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墨書 Inktalez
If the art of raising corpses in Xiangxi is indeed a peculiar skill, then from the moment a person dies to the preservation of the body and ultimately its transformation into a Zombie, one must seize the right moment. Otherwise, once it becomes a Zombie, it is no laughing matter.
Legend has it that the Corpse Master of Xiangxi relies solely on a bowl of water while transporting the dead. As long as the bowl of water in the bearer’s hand does not spill or break, the corpse will not fall. During this process, the corpse behaves like a living person, except it cannot speak; its walking posture is slightly different from that of a living person, moving in perfect sync with the person holding the banner. When the bearer walks, so does the corpse; when the bearer stops, so does the corpse. Such funeral processions were incredibly common in the late years of the Yunming Dynasty in Xiangxi. There is a saying in Xiangxi: "Three people stay at an inn, two eat," referring to those who transport corpses, meaning that among three people, the one who cannot eat is the dead.
I glanced at the Evil Spirit on the ground and was reminded of what it looked like when it was alive, stirring a sense of pity within me. However, I thought that if they were created through Xiangxi's peculiar arts, they might not be ordinary methods. Because with regular techniques, a Zombie could only be preserved for about a month before starting to decay like any normal corpse after death.
Yet these Evil Spirits showed no signs of decay unless they had transformed into Zombies after becoming Zombies. The thought sent a chill down my spine.
At that moment, the Mud Man cautioned, "Don't let your guard down."
I pulled my gaze away from the Evil Spirit's body. We had encountered more than just this one Evil Spirit; there might be others lurking and watching us!
Aside from Fat Ma having a few scratches on his forehead, everyone else was basically unharmed.
The Mud Man quickly treated Fat Ma's wounds. Meanwhile, that beam of light from earlier still shone ahead in the tomb passageway, flickering and giving me the impression that it was still moving forward.
"What’s that light about, Old Sun?" Fat Ma asked.
I shook my head to indicate I didn’t know. However, I felt it was definitely not benign. Given how strange this tomb passage already was, we needed to proceed with even greater caution.
I whispered, "Is everyone ready?"
"Ready, Brother Sun," Xiao Nan replied first.
Hills nodded at me, while Aran and White Zhi remained silent. Fat Ma was already shouting to set off.
I gripped the dagger in one hand and held the flashlight in the other. After walking a few dozen steps forward, we entered an unfamiliar stretch of the path. The beam of light disappeared at that moment.
I couldn't help but glance back at the light beam; from my position, it looked as if it were shrouded in a thick mist, quite hazy.
I reminded the nearby Fat Ma, "Keep an eye on the top of the tomb passage."
Fat Ma responded, directing his flashlight towards the ceiling of the tomb passage, which was still covered with dense moss.
I pulled my gaze away from the distant light beam and focused back on the top of the tomb passage. There were at least two Evil Spirits lurking in the darkness.
I walked cautiously, feeling as if a heavy weight had settled in my heart. Finally, we finished the familiar stretch, and ahead lay the unknown.
The flashlights we were using were ordinary, with a visibility range of only a few dozen meters. However, Hills and his group had different flashlights that could illuminate distances over One Hundred Meters.
Yet they still couldn't reach the end of this tomb passage.
My heart grew heavier, and I dared not let my gaze linger too long on the ceiling of the tomb passage, as danger loomed ahead.
The humidity in this tomb passage was overwhelming; breathing felt like inhaling a damp moldy scent.
Suddenly, Aran, who was at the back, called out. When I turned around, I saw Hills had cut off Aran's hair. An Evil Spirit was gripping Aran's Black Hair.
Without saying a word, Aran pulled out his own explosives but was quickly stopped by Hills.
Aran reluctantly put the explosives away.
Suddenly, a claw reached out again, grabbing Aran's shoulder. Aran struggled but couldn't break free, being pulled backward.
Hills seized Aran's hand, using the leverage to dash behind Aran, forming a knife shape with her hand and striking at Ghost Claw.
White Zhi had already taken the Crossbow from her back.
I pressed down on her and said, "There are too many people."
White Zhi was momentarily stunned but then lowered the Crossbow.
The Evil Spirit let out a pained cry after Hills struck it, its claws retracting. With the pressure point gone, Aran nearly lost balance, and Fat Ma hurriedly steadied him.
After feeling pain, the Evil Spirit surprisingly began to retreat. Hills chased after it, and the Mud Man was not far behind.
After a couple of steps, unexpectedly, the Evil Spirit turned around for a counterattack. I thought to myself that luckily, Hills ducked just in time.
The Evil Spirit continued to retreat. The Mud Man did not stop and kept pursuing.
