Lie Huo Jiao Chou Volume 2 Chapter 25

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"Am I really that free, why do I need to take care of him?"

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　　Inside the coffin, Sheng Lingyuan broke out a sneer.

　　Xiao Zheng thought it was Xuan Ji and spat: "What are you laughing at? You're also in a bad spot, I will deal with you later!"

　　Xuan Ji: "..."

　　He was terribly wronged.

　　"Back when the Old Lang was still normal, he formed some connections with G.o.d-knows-who and got this little black vase, saying it was a good profit... He made money, I... I just helped him running some errands and got some little cash in return... Really! This is not my doing!"

　　"Cut the nonsense," Xuan Ji kicked him, "Then what's the deal with robbing this cave?"

　　The goatee guy's eyes were turning around, this person's vitality was like that of a c.o.c.kroach. He was scared and his souls went flying just earlier, yet after a little while, he already adapted and was ready to lie again.

　　Also a talent.

　　At this time, Sheng Lingyuan in the coffin who had rested for a while suddenly moved, pressing on the copper coffin to stand up.

　　The goatee guy's eyes met Sheng Lingyuan's, and his face immediately showed great fear. He almost curled around Xuan Ji's feet: "I'll say it, I'll say it!"

　　"After he used up the little black vase and got all the money, he then asked around in order to find a good connection, I think... it was that Lord Yue De's closest disciple. He spent ten of thousands just to invite them out for a meal several times. He begged and asked for help, and yet, even though he had dragged his everything, he wasn't able to get their help. It had truly made the Old Lang frustrated. Then, there was this little girl who slept with others that said there was this old man who accidentally slipped when he was drunk. He told her that they got their 'things' dug from under the ground, but now, since they had used it up, they were all having a rough time... That Old Lang was truly possessed, even asking her where the old man had dug it..."

　　Xuan Ji: "And then, you got bold enough and ran to dig up this ma.s.s grave?"

　　Goatee guy: "We were just trying our luck... We didn't know this place is... is..."

　　Xiao Zheng: "What ma.s.s grave?"

　　"I will explain it to you in a little bit," Xuan Ji could almost smell something as he sat down and pulled at the goatee guy's collar, "Who drew the dyes on the ground?"

　　The goatee guy's face looked twisted under the faint light coming from the phone screen, and his lips were trembling a little: "It's the Old Lang... who knows how he was able to do it... He said it was a protection talisman and he made it in order to avoid problems, in case something happened... We hired a bunch of 'ground workers', which... which were grave robbers. We used the map that girl had stolen then... digging all the way to this place and saw this..."

　　He shakily raised his hand and pointed at the coffin.

　　Sheng Lingyuan must've felt cold since his hands were frozen to the point they were turning blue. He looked dazed as his fingers glided lightly through the patterns on the copper coffin. His expression was lonely, and one couldn't be sure what he was thinking about. 

　　"As soon as those grave robbers saw the coffin, they acted as if they were drugged and went mad. An old man in the group told them not to touch anything, because he could sense that the place reeked with yin energy and the feng shui wasn't correct. He said that the people who were buried here didn't die peacefully and they were never able to reincarnate... He also said, this coffin was surrounded by water, the sacrificial writing on stone platform was deeply carved. While I didn't understand what he meant, it seemed like it was there to suppress evil spirits... But they didn't listen, someone said the copper coffin looked like something from the War of the Jiuzhou era. It has been several thousand years, the face of the earth has already changed several times, the feng shui has also changed, but the coffin was still well-preserved, which means there must be treasures inside..."

　　Xuan Ji could imagine this group of people getting more greedy and less ashamed of their actions: "So, you uncovered the coffin?"

　　"No no no! Not 'us', it's them! I was trying to make sure they wouldn't uncover the coffin!" The goatee guy denied vehemently, "Old Lang said to first drew the 'protection' charm, then prayed to make the spirits feel better. So, they all gathered at the stone platform... then bowed in front of the coffin..."

　　Xuan Ji had no words: "You even paid attention to the ritual —— Why, think you can rob graves respectfully?"

　　The goatee guy's eyes flickered with some strange light and he looked terrified: "When they uncovered the coffin, I didn't dare to follow the grave robbers. Those people opened it together and saw... they saw that on the inside, there was... a corpse..."

　　Xuan Ji couldn't understand: "Cut the c.r.a.p, if not a corpse, then what?"

　　Could a coffin of this size was used to bury a dog?

　　"A... person... " The goatee guy struggled and swallowed, his voice was rough as he spoke, "Not skeleton! Not even dried-up corpse! The entire body didn't decompose, like it was just sleeping... its limbs... its forehead was nailed down to the coffin by a long nail..."

　　Xuan Ji heard a "creak" noise, Sheng Lingyuan emotionlessly pressed on the coffin to stand up, making the copper coffin caved in.

　　"The grave robbers immediately kneeled down... But those people, as if possessed, shouted 'treasure', and all of them stepped up and even took out the nails on the body... Then, because there was some conflicts while trying to get the treasure, one of them suddenly took out a machete and stabbed their accomplice to death... Blood filled up all over the coffin... but... but when I looked into the coffin... besides the corpse, there was nothing else!"

　　The cold air from the cave's ceiling solidated into droplets of water, making "splash" sounds as they dropped into the lake. It made the surface of the water rippled, and Xuan Ji felt chills running down his bare back.

