Dig Three Feet Under

  The mouse king fell to the ground beside my feet, scrambled up and hid behind me. I remembered the pulse of the knife and slashed it towards the opponent. No need to guess, the opponent must be a demon responsible for guarding the underground passage.

  He stuck his body to one side of the cave wall, lightly slid away from the pulse knife. He didn't speak either, his small eyes shining brightly, carefully sizing up me and Mouse Old Man.

  For a moment, we stared at each other, and I suddenly spat out a mouthful of Samadhi True Fire, with my toes pointing to the ground, and pounced on him fiercely. My left arm transformed into a soft whip, wrapping around his waist.

  The other party let out a sound of surprise, seemingly quite astonished. His hand emerged from his sleeve, with only one finger remaining on his right hand. To be precise, it wasn't a finger, but rather a thick brush pen. The tip was large and covered in dense soft hairs, which were soaked in colorful ink. With a light flick, the brush tip quickly drew out a green spring on the ground.

  A strange phenomenon suddenly appears!

  On the ground, a gurgling sound emerged, and a clear spring miraculously burst forth, shooting out and extinguishing my Triple-Truth Fire. The pen tip flicked out another winding blue ink, falling on the cave wall, and a glowing blue small snake broke through the wall and flew towards my whip. As we clashed, a strange and numbing power suddenly transmitted over, stunning my whip numb, as if struck by lightning. I didn't have time to be surprised, operating the Xuanji Secret Path Technique, layer upon layer of air circles burst out, the blue snake was brought along by the air circle and drew an arc, barely brushing past my shoulder, striking the cave wall, piercing through a very deep small hole.

  The spring eye suddenly disappeared, the ground was flat and smooth, without even a crack, and the ground was very dry, not leaving any water marks. I stared blankly, what kind of magic is this? Drawing a picture actually became a living thing! Staring at the opponent's finger that looked like a brush, I couldn't help but feel itchy in my heart, if drawing something makes it real, then I'll draw a mountain of gold. Wouldn't that make me set for life?

  "Hey, who are you?" the other party asked in a strange and eerie tone, matching the bright red Hannya mask on his face, making him look extremely sinister. My mind was racing with thoughts, I didn't expect Ye Liu Bing to have such a formidable subordinate, now that I've been discovered by the opponent, my only option is to kill the demon and silence him.

  I leapt forward, unleashing dozens of palm strikes in one breath, the golden light of the knife aura piercing through the air with a shrill whistling sound, illuminating the dark tunnel.

  He stuck to the wall, agile and sliding, his index finger dancing, drawing several strokes on the stone wall, following the tip of the pen, a golden lion burst out of the darkness, opening its big mouth, swallowing the pulse-cutting knife energy in one gulp. The golden lion turned around and rushed towards me. In a hurry, I quickly unfolded my charming dance, floating up like willow catkins, rebounding to the back of the golden lion, kicking out with both legs. With a loud crash, the golden lion was kicked into the wall. Disappearing without a trace, mud blocks on the wall splashed everywhere. On top, four sharp claw prints were prominently printed.

  "What a wonderful pose!" The other side cheered, stretched out his finger and quickly drew on the ground. With just a few strokes, he had drawn my previous charming dance. The appearance, expression, and dance moves were all depicted vividly. The painting suddenly burst forth from the ground, kicking its legs in mid-air, with movements that were identical to mine. An exact replica of myself appeared before my eyes, still dancing, making even the bravest person's heart feel uneasy. Fortunately, after another "me" performed that charming dance, his shadow gradually faded and disappeared into thin air.

  This monster is too terrifying, it must be killed! The inner elixir in my eyebrows jumped, and the three dragon butterfly claws came out at the same time. My left fist used the Chaotic Armor Technique, my right palm used the Longevity and Rebirth Technique, and I spat out the Samadhi True Fire from my mouth, covering his entire body with a fierce attack.

  Just as the opponent's attack was about to hit him, he suddenly picked up his brush. On the wall of the cave, he painted a black door, then opened it. He flashed in and closed the door, his figure eerily disappearing before my eyes, and the painted door also disappeared on the wall of the cave.

