Corpse Recovery Diver

Chapter 1579 287:

There doesn't really seem to be any problem here.The jade pendant hanging from the clothes at his waist slipped off at this moment, slowly swinging down and falling into the pile of lock chains on the ground.

Li Zhiyuan bent down, pushed the lock chains aside, intending to pick it up.

But even though he'd already cleared away one layer, he still couldn't see the jade pendant, and the further down he pushed, the more he noticed the lock chains felt different—faintly warm.

At that point, the idea of looking for the pendant faded, and the boy started focusing on "digging."

Earlier he'd thought it was only a single layer laid out here, but in reality, this place was truly bottomless.

Because Li Zhiyuan had previously estimated based on the number of Lock Chains extending down from the pillar, but in fact, there must have been countless broken lock chains over the years thrown down here.

Very likely, right under his feet was actually a deep pit completely filled with lock chains.

The jade pendant had slipped all the way down through the gaps; relying on himself alone, he most likely wouldn't be able to get it back, unless he had Brother Runsheng come down and forcefully dig it out.

The deeper lock chains were indeed hotter; by now they were already a bit scalding to the touch, but Li Zhiyuan still decided to give up and surface first to get some air.

He kicked with both legs, planning to leave the water's surface.

But just as the boy's body started to rise, the pile of lock chains beneath him, where he'd dug out a small hollow, began to quickly cave in and slide downward from the middle.

When the boy lowered his head to look down, he saw, beneath the lock chains, a double-faced Buddha statue buried deep below.

One face bore a solemn Dharma Image, with a Vajra's Angry Eyes; the other face was sorrowful, full of compassionate salvation.

This was a Bodhisattva.

It sat here, hid here, waited here.

In that instant, Li Zhiyuan's thoughts became completely clear.

When a knife is being swung, it's hard to tell whether it's your own initiative, or someone else gripping the handle and guiding it.

But now, the boy had realized that the moment he conceived the plan of sneaking into the Ghost Gate by swapping places, the Bodhisattva had already been waiting for him at the starting point.

Li Zhiyuan:

"So, you want to follow me into the Ghost Gate!"

…

"Yellow wine, plenty of it. I originally wanted to buy Erguotou, but figured you probably wouldn't be used to it. The cooked dishes I picked up on the way tasted pretty good; I was eating while driving and accidentally finished them, but it's fine, there's still a big bag of pickled vegetables left. We'll just make do with pickles and wine."

Zhao Yi took a swig himself first, then poured a mouthful onto the ground opposite him, picked up a few strips of pickled vegetable and tossed them into his mouth, crunching loudly.

This was where the incident with the three incense sticks had taken place that day, and it was right above the Tomb Master's burial chamber.

Following Li Zhiyuan's request, Zhao Yi had come back here to visit that childhood friend he barely knew, to rekindle a bit of feeling.

After several rounds of wine and the five flavors of pickles.

Zhao Yi sniffed, pretending to be very drunk, and said:

"Bro, the Wind's really strong at night, I'm shivering from the cold. It should be warmer where you are. Come on, let me squeeze in with you."

With that, Zhao Yi grabbed the Yellow River Shovel beside him and started digging at the spot where the tomb-robbers' tunnel was.

He dug and dug, and soon opened it up.

Although digging a tomb-robbers' tunnel wasn't hard for Zhao Yi, being able to dig it open this fast truly wasn't his own credit.

Because the tomb-robbers' tunnel he'd personally seen sealed with a Seal and then fully refilled and tamped down that day… was now completely hollow underneath.

This meant that over this period of time, someone had constantly been pushing up from below, trying to come out again.

Normally, this should have been impossible, because the one who set the Seal was a Bodhisattva. If you said the Seal had been damaged after a hundred years and anomalies appeared, that might still be understandable, but who could believe that a Bodhisattva's Seal would only hold for a few days?

"Well now… looks like you wanted to see me too, bro. You were afraid I'd get tired digging all by myself, so you lent me a whole lot of hands."

