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30 Angry Sea Hidden Sand – Chapter One – Serpent Brow Copper Fish

The lid of the box slowly opened on its own, revealing a space no larger than my pinky finger, containing a tiny copper fish. When I took it out, I noticed that the fish looked quite ordinary, but the craftsmanship was exquisite. Particularly striking were the eyebrows above the fish’s eyes, which resembled a snake, lifelike in detail. I was very surprised; what made this item so valuable that it needed to be kept so securely?

At that moment, my third uncle walked in dragging a gas cutting cylinder. Upon seeing the box open, he exclaimed in surprise, “How did it open? How did you manage to do that?” I explained to him about the numbers, and he frowned deeply, saying, “Things are getting more chaotic. It seems these Americans are not just here for simple treasure hunting.” He picked up the copper fish, and suddenly his expression changed, and he exclaimed, “Isn’t this the snake-brow copper fish?”

Seeing that he seemed to know something, I hurriedly asked him about it. He took something out of his pocket and handed it to me. I looked at it and saw another very delicate copper fish, about the size of my pinky finger. The eyebrows of this copper fish were also represented by two sea snakes, and the craftsmanship was superb; each scale was very detailed. It seemed to have originated from the same source as the one in the box. However, there was a downside: this one had a lot of tiny white, lime-like dirt stuck in the grooves of the scales, which was very difficult to clean off. I immediately recognized it and said, “Is this from the sea?”

My third uncle nodded. I was quite surprised, as “sea goods” referred to antiques salvaged from the ocean, usually blue-and-white porcelain. It was generally easier to find antiques in the sea than on land because many items were exposed on the seabed. However, there were many microorganisms in the ocean, and most items brought up from the sea had white, powdery dirt that was hard to wash off, which reduced their value.

I was puzzled; I remembered that my third uncle wouldn’t usually be interested in such low-value items, so I asked him, “Did you ever go treasure hunting in the sea?” He nodded and said, “Only once, and I truly regret it. If I had just resisted the temptation to wade into that murky water, I would definitely have a bunch of kids by now.”

I knew a little about my third uncle’s story. He once had a woman, a remarkable lady in her own right. I heard they met while treasure hunting, and her name was Wen Jin. She was said to be quite gentle and didn’t seem like a typical treasure hunter from the northern school. My uncle and she were together for five years; she was skilled at finding dragon veins, while he specialized in locating burial sites, and they were known as a legendary couple in the treasure hunting world. Then, suddenly, I heard that the woman had gone missing. I thought she must have had an accident while treasure hunting; after all, it was risky work for a girl. Everyone in her family was quite regretful. But at that time, I was only a few years old and didn’t understand much. I just saw my uncle looking like a wooden statue for a week, deeply saddened. Eventually, he got better, but I couldn’t remember the details of those childhood events. Now, hearing my uncle seemed like he wanted to talk about it, I was very curious but didn’t want to appear too nosy. I asked, “Was the incident back then related to a sea treasure hunt?”

Uncle San sighed and said, “At that time, both she and I were still young. She had a few classmates who were in the archaeology team, and they vaguely knew I was a craftsman. I never thought about hiding it from them; we all got along well. Later, they went to the Xisha Islands for underwater archaeology, and I went along. I just didn’t expect,” he paused, as if reluctant to recall that event, “I didn’t expect that the things submerged underwater would be so large.”

It should have been more than ten years ago. Uncle San actually had little experience with the sea; he was somewhat blinded by love and boasted in front of Wenjin about how remarkable he was. So he followed the archaeology team out to sea. They chartered a local fisherman’s boat and spent two days reaching the vicinity of the Bowl Reef near the Western Reef. That area is one of the most dangerous sections of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, with many shipwrecks. When Uncle San went down to take a look, he was almost dumbfounded. The seabed was littered with broken blue-and-white porcelain; the scale was truly breathtaking.

Wenjin told him that these items had fallen from the shipwreck and were scattered everywhere by the ocean currents. In the past, fishermen would catch four or five pieces of porcelain with a single net, but they believed that anything that had been submerged belonged to the Sea Dragon King, so they would generally throw it back.

Unfortunately, most of these items were damaged, and it was rare to find anything intact. Even if they did find something, it was mostly covered in marine organisms, making it difficult to clean. Wenjin’s classmates viewed these items from an archaeological perspective, so they were all very excited. Uncle San looked out and saw nothing but desolation, feeling heartbroken, thinking to himself, “Damn it, why wasn’t I born when the ship sank?” He also didn’t consider that the blue-and-white porcelain at that time wasn’t even considered an antique.

They spent two or three days underwater, bringing up basket after basket of porcelain. Uncle San was quite knowledgeable about this, and he could talk for half a day about any piece he picked up. Suddenly, he became the spiritual leader of the archaeology team. His surname was Wu, and they called him Brother Sanxing. Uncle San became quite proud and really thought of himself as their leader.

On the fourth day, an incident occurred. One of the archaeology team members went out in a kayak and hadn’t returned by dusk. The others grew anxious and sent the larger boat to search for him. Later, they found the stranded kayak on a rocky outcrop two kilometers away from the Bowl Reef, but the person was missing.

Uncle San thought it was bad news; the person might have gone into the water to retrieve something and gotten into trouble. He quickly gathered his equipment and dove down, searching for half the night. Eventually, he found the person’s body, which was stuck in the coral reef and had already begun to swell. When they dragged the body up, Uncle San saw that the person was tightly gripping something in his left hand. When he pried it open, it was the bronze fish with snake-like eyebrows. Although a person had died, and everyone was deeply saddened, Uncle San had already realized that there might be something down in the water; otherwise, this person wouldn’t have gone down to salvage it at night.

Uncle San speculated that perhaps during the daytime search (using a boat to drag someone while searching), this person had seen something and didn’t mention it. He might have wanted to return at night when no one was around to take another look, but something went wrong. Of course, Uncle San didn’t voice his thoughts, as it was pointless to discuss it now that the person was dead. However, the bronze fish with snake-like eyebrows he held was definitely a clue.

The next day, Uncle San mentioned this matter to those people, and of course, he said something like this: “Comrade So-and-so worked overtime for the cause of archaeology and unfortunately met with an accident. However, judging from the results of his labor, it is clear that he has discovered something at the bottom of the sea. He sacrificed his life for this copper fish with snake-like eyebrows, so we must not let him down.” After some mobilization, the mood of the crowd improved a bit, and they returned to the area where the incident occurred to conduct a thorough search underwater, and at that time, they began to make progress.

They found more than forty large stone anchors (parts of ancient ship anchors) on the seabed nearby, all of the same size and specifications. The inscriptions on them were mostly illegible. Uncle San estimated that these more than forty stone anchors either belonged to forty identical ships that had lost them, or they came from the same ship. It became clear that it was unlikely for forty ships to sink in the same place simultaneously; there must be a very large ship down there, so large that it required forty anchors to secure it.

Uncle San was very familiar with history, and upon seeing this, he had a bold hypothesis in mind. When he surfaced, he said to Wen Jin, “It seems that down there is a sunken ship’s underwater tomb.”

29 Seven Star Lu Wang – Chapter 29 – Purple Gold Box

I was confused and didn’t know what was happening outside. I wanted to ask my uncle, but I found him dozing off on the bench next to me, sleeping more soundly than I was. I ran outside the clinic and saw villagers hurriedly pulling carts and mules up the mountain. A young boy was running and shouting, “Not good! Not good! There’s a forest fire up the mountain!”

I was taken aback and thought, could it be that the fire we just started has spread to the forest? Reflecting on the earlier incident where we set that hole on fire, I realized we hadn’t taken any precautions nearby. If that fire spread and ignited the forest, it would be a serious problem.

I felt a bit panicked. Once a forest fire gets out of control, it’s not just a matter of one or two people dying. We city folks have no awareness of forest fire prevention, and now we might be in big trouble.

I rushed back in to wake my uncle. Together, we grabbed two bedpans from the clinic, as we couldn’t find anything else, and joined the main group heading up the mountain. At that moment, a chubby guy came running towards us on a donkey cart, holding a basin and shouting, “We’ve got a disaster! Get on! Hurry to put out the fire!” We all jumped on, and the cart swayed as it left the village. In the distance, there was a large plume of black smoke, indicating the fire was quite big. My uncle was stunned and quietly said, “Looking at the direction, it really is the fire we started.”

I quickly covered his mouth as a village official ran back, shouting, “Call the army! The mountain has collapsed ahead!”

I immediately realized that the cave might have collapsed due to the fire. I worried that if the corpses inside rushed out, it would be a disaster. We hurriedly raced to the site where the mudslide had emerged, and the chubby guy was whipping the donkey so hard that its rear was swollen.

The villagers had all undergone training for forest fire prevention. Some were clearing a path in the woods, while others started carrying water in basins to the fire. I saw how long it would take to transport water back and forth—it would take at least two hours, and it was futile. I shouted, “Fellow villagers, don’t carry water! This little bit won’t put out the fire. Don’t make unnecessary sacrifices; let’s wait for the troops to arrive!”

They looked at me as if I were crazy. An older man said, “Young man, this water is for drinking. There’s no water to drink at the fire site, and people will quickly die of thirst. We need to create a firebreak so that when the fire reaches there, it will have nothing left to burn and will extinguish itself. If you don’t understand, don’t interfere.” He glanced at the bedpans in our hands and shook his head.

I felt my face turn red from their stares, thinking I had really embarrassed myself and wouldn’t dare to voice my opinions carelessly again. I hurriedly lowered my head and followed the main group into the woods. All the trees along the way had been cut down, making our progress much faster. About an hour later, we could feel the temperature rising significantly, and the sky ahead was filled with black smoke.

The villagers took out masks and dipped them in water before putting them on their faces. I looked at the chubby guy; he already had very little fabric left on his clothes. It seemed he had made up his mind, taking out a piece of gold-threaded cloth, soaking it in water, and tying it around his face. He picked up a shovel and began digging firebreak trenches like the other villagers.

The wildfire spreads extremely quickly and poses a great danger. Large-scale wildfires require the deployment of aircraft to control them. “Controlling” means allowing the fire to extinguish itself; it is impossible to douse it like a city fire. A tree takes over twenty years to grow, but a wildfire can burn everything down in just ten minutes, causing immense destruction. Moreover, the area affected by wildfires is very vast. If you only try to extinguish the fire at one point, it will quickly circle around to your back from the edges you can’t see. By the time you realize it, you might find yourself in the center of the fire zone, with no way out.

