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 bound to be left to fend for itself.

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 even started 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 having prepared himself mentally.

There was no point in wasting time. Everything depended on lighting the Shengxi Material first. I gritted my teeth and said, “If we die, we die. Just 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. I caught a whiff of a thick, strange fragrance. 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. This time, they were tilting their heads with eerie smiles, crowding together so closely they were almost pressed against He Yu’s face. He Yu was terrified out of his wits, 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 tacit understanding. 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 stirred into a frenzy, their roars filling 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 back as fast as I could.

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, so much so that I could clearly track its trajectory.

“Get up there! They’re coming again!” He Yu called out to me.

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 pulled up, he cursed, “Damn it, that sound is back! Old Lu! Don’t stay and fight! We’re up here, get up here fast!”

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

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

“Think of something, think of something…” He Yu started smacking his own head in frustration.

I forced myself to calm down, my mind racing. The space around us was completely empty. Looking up, I spotted the backpack behind He Yu, reached out, yanked it off him, tore it open, and fished out three sticks of dynamite.

When He Yu had suggested swapping positions earlier, Lu Ayao had handed him his pack. But those Ancient Corpses had been so terrifying that in the chaotic panic, we’d completely forgotten about the dynamite inside.

I tossed the dynamite to He Yu, turned back to lean over the shaft opening, and shouted down, “Lu Ayao! We’re lighting the dynamite and tossing it down!”

He was smart; he would understand what I meant.

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

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 on the head of an Ancient Corpse, and kicked off the stone wall in two quick strides. He Yu and I hurriedly reached out to grab him and hauled him up.

At that exact moment, a massive boom erupted from the bottom of the shaft. The timing was perfect, but the blast was far more powerful than we had imagined. The shockwave knocked all three of us off our feet, sending us sprawling onto the floor of the moat.

“Damn it! How dare you grab your Master He’s ass? See if I don’t blow you sky-high!” Before he even stood up, He Yu lit another stick of dynamite and tossed it down.

Instantly, another violent tremor shook the ground. Sparks from the explosion blasted up from the shaft, showering us with dirt from head to toe.

He Yu blew out the Black Hoof Iron in his hand and was about to go over for another round, but I quickly crawled over and grabbed him. Spitting out a mouthful of dirt, I coughed and waved my hand at him. “That’s enough, that’s enough! Are you addicted to this? There are too many of them to clear out with explosives anyway. The space below is hollow; one more blast and it’ll probably collapse!”

Dust filled the air. I managed to stand up and helped Lu Ayao up from the ground, picking up the knife he had dropped. His arms were covered in deep gashes from the Ancient Corpses, and there was blood on his head.

I noticed he was slipping out of consciousness, so I waved to the others and said, “We’re at the bottom of the riverbed. We can’t stay here long. Let’s get up to the top before we decide our next move!”