Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 792 Mycelium Enters the Tomb Kingdom (Two Chapters Combined)

Li Qing poked his head out, panting heavily, and complained, "If you guys had been any later, I would have died in there."

Before Li Qing could even see who had saved him, Xiao Ran grabbed him by the collar and threw him behind her.

Fortunately, Wu Man intervened in time, opening her hands to gently lift Li Qing, and with a soft force, she enveloped him and landed steadily on the ground.

"Master!!"

At this moment, Lu Cheng strode out, his eyes filled with tears, and stood before Li Qing.

"you!!"

Li Qing stared wide-eyed at the familiar face before him, overwhelmed with surprise and joy. But after a brief moment of elation, he couldn't help but complain, "Why are you here too? What are you doing here?"

"Master, not only am I here, but Xiao Ran is here too."

Lu Cheng made the unethical choice to drag Xiao Ran down with him and make her take the blame.

Upon hearing this, Li Qing slapped his thigh: "That little brat from Xiao Lao Si's family, the moment I saw him..."

Before Li Qing could finish speaking, he looked up and saw Xiao Ran already holding the [Dragon Abyss] guillotine, slashing it down on the monster's head.

With just one strike, the blade flashed with a sharpness so intense that Li Qing couldn't even open his eyes.

Just one glance was enough to make Li Qing feel like his soul had left his body.

"puff!!"

A sweet smell burst into the air, and then the monster that had devoured him shattered like a crushed grape right in front of Li Qing, leaving not a single intact piece.

Seeing this, Li Qing swallowed hard and said, "Good!! I knew it. I could tell at first glance that Xiao Lao Si's son was good. Great job! Grandpa gives you a thumbs up."

Xiao Ran put away the Longyuan sword in her hand, turned around and walked up to Li Qing with a grin: "Grandpa Baldhead, please praise me in front of my grandpa next time."

"Hey, you little rascal!!"

Li Qing grinned, pointed at Xiao Ran, and said irritably, "What are you doing here? If your grandpa sees you, he'll probably slap you across the face."

Xiao Ran didn't argue with Li Qing, but nodded instead: "Then you'd better protect me then, or my grandpa will beat me senseless."

"You!!"

Seeing Xiao Ran's stubborn attitude, Li Qing was also at a loss for what to do with the kid.

"Come on, this isn't the place to talk. Follow me."

Li Qing glanced around, then led Xiao Ran and the others to the left. In an inconspicuous corner, he parted the mycelium and revealed a tunnel to them.

Li Qing led them inside. The tunnel was very deep, and once inside, they found themselves in a cave.

The cave is not large, probably only about 20 square meters.

A coal lamp hung above, illuminating the cavern.

The place was cleaned very thoroughly, without even a trace of fungus.

"Stand here for now."

Li Qing gestured for everyone to step aside, then took out a pinch of gray powder from his backpack, held it in his hand, and carefully examined it against the oil lamp. After confirming that it was not the old man's ashes, he turned and walked back to the group.

"Hold your breath and close your eyes."

With that, he patted the powder onto Xiao Ran and the others.

"What is this? Prickly heat powder?"

Lu Cheng sniffed and smelled the familiar scent, then looked completely confused, wondering why his master had sprinkled prickly heat powder on him.

Only after everyone had been sprinkled with a layer of prickly heat powder did Li Qing invite them to sit down together.

"Now rub your clothes and take a look, especially your pants and thighs."

The crowd was puzzled, but they did as instructed.

Xiao Ran gently rubbed her body and was surprised to find that some foreign objects had appeared on her body at some unknown time.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be mycelium.

The clump of mycelium was perfectly intact, with tiny white roots. Xiao Ran didn't even realize when it had gotten on her.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran immediately wrapped her entire body with her mental energy and found that her body was indeed covered with this kind of thing.

"Wu Man!"

Xiao Ran called out Wu Man's name, and then her spiritual power gathered on Xiao Ran's skin. Suddenly, the dense mycelium was forcibly expelled from Xiao Ran's body.

Wu Man immediately waved her hand, gathering the scattered mycelium into a ball, which finally gathered in her hand, about the size of a fried meatball.

Xiao Ran then helped Lu Cheng, Jin Chanzi, and Ling Xi remove the mycelium from their bodies. As for Wu Man, he had already cleaned himself up.

Seeing that Xiao Ran still had such methods, Li Qing couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart: "In the end, we are just getting old."

Time flies, and it seems like only yesterday that they were all spirited young men.

If they were 50 years younger... no, 30 years younger, wouldn't they also want to carve out their own niche in this chaotic world?

But now, I'm old, and I've lost that edge.

As for Zhao Qingming and Xiao Laosi, although their spirits remained undiminished, they were not living people and could not become beginners.

So this great ship of the new era ultimately didn't have tickets for the four old guys.

