Chapter 127: The Qi Vent

I hit the water at a terrifying speed. My head nearly grazed the edge of the stone bridge as I went in, followed immediately by my ankles. This was completely unexpected. As soon as the water submerged me, it began flooding into my windpipe. I choked, thrashing around for a bit before my strength began to fail.

My blood dispersed into the water. Perhaps sensing the scent of gore, I saw an eight-legged Infant Corpse at the bottom suddenly snap open its pupil-less eyes and lunge toward me from the depths.

Just then, a bullet sliced through the surface and plunged deep into the water. The trajectory seemed to slow down tenfold before my eyes, striking the Infant Corpse squarely in the skull and knocking it back to the bottom of the pool.

My oxygen was depleted, and my body began to sink. Suddenly, someone leaped from the arched bridge into the water, splashing down beside me. He grabbed my arm firmly, supported my waist, and hauled me toward the surface.

He pulled me out of the water almost instantly. My vision was a blurred mess, and the feeling of suffocation persisted. I tried desperately to cough up the water, but it was no use. My body felt completely limp. I felt myself being pulled onto the bridge and then laid face down across someone’s back.

I could vaguely hear He Yu shouting my name while someone pressed down on my body. The water in my windpipe was forced out, and I began to cough violently, feeling as if my lungs were about to come up. My hearing slowly returned, and my vision gradually began to clear.

“Great, he’s awake, he’s awake!” someone exclaimed.

He Yu waved a flashlight over my head. His clothes at the shoulders and neck were soaked, and his face was covered in either sweat or water. Seeing me awake, he rushed forward and hugged me: “Are you an idiot or what! If you had died, who the hell was I supposed to complain to!”

I was still coughing, and his squeeze made me quickly pat his arm. He loosened his grip slightly but remained clung to me like a koala, refusing to let go.

“I’m fine, I’m fine… cough.”

I patted He Yu’s back and raised a hand to shield my eyes from the blinding light around me. Squinting, I saw several grown men crouching on the ground, staring at me with such intensity that it actually made me feel nervous.

Lu A’yao was soaked from head to toe, water still dripping from his clothes even now. Chen Canghai’s arms were covered in bullet grazes. It seemed I had missed a bloody battle.

“Don’t worry, he’s fine.” Chen Canghai stood up and signaled to Han Jian before heading off to find a backpack for bandages.

Lu A’yao crouched beside me. He leaned in and patted He Yu’s back, signaling for him to let me go. He Yu was cooperative, wiping away a few tears before releasing me. Then, Lu A’yao took my wrist and briefly checked my pulse.

“Do you feel any other discomfort in your body?” he asked calmly.

I checked my condition and suddenly remembered that the bullet had hit my left abdomen. I hurriedly pulled aside my clothes to look. I expected to see a bloody mess, but instead, I found only a minor graze. I had lost less blood than when He Yu had cut my hand earlier.

I reached into my pocket and realized the amulet pouch He Yu had given me was gone.

“It fell into the water,” Lu A’yao told me. “The bullet was likely deflected by it, but you fell into the water quite far from the bridge. Qiao Sangui’s firepower was too intense, so I didn’t have time to retrieve it.”

Aside from me, He Yu also understood: “That doesn’t matter. Any amulet that saves Little Yao’s life is a good one. It’s a miracle from the Bodhisattva. Thank you, Bodhisattva, for the rescue. When I get back this time, I’m definitely going to a temple to fulfill my vow.”

He pointed at me: “You’re coming with me when the time comes. No one gets left out.”

I hadn’t fully recovered yet, and my voice was very raspy. He Yu’s words made me want to laugh and argue back, but as soon as I tried to speak, I was hit by a fit of coughing.

Han Jian walked over: “Alright, since he’s fine, let’s start climbing up with the team. Qiao Sangui and his men will likely reach this pagoda soon. The Stone Horseshoe Crab Insects outside have all woken up. We’re out of time.”

I blinked, only then realizing I had already entered the first floor of the Buddhist Pagoda. The main hall was impressively large, supported by seven or eight gilded dragon pillars. The Buddhist niches on all sides were filled with golden statues. I was currently leaning against one of the gilded dragon pillars. Han Jian’s men were already making their way up the pagoda.

Lu A’yao and He Yu worked together to support me, helping me up from the floor. Having just regained consciousness after nearly drowning, my entire body felt somewhat numb.

He Yu ordered me sternly: “I’m going to grab something. You stay standing on your own, okay?”

He then looked down to gather the scattered backpacks and equipment from the floor, slinging them onto his body one by one. Seeing all the gear hanging off him made him look like a walking display rack. I tried to help, but before I could even reach out, He Yu pushed my hand back.

