Chapter 55: The Millennium Tomb Burns

  Just as all hope seemed lost, the black-haired zombie broke free from its icy chains and pounced towards me and Ah Mei.

  "Big brother, wait a minute, I still have something to ask you, let us die with a clear conscience!" Just as the black-haired zombie pounced out, he shouted loudly.

  The black-haired zombie stopped almost close to my face, panting heavily, the smell was quite nauseating, I held back my mouth that was about to vomit, and said with a distorted face: "I heard from the Double Fish Jade Pendant that ten years ago, a Taoist priest and a big ghost came, the big ghost was suppressed here, the Taoist priest died, what's the matter with this?"

  "How did you know?"

  "What's wrong with you?! Didn't I just say that I heard it from Shuang Yu Yu Pei?!" I said, speechless.

  "Oh, you mean that Taoist priest, the one in that pile of corpses." The black-haired zombie pointed to the pile of corpses behind him.

  "Are you kidding me? A corpse would have rotted in ten years. Wouldn't it have turned into a skeleton by now?"

  I thought again that the corpse's non-decay must be related to the Hei Mao Jiang Shi's corpse energy and cold ice chain.

  "You know now, don't you? You can die in peace." The black-haired zombie bared its sharp fangs and bit towards my neck, wanting to suck my blood.

  "Halt, halt, halt!" I shouted again at the black-haired zombie, thinking of stalling for time.

  The black-haired zombie was somewhat angry, but still very patient and stopped.

  "Listen up, kid, this is the last time. If you try to stop me again, I'll bite your neck off." The black-haired zombie said in a frenzied tone.

  "Who is that big ghost?" I wanted to take this opportunity to figure out if the big ghost and the previous ghost were the same ghost.

  The black-haired zombie heard me say this and seemed somewhat afraid, his expression becoming abnormal.

  "He is a devil. A devil from hell." His black-haired body was visible, shaking with fear.

  "He wasn't suppressed, he slaughtered the Taoist priests, and now he wants to kill me." The black-haired zombie's eyes were filled with panic.

  A person who can be called a demon by the black-haired zombies, is it Roxanne from hell? And this sentence seems to have been heard somewhere before, it's so familiar, the demon from hell, I couldn't think of it for a moment.

  "Do you see these corpses? He raised me, every now and then throwing a few live people down to let me suck their blood. I knew he had ulterior motives, wanting to control me as his puppet. But he didn't know that I could have broken free from the cold iron chains long ago. You mustn't tell him, or else I'll die a terrible death." The black-haired zombie was like a madman, alternating between fear and excitement.

  "Oh, right, you're going to be dead men, and the dead can't talk. Hahahahaha!" The black-haired zombie burst into loud laughter, corroding a hole in the stone wall above him.

  "Die, you bastard." I casually picked up a stone that had fallen from the nearby stone wall and smashed it onto the black-haired zombie's head. The black-haired zombie's ear was smashed off by me, oozing out black **.

  "Ah Mei, run quickly." I pulled Ah Mei and ran outside, having no choice but to crawl through the "dog hole" again.

  "Where is brother running to? Where is the exit of the cemetery?"

  "I don't know either, let's hide first and talk later."

  After hearing the roar of the black-haired zombie behind, the black-haired zombie jumped up and down, directly smashing a big hole in the stone wall. This violent method is indeed more direct than drilling dog holes. The black-haired zombie jumped out of the fourth layer tomb chamber and searched for us everywhere. Now we are on the tree and climbing to the fifth layer.

  Unexpectedly, the black-haired zombie directly jumped onto a tree near the fifth floor, blocking our way out.

  "You can die now." The black-haired zombie grabbed my neck with one hand, pinching it tightly, I couldn't move at all, my face turned bright red, and I was suffocating to the point of bleeding from my nose.

  "Let go of my brother." I pulled on Ah Mei's hand with all my might, scratching around wildly, and Ah Mei saw this scene and immediately turned cold again.

  A vine wrapped around the black-haired zombie's neck, with a sense of using its own method against it. The black-haired zombie was rolled up by Ah Mei's vine, and I also left the ground along with it. This vine is completely useless to the black-haired zombie, as he already has an indestructible body. The vine was corroded and broken by a single breath from the black-haired zombie, while I continued to struggle.

  "Brother, the zombie's corpse energy and corpse poison are just my nemesis. Hold on for a moment, I'll think of a way." After that, he saw his sister take out a dagger.

  "You, what are you going to do? You, you're not allowed..." Ah Mei wanted to use her own blood to overcome this filthy thing.

  Just as Ah Mei cut off her wrist, my eyes turned red, and a ray of light shot onto the dagger in Ah Mei's hand, causing it to fall.

  I turned my head and stared at the black-haired zombie, my eyes filled with endless killing intent.

  "You, let me go, or you, die." I said it word for word, very heavily.

  The black-haired zombie's expression changed in an instant, looking at me with a surprised look, clearly feeling that my hand was slightly sinking and accompanied by a slight tremble.

  However, the black-haired zombie's hands did not let go.

  "Are you going to let me go?" Red pupils were turning orange, with an eerie feeling.

