Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The shadow beneath me held me tightly as we ran through the darkness, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around its neck. Suddenly, a weight lifted off me, and I felt weightless. A flash of light caught my eye, and before I could react, I was set down. The solid ground beneath my feet made me exhale in relief. When I looked up, I saw the stern and cold profile of Mu Xuanche.
"What happened…"
"We need to find the other two," Mu Xuanche interrupted. "For some reason, after we ran through the door, it seems we entered different spaces."
I glanced around; this was indeed another room. It measured about twenty square meters, cluttered with various jars and bottles that appeared to be from an ancient dynasty based on their designs. The walls were adorned with palace lanterns similar to the one hanging by the entrance, their flames flickering inside the jars, illuminating the room fairly well. Although I still didn't fully grasp the situation, I understood what Mu Xuanche meant. Frustration bubbled within me—what kind of treatment was this? Why did I have to encounter something so disgusting right after entering?
"Don't touch those jars," Mu Xuanche suddenly said, pointing at a shattered blue-and-white porcelain jar. "There's a Human-Faced Ghost inside."
"Human-Faced Ghost?"
"They're ghosts that like to steal faces because they don't have one themselves. If you encounter one, it will mercilessly claw your face off," Mu Xuanche said casually. "The air here is still a bit problematic." He pulled out the Devouring Blade he had been carrying on his back; its blade appeared somewhat dull. "My spiritual power seems to be restricted. Fortunately, dealing with ordinary ghosts isn't an issue, but if they are stronger, it might not be so easy to subdue them." He sheathed the blade again. "Do you want to wait here for me? I'll be back soon."
"No way am I staying here alone," I pouted, gripping his clothing tightly. No way did I want to be fed by those disgusting hairs again.
"You should at least bandage your arm first," Mu Xuanche said with a hint of concern as he looked at me. Then he sat down and closed his eyes, seemingly trying to calm himself. It was then that I noticed blood was still oozing from my arm; although it wasn't much, failing to stop it in time could lead to problems. With no other choice, I tore a piece from my clothing and used the flame from the lanterns on the wall to disinfect my wound before roughly tying the fabric around my arm.
"Where do we go next?" I asked.
"There are probably several rooms like this behind that door," Mu Xuanche replied slowly with his eyes still closed. "If we call this room Building One, you were just sitting in Building Two. Look up." He gestured for me to raise my gaze. Sure enough, there was a square opening in the upper left corner. The lower right corner had a similar opening as well. "So I suspect Yan Shengwei and Bai Qiling are below us."
"Why don't we check downstairs first?" I couldn't help but ask.
Mu Xuanche opened his eyes and glanced at me before standing up.
I felt a bit bewildered as he walked to the edge, turned his head, and glanced at me with a look that was somewhat intriguing. He asked, "Do you want to go down?"
"Yes," I nodded.
Before I could react, Mu Xuanche suddenly grabbed my hand and swung me into his embrace. I gritted my teeth, feeling the pressure on my head, and everything around me went dark again. It felt as if I had returned to the original spot, and those strands of hair were once again unceremoniously wrapping around me. "What’s going on! Why is it these hairs again?" I couldn't help but shout.
"Gu Yanxi?" Suddenly, a voice emerged from the darkness, sounding like Bai Qiling's.
I snapped back to reality as a "hiss" echoed in the dark. A figure appeared in the corner, only half of its body visible. In the dim light of a flickering flame, I could vaguely make out Yan Shengwei. Thanks to his light, I finally saw the rough layout of the room; that mass of hair seemed extremely afraid of the firelight, crawling away like insects into a corner and shrinking into a ball. Yan Shengwei struggled to climb up from a square opening in the corner of the room, holding what seemed to be a candle flame taken from the lower level.
"This room was clearly one level up just now; how did we end up back at square one?" I exclaimed in astonishment.
