Chapter 184: Exploding Corpses

We rearranged our positions entirely. In truth, doing this was merely for psychological comfort. Lu Ayao was capable, but with both ends of the passage open, he couldn’t possibly guard both sides at once if those Ancient Corpses appeared again. One side of our group was destined to be on its own.

We had considered another approach: finding the hidden passage first before lighting the Shengxi Material. However, we quickly realized that wouldn’t work. Without the Shengxi Material, all we could see were those eerie murals. Even if something was hidden right in front of us, it would remain invisible.

I asked He Yu for my knife back and moved to my new position. I shifted from the spot near the concrete wall to the very end of the line, while He Yu moved from the back to the very front. His end was a dead end; if we wanted to find a way out, we had to crawl back the way we came.

I held the knife across my chest and pulled out my spare flashlight. Staring into the darkness ahead, I couldn’t stop the cold sweat from breaking out across my back. Tian Xiaoqi huddled behind my arm. I began to wonder if her composure back in Yunnan had all been an act.

As I was thinking, I heard the rhythmic clicking of the lighter in He Yu’s hand behind me. In this cave, the sound felt like a death knell.

“I’m lighting it,” He Yu whispered, clearly bracing himself.

There was no point in wasting time. Everything depended on lighting the Shengxi Material first. I gritted my teeth and said, “Whatever happens, happens. Light it!”

He Yu immediately brought the flame to the Black Hoof Iron. It had been burned once before, making it easier to ignite this time. It caught almost as soon as the flame touched it. A thick, strange fragrance filled the air. He Yu raised the Black Hoof Iron slightly, and a green light suddenly illuminated our surroundings.

I must have blinked at some point, because when I opened my eyes again, the blood-red murals of the large-headed figures had vanished. The stone walls on either side were clean. I breathed a small sigh of relief, but as I turned my head, my heart leaped into my throat again.

By the green light, I saw countless hideous, wrinkled faces appearing in the tunnel behind He Yu’s backside. This time, they were tilting their heads with grinning expressions, crowding together so closely they were almost pressed against He Yu’s face. He Yu was terrified, mechanically turning his head to shoot me a desperate look.

I saw Lu Ayao move, likely intending to swap places with He Yu, but the Ancient Corpses seemed fixated on He Yu. The moment he made even a slight movement, the corpses pressed in closer.

Since I was at the front of the line, Lu Ayao signaled for me and Tian Xiaoqi to start crawling back first. I had zero experience dealing with so many Ancient Corpses, so I didn’t dare linger. Since He Yu still held the Shengxi Material, I could only crawl back a short distance, hopefully giving Lu Ayao and He Yu enough room to maneuver.

However, I hadn’t crawled for even three minutes when a scream erupted from He Yu behind me. I spun around just in time to see He Yu diving toward the ground. Lu Ayao instantly braced his hands against the stone crevices on either side and delivered a flying kick, slamming the Ancient Corpse that was face-to-face with He Yu back into the pile of bodies. In a flash, Lu Ayao and He Yu swapped positions.

The two coordinated with surprising chemistry. I suspected that given the force of Lu Ayao’s kick, if he had accidentally hit He Yu, the man’s jaw would have been dislocated at the very least, and he would have been knocked out cold.

Immediately after, the swarm of Ancient Corpses grew restless. Their roars filled the entire tunnel.

“Go! I’ll catch up soon!” Lu Ayao drew his knife and shouted at us without looking back.

“Be careful!” I yelled back, then began crawling frantically.

He Yu picked up his pace, staying low as he scrambled toward us. I gripped the flashlight between my teeth, feeling myself move with incredible speed. As I crawled, I kept one hand free to feel the stone walls on either side. After about ten minutes, I felt a distinct draft.

It was coming from above!

I lunged forward another four or five steps and reached up to feel the ceiling. To my absolute joy, my hands found an opening. I took the flashlight out of my mouth and shouted back, “Found it! A new tunnel!”

At the same time, I heard a familiar sound echoing from the darkness ahead – that jumble of overlapping voices again. The sound was moving fast; I could clearly track its trajectory.

“Get up there! They’re coming again!” He Yu urged.

I didn’t have time to overthink. I grabbed the edges of the stone wall and hauled myself up. It was a vertical shaft, not very long, and the stone was rough enough that I could easily climb using both hands and feet.

The space above the shaft was open. I gave a final kick and rolled onto the surface. Glancing around, I could see the river channels on both sides. The banks were built high, like city walls. We were currently standing on the floor of a moat, though this one was completely dry.

I turned around and quickly pulled Tian Xiaoqi up, followed by He Yu.

As soon as He Yu was up, he cursed, “Damn it, that sound is back! Old Lu! Don’t get bogged down! We’re up here, get moving!”

The roars of the Ancient Corpses were deafening, accompanied by the screech of a blade scraping against stone. Soon, I saw the beam of Lu Ayao’s flashlight. Judging by the flickering light reflecting off the walls, these corpses were proving difficult to handle. Lu Ayao was pinned down.

“No, he can’t get up like this. We have to do something!” Tian Xiaoqi grabbed my arm.

“Think of something, think of something…” He Yu started tapping his own head frantically.

I forced myself to calm down, my mind racing. The area around us was empty. Then my eyes landed on the backpack He Yu was wearing. I reached out, yanked it off him, and tore it open. My hand brushed against three sticks of dynamite.

When He Yu had suggested swapping positions earlier, Lu Ayao had handed him his backpack. But the sight of those hideous corpses had been so unsettling that we’d lost our heads and completely forgotten about the dynamite inside.

I tossed the dynamite to He Yu and leaned over the opening of the shaft, screaming at the top of my lungs, “Lu Ayao! We’re lighting the dynamite and dropping it down!”

He was sharp; he would understand what I intended.

I held the sticks steady for He Yu as he pulled the fuses and lit them with his lighter. He warned, “Old Lu, look out!”

I immediately hurled the dynamite down the shaft. A second later, Lu Ayao’s silhouette appeared at the opening. He ducked to the side to avoid the explosives, stepped onto the head of an Ancient Corpse, and used the momentum to scramble up the stone wall. He Yu and I lunged forward, grabbed his arms, and hauled him up.

At that exact moment, a massive “Boom!” erupted from the bottom of the shaft. The timing was perfect, but the power of the blast was far beyond what we had expected. The shockwave knocked us off our feet, sending all three of us sprawling onto the floor of the dry moat.

“You bastards! Daring to grab your Master He’s ass? I’ll blow you to bits!” He Yu didn’t even wait to stand up before lighting another stick and tossing it down.

Another violent tremor shook the ground. Sparks from the explosion surged up from the hole, and a cloud of dirt showered down on us, covering us from head to toe.

He Yu blew out the Black Hoof Iron in his hand and was about to go back for a third round when I crawled over and grabbed him. I spat out a mouthful of dirt, coughing as I waved him off. “That’s enough, that’s enough! Are you addicted to this? There are too many of them to kill them all. The ground below is hollow – one more blast and the whole thing might collapse!”

Dust filled the air. I managed to steady myself and helped Lu Ayao up from the ground, picking up the knife he’d dropped. His arms were covered in gashes from the corpses’ claws, and there was blood on his head.

I noticed his consciousness seemed to be fading. I gestured toward the others and said, “We’re at the bottom of a riverbed. We can’t stay here. Let’s get up to the top before we decide our next move!”