Volume 1 Chapter 27: The Other Shore Flower

  The incident happened too suddenly, and none of the three had prepared any lighting tools, so they could only grope their way forward in the dark. Blue Heart thought that the light from her phone might be able to illuminate the way, but when she took it out, it was still dripping with water and was completely useless. The people from the Zong Tian Group had dug a large hole, and as they walked inside, the passageway narrowed until only one person could fit through at a time. Jin Tian was walking in front, his pupils gradually adjusting to the dark environment, allowing him to vaguely see the surroundings. The three of them were terrified, their hearts racing wildly - if someone from the Ghost Village came out, they would be caught in a pincer movement and would definitely be doomed.

  Lan Xilin's palms were covered in cold sweat, her wet clothes clinging to her body uncomfortably, like wearing a layer of human skin that was absorbing her body heat. A gust of cold wind blew by, and immediately her hair stood on end, her breathing became rapid, and her heart rate accelerated nonstop. She felt as if her soul had left her body at this moment, and she moved forward step by step like a wooden puppet. Jin Tianxing suddenly stopped in his tracks, and Lan Xilin bumped into him. Her tightly wound nerves almost snapped, and she bit down hard on her teeth to prevent herself from crying out.

  "Why did you stop?" Huang Zhen asked softly as he walked at the back.

  Jin Tianxing said in a low voice that was almost inaudible, "I see a bright light ahead." Lan Xinlin's heart suddenly lifted.

  Huang Zhen immediately turned around and asked, "Do you want to go back?" "Not for now, you two wait here, I'll go take a look." Lan Xinlin pulled Jin Tianxing's hand, "Be careful." "I will be fine." Jin Tianxing gently let go of Lan Xinlin's hand.

  In less than five minutes, Jin Tian Xing disappeared from Lan Xin Lin's line of sight. Every minute felt like an eternity to her, every second dragging on like a century. It wasn't until Jin Tian Xing reappeared in her field of vision, flashlight still in hand, that her suspended heart finally calmed down.

  "There's no one in front, it's a temporary base set up by the Zongtian Group." Jintian Xing's tone was filled with excitement.

  With the lighting tool, the three of them walked to the light source in less than a minute. It was supposed to be a temporary base, but it was actually very simple. On the ground, there was a desktop emergency lamp, and around it were five or six boxes containing food, flashlights, water, ropes, first aid kits, signal flares, and other exploration equipment.

  Jin Tianxing picked up a package of compressed biscuits and threw it to Lan Xinlin, "Everyone must be hungry, eat, I'm treating you, don't be polite." The three of them hadn't eaten dinner yet, they were already starving, so they started devouring the food as soon as they got it. With some energy in their stomachs, Lan Xinlin felt a bit better. Jin Tianxing found a backpack and took a little of everything, packing it into the bag, then continued to explore forward.

  Not long after leaving the temporary base, the three of them entered the tunnel of the ghost tomb. The tunnel was over three meters wide and could accommodate three people walking side by side. The walls on both sides were filled with colorful murals depicting the lives of gods and immortals. Despite being weathered by time, the colors remained vibrant, and the figures seemed to come alive. The gods flying on clouds seemed to be about to fly out of the paintings.

  Huang Zhen stopped several times, exclaiming, "This is a divine brushstroke! A masterpiece! It's definitely a national treasure!" Jin Tianxing grabbed his collar and pulled him forward a few steps before he stopped again. "What kind of pigment was used? The colors haven't faded at all. If we can figure out the composition of the pigment, it would be another major discovery."

  Jin Tianxing released his grip on Huang Zhen's collar. "Can you put your research aside for now? As long as we don't die tonight, you'll have plenty of time to study. You can spend the rest of your life here if you want." Huang Zhen looked embarrassed and said, "It's a habit I've developed over the years. Whenever I see an antique, I want to study it. Let's continue moving forward."

  After walking for five or six minutes, a massive stone gate appeared before them. On either side of the gate stood two stone statues of fierce-looking Raksha gods. The gate was already open, revealing the mysterious ghost tomb beyond. At this moment, their adventure had truly begun. On the other side of the gate lay an eerie and unknown world, full of hidden dangers. Unbeknownst to them, Jin Tianxing's and Lan'er's hands had tightly clasped together.

  Huang Zhen was extremely excited, first looking at the stone statue and then going to study the stone gate, muttering to himself, "It's really strange, there is no self-generated stone, could this not be a tomb?" The Ghost Mound had too many places that couldn't be explained by common sense. Jin Tian Xing dragged Huang Zhen into the Ghost Mound, with Lan Xin Lin closely following behind.

