Chapter 50: The Marquis of Guowu

I clearly saw that shadow.

Unkempt, tangled hair, dressed in tattered rags, with facial features barely discernible. Only mung-bean-sized eyes remained, overflowing with bitterness, grievance, and dark malice, holding no trace of humanity. The rest of its face was entirely covered by grayish-white filamentous substances, making its entire head look almost like a giant silkworm cocoon!

Apart from its head, the skin on the hands it used to attack the bodyguard was also cocoon-like. Under the flashlight beam, a small amount of soft silkworm silk could be seen swaying.

Everyone was stunned.

"Bang!"

The cocoon-faced figure appeared extremely furious. After tearing off the bodyguard's arm, it actually hoisted him up with a single hand and hurled him a good ten meters away, smashing him heavily against a giant boulder.

Then.

A strange gurgling sound rose from its throat as it lunged at us!

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Mantis Luo and the other bodyguard opened fire with their scatterguns.

Such shotguns were originally designed specifically for hunting wild beasts, relying on a spread of fragmented gunpowder particles upon impact to inflict damage. However, this one had been specially modified for rapid fire, and the entire load of gunpowder was discharged instantly.

Every single shot struck the center of the target's chest.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of burning gunpowder.

If the target were a human, he would have collapsed long ago.

Unfortunately, it was not human.

The creature was merely driven back a few meters. Sparks ignited on its clothes and the cocoon on its chest, sending up thick plumes of smoke, but it seemed to have suffered no serious injury.

Crucially, it was thoroughly enraged. The strange gurgling cry rang out once more, and it charged forward with the speed of a lightning bolt.

Before anyone could clearly register its movements, it grabbed the other bodyguard's arm.

The bodyguard let out a roar, thrusting his dagger upward in a fierce, vicious counter-thrust.

"Screeech!"

The sharp blade plunged into what felt like bundled cotton and hemp, producing a bizarre sound.

Even though the dagger had accurately and completely pierced through the creature's entire arm.

Not a single drop of blood appeared!

The creature's arm merely paused for a fraction of a second!

Mantis Luo truly deserved his reputation as a top-tier martial artist who had once won the runner-up prize at the Southern Fist Traditional Martial Arts Tournament. Seizing the fleeting moment, he raised his hands to grip the everlasting lamp alcove in the passageway wall, his legs snapping upward like a praying mantis ambushing its prey. Launching his body into mid-air, he slammed his knee viciously into the creature's head, letting out a thunderous roar.

"Bind it with the rope!!!"

The force of that knee strike was immense.

The cocoon-faced figure let out a muffled grunt, its knees buckling as it dropped onto one leg.

The bodyguard was equally ferocious. With a flick of a mechanism concealed in his wrist, a rope shot out from his sleeve like a sharp arrow.

Mantis Luo's eyes were sharp and his hands swift. Catching the flying rope, he executed a backward somersault, leaping down from the creature's shoulders.

By the time he landed, the rope had already securely ensnared the cocoon-faced figure.

The bodyguard and Mantis Luo each grabbed one end of the rope, roaring in unison as they pulled in opposite directions like a tug-of-war.

This was a bull-tendon rope soaked in tung oil, possessing a tensile strength comparable to steel wire.

Given the sheer physical strength of Mantis Luo and the bodyguard, if the creature trapped in the loop had been a wild beast, I had no doubt they could have sliced its body cleanly in two, just like a thread cutting through an egg!

No wonder Jiang Sheng'er was so confident.

The people by his side—whether it was Old Ou, who was responsible for navigating the tombs, or Mantis Luo and the others, who were in charge of security—were all absolute top-tier talents!

The bull-tendon rope bound the ghost-like entity as tightly as a zongzi dumpling.

The creature tilted its head back, emitting a horrifying gurgling sound. Its body, resembling a massive lump of cotton and hemp, was squeezed inward into deep indentations under the strain, looking intensely painful.

Just as I thought Mantis Luo and his companion were about to win this round.

Suddenly!

The creature's compressed body abruptly rebounded outward, like a tire being rapidly pumped full of air!

"Snap!"

With a sharp crack.

The bull-tendon rope snapped instantly into several pieces!

The creature hadn't been in pain just then; it had been gathering its strength for a massive counterattack!

Caught completely off guard, Mantis Luo and the bodyguard tumbled backward, clutching the broken ends of the rope.

Though it takes a while to describe, the entire sequence—from the monster's appearance to the snapping of the bull-tendon rope—took barely ten seconds.

