El beso inolvidable de Ghost Lips

Capítulo 23

Taking advantage of the current, I hurriedly dodged, simultaneously thrusting the bamboo arrow in my hand fiercely at the snake's tail. Missing its target, the snake, surprisingly cunning, quickly retreated. Worried about the young master, I wiped the water from my face and leaped to the surface. Catching my breath, just as I was about to plunge back into the water, suddenly, water splashed around me, and the young master and maid simultaneously burst from the surface.

It seemed that the damned multi-tailed snake had been enraged by us, and seven or eight of its tails burst out of the water at the same time, viciously coiling towards the young master and maid.

"Watch out!" I shouted. As I spoke, I rushed over, grabbed one of the snakes by the tail, and started punching it repeatedly. Faced with this situation, I didn't have time to be afraid or consider whether the snake was venomous or not.

Seeing this, the young master and maid followed my example, each grabbing a snake's tail and giving it a good beating. We have very few bamboo arrows, and we've already lost many, so we need to use them sparingly.

From the water's surface, I could clearly see that most snakes, regardless of their surface color, have a white underside. But this snake's tail was strangely different; its entire body was pitch black and covered in scales.

The girl was weak and couldn't hold onto the snake's tail. She tumbled several times on the surface and was almost dragged back into the water. The young master and I helped her several times before we managed to hold her back. But that wasn't a solution. Those damned snake tails weren't just three; now they were all above the water. I counted them roughly, and there were probably nine in total. The remaining six were even more difficult to defend against.

I was a little puzzled. The part of the bronze figure exposed above the water was about the size of a real person, but its snake tails were enormous. Each one seemed as thick as a bucket, almost completely filling the passageway, which was only a little over two meters wide. Because of this, it was very clumsy when it turned, which gave us the ability to fight back. If we were in an open area, these snake tails would probably have killed us long ago.

After about five or six minutes of fierce fighting, both the young master and I were exhausted and our limbs were weak. The girl was even worse off, being dragged into the water by the snake's tail several times.

"Brother Xu, you're slapping its face..." the girl said, panting heavily.

I was stunned. Face? What face do these snake tails have? Do you expect me to punch the bronze mannequin?

"Slap his face..." the maid cried out again. Distracted by her words, she was caught off guard and dragged into the water by the snake's tail. I hurriedly abandoned the snake's tail and reached for the bronze figure. There must be a reason why the maid wanted me to slap his face.

But the moment I moved, those damned snake tails seemed to know my intention. Three of them abandoned the young master and coiled towards me simultaneously. I cursed and helplessly dodged, then, clutching the chains, lunged at the bronze statue's head again. But just then, I heard a whooshing sound behind me, startling me so much that I quickly ducked and submerged. The snake tails seized the opportunity and coiled around my waist once more.

"Damn it!" I saw it clearly; the sound of something cutting through the air behind me was actually the young master shooting a bamboo arrow. Before I could even curse, three snake tails simultaneously wrapped around my waist, dragging me into the water.

"My life is over!" I sighed inwardly, almost giving up the struggle. To be honest, I was so tired, so exhausted that I couldn't even open my eyes. The weariness that came from my very bones made me want to give up all resistance.

Just then, the snake's tail, which had been wrapped around my waist, suddenly retreated as if possessed. At the same time, the girl also surfaced, but her face was pale, and her lips had turned slightly purple from being in the cold water for so long.

That young master, who values women over friends, had already swum over, grabbed the girl, and started kneading and squeezing her while calling her name repeatedly. Once we were sure the girl was just frightened and weak from being in the water for so long, and was otherwise unharmed, we were relieved.

Only then did I have time to examine the bronze figurine again. The young master's arrow had struck it squarely in the eye socket, but the bamboo arrow hadn't pierced the eye; instead, it had fallen into the water. Even so, it had transformed it back into an ordinary bronze artifact; all the snake tails had disappeared, making it exactly as we had seen it. At first glance, it appeared to be a bronze artifact of historical research value, enough to excite antique collectors like myself and the young master, and enough to drive an archaeologist like the maid crazy.

If I hadn't narrowly escaped death, I would never have believed that this rusty bronze artifact possessed such powerful offensive capabilities.

