Iron Bull fait son retour

Chapitre 25

"He's the old man who guards the underground palace!" Little Li exclaimed in surprise. "Doesn't he know anything about what's inside this underground palace?"

As the group drew closer, the dark figure revealed itself to be a hunchbacked old man.

"Xiao Li, take him aside and don't let him get wet again!" Tao Rujiu strode forward, pulled the old man to the roadside, and snatched the broom from his hand. Xiao Li and Zheng Qinglong followed and carefully escorted the old man to the side.

"Master Lü should have already gone inside," Qi Maoxian urged. "We need to hurry!" With that, she was the first to rush into the vermilion gate, with Tao Rujiu following closely behind. Xiao Li and Zheng Qinglong each held onto the old man, while the other used a broom to gather the water and waited outside for any movement.

Inside the Netherworld Palace, it had transformed into something entirely different.

It wasn't just a mess and water stains on the ground; all the scenery in the underground palace was out of place, as if the entire earth was floating on water. What appeared before Tao Rujiu was no longer the screen wall covered with clues, but a strange grove of trees.

“The Slope of the Dead has been moved here.”

Qi Mao Xian whispered, "The water stains on the ground haven't dried yet, so Master Lü shouldn't have gone far. There are eight coffins in this forest, and Master Lü, or the real ghost, is very likely hiding inside one of them. You must be careful."

As it spoke, it suddenly began to mutter incantations, and finally made Tao Rujiu extend his right hand in front of it. It then bit its own tongue and smeared the blood on the young man's palm.

"This seal, forged with my blood, can ward off evil spirits and suppress ghosts. If a ghost attacks you, you can strike its head to temporarily scatter its soul."

Tao Rujiu carefully withdrew his hand, and the two of them re-examined the woods in front of them. Under the pale white light shining from the distant wall, several coffins of different sizes and shapes could be vaguely seen lying quietly in the woods.

"This forest is roughly circular, so you open the coffin clockwise, and I'll open it counter-clockwise, understand?"

Nodding in agreement with the cat fairy's suggestion, Tao Rujiu knew he had no other choice. He had absolutely no experience in exorcising ghosts; all he could rely on was the talisman the cat fairy had drawn on his hand. But if his hesitation led to Master Lü's death, he would never forgive himself easily.

It was just like the day I saw Wang Baihu fall into the surging underground water on the third floor of the underground palace.

The forest floor was covered with ankle-high weeds, the water having seeped completely into the soft soil, slowly disappearing without a trace. Tao Rujiu forced himself to walk towards the east side of the slope, suppressing his fear. He felt mosquitoes buzzing and swarming against his bare arms. The air was damp and warm, even carrying a putrid odor. The dense canopy overhead cast dappled shadows, projecting onto the tree trunks and the ground like countless bizarre masks.

He took a few steps forward, and the first coffin soon appeared before him.

Tao Rujiu approached quietly. It was a small coffin, about three feet long, its color pale in the night. Tao Rujiu knew that this size could not possibly contain Master Lü's body, but Wang Baihu's head could still very well be hidden inside. His hands trembled slightly, but he still slowly used his strength to push open the slightly upturned coffin lid.

A pungent smell of wax wafted out. Tao Rujiu took a small step back, took a deep breath, and then looked inside again.

The first thing you see are two white sticks, each about the thickness of a wrist. Looking further up, you see a pair of dark-colored embroidered shoes tied to the top of the sticks.

These are a child's legs.

Tao Rujiu slowly opened the coffin and saw a satin dress next to a child's arm. Although it was made of wax, realistic lividity and signs of decay were still visible.

The very purpose of the Netherworld Palace is to create terror, and simply depicting the entire process after death is enough to shock most people who love life.

Tao Rujiu didn't look at the little girl's head again. The remaining space in the coffin couldn't accommodate Wang Baihu's head either. He slowly pushed the coffin up, waiting for the pungent smell of wax to gradually dissipate. Just then, a white object suddenly and silently jumped onto the coffin lid, almost touching his arm.

"I just realized," Qi Maoxian said dejectedly, "I can't open those heavy lids at all. Let's work together."

Tao Rujiu nodded, both amused and exasperated.

Perhaps with the cat spirit's support, Tao Rujiu's fear lessened considerably. He silently walked to the next coffin, a slightly larger one, also adorned with exquisite patterns. Pushing open the lid, he found a male corpse dressed in Qing Dynasty official robes, his face covered with a thin layer of white paper, obscuring his features. As a precaution, the cat spirit instructed Tao Rujiu to remove the paper.

No. Keep looking.