　　"I was scared silly, those people's eyes turned red and they killed each other like they were archenemies. Old Lang, that fool, was also sh.e.l.l-shocked, it was as if his nerves ran away. He didn't move to steal nor run away and just stood next to the coffin, looking dazed. He almost got knifed by one of those red-eyed robbers. I immediately grabbed him and followed the old grave robber to run out…... I almost didn't make it! The water level in the lake suddenly rose and almost covered the cave we had came from. I, Old Lang...... and the grave robber too, we three fell over each other as we escaped. The old grave robber didn't even want any of the goods anymore, he just wanted to run away for his life."

　　"I also felt like it was only a nightmare, but it was too...... After a few days, Old Lang came to find me. He said when the grave robbers were killing each other, he had stolen a jade box from the corpse which had a b.u.t.terfly engraved on the surface. The jade...... the jade was almost transparent, and on the inside, there were some little black seeds which looked like sesame seeds. They looked exactly like the 'incantations' in the little black vase... Only, there was no antidote...... At that time, we didn't care because we still had some spare antidote... Old Lang said that even though it was only few in quant.i.ty, it would make more than a hundred thousand dollars. We just had to use it until we had used up the antidote, and then we could sell them to Lord Yue De's people, making a little more......"

　　Xuan Ji immediately asked: "Did you used it up?"

　　"Just, just, one pill," the goatee guy said pitifully, "It was not the same... the boy who ate the 'incantation' didn't behave the same way as the fat goat from before. In the past, after those people ate the 'incantation', they would do whatever the Old Lang said. It was so when we made a 'diagnosis', their family members wouldn't doubt it. But, this boy was uncontrollable... Old Lang said it was a fake, that the pill wasn't the real thing and we messed up. In the end, he didn't dare appear anymore and said he would go to another place to hide. He didn't say where. We didn't act together, otherwise, if people saw us together, we would be screwed immediately. Who would have known..."

　　Who would have known that Ji Qingchen would have an unclear and tragic death in the great canyon of Chiyuan.

　　Why did Ji Qingchen go to great canyon of Chiyuan?

　　He was eventually turned into a sacrifice. Was it because the spell dictated it that way or was it just a coincidence?

　　The sacrificial event in the great canyon of Chiyuan almost threw off the entire Deviant Control Office. The sacrificial writings and the writings on the ground of the shamans' graves seemed to be complementing each other. It was as if they were just the tip of an iceberg of some grand schemes——

　　"I didn't dare to show up. I asked people to find the one who was called Lord Yue De's 'closest disciple' but couldn't find him at all. He just disappeared and vanished into thin air. I... I didn't have any other options and I've run out of money. Right at that time, I saw your post on the internet. I thought you were fooled by the Old Lang, but he didn't have time to collect these cash cows yet... "

　　"So you inherited his legacy?" Xuan Ji was so angry he burst out laughing. Then, after a while, he continued: "Wait! That's not right, you said there were some grave robbers who had surrounded the corpse and killed each other. Where are the bodies? Where's the blood? Where are the grave robbers?"

　　Right when Xuan Ji finished his sentence, as if to answer his question, the lake suddenly "gurgled" and exuded bubbles.

　　There was someone laughing "Haha". The voice was impossibly clear, like it came from a young teenager, reverberating around the dark cave. The voice sounded incredibly devilish in the quiet cave. Then, the voice continued to say something in the shaman tribe's language. Xuan Ji only understood one word——

　　"Lingyuan".

　　At the same time, Xuan Ji's phone signal was dead once again.

　　The voice laughed again and said something, Sheng Lingyuan's face paled by another degree and his whole body trembled.

　　The young teenager started to sing a song. The rhythm was very familiar to his ears, but Xuan Ji didn't have time to think because the goatee guy made an "Ouch" sound before jumping forward for more than three feet. He almost hit Xuan Ji's chest. And then, from the bubbling water, a bunch of inflated corpses climbed up.

　　Immediately afterwards, a loud sound rang out. It was a sound of rushed footsteps. It seemed there was someone talking loudly, and it was coming from the cave where Xuan Ji had come from.

　　As if there was a large group of people coming this way.

　　So did that mean...... more than 40,000 skeletons?

　　This was really too much to think about.

　　Xuan Ji flew up and using his leg, he kicked an inflated corpse back into the water. Then, he brought the goatee guy up under his arm before turning to Sheng Lingyuan: "Hey, are you going or not?"

　　Sheng Lingyuan gave him an empty look, as if his soul hadn't returned to its original location. Xuan Ji cursed silently then rushed over to drag over the devil.

　　"Am I really that free, why do I need to take care of him?" On one side, he couldn't help but think about this, while on the other, he held Sheng Lingyuan's wrist tightly and flew to the cave entrance.

　　Without waiting for him to stand firmly on his feet, an intangible feeling of danger surfaced. Xuan Ji didn't have a chance to escape as the cramped cave entrance was not enough for him to spread his wings. The weight in his arm suddenly became heavier and the goatee guy didn't have enough time to make a sound before being dropped down.

　　A thin thread was shot into goatee guy's eyes, directly penetrated the back of his head, making the blood poured onto Xuan Ji's hand. The devilish thread didn't stop but mercilessly headed toward Xuan Ji and wrapped around his arms, yet it was burned in the second it touched him.

　　The strange song was cut short by a terrified scream. At the same time, a tall figure appeared in the cave. The voice that Xuan Ji could barely understand made an elegant call: "Demon!"

　　Sheng Lingyuan slowly pushed Xuan Ji away. This cave was too small compared to him, he couldn't stand straight and had to slightly bend his waist. He supported himself against the cliff, looking like he wasn't able to stand firmly. He lowered his voice and called out a name: "Aluojin."

　　Xuan Ji suddenly remembered just where he had heard the song earlier—— it was a folk song. When he and Sheng Lingyuan were trying to hide their own thoughts, he had heard it from that person's head!