I remember a movie from the United States that tells the story of a group of firefighters surrounded by flames with no way to call for help, facing their last moments of life. Of course, such a situation is unlikely to happen to us; the fire area is not very large at the moment, and the firebreaks have been dug quickly.

We worked there until after two in the afternoon when a helicopter from the forest protection team appeared overhead. Soon after, many troops gathered in the woods to relieve us. I was particularly worried that someone might sacrifice themselves because of this fire, but fortunately, when the headcount was taken, only a few people had sustained minor injuries.

When we returned to the village, we were almost in shock from exhaustion. I was starving and asked a kid to get me two baked pancakes. I devoured them in two bites; I had never tasted anything so delicious, and I couldn’t help but shed tears. The village party secretary praised us, saying that it was truly rare to see such high awareness in people from the city.

I thought to myself, “Please don’t flatter me. If you keep praising me, I’ll feel guilty. You should know I’m the arsonist; you’ll have to strangle me for sure.”

The nurse changed the bandage for Panzi and cleaned his wounds. His breathing had noticeably eased, but he was still unconscious. The doctor reassured me that there was currently no danger, and if there were any injured, they would send Panzi to the major hospital in the city. Hearing this gave me a bit of peace of mind.

My uncle and I returned to the guesthouse and took a good shower. I hadn’t realized until I undressed that almost every part of my body was injured—either bruised or scraped. I hadn’t felt it while escaping, but now they were all reminding me. When I came out of the bathroom, I could barely move my legs.

I fell asleep as soon as I got back to bed. This sleep was incredibly refreshing; I slept all the way until noon the next day. When I woke up, I saw that Fatty and my uncle were still lying in their beds, snoring like thunder.

I went downstairs for breakfast and asked the waiter about the fire. It had been extinguished, and given its scale, it could only be considered a small wildfire. The military had already withdrawn. I felt a bit more at ease. I inquired with the people from the health station, and learned that Panzi had been taken to the Qianfoshan Hospital in Jinan. I expressed my gratitude and felt that I shouldn’t stay here any longer, so I prepared to head back.

Without further ado, a few days later, we returned to Jinan. My uncle and I first went to the hospital where Panzi was being treated to complete the admission procedures. He was still in danger and remained unconscious. My uncle and I decided to stay here for a few days. As soon as Fatty got out of the mountains, he hurriedly parted ways with us, leaving only a phone number for future contact. He handed over the gilded silk scroll to my uncle to handle. That day, I called the hospital, and Panzi still hadn’t woken up. I couldn’t help but sigh. At that moment, my uncle walked in with a gloomy face and scolded, “I’m so mad! I can’t believe someone pulled a fast one on us!”

I was greatly surprised, thinking he had been deceived in the antique market. I said, “Uncle San, with your experience, you still got cheated? This means that item was really well-made. You should have no problem selling it again.”

Uncle San took out the gilded silk and said to me, “Sell it? What nonsense! I’m not talking about antiques; I’m talking about this thing!”

I nearly fell off the bed, exclaiming, “What! That’s impossible!”

Uncle San replied, “It’s absolutely true. I had it tested, and the gold content is too high for that era. It’s an almost perfect counterfeit!”

I couldn’t believe it. Uncle San sighed, “I suspected it for a long time. That young man could clearly defeat the blood corpse, so why did he keep running away at first? Only at the end did he get rid of the blood corpse. He must have wanted to shake us off and do something on his own.”

I was astonished and said, “Could it be that during the time we got separated, he already went to that cave, opened King Lu’s coffin, and placed this fake gilded silk inside? How is that possible? How could one person do that? Besides, that tree hole was torn open by those chains; if someone had opened it, we would definitely see signs of it.”

Uncle San said, “Did you look at the back of that coffin? He’s a tomb raider; he likely dug a hole behind the tree and swapped the gilded silk from the back of the coffin!” After saying this, he sighed, “It’s a pity that with my decades of experience in the underworld, I didn’t see it. This person is truly unfathomable. I initially thought he was just a descendant of the tomb raider, but it seems his background is far more complicated than that.”

I was very confused and asked, “Are those things recorded above all fake?”

Uncle San nodded, angrily saying, “These stories, like those in the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’, sound unbelievable. We were infected by the mysterious atmosphere of that ancient tomb and actually believed them. Looking back now, there are too many flaws, and think about it—given your level, why could you only understand the two most important sections? You couldn’t comprehend the others, which indicates he put special effort into those two.”

I gaped in shock, and Uncle San sighed heavily, “It seems the secret of the Royal Tomb of Lu is known only to him. Now that tomb has collapsed, and it’s impossible to go in and take a look.”

At that moment, I had a flash of inspiration and said, “Right, right! I almost forgot—it’s not completely hopeless. I brought something out from that cave!” I hurriedly rummaged through my backpack, praying I hadn’t lost it. Fortunately, the purple-gold box was still there. I took it out and said, “It’s this one; I got it off the fox’s corpse.”

Uncle San looked at it and said, “This is a maze box. The main space inside is used to hold a lock, so it can’t hold much. This box is hard to open. Look.” He twisted the lid of the box, and the four corners of the bottom unfolded, revealing a turntable with eight holes, each marked with a number, resembling an old-fashioned telephone dial. “This kind of box is the oldest type of password box. You need to know the password to open it. Wait a moment; go to that repair shop and borrow a gas cutter to see if we can cut it open.”

Uncle San rushed out in a hurry, and I didn’t even have time to call out. I thought to myself, could the eight-digit password be 02200059? How is that possible? That number is printed on a steel stamp on an American’s belt. As I contemplated this, I tentatively dialed it: 0-2-2-0-0-0-5-9. With a click, I was taken aback as the box emitted a sound similar to that of a winding mechanism, and the lid of the box automatically flipped open.

28 Seven Stars Lu Wang – Chapter 28 – Fire

The face was a bloody mess, and I couldn’t tell if the skin had melted away to reveal the muscle underneath or if blood was seeping from his body, covering his face. In an instant, I felt that this face was very familiar. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Da Kui, and I was horrified: How could a healthy person end up like this?

The left side of his head had a chunk taken out by a bullet, exposing bone, but it hadn’t penetrated into the brain. I saw that although he was severely injured, he was not necessarily dead, and I couldn’t help but feel a surge of hope. I quickly said, “Hurry up, maybe there’s still a chance to save him!”

However, he didn’t move at all. The look in his eyes was filled with deep resentment, as if he was unwilling to let us leave him behind. I was taken aback, but my hand was already grasped tightly by his. The terrifying blood-red color on him quickly spread to my hand, and I felt a burning itch, thinking to myself, “It’s over!”

Da Kui mumbled something indistinctly and suddenly pulled me down. Thinking of his melted skin, I went into a frenzy and desperately tried to shake off his grip. But he grabbed my foot again, opening his mouth wide as if he wanted me to accompany him to the grave.

I shouted, “Da Kui, just let me go! This is about life and death. If you still want to live, come with me! There might still be a chance to heal you. Otherwise, dragging me down with you won’t help!”

Upon hearing this, he seemed to be provoked by something and lunged at me like a madman, his eyes filled with fierce light as if he had completely lost his sanity. Suddenly, he grabbed my neck, trying to strangle me.

Seeing that it was either him or me, I suddenly felt a surge of murderous intent. I kicked him hard, and as he loosened his grip, I pressed against his chest and pulled the trigger. The bullets were all hollow-point rounds, and the force was immense, causing blood to spray everywhere as he flew backward, his hands flailing in the air, but he couldn’t grab anything and fell heavily into a pile of corpses.

At that moment, the hand he had grabbed was completely numb and devoid of feeling. I couldn’t tell if I was still holding onto the branch; I just felt my body dropping straight down. I quickly reached out my other hand to grab the ghostly vine nearby, but it was covered in Tianxin rock powder, and the vine retracted instantly. I cursed under my breath as I slid down and crashed into a large branch.

The branch was covered in corpses, and my impact caused many to fall. I barely managed to use my legs to grip the branch and stop myself from sliding further down, but a swarm of corpses quickly surrounded me. I couldn’t help but smile bitterly; I now had so many ways to die to choose from: I could either fall to my death, be bitten to death by insects, or die of poison. Heaven was certainly not being kind to me.

Just as I was feeling dejected, suddenly, the fat guy climbed up from below, kicking away a few corpses. It turned out this guy was climbing even slower than I was. When he saw me, he cursed, “What the hell are you doing lying there? Look at my ass; it’s full of holes from being bitten!” Saying this, he came over to help me. I shouted, “Don’t touch me! I’m poisoned; you go first! I’m beyond saving!”

Without saying a word, the fat guy picked me up on his back and said, “Take a look in the mirror; your complexion is better than mine! You look rosy and shiny. How could you possibly be poisoned?”

I was surprised and looked down, only to see my hands covered in red rashes, looking as if I had been bitten by thousands of mosquitoes. However, the redness stopped at my shoulders and was now slowly fading away. I couldn’t help but wonder why the poison didn’t affect me.

The fat guy was carrying me on his back, gritting his teeth as he climbed up. I was behind him, serving as his meat shield, while all those corpses jumped onto my backside, biting me. It hurt so much that I cursed, “You fat bastard! I thought you were being kind, but you just want to use me as a shield, huh!”

The fat guy shouted back, “What are you whining about? If you’re not happy, then carry me yourself! Can’t you see that my butt’s already all skin and bones?”

I didn’t want to argue with him. The area near the Hydra was surrounded by a dense cluster of corpses hanging close to the tree trunk. The fat guy frequently bumped into piles of bones. Fortunately, those corpses had the same trouble; they couldn’t differentiate too many things, and many of them jumped onto the undead we had knocked around, biting them.

Seeing this, the fat guy thought it was a good idea and told me to bump into those corpses, pushing them to get them moving. Although I was reluctant, I had no choice; my life was at stake.

Along the way, I kicked every corpse I saw, and soon the area we passed was filled with spinning corpses. The intelligence of these insects couldn’t compare to that of humans; they were just flailing around, not knowing whether to chase us or bite the spinning corpses, and they ended up just spinning in place. The fat guy took the opportunity to speed up, quickly increasing the distance between us, and we finally had a moment to catch our breath.

After the recent exertion, my hands and feet had mostly regained sensation. I thought to myself that the feeling of poisoning I experienced was similar to what my grandfather felt when he was poisoned, and he ultimately didn’t die. Could it be that I had developed some immunity because of this?

