Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 47

"What's going on?" the young master exclaimed.

“I think—we can’t go back the way we came.” Huang Zhihua shook his head, but his expression was extremely bitter, and his gaze remained fixed on the log that had been made into a coffin.

"There must be another way out here, right?" I reassured everyone. After all, neither that old scoundrel nor that policeman entered through the entrance we came in through, which meant there must be another way out.

The girl gently tugged at my clothes from behind and whispered, "Brother Xu, it's so strange. Those bronze figures seem to be arranged according to the Five Elements of Taiyi."

The Five Elements of Taiyi, bronze figures? I was startled, and only then did I focus my attention on the bronze figures. Indeed, the things these five bronze figures were holding symbolized the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. All our attention had been drawn to these strange plants; only the maid had noticed the bronze figures. I was about to ask her if she had discovered anything when suddenly, the young master cried out in alarm. In an instant, I felt a chill run through me, and I couldn't help but shiver. The lid of the round wooden coffin wasn't closed, and now—under the beam of our flashlights—it was slowly moving—someone was about to emerge from the coffin…

Yellow River Ghost Coffin Part 4: Demon King's Ghost Cave

Chapter One: Dragon Monster

The lid of the round wooden coffin wasn't closed, and now—in the beam of our flashlights—it was slowly moving—someone was about to emerge from the coffin…

But I stood there, completely still, my eyes fixed on the coffin lid that was slowly being moved open. I told myself—don't look, don't look, don't be afraid. It's just a corpse, what's there to be afraid of? What's there to be afraid of in someone who's been dead for over a thousand years?

But, precisely because it has been dead for thousands of years, why is it still causing trouble inside its coffin? Did our arrival awaken it from its thousand-year slumber, or is it because—it has waited for us for thousands of years? Is it about to break out of its coffin now, leaving all of us intruders behind, to be buried with its thousand-year-long loneliness?

Just as we were staring in disbelief as the coffin lid was slowly lifted, I suddenly felt my feet sink into the ground, and my body involuntarily began to plummet downwards.

Oh no, there's a mechanism in here? I opened my mouth to scream, but instinctively shut my mouth, my hands flailing wildly in mid-air, hoping to grab onto something.

In the darkness, there was nothing but emptiness. I couldn't grasp anything, and my body was falling rapidly, falling... as if I had fallen into the abyss of hell.

If I were to fall and die like this, it would be a kind of relief. To be honest, ever since I bought those bronze artifacts from Wang Sheng, my life has been almost entirely filled with terror. I've been struggling through one bizarre and strange event after another, and for the first time in my life, I've thought about giving up the will to live.

However, things didn't go as I expected. With a loud "plop," my freefall experiment came to an end. Then, I felt as if I had fallen into the water. The rapid descent made my body feel like a bomb, plunging heavily into the water. I felt the cold water carrying mud and sand choking me, and I smelled that familiar stench of rotting yellow sand in my nose again.

The buoyancy of the water was also significant. Soon, with the help of the buoyancy of the water and my own efforts, I surfaced. I was panting heavily. Where was I? Was I still alive? Everything was dark. I touched the miner's hat on my head and fumbled around for a while. Finally, the miner's lamp above my head emitted a shaky, orange glow.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the light was still on. Otherwise, in such a dark underground world, I would probably have either fallen to my death or suffocated from the shadow of death.

"Girl...Young Master?" I looked around. Where was we? It was pitch black all around. Was it underground water? Had we returned to that underground lake on that high platform?

The water was still, but murky, like the Yellow River carrying countless silt and sand. However, I was the only one on the surface; the young master, the maid, and Huang Zhihua were nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, I was still wearing my wetsuit, but even so, I could still feel the bone-chilling cold of the water. I looked around and guessed that the mechanism had been activated, and that the four of us had been separated when we fell in.

It was pitch black all around, and I couldn't see anything. Under the only orange light from the miner's lamp above my head, everything around me was as deep and still as water... The shimmering light created a sense of oppressive death.

I mustered my courage and said again, "Young Master...Girl...Huang Zhihua..." However, my voice traveled through the ripples of water, carrying an extremely unpleasant echo, and returned to my ears. The young master, the maid, and the others seemed to have vanished without a trace.

I took a breath, touched the water droplets on my face, and felt a chill. I tried to move my arms and legs, found a direction, and swam forward. My movements caused the groundwater to make a slight "swish" sound, which sounded particularly unpleasant in the otherwise silent underground world.

Suddenly, someone gently patted me on the back. I was startled and quickly turned around, but there was nothing behind me except for the dark underground water that seemed to extend into nowhere.

"Young Master..." I asked boldly, but in my heart I was thinking that among our group, apart from the young master, who was a bit of a clueless guy, no one else would do something so pointless.

