"According to Lao Gong's previous words, do not thank him yet. It is still uncertain whether a few or none will survive to return."
This scene was obviously commonplace to the dwellers of the underworld, He Jing and Wang Cen did not argue anything, looking at each other with eye contact, He Jing jumped up and went up along the steps inside the wall, quickly charging towards the top. Wang Cen walked past Lao Gong's head, heading into the cave.
Soon, He Jing disappeared into the mouth of the cave above, and Wang Cen similarly vanished into the depths of the cave...
Time moved incredibly slowly, no sound came from either of the two caves for a moment.
The sky grew darker, slowly revealing a sliver of daylight.
As Lao Gong was inside the cave, he was not affected, as the place was filled with heavy negative energy and he could exist and did not disappear.
The footsteps of Wang Cen could be heard from our current cave.
He was somewhat excited, his eyes bloodshot, as he said, "This is the right path! Up there, it's just like the reflection in the water; they deliberately created dangers to attract our attention. It looks quite ordinary here, but once inside, it's even more flat, and I've already seen several side rooms and coffins!"
"It's a bit strange, I haven't seen the body of the previous meditation master."
As he spoke, Wang Cen approached us.
Lao Gong suddenly shouted loudly, "What are you coming over here for? Just stand there and don't move!"
Wang Cen suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking confused.
At that moment, a beam of sunlight entered the cave, the mist inside the cave swirling around, Wang Cen's face immediately ruptured a large hole after being irradiated by this beam of sunlight. He continuously ooze viscous liquid out of it, as if all his flesh was rotting.
"Don't smell it! It's up there! Move!" Lao Gong vanished instantly.
Fe Fang and the other three coffins-only people suddenly rushed upwards, climbing up the shallow steps from the cave.
A few minutes later, we all stopped inside the entrance of the upper cave.
Looking closely at the body nailed to the edge of the cave wall, his mouth was wide open, and his eyes were present, but the body seemed to have been hollowed out by something, leaving only the shell behind.
The cave passage is quite narrow and cramped, with the depth inside invisible and no sound from He Jing who had entered before.
Chang Xin's face was tense, his forehead beaded with sweat, and there was a hint of confusion.
Even I can't figure out what Lao Gong used to analyze it.
At this moment, Lao Gong appeared on my shoulder, saying darkly, "This person was not killed by the mechanism at the mouth of the cave. They were eaten by something else. The area below seems easy to walk on, but once you go inside, you will have to suffer like Wang Cen did and turn into a thick liquid. If Wang Cen returns and gets close to us, we will also be poisoned."
"Only this path is right. The previous people you mentioned also took this route, but we must go faster. There is still danger outside." Lao Gong's tone carried a sense of urgency.
I felt a tingling, itchy sensation on my body, indeed as if something was staring at me.
At that moment, Xu Jin seemed to be more surprised and shouted, "Something is climbing up! It's coming out of the water!"
Everyone suddenly lowered their heads and looked down.
I too cast my gaze downward.
As I looked, there were indeed some white, strange objects floating in the water, resembling both humans and pupae. Some had already climbed onto the cliffs, and a portion had even crawled up the vines and walkways.
In the sunlight, they continuously refracted light halos and slowly disintegrated into a white, delicate tide flowing towards us!
A sudden wave of nausea washed over me.
These are definitely not tides, even though the distance was far and it was difficult to see clearly, my intuition told me they were some kind of insects.
It's not the San Shu worm; the existence form of the San Shu worm is not like this.
My gaze suddenly fell to the corpse at the mouth of the cave, its mouth open and empty.
I could see that the surface of its skin was covered with fine scales, about the size of a fingernail, and there were layers of overlaps. It was clearly insect skin!
So, this person was hollowed out by those insects?
"Very fast!"
Fe Fang's face turned grave instantly.
I just caught a glimpse of the tide of insects that had already climbed over half of the walkway!
We must climb upwards as honestly as possible. They crawl vertically, and the distance is shorter.
"It's another ghostly creature," Lao Gong shouted with a strained voice, "Keep going inside; they shouldn't be able to get in here. The previous group must have disturbed something in the water, frantically climbing up, and ended up leaving one person behind who couldn't escape and was eaten by these things."
Lao Gong's words made some sense.
This time, it was the people from the coffin land that led the way. I did not take up the rear again, instead letting Liang's people stay at the end and walk as close to the front as possible.
At first, it was a straight path parallel to the cave. As we walked, the path began to curve, and the light grew darker, requiring us to use flashlights for illumination.
The time we spent would definitely be enough for those insects to climb up, but there was no movement behind us, which verified Lao Gong's words - those things couldn't come here.
For a while, there was only the sound of our footsteps and breathing.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, the group stopped.
Xu Jin picked up a broken piece of wood on the ground, which was still wrapped in white silk.
This is He Jing's funeral staff.
In the tradition of funeral rites, each of the nine streams has its own abilities. He Jing was a ghostly woman, so Wang Cen should be a coffin carrier.
That's why He Jing went up to the top, while Wang Cen went down.
I'm not weak in terms of my physical skills, but there's a fundamental difference between the two: the former is fundamentally unable to climb up, while the latter can take advantage of the mountain body to help.
"There are signs of a fight." Another voice said quietly.
The light of the flashlight was flickering wildly, and there were indeed many scratches on the walls. Even on the ground, there were even broken clothes, and a thick stench of death filled the air. It was very strong.
Especially on one side of the stone wall, there were two vague impressions, as if a person had leaned against it.
To leave such marks means it can no longer be called a person; it must have been a corpse!
"Apparently, another one has died," Lao Gong's head appeared on Fe Fang's shoulder.
Fe Fang remained silent.
With two of his subordinates having died, even he couldn't remain so calm.
"Old Fe, you don't have to be unhappy. At least I can tell you that we're on the right path, and..." Lao Gong licked his corner of the mouth before explaining, "We've been up here for a while now, and there haven't been any traps or poisonous gas. The light shines through, and the front is normal. The two people who died here weren't killed by traps or poisonous gas. They were intentionally killed by someone and placed here as corpse charms to block our way!"
"It seems that your previous meditation master was used as a pawn."
Fe Fang's eyes flickered with a shadow of malice, and he said gravely, "Do you mean that person has already gone out?"
"What else could it be? If the old lady entered here and killed someone, then how could your people let her kill someone without a reason?" Lao Gong smiled mischievously.
