Chapter 6

Zuo Qingcang felt a strong sense of malice fixated on him, a feeling that only occurred in his previous life when someone pointed a gun at his forehead.

So he stopped, not moving an inch, for he feared that any movement would provoke an attack from the other party. He could only use his ears, the peripheral vision of his eyes, and the touch of his skin to constantly assess the surroundings, trying to find the source of this malice.

But there was nothing. Apart from his own heartbeat and breathing, Zuo Qingcang heard no other sounds. He saw no other living beings.

After about five minutes of this stalemate, just as the muscles of Zuo Qingcang, who was half-crouching, began to ache, he thought about whether he should simply retreat regardless of the consequences. At that moment, the fluorescence in front of him suddenly brightened, illuminating all the tree hollows around him.

In the bright emerald green light, the nearby tree hollows turned a ghastly green, and the whispering female voice in his ears sounded again. In the next moment, Zuo Qingcang's pupils dilated instantly, and his breathing became heavy.

Because about thirty meters in front of him, the tree hollows that were previously shrouded in darkness became crystal clear under the fluorescence.

Three crystal coffins stood straight there. The tree hollows were low, so their upper parts were wrapped in various vines and branches. Zuo Qingcang could only see the lower parts of the crystal coffins, which contained a pair of snow-white, withered feet, and the parts above the feet were wrapped in white long dresses.

'This should be a female corpse...'

Zuo Qingcang could even see the black long hair of the corpse dragging to the ground, falling at the heels of the feet. In the three crystal coffins, the coffins on the left and in the middle had the same scene.

But what truly made Zuo Qingcang's breathing heavier was the coffin on the right. The crystal coffin was opened, and it was empty.

At that moment, the rustling, self-muttering female voice was right next to him, as if speaking directly into Zuo Qingcang's ear. He could feel something crouching behind him, breathing into his ear.

The hairs on Zuo Qingcang's back stood up. Without hesitation, he stabbed backward with the dagger in his hand, producing a series of metallic clanging sounds.

After the stab, Zuo Qingcang didn't even look at the result. He moved like a large python, rapidly darting forward. All the muscles in his body were in action, moving through the tree hollow like the muscles and scales of a snake.

Behind him, the female voice screeched, filled with infinite anger, resentment, and despair.

Zuo Qingcang barely glanced back and saw a figure wrapped in a white long robe and black long hair, crawling on all fours like some kind of alien, rushing toward him.

The dagger had stabbed into the figure as if it were a steel plate, and even now, Zuo Qingcang could still feel the numbness in his arms.

Another monster that couldn't be countered with mere flesh and blood. After making this judgment, Zuo Qingcang ran forward without looking back, deliberately avoiding the positions of the other two crystal coffins.

But it seemed that Zuo Qingcang's previous action had enraged the monster behind him. The female corpse pursued Zuo Qingcang relentlessly and seemed very adapted to the environment, running extremely fast on all fours in the tree hollow. Even after several bursts of strength, Zuo Qingcang couldn't shake her off.

Instead, his stamina was severely drained. The female corpse was getting closer, and Zuo Qingcang could even feel the screeching in his ears.

At this critical moment, a pair of withered hands suddenly reached out from the top of the tree hollow, accompanied by a hoarse voice.

"Come over here..."

At this life-or-death moment, Zuo Qingcang didn't have time to think and immediately grabbed the outstretched hand. He felt a surge of strength, combined with the force of his legs, pulling him up out of the tree hollow.

It turned out that there was an exit to the tree hollow in this dark forest. If no one had reached out, Zuo Qingcang would never have discovered this exit. He was directly dragged out of the tree hollow into a corridor. The man who dragged him out was a gaunt, emaciated man. After dragging Zuo Qingcang out, the man immediately extended the torch in his other hand toward the tree hollow.

The female corpse, whose entire head was wrapped in black long hair, rushed out of the hollow and collided with the torch. Under the light of the torch, she let out a terrified scream.

The man shouted, "The torch won't stop her for long. Quickly, move the stones to block the entrance."

Zuo Qingcang reacted quickly. Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up and rushed to the stones behind the man. With both hands, he pushed the stone slab toward the entrance. Seeing this, the man directly threw the torch into the tree hollow and, together with Zuo Qingcang, took advantage of the female corpse's retreat to push the stone slab and block the entrance.

"Ah!!!!"

The screeching and the pounding from the other side of the stone slab continued. Zuo Qingcang and the man beside him could only hold the stone slab tightly.

After a long time, the pounding stopped, and the terrifying screeching disappeared. The surroundings returned to a peaceful silence.

The man panted heavily, "It's over. They can't stay away from the coffins for too long. These ghosts should have returned."