The eight coffins in the forest are arranged in the shape of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), serving not only as amusement for visitors but also as a symbol of "promotion and wealth." Daring tourists can stand in the clearing in the center of the forest, where staff dressed as Taoist priests will activate mechanisms to perform a so-called "blessing." Capitalizing on the desire for money, this program was once a major revenue generator for the underground palace area. However, its dark and eerie nature is now fully exposed.

Tao Rujiu opened three coffins in succession, but found nothing. The surroundings were eerily quiet, and he even began to doubt whether Wang Baihu and Master Lü were really in this forest.

Just then, he heard an extremely faint sound. Ling Li, along with Hua Kai, found two Taoist priests and asked for their help. However, it was the new moon that night, and one of them was injured, so the Taoist priests were unwilling to act rashly. Only after hearing that someone was trapped in the underground palace did they reluctantly bring their magical artifacts.

Ling Li and his companions circled around to the main entrance from the left side of the Netherworld Palace, taking a relatively wide road lined with plane trees five or six meters tall on both sides. Although there were streetlights every ten meters, most of them were blocked by the branches and leaves, and could not illuminate all areas.

Ling Li, carrying the blossoms, couldn't find a place to settle him for the time being. The underground palace was treacherous, so it was naturally not advisable to bring the boy in. Just as he was fretting, Tao Rujiu came to mind again.

Is he currently wandering outside the underground palace because he has no magical power left? Or has he already recklessly entered the underground palace and even become a victim of vengeful spirits? No, he should still be protected by that silver-masked figure, right? With that ghost by his side, what else do I have to worry about?

He laughed at his own boredom, but quickened his pace even more.

At the end of the main road, a towering wall surrounding the underground palace appeared, with a narrow path running alongside it. Several streetlights along the way had been broken sometime during the night.

The group walked onto the path, where the sycamore trees quickly blocked out almost all the light. Although there was not a breath of wind, the air suddenly became cold. Ling Li subconsciously took Hua Kai's hand, and the two Taoist priests immediately whispered: "There is resentment!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Kai let out an "Ah!" and turned to tightly clutch Ling Li's sleeve. The man looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a winding trail of water in front of him.

Tao Rujiu and the Cat Fairy exchanged a glance; they had both heard the same sound. It wasn't the sound of flowing water, but a muffled tapping sound.

"The sound of knees striking wooden planks," the cat fairy said softly. "It's coming from inside."

It pointed to a huge coffin not far away.

"Master Lü is very likely inside."

Tao Rujiu nodded, then quietly walked over.

This was a dark black coffin, over two meters long and nearly one and a half meters high. The slightly upturned ends, shaped like a boat, were carved with patterns of lingzhi mushrooms and floating clouds. Below was a gold-lacquered character for "longevity." The coffin was placed in the northeast, the Gen position, which, according to divination, was the location of the Ghost Gate and naturally the main sacrificial position in the Bagua formation. Tao Rujiu noticed an incense burner and two empty plates for offerings on the coffin lid.

To move the coffin lid, these sacrificial objects must first be moved.

The soft clattering sounds continued inside the coffin. This made Tao Rujiu even more nervous. He had seen horror movies and scenes of people suffocating to death in coffins. If he didn't act quickly, would Master Lü suffocate inside? Although he didn't know the answer, his hand reaching for the sacrificial vessel was already trembling slightly.

“This coffin is quite spacious, Master Lü shouldn’t be in any trouble for a while.” Qi Mao Xian saw his worry and comforted him, “Just because he’s buried in the ground doesn’t mean he’ll be alright.”

Tao Rujiu nodded again and focused on picking up the sacrificial objects from the coffin. However, the moment his hand touched the incense burner, a cold and damp sensation immediately spread from his fingertips. "These things are all wet!" He involuntarily shivered several times, and the cat fairy simply jumped onto his shoulder to check.

"This isn't dew; the other coffins are dry," it whispered. "It must be ghost water. It seems Wang Baihu's head might also be hidden in this coffin. You need to be extra careful!"

Hearing this, Tao Rujiu took a few deep breaths, mechanically moved the sacrificial vessels to the ground, and found several maggots still wriggling in the two dishes. The man and the cat were even more certain that Wang Baihu's rotten head should also be squeezed into this large coffin along with Master Lü.

"Wait."

Just as Tao Rujiu reached out to push open the coffin lid, the cat fairy suddenly jumped onto the coffin and pressed his hand down. "It's dangerous for you to open it like this. Let me weave a net first, in case the ghost suddenly jumps out and hurts people."

As he spoke, he muttered incantations and paced back and forth on the coffin lid a few times. Finally, he jumped back onto Tao Rujiu's shoulder and ordered, "Open the coffin."