I asked the girl, "How did you know hitting its face would work?" Her already pale face flushed slightly at my question, and she stammered that she'd just guessed. It turned out that the girl didn't know why the bronze figure had turned into a snake either. But when she saw the bronze figure's snake tail revive, while its human face above the water remained unchanged, a thought struck her. She realized that perhaps the bronze figure's only control mechanism was in its head. However, she didn't know how to control it, and in her desperation, she could only tell us to hit its head.

The young master must have had some incredible luck; with a single arrow, the bronze humanoid stopped moving, and its snake tail returned to its normal bronze form.

So, it seems we were truly blessed; even a lucky guess can sometimes come true. But thinking about the young master's arrow just now, it was truly a close call—if I hadn't reacted quickly, that arrow wouldn't have hit the bronze statue, but rather unfortunate me.

I secretly scorned the young master, and the girl broke free from his embrace, staring blankly at the dark hole exposed behind the bronze statue.

I said, "Girl, what's wrong?"

The girl lowered her head and remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Brother Xu, I always feel that there's something strange about this bronze figurine?"

I said, no matter how strange its method is, our most important issue now is getting out of here. Let's stop thinking about this. The girl didn't know what to say after I said that, and nodded in agreement. I touched the water droplets on my face. I was soaked from head to toe, and after being in the water for so long, I felt like my legs were going to cramp. I immediately said, "I'll go first, girl in the middle, and young master will bring up the rear."

The young master muttered, "Why should he be the one to cover the rear?" But I had already plunged into the dark cave entrance. I had seen figures flash by the entrance twice earlier, so being the first to go in, I was naturally extremely cautious. But to my surprise, there was nothing in the cave, which was less than a meter long. I crawled over, thank goodness, there was no water here at all. Without bothering to assess my surroundings, I hurriedly pulled the maid and the young master out as well.

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Since there was no water, the young master and the maid simultaneously turned on their flashlights. Although the three flashlights weren't very bright, they were enough for us to see everything clearly. Upon seeing what was there, the three of us couldn't help but smile wryly. While there was no water beneath our feet, what lay before us was an even larger pool. Beneath our feet was only a strip of white stones about a meter wide; beyond it lay an endless, boundless pool.

Yes, describing it as boundless is truly an understatement. This pool is indeed enormous; we shone our flashlights into it, and it was a pitch-black expanse, with no end in sight. What shocked us even more was that the iron chain we'd seen earlier didn't end at the passageway, but extended all the way here, traversing the pool. We had no idea how long it was, or where it ended.

Fortunately, there was a white stone path over the pool that was still only about a meter wide, allowing people to pass through.

Just as we were surveying our surroundings, a metallic scraping sound came from behind us. We were all startled and quickly turned around. Sure enough, there was another bronze human figure on the stone wall behind us. Because this bronze figure wasn't submerged in water, its corrosion was much better than the previous one. Its face and body were exactly the same as the one on the other side of the stone wall, and the thick iron chain ran through its body, extending across the entire underground pool.

The bronze human figure is covered with scale-like patterns. The upper body is human-shaped, while the lower body is a snake, coiled up. The difference is that the snake's tail coiled in a circle that we saw on the other side was empty, but this one has a small human figure coiled up, which also looks like it was cast in bronze.

At that moment, the bronze human figure slowly moved, blocking the dark entrance we had climbed through, cutting off our retreat.

After the fierce battle we just fought, we were all filled with fear of the bronze human figure, and none of us dared to provoke it. Watching it seal off the entire cave entrance, I looked again at the small human figure coiled around its tail, and something felt off.

Upon closer inspection, I couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah!" I was startled. This tiny servant, that face—why did it look so familiar? I shook my head vigorously, and suddenly it dawned on me: when I was over there, I had looked at this cave entrance twice, and each time I felt as if someone had flashed past. In fact, the first time, I had even seen a deathly pale face.

Now, the little servant's body was entangled by a snake, making it indistinct, but wasn't that face the same pale human face I had just seen? My heart was pounding uncontrollably.

"Old Xu, what's wrong with you? Stop scaring people like that, okay?" The young master slung the crossbow over his back and rolled his eyes at me.

I was terrified of the bronze human figure and dared not linger any longer. I quickly said, "Let's go!"

The girl agreed; the only way out now was naturally that white stone path, about a meter wide. In fact, calling it a white stone bridge would be more accurate. Since it was the only path, I was afraid there might be some powerful traps or mechanisms on the white stone bridge, so I carefully stepped onto it first.