At that moment, another figure crawled up from the opening; it looked like Bai Qiling. He brushed off a black bug still clinging to him and casually tossed it back into the hole, appearing to have endured quite a bit himself.
"Do you know about the Wall of Ghosts?" Yan Shengwei panted heavily, clearly not in perfect condition.
"The Wall of Ghosts?" I asked in surprise. "Is it where no matter which way you go, you always end up back at the starting point?"
"If we take our original starting point as reference, no matter how many times we walk, we will return to our original room. It's like being trapped in a giant maze. Just now, Bai Qiling and I visited a room filled with bugs and another filled with jars and bottles. We took lamp oil and flames from the Longxin Palace to come to this room. And then we encountered you."
"So how do we get out? Bai Qiling, isn't this an Illusion?" I looked towards Bai Qiling.
"No. I'm afraid we've triggered some kind of mechanism," Bai Qiling said, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't careful enough when I opened the door just now. I only considered the man-eating insects behind it and didn't think about any mechanisms that might be there as well," Yan Shengwei murmured, looking a bit sheepish.
"What do we do now?" I asked, my face twisted in worry.
"Just now, Brother Bai and I discovered that whether we go up or down, we always end up back in this room. I believe that since there's a way in, there must be a way out. If we search carefully, maybe we'll find a mechanism here," Yan Shengwei replied. He stood up and looked around while I scanned the room as well. However, I found nothing particularly unusual about it. Besides the two openings for going up and down that every room had, there was also a tangled mass of hair.
I took the faint light from Yan Shengwei's hand and noticed that the flames were still burning brightly, not extinguished at all. But there was no time to ponder this; I held the candle closer to the hair. The mass of hair curled tightly together, resembling intertwined worms. Suppressing the rising nausea within me, I brought the candle closer. To my surprise, the hair seemed to exhibit a subtle emotion of "fear," shrinking into a corner and moving restlessly.
"Mu Xuanche, could you lend me your knife for a moment?" I asked.
He didn't hesitate much before handing over the knife. I sliced my palm open, blood dripping down, causing the hair to react even more violently. I reached into the mass of hair; the strands scattered apart as I felt around until finally, I touched something hard and box-like in the center.
"What is this?" I pulled out a wooden box, noticing it was secured with a golden lock.
"Sister-in-law, let me take a look," Yan Shengwei said as he reached out. Following his request, I handed it over. He examined the box closely before concluding, "This is just an ordinary golden lock and wooden box; we can pry it open."
Mu Xuanche nodded and took the wooden box from him, drawing his knife and striking down. The golden lock snapped open with a sound.
Yan Shengwei lifted off the lid of the box, revealing a blinding golden light emanating from within. Inside lay a solid gold ingot resting peacefully.
"There's a hole in this wall," Bai Qiling suddenly exclaimed from a corner on the left side, pointing at a hole about the size of his finger. "Do you think we should put the gold into this hole?"
"Now there's nothing left but to give it a try," Yan Shengwei said. He took out the gold, his expression serious as he stood before the opening. After glancing around, he took a deep breath and gently placed the gold inside.
A sudden "crack" echoed.
The ground opened up like a great door, revealing an endless black hole beneath.
Before I could react, my body felt weightless. Mu Xuanche rushed over in two steps and caught me in his arms. I took one last look at the ceiling above before plunging into the abyss.
I don’t know how long it was before I opened my eyes in the darkness, clutching my head, feeling as if it were splitting apart, reminiscent of a hangover from the previous day. Suddenly, a series of "puff" sounds echoed from afar, and candlelight flickered to life. The vast corridor gradually came into view with the glow of the flames, seemingly guiding me forward, with something at the end beckoning me. Mu Xuanche suddenly approached from behind me. I turned around and saw Bai Qiling and Yan Shengwei gathered behind me. As I stood up, I noticed a coffin lying flat behind them.
My heart tightened.
(End of Chapter)
Comment 0 Comment Count