Han Jian began to climb the pagoda. Halfway up, he called out for Lu A’yao again.

To be honest, it was getting on my nerves. It was like he was determined to squeeze every bit of use out of one person. Was Lu A’yao his mother or his guardian? Why did he have to call him for every little thing? Could he not function without him?

I turned around, about to snap at him, but Lu A’yao pressed a hand onto my shoulder. He pulled a stack of gauze from his utility pouch and handed it to me. I seemed to read something in his gaze. On second thought, he was right. We were near the end, and starting a fight now wouldn’t help anyone. His look meant I should just endure this stretch and wait until we were out to settle things.

I took the gauze and reminded him: “Then you stay safe.”

He paused for a moment, then nodded at me: “You too.”

With that, he turned and ascended the pagoda stairs in a few quick steps. I used the gauze to wipe the blood from the scrape on my head. By now, my legs were starting to feel warm again. I shook out my limbs, stepped forward to grab one of the backpacks from He Yu’s shoulder to carry, and called for Chen Canghai to head up the pagoda.

“What are you doing? Trying to steal my job?”

I waved him off and stepped forward to snatch a flashlight from He Yu: “I’m a perfectly capable human being with hands and feet. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Stop dawdling and get up the pagoda!”

Chen Canghai walked ahead of me, and the three of us began to climb the ladder, gripping the handrails. None of us dared to stop, using only our flashlights for illumination. As we reached the second floor, my ears suddenly rang, and that strange sound of sutra chanting returned, accompanied by the sound of whispering.

But this time was different from before. The sound was particularly grating, so much so that I had to grab the ladder and pause for a moment.

He Yu quickly asked me, “What is it? What happened?”

Chen Canghai also stopped to look at me.

I tried my best to adjust, taking a deep breath before continuing to climb. “The higher we go, the louder the chanting gets. It is fine, I can handle it. Let’s move fast!”

For the next fifteen minutes, I followed Chen Canghai. Just as I expected, the higher we climbed, the louder the chanting in my ears became. Eventually, my head was so full of it that I could not hear anything else.

The cacophony of chanting made me incredibly irritable, as if some ghost Buddha hidden within the pagoda was trying to provoke me. I suppressed the anger rising in my heart and climbed all the way to the Eighteenth Floor in one go.

By the time we reached the end, the flashlight beams grew more concentrated, all gathering on the platform of the Eighteenth Floor. As the three of us climbed up, the chanting was so loud I felt like I was going deaf. The sound made me feel like I was about to burst, so I found a pillar and leaned my head against it, covering my ears.

Just as I was considering banging my head against the pillar to see if it would help, I felt something cold suddenly slip over my head and slide down to my neck. In an instant, the world went silent.

Then I heard He Yu’s voice. “How is it? Feeling any better?”

I turned around and blinked. The Jade Bi was so cold it sent a shiver through my entire body.

“I told you this damn thing would work. Well? Does it? Can you still hear that chanting?” He Yu thumped his chest proudly at Chen Canghai, who gave him an appreciative thumbs up.

I scratched my head and lifted the Jade Bi around my neck to examine it. I listened intently, but the chanting was truly gone. Was this thing some kind of jammer or what?

“Don’t worry, I borrowed it from Old Lu. We just have to give it back when we are done,” He Yu said, patting my shoulder.

I glanced at Lu A’yao. He seemed to still be discussing how to set the explosives with Han Jian. I gave He Yu a nudge and a meaningful look. He understood, and the two of us moved closer to listen.

“The stone ceiling isn’t high. We will blow it open and time our escape,” Han Jian said.

Lu A’yao shook his head. “How would we escape? We don’t know the situation outside. If we blow the ceiling, someone has to stay behind to secure the explosives. The collapse would happen too fast. If the river water rushes in and blocks the passage, flooding the Underground Palace, there won’t be enough time to get out.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?”

“Find the Qi Vent,” Lu A’yao said.

Han Jian chuckled. “A Qi Vent? Easier said than done. Everything we have seen so far is either stagnant water, black water, or these flooded Burial Pits. Where are we going to find a Qi Vent?”

Lu A’yao said, “The Burial Classics state that the land has four forms and Qi flows from eight directions. Even an ominous tomb must have a sliver of a Qi Vent. Only with wind and water can a complete Feng Shui layout be formed. The pillars in this pagoda are carved with dragons and tigers in powerful stances, proving the builder understood at least some Feng Shui. Therefore, I suspect there really is a Qi Vent here, but it might have been blocked by something later. Without air circulation, this place became a true pool of stagnant water.”