Zhao Yi took a deep breath. The guy surnamed Li had only told him to come back; as for the rest, he'd said Zhao Yi could do as he pleased. But since he was already here, he couldn't just sit dumbly outside the whole time—he hadn't come here for a picnic or camping trip.

Clearing his mind of distractions, Zhao Yi still slid into the tomb-robbers' tunnel, like an earthworm, wriggling in section by section.

After estimating that he'd slid down quite a long way, he actually saw light below.

Nowadays, many famous tombs have been developed into tourist attractions; when visiting these places, you can see the craftmanship duels of tomb raiders through the ages.

Some tomb raiders dug their tunnels far off from the main chamber, while others could dig directly above the main burial chamber, so that once they dropped down they'd be face-to-face with the Tomb Master.

This tomb-robbers' tunnel had originally been dug by the Tomb Master himself, so naturally it was right above the main burial chamber.

When Zhao Yi stuck his head out, the Tomb Master—who should have been bound and Sealed inside by countless Lock Chains—was instead sitting at a stone table, with four sets of drinking vessels laid out on it. Besides him, there were three other human figures in red, white, and black sitting there.

This didn't look the least bit like someone under a Seal.

The Tomb Master lifted his head and met Zhao Yi's gaze above.

Zhao Yi saw two lines of tears tracking down from the corners of the Tomb Master's eyes. His lips moved in silent speech; from his lip movements, Zhao Yi "heard" him say:

"Run… run… run!"

…

Inside the tent at the foot of the steep slope, Liang Yan and Liang Li were playing with throwing knives. Their target was a specially carved, scaled-down human figure. Though unpainted, it still clearly captured Zhao Yi's expression and manner.

Liang Li flicked out a pebble with her fingertip, which then struck and launched a throwing knife lying on the ground. The knife shot out and hit the "Zhao Yi" right in that vulnerable spot.

Liang Yan: "You can't stab there."

Liang Li: "It's just a dummy anyway."

Liang Yan: "I'm putting this away. When he comes back, I'll show it to him and tell him you did it. When the time comes and you need him, he won't be able to perform."

Liang Li: "Your man is really fragile."

Liang Yan: "Mm, yeah, he's my man."

Liang Li: "You're not going to throw that back at me?"

Liang Yan: "I accept it."

Liang Li: "Shameless."

Liang Yan flicked her fingertip; the pebble flew out, struck the throwing knife, and the knife shot forward, knocking the throwing knife Liang Li had lodged in "Zhao Yi's" private part out of the tent.

Liang Li glared at her older sister, then got up and went outside the tent to pick up the knife that had been knocked out.

Not long after, Liang Li's voice came from outside the tent:

"Sis, we've got a problem."

Liang Yan lifted the tent flap and stepped out.

Their tent faced directly toward Yin Meng's grave mound.

But at some point, without a sound, Yin Meng's grave had caved in over a large area. In theory, this shouldn't have happened, because around the grave mound, the boy had set up an Array.

Thick clumps of black mist were seeping out from inside the grave. Although the Array hadn't been able to stop the grave from collapsing, it had kept the black energy contained within.

Liang Li: "Sis, she was still alive when she was buried, right?"

Liang Yan: "She was alive."

Liang Li: "Can a living person… turn into a zombified corpse?"

Liang Yan: "What you should be thinking about is how we're going to explain to that guy that we were too busy playing games in here to watch her properly, and now something's gone wrong."

"Swoosh!"

A hand reached out from the sunken grave. The nails on this hand were extraordinarily long, black as ink.

And the instant it appeared, the Array was ripped apart and blown open; terrifying ghost energy began to surge out unchecked.

A powerful Ghost Miasma formed in an instant, completely enveloping a large area, including the Liang Sisters.

Liang Li:

"Sis, I think what we should be thinking about is whether we'll still be alive to go back and explain anything."

———

I overworked myself a bit the last couple of days, so today there are fewer words. Gonna take a breather and hug you all tight!