Buddhist Pagoda Ghost Tomb

Chapter 18

The handsome young man smiled seductively: "I want your woman."

This time, even Marchie and Caesar were so shocked that their mouths dropped open. This man surnamed Min didn't seem like someone who would rather love a woman than his country. What was his purpose?

"Impossible!" Situ Xiang gritted his teeth and said, word by word, "Xiao Li is not a commodity that can be traded!"

"You're just reluctant to part with her, aren't you?" Min Enjun sneered. "This girl is a treasure. Didn't any of you notice? The tree was poisoned because it drank her blood!"

Situ Xiang was taken aback. Yin Li had been taking medicine given to her by her maternal grandfather since she was a child, and her blood had acquired medicinal properties, capable of neutralizing all poisons. Could it be that her blood, when it came into contact with plant sap, would turn into poison?

“Situ, give her to me, and I won’t kill you, I might even let you go.” Min Enjun’s tone remained calm and gentle, but a sense of terror rose in everyone’s hearts.

“I’m afraid none of us will be able to leave.” Situ Xiang sneered, while Min Enjun shrugged. “Not necessarily.”

Suddenly, the tunnel shook violently. They heard cracking sounds, like trees breaking. The tunnel gradually overturned, and everyone lost their footing and fell down, crashing into the wall.

Taking advantage of the situation, Situ Xiang grabbed Min Enjun's wrist, trying to take the gun from him. However, the young man didn't care about the valuable weapon at all. Instead, he grabbed Yin Li's clothes and pulled her out of Situ Xiang's arms. Situ was shocked and fired two shots at him, each hitting him in the chest.

Min Eun-joon suddenly burst into laughter, a laugh that made the whole world tremble and spin. He touched his chest, then reached out his hand again, revealing two bullets in his palm, but no blood flowed from his chest.

Situ Xiang couldn't believe his eyes. The bullets couldn't even hurt him. Who was he?!

The tunnel twisted even more violently. Min Enjun, holding the beauty in his arms, waved his hand, and the two bullets actually pierced Situ Xiang's arm.

He groaned in pain as his head slammed against the wall, and the darkness collapsed in an instant.

Xiao Li!

Yin Li had a very long dream. In the dream, there was a bustling city where merchants of all kinds of attire came and went. She held a konghou (a type of harp) in her arms and played beautiful music by the roadside, while a beautiful woman in red danced gracefully. Every movement was as smooth as flowing water, captivating and enchanting, as if she were in the Western Paradise.

The scene suddenly shifts, and the surroundings transform into a magnificent palace, seemingly hosting a banquet. Beautifully dressed young women carry fine wines and delicacies through the halls, serving the nobles the most delicious food.

She continued playing the konghou, a very gentle melody that seemed out of place with the lively banquet, yet the red-clad dancer's performance was still breathtaking.

She looked up and saw a throne in the main hall, with a man in magnificent clothes sitting on it. Even from a distance, she could feel his terrifying and domineering aura.

She didn't dare look at him and immediately looked away.

When the music ended, the hall was filled with cheers. The woman in red walked over, took her hand, and led her to the throne to bow in gratitude. They knelt for a long time, but received no word to rise.

The footsteps stopped in front of her. She looked up and saw a man with a blurred face. For some reason, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make out his features. But her intuition told her that he was handsome.

"What's your name?" he asked.

“True words”.

Yin Li suddenly opened her eyes, sat up, her forehead covered in sweat.

What's going on? The woman in my dream called herself Zhenyan? Isn't Zhenyan Kuiji's sister? She died in Mano Kingdom, killed by the Volgilians. To avenge her, Kuiji even sacrificed the entire population of Saka City.

She suddenly remembered what Xiaowen had said: the people you meet in this life are all predestined from your past life.

Could it be that she and Xiaowen were destined to meet in a past life?

But wasn't her previous life Princess Zhaoling? How did she become Zhenyan? Where did things go wrong?

"You're awake." A familiar yet terrifying voice sounded behind her. She turned around and saw a field of red flowers, the blossoms swaying gracefully in the wind like lotus flowers.

The handsome young man, as beautiful as a young girl, stood among the flowers, smiling gently at her. That smile was enough to charm a truckload of girls.

Yin Li looked around and frowned: "Where are they?"

"who?"

"Don't play dumb, where are Situ and Xiaowen?" Yin Li asked angrily.