I couldn’t figure it out, but seeing that my hands and feet could move, I asked the fat guy to put me down. Noticing that he was drenched in sweat and panting heavily, I thought to myself that it was even now; when I was carrying him on the stone platform, I felt like I was about to spit blood.

At that moment, I suddenly saw a person sitting on a branch behind the fat guy, waving at me. I shivered and rubbed my eyes, but the person was already gone. I thought they must have hidden behind the tree, so I leaned forward to take a look. The fat guy shouted, “Stop dawdling, let’s go!”

“Wait a minute!” I grabbed him, “Go left, go left! I just saw someone waving at me.”

He sighed and followed me as I climbed over. When we arrived, there was no one there, just a tree hole barely big enough to fit a person, dark inside, and I couldn’t tell what was in there.

When the fat guy shone his flashlight inside, he was startled. Inside the hole was a pile of coiled vines, and entwined within them was a highly decomposed corpse. Its two blue eyes were so clouded that the pupils were unrecognizable, and its mouth was wide open as if it wanted to say something to me. The fat guy looked at me and said, “How can it be a dead person? You’re not seeing ghosts, are you?”

There have been so many strange things along the way that I couldn’t help but believe in ghosts. I thought to myself, since he was waving for us to come over, he must have some purpose. With that in mind, I habitually looked at his mouth. However, his chin was already rotted through, and something had fallen out. I continued to search and found that he seemed to be holding something in his hand. When I pried it open, I realized it was a pendant.

The corpses below started to squeak and crawl up again. I had no interest in rummaging through his belongings anymore. Seeing that he was wearing camouflage, I saluted him and continued to climb up. The fat guy climbed up quickly; we were not far from the crack at the top, and in no time, we made it up.

As soon as we crawled out of the crack and looked down, we saw those corpses showing no signs of stopping, almost all crowding at the edge of the crack. The fat guy shouted, “It’s not time to rest yet, run!”

Having spent so long underground, I had lost my sense of direction. Suddenly, a person ran out of the bushes ahead, carrying something. I recognized it was my third uncle, and I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed. My uncle saw me and shouted, “Quick, go to the back and bring over those barrels of gasoline!”

I ran over and saw that this crack was only separated from the place where we had entered the tunnel by a low cliff, less than ten meters away. Our gear was still there, and I spotted the barrels of gasoline. My heart surged with excitement, thinking, “Good, now you guys are in for a show.”

Each of us took a barrel and ran back. My uncle had already poured the first barrel completely down. At that moment, those corpses were almost crawling onto the ground. My uncle tossed down a lighter, and with a flash of fire, a wave of burnt smell rushed up. The tide of insects immediately retreated, and gasoline formed a wall of fire at the crack. Watching those bugs being burned inside, screaming in agony, was truly satisfying. We poured down the second and third barrels, and the flames shooting out of the crack were almost taller than the two of us. The heat wave came over and singed my eyebrows.

I took a few steps back and looked at the pendant in my hand. It had a name tag on it; the corpse’s name should be James. I wiped it and put it in my jacket pocket, thinking I would return it to his family if I had the chance. For now, may he rest in peace. The fat guy was sweating from the heat and asked my uncle, “What about those two people?”

My uncle pointed behind him, “Panzi seems to be in trouble; he looks like he has a fever. As for that young guy, I haven’t seen him; I thought he was with you.”

I looked at the fat guy, who sighed, “After the explosion, I didn’t see him at all. He’s probably in serious trouble.”

My uncle shook his head and said, “No way, that guy is elusive. Besides, he was above us the whole time. Even if he got blown away by the shockwave, he likely ended up above.”

Looking at my uncle’s expression, I knew he wasn’t very confident either. Although the “Dumb Oil Bottle” was formidable, he was still just like us in front of explosives. If he got thrown outside by the shockwave, it would truly be a matter of life and death.

We searched the area nearby but found nothing and saw no signs of anyone leaving. My uncle sighed and gave me a wry smile.

We returned to the campsite to pack our things, lit a campfire, and heated up the canned food from our bags. I was so hungry that I could eat anything. Uncle San pointed to the low cliff behind us while eating: “Look, this campsite is right next to this crevice. It seems that the old man saw the tree demon, which must be this cypress. They probably made too much noise while celebrating at night, attracting this cypress out of the crevice. Luckily, we didn’t stay overnight and went straight down into the thieves’ cave; otherwise, we might have been dragged away by this cypress long ago.”

The fat guy said, “I don’t know how long that fire will last. If it goes out, it’ll be a problem when those bugs come out again. It’s almost dawn now; let’s hurry and get out of this forest!”

I quickly took a few bites and nodded. The fat guy and Uncle San took turns carrying Panzi and headed into the woods.

The journey was very quiet. We had been chatting and singing on the way there, but now we were trudging back in silence, almost as if we were fleeing for our lives.

I hadn’t rested all night, and my nerves were on high alert. My physical strength had reached its limit. By the end, I was relying solely on willpower to keep going. If a bed had suddenly appeared in front of me, I could have fallen asleep in less than two seconds. We walked for nearly half a day and a morning, finally emerging from the woods and climbing over a small slope formed by a mudslide, and we finally saw that familiar little village.

We didn’t dare to relax. We first took Panzi to the village clinic. The barefoot doctor came over, frowned deeply, and hurriedly called the nurse. I lay down on the bench, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep after hearing just a couple of their words.

It was a sleep that was truly exhausting; I didn’t dream at all and had no idea how long I slept. When I woke up, I heard a commotion outside and didn’t know what had happened.

27 Seven Stars Lu Wang – Chapter 27 – Lies

As soon as those words came out, a flash of inspiration struck me, and I exclaimed in surprise, “Could it be that at the last moment, the two people actually swapped places?”

The silent oil bottle nodded, looking at the corpse. “This person has been scheming all along, simply trying to use the power of King Lu Shang to achieve his goal of immortality.”

“How do you know all this? It’s as if you’ve experienced it firsthand.”

“I haven’t experienced it,” the silent oil bottle shook his head. “A few years ago, when I was excavating tombs, I found a complete set of Warring States silk manuscripts in a Song Dynasty tomb. This document is actually the autobiography of Mr. Iron Face. After teaching King Lu Shang all his plans, he set fire to his entire family, disposed of a beggar’s corpse in the flames to impersonate himself, then disguised himself as a beggar to escape death. Although King Lu Shang sensed something was amiss, he had no way to stop it. In the end, after King Lu Shang was buried, he easily sneaked into the tomb, dragged the already defenseless King Lu Shang out of the jade figurine, and lay down inside it himself. King Lu Shang worked so hard, only to end up making a wedding dress for them; he probably never expected it.”

I asked curiously, “If that corpse of King Lu Shang was dragged out, wouldn’t that be another blood corpse? So aren’t there two here?”

“He didn’t write about that in his book, probably because the time since King Lu Shang was placed in the figurine was too short for him to turn into a blood corpse.” His gaze became a bit uneasy. “In an autobiography, he only briefly mentioned these things and couldn’t possibly have detailed records.”

I looked at the silent oil bottle, and for some reason, I suddenly felt that his words were a bit insincere. I glanced at my uncle, and sure enough, he didn’t believe it either. But since the person didn’t want to say more, and had already concocted a lie, it didn’t make much sense to expose him. After the silent oil bottle finished speaking, he seemed to have completed his task, returning to his expressionless state, standing up and saying, “It’s almost dawn; we should be leaving soon.”

“No way, we haven’t found the ghost seal yet,” the Fatty said. “Look at all the good stuff here; leaving now would be a waste of our trip!”

The silent oil bottle shot him a cold glance, seeming a bit hostile toward the Fatty. The Fatty, feeling embarrassed, shrugged and said, “Alright, but we have to take this jade figurine with us, right? There might only be one of these in the world; I’m thinking of everyone here.”

That was a fair point. My uncle patted his backside and said, “Then what are you hesitating for? Let’s make it quick and get out of this ghostly place.”

Suddenly, I lost interest in all of this and didn’t want to help them. I closed my eyes to rest for a moment, when suddenly a few drops of water fell on my face. I thought it was raining, but when I looked up, that strange face of the blood corpse had already emerged from the jade bed, its two eyes without pupils almost touching my eyebrows.

I jumped up in fright and saw the head of the blood corpse rolling on the jade bed. At that moment, it actually rolled off onto the ground, as if something was inside it. The Fatty wanted to take a closer look, but the silent oil bottle held him back, saying, “Don’t move, let’s observe first.”

The Fatty nodded, and at that moment, a very small red corpse bug bit through the scalp of the blood corpse and crawled out. Da Kui saw this and cursed, “Damn! Even such a tiny thing dares to show its face in front of me.” He lifted the pry bar in his hand, ready to hit it.

Uncle San suddenly hugged him tightly and said, “You idiot, that’s a corpse king! If you kill it, we’re in big trouble.”

Da Kui was taken aback, unable to believe it. “This tiny thing is a corpse king? What about those bigger ones? Aren’t they going to be even more troublesome?”

Men Youping was also very surprised. He slapped my shoulder and said, “We need to leave quickly. The corpse king is here, and I can’t control these corpse bugs. It’s very tricky!”

At that moment, the small red corpse bug suddenly let out a couple of squeaks, shook its wings, and seemed to have spotted us, suddenly flying toward us. Men Youping shouted, “It’s poisonous! Just touching it will kill you, get out of the way!”

Uncle San turned around and flipped to our side. Da Kui, who had been a bit dazed, didn’t react in time and reflexively grabbed the bug. He froze for a moment before letting out a terrible scream; his hand instantly turned blood-red. Not only that, but the red color rapidly spread up his arm.

The Fatty yelled, “He’s poisoned! Quick, cut off his hand!” As he spoke, he rushed to grab Men Youping’s knife. Men Youping was already very weak, and when the Fatty bumped into him, the black knife slipped from his grip. The Fatty caught it in mid-air but suddenly sank down, cursing, “Damn it, why is it so heavy!” He tried several times to lift the knife but failed.

At this point, it was too late. Da Kui twisted in pain, his entire body almost turning blood-red in just a few seconds, as if all his skin had suddenly melted away.

He looked at his hand in terror, wanting to scream but unable to make a sound. Men Youping saw that I wanted to help Da Kui and grabbed me, gritting his teeth, “Don’t touch him! If you do, you’ll die!”