At this moment, Zuo Qingcang had the leisure to look around. They were in a corridor, with a torch standing in the corridor. The rest of the corridor on both sides was shrouded in darkness, leading to unknown places.

The corridor seemed to be severely damaged, with broken walls and protruding tree roots and vines everywhere.

Under the light of the torch, Zuo Qingcang looked at the man beside him. The man was a withered, emaciated old man, with a face full of deep wrinkles.

Looking at the old man, Zuo Qingcang asked, "Who are you? Where are we? What was that thing just now?"

"Hehehehe." Hearing Zuo Qingcang's questions, the old man didn't answer directly but laughed softly. When Zuo Qingcang's face turned increasingly dark, the old man finally spoke in a heavily accented official language.

"I've almost forgotten my name. As for where we are, I don't know either. I'm just like you, stranded on this deserted island after a shipwreck."

The old man sighed and continued, "As for that ghost, it's called a Yin Nü, a young woman who died with resentment and formed after absorbing enough corpse qi. She can move like the wind, is impervious to blades and bullets, and is full of corpse poison."

Zuo Qingcang looked at him coldly and said, "You're also from a shipwreck? How long have you been here? Have you ever tried to leave by sea?"

"Leave by sea?" The old man laughed softly. "You don't understand. No matter how powerful you are, you can't leave this island. No ships will pass by, and not to mention the island, even the tomb we're in now, we can't leave.

We are destined to grow old and die here alone."

"Tomb? You mean we're in a tomb?" Zuo Qingcang frowned. "Who would build such a tomb on a deserted island?"

"Ordinary people, of course, wouldn't." The old man's eyes glinted with a sinister light, and he said mysteriously, "But the owner of this tomb is not an ordinary person. He was buried here while still alive."

"Alive?"

The old man looked at Zuo Qingcang and patted his buttocks, standing up. "Let's go. Talking won't help. I'll show you."

Seeing the old man pick up the torch and slowly disappear into the corridor, Zuo Qingcang thought for a moment and followed. After all, he knew nothing about this place, and in fact, he had no other choice but to follow the old man.

The corridor was very long, looking like a hellish passage that never ended. As the old man walked ahead, he said, "I've studied this place for a long time. The architecture here is all in the style of the Western Wei period. This tomb is probably over two thousand years old."

"Western Wei?" Zuo Qingcang recalled Liu Zhicheng's memories. The Western Wei mentioned by the old man was the first named dynasty in the Central Plains, just emerging from the tribal system and mastering agricultural and animal husbandry techniques. The people of the Central Plains first gathered to establish the first dynasty on the Central Plains. After that, the Central Plains went through two thousand years of division and reunification before reaching the current Da Qi dynasty.

To put it simply, the Western Wei was equivalent to the Xia Dynasty of Earth China, a distant and mysterious dynasty.

But this made Zuo Qingcang even more puzzled.

"Two thousand years ago? Did the people of the Western Wei have the technology to come to such a remote deserted island and build such a tomb?"

"It's Daoist magic," the old man sighed. "In ancient times, humans, gods, and demons coexisted. Any person born had various incredible powers and could cultivate Daoist magic and martial arts."

"But as time passed, fewer and fewer people could cultivate Daoist magic and martial arts, and many powerful abilities were lost. However, this Western Wei tomb still retains traces of many advanced Daoist magic that no longer exist today."

"This place was not built by human hands."

"It was constructed by the most advanced Daoist practitioners of the Western Wei."

"They traveled a long distance to this barren land and built this tomb with divine craftsmanship to bury something."

Listening to the old man, Zuo Qingcang was somewhat skeptical. Whether in this world or the past Earth, ancient people always exaggerated the powers of their ancestors and the mysterious.

He thought that the people of the Western Wei had just entered the feudal era, and while Daoist magic might have had some mysterious power, they couldn't possibly have had the technology to travel such a long distance to a remote deserted island. It was more likely created by a mysterious civilization that was not well-documented in history.

After all, the so-called New World was only truly discovered and colonized after the Da Qi dynasty, when the government vigorously developed maritime and navigation technology. Before that, overseas immortal islands and countries across the sea were just legends.

The old man looked at the torch in his hand and said, "Let's hurry. This torch is almost out, and this is my last one."

The corridor was even longer than Zuo Qingcang had imagined. He silently counted in his mind, and the two of them walked for nearly three hours before reaching a bronze door.

The door was tightly closed, but on the left side of the corridor, there was a narrow gap wide enough for one person to pass through. The old man's torch was almost out, and he walked toward the gap, saying, "I couldn't get past this door before, but after an earthquake, a crack appeared here, allowing me to go inside and take a look."

"Let's go. The secrets of this tomb are all inside."