  The black-haired zombie finally couldn't withstand the intimidation of my gaze and slowly put me down.

  "What kind of people are you?" The black-haired zombie's voice trembled slightly.

  "My name is Yang Guo." The domineering four words echoed through the tomb.

  The black-haired zombie retreated two steps, stunned by this aura, and jumped up in a huff, wanting to escape.

  "We're following him, this tomb was built by him, he must know where the exit is!" I quickly said to Ah Mei.

  Only saw black-haired zombies jumping towards the fourth layer of the tomb chamber.

  "I reckon the third layer's monk deceived us, this exit must be on the fourth layer, not the fifth. Think about it, if you were the tomb owner and had entered the ice coffin before dying, where would you put the tomb's exit for safety?" I said while chasing after him.

  "If it were me, I would definitely design it closer to the ice coffin so that we can escape in case of an emergency." I continued.

  "Brother, quickly take out the Double Fish Jade Pendant. Be prepared for any situation."

  I nodded and took off the double fish jade pendant from my waist.

  Entering the fourth layer of the tomb, this chamber is magnificent and luxurious. The stone walls are covered with carvings, which depict the daily life of the tomb owner, who had stolen countless imperial mausoleums and Song dynasty tombs, and the process of building these tombs, consuming enormous financial and human resources. The carvings also show numerous laborers moving stones to build the tomb.

  In the middle section of the tomb, there are twelve reliefs of the twelve zodiac animals, forming a square with three on each side. The twelve heavenly stems surround a large pedestal made of white jade from the Han Dynasty. The white jade is spotless and intact, making it extremely valuable. Upon closer inspection, the twelve zodiac animals appear lifelike, carved in great detail, without any flaws, even down to a single eye or nose. They must be the work of a master craftsman.

  As I entered this tomb, I was first shocked by the luxury and extravagance, almost forgetting that we were hunting for the black-haired zombie.

  "Brother, the black-haired zombie is gone."

  "It's just this big here, where can he hide?"

  "Brother, I think Hei Mao Jiang Shi might have taken a detour and already left." Ah Mei said to me.

  "It shouldn't be possible! Without a key, who can go out?"

  "What a big lie he's telling! How come he can come and go freely? This shows that there's more than one way out of the tomb."

  I thought about it, and indeed it makes sense. The big ghost didn't come and go freely with the Double Fish Jade Pendant alone. There must be an unknown shortcut. We looked around the entire tomb chamber, but we didn't find any suspicious places.

  "Could this black-haired zombie still be hiding?" I furrowed my brow.

  "Brother, what's this?" Ah Mei climbed onto the central platform, lay on it, and pointed to a gap on the side of the stone platform.

  "Put the Pisces jade pendant inside and try?" Ah Mei said.

  I bent down to take a closer look at the gap, which was curved in shape. I compared it with the double fish jade pendant and placed it on top of the gap. As soon as it was placed inside, there was movement. The twelve zodiac animal carvings shook violently, as if they had come to life, swaying back and forth. Then, the tomb chamber began to shake along with them.

  "The tomb is sinking, can't you feel it?" I looked at Ah Mei in surprise.

  "It's not just the tomb chamber that is sinking, it's the entire tomb pit that is sinking."

  A thousand-year-old tomb was destroyed in an instant, and countless treasures were buried with the earth.

  "Brother, hurry up and leave, this place is going to collapse." My sister pulled my hand, I quickly took off the pair of fish jade pendants.

  The rolling boulder set all the tombs ablaze, the twelve zodiac carvings, white jade stones, and Song Dynasty murals. This may represent the passing of a culture that modern people can never learn, even if they study hard, they cannot grasp the subtlety. I have never seen such exquisite carvings again.

  We stayed on the big tree and watched as the tomb chambers on both sides collapsed.

  "Sister, I suddenly miss home." I don't know why but I'm in a terrible mood.

  "Brother, where is our home?" asked Ah Mei with wide open eyes.

  "Our home! Next to our home is a very long river, 'she' is called the Yangtze River, 'she' gave birth to me and left me." My only impression is a photo of my mother with the Yangtze River as the background. I've long been unable to distinguish whether the Yangtze River is "mother" or if mother is "mother". I quietly shed tears.

  "Brother, as long as I have you, I have a home." Little sister smiled happily.

  "As long as you are here, I have a home." I whispered this sentence repeatedly, and my mood seemed to brighten up.

  Cherish what you have now, and protect them with your life. This is what a responsible man should do. Only by experiencing the impermanence of things can one learn to grow. The outside world has changed completely in just over a thousand years, and this underground world that existed for over a thousand years cannot be preserved forever.

  She let out a soft sigh, and the knot in her heart that had accumulated over the years also disappeared with the disappearance of the tomb.

  "Come on, let's go!" I said casually to Ah Mei.

  A high stone ladder of hundreds of feet appeared on the collapsed tomb, looking up at it gave a feeling of hatred for the sky, the end of the heavenly ladder was bright light, we were like rushing to heaven, from hell to heaven.

  "Brother, I'm afraid of heights, carry me."

  I picked up Ah Mei and put her on my shoulders, walking step by step towards the light.