After taking a couple of steps and finding nothing unusual, she called the young master and maid to walk together along the long, even somewhat eerie iron chain, which was right next to the White Stone Bridge and whose destination was unknown.

For some reason, I suddenly wondered: what exactly is this iron chain meant to lock up? Is it meant to lock up us, these uninvited guests, and send us all the way to the underworld?

All around was darkness, and the pool stretched to the horizon, which only intensified the sense of dread. The three of us walked alone on this dark white stone bridge, feeling as if we were crossing the Bridge of Helplessness in the underworld, with the evil spirits and the Netherworld Palace awaiting us ahead.

"What...what's that ahead?" The young master asked, his voice trembling as he held up his flashlight.

I was startled. To conserve electricity, I turned off my flashlight, relying solely on the one in the young master's hand for illumination. After all, we didn't know when we'd be able to get out of this hellhole, and underground, without lighting, it was certain death. So, upon hearing this, I looked in the direction of the flashlight beam in the young master's hand, and what I saw sent a chill down my spine: about five or six meters away from us, two figures were crouching, watching us without moving.

The little girl covered her mouth with her hand to keep from screaming. I was stunned for a moment. After all, we had been frightened by too many unexpected events in this place. I seemed to be a little confused by the fright, and I actually took the initiative to walk forward.

The three of us approached the two crouching figures step by step. The sound of our footsteps echoed on the white stone bridge, amplified by the sound of the water, making it all the more alarming.

One step, two steps, three steps… Gradually, we were finally able to see the two figures crouching on the stone bridge clearly, and the three of us couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It turned out that the figures were not living people, but two bronze statues, and they were not crouching on the ground, but kneeling on the ground, one on each side of the stone bridge.

Only when they were right in front of me could I see them clearly. These two bronze human figures were cast with extremely exquisite craftsmanship. They were completely naked, kneeling on the ground, and were actually a man and a woman. Because their heads and faces were bent over, they were not clearly visible, so I could not see their facial expressions. I guessed that they were made in the shape of slaves to be buried with the deceased.

What amazed me even more was that the strangely shaped iron chain actually wrapped around the necks of the two bronze figures once, and then extended forward again.

As the three of us approached, the girl's pretty face flushed slightly. Both bronze human figures were completely naked. Slaves in ancient times had the lowest social status, and they probably didn't even have clothes to wear. But the girl was, after all, a young woman, and seeing naked human figures made her blush.

I was troubled. There was only one path, and these two bronze slave figures, almost lifelike, were kneeling on the stone bridge, blocking our way. If we wanted to cross, we would have to step over their heads.

Having just experienced the resurrection of the nine-tailed serpent bronze humanoid, the three of us were hesitant to simply regard this thing as a bronze artifact, fearing that we might accidentally trigger some mechanism and activate the slave humanoid again. Heaven knows, slave rebellions are incredibly powerful.

As I hesitated, the young master gently pushed me and whispered, "Old Xu, go for it!"

I gritted my teeth; this was the only way. We couldn't afford to cross over those two slaves. So, the only option was to swim across. But we'd been in the water for too long, we were soaking wet and freezing, and nobody wanted to go in. Besides, the water in this pool looked dark and murky; we didn't know if there were any monsters in it. If that nine-tailed serpent from before were to appear here, without the control of the terrain, it could easily strangle the three of us to death.

Thinking this, I immediately stepped forward, striding towards the slave servant. Heaven knows, my legs were trembling. But thank goodness, I made it through. The slave servant was still a servant, unchanged. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief; next was the maid. But the maid hesitated, unwilling to step forward.

The young master, with a sigh, stepped over the servants and came over first. We both turned around simultaneously, intending to help the maid over. But in that instant, our souls nearly left our bodies…

Another head suddenly appeared on the girl's shoulder—a deathly pale head with a sunken nose, no eyes, but a hideous smile on its lips, and it bit down on the girl's neck.

"Girl!" I roared, my mind blank. At the same time, the young master's movements were astonishingly fast. I only heard a whooshing sound as a bamboo arrow shot towards that pale, lifeless head.

With a loud "bang," the bamboo arrow grazed the girl's head, striking her pale, slender scalp. With a soft "splash," something seemed to fall behind the girl, landing directly in the water. I clearly saw a small ripple appear in the water, and then nothing more.