Da Kui, seeing us, retreated in horror as if we were monsters. He charged at me, mouth wide open as if to shout, “Save me!” I was so frightened by the scene that I couldn’t move. Uncle San rushed over and pulled me away just as Da Kui lunged and missed, then crazily pounced on Panzi. Panzi was already in a dire situation and couldn’t react in time. The Fatty shouted that it was bad, suddenly snatching my gun. I was shocked, realizing he was going to shoot, and hurriedly struggled with him. In the chaos, the gun accidentally went off, and with a bang, Da Kui was shot in the head, his body jolting and collapsing to the ground.

My mind buzzed, and I fell to my knees. Everything happened too quickly; just moments ago, he was fine, and suddenly he was like this. My mind went blank, and I didn’t know what to do.

The small red corpse bug squeaked and crawled out from Da Kui’s hand, shaking its wings. The Fatty cursed, and Men Youping shouted, “No!” But it was too late. The Fatty rushed over, picked up the purple jade box, and smashed the bug to pieces.

For a moment, the cave was deathly silent, not a sound to be heard. Men Youping suddenly grabbed a handful of dust from the ground and threw it over himself, shouting, “Hurry up and leave, or it will be too late!”

The Fatty looked around, seeing that nothing had happened, and curiously asked, “Why do we need to leave?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the previously quiet cave suddenly became noisy. Countless chirping sounds echoed from all directions, and then we saw, from the large and small holes in the rock cave, one, two, three, ten, a hundred… an endless tide of green corpses surged out. The scale of it was beyond any human description. Waves of them came crashing in, trampling over each other, overwhelming us.

I was stunned at the sight. My uncle slapped the back of my head and shouted, “Run!” He quickly picked up Panzi, and the Fatty wanted to grab the purple jade box, but my uncle yelled, “Are you out of your mind?!” Seeing he couldn’t move it, the Fatty grabbed the gold-threaded silk and stuffed it into his pocket.

We all climbed up a tree. The tree was tangled with all kinds of vines and protrusions, making it easy to climb. Someone like me, who was agile, quickly ascended over ten meters. At that moment, the corpses had already swarmed to the base of the tree. I looked down and gasped; the entire base of the tree was covered in green. If I fell, there would be nothing left of me.

The corpses seemed to gather their consciousness for a moment and suddenly began to jump up. They climbed the tree much faster than we did and quickly reached our feet. The Fatty was above me and asked, “Didn’t you say your little brother’s blood was more effective than mosquito repellent? Why isn’t it working?” My mind was still filled with the image of Da Kui collapsing earlier, and I didn’t want to respond to him. He cursed under his breath, and suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my calf—a corpse had bitten me. I kicked it off and looked down; it was like a pot boiling over, with corpses scrambling to climb up.

At that moment, my uncle shouted from above, “Explosives! There’s still explosives in that bag by the jade bed!” I asked, “Which side?” My uncle cursed, “You don’t even know sitting right there? It’s in the left pocket!” I looked down, but the bag of explosives was lost in the sea of corpses and was completely out of sight. I hurriedly fired a few shots, hitting only a few bugs.

Just then, the Mute pulled out a few firecrackers from his pocket, lit them, and threw them onto the jade bed. Although the bugs were no longer afraid of his blood, they still feared fire. As soon as they saw the flames, they scattered, creating a large circle that revealed the backpack. The Fatty, already covered in several bugs, shouted, “Damn it, hurry up and light a firecracker! I can’t hold on much longer!”

Panzi shouted from above, “Damn! No way, there are too many explosives in there; if it blows, we won’t survive!” I saw more and more corpses climbing up and realized that hesitating now would surely lead to death. I shouted, “I can’t worry about that anymore; if I die, I die!” Gritting my teeth, I aimed at the backpack and fired a shot.

The explosion was instantaneous. There was a deafening bang, and I felt as if my chin, buttocks, and thighs were all simultaneously struck by a pile driver. My whole body was lifted by the shockwave and then slammed into something hard. That impact left me dazed; my throat felt sweet, and I spat out a mouthful of blood. Everything in front of me turned black, my head buzzed, and I couldn’t hear anything at all.

It took me a long time to recover. When I looked down, I saw that many of the corpses had been blown away by the gusts of wind. I turned my head and couldn’t see anyone else, so I hurriedly used both my hands and feet to climb up. Because I had coated myself with the powder from the stone platform below, those ghostly vine hands parted to let me through. At that moment, a cacophony of shouts came from below. I looked down and saw the corpses gathering like a tide, climbing up extremely quickly. Realizing I couldn’t afford to hesitate, I pushed through the pain and continued to climb, closing my eyes and desperately making my way upward.

Just as I was about to reach the crevice, a sudden pain shot through my back. I turned around to see a corpse had jumped up and was biting into my back. I quickly turned and shot it, shattering it into pieces. But at the same time, a larger one lunged at my thigh, biting down hard. Gritting my teeth, I smashed it with my gun, but it immediately grabbed a branch and tried to jump back up. I shot it again, destroying it as well. However, a third and fourth one quickly followed.

I could see that I was only a few steps away from the exit. I thought to myself, go ahead and bite, you can’t kill me in such a short time. Once I reach the surface, you’ll be in for it. With that thought, I continued to climb. Just then, a sudden, intense pain shot through my hand that was gripping the branch. I turned my head and saw a bloodied face suddenly peering out from behind the tree trunk, with two bulging eyes staring straight at me.

26 Seven Star Lu Wang – Chapter Twenty-Six – Purple Jade Box

Ziyu refers to amethyst, which is generally used to make talismans and objects for warding off evil. It is rare for anyone to use it to make a box. This box appears to have been carved from a solid piece of amethyst, making it extremely rare. Amethyst is not easy to carve, so the box has no patterns on it, except for a gold rim at the joint. Judging by its placement, it seems to have been used as a pillow for the corpse. Generally, jade pillows are already quite precious, and a purple jade one is even more valuable; it’s likely that even the emperor of that time would not have enjoyed such treatment.

We carefully lifted the box and placed it on the ground. The box was not locked, so we opened it to find a roll of silk embroidered with golden threads. The fibers of this silk were interwoven with gold, and it was very well preserved. When we unfolded it, the first line on the left read “The Record of the King of the Underworld, Wang Shang,” and densely packed next to it were small characters.

Compared to the silk book, the fat man was more interested in the jade figurine. After looking at it and not understanding, he mumbled a few words and went off to study the jade figurine. The silent oil bottle pulled out a knife from a tree and lay down beside the jade bed, silently staring at the corpse of King Lu Shang, his eyes becoming dreamy.

My uncle and I sat down beside him and carefully examined the text on the silk book. With my level of understanding, I could only comprehend a few fragments, but piecing these fragments together revealed a rough outline of the content. The records in the “Record of the King of the Underworld, Wang Shang” were simply unbelievable. If it weren’t for the strange events we had already experienced, I really wouldn’t have believed that such things existed in the world.

Next to the line of text in the “Record of the King of the Underworld, Wang Shang,” there was a line of small characters, which was his own preface. It was only a few lines long, and afterward, it detailed all the significant events from his birth to his death. If I were to translate it all, it would probably take ten days to half a month. Fortunately, I could understand the two most important events.

The first event was the story of how King Lu Shang obtained the Ghost Seal. The silk book described it rather briefly, so I summarized it and read it aloud. At the age of twenty-five, he inherited his father’s position and led the army of the Lu State to excavate ancient tombs, using the gold unearthed to pay the military. One time, he entered a tomb of unknown era, and inside the coffin lay a giant snake, motionless. King Lu Shang was very bold; he thought to himself that a giant snake lying in a coffin must be an evil creature, so he immediately chopped it up with a knife, ordering it to be opened up. As a result, from the snake’s belly, they extracted a purple gold box.

Upon reading this, I couldn’t help but be stunned. Could it be that the box I had in my bag was the one taken from the snake’s belly? My uncle, seeing that I had stopped speaking, impatiently urged, “Don’t pause, continue!” I had no choice but to shake off my thoughts and continue reading.

King Lu Shang didn’t think much of the box either; he just assumed it had been swallowed by the snake. Later that night, while he was sleeping, he dreamt of an old man with a white beard who asked him, “Why do you want to kill me?” King Lu Shang was usually very violent and had killed many people; he would forget after killing, not even knowing who this old man was, and replied, “If you want to kill, then kill!”

The old man suddenly transformed into a giant snake to bite him. Who knew that the King of Lu Shang was incredibly fierce; in the dream, he struck the snake with a sword, injuring it. Then, he stepped on it, intending to cut off its head. The snake suddenly begged for mercy, saying that its physical body had already been killed by him, and if its soul was killed as well, it would never be reborn. If he let it go, it would grant him two treasures that could elevate him to a position of great power. At that time, the tomb-raiding officer, although directly managed by the emperor, held a very low status. The King of Lu Shang had a very high opinion of himself, so this condition was extremely appealing to him. He agreed.

The snake then revealed how to open the purple-gold box in its belly and taught him how to use the treasures inside. After hearing this, the King of Lu Shang felt he had grasped its essence and believed that this matter should only be known to heaven and not spread to the world. With a single stroke, he chopped off the snake’s head.

At this point, I couldn’t help but be astonished; the King of Lu Shang was truly ruthless.

The胖子 (fat man) ran over and asked, “One of the treasures must be the Ghost Seal; what about the other one? It’s never mentioned in ancient texts. Could it be this jade figurine?”

I gestured for him to be patient and continued reading.

After waking up, the King of Lu Shang tried the method from his dream, and indeed, he opened the box. However, it never specified what treasures were inside, only that he found them “quite handy.” He felt that this matter could not be known to others, so he brutally killed all his attendants and their families, sparing not even the infants who had just turned a month old.

I gasped at this point, thinking that the King of Lu Shang must have some psychological issues; otherwise, how could he be so cruel?

The胖子 said, “How could he possibly kill so many people by himself? He must have used that treasure. I’m dying to know; hurry up and see if it says what it is!”

I cursed, “Why do you have so much nonsense? Go take care of your jade figurine!”

He grimaced, “Alright, alright, I won’t interrupt. Just read faster; I’m itching to know!”

I ignored him and continued reading.

In the following decades, he achieved victory in everything he did with the help of those two treasures, whether in battle or in court politics, winning every conflict and enjoying a moment of glory. However, in his later years, due to prolonged exposure to the energy of corpses, he developed many chronic ailments, making him very inconvenient. As a result, the emperor deemed him too old and stripped him of his military power, relegating him to merely tomb raiding without the need to manage military affairs, which was essentially a demotion.