"Sit down."

Li Qing gestured for everyone to sit down, and then lit the mycelium clumps in Wu Man's hand like firewood.

"You can't detect these things because they grow naturally. When you came in, you stepped on the spores in those mycelia, and the seeds attached themselves to you. At first, you didn't notice, but once these things get wet, they will devour you in an instant, just like what happened to me just now."

Li Qing explained the situation, saying it was an accident, and he didn't know when the water droplets got on him.

All Li Qing remembered was that things happened so fast that when he realized something was wrong, he immediately stretched out the pipe in his hand.

This is how I avoided suffocating inside.

"Grandpa with the bald head, where are my grandpas and the others?"

Xiao Ran pressed for an answer.

Logically speaking, if Li Qing were arrested, his grandfather and the others should have done everything in their power to rescue him.

"Your grandfather and the others have gone inside."

"Huh?" Xiao Ran didn't understand what Li Qing meant. What did he mean by "went in"? It's not like he went to jail.

Li Qing gestured for him not to rush: "Let me explain slowly to you."

As he said this, he put the pipe to his lips, lit a bag of tobacco by the flame of the burning mycelium, took a deep drag, and then spoke.

"This place is called the Tomb Kingdom, but our current location is not the Tomb Kingdom. Strictly speaking, we haven't even entered the gate."

Li Qing pointed to the still-burning mycelium and said, "This thing is the real Tomb Kingdom, and to enter the Tomb Kingdom, you must integrate your consciousness into the mycelium."

"so??"

Li Qing's words were so unbelievable that even someone as knowledgeable as Jin Chanzi, let alone Xiao Ran, found them utterly incomprehensible.

Seeing that they didn't understand, Li Qing gestured for them to be patient; "This is a long story..."

It turns out that Gu Xuan was indeed an extraordinary person. He was proficient in Taoist arts and obtained a kind of mycelium from somewhere, which he claimed could make people become immortals, keep their true spirit from dissipating, and grant them eternal life.

He presented it to the Yang family, the chieftain of Guizhou at the time. The Yang family did not believe it at first, but after actually trying it, they immediately believed it without a doubt. They even mobilized 80,000 people to hollow out Langshan Mountain and secretly build this large tomb.

These 80,000 people naturally ended up lying in those coffins outside, their souls completely merging with the mycelium.

Over the years, these mycelia have transformed into something as vast as the outside world.

To enter the Tomb Kingdom, one must submerge one's consciousness into these mycelial worlds.

That's why Li Qing said they hadn't actually entered the Tomb Kingdom.

"If we do that, and destroy all these mycelia, wouldn't this tomb kingdom be finished?"

Lingxi tried to ask, but in her opinion, plants are plants after all. Although the explanations sounded mystical, they didn't seem very reliable.

However, Li Qing didn't even bother to answer the question. He pointed to the burning mycelium ball in front of him with his pipe: "This stuff, just a tiny bit of mycelium, can burn for about three hours. Once it gets wet, it will immediately revert to its original state."

At this point, Li Qing paused for a moment: "Also, that lake you saw when you came in, every once in a while, the groundwater rises and almost floods the entire tomb. In other words, even if you crush this thing into pieces and burn it, as long as it gets a drop of water, it will immediately regrow."

Everyone was completely baffled.

Doesn't that mean being immortal?

"Hiss!! Another one."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran couldn't help but scratch her head. "A Plum Blossom Daoist was already incredibly powerful, but this Gu Xuan is even more so. He's directly using a dimensional reduction defense, turning me into a spore, focusing on one target. No one can kill me."

This made Xiao Ran wonder, "Why aren't these people cultivating immortality properly? Why are they engaging in evil cultivation?"

No wonder those novels always portray those strange and unusual sects as evil and heretical; it's not without reason.

But this also cleared up many of Xiao Ran's doubts.

"No wonder there was a subtle magnetic field here that kept repelling my mental energy; it turns out it was all from these mycelia."

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran suddenly realized something: "So, does that mean Gu Xuan has been watching everything we did since we came in?"

Li Qing said, "More or less, so it's still quite safe here, but even if Gu Xuan can observe us, he won't really care about us."

"Then, what about Master Zhou? I saw in the file that there's another woman with you."

Li Qing sighed helplessly: "I don't know either."

The three of them were together at the time, but the mycelium on his body suddenly burst out, and he was trapped inside, completely unaware of what was happening outside.

Li Qing was also unclear about the current situation.

Li Qing thought for a moment and said, "Well then, since you're already here, I won't try to persuade you. Let's split up. I'll take one group to find Old Zhou and figure out what's going on here. You can try to enter the Tomb Kingdom and contact your grandfather and Uncle Zhao so they can find your Seventh Master Yang as soon as possible. Let's leave this hellish place as soon as possible."

"it is good!"