In my haste, I didn't get a good look at what it was, but it was definitely not a person.

The girl was terrified, her legs trembling. It was astonishing that she had run so fast, rushing towards us. The young master and I hurriedly helped her up. The girl was so frightened that she didn't even dare to cry, glancing at the dark water with lingering fear.

Taking advantage of the moment I helped the girl up, I glanced at her back. Her clothes were already soaked, but I couldn't see anything wrong with them. I asked, "Girl, what happened just now?" I was suspicious. When did that thing silently climb onto the girl's back? And what exactly was that thing?

"I...I don't know..." the girl stammered.

The young master and I were busy comforting her, but I couldn't help glancing at him. He was deathly pale, and his breathing was rapid. I knew he was just as terrified as I was. That bamboo arrow had been incredibly dangerous; if it had been even slightly off target, the girl would have been bitten by that unknown creature or injured by the young master's arrow.

After holding it in for a long time, the young master finally said, "Old Xu, damn it... just now..."

I knew what he wanted to say, so I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you did a great job."

The young master took a deep breath and said to me, "Old Xu, if I can find a way to break the curse of the Yellow River Dragon Coffin and go back alive, I'll close this business and go back to running my little restaurant. I'll never do this kind of antique business again."

To be honest, I had the same thought, and I immediately nodded. "Don't say anything more. As long as we're not dead, there's still a chance to get out. This place is very eerie, everyone be careful." As I spoke, I supported the girl. After the dangerous scene just now, the three of us walked forward cautiously.

The exact length of the stone bridge was unknown, but ever since the pair of bronze slave figures appeared, a pair of bronze slave figures would appear every five or six steps, all kneeling and prostrate on the bridge with their faces down. And the long, strange iron chain would always wrap around the slave figures' necks once before extending forward again.

I became suspicious and counted. We had already passed eight pairs of servants. According to the theory of "nine times nine equals one", there should be one more pair of slave servants ahead!

Sure enough, after walking a few steps forward, another pair of servants appeared in front of us. The girl, with her sharp eyes, pointed ahead and said, "Brother Xu, look!"

The three of us looked up and stared ahead, and in that instant, we were all stunned by an indescribable sense of unease. We didn't know how to describe it—in the middle of an endless pool, a white jade platform, as large as a basketball court, stood on the water's surface, and water cascaded down from all around it, converging into the pool. This scene looked strangely familiar.

The girl whispered, "Brother Xu, look, isn't this scene very similar to the Nine Dragon Pit outside when we came in?"

"Yes!" The girl's words suddenly reminded me. Indeed, the scene of this stone platform and pool is remarkably similar to that of Jiulong Pit. Could it be that there's some kind of feng shui mystery underground? Because we were underground, our flashlights were extremely dim, making it difficult to see clearly, let alone the scene on the stone platform. Immediately, we stepped over the last pair of slave servants and quickly walked to the stone platform.

Chapter Six: The Entangling Silk Cave

It wasn't until we got close to the stone platform that we could see it clearly. The structure here was indeed similar to the Nine Dragon Pit outside, with a white jade dragon head on each side, from which water flowed into a dark pool. The only difference from the Nine Dragon Pit was that the Nine Dragon Pit had nine dragon mouths spouting water, while here it seemed there were only eight.

The white jade platform was about three zhang high, but the view from the top was completely obscured. It was unknown whether there was a coffin on it, or which emperor was buried there.

Almost unanimously, the young master, the maid, and I were certain that this was the final resting place of an emperor. Just looking at the imposing white jade platform, it was an experience beyond the reach of ordinary people. The maid, after her recent frights, had lost the excitement she felt upon entering the tomb of King Liu of Guangchuan. However, a blush returned to her pale face, leaving me momentarily stunned.

"Damn it, Old Xu, do you think this platform is made of white jade?" the young master said, already reaching out to touch the carved white jade railing.

I couldn't tell whether the entire platform was made of white jade, but for some reason, looking at this pure white platform, which also faintly revealed a translucent, mutton-fat-like color, I felt a sudden stirring in my heart. This feeling was so familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before. But for the moment, I just couldn't remember where.

"If this is white jade, how much fine jade must there be?" The girl's eyes were clearly filled with fascination. In today's jade market, even a small piece of mutton-fat white jade, regardless of whether it's antique or not, can be worth millions, and it's the kind you can't buy even with money. If it's antique jade, with even the slightest connection to history, its price becomes immeasurable.