As his health continued to decline, he began to fear death. One day, he dreamt of the giant snake from decades ago. The snake told him that his time had come and that they were all waiting for him in the underworld. When he looked, he saw many of the people he had unjustly killed! After waking up and recalling the dream, he was filled with fear and sought counsel from his military advisor.

His military advisor was a man with an iron face, well-versed in destiny and feng shui. After a moment of contemplation, he said to King Lu Shang, “In ancient times, there was a type of jade figurine that, when worn, could make a person return to their youth and achieve immortality. Unfortunately, it has long been extinct. To find one, you can only search in ancient tombs.” By that time, King Lu Shang was already at the end of his rope. Whether the iron-faced man’s words were true or not, they gave him a glimmer of hope, and tomb raiding was his specialty. Thus, he spent the entire night studying ancient texts. At that time, the literature and materials were relatively abundant, and many things had not been lost. Eventually, he discovered a significant tomb that might contain the jade figurine in a simple manuscript.

Next, he mobilized over three thousand people and spent half a year excavating the mountains. In the area he estimated, they found a massive royal tomb from the Western Zhou Dynasty. At that time, the national powers of various states were not very strong, so the scale of this royal tomb was already astonishing. It was built into the mountain, utilizing natural caves, and the burial passage was extremely complex, based on the principles of the I Ching and the Eight Trigrams. If it weren’t for King Lu Shang’s mastery of the mystical arts, he would have had no way to enter. The most peculiar thing was that in the main burial cave, there was a giant tree he referred to as the Nine-Headed Serpent Nan, and beneath that giant tree sat a nearly skeletal young male corpse, dressed in a black silk and jade robe, meditating on a jade bed.

After seeing this, the iron-faced man decisively stated, “This is the jade figurine. This young male corpse is in a state of being neither fully dead nor alive. Every so often, the dead skin on his body sheds, and new skin grows underneath. I estimate that when this young man died, he must have been a withered old man.”

This iron-faced man was quite remarkable; he even knew how to restrain blood corpses. Using a special method, he extracted the male corpse from the figurine and sealed it in a stone coffin in a secondary burial chamber. Following the entire plan laid out by the iron-faced man, King Lu Shang took a fake death potion and pretended to die in front of the emperor. The emperor believed he could move freely between the realms of yin and yang and was very afraid. To appease him, the emperor granted him burial rights that exceeded those of ordinary feudal lords. His confidants, under the pretext of excavating a tomb, secretly constructed a fan-shaped ancient tomb above this Western Zhou royal tomb. Because he was familiar with various tomb-raiding techniques, he set up numerous deceptive traps and left seven fake coffins, hiding himself in the thousand-year-old tree of the Western Zhou tomb.

Before he entered the coffin himself, he killed all the people involved in the project and pushed them into the river. He then poisoned all his attendants, leaving only a loyal man and woman to assist in his burial. After completing all the tasks, those two also committed suicide by poison. I estimate that the majority of the ancient corpses in the corpse cave accumulated during this time.

At this point, I had a question and asked my third uncle, “What ultimately happened to the iron-faced man? It seems there’s no mention of him here. Did he also die in the burial?”

My third uncle shook his head and said, “Someone like him is very clever. He should have anticipated that King Lu Shang would kill to silence him and would not foolishly remain loyal to be buried with him.”

The mute oil bottle said lightly, “Of course he wouldn’t, because in the end, the one lying in the jade figurine was no longer King Lu Shang, but himself.”

25 Seven Star Lu Wang – Chapter 25 – Jade Figurine

I was extremely shocked and took several steps back, my muscles tensed up, fearing that the corpse might suddenly stand up and lunge at me. I whispered, “How can this corpse be breathing? Have you encountered something like this before?”

Da Kui trembled as he replied, “Of course not! If I encountered things like this regularly, I’d rather clean toilets than dig graves.”

I glanced at Panzi, who was covering his wound and sweating profusely. He said, “No matter what it is, just give it a shot! If it doesn’t die, it’ll be a hassle if it stands up later.” I thought that made sense; in this underground place, it’s better to act than to think too much. Being proactive is never wrong, so I hurriedly raised my gun. At the same time, my third uncle and that fat guy waved their hands and shouted, “Wait… wait!”

As they spoke, my third uncle had already moved closer to the corpse. He gestured for me to come over while examining the armor on the corpse, astonished to the point where his mouth couldn’t close. He pointed at the black armor and said, “This… this isn’t a jade figurine, is it? My God, I never thought this thing really existed!”

I was confused and quickly asked what it was. My third uncle was so excited that he was almost in tears, stuttering, “It’s… it’s a miracle! After digging graves for so long, I finally… finally found a divine artifact. That’s a jade figurine!” He grabbed my shoulder and said, “As long as you wear this thing, you’ll become young again. Did you see? This is real! This corpse is the proof!”

In that era, being in your forties or fifties was considered quite old. Although this corpse’s muscles had sagged, the person’s face looked incredibly young. I couldn’t help but be secretly astonished, thinking, could it be that there really is such a thing as rejuvenation in this world?

The fat guy was also staring in disbelief, saying, “I never expected that Qin Shi Huang couldn’t find this thing; it was actually on him. Hey, Third Master, do you know how to take this off?”

My third uncle shook his head. “I’ve heard that this thing can’t be removed from the outside, which is a problem. Are we supposed to carry the whole corpse out?”

They checked the corpse back and forth, and I noticed that the corpse didn’t seem to mind them pulling at its arms and legs. It didn’t show any signs of danger, so my mood gradually eased. I asked, “If we take off this jade figurine, what will happen to the person inside?”

The fat guy hadn’t thought of that and said, “Well, I really don’t know. Worst case, it would just turn to dust.”

I replied, “But he was alive and well before; wouldn’t that make us murderers?”

The fat guy almost laughed himself to the ground and said, “Comrade, if grave diggers had your level of moral awareness, we wouldn’t need to do anything. Which ancient nobles weren’t covered in blood? Even if we pulled it out, they’d just get executed. You’re worrying about this? You’re really overthinking it.”

I thought about it and realized he was right. Seeing them busy, I didn’t want to be idle, so I went to check the coffin to see if there were any good items among the burial goods. The bottom of the coffin was covered with a thick layer of something scaly, and inside were layers of items I couldn’t name. I grabbed a handful of these scales and asked, “What are these things?”

My third uncle, distracted, sniffed and said, “This is the skin that’s fallen off from him.” I felt a wave of nausea and immediately threw the stuff away, cursing, “Damn it, did this King Lu Shang have a skin disease, shedding so much skin?”

Uncle Three said, “Stop talking nonsense. That’s the old skin he shed. Each time he sheds it, he becomes a little younger. Just look at the amount of skin; he must have shed at least five or six layers.”

I found these things too disgusting, like snake skin, and I had no interest. At that moment, the fat guy shouted, “There’s a thread!”

We gathered around to take a look and saw a gold thread on a piece of jade in the jade figurine’s armpit. I was puzzled and said, “Hey, you fat bastard, your eyes are too sharp. You can even see a loose thread here.”

The fat guy gave me a disdainful glance and muttered, “You southern folks have too much bloodlust. When you rob a tomb, you take everything in one go. Tomb raiding is a delicate craft. See? If it weren’t for me, your Fat Lord, you’d have to dissolve this corpse to get the jade figurine out.”

Uncle Three was irritated and cursed, “Get lost! You don’t even know if that’s true. Maybe there was already a loose thread here.”

The fat guy laughed heartily and said, “Don’t be superstitious.” Saying that, he reached for the thread. His hand had barely extended halfway when there was a whoosh, and I felt something flash past in front of me, as quick as lightning. Uncle Three reacted super fast and kicked the fat guy out of the way. Just as the fat guy moved aside, a black knife thudded into a tree, embedding itself halfway in. I was startled; if it weren’t for Uncle Three’s kick, the fat guy’s head would have been pierced.

When we turned around, we saw the Muffled Oil Bottle standing at the bottom of the steps, covered in blood, with a green Qilin tattoo that had appeared on him at some point. His left hand was still in the motion of having thrown the knife, and his right hand held a strange object. When we saw what it was, we all gasped in shock.

In his right hand, he was actually holding the head of the bloody corpse.

The Muffled Oil Bottle looked at us and staggered up the steps. His breathing was heavy, and he seemed to be in dire straits. Judging by the numerous wounds on his body, it must have been a fierce battle. He first glanced at the coffin, then waved his hand at us and said softly, “Step aside.”

The fat guy had veins popping on his forehead and couldn’t believe it. He jumped up and yelled, “What the hell were you doing just now!”

The Muffled Oil Bottle turned his head and shot him a cold glare, saying, “To kill you.”

The fat guy was furious and rolled up his sleeves, ready to charge. Big Kui quickly hugged him, and Uncle Three sensed the tension. Knowing the fat guy wasn’t a good-natured person, he hurried to smooth things over, saying, “Calm down. The young man must have his reasons for what he did. Let’s hear him out first. He’s saved your life more than once, right? Take it easy.”

The fat guy thought about it and realized it made sense. He decided not to make a move, breaking free from Big Kui and angrily sitting on the ground, saying, “You guys have the numbers. I, Fat Lord, can’t fight against four hands; what can I do? Whatever you say goes.”

The Muffled Oil Bottle placed the bloody corpse’s head on the jade bed, coughed, and said, “This bloody corpse was the previous owner of this jade figurine. When King Lu Shang was raiding tombs, he discovered him and took the jade figurine off, and that’s how he became what he is now. This jade figurine sheds its skin every five hundred years, and only when it sheds can the jade figurine be removed. Otherwise, it will turn into a bloody corpse. The living corpse you see before you has been around for over three thousand years. If you had pulled that thread just now, it would have immediately risen from the dead, and we would all be dead here.”

He finished speaking and coughed a few times. I noticed blood beginning to seep from the corner of his mouth and thought to myself that it was bad; he might have injured his internal organs.

Panzi, who had been leaning against the side looking uncomfortable and hadn’t said a word, suddenly spoke up: “Little brother, I, Panzi, am straightforward. Please don’t take offense. You know too much already. If it’s convenient, why not just clarify who you really are? You saved my life, and if I make it out alive, I’d like to pay my respects.”

