Chapter Fourteen: Unexpected Turn

A stunning woman in her thirties, her hair elegantly coiffed into a bun, her face pale and eyes tightly closed, lay dressed in an embroidered robe adorned with phoenix patterns, and wore golden-threaded cloud-patterned boots. Except for a slight hint of swelling, her skin bore no trace of decay.

She wore no gold or silver jewelry, her body encased in a thick, transparent gelatinous layer that emitted a strange, suffocatingly sweet fragrance.

If one did not know she was dead, they would surely believe she was peacefully sleeping.

A corpse?

No!

This was a masterpiece of exquisite artistry.

Fatty Dong swallowed hard.

“The foreigner is a woman?!”

Xu Qingguo was so shocked she forgot to take a photo. Her face flushed, breath quickened, eyes flickering.

“Who told you foreigners are men?”

Everyone was eager not only to see the full stone coffin but also to find any burial treasures inside. Together, they pushed the coffin lid, which had only been half moved, to the side.

Creaking sounds echoed as the lid slid open.

Suddenly!

I felt the foreigner’s corpse stir, immediately shining my flashlight fiercely on her face.

Snap!

The corpse suddenly sprang up from the coffin!

Dong, Wu Ping, and I, all pushing the lid, were terrified, our bodies shivering uncontrollably as we stumbled backward.

Xu Qingguo, leaning over the coffin, was caught off guard and had no time to dodge.

The corpse lunged straight at her.

By sheer coincidence—or perhaps due to the angle—the two beautiful women ended up in a bizarre and extravagant mouth-to-mouth contact!

“Fatty Dong!!!”

I shouted at him.

At the same time, Wu Ping and I each grabbed one of Xu Qingguo’s arms and pulled fiercely.

To our shock, there seemed to be a powerful adhesive force between the living and the dead. Despite our strength, pulling them apart was incredibly difficult.

Just as their bodies barely separated, I saw sticky threads like maltose stretching between them!

Dong’s face suddenly changed. He quickly took out a talisman and leapt up, slapping it hard against the foreigner’s forehead.

Pop!

The sticky threads snapped.

The corpse crashed back into the coffin.

Wu Ping and I fell into the bushes, still holding Xu Qingguo.

But the ordeal was far from over.

As the corpse thudded inside the coffin, something shattered. A buzzing noise filled our ears.

Looking up, a swarm of strange black bees poured out of the stone coffin, crazed by the flashlight’s beam, and attacked us wildly.

In an instant,

Countless bees blotted out the sky and sun, enveloping all four of us!

I could barely see, every inch of my skin felt like thousands of silver needles stabbing, burning, itching, and stinging.

At that moment, perhaps triggered by us, the corpse, or the bees—something activated a mechanism.

Stones began to fall from the ceiling with booming crashes. The roar of collapsing earth surrounded us; the mountain was about to cave in!

“Run!!!”

My eyes swollen shut, completely blind, no different from a blind man, I gave one last command before frantically retreating.

The path we came was already blocked.

Rocks rained down wildly; some struck me, knocking me to the ground in unbearable pain.

I recalled that the underground chamber’s stone walls had several natural caves.

Avalanches and earthquakes are much the same; the smaller and more confined the space, the safer it is.

Driven by a fierce will to survive, I ignored the relentless falling stones and pitch-black blindness, relying on memory to sprint toward the cave wall.

By divine grace,

Amid such desperate conditions, I miraculously found a natural cave and immediately scrambled inside, blind.

No sooner had I entered than heavy stones crashed outside.

The cave’s mouth was completely sealed!

Still unsafe, I pressed deeper into the cave. After ten meters, my foot stepped on something soft.

“Ouch, damn!”

I shone my flashlight.

It was Fatty Dong!

Sweating profusely, gasping heavily, he leaned against the cave wall to rest.

“Little Meng, you nearly crushed my balls!”

I was overjoyed.

“Fatso, where’s everyone else?!”

Dong’s face was blank.

“How would I know? If the Taoist escaped in here, it’s a miracle! They’re either dead or trapped in other caves…”

I froze, feeling utterly despondent.

If they were fine, it was just a failed mission.

Failure was bearable; we could learn and try again.

But if something happened to them—my first command leading to two lives lost—I couldn’t accept it.

Dong wiped sweat from his brow, looking utterly dejected.

“Stop thinking! When you enter a tomb, death or injury is inevitable. One of those fates awaits us all…”

“By the way, this place isn’t safe. I think there’s some light ahead. Follow me!”

He stood, wiggling his big behind, leading the way swiftly.

I followed closely, winding through the cave but saw no light ahead.

After ten minutes, I stopped.

Dong didn’t look back, stooping forward, continuing deeper.

“Why aren’t you moving? What’s wrong?” I asked coldly. “Weren’t you stung by those bees?”

He froze but didn’t turn, answering, “The Taoist is lucky!”

I asked again, “Where’s your damn erhu?”

Dong replied, “Lost it, damn!”

Then I asked, “Why is it that after I saw you, not only are you not swollen, but your eyesight suddenly recovered?”

Dong grinned mischievously, slowly turning his head with a fierce expression.

“Because I want you to recognize me!”

Blood rushed from my feet to my head.

He had no pupils, only whites in his eyes. His sharp face resembled a giant mountain rat, with a pointed mouth and a few long whiskers protruding.

This was no longer Fatty Dong but the Floral-Necked Immortal King I had killed before!

“Fuck!”

The relentless string of disasters sent my adrenaline surging. I cursed and swung my flashlight wildly at him.

He dodged swiftly, twisting agilely to pounce fiercely.

The cave was too narrow; I had no room to retreat and was knocked to the ground.

In desperation, I struck hard at his chest with my right hand.

Smack!

My fingers hit something like steel.

Numb and painful!

My five hundred-coin talisman was ineffective!

In an instant, his claws clamped around my neck, foul breath spewing out, eyes blood-red and venomous, fangs bared.

“I want you dead!!!”

I grabbed his neck tightly, using all my strength to choke him back.

Man and immortal king struggled fiercely, rolling on the ground, unleashing every ounce of strength to kill each other...