El beso inolvidable de Ghost Lips

Capítulo 53

To my surprise, the vines multiplied, becoming increasingly dense as I progressed. In some places, the entire tunnel was completely covered by them. Left with no other option, I had to stop and use my ancient bronze sword to cut down all the vines before I could continue. These cut vines quickly rotted, turning into pools of black, foul-smelling liquid, reminiscent of rotting corpses. I had no idea whether they were poisonous or not.

My arms felt increasingly sore and numb, and my sword-wielding speed slowed down. But the vines in front of me were multiplying, and my clothes were soaked with sweat again. I couldn't help but cry out, "Mr. Huang, please help me, I... I'm exhausted..."

"Old Xu, you... watch out!" Just then, Huang Zhihua exclaimed from behind.

I was startled and my hand slowed slightly. I felt a tightening around my waist as the vines constricted me tightly. They were incredibly strong, almost breaking my back. I quickly swung my sword down and cut the vines in half, but at that moment, countless more vines surged up again. I couldn't explain what was happening. Often, when I cut a vine, three or four smaller vines would sprout from the broken end, and their growth rate was astonishing. I couldn't even catch my breath before handing the bronze sword to Huang Zhihua.

Huang Zhihua and the young master behind me were not having an easy time either. Each of them had a dagger and kept cutting off the tangled vines.

I slowed down slightly and almost tripped over a vine, which made me furious. I swung my ancient bronze sword wildly again...

"Young Master..." Huang Zhihua exclaimed from behind me. I turned around and was immediately startled. The young master was a little slow and was entangled by dozens of vines, hanging in mid-air. I didn't care about myself and rushed over to save the young master. I managed to cut off a few vines that were entangled in the young master, but then I was also entangled by several vines. Huang Zhihua was in a worse situation than me because he was protecting me.

"Old Xu, hang in there, I'll take over..." Huang Zhihua also lost his temper, and the soldier's fiery temper was finally on full display at this moment.

I brandished the ancient bronze sword; in fact, even without his permission, I would have done my best to protect him.

He quickly pulled another grenade from his backpack, and without even looking at it, pulled the pin and hurled it, while simultaneously holding the young master down tightly.

A flash of fire, and I lay on the ground, too afraid to move. That damned Huang Zhihua, how dare he throw a grenade in a place like this? Is he looking for death?

The explosion almost deafened me. This time it was different from the last one. The explosion was too close to us, and it was in a dark tunnel. I felt a tightness in my chest, as if something had hit me hard.

"Oh no...fire..." The young master had already stumbled to his feet, but he was stunned when he saw what was happening. I looked up and was also dumbfounded. I understood what Huang Zhihua meant. The vines in this section of the tunnel were too dense, making it almost impossible for us to move. So, he wanted to blow them up with grenades. Although it was a bit risky, the vines here seemed to be very sturdy, so blowing them up wouldn't be a big deal.

However, to everyone's surprise, after the grenade exploded, all the vines caught fire wherever the flames reached. These vines seemed to contain oil, and once they came into contact with the flames, they immediately crackled and burned spectacularly.

"It's over, it's over..." The young master said, his face pale and trembling, "We weren't eaten by ghosts, but this time we're going to become roasted human flesh buns."

"Put on your masks, let's rush over..." As soon as the flames hit the tunnel, a pungent stench hit us. Due to the lack of ventilation, there was also a lot of black smoke, which made it impossible for us to even open our eyes. Now we don't have to worry about not having lighting tools.

Upon hearing this, I hurriedly rummaged through my backpack to find a gas mask and put it on. Huang Zhihua, without saying a word, also put on a mask and took out all the remaining grenades from his backpack.

"What are you doing?" the young master exclaimed, trying to stop him.

"Let him throw it, or we'll all die," I said hastily. Damn it, if we rush out of the flames and get engulfed by the flames, and he's carrying grenades, wouldn't we be committing suicide if they exploded?

After I explained it to the young master, he immediately understood the key point. Huang Zhihua then threw several more grenades in front and behind, and the entire tunnel was filled with thick smoke and explosions. I covered my head and lay on the ground, feeling a strange and inexplicable feeling. It was quite unique to raid a tomb with such a grand scale as ours.