Panzi’s words were quite clever, and I thought that no matter how much he tried to brush it off, the silent man couldn’t just ignore it. But to my surprise, he remained silent, as if he hadn’t even considered acknowledging us. He walked over to the corpse of King Lushang, looked at it with disgust, and suddenly a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Before I could see his movement, his hand had already gripped the corpse’s neck, pulling it out of the coffin. The corpse let out a sharp scream from its throat and began to tremble uncontrollably. Everything happened too quickly for me to react. The silent man coldly said to the corpse, “You’ve lived long enough; you can die now.” With a surge of veins on his hand, there was a sound of bones cracking, and the corpse’s limbs shook violently before it kicked one last time, its skin rapidly turning black.

We all stared at him, dumbfounded, and for a moment no one knew what to say. He casually tossed the corpse onto the ground as if it were nothing more than garbage. I grabbed him and demanded, “Who exactly are you? What deep-seated grudge do you have against King Lushang?”

The silent man looked at me for a long moment and said, “What good would it do you to know?”

Fatty, unwilling to back down, said, “What kind of reasoning is that? We worked hard to come down into this tomb, and after so much effort to open this coffin, you just choke the corpse to death without a word? At least you should explain yourself!”

The silent man turned his head to look at the bloodied head resting on the jade bed, his expression very sorrowful. He pointed to a purple jade box at the back of the painted lacquer coffin and said, “Everything you need to know is in that box.”

24 Seven Star Lu Wang – Chapter 24 – Living Corpse

We all stepped back in fright, and although we had anticipated that there would be some issues with the coffin, the actual encounter still made us gasp. The noise clearly indicated that there was definitely something alive inside. If there was something moving in the coffin, it could not be a good sign.

Da Kui’s face turned pale, and he trembled as he said, “It seems like there’s something alive inside? Third Uncle, I think we shouldn’t open this coffin.”

Third Uncle examined the seams of the coffin closely and shook his head, saying, “Impossible. This coffin is sealed very well; air can’t circulate at all. No matter what living creature is inside, even if it had a lifespan of three thousand years, it would have suffocated long ago. Moreover, this is just a coffin; there are several layers of coffins inside. Let’s pry off one or two layers first and then listen carefully.”

I estimated the weight of the coffin. In my memory, the heaviest bronze coffin was the giant coffin from the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng, which weighed about nine tons. This one was similar in size, but the coffin from the Marquis Yi’s tomb was made of bronze inlaid with wooden boards, while this one was entirely bronze. It was likely that it weighed far more than nine tons, but I couldn’t estimate the exact weight.

Da Kui and Third Uncle first scraped off the wax sealing the seams with a knife, then they inserted a pry bar and shouted before pushing down. With a loud crack, the bronze coffin lid began to lift. I hurried over to help push the bronze plate outward. This piece weighed at least eight hundred pounds, and after a long struggle, we managed to move half of it. Exhausted, we finally used our shoulders to flip the plate aside, revealing the coffin inside.

It was an exquisite painted lacquer coffin inlaid with jade, covered with neatly arranged jade stones in both diamond and round shapes, embodying the concept of “heavenly roundness and earthly flatness.” The jade was set into a painted wooden coffin, but since the outside was covered with jade, I couldn’t see the designs on it. When Panzi saw the coffin, his eyes nearly popped out. Holding his wound, he was half crying and half laughing, saying, “Damn, so much jade! Now I can walk sideways!” As he spoke, he gritted his teeth and was about to make a move, but Third Uncle quickly called out, “No! This is Xinjiang Manas jade. If you take the jade apart to sell, you can only get about a hundred thousand. With so many of us, it won’t be enough to share. You need to take the entire jade-inlaid coffin to make it valuable!”

Panzi had already gotten into trouble before, and when Third Uncle glared at him, he dared not act recklessly and scratched his head, retreating to the side.

Third Uncle tapped the painted wooden coffin and said, “Generally, the kings of the Warring States period had double coffins and triple layers. If we count that tree as the first layer, we have already removed two layers of coffins. The layer below should be the most valuable.” After saying that, Third Uncle carefully used a small knife to detach all the gold threads from the lacquer coffin. To avoid damaging the jade-inlaid coffin, he was very cautious and spent half an hour finally extracting the entire set of coffins.

Once the jade-inlaid coffin was removed, I saw the colorful paintings on the wooden coffin. These images were easier to understand than the inscriptions. I lit a mineral lamp and looked closely; there were several narrative scenes depicted. The one on the coffin board might represent the moment the coffin was just sealed. I saw a giant tree with a hole in the middle, and a bronze coffin being carried by many skeletons, still uncovered. There were many people kneeling respectfully beside it.

My uncle carefully stacked the jade-inlaid coffin and placed it in his backpack. I tried to carry it, and it was incredibly heavy; it looked like it would be quite a struggle to haul around.

With this object as motivation, Da Kui suddenly became energetic. Without saying a word, he continued to open the colorful lacquered wooden coffin inside. My uncle quickly grabbed him, scolding, “You faint at the sight of a ghost, but when you see money, you throw caution to the wind! There’s only one layer left down here, so be careful!” He squatted down, pressed his ear against the coffin board, and gestured for us to be quiet.

We held our breath, afraid to disturb him. He listened for a long time, then turned around, his face pale, and said, “Damn it, it sounds like there’s breathing inside.”

We all froze. If we heard a ghostly cry from inside, we might have been able to accept it, but now something inside was breathing—this was too bizarre. Da Kui stammered in fear, saying, “Could it be a living dead person?”

My uncle replied, “Shut… up! Don’t talk nonsense here! We’ve come this far; are we really going to put the coffin lid back on?” Saying this, he pulled out a black donkey hoof and tucked it under his arm, signaling me. I raised my gun, and Da Kui swung the crowbar he was holding, standing guard by the coffin, ready to shoot anything that jumped out.

My uncle spat into his hands twice to gather his courage, then prepared to insert the crowbar inside. Just then, a voice shouted from behind, “Stop!”

We turned around to see the fat man, who had somehow woken up, rubbing his head and waving his hands at us. “No, no, this way will cause trouble. With your limited experience, you think you can deal with it? This is like using a flashlight in a latrine to look for shit (death).”

My uncle snorted, “Then how do you suggest we open it?”

The fat man waved his hand for my uncle to step aside, then reached into the gap between the lacquered coffin and the bronze coffin, closing his eyes and feeling around for a long time. Suddenly, he applied force, and we heard a loud crack as the coffin split cleanly in half. In that instant, we all seemed to hear an extremely mournful scream coming from inside the coffin, and I was so startled that my hand went weak, almost dropping the gun.

The fat man quickly jumped back, arms spread wide, and said, “Step back!”

I instinctively raised my gun, aiming at the coffin, and quickly retreated several steps. The lacquered coffin rose like a lotus flower from the coffin, and the lid split open, falling down. The exquisite design was truly breathtaking, and we couldn’t help but stare in awe.

At the same time, we saw a figure clad in black armor sit up from the coffin. I raised my shoulder, nearly ready to fire, but the fat man grabbed my hand and said, “Don’t move! He’s wearing treasures; don’t break them!”

At that moment, I finally saw what the mysterious King Lu Shang looked like. It was a rare wet corpse, with skin so white it almost seemed transparent. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to have died in great pain, with his features almost twisted. I was very curious; since he had a way to keep that young girl’s corpse from decaying for a thousand years, why couldn’t he preserve his own body?

My third uncle walked over to take a look and said, “I thought it was just another zongzi (sticky rice dumpling). Look, there’s a piece of wood propping him up from behind. No wonder he can sit up.”

We all walked over, and indeed, it was a very clever mechanism. As soon as the coffin was opened, the corpse inside would be propped up by a wooden stick, which would probably scare ordinary tomb raiders to death.

We all sighed in relief. We thought to ourselves that the King Lu Shang was truly scheming, but he should have considered that those who are afraid of ghosts do not raid tombs, and those who raid tombs are not afraid of ghosts. Those who dare to open someone else’s coffin at night are all desperate characters; this kind of scare tactic really underestimates us.

We gathered around, and I could see the armor he was wearing, which was actually the last coffin, scientifically known as the “Golden Thread Jade Armor.” However, for some reason, the jade pieces on it had all turned black. As I approached, I couldn’t help but be stunned. I saw that the corpse’s chest was actually rising and falling continuously, as if it were still breathing. The sound of that breathing was now very clear, and I could almost see moisture spraying out from his nose.

Da Kui was astonished, his mouth agape: “This… this… this thing seems to be alive!”

23 Seven Stars Lu Wang – Chapter 23 – Coffin

My gaze was suddenly fixed, unable to move away. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the armor plates on my belt, but even though I couldn’t turn my head, I surprisingly didn’t experience any hallucinations. My vision was hazy, but my thoughts were very clear.

At that moment, I suddenly heard the voices of my third uncle and the others rushing over, and I thought to myself, “This is bad.” They hadn’t experienced the fox corpse’s supernatural powers and didn’t know how dangerous it was; if they rushed over carelessly, something terrible would definitely happen. I wanted to shout a warning, but it felt like my throat was blocked by something, and even though my mouth was wide open, I couldn’t say a word, nearly bursting with anxiety.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck me, and I realized I could still move my hands slightly. Immediately, I made a gun gesture with both hands, pointing the “barrel” at the fox corpse’s head and kept tapping it, thinking, “Panzi, you better be smart this time; if you can’t understand this gesture, you might as well go eat shit!”

Just as I tapped a few times, a gunshot rang out from behind me, and the head of the green-eyed fox corpse exploded right in front of my eyes. At that moment, I had my mouth open, and the corpse’s fluids almost splattered all over my face and into my mouth. I immediately vomited; this was even more disgusting than eating shit. I almost emptied my stomach before turning around to see Panzi in the distance, one hand covering a wound and the other giving me an “OK” gesture. I cursed under my breath and wiped the corpse’s fluids off my face with my sleeve.

There was quite a distance from my third uncle to the sacrificial altar, and the path was filled with vines, making it very dangerous. However, my third uncle was quite resourceful; he used stones to first divert the vines before making his way over. Before long, they had climbed up to the sacrificial altar. He was very worried about me and immediately came over to check if I was okay. As soon as he caught a whiff of the smell on me, he frowned and nearly vomited. I was already feeling unwell, and seeing him like that made me rush over and give him a hug, causing him to feel so disgusted that he almost fell over.