The wooden coffin lid was unusually heavy; Tao Rujiu had to muster his strength two or three times to push it open halfway. Sure enough, feet wearing sandals were visible inside, topped with the old man's favorite beach shorts and the hem of a white undershirt.

But Wang Baihu's head was nowhere to be seen.

"Master Lü..." Tao Rujiu called out anxiously, but the old man twitched slightly and did not answer for a long time. Qi Maoxian simply jumped into the coffin, checked it briefly, and then looked up and said, "There's nothing seriously wrong. He was probably just too frightened."

Tao Rujiu straightened up slightly and took a breath, waiting for the cat fairy to jump out of the coffin and help Master Lü out. As long as the old man was taken out of the palace, everything else could be postponed and left to the Taoists to do.

As he thought this, he felt a sense of relief, completely unaware that Wang Baihu's head had appeared behind him without him noticing.

Inside the coffin, Qi Mao Xian decided to climb out after checking on Master Lü's condition.

It had originally planned to slack off and let Tao Rujiu carry it out, but after calling out several times, the young man did not respond.

It immediately sensed something was wrong, and just as it was about to climb out, the coffin lid suddenly slammed shut less than a centimeter above its head, completely isolating it from the outside world.

"Damn it..." it cursed, all it could do was scratch at the coffin wall with its claws, praying that Tao Rujiu could hold on until Ling Li and the Taoist priests arrived safely.

Tao Rujiu suddenly felt a chill down his back.

It wasn't the feeling of being blown by the wind; it was more like approaching a huge cave, with a chilling aura enveloping him from behind.

Although he had no magical powers, he understood what it meant.

There was no time to turn back. He desperately dodged to the side, losing his balance and rolling several times on the forest floor. Suddenly, he heard a loud splash. When he looked up, the coffin lid had been pushed back into place by a torrent of water rising from the ground. And where he had just stood, a huge stream of water gushed out from the ground, and he could vaguely see Wang Baihu's head in the water, grinning at him.

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Ling Li and Hua Kai stopped in their tracks. Two Taoist priests sandwiched them between them, one in front and one behind. Together with the Vajra Wall on the left, they formed three relatively sturdy barriers, leaving only a row of paulownia trees on their right. The stream Hua Kai had pointed to meandered beneath the paulownia trees, crawling like a snake.

"Demon...show yourself at once!"

The Taoist priest shouted, brandishing his wooden sword in the air. Ling Li didn't see any significant change in the water flow; instead, she heard a rustling sound from the dense canopy of the paulownia trees.

The Taoist priest chanted incantations, then reached into his cloth bag and grabbed a handful of yellow powder, sprinkling it over. The tree canopy vibrated even more violently. Slowly, Ling Li saw a pale blue hand emerge from among the paulownia leaves, grabbing the trunk, followed by another arm. These two arms stretched out from behind the tree, tightly embracing its trunk. Damp groundwater flowed continuously down the arms, hanging from the paulownia tree and seeping into the soil, leaving a black stain.

Hua Kai had never seen anything like this before, and her legs immediately went weak with fear. Ling Li pulled her into her arms, watching to see how the Taoist priest would act.

The two Taoist priests exchanged a glance. One of them formed a hand seal around the tree, while the other grabbed his sword and walked straight towards the paulownia tree.

The vengeful spirit in the tree had clearly sensed the Taoist's presence, and slowly moved to emerge from behind the tree.

That was indeed Wang Baihu's upper body. It was bleached white from being soaked in water. As it was slowly exposed to the light, Ling Li saw a sparrow stuffed in the center of a brown scar on its neck, likely caught in the treetop earlier. He watched as its wound slowly writhed, swallowing the sparrow. The sparrow struggled a few times at first, then gradually disappeared into its dark brown body cavity. Ling Li covered Hua Kai's eyes, forcefully suppressing the urge to vomit.

The Taoist priest reached out and grabbed a handful of powder, throwing it at the corpse. This clearly angered the vengeful spirit, which tore off a large piece of bark with both hands and then furiously pounced on the Taoist priest under the tree.

The Taoist priest retreated two steps, but his movements were far less swift than the corpse. Just as the vengeful spirit was about to pounce on the priest, an invisible barrier seemed to appear in mid-air, forcefully repelling the spirit. Ling Li then realized that this must be the effect of the hand seal formed by the other Taoist priest.

The vengeful spirit was confined by hand seals to a small area centered on the tree, like a caged beast. It crawled on the ground, the bird it had just swallowed turning into a mixture of feathers and blood that kept leaking from its abdomen. The two Taoist priests stood outside the hand seals, scattering handfuls of crushed soybeans onto the corpse, intending to weaken its resentment before subduing it.

This might seem like an unfair victory, but it's arguably the safest strategy. Especially since one of the Taoist priests is injured and shouldn't be confronted directly.