  Wow! My heart skipped a beat, didn't it? The person is gone? I patted the wall of the cave with force, turned around abruptly, and my eyes scanned the surroundings like lightning. In the dark tunnel, there were only me and Mouse staring at each other, and the third person was nowhere to be seen.

  "What's going on?"

  "I don't know either! Young master, I think something is off."

  Suddenly, a door appeared half a foot to my left, and the opponent flew out of the door at high speed, drawing several flashes of lightning with his index finger. The fierce electric light flashed by swiftly, and the field of vision was filled with dazzling white light. I couldn't dodge in time, so I could only transform my arms into steel shields to protect my chest. The lightning struck my shield heavily, and my arms immediately went numb, as if they had really been electrocuted, and I couldn't move for a while. Seeing that things were not going well, I hastily recited the Thousand Knots Curse, and the bright crystal threads flashed by in the darkness.

  "Thousand curses!" The other side exclaimed in surprise, and just as the curse threads were about to wrap around him, he flashed into the door that had appeared in the painting once again.

  I'm starting to feel like retreating, this monster's magic is too bizarre. A brush-like index finger can bring paintings to life, if we keep fighting like this, I'll probably be no match for him. As the saying goes, a good man doesn't take advantage of someone in front of him, I glanced at Mouse Lord, as long as he says one more word about escaping, I'd be happy to go along with it and make a dignified retreat.

  I know my master better than anyone, and indeed, the mouse official's face turned pale with fear. Just as he was about to speak, "Bang! Bang! Bang!", four strange doors protruded from the walls, each one opening in succession. Out came a group of figures wearing bright red masks, all looking identical, each asking me in an eerie tone: "Who are you? What's your relationship with Turpan?"

  For a moment, the sound echoed back and forth in the tunnel, and the masks looked at me with dizzying complexity. I immediately realized that these monsters had only one true body, and the rest were just painted by the mask monster!

  Which one is the real body? I operate the Mirror Pupil Secret Path, and in my clear mirror-like eyes, all these monsters are heavily painted with thick colors, and the wide broken robe flows with dripping colorful liquid. Only the monster in front of me, inside that one door, has a clean body.

  "It's you!" I shouted loudly and pounced on the monster's true form.

  "What's up with me?" All the monsters shrunk their necks and shrugged, letting out strange laughs. "Bang", all the doors closed heavily, I rushed forward but almost crashed into the wall. "Bang", the door opened again, a group of masked monsters walked out, saying in unison: "Your eyesight is not bad, but if you want to catch me, you're still a bit too tender."

  Like a horse lantern, it went in and out of the doors one by one, making me dizzy and unable to tell which one was the real body of the monster.

  "Master, hurry and escape! This demon is eager to capture him, flying backwards in retreat. Since our reunion in this life, for the first time. Our master and servant are so united."

  "Want to escape now? Too late." The monsters chorused, one by one transforming into faint phantoms and disappearing from view. Only the true body remained standing opposite us, its index finger swiftly drawing a circle on the ground, creating a deep trench.

  The ground suddenly cracked, the soil rolled, and the place where I and Mouse Gongzi were located sank down. We also involuntarily fell down and fell into the ditch. The masked monster moved his index finger again, erasing along the original ditch. Along the pen tip, the ditch disappeared inch by inch, and the cracked ground quickly stitched together. I secretly called out "not good", the other party obviously wanted to seal us in the ditch. With a blow of air, I grabbed Mouse Gongzi and rushed up to the surface with all my might.

  "A loud rumble." The cliff suddenly disappeared from under my feet, startling me and making me break out in a cold sweat.

  "The magic isn't bad, you have two hands." The masked demon nodded its head and withdrew its palms into its sleeves, ceasing to attack us.

  "You shouldn't be one of Ye Liu's subordinates. Who are you, exactly? As far as I know, the Thousand Knots Curse from Turpan has never been passed down to anyone. How did you learn it?"

  "Who are you again?" I asked bluntly, despite the several exchanges we had. I was at a disadvantage, but on the surface, I still had to put on a fierce demeanor, so that my opponent wouldn't dare take another step forward.

  "Who am I?" The monster chuckled and drew a random stroke on his face, the bright red Tonzura mask disappeared, replaced by a white-faced scholar's mask. He drew a few more strokes, and in an instant, he transformed into a worried old man's mask, then into a beautiful woman's mask with tears in her eyes. In another moment, he turned into a black-bearded big man's mask with a full beard. Changing endlessly, dazzling to the eye.

