Chapter 168: The Ancient Corpse’s Waist Token

He Yu let out a confused “Huh?”, but Lu Ayao’s expression remained dead serious, without a hint of a joke in his voice. The two of them stood there, staring at each other in a silent standoff for a long time.

In a rare moment of explanation, Lu Ayao said, “I can use the compass to set our direction. If we’re fast enough, we should be able to lose them. But judging by the size of that Tomb-guarding Beast outside, this tomb is massive. It’s likely a long way from here to the Spirit Path, and you must stay right on my heels the entire time.”

He Yu shot a shrinking glance at the distant Ancient Corpses and swallowed hard. He swung his backpack around, unzipped it, and began tossing out non-essential items. Rolling up his sleeves, he said, “Fine. If this is the only way you can think of, I’ll just have to grit my teeth and run for it.”

He Yu took a half-step back, and his heel seemed to bump into something. He looked down to see that slow-moving turtle crouching by his feet. When He Yu gave it a little nudge with his foot, it tucked itself back into its shell, looking rather endearing in its own way.

Lu Ayao watched the turtle and said to He Yu, “Turtles live long lives and possess spiritual energy. Take it with you.”

He Yu picked up the palm-sized turtle and stuffed it into a multi-purpose pouch at his waist. As he tucked it in, he didn’t forget to scold the creature inside the bag. “Fine, you’re coming along. But if I run too fast and you fall out because you can’t stay still, don’t expect me to come back for you.”

Once He Yu had buckled his pack and settled into a sprinter’s crouch, Lu Ayao stood still for a moment, glancing at the compass in his hand. He read it incredibly fast – it was impossible to tell what he could have seen in that split second – but by the time He Yu realized what was happening, Lu Ayao had already “flown” out of sight.

This was likely the fastest Lu Ayao had ever run in a tomb. He Yu was forced to chase after him with everything he had. According to He Yu’s later description, it wasn’t just a simple kilometer; it felt more like five or six kilometers. Throughout the sprint, they twisted and turned through a complex maze of robber holes without a single moment to rest.

When I heard He Yu recount this experience later, his face turned pale with an irrepressible dread. The entire process must have involved a level of agony I couldn’t possibly imagine. He Yu said that by the time they finally stopped, his soul had practically left his body. If his bond with Lu Ayao wasn’t as ironclad as it was, he would have been certain Lu Ayao was trying to kill him.

They ran five or six kilometers in one breath. When they finally stopped, they were already in the Spirit Path. Looking back, there was no sign of the Ancient Corpses; they had successfully lost them. The moment Lu Ayao finished speaking, He Yu leaned against a wall and began to retch, vomiting until his stomach was empty before the world stopped spinning.

Wearing wet clothes was incredibly uncomfortable, and the ones I had on were even torn with a large hole. Fortunately, He Yu had decided against throwing away the spare clothes he’d brought down. So, while Tian Xiaoqi was still unconscious, the three of us found separate spots to change into dry clothes. Afterward, we planned to gather around a fire to warm up.

The fire was cozy. In a damp, cold place like this, dry warmth was a rare luxury. As I sat by the fire, the warmth began to make me feel drowsy again. He Yu pulled the turtle out of his pocket; the guy had already given it a name: “Xiao Wang.”

I teased him, “If people didn’t know better, they’d think you were talking about some lover of yours.”

He Yu swung a hand at me. “Your lover is the damn turtle!”

As we were messing around, Xiao Wang, perhaps fearing he’d be caught in the crossfire, painstakingly climbed down from He Yu and crawled over to Lu Ayao’s knee. He then retracted into his shell to enjoy the fire with Lu Ayao. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if he was actually enjoying the warmth or if he’d just fallen asleep.

“We were resting in the Spirit Path,” He Yu said. “After Bai Shenxian went up, he told us you should be in some Side Chamber within the waterproof layer. But we searched for ages and couldn’t find a thing. Old Lu had to use his compass to calculate your position. And get this – we kept walking in the direction he calculated until we hit a dead end, and the needle was pointing straight at a wall.”

Sensing where the story was going, I joked, “Don’t tell me we were inside the wall?”

At my words, the expressions on He Yu and Lu Ayao’s faces instantly soured.

Seeing their reaction, my smile faded. He Yu nodded and pulled a broken shovel head from behind him, handing it to me. “Here, take a look.”

I took the shovel head and gave it a shake. The edge was completely blunted and worn down.

He Yu continued, “We didn’t believe it at first. We thought there had to be a path behind the wall. Old Lu checked all around, but eventually, he confirmed the wall was solid. We had no choice but to dig. We’d dug less than ten meters when we heard Tian Xiaoqi tapping on the bricks. She must have been too exhausted to shout anymore. After that, we broke through into the robber hole where you two were.”

“What do you mean? Describe it to me,” I asked. “Did that robber hole have no end?”

He Yu immediately waved his hand. “It’s not that it had no end; it just wasn’t finished. It was like some shoddy construction job – they dug halfway and just abandoned it. If whoever dug that hole had just persisted for another ten meters, they would have broken into the tomb.”

Hearing this, a realization dawned on me. “Then, while you were in the hole, did you see the corpse of the grave robber?”

“Nope. Not a damn thing in there. If Old Lu hadn’t been so precise in his tracking, no one in this world would have ever known you were trapped inside a solid wall!”

