Chapter 369: The Third God!
The singing accompanied the fluttering paper money as it swirled around the log cabin. The song was intensely mournful and the surroundings were bizarre. It seemed as if some ceremony or rite was underway, something that had been going on for an indeterminable period of time.
In Xu Qing’s eyes, the pentagonal log cabin almost seemed to be some sort of altar. That was because, on the corners of the pentagonal cabin, where the chains connected, sat three terrifying zombies.
The first zombie was dripping wet and so severely decayed that it was impossible to tell if it was male or female. It faced the log cabin, a tattered black robe draped over its frame, making it seem like it had been ravaged by time. The fluids of death which dripped down it seemed to contain some unimaginable power that preserved an image of the moment in which the zombie died. Despite how much time had passed, it was obvious.
It was a drowned zombie.
The second zombie also wore a tattered black robe, and was also facing the cabin. Its hands were at its own abdomen, and were in the middle of ripping apart its own belly, revealing the abdominal cavity beneath. There were no organs inside. It had been emptied out, although there was still something within the cavity, not quite visible. That was because, in life, this zombie had apparently seen something that prompted it to bend over in prostration.
It was a dissected zombie.
The third zombie was a little different from the other two. It had a red vine wrapped around its waist, the thorns of which pierced its belly. The vine continued upward to wrap around its throat. The ends of the vine were held in the zombie’s hands, as if it had tied the vine around itself and pulled it tight to end its own life.
It was a strangled zombie. [1]
All three zombies were bizarre through and through, and they were why Xu Qing got the impression this was some sort of rite or ceremony.
On the cabin’s fourth corner, there was no zombie. Instead, there was an unmarked gravestone. Normally speaking, a gravestone was placed atop a grave. Except, there was no grave here. Yet, the place clearly seemed like some sort of tomb.
Xu Qing looked at the second zombie, the dissected one, and examined it more closely. That was when he noticed that there was some dirt inside the dissected zombie’s abdominal cavity. And in that dirt was a very small grave, within which was the partially buried zombie of a baby. That was the fourth zombie.
Seeing all that, Xu Qing shifted his attention to the fifth corner of the cabin. There, he saw scorch marks surrounding the spot where a zombie had once sat.
It immediately made him think of the immolated zombie he had just fought.
“Metal to dissect. Wood to strangle. Water to drown. Fire to immolate. Earth to bury.”
Xu Qing had no idea what this ceremony was about, but he knew that these four zombies and the log cabin they surrounded were absolutely terrifying. The atmosphere was stifling, and his hair stood on end thanks to the singing, as well as the aura and the mutagen from deeper in the tunnel. The aura caused his mind and heart to tremble. It was a feeling he had last experienced in the presence of the red moon. Xu Qing knew that, deeper in the darkness, there was definitely some unimaginable entity.
It was clear that Zhang Siyun knew about this as well. Xu Qing had already spotted him several hundred meters further down, carefully climbing down the wall. He was moving quickly but carefully, clearly fearful of disturbing the woman in the cabin or the zombies. Right now, he was only about thirty meters away from one of the iron chains connecting to the cabin.
Xu Qing watched Zhang Siyun, his eyes cold. As he did, he carefully took out a mirror, a black piece of wood, and a bag full of medicinal pills. The pills were black boluses, which would explode and then suck in the surrounding mutagen. In this sinister and mutagen-filled tunnel, there was no better pill than a black bolus to attract attention.
Xu Qing extended the bag in his left hand, and then dumped it upside down right above the unsuspecting Zhang Siyun. Hundreds of black boluses tumbled out. [2]
As Zhang Siyun carefully crawled along, his expression suddenly flickered, and he looked up to see Xu Qing and the medicinal pills. Alarmed, he was about to do something to block the pills when Xu Qing quietly spoke.
“Detonate!”
The black boluses exploded, creating a deafening boom. At the same time, massive amounts of mutagen surged into motion.
In the blink of an eye, a massive vortex appeared, creating a tideflow power and a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering noise. The flow of mutagen was so intense that, if you likened it to water, then it created a massive tidal wave. Everything below blurred. The pentagonal log cabin trembled, and the singing abruptly stopped.
The four zombies seated cross-legged around the cabin all opened their eyes, which radiated astonishing madness and brutality. Howling in rage, they all looked in the direction of Zhang Siyun! Fiendish rage erupted violently.
Zhang Siyun’s face fell, and his heart filled with indescribable astonishment and fury. For one thing, it was obvious that Xu Qing had somehow dealt with the immolated zombie that he himself couldn’t deal with. Not only that, Xu Qing was doing something to specifically target him and cause problems. All of that caused Zhang Siyun’s rage to boil. Not only was his plan spoiled, but also, he was now facing immense danger. Eyes bloodshot, he started an incantation gesture with the goal of switching positions with Xu Qing.
This time, Xu Qing was ready. He had experienced that technique before, and thus, it was only natural that he would be prepared to deal with it. As soon as Zhang Siyun made his move, Xu Qing held up the small mirror. The mirror glittered, shining light directly into Zhang Siyun’s eyes. Zhang Siyun’s heart thumped as his soul was suddenly locked in place, negating his technique. [3]
And then Xu Qing activated the black piece of wood. The Darkspirit Everwill Door popped into being, faced Zhang Siyun, and opened.
