Ancient tomb excavation traces

Things were far more complicated than we had imagined. We thought we would finally see Princess Chu in person, but we had been tricked and three demons had been released. At this moment, our frustration was indescribable. Before us, the long-haired female zombies were screaming, their mouths a deep, dark purplish-black, as if they were smeared with blue ink.

As they screamed, the eternal lamps on the bronze wall suddenly shot upwards, their flames surging, seemingly because the three corpses carried an immense aura of resentment, which allowed them to control the flames of the lamps.

I gripped my Mongolian knife, wishing I could become a Mongolian warrior, so that even if I couldn't kill them, I could at least throw them to their deaths. However, ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

Perhaps because they had been sealed away for too long, the three corpses sprang down from beside the coffin, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws. From the Warring States period to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, they had existed for hundreds of years; old ginger is spicier than ginger. They chose the weakest persimmons to pluck, and those two weak persimmons were poor me and Bao Cai.

Having encountered danger many times in the ancient tomb, Bao Cai had developed a knack for dodging. When he saw the monster leap down, he cleverly hid behind the young Taoist priest. I reacted slowly and, seeing the situation was dire, could only scramble to avoid the attack. Although the female zombie's hand couldn't reach me, her nails were extremely long, swift, and sharp, and she suddenly lunged at my face.

The claws came too fast. I instinctively closed my eyes, not even thinking about what I would look like after being disfigured, when I heard a "clang"—the claws had scratched something blunt. Knowing I was saved, I opened my eyes abruptly. In front of me, the ancestor was holding a knife hilt with one hand and stabilizing the blade with the other, blocking the attack of the long claws. Then, he raised his foot and kicked the female zombie away. Because the hair of the three zombies was stuck together, the ancestor's kick was as fast as a whirlwind. So, after one female zombie was kicked away, the other two were also carried away by the inertia.

But this female zombie was incredibly bloodthirsty. Before she could fall, the tall, thin zombie swung its claws across the ancestor's chest. If she had been hit, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Thinking of this, I don't know where I got the courage, but I grabbed her wrist, turned my back, and twisted her arm. With a crack, the female zombie's hand was instantly broken off. As she fell, the broken hand separated from her torso. Holding the severed hand, I lost my balance and fell forward.

In the blink of an eye, the ancestor grabbed me and held my body. I was jolted as if I had been electrocuted and dropped the arm that was still holding me. I shuddered and thought to myself: This thing is so cold. It must have been dead for a long time. Touching it is indescribably uncomfortable. Fortunately, I only touched it for a short while. Otherwise, the corpse energy would have seeped into my bones. Then even the Heavenly King himself wouldn't be able to save me.

After my initial shock subsided, I saw the old ancestor smile slightly, revealing dimples on his cheeks. He patted my shoulder and said earnestly, "Little rascal, you have to face attacks head-on like this, don't just focus on dodging. The things in the ancient tomb are not ordinary people; their evil energy is profound. They know you're afraid, and they'll take advantage of your weakness! The more fierce you are, the less they'll dare to touch you. This is the way to survive, and it's the same outside."

Hearing the ancestral teachings, I nodded, and for some reason, a warm feeling welled up in my heart. However, this feeling did not last long before I saw a horrifying scene before me.

The three corpses, finding it difficult to move with their hair tangled together, used the female zombie in the middle as a center point, while the other two kept pulling outwards. I could hear their flesh making a "crunching" sound, and my hair stood on end. As the female zombies' hair was about to separate, they became impatient, like sharks biting into meat, violently shaking their heads.

I watched in horror as they tore their own flesh apart, leaving behind a gruesome, bloody mess and a piece of hair. I was horrified; the sight was so horrifying that I was speechless for a moment. I thought to myself: They are dead after all, and they can't feel pain. Otherwise, who could endure such a brutal tearing?

Their incredibly long fingernails reminded me of a folk tale that says when people are buried alive as funerary sacrifices, they suffer terribly as the air slowly dissipates. Instinctively, they grip the walls of the coffin or pit with their fingernails, thus accumulating all their resentment within them. Even after death, their fingernails continue to grow, in fact, to express the lingering resentment they couldn't swallow in life.

Although this claim is a bit exaggerated, looking at the few witches in front of me, I slowly began to believe it.

The three female zombies, freed from their restraints, moved freely, posing a greater challenge to us. In an instant, a murderous aura filled the entire main coffin chamber. Generally, those who are buried alive in the main coffin are either to conceal the true location of their burial or to guard the tomb.

The ancestors said that the three of them were depicted on the coffin, indicating that they held high positions in life and might even possess some kind of deadly skill.

I thought to myself, just looking at them is terrifying. If they had some kind of killer skill, what would happen?

At this moment, the young Taoist priest beside us said in a deep voice, "In that period, besides Sima Yan, who was famous, there were actually four great sorcerers. They regarded Sima Yan as their immortal master and followed him to learn magic and sorcery. These four were born into official families, and there were three women and one man." As the young Taoist priest spoke, he looked at the ancestor.

The old ancestor understood the meaning in an instant. When I heard this, I was terrified. According to the little Taoist priest's words, could those three women be the three female zombies in front of us? And could that man be a shaman wearing a four-eyed mask?