Xiao Ran thought this was a good idea. Jin Chanzi and Lu Cheng didn't need to complete the mission; they could follow Master Li. She, Wu Man, and Ling Xi could enter the Tomb Kingdom and complete the mission along the way.

Without delay, after assigning tasks, Li Qing led Xiao Ran out of the cave.

Li Qing poked his head out and, after confirming that things had returned to normal outside, let them come out of the cave one by one. "This way!" Li Qing pointed to a narrow, inconspicuous side passage that was half-hidden by thick mycelium.

He bent down, deftly parted the mycelium in front of him, and crawled inside.

The group followed closely behind, and after they went inside, they discovered that the fork in the path led to an upward stone staircase!

"Master, you've only been here a short time, how come you're so familiar with this place?"

Lu Cheng watched as Li Qing navigated the route with ease and made his choice of direction without hesitation, and couldn't help but feel curious.

This labyrinthine and complex tomb was like a familiar backyard to my master.

Li Qing paused, not answering immediately.

He slowly turned around, and his wrinkled but still strong hand patted Lu Cheng's shoulder heavily. The warmth of his hand came through his clothes, carrying an indescribable weight.

“Having been here before, I’ll naturally feel familiar with it.” After a moment, Li Qing finally uttered these five words.

Standing to the side, Xiao Ran keenly caught the fleeting pain in Li Qing's eyes.

He stepped forward and calmly took over the conversation: "What Master Baldhead means is that this place is like his second time around."

Back then, the seven brothers made great strides and carved out a name for themselves in the then-stagnant martial arts world.

Unexpectedly, they suffered a major setback here, leading to an irreparable tragedy.

This incident became a lifelong knot in the hearts and nightmares of Li Qing and others.

Returning to this familiar place, even after many years, Li Qing and his companions remembered every mechanism and every fork in the road in the tomb perfectly.

The group climbed the stairs to the second floor. The view from the second floor was significantly more open.

The coffin I saw was completely different from the one below.

The coffins here are no longer simply piles of rough stone blocks; their material is a warm, dark stone with an extremely smooth surface.

More importantly, the lids and walls of each coffin are meticulously carved with intricate and exquisite patterns.

Wu Man speculated that these coffins were probably intended for the enjoyment of so-called high-ranking officials and nobles.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered a sign on the left side of the coffin with a list written on it.

Upon closer inspection, they were all minor officials, such as secretaries and stewards, and even servants and concubines.

Clearly, these coffins are far from being of the caliber of those high-ranking officials and nobles.

Li Qing walked over and casually selected one of the coffins: "This one will do."

He gestured for Xiao Ran to open the coffin. Xiao Ran pushed hard, and the coffin lid slowly slid open a crack.

The thick, dark green mycelium layer inside was exposed, almost filling the entire coffin.

Li Qing turned his gaze to Lingxi beside him and said, "Go in, lie down."

Lingxi was taken aback, but she quickly nodded and walked to the coffin: "Is it alright to just lie in there?"

"Yes, don't resist, try to relax. These mycelia are old mycelia that have been growing for many years. They are not very active and will not strangle you."

As Li Qing spoke, he gently patted the mycelium inside, which was basically the same as the mycelium they had come into contact with when they came in.

"Oh."

Seeing this, Lingxi no longer hesitated, turned over and jumped into the coffin to lie down.

Li Qing told Xiao Ran to close the coffin lid. There were air holes inside the coffin, so there was no need to worry about suffocating.

After the coffin lid was closed, Li Qing and the others waited for a while, about ten minutes, and then they saw the mycelium around the coffin wriggling. A wisp of pink light quickly emerged from the coffin, rapidly dyeing the surrounding mycelium pink.

"It's done, she's already inside."

Seeing this, Li Qing nodded, "I didn't expect this girl to get in so quickly."

“Master Baldhead, then we…”

Xiao Ran pointed to the coffin next to her, but Li Qing waved his hand and said, "Yours are up there."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran and Wu Man exchanged a glance, realizing that experience truly matters.

Knowing that Lingxi wasn't entirely on their side, they decided to keep their distance from her here, so that if anything happened, they wouldn't be implicated by her.

Or to put it bluntly, it was to prevent her from doing anything malicious in secret.

Li Qing turned around and led them down the path, winding their way until they finally found a deep well.

"This is it."

Li Qing sat at the well's edge, slowly taking out tobacco and stuffing it into his pipe: "Don't say I'm petty. That girl is an expert at playing with insects. I'm already being polite by not killing her, so naturally I can't say much to her."

"No, sir, your caution is something we younger generations should learn from."

Wu Man didn't think Li Qing had done anything wrong at all: "You can't be too careful."

As she said this, Wu Man personally rubbed a wisp of fire between her fingers and lit it for Old Master Li.

"Hehe, that makes sense."

