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墨書 Inktalez
The tomb path diverged into a massive Glacier Cave, shrouded in darkness and filled with countless Yin Ghosts. I still had no idea what these entities were. One thing was certain: they were definitely not human; no human face could be that dark! This group moved in a coordinated manner, clearly not Zombies. However, the violent clashing of weapons indicated that they were indeed physical beings.
Could they be Yin Soldiers?
"These are the living dead!" A familiar voice echoed, not from Big Mouth Lee, Dong Tong, Bald Qiang, or Zhengyang, but someone I recognized! Confused, I asked, "Did you hear that sound?" They all shook their heads in response.
"Who are you?" I called out behind me. My shout startled them. "Big Brother, it's only been a short while, and you've already forgotten about Wang!" It suddenly dawned on me; I could understand Furball's speech after just a few moments, and this creature rarely spoke. "I actually forgot about Furball!"
"Where have you been?"
"Big Brother, how can you say that? You forgot about Wang! If it weren't for my quick thinking, I would have been eaten by ghosts long ago!"
"Glad you're okay. Do you have any way to deal with these living dead?" Before I could finish my sentence, I felt my backpack tremble behind me; Furball had returned and was snoring lightly, clearly having fallen asleep again. Damn it, this guy was as unreliable as ever.
So… are these the living dead?
My mind was filled with questions as I poked Bald Qiang in the waist, asking if he recognized them. After all, Bald Qiang's ancestors dealt with this sort of thing, and being a few years older than me, he might have some insight.
"I'm not entirely sure what they are…"
Fatty shook his head. "They are indeed living dead, but they're not ordinary Living Dead or guardians; they seem to be part of a tomb's curse formation!"
A formation? What kind of joke is this? Using living dead as part of a formation?
"Believe it or not, there are historical accounts of this. The reason why this Eerie Energy is so strong is often due to the creation of such Mass Graves. Ordinary people don't qualify to be part of the formation!"
"Exactly! I've heard from professors about a formation called the Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation. It uses the corpses of ninety-nine martial artists to gather Killing Intent and cultivate Zombies!"
"No way!" This kind of martial arts formation had appeared; I thought Sister Dong was someone with scientific knowledge—where did martial artists come from in modern society? "Sister Dong, this information you provided is quite useful!" It was useful only in the sense that it subtly denied her assumptions.
"I didn't believe in such things either at first. In one of my family's texts called Xuan Kong Jing, I remember it recorded the patterns and arrangements for such formations!"
According to Xuan Kong Jing: to create a formation base, one must soak living people in a potion for twenty-one days until the potion thoroughly permeates every organ through a hundred thousand pores. This involves wrapping the person from head to toe in white cloth and covering them in mud. They also need to be refined for eighty-one days before being taken out and forged with Yin wood. After removing the filth, these individuals still have breath but lack souls—this is what is known as the living dead.
The living dead are then nailed into the formation's center using inch-long peach wood nails and arranged according to celestial constellations. After enduring an immense passage of time, they can form a Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation. This formation acts like an energy source that continuously emits Killing Intent to nourish Yin corpses and provide an endless supply of energy for the Nine Deadly Tombs.
Some tombs historically used clay figurines instead of living dead due to moral beliefs or historical context. Clay figurines lack Spiritual Energy, making them significantly weaker. They might work against one or two Grave Robbers but would be ineffective against large groups of tomb raiders. I cursed inwardly: "Damn it! My first time entering a Tomb and I encounter such a fierce formation."
I speculated that Zhengyang and his group were likely battling something akin to Grave Guardians.
Entering the Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation was a matter of life and death. We had just escaped from the tiger's den only to fall into the wolf's lair, what a stroke of bad luck!
"Alright, let's not dwell on that for now. We need to think about what to do next!"
Big Mouth Lee peeked around the corner, observing the undead at the formation's foot. He spoke in a low voice, "I counted them—there are a total of one hundred sixty-four, which matches the one hundred sixty-five required for the Zhou Xingxiu Formation. Damn it, how can we four possibly match them?!"
"No need to fight to the death!"
Dong Tong interjected, "The Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation uses the undead to correspond with the power of one hundred sixty-five stars, plus the Sun Star and Moon Star as the main star array eye. At least one hundred sixty people are needed, but there are only one hundred sixty-four here. Clearly, the formation is incomplete!"
"One hundred sixty, one hundred sixty-four—just one person short!" I repeated these lines several times before suddenly realizing something. I slapped my thigh and exclaimed, "I get it!" They all turned to me in unison, "What do you understand?"
"I finally know why you ended up locked in that box. If I had arrived a bit later, you might have become part of the formation!"
It was evident that there was a vacancy in this formation, and Murmur clearly intended to fill it. Just after it was set up, Zhengyang and I managed to disrupt it. I could tell that Murmur was not Zhengyang's match, so it hid in the box, trying to escape disaster. If I wasn't mistaken, those foreigners should also be part of the formation.