What emerged was a rotting heart. The moment it appeared, Zhang Siyun shivered, and an expression of confusion overtook his face. The Darkspirit Everwill Door had received a twofold ensorcellment, allowing it to lock one’s life force in place. And now... Zhang Siyun’s life force was frozen solid. There was no way for him to continue with his magical technique. Taking advantage of the moment, Xu Qing backed away from him and then flew higher into the air.
However, what he’d done so far wasn’t enough to abate his killing intent. Therefore, he sent his shadow stretching out toward Zhang Siyun. Given that Zhang Siyun was locked in place, it was easy for the shadow to grab him and throw him in the direction of the zombies by the cabin.
The rules stated that you couldn’t kill someone, and Xu Qing wouldn’t break those rules. Given that the swordsages had repeatedly emphasized that aspect, it seemed obvious that they would have a way to monitor such things. In all likelihood, they were using the teleportation jade slips for that purpose. However, there were no rules about lending someone a knife and having them do your dirty work for you.
With that done, the shadow slid back to Xu Qing, who shot 3,000 meters up in an instant.
From his vantage point, he could see everything below. He saw the snarling zombies, and Zhang Siyun howling in anguish now that he was free to move again.
He still has a life lamp! Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing was just waiting for Zhang Siyun to die so that he could go in and take his life lamp. But then, a sense of deadly crisis filled him that caused all his hair to stand on end, and filled his heart with waves of astonishment. And that was because, in what had previously been inky darkness below, he saw light.
He looked down, and instantly his head spun. Everything in his view twisted and distorted, turning blurry. His soul, his flesh, and his blood all felt like they might be ripped to shreds.
Below him, he didn’t just see five chains and a log cabin. Beneath the cabin, down in the pitch black, something else had appeared....
It was an eye!
A huge, golden eye!
It was massive, being just as large as the tunnel itself. It was as if some unimaginable entity was sleeping at the very bottom of the tunnel, and that the tunnel was merely an eye hole to look up.
Now, it had awakened, and was looking up through that eye hole. The gaze was cold, as if all living beings were bugs to it, as if the only way to coexist with it was to transfer life force directly to it. This was the pressure created by a disparity in life level!
A single glance at it caused Xu Qing’s hair, eyes, fingers, flesh, and blood all seem to gain their own consciousness. It was like they weren’t part of him, and were about to rip away from him. Immense mutagen inundated him, to the point where he was just about to mutate. Indescribable pain ripped through every corner of his body.
Xu Qing thought to teleport away, but couldn’t do it. He could only wait as that immense will sought to rip him apart. Within him, the violet moon glittered and his taboo poison core erupted, dispelling the pressure and forcing him to move upward. However, the aura from the golden eye was too terrifying, and thus, Xu Qing gradually slowed down. Seeing that, he was about to summon his shadow to cover himself.
That was when a centipede burst out of the wall and rushed toward him. The woman atop the centipede grabbed Xu Qing’s arm, then flew madly back toward the wall with him in tow. Her cultivation base wasn’t on the same level as Xu Qing’s, but the gaze from below didn’t seem to affect her. Moving at top speed, she climbed up the wall, quickly moving 3,000 meters. Meanwhile, the tremulous singing once again echoed out from below.
“In past lives forlorn, always reborn, sever lovesickness and endlessly mourn....
“In a life of hesitation, in a future of frustration, who is it that waits for me in reincarnation....”
It was sad and beautiful as it echoed through the tunnel. All of a sudden, the golden eye closed as if the song had special significance to hīm.
Because of the intense mutagen, ghasts appeared everywhere, all of them howling with shrill brutality.
Shaken, Xu Qing looked down.
Everything about this ghast hollow was extremely bizarre. The ceremony with the log cabin was apparently specifically here... to keep whatever was in the depths of the tunnel asleep.
As for this centipede woman, she was different from the other ghasts Xu Qing had encountered. She had saved him in a critical moment, most likely because Xu Qing had saved her. The act of repaying kindnesses was not something Xu Qing had seen in any kind of grue or ghast. He looked at her with mixed emotions in his eyes, but she wasn’t looking back.
She was just speeding upward. After they went another 3,000 meters up, she stopped. There, she nodded at him, then spat out a collection of pillar fragments. There were at least 107 or 108 of them. With that, she burrowed back into the wall and disappeared.
Xu Qing grabbed the fragments and looked around at the danger surrounding him in the form of countless ghasts. Then he took out the teleportation jade slip. It was already shining with bright light.
The first phase was over. Xu Qing didn’t need to crush the jade slip. It automatically began the teleportation. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, didn’t toss it away from him. Bright light rose up and surrounded him. In the last moment before he teleported away, he looked down into the dark tunnel.
What secrets are hidden here...? Who set up that altar? Was that woman in the log cabin dead or alive? Why can her song cause that god to sleep?
This was the third god Xu Qing had encountered.
The first was the broken face.
The second was the red moon.
1. In Chinese the ‘strangled’ here is a specific word used to describe strangling or hanging oneself, presumably as a form of suicide. ☜
2. Black boluses?? What a callback! The last mention of black boluses was in chapter 261, except they weren’t used in that chapter. The last use was in chapter 257. And of course, Xu Qing came up with the name way back in chapter 33. ☜
3. The mirror is the one he acquired in chapter 302. ☜