Seeing that they were all safe, I remembered something and questioned, “Third Uncle, why did you leave me behind in the main tomb? Damn it, you scared me to death! How could I possibly stay there alone in that ghostly place?”

Upon hearing this, my third uncle slapped Da Kui on the head and exclaimed, “I told this kid not to touch anything, but he just wouldn’t listen.” He then recounted what had happened to them. It turned out that they had seen a tomb wall in another chamber of the tomb; generally, if there was a tomb wall in an ancient tomb, there would definitely be a hidden room behind it. However, they hadn’t expected that in this ancient tomb, all hidden doors opened downward. My third uncle, being quite sharp, quickly found the mechanism, but unfortunately, Da Kui was too quick; before my third uncle could figure it out, Da Kui had already pressed the mechanism, and like us, they fell into the next layer of the Western Zhou tomb. The subsequent events seemed very convoluted and bizarre, and my third uncle’s story grew increasingly absurd. I saw he was almost getting off track, so I hurriedly asked him to stop.

My third uncle said, “You really shouldn’t doubt me; just look at these guys.” He pulled out a black box from behind him, and with a click, the box magically transformed into a gun. I had some knowledge about guns, and this one was quite famous; just one look at it startled me.

This is a folded submachine gun, caliber 9mm, firing pistol bullets. It’s about the size of a Chinese cigarette, weighing less than six pounds, making it very easy to handle. Of course, due to its small size, the gun is also quite unstable.

My uncle said that they found several corpses in the tomb passage, and this gun along with some explosives were taken from those bodies. Not only that, but the place was riddled with bullet holes, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place.

I examined the gun carefully, feeling puzzled. It seemed that the previous group of tomb raiders who came in were very well equipped, at least much better than us. I wondered who they were. None of those people had come out after entering; had they all died here? If they hadn’t died, where could they be now?

As I pondered this, I leaned against the sacrificial altar, only to find that this seemingly sturdy stone platform couldn’t support me. Before I had even put my full weight on it, the altar suddenly sank, lowering by half. We were startled and thought we had triggered some trap, quickly crouching down. We heard a series of mechanisms activating, starting from beneath our feet and echoing out, culminating in a loud bang from the distant stone platform. Peering over, we saw that a large crack had formed in the trunk of the giant tree behind the stone platform, and from that crack emerged a massive bronze coffin secured with iron chains. The chains had fused with the tree trunk and wrapped around the top of the bronze coffin several times.

My uncle was stunned and exclaimed, “So this is where the real coffin is!”

Big Kui shouted excitedly, “Wow, such a big coffin must be worth a fortune, right? Finally, it wasn’t a wasted trip!”

My uncle slapped his head and said, “Worth money, worth money, but stop thinking about money all the time! Even if it’s valuable, you can’t take it away. How many times do I have to tell you? This is called a coffin, not a casket! Stop embarrassing me!”

Big Kui rubbed his head and didn’t dare to speak again. I took a closer look and felt something was off. I said to my uncle, “It’s strange; other people’s coffins are nailed shut with no intention of being opened again. But look at this setup; it seems like the mechanism of this stone platform was originally designed for someone to find this coffin. Did the owner of the tomb intend for someone to open their coffin one day? And look at these iron chains; they are tied so tightly that they don’t seem to be for securing it, but rather to prevent whatever is inside from coming out.”

My uncle examined it closely and confirmed my observation. We exchanged glances, realizing that we had encountered countless unbelievable things on our journey. Was there some kind of monster inside? Should we open it or not?

My uncle gritted his teeth and said, “I estimate that the valuable treasures in this tomb are all inside. If we don’t go in, wouldn’t that be a wasted trip? So what if there are zongzi (rice dumplings) inside? We have guns and cannons now; if it comes to it, we can just fight it out.”

I nodded, and my uncle continued, “Besides, it’s not very likely we could go back the way we came. Every hole in this cliff almost leads into that stone maze. Who knows how long it would take to get out from there? The best way is to climb out from above.”

We looked up and saw the cracks at the top of the cave, with moonlight shining down from the opening, creating a very desolate atmosphere. Uncle San pointed at the giant tree and said, “Look, the top of this giant tree is very close to the cave ceiling, and there are many vines extending from the tree to the outside of the cave. It’s practically a natural ladder, and with so many branches on the tree, it’s very easy to climb, which is perfect for us to get out.”

Panzi said, “Third Master, why are you talking nonsense here? That tree is a man-eating tree; climbing it is just asking for death!”

Uncle San laughed heartily, “This tree is called the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress. I’ve thought of this long ago. Didn’t you see how those vines don’t dare to touch the stones here? This stone is called Tianxin Rock, and it specifically targets the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress. If we smear some stone dust on ourselves, we’ll be just fine.”

Daqi worriedly asked, “Will it really work?”

Uncle San shot him a glare. I knew he was about to start cursing, so I quickly said, “Alright, we’ll know if it works once we try!”

Without further ado, we sprang into action. Daqi carried Fatty on his back, Uncle San helped Panzi up, and I tidied up my gear. I turned back to glance at the cave, wondering about the situation with the Muffled Oil Bottle. Uncle San noticed my concern and said, “With his skills, he can definitely protect himself, so don’t worry.”

I nodded. To be honest, I really had no right to worry about the Muffled Oil Bottle; his skills were far beyond mine, and he seemed to possess strange abilities. If anyone should be worried, it should be him about me.

I held my gun and walked in front while they followed behind me. We slowly ascended the high stone platform. Earlier, we had rushed down without looking closely, but now I realized that this platform was made up of large chunks of Tianxin Rock stacked together. I wondered how such large stones had been brought in. There were also carvings of deer heads and cranes on the steps, which were quite rare. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of lord King Lu Shuang was to have such an unusual burial standard.

At that moment, we had reached the entrance of the tree hole and could see clearly that the opening hadn’t formed naturally; it had been torn open by several iron chains inside. The massive bronze coffin was right in front of us, at least 2.5 meters long, and it was densely covered with inscriptions.

The script from the Warring States period is quite complex, and the characters used in Qi and Lu were commonly employed by scholars at the time. After the Chu State annexed the Lu State, it also absorbed a lot of Lu’s culture, and the writing was quite similar to that of Lu. Most of the rubbings I had from the Warring States period were from that era, so I could understand the general meaning of these inscriptions.

At this moment, for some reason, everyone fell silent, as if afraid to wake the owner of the tomb. Uncle San took out a pry bar and knocked on it; a dull echo came from inside, indicating that it was definitely filled with something. Knowing that I was interested in such things, Uncle San quietly asked me, “Can you understand what’s written on it?”

I shook my head and said, “I can’t understand the specifics, but I can be certain that the owner of this coffin is the King of Lu, Lu Shang, whom we are looking for. The text on it should detail his life. It seems he died before reaching fifty, without any sons or daughters, and the circumstances of his death, as I’ve learned before, were that he suddenly sat down and passed away in front of the Duke of Lu. The rest should just be some accounts of his life.” I wasn’t interested in the culture of the State of Lu at that time, so I just glanced at it a few times and stopped looking.

“What do these few characters mean?” Da Kui asked me. I looked at the center of the coffin, where the character “Qi” was written, followed by a long string of characters: Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao. These characters were particularly large and stood out. I knew these were dates, but during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Zhou dynasty was in decline, and the feudal lords acted independently, leading to a chaotic calendar system, so I didn’t know which day it referred to. I said, “This should indicate the date of burial. But I also don’t know what day that is.”

While I was studying the inscriptions, my third uncle was figuring out how to open the coffin. He shook the iron chains; each of these chains was about the thickness of a thumb. At that time, China had just entered the Iron Age, and such items were considered luxury goods. After so many years, most of them had aged and were basically only useful as decorations. I asked them to step back, pulled the trigger, and with a few shots, the iron chains broke apart, leaving only a few to secure the position.

My third uncle told me to step back, saying, “Don’t study it anymore; let’s get it open first!”

Just as he finished speaking, the coffin suddenly shook by itself, producing a muffled sound from inside. At first, I thought I had misheard, and just as I was about to ask others, it shook again. This time, I heard it clearly, and I couldn’t help but feel a chill run down my spine, thinking to myself, “This is bad! Damn it, there really is something wrong inside!”

22 Seven Star Lu Wang – Chapter 22 – Eightfold Treasure Box

The purple-gold box felt very heavy in my hands and looked somewhat like a smaller version of the Eight Treasures Box (the eight boxes that hold the relics), but much smaller. At that time, Buddhism had not yet been introduced to China, so what was inside could not possibly be relics. I shook it, but there was no sound. I thought to myself: Could it be that the box contains the ghost seal that the fat man mentioned?

The key was in the mouth of the female corpse. I steadied my mind, took a deep breath, and inserted my fingers under her tongue to grasp the key, carefully pulling it out. Just as the key was about to come out of her mouth, I noticed a very thin silk thread tied to the key’s handle, leading all the way down into the throat of the corpse. I suddenly realized that something was not right; it seemed that the other end of the thread was tied to something.

My grandfather had told me that during the Shang Dynasty, Chinese artisans had already skillfully managed to install mechanisms inside human corpses, using golden threads to trigger them. As soon as tomb robbers removed the jade plugs or precious pearls from the mouth or anus of the corpse, the mechanism would activate, and crossbow arrows would shoot out. Since the distance between the living and the dead was often very close, there was simply no way to dodge. I didn’t know how many tomb robbers had died under such traps.

I pressed on the abdomen of the female corpse and indeed felt several hard objects. I thought to myself: Thank goodness I was slow; if it had been the fat man or Panzi, they would probably have fallen victim! Considering all of this, it seemed as if it was all designed specifically for tomb robbers, and I couldn’t help but feel a chill.

The silk thread behind the key was golden and could be pulled but not broken. I pinched it with my nail, and it snapped. I took out the key and aligned it with the keyhole on the purple-gold box, and it fit perfectly. However, I had no idea what kind of trickery might be inside the box, and there could be a mechanism. After thinking it over, I decided it was better not to open it for now.

At that moment, I suddenly noticed that the female corpse that had been hanging onto me had become grotesque. I was greatly alarmed as her face sank in like a spoiled orange, making an indescribable sound from her throat. In just a few seconds, she transformed from a living beauty into a dry corpse right before my eyes. I barely shook her, and her withered arm broke off, her desiccated body falling onto the jade platform and continuing to shrink.

I was terrified. It seemed that the gem on the key really had a preservative effect. I dared not think too much and stuffed everything into my bag, thinking that it was not wise to linger here, and then went to carry the fat man.