  The ground of the ghost mound was covered with fine sand, and stepping on it would not make any sound, only leaving rows of footprints. Looking at the footprints left by the Zongtian Group, Jintian Xing estimated that there were about seven or eight people in the group, including the ruthless Long San and the cunning Lin Tianxue. Old Mo was still in their hands, thinking of this made Jintian Xing's head ache a bit.

  "It's strange, why is it covered with sand?" Huang Zhen scooped up a handful of sand, which was extremely ordinary. Jin Tianxing grabbed his collar and dragged him forward.

  Lan Xilin asked, "I smell a floral scent, do you guys smell it too?" Huang Zhen was still studying the sand in his hand and said without lifting his head, "This is an ancient tomb, how can there be a floral scent? You might have caught a cold." Jin Tianxing sniffed hard, and indeed there was a faint floral scent in the air. "I smell it too." Huang Zhen put down the sand in his hand and sniffed, "There really is a floral scent, this is impossible." The three of them walked forward a few steps and found the source of the scent, but they were stunned.

  The scene before them could only be described as eerie. In front of the three was an ocean of flowers, all of which were red, a bloody red hue that seemed to drip with fresh blood. The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive, and despite the fact that the flowers were in full bloom, it felt suffocatingly lifeless, devoid of even a hint of vitality. It was as if these flowers had bloomed solely for death itself. From afar, it looked like a carpet woven from fresh blood.

  "This is... this is..." Huang Zhen trailed off for half a day, without continuing.

  Lan Xilin crouched down beside the cluster of flowers, carefully observing the blossoms in front of her. These flowers grew out of the sand and looked very much like roses, with small leaves and no thorns on their stems. The blooms were large, and each stem had a blood-red thread tightly wrapped around it, waving about like ghostly claws. Lan Xilin reached out to pick one. No one noticed that the Heavenly Eye Token she always carried with her was emitting a faint, eerie glow.

  Huang Zhen took a deep breath, and a terrifying name appeared in his mind. "Don't touch those flowers, they are Higanbana." "Higanbana?" Lan Xinlin stopped, her fingers less than a centimeter away from the Higanbana.

  The legendary flower of the dead, blooming in the underworld, is the only scenery on the road to the underworld. It absorbs the aura of death as nutrients and blooms once every thousand years. The fragrance of the flower has the magical power to evoke the memories of the deceased's past life. If a living person touches it, they will be invaded by its dense aura of death and instantly turn into a withered skeleton.

  Lan Xinlin quickly withdrew her hand at lightning speed, just now she was less than a centimeter away from death. This thought made her cold sweat burst out again, and she stuttered, "You...you're not...scaring me...are you?"

  Huang Zhen said absent-mindedly, "What I said is true. The flower of the dead also has another implication: as long as you see it, it means that you have entered the realm of death. Even if you are alive now, your life will come to an end soon. Therefore, people are most unwilling to see this flower, the flower of the dead. I didn't expect to be able to see the flower of the dead while still alive, and it's such a large cluster. Have you heard a poem? 'The flower of the dead blooms on the other side, what can we do in front of Naihe Bridge?'"

  Lan Xinlin asked, "Do you mean that our lives will come to an end soon, and we won't make it through tonight?"

  Huang Zhen didn't say anything, just sighed and said, "Ah!"

  "That's enough!" Jin Tianhang roared. "Death is nothing to be afraid of. What you're saying is just a legend, a story passed down by word of mouth. Who has ever seen the real flower of the dead? Huang Zhen, how can you be sure this is the real flower of the dead?"

  Huang Zhen murmured, "I saw it in a book, and this flower matches the description in the book exactly."

  Jin Tianhang glared at him and continued, "Everyone will die, unless they are immortal. Death is not scary. Even if we don't make it through tonight, I want to use the time we have left to figure out everything about the ghost tomb."

  "You're right," Lan Xinlin said, standing up. "We've come this far, and now we can only move forward."

  Huang Zhen, inspired by the two of them, also said, "The ancients said that if you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening. Even if what's ahead is really the underworld, I'll go with you to explore it."

  The three of them carefully skirted around the flower cluster and continued forward.

  After walking a distance forward, Jin Tian Xing turned back to look, the ground covered with red flowers was indeed beautiful, but it was a strange and terrifying beauty, a deadly silence! A beauty that could take one's life, making people involuntarily feel a chill.