It's really strange how this tunnel was built. How come there wasn't any collapse at all after such an explosion?

After the explosion, the entire tunnel was so dark you could barely open your eyes. Thick smoke and billowing flames rushed towards us. I grabbed the young master's hand and we ran forward, stumbling along, with Huang Zhihua close behind.

"There's wind ahead..." I felt the thick smoke ahead being blown by a cold wind, all of it hitting my face, which was very uncomfortable.

"Don't worry about anything else, just run over there and talk about it later," Huang Zhihua roared through gritted teeth.

I wildly swung the ancient bronze sword and ran forward...

"What is that?" the young master exclaimed in surprise.

"Light!" I looked ahead and saw a faint blue light shining through the thick smoke. I was overjoyed. Light—that meant there was a way out.

"Hurry..." The three people, who were already exhausted, ran forward desperately after suddenly seeing the blue light.

"An exit... there really is an exit!" I was the first to run to the opening where the blue light shone. I could see clearly that it was a small opening, big enough for one person to climb out. I didn't care about anything else and hurriedly darted out, but I was thrown into the air and fell heavily into the water with a splash. At the same time, I heard two more splashes in my ears. Needless to say, the young master and Huang Zhihua also fell into the water.

I frantically swam in the water, grabbing onto a protruding rock beside me. I touched my face and caught my breath before I had a chance to take in my surroundings—damn it, the three of us had fallen into the Yellow River! And that tiny hole, not very big, was right on the bank of the Yellow River, with the water level less than a meter below it. If the Yellow River flooded, it would definitely be submerged.

I looked up and saw the hillside that had almost cost us our lives not far away. But from this angle, the once inconspicuous mountains now appeared more majestic, winding and forming their own unique shape. It seemed that the old man from Nanpaizi was right; someone had indeed put a lot of effort into altering the terrain of this place.

However, how much effort would it take to alter the natural terrain of a mountain by human intervention?

I looked up at the sky and suddenly felt like crying. I don't know if there's any lost civilization in that shadowy Kunlun Mountain, but I do know that in that place, the girl was lost...

We don't know how long we wandered around in that underground tomb. It seems that after entering there, our watches and other devices stopped working. Judging from the weather, it seems to be afternoon now, with large, dark clouds floating overhead and the Yellow River churning. Perhaps because of the bad weather, we didn't see a single boat on the Yellow River.

I dragged my soaking wet clothes out of the Yellow River, then pulled the young master up as well. The guy lay on the ground, spat out some water, looked up at the sky, and then started to cry like a child.

Huang Zhihua lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, looking up at the sky without saying a word.

I sat on the ground for a while until I regained some strength, then dragged my tired legs to my feet, looked up at the hillside not far away, and asked, "What did you see? Why did you run?"

“I saw the girl…” Huang Zhihua gasped for breath and said in a low voice.

"What?" The young master jumped up, and with a strength that seemed to come from nowhere, he yanked Huang Zhihua up from the ground and asked fiercely, "Since you saw her, why didn't you rescue her too? Why did you run away with us? And do you know that you used explosives and you might kill the girl?"

"Of course I know!" Huang Zhihua slammed the young master to the ground and roared, "You know nothing! If I hadn't left, we would be the ones dying right now, you know that? I saw the girl... the girl..." As he said this, his face was filled with terror, and he sat down on the ground again.

"What exactly did you see?" I asked urgently.

“I saw the girl wearing a long golden dress, standing on that Bagua platform, with eight monsters around her. Do you know what those monsters looked like? They were all wolf-faced and human-bodied…” Huang Zhihua said, trembling.

Upon hearing this, I collapsed to the ground. In that instant, I understood why Huang Zhihua had run away. Even when we encountered the dragon monster and the serpent in the tomb, he hadn't run away. But—one of our companions had suddenly become the enemy. How could he fire a bullet from his gun? How could we possibly harm the girl?

Huang Zhihua continued, saying that perhaps what he saw wasn't the girl, but the tomb's owner from thousands of years ago, yet her appearance was exactly the same as the girl's. Under such circumstances, he couldn't bring himself to do it; the only way was to escape. But he never imagined that he would stumble upon the tomb's exit.

