Chapter 8: Mummy

Chapter 8 The Ancient Corpse

Ye Xin, scared out of his wits, stealthily crawled backward, retreating to the stone pillar furthest from Sang Xu.

Sang Xu, calm and composed, took a few steps forward, fully exposing himself to the ancient corpse's gaze. The corpse's head tracked his movements, its eyes, narrowed to thin slits, exuding an inexplicable malevolence.

On the rope ladder path to the other side, Han Rao gripped the ropes with both hands, muscles bulging, as he heaved himself upward with all his might.

Just a little more—Sang Xu needed to keep stalling for time.

"Sssss—"

The ancient corpse emitted its strange noise again. Perhaps due to the distance, Sang Xu remained unaffected by its hypnotic influence.

However, the frequency of the hissing grew increasingly rapid, and Sang Xu sensed something was amiss.

He gestured behind his back, signaling Ye Xin to go help Han Rao. Ye Xin was scared stiff, but seeing his two "big brothers" fighting so hard, he couldn't just cower. Gritting his teeth, he climbed onto the rope ladder, bent down, grabbed Han Rao’s legs, and with all his strength, pulled one of Han Rao’s legs up.

"Sssss—"

The frequency grew even higher.

Sang Xu detected a discordant sound.

Just as Han Rao climbed onto the rope ladder, he suddenly heard rasping, scraping sounds from all directions. The stone coffins on various pavilions began to stir—many coffin lids were pushed open slightly, and tattered shreds of clothing leaked out from within.

Something was trying to climb out.

And it wasn’t just one.

—It wasn’t trying to bewitch Sang Xu; it was summoning its companions.

Han Rao quickly raised his gun to shoot the ancient corpse, only to find that the corpse in the pavilion was gone. Only Shen Zhitang remained, standing there in a daze.

"Where did it go?"

"It’s near Brother Jian Guo!" Ye Xin whispered urgently.

Han Rao swiftly swung his gun around, squinting as he looked over. Instantly, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. The ancient corpse hung upside down from the pavilion like a bat, face to face with Sang Xu, incredibly close.

Sang Xu was utterly stunned.

He had initially estimated the distance between himself and the ancient corpse, thinking that if it charged at him, he would still have time to escape. But in the blink of an eye, the corpse had appeared right in front of him.

He had been careless.

Didn’t Zhou Xia always do this? One moment he was there, the next his face was right up in yours.

"Sssss—"

This time, the hissing was right next to him. Perhaps because he was wearing the Nuo mask, Sang Xu felt slightly dizzy but hadn’t lost his rationality like Shen Zhitang. On the rope ladder, Han Rao immediately loaded his gun, raised it, and fired. The ancient corpse’s head burst open like a melon, brains splattering across Sang Xu’s Nuo mask. A foul stench assaulted his nostrils, and Sang Xu felt nauseous.

Han Rao was an exceptionally skilled marksman, far surpassing ordinary people. Despite Sang Xu and the corpse being so close, he fired without hesitation and with extreme precision. After the first shot, the corpse only then realized there was someone behind it and twisted its half-shattered head 180 degrees. Han Rao didn’t give it a chance to approach—he loaded a second bullet, squinted to aim, and fired again. This time, the corpse’s entire head exploded, and its body dropped like a plummeting bat into the bottomless abyss.

The moment the ancient corpse fell into the abyss, Shen Zhitang snapped out of her trance.

On the pavilions all around, coffin lids were scraping and creaking open.

"Hey, handsome, hurry over!" Han Rao shouted.

He scooped up Ye Xin and ran straight toward Shen Zhitang. Shen Zhitang, having just come to her senses, took one look at the scene and immediately understood what had happened. She quickly moved to join Han Rao. Sang Xu removed his Nuo mask, put on his glasses, and raced across the rope ladder. Behind him, the sound of coffin lids crashing to the ground rang out—Sang Xu knew corpses had emerged from the pavilion he had just been in.

"Handsome, just run!" Ahead, Han Rao raised his gun and fired.

Bullets whizzed past Sang Xu’s ears. He heard something behind him tumble off the rope ladder path and fall into the abyss. As he passed the pavilion where Shen Zhitang had been, he noticed an open coffin with a small box inside. Without caring what was inside, Sang Xu grabbed it and carried it with him.

What if it contained treasure?

Once Sang Xu joined them, the four of them quickly climbed onto the next rope ladder path.

However, Sang Xu remained wary of the tip-toeing creature that had been following Han Rao earlier and didn’t get too close. As he ran, he took a moment to put on the Nuo mask again but still saw nothing unusual about Han Rao.

The four of them ran past the boundary stone of the Peeling Clothes Pavilion, and the scraping sounds behind them gradually faded. Panting heavily, they looked back and, seeing nothing following them, finally stopped to rest.

"They probably won’t catch up, right?" Shen Zhitang said, still shaken.

Ye Xin looked at the mother-of-pearl inlaid box in Sang Xu’s hand and asked, "Is there a Heaven-Mending Pill inside?"

"That sarcophagus only had this as burial goods," Shen Zhitang said as she opened the mother-of-pearl box. "There should be a Heaven-Mending Pill, right?"