  "Who am I?" The monster said with a playful smile: "I have transformed into millions of people, how can you recognize me?"

  I quietly activated the Xuanji Secret Path Technique, using a Qi circle to protect my entire body. Calmly, I said: "No matter who you are, you're not allowed to be rude to me, because I'm your king's guest."

  "You think a guest would sneak in here at midnight? You look like a flower spirit, but you're not. You're an intruder who snuck into the Burial Flower Abyss with ill intentions, aren't you? How dare you cause trouble for Ye Liu Bing. Your audacity is impressive."

  I carefully pondered his words and asked in return, "You're not one of Ye Liu Bing's subordinates either, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be directly addressing Ye Liu Bing by name. Are you also here to stir up trouble at the Burial Mound of Flowers?

  "What a sly little thing, are you a man or a woman? You look like a delicate beauty, but your voice is so rough." The other person didn't deny my words, and with a hint of a smile, their attitude seemed to become friendlier.

  I just remembered, from the moment he appeared, I had forgotten to speak in a soft voice. It turned out that after messing around for half a day, this guy wasn't one of Ye Liu Bing's underlings, what a waste of worry. But the defense at Mu Xue Yan is strict, how did an outsider manage to sneak in? What's his relationship with Ye Liu Bing? Appearing in the tunnel at midnight, what's his purpose?

  "Does your honor have a feud with Ye Liu Bing?"

  "No grudges, no resentment."

  "So you came to the Burial Mound of Flowers for what?"

  A sly glint flashed in the other's eyes, but he didn't respond. I cursed him as an old fox and smiled on the surface: "You're just like us, sneaking into the tunnel at midnight, obviously not doing anything good. But I'm afraid you don't know that all your moves are under surveillance by Night Flowing Ice. He's already figured out your bottom line!"

  The other party was not intimidated by my harsh words at all, and coldly said: "With my extraordinary writing skills, I'm not afraid of being deceived by that beast Ye Liu Bing. Moreover, from Hai Shi to Zi Shi, these few hours are Ye Liu Bing's sleep period, and Meng Tan will also temporarily lose its monitoring function."

  "What's 'entry into sleep'? Dream Pool?" I asked in confusion, wondering if the Dream Pool referred to that dark and deep pool. But what did "entry into sleep" mean?

  The other person was slightly stunned: "It turns out you know nothing about Ye Liu Bing."

  My face turned red: "Since you are not one of the Night Flowing Ice gang, then we are all fellow travelers. The enemy of an enemy is a friend, after all. Do you know any secrets, weaknesses or bad habits of Night Flowing Ice? It's okay to share them with us, and together we can join forces to deal with him." This demon has strange and mysterious powers, and his identity is shrouded in mystery. If I could win him over, it would increase our chances of killing Night Flowing Ice.

  "You are you, I am me. There's no such thing as sharing the same ideals. You wanting to deal with Ye Liu Ying is your own business and has nothing to do with me."

  I rolled my eyes and said with ill intent, "What I'm afraid of is that once I slip up and get caught, I won't be able to withstand the severe torture of Night Flowing Ice's interrogation, and will end up giving you away."

  "You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, but they won't work on an old man like me. Do you know who I am? Do you know why I came to the Burial Mound of Flowers?" The other party was as slippery as a fish, leaving me at a loss for what to do."

  "The third watch is almost here, you'd better leave quickly to avoid being discovered by the Night Ice Flow and implicating me." The other person's eyes changed suddenly, their figure flashing as they darted towards the depths of the underground tunnel.

  "Hurry up and tell me: where is the prison? I'm here to rescue someone!"

  "Prison cell?" The other person was taken aback, then suddenly looked enlightened: "There's nothing here. To be honest with you, I dug and built this tunnel myself as a temporary shelter."

  I was shocked and almost doubted my ears. After much difficulty, I finally found the place, only to discover that it wasn't the dungeon of Ye Liu Bing, what a waste of effort for this whole night.

  "Remember, you have never seen me, and I have never seen you." The other party vanished into the distance in an instant, and my mind was filled with doubts, like a tangled ball of twine.