The fat man was quite heavy, and after several attempts to move him, there was still no response. I thought, surely he couldn’t be dead. At this point, I couldn’t worry too much. I grabbed one of his hands and shouted, “Get up!” Then I straightened my back and hoisted him onto my back. The fat man was very heavy, nearly crushing me to the point of spitting blood. I shook my head secretly, cursing the fat man’s ancestors as I walked.

Fortunately, the stone corridor was not long. I quickly reached the middle section, and as soon as I exited the area entangled with vines, I saw a cliff. My third uncle and Panzi were not up there; it seemed they had gone back to look for an exit. I walked to the end of the stone corridor, where the sacrificial altar was located, and placed the fat man on the altar, intending to take a good rest. Suddenly, I saw my third uncle crawling out from the hole closest to the ground.

He is very familiar with things like Qi Men Dun Jia. With him around, that maze is nothing at all. I was afraid he didn’t see me, so I waved my hand and shouted, “Uncle San, I’m over here!!”

When Uncle San saw me, he initially wanted to laugh, but his expression suddenly changed. He pointed behind me, and when I turned around, I saw that the胖子 had somehow sat up. To my shock, the corpse of the blue-eyed fox was actually lying on his back, coldly staring at me.

21 Seven Star Lu Wang – Chapter 21 – The Corpse of the Blue-Eyed Fox

I was taken aback, thinking to myself, “This voice sounds so familiar. Isn’t it my uncle’s?” He was still on the cliff, so how could this voice seem so close? I quickly turned my head to look for him, only to find that there was no one around except for the fat guy. I couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Suddenly, I heard my uncle say, “You have blood on your hands; as soon as you enter the corpse’s mouth, it will rise. Don’t act recklessly.”

I searched for the source of the voice and eventually realized it was coming from underneath the jade platform. However, the jade platform was so vividly colored that I couldn’t see what was below it. I hurriedly asked, “Uncle, are you under this jade platform?”

My uncle replied, “I’ll explain later. For now, follow my instructions. Lower the head of that female corpse, press your thumb against her throat, and then tap her on the back of the head. Remember, you must keep your thumb on her throat, or she will swallow the key!” I agreed and followed his instructions, pressing on the throat of the female corpse and gently tapping her head. A key fell out of her mouth. As soon as the key hit the jade platform, I felt my shoulders relax, and the female corpse’s arms dropped down, her body lying flat on the jade platform.

I let out a sigh of relief, thinking I was finally free. Then I heard my uncle say from below, “Nephew, is there a fat guy next to you?”

I looked up at the fat guy, who had picked up the fallen key and was studying it closely, nodding and saying, “Yes.”

Suddenly, my uncle asked in Hangzhou dialect, “Can you see if he has a shadow?”

I was taken aback and didn’t quite understand what he meant. Reflexively, I glanced at the fat guy’s feet and saw that his shadow was obscured by the shadow of the jade bed. If one didn’t lean forward, it would be hard to tell whether there was a shadow at all. I felt a bit confused and said, “I can’t see clearly right now.”

My uncle sounded very anxious and said to me, “Listen carefully. I need to tell you something. Don’t be scared. On my way here, I saw the fat guy’s corpse. You must be careful; the fat guy in front of you might not be human.”

I looked at the fat guy and saw his rosy cheeks; his demeanor and actions looked nothing like a ghost, which left me puzzled. “Uncle, could you be mistaken?”

My uncle replied, “No, it’s definitely him. I wouldn’t be wrong. He must have been one of the previous tomb raiders. Just now, he was probably encouraging you to stick your hand in that female corpse’s mouth, right? That’s to harm you!”

I immediately felt scared and asked, “So you’re saying the fat guy in front of me is a ghost?”

My uncle said, “Yes. No matter what he says, don’t believe him. Quickly look for something nearby that can ward off evil.”

At that moment, the fat guy looked up at me, and I suddenly felt that his gaze was very strange, almost filled with resentment. I couldn’t help but believe half of what my uncle said. I hurriedly searched around and found the belt from the armored corpse, which was still attached to the scabbard of a dagger. I thought that ancient people often carved words to ward off evil on their accessories, so I quickly picked it up.

Although the characters on the belt had faded significantly, I immediately recognized that these were indeed the words of the State of Lu. Could this person really be King Shuang of Lu? And who was the female corpse next to him? Could she be his wife? In an instant, I thought about it, and my eyes didn’t stay idle; I had already scanned the belt. Although I couldn’t understand most of the characters, there was a phrase written in gold powder: “Yin Xi Bao Di,” which was quite recognizable, confirming it was indeed a spell to subdue ghosts. I felt a surge of joy in my heart.

At that moment, I thought of something and asked my third uncle, “It’s strange, this jade bed isn’t transparent, how can you see us?”

My third uncle replied, “I don’t know either. From below, I can see everything clearly, as if it were made of transparent glass. When I walked over, I saw you trying to take the key from that female corpse’s mouth, so I called out to you. Luckily, you could hear me; otherwise, if you had put your hand in there, it would have been disastrous.”

I became increasingly puzzled, feeling that something was off. I thought to myself: This jade bed isn’t wide, and the two corpses are placed very closely side by side. The moonlight here isn’t particularly bright either. To see so clearly through two parallel corpses in this light seems a bit impossible.

I glanced at the胖子 (the fat guy) and saw that he was still studying the key. Suddenly, I felt something was wrong. Given the胖子’s character, even if he didn’t understand my Hangzhou dialect, he would definitely interrupt. It was absolutely impossible for him to just stand there staring at a key for so long.

I climbed down from the jade bed and patted the胖子 on the shoulder. Just as I was about to test him with a question, unexpectedly, that ordinary pat elicited such a strong reaction from him. His eyes widened in anger as he shouted, “You little bastard, you’ve been deceiving me all along!” After saying that, he raised the dagger in his hand and lunged at me. I was taken aback and retreated several steps, shouting, “What are you doing!”

His eyes were bloodshot, and he didn’t listen to what I was saying. He charged at me again with another stab. The胖子 moved surprisingly swiftly despite his bulky figure, and I realized that if I didn’t run, I would definitely be stabbed. I quickly turned and ran down the stone steps. The胖子 yelled, “I’ll make you run!” and chased after me desperately, looking as if I had killed his father.

I ran desperately along the stone path. Although the胖子 looked heavy, he ran extremely fast. I saw that the stone corridor was short, and I would soon reach the end at the stone altar. Behind it was a ground covered with vines; if I stepped into it, I’d probably get caught like a sausage, and I felt anxious. I thought, could he really be an evil spirit trying to drag me down with him? But when have evil spirits ever stabbed people with knives?

Thinking of this, I saw that there was almost no way out ahead. I hit the brakes and then used the belt in my hand like a whip to strike at him. The胖子 dodged, and I lunged forward, biting his hand. I thought to myself, I’m probably the first person in this world who dares to bite a ghost. He screamed in pain, and the dagger fell to the ground. I kicked it away with a swift kick, sending it flying outside the stone corridor.

With that move, I had already exposed my weakness. The胖子 pinned me to the ground and said, “Damn it, I’ll choke you to death!” He suddenly tightened his grip around my neck.

In a moment of desperation, I wrapped the belt around his neck, thinking, if you’re ruthless, I’m not gentle either. Damn it, let’s fight it out!

I was grabbing him, and he was choking me. The key to this mutual choking was to strangle the other person before being suffocated oneself. I noticed that the fat guy wasn’t holding back at all; he was choking me so hard that my tongue was almost sticking out. I quickly mustered all my strength, using every ounce of energy I had, but unexpectedly, the belt, which looked to be in decent condition, turned out to be of such poor quality that with one good pull, it snapped with a loud crack.

The belt was made of cowhide, adorned with small, scale-like copper plates. When the cowhide broke, those copper plates fell onto my face like a shower of petals. One piece, engraved with “Yinxi Baodi,” fell right into my open mouth. Suddenly, I felt a bitter liquid rushing down my throat. I remembered that the plate was from a corpse, and I was instantly disgusted, choking violently. Everything in front of me became blurred, as if I had fallen into a cloud of black mist.

I was very confused, thinking, could it be that I was already choked to death by the fat guy? I felt the bitterness in my mouth intensifying, and the things in front of me becoming clearer. Then I jolted awake, suddenly realizing that I was pinned down on that jade bed by the fat guy, whose eyes were turning blue as he tightly gripped my neck. Meanwhile, the key in the mouth of the female corpse hadn’t fallen out; her hands were still tightly hooked onto my shoulders, creating an extremely chaotic scene!

It dawned on me that everything that had just happened was an illusion!

I turned my head to look at the fox corpse with the blue eyes beside me. Its mask was on the ground, and the eyeballs in the narrow slits had already turned to our side, staring straight at us.

I thought this was bad; no wonder the fat guy told me not to look. The eyes of that blue-eyed fox corpse were so eerie. With the fat guy being so strong, even if I woke up, he would still choke me to death. I hurriedly touched my mouth and found that the piece of the plate had completely melted away. Just as I was feeling anxious, my eye caught the purple-gold box in the fox corpse’s hand. Without thinking much, I desperately reached out to grab it and swung it at the fat guy’s head.

The fat guy was incredibly fierce, cursing loudly as he tightened his grip again. I thought to myself, you’re not just trying to choke me; you’re trying to break my neck! Determined, I felt a surge of killing intent. This person was terrifying; once I had the urge to kill, the strength in my hands changed completely. With a loud crack, the fat guy rolled his eyes back, and his whole body seemed to shake as he dropped onto me. I loosened my neck and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

At that moment, I suddenly saw the eyes of the blue-eyed fox corpse seemingly widen, and a strange force compelled me to look at it. My mind started to become hazy again, and in a moment of desperation, I pushed the fat guy onto the corpse. The fat guy was very robust and ended up pressing down on the corpse firmly. As soon as he did, that strange feeling disappeared immediately.

I rubbed my neck, where several fingerprints had almost deformed my skin. My whole body ached terribly. The eyes of the blue-eyed fox corpse were so powerful; if I hadn’t accidentally swallowed that piece of the plate from its belt, one of us would surely have died. I glanced at the purple-gold box that I had used as a weapon and suddenly noticed a small keyhole on it. I couldn’t help but exclaim softly, then looked back at the mouth of the female corpse, thinking, could it be that the key is meant to open this box?

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