Chapter Fifteen Normal Circumstances

  "Huh, don't tell me those two are actually Oni and Kogane?" I exclaimed in disbelief at the voice of the oni, unable to believe that my two partners-in-crime were not human after all.

  Oni no Ya rushed to bend down and carefully examine the two unconscious pangolins, looking away with disdain: "Obviously you're thinking too much, when did we say they were human? But they are more reliable than humans. Daba and Xiaochu are two adult pangolins from Bazhong, Sichuan Province, Zhuzi's heart and soul."

  "Who would keep pangolins as pets." I muttered to myself, but to be honest, these two pangolins, one big and one small, had shiny scales that emitted a jade-like luster.

  "Remember, they're not pets, but treasures." The old corpse couldn't bear to look at me, an outsider. Along with Gui Ye Jia, he examined the pangolin's condition while saying: "Zhu Zi is a Ridgeback Pangolin, also known as the 'Ridgeback with Shell'. This is its shell, the ultimate treasure for opening mountains and revealing treasures. Due to these two pangolins' long-term excavation of graves filled with poisonous and corrosive gases, they have developed antibodies within their bodies, making them thrive in toxic environments like fish in water."

  At this time, Oni no Yaiba furrowed his brow: "There is still a faint breath, no external injuries have been found, and internal injuries cannot be seen for the time being. It feels like he has fainted from exhaustion."

  I looked up at the high bronze protrusion, with dense holes on its surface. The two pangolins must have fallen out of one of the holes. I couldn't help but think that these tomb raiders had actually thought of using animals to crawl in and dig out treasures. Hmm, they're quite resourceful.

  "Huh? No way! What I'm doing now seems to be the job of an armadillo! It turns out that I am a substitute for livestock." I was shocked.

  The old corpse's nose twitched slightly, and he said anxiously: "Take them out, the toxic gas concentration is about to reach the critical point, we must hurry out."

  "Alright, let's go." Oniwakamaru carefully wrapped the two unconscious pangolins in his clothing, treating them with great care.

  "Hey, you guys haven't told me yet, what is it that I'm supposed to find?"

  "Inuyasha didn't answer directly, but simply said: 'After you go in, take out whatever you see, the more you take the better.'"

  I think you didn't say anything, just like asking the boss how to calculate wages, he tells you that if you do well, you won't be treated unfairly, but who knows? "Maybe they themselves don't even know what they want to take?" I suddenly had this speculation.

  When I was daydreaming, the two of them were already approaching the iron gate. I hastily asked again: "Hey, give me a flashlight, what if it's too dark inside that bronze ball?"

  "Mind your own business! I still need the flashlight, don't you have matches? Make do with that." Oniyasha said impatiently in a loud voice, taking a big step out of the large iron gate. Shī Lǎo followed closely behind him.

  The iron gate was slowly pushed open, and suddenly it opened up a gap again. The ghostly figure of Yecha poked his head out and whispered to me in a low voice: "I'm reminding you kindly, if something unexpected happens later, we can't help you, you must adapt to the situation. Be careful with everything, yesterday I and Corpse Old Man saw that stealing treasure was hopeless, so we left first, only leaving Zhu Zi for a few more minutes. What happened to him afterwards, we don't know, but you also saw his ghostly appearance, just be careful yourself."

  I nodded and thought to myself that this guy surnamed Sheng wasn't completely devoid of conscience. But then Oni no Tsukuriban immediately added, "You've got to take out the goods before you die!"

  "Get out of here!" I shouted angrily.

  The big iron gate was shut tightly.

  In an instant, all sounds ceased. In the entire space, I was the only living person left.

  The air was thick with the smell of saliva, and the eerie green glow that permeated the surrounding space made it feel like a nightmare. The black fog lingered, refusing to dissipate, making the atmosphere even more bizarre.

  The head is a large coffin upside down, and the feet are muddy Bodhisattva.

  "Amitabha Buddha, Bodhisattva please forgive my sin. I didn't intentionally offend the Buddha's body, it was really beyond my control......" One of my feet is still on the Bodhisattva's shoulder, what a great disrespect!

  "It's often said that Bodhisattvas do good deeds, and ferry those who can be ferried. Even if someone rides on them, it's still a meritorious act." I comforted myself, but my feet didn't hesitate, using force to push off, and just as my body was about to soar upwards, I unknowingly glanced at the Bodhisattva's bronze mask out of instinct. In an instant, my face changed color, and 99% of my strength suddenly dissipated, almost causing me to fall off.

  Bodhisattva, you've changed your face!

  "My goodness, it's a miracle!" I was so scared that my legs were trembling and my feet went soft. If not for the lingering awe of the police from before, I would have already knelt down to kowtow.

  I hastily retreated a few steps, my back suddenly feeling cool. I quickly reacted and checked the other mud Buddhas, but the result made my heart sink to the bottom of the valley. All eighteen mud Buddhas had changed their facial expressions. From their original peaceful and serene Buddhist aura, they suddenly transformed into frowning brows, glaring eyes, and furious Vajra appearances!