My heart skipped a beat as I noticed something strange, but I quickly convinced myself otherwise. This place was connected to that collapsed modern building, after all. It was possible the grave robber had abandoned the tunnel halfway because they’d entered the underwater research facility instead. Who knew?

At that moment, Lu Ayao, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke. He turned to me and asked, “Who do you think this tomb belongs to?”

I caught a glimpse of the sleeping Tian Xiaoqi out of the corner of my eye. After a moment’s hesitation, I looked back at him. “I don’t know. But it definitely has nothing to do with the Gune Kingdom.”

He Yu was puzzled. “Hmm? Xiao Yao, how can you tell?”

“Didn’t we discuss this before? Anything related to the Gune Kingdom or influenced by their people is inseparable from the lotus motif. But look at this place, and the Spirit Path you’ve been walking through. Is there even a trace of a lotus? This place clearly places a much higher value on turtle culture.”

“Hey, watch your mouth. You’re offending our Xiao Wang.”

He Yu was being flippant again. I rolled my eyes at him and didn’t bother arguing, because I was more interested in Lu Ayao’s opinion. His observations were far more detailed than mine. At most, I could see the surface level through things like artistic design and talk a bit of nonsense, but I’d be exposed if I went any deeper. He, however, was a true professional.

To my surprise, Lu Ayao actually affirmed my theory. He nodded. “This place does indeed revere turtle culture, which conflicts with the Lotus Bodhisattva worshipped by the Gune Kingdom. Furthermore, they clearly used Ancient Corpses as funerary sacrifices here, which doesn’t match the sacrificial traditions prevalent during the Gune period.”

He Yu sighed and asked Lu Ayao, “If you already knew all that, why did you bother asking him? Dragging things out like this isn’t your style!”

As soon as he finished, Lu Ayao looked up at me. My heart hammered in my chest, and my eyes instinctively darted around. Then, I heard him say, “Gan Ji, your judgment is correct. But the lotus isn’t the real reason you’ve decided this place isn’t related to the Gune Kingdom. How did you and Tian Xiaoqi meet, and how did you end up in that robber hole inside the wall?”

The sudden barrage of questions caught me completely off guard. Seeing that they hadn’t asked earlier, I had been planning to just gloss over everything.

After all, Bai Shenxian’s initial instructions were for me to stay put and wait. Instead, I’d ignored him and headed into the building alone with my flashlight, claiming I was going to catch some peeping thief. Not to mention, I’d ended up knocking that White Corpse Turtle Immortal out of its jar and getting bitten, nearly getting myself killed in the process.

If I told them the truth, neither He Yu nor Lu Ayao would give me the time of day. He Yu would be manageable; at worst, he’d give me a fierce tongue-lashing. I could laugh it off, treat him to a nice meal later, and the whole thing would be water under the bridge.

But getting into a fight with Lu Ayao was a far more serious matter. He never wore his emotions on his sleeve. Usually, he’d go about his business as if nothing were wrong, but he’d give you the cold shoulder. Even if you went to apologize, he wouldn’t acknowledge your existence.

“Yeah, how did you two run into each other? Let’s hear it,” He Yu said, prying open a can of food with his knife.

I saw Lu Ayao watching me like a hawk watching a criminal. The lie at the tip of my tongue died before I could speak. I did some quick mental math. Setting aside Lu Ayao’s keen sense for logical inconsistencies, even if I managed to deceive him now, the moment Tian Xiaoqi woke up, our stories wouldn’t match. I’d be dead meat either way.

After weighing my options, I decided to come clean about everything.

By the time I was halfway through the story, He Yu had lost his appetite. Their expressions grew increasingly grim. Toward the end, I felt like if I kept talking, they’d pin me to the ground and give me a sound thrashing. Then, once we got back, they’d report me to Fourth Brother for a full family tribunal to ask if I’d learned my lesson.

“That’s it. That’s everything,” I said, quietly inching away to put as much distance between us as possible.

He Yu slammed his can down with a loud bang, making me jump. Xiao Wang, down on the ground, reacted just like me, retracting into his shell.

“Are you addicted to seeking death?! I was wondering why I couldn’t find you no matter how many Side Chambers I searched. It turns out you went off to such a dangerous place all by yourself! What’s the matter? Not scared anymore? Think you’re some kind of hero just because you’ve been in a few tombs?” He Yu shouted, pointing a finger right at my nose.

Guilt-ridden, I didn’t try to argue back this time.

On the other side, Lu Ayao showed no outward emotion. He set down the branch he was holding and asked, “That corpse in your illusion—have you seen it before?”

Seeing that he didn’t seem particularly angry, my attitude immediately brightened. I shook my head. “I haven’t seen him, but I saw the Waist Token on his body. I think I know who he is now.”

He Yu let out a cold sneer. “Oh, Young Master, should I give you a round of applause?”

Ignoring his sarcasm, I scurried over and pulled a charred stick from the fire. I drew a few lines on the ground and then grabbed He Yu’s sleeve. “Quick, quick, help me look at this. What’s this character?”

Perhaps seeing how serious I was, He Yu stopped mocking me. He leaned in to take a look and quickly said, “It looks a bit like the Seal Script for ‘Ji’, but a few strokes aren’t quite right. It’s not very standard. Why? That corpse had a Waist Token?”

I looked up instantly. “Exactly! That’s the character written on the Waist Token. Do you think this place could be related to the legendary Master Jiyun?”