My voice amplified infinitely through the sound of the water, yet the surface remained deathly still, completely still...

I was startled. Could it be that the pat on the shoulder was just my imagination? Thinking this, I couldn't help but touch the shoulder where I had been patted. Suddenly, my hand seemed to touch something, but it was very sensitive. Before my hand could react, it quickly withdrew, and I clearly felt something slide down my back with a "plop" into the water.

"What...thing..." I was so scared that I broke out in a cold sweat, and my vest felt like it was on fire. I was freezing cold, but I felt unbearably hot inside. My tense nerves were about to break down.

I didn't dare to move. I wanted to turn around to see what was going on, but my body was stiff and I couldn't move at all. I stood there blankly in the water for a minute... two minutes... three minutes... I don't know how much time passed, but nothing attacked me from behind again. My originally uneasy heart finally calmed down in the cold underground water. With a clang, I drew the ancient bronze sword from my back and slowly turned around.

"Ah..." I cried out in panic, and slashed the ancient bronze sword in my hand fiercely into the water.

Water splashed everywhere as my ancient bronze sword slammed into the still, lifeless surface of the water. The icy lake water splashed onto my face, but there was nothing behind me. Instantly, I seemed to hear a scream that sounded like a groan.

"Old Xu... Old Xu..." I seemed to hear the young master calling from afar.

I listened intently, and sure enough, I heard the young master's voice not far away. I was overjoyed and forgot all my fear and panic. I no longer wanted to find out what monster had attacked me.

I frantically swam, shouting, "Young Master... I'm here!" Following the sound, I swam forward for about three or four minutes, when suddenly my eyes lit up. A barrier of water appeared in front of me—no, it should be described as a barrier that looked like water, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

For some reason, I suddenly felt how inadequate human language is; in this situation, I simply cannot describe the eeriness before me.

It should have been a high platform, but it was level with the water. On the surface, it looked exactly like the water. The young master and Huang Zhihua were standing there, holding flashlights in their hands. However, the light from the flashlights was also extremely dim and flickering, and there was darkness all around.

"Old Xu..." The young master finally noticed me, wiped the wet droplets from his face, pulled me up, and asked anxiously, "Have you seen the girl?"

"Girl?" I was startled and asked urgently, "She's not with you?"

"No!" Huang Zhihua answered me. After taking off his heavy gas mask, the soldier's face was as pale and weak as ours. His eyes were filled with undisguised haggardness and bloodshot veins. I could even see my own wretched state reflected in his pupils.

"Then why aren't you looking for her right away?" I was anxious. The girl had disappeared. What were we going to do? In this underground world, if she got lost, the consequences would be unimaginable. In a place like this, let alone a delicate young woman, even a man like me would only face certain death.

"We've searched the entire area!" the young master said, somewhat exasperated. "We've searched everywhere we could think of..."

A sudden chill ran through me as I involuntarily recalled the image of the golden-haired girl behind me under the starry sky on that rainy night… The face shape, the appearance… even the innocent smile, the way those big, bright eyes looked—it was almost exactly the same as the girl's. Could it be… No!

I slapped myself hard, the burning pain on my face helping me shake off the terrifying thought. I comforted myself—no, the girl will be alright.

Although I've never believed in the legends of predestined past lives, why does the girl in the picture under the starry sky on a rainy night look exactly like Yaya? Could it be that all our efforts were just to send Yaya into the ancient tomb?

That's not it. We came because of the curse of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin...

"Old Xu, are you crazy?" The young master stared at me blankly, clearly confused by my strange actions.

"Just now, I mean, when the mechanism was activated, who was standing next to the girl?" I asked. I tried hard to recall, but at the time, all our attention was focused on the slowly moving wooden coffin. No one paid attention to their surroundings, so when the mechanism was activated, we didn't even have the slightest sense of vigilance.

The person next to me seems to be the young master, and Huang Zhihua is on the other side…

“I remember it very clearly, the girl was standing in front of me,” Huang Zhihua replied.

"So, when the mechanism was activated, did the girl fall down with it?" I asked urgently. This was the key question. If the girl didn't fall down... then, I suspected the most terrifying thing might happen.

"I don't know!" Huang Zhihua tried hard to recall for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I can't be sure, everything was too chaotic back then..."

I understand what he means. Indeed, in such a situation, the first thing to think about is how to protect oneself. There is an old Chinese saying: "If a man does not look out for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth!" No matter how strong a team spirit is, when a person is really in extreme danger and terror, the first thing to think about is to protect himself. Only if there is time will he consider others. This is not selfishness, but an instinct based on a certain human reaction.