If this is mutton fat jade, just breaking off a piece and taking it out would be enough for us to live comfortably for the rest of our lives.

"Shall we go up and take a look?" I asked the young master and maid for their opinion. Looking at the white jade platform, the feeling of familiarity in my heart grew stronger.

"No!" The girl suddenly took a step back, her face full of fear, and her complexion turned a little pale as she looked at the white jade platform.

The young master and I were both startled, thinking some ghost had appeared again. We quickly looked at the white jade platform, but nothing had changed. We both breathed a huge sigh of relief and complained, "Girl, don't be so jumpy, okay? You scared us! What's wrong with that?"

The girl shook her head repeatedly, and after a long while, she said, "Didn't you notice that the material of this stone platform is exactly the same as that of the dragon coffin at the bottom of the Yellow River? No! Not only that, but even the appearance seems very similar..."

Hearing her say that, I couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah!" Yes, when I saw this white jade platform earlier, I had a strange sense of familiarity. It turns out, this white jade platform is made of the same material as the dragon coffin at the bottom of the Yellow River. The young master and I had only touched the dragon coffin at the bottom of the Yellow River; we had never seen it emerge from the water. But the girl, who followed the professor, had seen the dragon coffin emerge from the water. Although some of the subsequent excavation and cleaning work was kept secret by certain people, the girl knew a little more than we did.

I pondered for a moment and asked the girl, "Are you sure the material of this stone platform is exactly the same as the dragon coffin at the bottom of the Yellow River?"

The girl nodded firmly. I shone my flashlight up again; the tall stone platform resembled a building, and I couldn't make anything out of it unless I climbed up. But we had all experienced the eeriness of the dragon coffin before, and many innocent people had died there—the professor, Shan Jun… and that honest, simple-minded Wang Quansheng. Their狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) smiles after death seemed to flicker right before my eyes.

Could there be some connection between the Yellow River Dragon Coffin and the underground platform here? The stone is similar to mutton fat jade, and the style is the same, so they seem to be from the same period.

"Never mind all that, let's go up and take a look first!" The young master rolled up his wet sleeves and frowned.

I think so too. We don't have much time. Putting aside the curse, just being underground, without food or water, and with flashlight batteries that won't last long, if we don't find a way out quickly, we'll either die from the curse or starve and be trapped here.

The girl naturally didn't object. The three of us carefully stepped onto the exquisitely carved white jade steps, but to our surprise, nothing happened. I shone my flashlight on the beautiful patterns on the ground while feeling around for the strangely long iron chain.

The iron chain was wrapped around each of the kneeling bronze slave figures, and then stretched across the white jade platform, its purpose of binding something unknown. At this point, I was certain that this white jade platform was connected to the Yellow River Dragon Coffin in some way. The patterns carved on the white jade steps were remarkably similar to those on the bronze artifacts we had discovered.

I can't figure out what these patterns are trying to express. The patterns on these stone steps are intact, without any damage or corrosion from the passage of time. Although there is a little dust, the exquisite beauty of the past is still evident, even though they are not in water.

The maid and I were drawn to the exquisite patterns on the stone steps and the railings beside them, examining them closely with our flashlights. Although the young master had been dealing in antique plates for the past few years, his understanding of antiques was still somewhat lacking. Although he knew this was a valuable item, worth a fortune if shipped out, this white jade table was a large piece and absolutely could not be shown to the public, so he wasn't very interested.

"What a pity, what a pity..." The girl looked at it for about three or four minutes and shook her head repeatedly, saying, "What a pity."

I said, "What's the pity? Do you also want to move this white jade platform out?" The girl smiled wryly and said she wasn't that greedy. The main problem was that none of us recognized the ancient bird-script characters. Otherwise, perhaps we could have deciphered the relationship between this white jade platform and the Yellow River dragon coffin. Perhaps, we could have broken the curse of the dragon coffin.

I saw it too, of course. On the white jade steps and railings, besides the beautiful decorative patterns, there were some bird-script characters that we didn't recognize. As for what was written, it knew me, but I didn't know it.

"Are you two ever going to stop? Hurry up and go take a look! Maybe there's some treasure up there." The young master urged us impatiently.

I nodded in agreement. Anyway, we wouldn't be able to figure out anything from this thing anyway, so we might as well go up and take a look.