  "Someone with the surname Sheng is here!" I shouted loudly towards the outside of the door.

  "Keep your voice down, what's going on?" Kiyotsugu's voice came from outside the door.

  "The Bodhisattva is unhappy." I replied, being despised by eighteen Bodhisattvas wasn't a pleasant experience.

  "It's nothing, just a normal phenomenon. Hurry up and get back to work!" Oni-Itachi ordered.

  I spat, normally you dare, if you have the ability, come and try?

  Oniichan urged anxiously outside: "Don't be like a woman, hurry up and spread your legs. It's just the Bodhisattva changing face, we've encountered it before, it should be fine for a while, let's end this quickly."

  The corpse elder didn't stop urging me, and I was sweating profusely. After hesitating for about two minutes, the Buddha's golden face began to distort with a faintly ferocious expression.

  "It must be this bronze face that has a ghost!" I boldly guessed, but no matter how hard I racked my brains, I couldn't think of what to do. The two scoundrels outside the large iron gate urged me on, making me anxious and flustered, until they directly gave me an ultimatum. After a difficult internal struggle, I gritted my teeth and thought, "This life is over, I won't even hope to ascend to the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss." Anyway, I don't believe in Buddhism; at worst, after escaping, I'll immediately convert to Taoism and find Yuanshi Tianzun as a backer.

  "Ah!" A loud cry to boost my own morale, I forcefully jumped up with my right leg and landed on the Buddha's shoulder. After shaking for a few moments, at this time I was about two people high, where did I dare to look down? I estimated the distance from the nearest large iron coffin, without any hesitation, I jumped again, made a slam dunk motion, and grabbed the edge of the big black coffin with both hands.

  The surface of the iron coffin is a bit slippery, I have to use all my strength to support my body weight with my fingertips.

  "Damn it, I don't want to try again. Ah... give me a boost!" I sank my energy into my dantian, using the strength of my upper limbs to lift my legs up and clamp them onto the edge of the coffin, finally having a reliable foothold. With one step at a time, I relied on shifting movements and mobilized all the muscles in my body to laboriously climb my entire hand onto the top of the coffin (which was actually the bottom since it was upside down).

  With another loud shout, my entire body finally landed on the coffin. I panted heavily, gasping for air. The large iron coffin was too smooth, and it was harder to climb up than I thought. The whole process was extremely exhausting.

  I shook my arm, but I didn't dare relax at all.

  In front of me was a thick iron chain that went straight through the hole in the bronze stud in the center.

  "One breath of energy!" I didn't plan on stopping to rest, this kind of place only allows for a quick fight and swift decision, the longer time drags on the more likely things will go wrong.

  I grabbed the iron chain and pulled it hard several times, and the coffin below my feet shook a few times. Obviously, the fixation was not very secure, but it was already enough to support my weight to climb in. Now I'm actually a little grateful for the special agent training I received earlier, plus I was originally physically strong, so there's no problem with physical strength.

  I spat on my palm, rubbed it quickly, and swiftly climbed up the iron chain. Those who have climbed chains or ropes know that strength should be applied to the waist and back muscles, relying on the lower limbs to push upwards, while hands are only auxiliary, if used improperly, it's easy to hurt your hands.

  I was halfway up, and I couldn't help but think that these things were stolen by Sun Dianying from the Qianlong Yuling Mausoleum? No matter how you look at it, they don't seem like burial objects, they're eerie and strange, it's more likely that they're some kind of mechanism from an evil tomb. It's no wonder Sun Dianying couldn't get rid of them, this thing really isn't something that a decent person would dare to want.

  My heart was uneasy all the way, and suddenly, a sharp scraping sound came from the big iron coffin I had just left. It sounded like someone was scratching the inside of the coffin with their fingernails, making my heart feel suffocated.

  "I told you, there must be zongzi in the coffin." Although I'm still very scared at this moment, after being frightened repeatedly, I've almost reached a numb state like a dead pig not fearing boiling water. Just been despised by the muddy Bodhisattva, now waking up the dead again, I don't know where my courage came from, I said in a low voice to the coffin: "Brother, sorry for disturbing your sleep, continue sleeping, I'll leave soon."

  The dumplings in the coffin may not understand foreign languages and didn't respond to me, continuing to scrape against the iron plate.

  "You want to use noise to annoy me to death, okay, I admit it." I cursed silently and loudly reported the sudden change inside to the Oni no Yaiba outside the large iron gate.

  They still say: "Nothing's wrong, it's normal. Which time did we have zongzi during the fight? Don't worry about it, hurry up and work, don't slack off!"

  I'm too lazy to waste any more words on these two scoundrels, I'll just climb the last section of the chain. So far, all the strange things that have happened have been a lot of thunder and little rain, and haven't actually caused me any substantial harm. Looking at the bronze ball right in front of me, I'm getting nervous thinking that this trip shouldn't be going so smoothly.