I couldn't budge them no matter what I did.

The girl's condition was terrible; she was already in a semi-conscious state. Meanwhile, from within the protective moat, the young master's cries of alarm echoed repeatedly. I had no time to waste with Old Bian's corpse. I immediately raised my bronze sword and slashed down at Old Bian's hand. In my heart, I murmured, "Old Bian, don't blame me. You're already dead, why are you still clinging to that girl? She was young and beautiful; don't harm her..."

The moment my sword touched Old Bian's arm, it seemed to have a mind of its own and with a "whoosh," it released its grip. Meanwhile, several dark finger marks appeared on the girl's feet, a horrifying sight.

"Old Xu, save me..." the young master's cry rang out again. I looked and was terrified. The young master's entire body was entangled in countless tentacles, with only his head visible. I was about to jump back into the protective moat to save him when I suddenly remembered that the girl was now in a semi-conscious state, and I couldn't bear to leave her alone up there. And beside her lay Old Bian, who could turn into a zombie at any moment.

Even in death, this guy still tried to drag us down with him; he was clearly no good person.

Without time to think, I raised my foot and viciously kicked Old Bian's corpse back into the coffin-protecting moat. Old Bian's body flipped over on the surface of the water, his pale face coldly facing me, before being covered by a deluge of strange tentacles and dragged into the water.

It's strange. The professor's body was also found in this protective moat, and now Old Bian's body is also here? Could it be that we'll all die here in the end? At this thought, my legs went weak, and I almost dared not go into the river again.

However, the young master was being strangled by those strange tentacles, his face flushed red, and he was at a critical juncture of life and death. Left with no other choice, I jumped into the water again with a splash, brandishing my ancient bronze sword, and charged towards the young master.

Those strange tentacles seemed terrified of the ancient bronze sword in my hand. Wherever I went, the tentacles dodged, but they still tightly enveloped my front and back, creating an indescribable sense of strangeness and disgust.

After finally severing all the strange tentacles on the young master's body, I dragged him towards the shore. Suddenly, I felt a strong gust of wind behind me and turned around to see Old Bian, whom I had just kicked into the river, baring his teeth and claws as he lunged at me.

I had no choice but to abandon the young master and hurriedly dodge. The young master caught his breath and cried out in surprise, "What happened?" But his voice was hoarse, clearly indicating that he had been strangled by that strange tentacle.

I hurriedly told the young master to get ashore first, while I dealt with Old Bian's corpse. The young master rushed towards the shore in a panic. But he didn't have the ancient bronze sword in my hand, and strange tentacles, overwhelming everything, swarmed up again.

"Damn it!" I didn't originally intend to harm Old Bian's corpse; after all, we had drunk together when he was alive. But now that he wanted to take me down with him, I didn't care anymore and slashed at him with my sword.

Old Bian looked ferocious, but I cut him down with a single sword stroke, and he sank back into the water and disappeared. I vaguely saw a huge, pale face flash by underwater.

After dealing with Old Bian, I rushed over to help the young master. The two of us practically scrambled up to the riverbank protecting the coffin. The young master was badly injured this time; his arms and neck were covered in yellow and black welts from the restraints.

"Girl..." He didn't even have time to catch his breath before he pounced on the girl, pinching her nerves hard, while I pressed down on her chest. After a struggle, we finally woke her up. Seeing her awake, the young master relaxed and plopped down on the ground, panting heavily, and asked, "Old Xu, what was that thing just now?"

I lowered my voice and said, "It's Old Bian's body. I don't know how it ended up in Liu Qu's protective coffin moat."

The young master was stunned for a moment before finally saying, "It's really strange. Why are they all in the protective moat?" I naturally knew that the "them" the young master was referring to were the professor and Old Bian. I personally witnessed Old Bian's body crawling into the "dog hole" behind the tomb chamber, so why was it now in the protective moat? As for the professor, we couldn't say for sure. We didn't even know whether he came to rob the tomb alive or after he died.

I lowered my voice and asked the young master, "You were by Old Bian's side when he died. Do you think it's possible he faked his death?" The young master shook his head and said it was impossible. Old Bian was already dead then, as dead as could be.

I lowered my head and remained silent. I didn't witness the professor's death, so I could understand it as him faking his death to buy time to rob the tomb of Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan. But I did witness Old Bian's death. Why did his body end up here after he died, with so much distance between them? How did he get here?

It's absolutely impossible that someone maliciously transported a corpse here. No matter what mode of transportation they used, how could it have gotten past the traffic police? Are the traffic police blind, allowing a corpse to sneak onto a train or bus? The more I think about it, the more frightened I become.

The girl wasn't feeling well. After waking up, she clung to me without saying a word. Her eyes were unfocused, and her face was pale.

I said, "Never mind all that. Now that we've got what we wanted, getting out of here is the priority. After all, the girl's illness can't wait any longer." The young master agreed. I helped the girl to her feet and turned to walk towards the tomb's entrance. But after only a few steps, I saw that the tomb's door, which had been wide open, was now properly closed.

I didn't think much of it. The tomb door was supposed to close from the inside; we could open it from the outside, so why not from the inside? The young master immediately went up and tried to push the stone door, but it wouldn't budge. He was stunned. Still not believing it, he pushed again with all his might, but it still wouldn't move.

I put the maid down and ran to help the young master push the tomb door. But even with our combined strength, we couldn't budge it an inch.