Thinking this way, I carefully examined the array and found several fully equipped foreigners inside—about eight of them. However, another question arose in my mind: creating undead typically takes at least six months. These guys obviously just arrived yesterday; how could they have turned into undead? I thought to myself, "Perhaps they were just there to make up numbers and scare off those who understood!"
Since I couldn't figure it out immediately, I decided not to dwell on it.
"This formation will eventually be broken; otherwise, it would be extremely disadvantageous for our next steps. If we can destroy the Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation, it would be like removing a battery from an electric vehicle—the Killing Intent from the Nine-Tiered Corpse Tower would naturally diminish!"
"Kid, how do you plan to do that?" Big Mouth Lee asked, while Bald Qiang and Dong Tong also looked at me as if expecting me to make a decision. Suddenly thrust into this position made my psychological pressure increase significantly; with so many lives at stake, I had to weigh my options carefully. After studying the formation for a while, I concluded, "This formation doesn't seem too terrifying; what's truly frightening is Murmur—it has slipped in as well!"
According to the Mausoleum Secrets, "The Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation is merely an improvement on the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation. It adds an Absolute Gate beyond the eight gates." The eight gates are: Rest Gate, Life Gate, Injury Gate, Du Gate, Scene Gate, Death Gate, Shock Gate, and Open Gate. Generally speaking, Open Gate, Rest Gate, and Life Gate are auspicious gates; Death Gate, Shock Gate, and Injury Gate are ominous gates; Du Gate and Scene Gate are neutral gates. The Absolute Gate can be interpreted in two ways: as a dead end or as a chance for survival. It all depends on how you break this Nine Fiends Soul-Seizing Formation.
"The first step is to take down some of the undead to reduce the formation's power! The second step..." I laid out my plan confidently; it seemed relatively feasible.
After discussing among ourselves, they all agreed that my plan was workable.
Dong Tong pulled out several guns and daggers from her backpack and distributed them among us. She took a gun from her waist and with two clicks, everyone’s bullets were chambered.
Although these undead were pinned to the ground, they were no ordinary foes. At least some were among those ranked lower in Liangshan Marsh; robbing along the way was nothing more than child's play for them!
Bang!
Dong Tong fired several shots at the undead, the bullets piercing through their bodies and leaving behind a mess of flesh, but not a drop of blood. It was as if he was shooting rubber. More shots rang out, and several undead were cut in half before they even had a chance to move. It was almost too easy to deal with!
Seeing this, I felt a slight sigh of relief in my heart. They were nothing more than meat targets. They weren’t invulnerable; damn it, they just had numbers on their side. What was there to be afraid of?
They seemed to realize this as well, some wielding guns and others swinging knives, chopping down the undead like they were harvesting corn. The ground was littered with blood and guts, a gruesome sight! We didn’t care about that; it was like a harvest, clearing out the entire formation. It was simply too easy!
“Xia, isn’t this too fake?” Big Mouth Lee exclaimed, dancing with his dagger as he sliced through the undead, enjoying himself as if he were peeling fruit. “I haven’t had this much fun cutting people in ages!” I thought to myself, “You were born under the red flag; do you really think you can just chop people up? You’re not afraid of blowing your own horn!”
“Is this an illusion? I feel like it can’t be this easy!” This remark reminded me that Murmur’s illusion techniques were incredibly powerful; I was genuinely worried it might be its doing! So I shouted loudly around me, cursing “Nothing!” Sure enough, the scenery around us faded away, revealing Big Mouth Lee and the others continuously staring at the wall, even chipping away at the bluestone. Dong Tong was wildly firing at the glacier, knocking off many ice shards.
“Stop shooting! We’ve used Charm Technique!” I yelled at them to bring them back to reality. They looked at the scene before them, exchanging glances and sticking out their tongues in disbelief!
Just then, those undead actually moved; one by one, they pulled up the peach wood nails beneath their feet. The formation shifted along with them; although their movements seemed scattered, they were surprisingly coordinated. Damn it, this time it definitely wasn’t an illusion.
As I watched those undead charging towards us, I felt a twinge of fear but could only brace myself and let out a roar to bolster my courage. Gripping the Azure Dark Sword tightly, I charged straight at the first two undead. When my blade came down, golden light erupted—but it didn’t penetrate them at all. This was going to be tough. Just then, one of them reached out and pushed me with a massive hand. A surge of force hit me; I was knocked down against the stone wall of the Passageway, stars exploding in my vision. I struggled several times but couldn’t get up; my body felt weak as if something was holding me tightly.
The others were also besieged by the undead. At that moment, a group of them lunged towards me; I could see their sharp teeth ready to bite down. Despair washed over me as I closed my eyes…
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