Min Eun-joon smiled, walked towards her, and squatted down in front of her: "I'm sorry, it's just the two of us."

Yin Li gasped. She wasn't stupid; even a fool could guess that this man had kidnapped her.

"I'm going back to find them." She said, trying to get up, but Min Eun-jun grabbed her and pressed her down. She didn't know how this seemingly frail boy could have such strength, making her unable to move.

"From now on, you're mine." Min Enjun still smiled gently. Yin Li really wanted to slap him across the face and say fiercely, "No!"

"You have no choice but to agree." Min Eun-joon forcefully pushed her to the ground. Her scalp tingled, and her heart began to pound. "What...what are you going to do?"

"I'll leave my mark on you." Min Eun-joon's smile turned wicked, and a razor blade suddenly appeared in his hand. Yin Li was terrified and struggled desperately, but he held her down with one hand, and she still couldn't move. She began to wonder if this devilish boy had superpowers.

The blade sliced across her arm, and a sharp pain shot through her. Yin Li screamed, and Min Enjun leaned close to her ear, his breath warm and sweet: "Be good, don't move, it'll pass in a bit."

"Damn it!" she said through gritted teeth. "I won't let you get away with this!"

Min Eun-joon continued to smile without answering, focusing intently on carving on her arm. Waves of intense pain made her feel dizzy, her arm trembled, and blood gushed out, staining her snow-white skin a strange color.

As if being tortured, after what seemed like an eternity, Min Eun-joon lifted himself up, released her, and looked at his work with satisfaction: "Look, it's really beautiful."

Yin Li endured the excruciating pain, looked at her arm, and her face suddenly turned deathly pale.

On her fair skin, a Buddha's head was carved with a knife, and a snake was coiled around the Buddha's head with its mouth wide open, as if it wanted to swallow it whole.

Salang snake!

Yin Li looked at Min Enjun with trembling eyes: "You...you pervert."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Yin Li gritted her teeth: "Are you a descendant of the Shaluo Cult?"

“You could say that,” Min Enjun nodded slightly. “This is the emblem of the Kshatriya cult. Originally, when the Kshatriya cult flourished in ancient times, the emblem didn’t look like this. But later, Buddhism was introduced from Sindhu (Sindhu, pronounced Juān Dǔ, is the name of an ancient kingdom in the Indus River Valley. It first appeared in the Records of the Grand Historian and is the earliest Chinese translation of India). After it became the state religion of the rulers of various Western Regions, the emblem changed to this shape. This was to remind the descendants of the followers that we must take back everything that belongs to us from Buddhism!”

"You madman!" Yin Li roared, "Why did you carve this on my body? I have no grudge against you!"

Min Eun-joon reached out to stroke her cheek, but she slapped his hand away: "With this badge engraved on you, you will be a member of the Shaluo Cult. I want you to be loyal to the Shaluo Cult for the rest of your life."

"Don't even think about it!" Yin Li roared, slapping him across the face. Min Enjun easily grabbed her wrist, pulled the silver needle from between her fingers, and said disdainfully, "You think you can hurt me with this? Don't you think that's wishful thinking?"

"Let go of me!" Yin Li suddenly pulled her hand back, and in the process, she tore off his clothes, revealing his arm.

She froze, her mind almost completely blank.

There was a mark on his arm that looked exactly like a carving, which wouldn't have been surprising, but what he had on his body wasn't a carving, but rather...

birthmark!

That's right! It's a birthmark!

Min Eun-joon sneered: "What, are you surprised? Why would it be a birthmark? What's so strange about that? Did I ever say that I was a member of the Kshatriya Cult in this life?"

For a moment, Yin Li's mind went blank. What was he saying? Not in this life, but in his past life...?

A sudden pain shot through her chest, and countless strange, blurry images flashed through her mind. Her head began to throb, and she clutched it, nearly fainting. Min Eun-joon gently embraced her, took a glass bottle from his person containing half a bottle of purple liquid, and lifted her chin, saying, "Here, drink this."

"Get away!" Yin Li rudely pushed his hand away. His face turned cold, and he actually grabbed her neck and forced all the purple liquid into her mouth. A sweet fragrance flowed down her tongue and into her stomach. Yin Li felt nauseous and desperately gagged, trying to vomit, but only stomach acid came out.