Li Qing nodded with a smile, and his gaze towards Wu Man became much more affectionate.

However, Li Qing always worried that his own clumsy apprentice, with his upright and honest conduct, wouldn't go far in life.

Li Qing lowered his voice: "Actually, with that girl here, there are some things I can't say too clearly. Your Master Zhou and Amei are actually looking for Gu Xuan's tomb."

"Gu Xuan's tomb?" Xiao Ran's eyes lit up. Their main mission was to find Gu Xuan's coffin.

Shh, keep your voice down.

Li Qing made a shushing gesture: "You know Wang Zhang, right?"

Xiao Ran nodded: "I know."

"After he entered here a second time, he found Gu Xuan's tomb chamber, but he only found the location and couldn't go in. So he left some information for us at the entrance of the tomb robber's tunnel."

Li Qing quietly took out a drawing from his pocket; the writing on it was so blurred that it was almost illegible.

However, a giant mycelium flower can be seen on the drawing, as if all the mycelium originates from here.

"Gu Xuan's tomb is inside here, and we're still figuring out how to get in."

At this moment, Jin Chanzi came over, glanced at the huge mushroom drawing on the blueprint, and his eyes widened immediately; "How could it be this?"

Everyone turned to look at Jin Chanzi, who took the blueprint from Xiao Ran's hand and examined it carefully.

"What, does Master Dao recognize this thing?" Wu Man pressed.

Jin Chanzi nodded: "I saw a book called 'Records of Mythical Creatures from Another Land' in the Scripture Pavilion of Longhu Mountain. It mentioned a kind of fungus called the 'Ten Thousand Year Fungus,' which can live for ten thousand years without decaying. However, every few hundred years, this thing will cause a fungal outbreak that will devour all living things in the surrounding area."

Thinking of this, Jin Chanzi suddenly understood: "No wonder there are so many poisonous creatures here. The insects are probably food prepared for this thing."

“Young Taoist, you know quite a lot.” Li Qing nodded, a cold glint in his eyes: “This Gu Xuan has caused us a lot of trouble. If he’s willing to release Lao Qi, then we’ll let it go. If he’s not, then we’ll kill him.”

Everyone could clearly feel the murderous aura emanating from Li Qing.

This was a side of Lu Cheng he had never seen before, and he was deeply shocked.

"Alright, stop wasting time." Li Qing quickly composed himself. "Your Uncle Zhao and your grandfather are in the third and fourth coffins down in the well. After you go down, each of you can find a coffin and go in."

"Ok."

Xiao Ran nodded, and after thinking it over, patted the Yin Soldier Gourd at his waist.

Releasing Liu Mu and Qing Hai to stay with Lu Cheng and protect him, Jin Chanzi, and Li Qing put my mind at ease.

After confirming that there were no problems, Xiao Ran and Wu Man jumped into the well.

The well is very deep, but the space inside is much larger than the opening above it; it's more like a cellar than a well.

All sorts of coffins were neatly arranged on the cave walls.

We have all kinds of styles.

There were at least a dozen coffins, made of white marble, ebony, golden nanmu, and even a pure gold one.

Judging from the appearance, these coffins were probably reserved for important figures among the Tusi (chieftains) of Guizhou.

After choosing the coffins for Zhao Qingming and their grandfather in order, the two then selected two coffins from the other side.

"Click!!"

The coffin lid was opened, and there were no bones inside, only thick mycelium.

Xiao Ran and Wu Man exchanged a glance, and then lay down in the coffin.

At this moment, Wu Man suddenly thought of something and said with a wicked smile, "So, we can be considered... to be sleeping in the same grave, right?"

Xiao Ran grinned and rolled his eyes: "You're closer to my Uncle Zhao, so you should say this to him. See if he can beat your dog head off."

After saying that, Xiao Ran decisively closed the coffin lid. As the lid closed again, the world before them fell silent.

Xiao Ran relaxed her mind, and soon she felt the mycelium around her enveloping her.

This feeling... is quite itchy.

Just as Xiao Ran relaxed all her guard, the Five Dragons Bracelet on her wrist seemed to sense something; the dragon eyes on the bracelet flashed.

As if stimulated, the surrounding mycelium suddenly wrapped around Xiao Ran, and the delicate roots seemed to tighten rapidly.

"This……"

Before Xiao Ran could realize anything was wrong, thin, long roots pierced into her flesh like sharp needles.

"Damn it!"

Even if Xiao Ran was slow to react, she realized something was wrong, but she quickly stopped struggling.

He felt as if some kind of change was occurring within his body.

The slender meridians that had originally developed from wearing the Five Dragon Bracelet were now actively intertwining with these roots.

Could this bracelet have some special connection with these mycelia?

While wondering, Xiao Ran felt a strange sensation as her mind stirred, and her spirit instantly connected with the surrounding mycelium.

(End of this chapter)