The young master lay on the ground, silent. Looking at the surging Yellow River before me, I thought for a moment and said, "Let's go back first and find that old scoundrel from the south to get some answers. Damn it, he definitely knows something but doesn't want to say..."

The young master, who had been looking ashen-faced, suddenly stood up and cursed fiercely, "That's right, if he continues to play dumb, I'll chop him up and throw him into the Yellow River to feed the turtles."

The three of us discussed it for a while and unanimously decided to go back and find the old man from the south to find out the whole story, and then enter the ancient tomb through the exit we used to exit to look for the girl. This entrance was obviously much more convenient than the one the old man from the south had found, and it led directly to the ancient tomb without taking any detours. It seemed that the policeman and the old man who died inside had entered through this entrance, rather than through the original Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye.

In response, I not only gave that old man from the south a good look of contempt, but he also said that there was a shortcut, yet he made us fight our way through all the obstacles.

The three of us finally managed to flag down a hand-operated tractor on the banks of the Yellow River, but the driver refused to give us a ride no matter what. No matter how much the young master pleaded, he just wouldn't agree. Finally, Huang Zhihua got angry, feeling like a gun was pointed at his head, and immediately scared the honest tractor owner so much that he ran away in a panic and hurriedly invited the three of us, these plagues, onto the tractor.

The tractor bumped along the road, taking us back to the guesthouse in Donghua Town. Before the tractor had even come to a complete stop, I jumped off and rushed inside. There were a few other guests in the guesthouse, and I didn't know what they were there for. They all looked at us with surprise, as if we were ghosts.

I know that I look no better than a ghost right now. I'm covered in water, and there are several holes burned in my clothes. My whole body was originally soaking wet, but after two or three hours of bumping around on the tractor, the wind has dried a lot of my wet clothes. However, the yellow sand and mud are still stuck to my clothes. Plus, I'm carrying an ancient bronze sword on my back. I look exactly like a water ghost that crawled out of the Yellow River.

Seeing that we had ill intentions, Zhao Daniu from the guesthouse rushed out and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, are you here for a stay or a meal? Come, come, rest for a while first..." As he spoke, he quickly pulled over a long bench, wiped it with a cloth, and invited us to sit down with a smile.

"Get out!" the young master roared fiercely.

Seeing Zhao Daniu's embarrassed look, I realized that this young man hadn't recognized us. I immediately forced a smile and asked, "You don't recognize me? We stayed here for a few days a few days ago. Where's the old man who came with us?"

Zhao Daniu looked me up and down for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Oh, you're a regular customer. Ah... where did you three grandpas go? That old lady is really hard to please. She waited for you for two days, paid the bill yesterday evening, and has already left..."

"What? He's gone?" Even Huang Zhihua couldn't hold back this time. He jumped up, grabbed Zhao Daniu, and asked urgently, "Do you know where he went?"

"This...this..." Poor Zhao Daniu was so frightened by Huang Zhihua that he couldn't even speak. I quickly pulled Huang Zhihua away and forced a smile as I asked about the whereabouts of the old man from the south, but Zhao Daniu knew nothing about it. The young master was very angry and almost threw a punch at me. Fortunately, Huang Zhihua finally calmed down and pulled him away.

Old Man Nanpaizi is nowhere to be found, and I'm worried too. The girl's matter can't be delayed, and we've lost too many tools; we desperately need to replenish them. Donghua Town is pitifully poor; it has nothing. In desperation, I thought for a moment and asked Zhao Daniu to get us some food. To be honest, I'm almost starving.

Zhao Daniu quickly fried a plate of eggs for us, along with a side dish, half a bottle of baijiu, and a large pot of rice. Although the rice wasn't very good, none of us cared, and we wolfed it down. To be honest, I ate a whole bowl.

"What do we do now?" Huang Zhihua asked me, wiping his mouth.

I didn't say anything. I bought a pack of cigarettes from Zhao Daniu, lit one, and took a deep drag. Looking at the swirling smoke in front of me, I was just as uncertain as I was... What should I do? The only way was to go back to the Kunlun Wind Eye and see if I could rescue the girl.

