The Martial Saint of the Defiled World

Chen Awu had known Jin Yi for many years, but he had never seen him look like this before.

This short man grew up near graves and dared to venture into mass burial grounds alone when he was only eight years old.

That's incredibly bold.

But right now, he can't even speak properly.

Before Jin Yi could finish speaking, another noise came from outside.

The noise was quite loud, causing the floor of the tomb chamber to tremble.

The stone statues at the base of the wall seemed to tremble as well.

The eyes on the beast's head shimmered in the firelight, as if they had come to life.

Chen Awu felt a chill run down his spine.

The jade artifact in Cui Ping's hand clattered to the ground. He took a step back and bumped into Wang Sanjiu.

The bundle Wang Jiu was holding fell to the ground, and gold and jade beads rolled all over the floor.

He didn't even bother to pick them up, exclaiming, "Fifth Brother, has this corpse come back to life?"

Chen Awu didn't say anything; he was thinking about what to do now.

If something were to jump out of the stone sarcophagus in the outer tomb chamber, where would they run to?

There's only one passageway to the tomb; to get out, you have to crawl through a hole in that brick wall.

Then you have to climb up that sloping hole again, more than two zhang high, before you can get out of that crevice.

But then again, is it possible for them to run such a long distance?

time does not wait.

Chen Awu made a decisive decision.

"Grab the stuff and run!"

He bent down, grabbed the things that hadn't yet been packed into the bundle from the coffin lid, and pulled them into his arms.

Gold rings, gold bracelets, and jade beads tumbled into the hem of his clothes.

He then grabbed the bronze knife and tucked it into his waistband.

Wang Jiuyi and Wang Sanjiu also came to their senses and hurriedly rummaged through their bundles for things.

Cui Ping squatted down to pick up the jade artifacts that had fallen to the ground. His hands were trembling so badly that he kept dropping one as he picked up another.

"Don't pick it up!"

Chen Awu roared.

"Hurry up!"

He grabbed Cui Ping and pushed him toward the collapsed hole.

Cui Ping staggered a couple of steps and almost fell, but fortunately Wang Sanjiu caught him.

Several people stumbled and ran towards the collapsed hole.

Jin Yi ran in front, crouching low as he crawled into the collapsed hole.

He had narrow shoulders and crawled through quickly and easily.

Chen Awu pushed Cui Ping to the cave entrance.

"Drill!"

Cui Ping trembled as he crawled into the hole, when suddenly his shoulder got stuck.

Chen Awu, anxious from behind, hurriedly pushed hard.

The two brothers, Wang Jiuyi and Wang Sanjiu, followed Cui Ping inside.

Chen Awu put himself last.

He had just stuck his head into the collapsed hole when he heard a loud bang in his ear.

Boom!

That was the sound of the stone sarcophagus lid hitting the ground, shaking the entire tomb chamber.

Rock debris falling from the top of the collapsed cave hit Chen Awu on the back.

Ignoring the pain, he squeezed in with all his might, his shoulders rubbing against the cave walls, ignoring the tears his clothes were torn.

When he crawled out of the collapsed hole and looked up, all the blood in his body had turned cold.

In the outer tomb chamber, the lid of the stone sarcophagus had been opened and smashed to the ground, breaking into several pieces.

There was nothing inside the coffin.

But I can hear sounds in my ears.

Huff, huff.

It was the sound of panting.

His breathing was heavy and labored, as if something had been holding its breath for thousands of years and was finally able to breathe again.

Jin Yi stood at the very front, holding up a tinderbox and shining it in that direction.

The firelight shone over and revealed a hand resting on the edge of the coffin.

That's not a human hand.

The back of his hand was covered in bluish-gray skin, wrinkled and hairy.

Its fingers are longer than a human's fingers, and its nails are black, long, and curved, like eagle claws.

The hand gripped the edge of the coffin and pulled upwards, and a head popped out from inside.

The torch shone on that head, and Chen Awu's legs went weak, almost causing him to kneel down.

That's a beast's head.

It resembles a wolf, or some other ferocious beast, with its mouth protruding forward, baring a row of yellow teeth.

Its two eyes had vertical pupils that gleamed green in the firelight.

The pointed ears stand upright on both sides of the head.

But that thing had a human body.

It stood up from the coffin, wearing a tattered robe, and the body exposed beneath the robe was also grayish-blue skin, covered with hair.

It stood inside the coffin, its beast head turning around, its two green eyes scanning the tomb chamber before finally settling on the five people.

Jin Yi's tinderbox wobbled and almost fell to the ground.

"run!"

Chen Awu roared, grabbed Jin Yi, and pushed him towards the other end of the tomb passage.

The five people scrambled and stumbled into the tomb passage, stepping on bottles and jars that shattered and rolled, creating a cacophony of cracking and popping sounds.

A roar came from behind.

The sound was extremely sharp and piercing, causing the walls on both sides of the tomb passage to tremble.

Chen Awu ran in the lead, his ears ringing, and he dared not slow down at all, running desperately deeper into the tomb passage.

After running a dozen steps, he suddenly heard a scream from behind.

"what!"

It was Jin Yi's voice.

Chen Awu suddenly stopped and looked back. He saw that the tinderbox had gone out at some point, and the tomb passage was so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

But in the darkness, you could hear sounds: tearing sounds, the sound of bones breaking, and Jin Yi's screams, each one more agonizing and shorter than the last.

Then there was silence.

Chen Awu's hair stood on end.

"Kim Eul!"

He yelled.

There was no response from the darkness.

Only the sound of heavy breathing grew closer and closer to him.

Cui Ping tugged at his clothes from behind.

"Run! Run!"

Chen Awu gritted his teeth, turned around and continued running.

He stumbled forward, feeling his way along the walls of the tomb passage, his knees hitting the walls and his forehead bumping against the bricks, but he didn't care about the pain.

They hadn't run far when another scream came from behind.

This time it's Wang Jiuyi.

The screams were not far behind him; he could even feel the wind whipped up by something rushing past him.

Then came the sound of tearing, the sound of bones breaking.

Wang Jiuyi's curses turned into screams, screams into groans, and groans into silence.

Chen Awu felt a chill in his heart.

Wang Jiuyi was from the same village as him, and they grew up together.

He was just chuckling to himself while holding those jade pieces, saying he'd struck it rich, and now...

He has no time to grieve.

In the darkness, a hand grabbed his arm; it was Cui Ping.

Then another roar came from behind, getting even closer.

Wang Sanjiu's screams almost rang out right behind the back of their heads.

"Fifth Brother, save me!"

That was Wang Sanjiu's last voice.

Chen Awu's mind went blank, and his legs mechanically ran forward.

He knew he couldn't escape; that thing was too fast. Jin Yi, Wang Jiuyi, and Wang Sanjiu, three living people, were gone in the blink of an eye.

Next up was him and Cui Ping.

But he can't stop.

The gold and jade artifacts in his arms were digging into his chest.

As he ran, he stuffed those things into Cui Ping's arms.

"Take it!"

Cui Ping didn't know what he was going to do, but subconsciously took it.

"Run outside, don't look back!"

Chen Awu pushed Cui Ping forward and turned around himself.

He had the bronze knife tucked into his waistband, and now he drew it out and gripped it in his hand.

The knife is about a foot long; I don't know if it'll even work.

You can't see it in the dark, but you might hear noises.

The heavy breathing grew closer, along with the scraping sound of claws scratching against the brick wall.

Chen Awu gripped the knife, his legs trembling, but he did not take another step back.

Since we can't escape, we might as well fight.

We'll try to block them as much as we can, and let Cui Ping run one more step forward.