"If it suddenly falls, the girl is timid and will definitely scream. Did any of you hear her scream?" The young master asked a crucial question.

"I didn't!" Huang Zhihua and I shook our heads at the same time. Indeed, if we were falling together, the girl, who isn't very brave, would definitely have screamed first. But the falling process seemed to be very, very long, and I didn't hear anything.

"We have to find a way to get up there!" I thought for a moment, then forced a smile and said.

The young master didn't speak again, only shook his head in despair...

"Where is this place?" I took the flashlight from the young master and shone it on the ceiling. However, the beam of the flashlight spread out indefinitely after reaching about four or five meters above the ceiling, and then dimmed. The ceiling remained a pitch-black chaos.

"Boom... boom..." Just as I was shining my flashlight on the top, suddenly, a huge roar, like thunder, came from the dark water.

In such an underground world, there would naturally be no thunder, unless—what kind of trap is this? I was startled and quickly reminded the young master and Huang Zhihua to be careful. I handed the flashlight to the young master and drew my bronze sword, becoming fully alert.

"Crackling..." A huge thunderclap resounded in the empty, chaotic world, and lightning ripped through the darkness that had been silent for thousands of years, illuminating the dark, murky water with a pale light.

"Damn it, it's thundering again!" Huang Zhihua licked his chapped lips and cursed angrily.

I was also surprised that there were natural phenomena like thunderstorms in such an underground world. It happened once when we were in the tomb chamber above, and what's more, it was accompanied by a torrential downpour. What surprised us even more was that a dazzling star map appeared in the sky during the rainy night, and a girl in a golden robe was reflected on the star map. Her arrogance that looked down on everything in the world was mixed with the girl's unique coquettishness, forming a strange contrast that was hard to describe in words.

"Look..." The young master suddenly pulled me and pointed to the water in the distance.

I looked in the direction of the flashlight beam in the young master's hand, and in the distance, I saw that the originally murky and calm water surface had suddenly been churned up with towering waves. In an instant, it seemed that all the dead things had come back to life. I smelled a stench of rotting yellow sand in my nose, and it seemed that water droplets were splashing on my face.

"My God, what kind of monster is that?" Huang Zhihua muttered, holding a flashlight and staring at the water.

I looked in the direction Huang Zhihua was pointing and couldn't help but gasp. Good heavens—that enormous creature, its massive body, shone with an eerie golden hue under the flashlight, its scales clearly defined.

"Dragon..." the young master said in a low, trembling voice.

I looked closely at the creature rolling on the water's surface. Indeed, judging from its appearance, it was covered in golden scales and had an enormous body, bearing some resemblance to the dragons of ancient Chinese legends. But—do dragons really exist in the world?

Transformed snake dragon bone?

For some reason, those four words suddenly popped into my mind: the serpent that I cut off with my sword in the Guangchuan King's Tomb. Could this be a dragon? Perhaps, dragons really do exist in the primordial world? My mind went blank. This thing was clearly much larger than the enormous serpent. If it attacked us, would the three of us be enough to fill its stomach?

"Damn it!" Huang Zhihua raised his gun and aimed!

I was startled and hurriedly said, "Don't use the gun!" But my words couldn't keep up with the speed of his bullet. The gun fired, and the bullet, illuminated by our flashlights, flew straight and accurately towards that enormous creature.

"Roar..." A terrifying scream came from underwater, and the entire underground world couldn't help but tremble. Young Master and I had never doubted Huang Zhihua's marksmanship, but at this moment we would rather his marksmanship was inaccurate. But—as long as he wasn't blind, how could a bullet miss at such close range?

After being shot, the enormous monster, in pain, suddenly flipped over and surfaced from the water. I truly find it difficult to describe this monster in human terms. Its head, covered in scales, had several long tentacles, and a large bulge on its head—I don't know if it was a dragon horn or a growth that had accidentally grown there? Its two eyes were an eerie emerald green, and its snake-like forked tongue trailed long outside its mouth full of fangs, emitting a putrid stench.

"This isn't a dragon, it's a monster..." I muttered to myself, but now was not the time to study this monster's species; I was thinking about how to escape.

"Damn it, Old Xu, what is this thing? A hybrid of a dragon and a snake? Did the Dragon King of the East Sea's woman have an affair and seduce a snake, resulting in this monster?" The young master shouted, seemingly unaware that the dinosaur monster was nearby.

"Damn it!" I cursed inwardly. I swear, even if the young master were swallowed by the dragon monster, he probably still wouldn't be able to change his habit of talking nonsense.

"I don't think this thing looks like a hybrid of a dragon and a snake. Maybe it's a hybrid of a dragon and a fish. To me, the head looks like a fish's head." Huang Zhihua shook his head, raising his gun again to aim.