"I wonder if we can buy anything here." I sighed and said softly, "I can't leave the girl behind; we still have to go." To be honest, if I could, I would rather have never been to the Yellow River in my life...

Huang Zhihua and the young master both nodded in agreement. Since they couldn't find the old man from the South, they would have to rely on themselves. I unconsciously touched my neck, my fingers lingering on a scar. I couldn't help but recall its origin—it was after Wang Quansheng's death, when I fled to Donghua Town, and the young master followed, hoping to learn something and find some treasure. As a result, we encountered the old professor and the girl. That night, Old Cai took us to see the Yellow River Eye, and then—Shan Jun died, his death so bizarre and mysterious. To this day, whenever I think of him, I can't help but recall his eyes staring at me even after his death…and the eerie smile on his face.

Later, at Hu Lai and Wang Ming's invitation, we went to the Yellow River Eye. It seemed like I was being pulled by something, and I thought I was going to die, so I slit my own throat. Then… the young master brought me out, and the old man sitting on the corpse grabbed a handful of sand and poured it down my throat, saving me…

The old man sitting on a corpse?

Oh right, how could I forget about that strange old man? I remember he once warned me not to go to the Demon King's Cave, so he should know something about the Yellow River Eye and Shadow Kunlun. Maybe... I can ask him for help.

I carefully voiced my thoughts immediately. The young master had met the old man sitting on the corpse, so he naturally agreed. Huang Zhihua originally did not agree with strangers knowing about this matter, but firstly, the old man Nanpaizi was trying to avoid us by leaving us, and secondly, we really didn't know anything about Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye and Demon King Ghost Cave. So he reluctantly agreed to my suggestion.

After settling the bill with Zhao Daniu and inquiring about the address of the old man sitting on the corpse, I set off with the young master and Huang Zhihua to the old man's house. From Zhao Daniu, I learned that the old man's real surname was Chen. Because he had dealt with ghosts a lot, the people of Donghua Town respected him. Most people respectfully called him Mr. Chen, but some young people behind his back did not take it seriously and called him Old Ghost Chen.

I thought to myself, that old man sitting on the corpse really has the potential to become a ghost, but now we need his help.

Chen Laogui's house was even more dilapidated than the ordinary houses in Donghua Town. The two thatched houses stood in disarray at the very back of Donghua Town. I asked several people along the way, and finally found Chen Laogui's residence amidst the surprised looks of the crowd.

The two rotten wooden doors were tightly closed. I wondered to myself whether Old Man Chen was home or not, and we didn't have time to waste.

I reached out and knocked on the wooden door. The door echoed with a thud, and before I could even wait, it creaked open.

"I knew you'd come!" Old Chen was still the same as last time, opening the door for us, and his blunt words almost choked me.

"Mr. Chen, I have something to ask you!" I said directly, without being polite.

“I know, come in. I have a few of your friends here, and I’m sure you’d like to meet them…” Old Chen said, stepping aside to let us into the room.

I was suspicious. Where would we find friends here? But when I stepped into the room, I was stunned. Old Man Nanpaizi was sitting upright in a chair, with Hu Lai and Wang Ming standing behind him.

Upon seeing that old scoundrel from the south, my anger flared up. I rushed in, grabbed his clothes, lifted him off the chair, and roared, "Old devil, look what you've done!"

"Hey brother, you're back, hehe..." Old Man Nanpai grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. Seeing me clench my fist to hit him, Old Man Chen quickly pulled me away.

I figured we were guests, and now that we were at Old Man Chen's house, and we needed their help, we couldn't afford to make things worse. So I let go, took two steps back, and glared angrily at Old Man Nanpaizi.

Huang Zhihua and the young master looked at him coldly, their expressions even more unfriendly. If they could, I believe that even if Huang Zhihua didn't make a move, the young master would have shot him dead.

"You'd better explain this to us clearly later, or we'll kill you to make you pay for the girl's life," the young master threatened fiercely.

"Alright, have a seat first." Old Chen acted as peacemaker, pulling out a long bench for us to sit on. The room, which wasn't big to begin with, felt even more cramped with the three of us in it.