Ling Li led Hua Kai to a safe place, intending to wait for the matter to end. However, although the vengeful spirit struggled, it showed no signs of weakness. On the contrary, the Taoist's powder and hand seals had very limited effectiveness. Before long, the situation could be completely reversed.

The two Taoist priests understood, but in their confusion, they suddenly noticed the water stains on the ground. One of them exclaimed, "The malevolent energy of this water is the source of the power of the vengeful spirits. It needs to be cut off!" Tao Rujiu, unarmed, faced Wang Baihu's head.

He had absolutely no chance of winning, yet he was unwilling to accept his fate. All he could do was desperately lunge at the coffin and try to open the lid. Only by releasing the cat spirit could he possibly escape this place alive.

Tao Rujiu had made up his mind, but before he could act, his ankle was grabbed tightly by a pair of hands.

He looked down and saw a pair of slender, fair hands, with pointed finger cots on the middle and little fingers. Below that were waxy emerald bracelets and wide sleeves.

The one who grabbed Tao Rujiu's feet was the original owner of that large coffin. A Qing Dynasty noblewoman's zombie. She lay on her back on the ground, her two heads stretched above her head, and the ornately decorated wings rubbed against Tao Rujiu's calves.

The young man struggled desperately, for he saw Wang Baihu's head slowly drifting towards him. The icy groundwater first seeped in, soaking his shoes and socks, licking his ankles. Then, the ghost's consciousness surged into his brain like an electric shock.

Wang Baihu's head was gradually rotting... becoming increasingly unusable, so... it needed to be replaced, and this one in front of him... perhaps it could still be torn apart, allowing him to share his lower body with...

Tao Rujiu was so frightened he couldn't speak, and even forgot about running away. The female corpse beside him, without his noticing, sat up against his back in an unbelievable way. Her arms, twisted completely backward, made a "crackling" sound as pieces of wax fell.

Wang Baihu's head drew ever closer, and a torrent of malicious thoughts gradually overwhelmed the young man. Just as he was in utter despair, a gust of wind swept in, exactly like the fierce gale that had saved him in the underground palace on that typhoon night.

The underground water flow was blown open by the strong wind, revealing Wang Baihu's head. Then, the sharp wind blade slashed straight down, splitting Wang Baihu's head in two.

The next moment, the gale stopped abruptly, and Dongli Bupo stood in front of Tao Rujiu wearing a silver mask.

The moment Wang Baihu's head split open, the female corpse's hand suddenly loosened. He snapped out of his daze and hurriedly ran away, rushing to the large coffin and trying again to open the lid.

Qi Mao Xian roared and jumped out, hurriedly asking, "Tao Tao, are you alright?"

Tao Rujiu shook his head and was about to speak when another strange sound suddenly rang out from the woods.

It came from the other seven coffins.

Qi Mao Xian jumped to the ground and, just as warily as Dong Li Bu Po, looked around. The water that had just lifted Wang Bai Hu's head flowed in all directions without them noticing. A moment later, the lids of the seven coffins were pushed open after a violent tremor.

Dongli Bupo said to Qimao Xian, "That vengeful spirit is attached to the dummy. We can force its soul out by destroying those dummy. The water is full of the remnants of the ancient battlefield. We must not attack it. Otherwise, the backlash from the resentment of millions of people will be something neither you nor I can bear."

Qi Mao Xian replied with a curt "Nonsense," then turned and instructed Tao Rujiu to sit inside the large coffin. There were hand seals it had laid out there, preventing ghosts from approaching.

Without time for careful consideration, the two Taoist priests decided to split up. One of them raised his peach wood sword and slashed at the weakest part of the stream, while the other, before the effects of the hand seals had completely worn off, scattered all the bean powder onto the vengeful spirit.

Ling Li, protecting Hua Kai, naturally focused all his attention on the exorcist. This tactic seemed to have some effect; after the water flow was struck by the peach wood sword, Wang Baihu's body parts immediately began to writhe uncomfortably. At this moment, the entire bag of exorcising beans was poured onto it, instantly emitting puffs of white smoke. Ling Li saw the corpse writhe and curl up in agony, like a centipede coated in salt. Taking advantage of the situation, the Taoist priest thrust the peach wood sword into the heart of the body parts. A series of heavy breaths and the sound of flowing liquid were heard, and Wang Baihu's body parts immediately went limp on the ground like tofu, the rotting flesh on his arms splattering open to reveal the white bones. The Taoist priest quickly stepped forward and applied talismans, sealing the vengeful spirit within the bones, intending to take it back for a ritual to release it after things calmed down.

"Thank you both for your help." Ling Li breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems that the other ghost is no longer a threat to you two."