The situation is becoming increasingly perplexing. If these four people were indeed Sima Yan's subordinates as the young Taoist priest claimed, then why did they die? And why were they buried alive in Mi Ling's coffin? If they were to follow the immortal master to the afterlife, they should have gone to Sima Yan's tomb.

This thought tangled his mind, leaving him unable to grasp the truth for the time being. However, looking at the three women, a wave of sympathy washed over him. Life is indeed precious. If their deaths were voluntary, then what drove them was some kind of power of belief bestowed upon them by Sima Yan, much like the propagation of ideology by a cult. If they were forcibly arranged by Sima Yan to be buried alive with him, then that would be an immense tragedy. How ironic it is that the person they most believed in killed them! And for someone to have lived a glorious life, only to have their soul unable to find peace after death, becoming a walking corpse, sinking into depravity generation after generation—regardless of the cause of death, if they knew, they would probably be filled with immense regret.

Just as I was thinking this, Chu Ba, the Old Ancestor, and Chen Yi had already struck first. Chu Ba's skill was no less than the Old Ancestor's; his blade moved like lightning, swiftly slicing off the hand of the thinnest female zombie.

When the claw landed, I secretly cheered, but to my surprise, the female zombie's hair surged like ocean waves and quickly wrapped around Chu Ba's legs. I was extremely astonished, never expecting that the evil energy would permeate even her hair.

Upon seeing this, the young Taoist priest exclaimed, "This is bad! Only in places of extreme yin can such evil creatures be created. They are no longer ordinary corpses. If we want to..." Before the young Taoist priest could finish speaking, Chu Ba's waist was also wrapped with something...

With his hands and feet bound, even with Chu Ba's exceptional skills, he was unable to move and could only be at the mercy of others. The one-handed female corpse stared at Chu Ba expressionlessly, her neck constantly stretching outwards as she moved towards Chu Ba's cheek, looking extremely strange. At this moment, the female corpse split open her mouth, and a pure white vapor entered her mouth.

Before I could figure out what the woman with the severed hand was doing, the young Taoist priest rushed forward to help her. It seemed the situation was serious, otherwise he wouldn't have been in such a hurry.

Seeing that he had no weapon, I followed closely behind, my Mongolian knife cutting through iron like mud, severing the hair that bound Chu Ba. However, there were too many strands of hair; as soon as I cut off a section, another clump would wrap around it again, some even silently binding me and the young Taoist priest. In this situation, it was impossible to remain calm.

I watched as Chu Ba's complexion worsened, his body seemingly drained of strength, and his head began to droop to the side. I called out to him anxiously several times, but he did not respond. At the same time, the female zombie with the severed hand, whose skin had been originally bluish-gray, slowly regained its color. I was astonished. Looking at Chu Ba again, I saw that the flesh on his face had shrunk considerably, like that of someone addicted to opium, and he looked utterly dejected.

Upon seeing this, the young Taoist priest hurriedly said, "This corpse absorbs people's yang energy in exchange for its own light-years!"

I knew something was wrong. I realized that if this female zombie kept sucking, she would become an old woman in her seventies by the eighth day of the lunar month. At that moment, my hands and feet were bound, and the only thing I could move was my head. Thinking of this, I quickly tilted my head back and slammed my forehead hard against her forehead.

The female zombie, her "winter dream" interrupted halfway, flew into a rage. She grinned, revealing a set of yellowed teeth, and aimed at me, ready to bite. Being in danger, my fear lessened, replaced by a burning desire to fight. Seeing her fierce approach, I leaped up with all my might and pounced on her, yelling, "Get the hell out of here!"

My lunge caused the young Taoist priest and Chu Ba to fall to the ground as well, which illustrates the intricate connections between them.

However, it was this fall that made Chu Ba start to react in a daze. At this moment, the Miao girl was quick-witted. She held up a torch and quickly lit the fire on her hair.

Suddenly, the hair sizzled and steamed, curling and contracting, and carrying a burnt smell. I was relieved and was about to get up when I felt a piercing pain in my waist. When I reached out and touched it, I found it was still warm. Looking down, I saw the female zombie's hand, which Chu Ba had chopped off, on the ground. It was wriggling like a worm and making a soft, crackling sound.

"Damn it!" I gritted my teeth and got up, never expecting to be attacked by the insidious poison that severed my hand. Before I could even catch my breath, the fallen female zombie stared at me with venomous intent, her body radiating black energy. That black energy shot straight towards me along with her hair. I stood there stunned, my mind aware of the danger, but my body was a beat too slow. Just then, a sharp, short gust of wind whistled past my ear. I saw a short knife piercing the female zombie's brow, but she remained standing, not falling. I didn't know if she was dead or alive, but her sinister hair hung down to the ground again.

However, based on the resurrected corpses I encountered in the ancient tomb and in modern times, a knife to the head would definitely send someone to the deepest level of hell. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the weak Chu Ba on the ground. He smiled at me and said in a weak voice, "Little rascal, we're even..."

I nodded. Judging from Chu Ba's appearance, he had used up all his remaining strength to save me. I thought these female zombies were difficult to deal with and might hurt the weakened Chu Ba, so I was about to lead him aside when I saw Lan Quexi and Bao Cai staring dumbfounded behind me. I had a bad feeling, a chill ran down my spine, and I couldn't believe that a female zombie with a knife stabbed in the head could still be alive...