The old man from the south asked me what exactly happened. I had calmed down by now and knew that even if I killed the old man, I wouldn't get the girl out. The most urgent thing was to rescue her. I thought for a moment and then told him everything that had happened since we entered the Shadow Kunlun Eye. The young master and Huang Zhihua added to the story, and occasionally the old man from the south and Chen Laogui would chime in with questions.

It's one thing for the old man from the South to be interested in the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye, but I just don't understand why that old ghost Chen seems to be very familiar with it as well. Then I couldn't help but laugh sarcastically. This old man has been in Donghua Town for so many years, and his business is so strange. It would be a miracle if he didn't know about the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye.

After we finished speaking, the old man from the south looked unwell. He stood up and paced back and forth in the small room. After a moment of contemplation, he asked, "You mean, girl... your current appearance is the same as the ancient corpse in that relief you saw?"

The young master and I didn't actually see the girl. We had just entered the stone gate when Huang Zhihua grabbed us and dragged us away as if we had seen a ghost. Now that he asked us, we both couldn't help but look at Huang Zhihua.

"I can't be sure, it's still Ya Tou..." Huang Zhihua took a deep breath. Old Chen handed him a cheap cigarette, which he didn't mind, took it, lit it, and took a deep drag. Then he said, "I want to know, what exactly happened? Why did you insist on bringing Old Xu and Ya Tou into this? Did you already know that the master of the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye looked similar to Ya Tou...?"

“Junior Brother Zhang, your family has been skilled in innate divination for generations. You clearly knew that unexpected things would happen if they went in, yet you still let them go?” Old Ghost Chen couldn’t help but interject at this moment, having remained silent until now.

"Junior brother?" I was immediately dumbfounded. He... who was he calling junior brother? Was this old ghost Chen also a member of the Nanpaizi lineage? Could it be that this old man from the Nanpaizi lineage actually had the surname Zhang?

I suddenly remembered that when we came to Donghua Town, Old Chen clearly wanted to stop us from entering the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye, especially from going to the Demon King's Ghost Cave. But—we didn't heed his warning. Maybe he really knows something.

What is innate divination? Is it something used by blind fortune tellers?

The old man from the south, known as Junior Brother Zhang, sighed deeply and said after a long while, "If someone hadn't already disturbed the Demon King's Ghost Cave, I wouldn't have asked them for help. My divination results show that the three of them are the only hope. There's still a glimmer of hope in this deadly situation. As for the rest, you know yourself. Haven't too many people died inside throughout our generations?"

"Shut up, all of you! What are you talking about?" The young master, growing impatient, loudly interrupted their conversation.

The old man from the south moved his mouth but didn't speak. Finally, Old Chen said, "Don't be in a hurry. Let's start from the beginning. Sit down and have some water first..."

This old ghost Chen is really something else. Just as I guessed, he is also a descendant of the Nanpaizi lineage, which greatly surprised me. All along, the Nanpaizi I knew had always acted alone. Even when Hu Lai and Wang Ming came to me and the young master, they were very careful, afraid of being discovered. How come their sect has such a large number of people?

As this was none of my business, I didn't ask any further questions. Old Chen explained that the story started with his ancestor.

Needless to say, his ancestor was definitely a senior Nanpaizi (a type of shaman), but he was different from ordinary Nanpaizi. He was proficient in observing the wind and was good at finding auspicious burial sites. He could make a living by looking after graves and finding burial sites for people. So, when he was around forty years old, he passed on his skills to two apprentices and stopped doing Nanpaizi business.

These two apprentices, one was Chen Laogui's master, and the other was Zhang Laotou's master.

It is said that this ancestor once passed by the Dragon Beach on the Yellow River. When the boat was halfway there, he suddenly realized that the mountain range, which looked ordinary from the Yellow River, looked very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

He was in a hurry at the time and didn't pay much attention. On his way back, driven by curiosity, this seasoned southerner rented a small boat and circled around the river several times. The more he looked, the more he felt something was wrong. The terrain of the mountains was actually... similar to that of the Kunlun Mountains.