A strange drowsiness gradually crept over her, and Yin Li's body went limp, collapsing. Min Enjun picked her up, his voice gentle, as if he were holding his most beloved person: "Sleep, and when you wake up, all your worries will be gone."

When Situ Xiang woke up, he had a terrible headache. He frowned and saw Caesar and Marcie squatting in front of him, muttering, "Where am I?"

“He’s really stunned,” Marcel said to Caesar. “Should we give him another whack and see if we can bring him back to his senses?”

Caesar gave a forced laugh: "It's not funny at all."

The pain in his arm brought Situ Xiang back to his senses. He looked at his gunshot wound; the bullet seemed to have been removed and the wound stitched up. Recalling what had happened before he fainted, his face darkened: "Where's Xiao Li?"

“Miss Yin has been taken away by Min Eun-jun,” Caesar said. “We are now outside the capital of Mano.”

The capital of Mano Kingdom?

Situ Xiang was shocked. He looked around and saw a city wall several meters high, built of rammed earth, standing in front of him. After a thousand years of wind and rain, its former grandeur was still evident.

Why are we here?

“I don’t know either.” Marshall shrugged. “After that damned tree was poisoned, we saw light at the end of the tunnel, so we led you out. Look, that’s the exit.”

Situ Xiang turned around and saw a two-meter-high stone tablet outside Mano City, with a passageway beneath it. Qin Wen and Miller leaned against the stone tablet, their heads bowed, motionless.

He found it strange. Miller was running a high fever and was unconscious, which was one thing, but Qin Wen was naturally bold. Could she have been so frightened by what happened in the tunnel that she went insane?

"What's wrong with Xiaowen?"

Caesar's eyes dimmed: "I don't know. She started acting like this when she was in the tunnel, like she'd lost her soul."

Situ Xiang came to Qin Wen's side, lifted her face, and saw that her eyes were unfocused and her face was pale. He was shocked. Was she really frightened?

"Xiaowen, wake up." He nudged her.

“Don’t waste your energy.” Caesar’s voice was a little hoarse. “I’ve tried many times, but it’s no use.”

Situ Xiang waved his hand in front of her face, but there was no reaction. He frowned and said, "What should we do? We can't leave her here alone, but taking her inside is too dangerous..."

Before Caesar could reply, he suddenly heard Miller let out a long sigh and open his eyes. Marcie was overjoyed and rushed over to help the captain up, asking, "Buddy, how are you feeling?"

"I think I had a dream." Miller rubbed his forehead and gave him a strange look. "Where's Hughes?"

Marcie's expression froze, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "He couldn't get out of the tree spirit's belly."

Death is commonplace for mercenaries, but a flicker of pain crossed Miller's face: "I've lost another brother. What about Mr. Min?"

Marcie was furious: "Captain, that guy surnamed Min doesn't treat us like human beings at all! He abandoned us and took Miss Yin into the city."

"A city?" Miller stood up, looking up at the towering city walls before him, feeling his blood boiling. "So this is Manor! It has been dead for over 2,500 years, and we have found it again today."

"team leader……"

"Marcel, I ask you, what do we mercenaries fight for?"

Marcie paused, then thought for a long time before replying: "Money."

“No, it’s for our future.” Miller corrected him. “The money we earn with our lives is for a better future. Marshall, would you like to come to the city with me? If we can get that thing, we and the families of our dead brothers will be set for life.”

"That thing?" Situ Xiang looked at Caesar, who smiled and said, "This is the Buddhist Kingdom. What do you think is the most precious treasure in the Buddhist Kingdom?"

Situ Xiang was stunned. A word flashed through his mind, like a bolt of lightning striking from the blue: Could it be... could it be...?

“It seems you’ve already guessed.” Caesar’s gaze swept over the three men in front of him. “Since we’re allies, let’s discuss who should get that thing.”

“Seventy-three split,” Miller said coldly. “We get seven, you get three. Including the families of our fallen brothers, it’s fair.”

“Since you know who I am, you should know I won’t let you do that.” Situ Xiang reached for his waist and found that the pistol was gone.

“We’re not killing you because you saved our lives.” Marcie pulled out his pistol and brandished it. “If you don’t agree, we can send you to your death right now!”

Situ Xiang clenched his fist, thought for a long time, and finally said, "Okay, I agree. But..." He paused, "Are you sure you'll still be alive to enjoy your share?"

Chapter Twenty-One: Mano's Empty City

silence.

A deathly silence.