Hills brushed her hair aside as I caught up with her, noticing several red marks on her forehead. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine," she replied, wanting to continue chasing forward.
Just as she took a step, the Mud Man turned around and shouted, "Run!"
"What's wrong?" I asked urgently.
In just a second or two of delay, four or five Evil Spirits had already emerged. I felt a chill run down my spine as the three of us turned and ran backward, shouting, "Run!"
The few people in front of us saw our panic and immediately took off ahead.
However, we underestimated the speed at which the Evil Spirits crawled through the tomb passage. We couldn't outrun them.
"Aran!" Hills shouted.
Aran, who was running in front, immediately stopped. She understood Hills' intention.
As we passed her, she threw one of her homemade Cold Fireworks. With a loud "bang," a fierce light erupted, accompanied by the wailing of the Evil Spirits.
Aran turned around and quickly caught up with us. We dared not linger. The beam of light ahead suddenly grew brighter, seemingly guiding us intentionally or unintentionally.
The chilling screams behind us were relentless, and a strong smell of gunpowder filled the tomb passage as the light began to dim.
Suddenly, I thought of Xiao Nan and shouted anxiously, "Xiao Nan!"
Xiao Nan responded from behind me. I paused for two steps to let her run ahead of me.
Fat Ma and Zhang Er Monk were still puzzled and asked, "What happened?"
" Fat Ma, stop asking so many questions and just run!" Mud Man replied.
Fat Ma turned to ask me, and I gave the same answer.
Fat Ma simply buried his head and ran off without looking back, quickly disappearing from sight.
We had been running for about five minutes when Fat Ma picked up a flashlight that had fallen on the ground and stopped, waving it towards us.
We also halted our steps. I glanced back and, seeing no sign of Evil Spirit, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Fat Ma shouted, "I found a flashlight!"
Everyone gathered around, and White Zhi immediately recognized it as Windwalker's flashlight, which meant the beam of light we had seen earlier was emitted by this very flashlight.
The fact that this flashlight was dropped here indicated that Windwalker might have vanished from this spot.
White Zhi turned off the flashlight.
The tomb passage continued to extend downward, resembling an abyss that drew us deeper into its depths.
We found ourselves in a dilemma now.
Unable to contain herself, White Zhi called out for Windwalker. Her voice echoed in the confined space but stirred no response.
The clay figure squatted on the ground and said, "The footprints are steady; there are no signs of haste."
His words captured all our attention.
The Mud Man continued, "It's strange. We didn't notice any footprints before, but now there are some here. There's a distance between them that doesn't connect at all."
With this reminder from the Mud Man, I recalled that when we hurriedly retreated earlier, he had mentioned that there were no signs of anyone going down. Now, suddenly, there were footprints appearing here, which was quite eerie.
The others seemed to grasp only part of it. However, White Zhi understood perfectly, her face slightly pale.
"You mean this flashlight doesn't belong to Windwalker?" Aran asked directly.
"That's a possibility we can't rule out," the Mud Man replied solemnly.
A ridiculous thought crossed my mind: perhaps Windwalker never went ahead to check but instead vanished mysteriously or perhaps didn't exist at all.
I shook my head to dispel this absurd notion or speculation.
There was no doubt that the flashlight in White Zhi's hand belonged to Windwalker, but that didn't necessarily confirm that Windwalker had lost track of himself here.
Since entering this tomb, first Old Mountain Master had an incident, then Black Glasses, and now it was Windwalker's turn.
Could it really be the effect of the formation that Hills mentioned?
"Let's keep moving forward," Hills said, breaking the stalemate.
The footprints continued to extend downward; we followed them in pursuit. The prints were steady, just like our current pace.
From the spacing of his steps, one could tell as well.
Was Windwalker intentionally leaving the flashlight here to give us a hint or a warning?
I took a deep breath and steadied myself, addressing Fat Ma: "When you picked up the flashlight just now, which direction was it facing?"
Fat Ma scratched the back of his head and after a moment replied, "It seemed to be pointing towards us!"
"Are you sure?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
Fat Ma hesitated again. "Well, maybe not."
"Is it or isn't it?" I pressed, feeling a bit anxious.
Finally, Fat Ma stated firmly, "It definitely was."
I fell into contemplation. Perhaps Windwalker really was trying to give us a hint. But I couldn't figure out what he was trying to warn us about; I didn't know much about his character.
I glanced at Hills and asked, "What kind of person is Windwalker?"
As soon as I asked, Hills understood what I meant. Before she could respond, White Zhi jumped in: "Windwalker is my brother. I know him well; he's cautious yet bold. And he's a good person."
After hearing White Zhi's words, I didn't argue with him; I had no reason to.
If what White Zhi said is true, then it's very likely that Windwalker is giving us some kind of hint.
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