Chapter 108: The Murals

The surrounding passageways gave off a constant sense of oppression, as though someone or something was silently watching them from the shadows.

Before long, the group reached another new burial chamber. This chamber held even more coffins, and the floor was littered with corpses. The space was vast, its ceiling swallowed in deep darkness, seemingly without end.

None of the bodies on the floor were intact; some had been snapped in half by brute force, while others had had their heads ripped clean off. Like the previous chamber, they were dressed like wandering mercenaries or outlaws. But there was one key difference here: among the many bodies lay two more, both with shredded clothing and decapitated heads.

The garments on these two were distinctly ancient, not of the current Kingdom of Qian dynasty, but instead some much older, more archaic attire. Clearly, a brutal battle had taken place in this chamber.

Just then, Wang Yunting crouched down to examine the two corpses. His usually calm face darkened ever so slightly.

“These were

jiangshi

,” he said.

Given the intense yin qi in the tomb, it wasn’t surprising that corpses had turned into

jiangshi

. Most likely, some grave robbers had triggered their awakening, leading to a bloody confrontation.

Li Yanchu furrowed his brow and murmured. “There’s a strong corpse qi in this room...”

Beside him, Bai Hongtu replied slowly, “Don’t tell me... there are still

jiangshi

inside these coffins.”

Their conversation was quiet and they stood near the corner, so it didn’t draw much attention.

But in the next moment...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A harsh, grating sound rang out in the vast burial chamber, and they heard the unmistakable crash of a coffin lid being thrown open and hitting the stone floor. Someone had inadvertently triggered a mechanism, awakening the slumbering horrors within.

From the depths of the darkness, corpse after corpse began to rise. Their skin glinted with a metallic sheen, their eyes glowed a fierce blood-red, and their nails were long, sharp, and pitch black.

As these undead rose from their coffins, the corpse qi and yin qi in the chamber thickened dramatically.

The flames of their torches flickered and wavered, as if ready to go out at any moment. The light cast flickering shadows across their uncertain faces, and the surrounding was now shrouded in a chilling, ghostly qi.

Li Yanchu’s eyes darkened. He couldn’t tell whether this was a coincidence, or if someone had intentionally awakened these undead from the shadows.

The atmosphere was suffocating. Suddenly, one of the

jiangshi

sprang forward, and in the blink of an eye, it lunged at a Daoist priest!

Li Yanchu vaguely recognized the man; he was a Daoist from Yuxu Temple in Liang County. He was plain in appearance and lean in build, and the most memorable thing about him was the five copper coins tied at his waist.

As the fierce

jiangshi

leapt toward him, the Daoist didn’t panic; instead, he calmly pulled a few copper coins from his robes. With a flick of his wrist, like a magician performing a sleight of hand, the coins multiplied, forming a coin sword in mid-air!

Clang!

He stabbed forward, and sparks burst forth. The ferocious

jiangshi

, known for its brute strength, was slammed to the ground!

Li Yanchu’s eyes sharpened. This Exorcism Assembly really had gathered many hidden talents. A seemingly unremarkable priest had just crushed a

jiangshi

head-on.

Unlike the ragtag grave robbers who’d been overwhelmed after running into just two

jiangshi

, this time, more than a dozen

jiangshi

awakened at once, yet they were being utterly dominated!

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The towering brute, Yan Chixiao, wielded a massive, thick-backed executioner’s saber. With one swing, he cleaved a

jiangshi

clean in two, top to bottom. His attacks were savage and overwhelming!

The beastmaster, Zhang Ping, let out a sharp whistle. Then, the enormous black dog at his side lunged like a thunderbolt, and to everyone’s horror, it devoured the

jiangshi

on the spot.

There were more than a dozen

jiangshi

, yet in the face of these elite cultivators, they posed no real threat. They were barely like a ripple in a storm.

Li Yanchu stepped forward, and his figure blurred into an afterimage, streaking through the air. Just then, scorching-hot qi and blood burst forth from Li Yanchu’s body.

Divine Astral Hands!

In an instant, a

jiangshi

’s head was blown apart by his strike. He was in a hurry, as his teammates were too ruthless, and those

jiangshi

were merit points!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Even with his Divine Astral Hands pushed to the limit, in the end, he only managed to kill four

jiangshi

.

A slight sigh welled up in his heart.

Why can’t they take it a little slower!?

Regret practically radiated from his gaze.

On the other hand, the nearby monks and Daoists were startled.

What’s with this guy?! Did he have some blood feud with these jiangshi or something? He went absolutely berserk!

But his skill impressed them. This handsome young Daoist didn’t fight like a cultivator, he fought like a seasoned martial artist from the

jianghu

.

At this time, Yan Chixiao grinned at Li Yanchu. Clearly, his style of charging straight in was very much his taste. It was pure brute force!

The chaos caused by the awakened

jiangshi

was quickly suppressed. Top figures like Master Shenshan of Jing’an Temple and Daoist Yuanyi of Yongxing Temple hadn’t even needed to lift a hand.

Still, their expressions remained grave. They weren’t relaxed just because their group was strong enough to suppress the

jiangshi

with ease. After all, they had only just begun exploring the tomb. They were still in the outermost layers, yet they already encountered this many

jiangshi

? Deeper inside, the threats would only grow more powerful.

Once the last of the undead were destroyed, the group noticed that the stone walls on both sides of the burial chamber were carved with murals. The left-hand mural depicted a legion of armored warriors offering reverent worship before a grand, towering throne. The throne itself was empty, but the soldiers’ expressions were filled with fanatic devotion.

The mural was skillfully crafted; even after countless years, the fierce, battle-hardened aura of those elite veterans radiated off the wall. It was clear these were disciplined, war-seasoned troops.

The right-hand mural, however, was odd. Or rather, it could barely be called a mural at all. Instead, it was a chaotic network of interwoven, complex lines. They were dense and unreadable.

“Did the workers not get paid during construction or something? This looks like they just phoned it in.” Bai Hongtu chuckled.

The mural on the left had been meticulously crafted, but the one on the right looked like it had been slapped together as an afterthought.

Li Yanchu nodded slightly.

“Isn’t this just trying to fool ghosts?” he muttered.

Their voices drew the attention of the ashen-faced old man, Old Ghost Wu, who slowly walked over and let out a few cold chuckles as he looked at them.

Old Ghost Wu had the pallor of a corpse, and his face seemed cold and lifeless. Combined with his unsettling complexion, his sudden laughter gave off a creepy air.

Bai Hongtu asked curiously, “Elder, what are you laughing at?”

Old Ghost Wu said coldly without a hint of expression, “Nothing much. Just think you two are pretty amusing.”

“...” Hearing this, Bai Hongtu’s mouth twitched. This guy looked more like a ghost than a man, and his words were as blunt as a saber.

Old Ghost Wu then stretched out one withered, skeletal finger, pointing toward the tangled lines on the right-side wall.

“You know what this is?”

Li Yanchu raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Elder, do you?”