I gave a wry smile. Our land of China is truly abundant in resources; all sorts of monsters exist here, especially in this Shadow Kunlun Eye of Wind. If a dragon monster were to appear in a wildlife museum, the doors would probably be bursting at the seams. But right now, my concern is—are the three of us enough to feed the dragon monster?

"Bang bang bang!" Huang Zhihua fired three shots at the dragon monster in a row. The bullets all hit the dragon monster's head, and one of them even hit the dragon monster's eye. However, this did not stop the dragon monster from approaching us in the slightest.

The dragon monster shook its head violently, seemingly injured by modern weapons. I saw several scales on its head that had been blown off by bullets, and some pale green liquid was flowing out. I don't know if it could be considered blood.

"Damn it, run!" The young master turned to run, but we were just standing on a platform on the water. I didn't even know what the purpose of this platform was. But I could guarantee one thing: underwater, we were definitely slower than this dragon monster.

I drew my bronze sword and shielded the young master and Huang Zhihua behind me. Just as the dragon monster was about to approach the platform, a terrifying thought suddenly occurred to me: Could this platform in the water be an altar? Used to sacrifice this monster, and we are now standing here, already sacrificed?

Without thinking twice, I brandished my ancient bronze sword, unleashing a flash of cold light, and slashed down at the head of the approaching dragon monster.

"Old Xu, watch out!" Huang Zhihua shouted from behind. Since the dragon monster was already in front of us, and I lunged forward again, he didn't dare fire rashly. Instead, he drew his military bayonet and jumped into the water with a "plop," charging towards the dragon monster.

I held the ancient bronze sword in my hand, but there was nowhere to gain leverage in the water. Besides, I was not a skilled swordsman, and my few wild thrusts failed to harm the dragon monster. Instead, they enraged it, and its massive body swung, slamming into my waist and sending me flying. The pain was so intense that I could barely catch my breath.

“Mr. Huang…” I had just caught my breath when I felt as if my spine was broken. From the altar came the young master’s desperate screams.

I was shocked and quickly looked up. Following the flashlight in the young master's hand, I saw a terrifying scene: Huang Zhihua practically leaped out of the dragon monster's mouth, still holding a military bayonet. A pungent stench appeared on the water's surface, accompanied by a faint green liquid spreading in the water.

Thank goodness, he was safe and sound, and had even managed to injure the dragon monster. However, the dragon monster, enraged by its injury, opened its mouth wide and roared to the sky. The sound shook the entire underground world. Huang Zhihua frantically tried to escape by paddling through the water, but the dragon monster opened its massive jaws and lunged at him.

"Damn it!" I cursed. I don't know where the strength came from, but I suddenly sprang up and charged towards the dragon monster. However, I was in excruciating pain in my lumbar spine, and the distance was already quite far. I could only watch helplessly as the dragon monster opened its foul-smelling mouth and was about to swallow Huang Zhihua whole.

In the nick of time, I felt a force suddenly emerge from underwater, lifting me up. Without thinking, I pounced on the dragon monster's head like a bird in flight.

Hearing the wind howling above its head, the dragon monster ignored Huang Zhihua, twisted its thick neck, and lunged at me again.

I was terrified. I did manage to resolve Huang Zhihua's crisis, but now I'm in mid-air with the dragon monster's gaping maw below, big enough to swallow me whole.

I closed my eyes in despair, raised the ancient bronze sword—tip downwards—and plunged it into the dragon's throat. You want to eat me? I'll drag you down with me! Damn it, I haven't accomplished much in my life, but to take a dragon down with me is a great deed!

"Old Xu..." Huang Zhihua's exclamation rang in my ears.

With a "plop," I landed heavily in the water, splashing water everywhere. When I opened my eyes, I was so frightened that my bones went limp. All my previous bravado vanished. Less than a meter away from me, the dragon monster lay on the water's surface, its pair of emerald green eyes staring intently at me... Huang Zhihua was right beside me.

Could it be that the dragon monster actually showed mercy in the end and didn't swallow me whole?

Huang Zhihua was a little terrified and pulled me back a few steps. The two of us and the water dragon monster were less than three meters apart, staring at each other menacingly.

I gasped for breath; both of us had just narrowly escaped death. After a moment's thought, I finally said, "Mr. Huang, you go up first and help the young master find a way out. I'll hold it off." We were no match for this monster if we tried to fight it for too long. Our immediate priority was finding a way out.

"Old Xu, what nonsense are you talking about? A way out... is there even a way out of this place?" Huang Zhihua laughed bitterly, somewhat nervously. "Haven't you realized that we've already fallen into a terrifying underground space? Struggling is just a matter of surviving for one more second."