The girl, who had been silent all along, sighed and said in a low voice, "Don't waste your energy. This is a locked dragon chamber. Once the door to this tomb is opened and closed again, there will be a heavy stone blocking it from the outside. Even if you use explosives, you may not be able to blow it open."

I was stunned when I heard that. Did it mean that after all our hardships, we would still have to be buried here with that old pervert, Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan? I asked the girl if there was any other way out.

The young master plopped down on the ground, panting heavily. After a moment, he angrily cursed Liu for being a pervert. However, his voice was hoarse and quite unpleasant because he had been injured on the neck by the strange tentacles in the coffin-protecting river.

The girl hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "There might be a way out, but it's far too dangerous. In tombs like this, the craftsmen who built them would leave a hidden escape route to avoid being killed and buried with King Liu of Guangchuan." I immediately panicked. This tomb wasn't particularly large or small; if it was a hidden escape route, how could we possibly find it?

However, the young master perked up upon hearing this and hurriedly urged the maid to ask where the way out might be. The maid smiled wryly and said, "The most likely place is inside the coffin-protecting moat."

I was taken aback. Indeed, the Coffin River was the most secluded place. Putting aside the strange tentacles within, even Old Bian's corpse felt incredibly eerie. It was best to avoid such a place.

Upon hearing this, the young master slapped his forehead hard and said, "Oh right, how could I forget?"

"What? What did you think of?" I asked hurriedly.

The young master said, "Do you remember the first time we fell into the moat?" I said, "What are you waiting for? Stop beating around the bush and just say what you want to say." The young master then said that the first time he fell into the moat, in his panic, he didn't fall into the water but grabbed a very strong iron chain.

Chains? Upon hearing the word "chains," I couldn't help but think of the strange nine-palace eight-trigram formation on the pool, and the chains binding the feet of those black corpses. Suddenly, I remembered that when I entered the Nine Dragon Pit, I had found a crack in the stone wall, and in that pool, there was also a corpse chained.

Could it be that the iron chains in the protective coffin moat are the chains that control the black corpse?

The young master said that the iron chain seemed loose and could be pulled, and that the stone wall was different from the others; perhaps the exit was there. I thought it made sense, and I urged the young master to find a way out quickly. Relying on his memory, the young master hurriedly searched for the place.

Fearing for the young master's safety, I lowered him down with a rope. The countless tentacles in the moat seemed to have sensed human presence and surged forward frantically. In danger, the young master moved with astonishing speed, quickly finding the dark iron chain on the stone wall beside the moat. Then, he grabbed the chain and pulled hard.

With a sharp "snap," the young master used too much force and ripped the chain off. But what was attached to the chain was a black corpse, its spine locked. As soon as the young master pulled it off, the black corpse lunged at him.

This black corpse must be the one from the crevice. I was not surprised but delighted; the girl was right, there really was another way out here.

What does it mean to be possessed by a ghost? That probably describes the young master's current predicament. He screamed in fright and hurriedly threw away the iron chain in his hand. He lost his balance and fell directly into the moat protecting the coffin. The maid and I saw it clearly from above and hurriedly pulled on the rope, trying to pull the young master up.

But from within the protective moat, countless strange tentacles swarmed up, wrapping themselves around the young master. In the moat, I vaguely saw that pale, large face reappear.

Anger surged within me, and a wicked thought arose within me. I knew that the only way to get out of the protective moat was to deal with these damned tentacles. I immediately handed the rope to the maid, grabbed my bronze sword, and with a "plop," jumped into the moat.

My original intention was to fight those strange tentacles to the death, but as soon as I jumped into the coffin-protecting river, a stench hit me. The black corpse that the young master had forcibly dragged out was already lunging at me. I was secretly annoyed. Did this thing really think I was afraid of it? In the pool, I was chased around in a sorry state because I had no weapon. Now that I had a weapon, why should I, a living person, be afraid of a ghost? Immediately, I brandished my ancient bronze sword and charged forward.

With a soft "snap," the black corpse, like the other black corpses, was cleaved in two by my sword. But I never expected that even though this thing was broken in two, the lower half fell into the protective coffin river, while the upper half still lunged at me.

I was immediately hit by a stench of blood. It was too late to swing my sword to protect myself. Helpless, I leaned back and fell heavily to the ground.

With a "bang," I crashed heavily into the water. Before me lay half a black corpse, reeking of blood, and a foul-smelling face that kept expanding and expanding in front of me.

My mind went blank, and instinctively I swung my ancient bronze sword at the black corpse. The bronze sword pierced through the black body, pinning it to the stone wall of the moat. Behind me, I was already surrounded by layers upon layers of strange tentacles.

I looked at the half-corpse I had nailed to the stone wall, which had already begun to turn into black liquid, flowing down the stone wall.

"Oh no!" I exclaimed in alarm. The fluid from this black corpse was extremely corrosive. If it flowed into the moat protecting the coffin, it could spread through the water, putting the young master and me in grave danger. Realizing this, I was terrified. Ignoring the black corpse, I brandished my ancient bronze sword and hacked wildly, slashing countless strange tentacles to pieces. The young master was also quite frightened, but his feet moved with surprising agility, and he scrambled towards the shore in seven or eight steps.

I hurriedly went ashore; we dared not go back into the moat that protected the coffin. We had witnessed firsthand the corrosive nature of that black corpse.

The young master said things were bad this time, and there was no way out. I never expected to kill that black corpse with a single sword strike, leaving it to rot in the water and pollute the environment.