But when the box was opened, it didn’t contain a pill—instead, it held a yellow-paged book.

On it was written: "Big Dipper's Dark Arts."

Everyone’s faces fell.

Sang Xu frowned slightly as he looked at the book. At the Celestial Maiden Temple, they had seen "Big Dipper's Noble Scroll," but this one was "Big Dipper's Dark Arts."

"Today is the fifth day—we still have five days left," Han Rao encouraged everyone. "Don’t get discouraged! We can’t stay here and become corpses!"

Sang Xu sighed softly. Underground, there was no way to tell day from night. Unconsciously, more than a day had already passed since they entered.

He really wanted to return to the company and work, even if it meant overtime until the wee hours. For the first time in 25 years, he found himself agreeing with his boss—

Overtime is a blessing.

He had taken his blessings for granted without realizing it, and now he was filled with regret.

The group sat down to catch their breath. Han Rao passed out rations to everyone. Sang Xu glanced around but still saw no trace of the tip-toeing thing.

Where could it be?

He raised his hand and said, "There’s something I need to tell you."

Ye Xin shuddered. "Good news or bad news?"

"Bad news, I suppose," Sang Xu said. "When I was looking for you earlier, I saw your footprints. I noticed a strange footprint that had been following Brother Han all along."

"The fuck?" Han Rao quickly raised his gun.

Shen Zhitang looked at the ground. "There are only our footprints here."

Ye Xin added, "Yeah, maybe that thing is already gone?"

"I don’t know," Sang Xu shook his head. "I just thought it was necessary to mention it."

Shen Zhitang thought for a moment and said, "Brother Han, Ye Xin, no disrespect, but generally, when someone is assimilated by those things, some symptoms appear on their body. For example, An He’s face changed drastically. Could you both strip down and let us check?"

"Why don’t you take yours off?" Ye Xin said unhappily. "You were the one just bewitched by that ancient corpse?"

Shen Zhitang was silent for a moment, then said, "You're right."

She was a tough cookie—she stripped naked in seconds, spun around under their stunned stares to confirm there was nothing unusual on her body, and then got dressed again.

Now the two men were speechless.

Han Rao stripped as well. This guy had "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons" tattoos all over his body, with a demon-slaying warrior on his back, looking lavish and menacing. He also turned around, showing off his bulging muscles like a bodybuilder, and said, "No issues, right? My back, my firm butt—everything's fine?"

Shen Zhitang and Sang Xu gave solemn nods.

After Han Rao put his clothes back on, everyone looked at Sang Xu.

He had no choice—Sang Xu stood up and prepared to undress. But then, hearing a familiar scoff, Han Rao, Shen Zhitang, and Ye Xin all muttered dazedly, "No problem."

Sang Xu: "?"

He hadn't even taken anything off yet—how could there be no problem?

Han Rao waved his hand and said, "Take a seat. You're clear."

Sang Xu caught on and asked, "Are you sure you saw clearly?"

Shen Zhitang said, "Of course we're sure. There's nothing weird here to trick us."

Sang Xu: "..."

No one knew how Zhou Xia did it to make them all think they had seen Sang Xu naked.

At the same time, Sang Xu also felt a shiver of dread.

If they encountered a monster of Zhou Xia's level, they wouldn't even have a chance to realize something was wrong.

"They tell you to strip, and you just do it? Are you stupid?" Zhou Xia spoke again.

"They need to check my body," Sang Xu tilted his head and whispered.

Zhou Xia snorted coldly again, his tone sinister, "You have a husband. Remember your place. From now on, if anyone looks at your body, I'll dig out their eyes. If you don't want your foolish friends to lose their sight, keep your clothes glued on."

Sang Xu: "..."

After calming Zhou Xia down, Sang Xu took this to heart.

He lowered his head and whispered, "Okay, I'll remember. Please don't be angry."

His soft voice, falling on Zhou Xia's ears, sounded a bit hurt.

Sang Xu didn't know what Zhou Xia was thinking, only sensing that the cranky, mysterious being fell silent for a moment, cleared his throat softly a few times, and asked, "Do you want the Heaven-Mending Pill?"

"Mm."

Back with Han Rao and the others, Ye Xin had also stripped and been thoroughly checked from head to toe. Aside from being malnourished, there were no issues. Han Rao even recommended a franchise gym to him. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, guessing that the thing following Han Rao had probably been scared off by their sheer integrity.

As everyone prepared to continue their journey, Sang Xu's cloth bag suddenly felt heavier.

Puzzled, he opened the bag and found that, aside from Zhou Xia's urn, *Big Dipper's Dark Arts*, and the big mantou, there was now a golden embroidered pouch. Opening it, he saw it was filled with jet-black pills.

A quick glance suggested there were at least thirty or more.

Could these be Heaven-Mending Pills?

Impossible—something so precious, even the Mother of the Dipper only had four, and who knows where they were. How could Zhou Xia have over thirty?

"The Heaven-Mending Pills you wanted," Zhou Xia said. "It just so happens my burial goods included many of them. Have them; consider them yours."