Although the rest of us had hastily retreated from the epicenter of the fierce battle, we didn't dare run at full speed, keeping a distance of only twenty-odd meters. Xiao Yao, in particular, was at the very tail end of our group.

This monster was inhuman, utterly defying common sense. Instead of attacking Mantis Luo and the bodyguard, it leaped up with the velocity of a rocket and dashed directly behind Xiao Yao, its long, sharp, pitch-black fingernails reaching out straight to gouge into her back!

Panic seized me, and abandoning all caution, I shoved Xiao Yao aside and jerked Old Ou, who was standing nearby, directly in front of me to act as a human shield.

Taken completely unawares, Old Ou was nearly frightened out of his wits. Letting out a squeal like a slaughtered pig, he whipped out an object from his possession and shoved it desperately in front of him.

"Crack!"

Fragments shattered everywhere!

A compass forged from pure copper was crushed to pieces by the monster's bare hands!

I had exerted myself with all my might, but no miracle occurred; my limbs instantly cramped up, and I collapsed limply onto the ground.

The monster was simply too freakishly overpowered. After crushing the pure copper compass with its bare hands, it ignored Old Ou entirely, raising its hands with hysterical fury to slam down viciously upon me as I lay on the ground.

Just when I thought my time had undoubtedly come, the piercing, wretched bray of a donkey having a difficult birth suddenly echoed in my ears.

"Screeech, squeak, wail..."

The Donkey-Headed Sovereign's Exorcism Tune!

The moment those notes rang out, the creature seemed to encounter the most agonizing noise in the universe. It immediately halted its attack on me, clamped both hands over its head, let out a loud roar, and bolted frantically into the depths of the ancient tomb, vanishing from sight in a fraction of a second.

Several objects fell from its body as it fled.

Everyone wore expressions of utter horror.

Turning our heads to look.

Fatty Dong sat upon a boulder, drenched in sweat, his eyes wide with terror as he frantically worked the strings of a battered erhu bought from a local farmers' market.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined.

The terrifying monstrosity that even sabers, firearms, and thick ropes could not shake in the slightest had been frightened into fleeing by the exorcism tune I had previously dismissed as utterly useless!

Later on, Fatty Dong frequently cited this incident as a practical combat case study to boast about his profound magical powers.

For a long time, I couldn't fathom the reason behind it either, until I met an acoustics professor.

The expert told me that every sound possesses a unique frequency. For instance, thunder terrifies birds and beasts, prolonged noise can drive humans to madness, and soothing music can lull people to sleep. This exorcism tune was presumably a specialized sonic wave mastered by ancient Daoist ancestors; when emitted, it induced a deep-seated terror in certain mysterious life forms, thereby forcing them to flee.

I considered this explanation highly plausible.

Xiao Yao quickly helped me to my feet, her pretty face completely drained of color.

"Brother, are you alright?!"

Gasping heavily for breath as I sat on the ground with my head ringing persistently, I found myself utterly unable to speak.

Jiang Sheng'er, who had vanished the moment the cocoon-faced figure appeared, slowly emerged from a fork in the tunnel. He glanced at the group, furrowed his brows deeply, and asked in a cold voice:

"A-Zhi, was that person An Yishou?"

Hearing this, Mantis Luo paused, pondering for a few seconds.

"Second Master, judging by the characteristics of the Eight Trigrams robe and the cloud-soaring boots, it certainly seems to be him. I have no idea how he ended up in this state."

An Yishou was a master of the Eight Trigrams palm style from the Jiuyou Hall in the capital.

Two years ago, he had descended into this Western Zhou ancient tomb alongside Bai Laokui and others, but after the chaotic battle within the tomb, he had completely vanished without a trace.

In other words, An Yishou must have encountered some bizarre situation inside the tomb, remaining trapped here for a full two years until he transcended the boundaries of humanity.

Old Ou was burning with fury. Pointing a trembling finger at me, he said to Jiang Sheng'er, "Sec... Sec... Second Master, let me run this shameless bastard through! He almost got me killed just now!"

Jiang Sheng'er ignored him and instead instructed Mantis Luo.

"A-Zhi, go check on Little Hu."

Mantis Luo walked over to the bodyguard with the severed arm—the one who had been attacked first by An Yishou—and reached out to check his pulse and breath.

"He's gone."

Jiang Sheng'er drew a deep breath.

"The secret mausoleum of the Marquis of Guo Wu is truly astonishing at every turn. Let's move on!"

The Marquis of Guo Wu?