The Quest for Immortality
Xun Ziyou was taken aback.
He felt that Shen Shouxing was unpredictable and a bit strange.
But since Shen Shouxing had agreed, he had no reason to refuse. He was originally going to enter the mine for Mo Hua.
Xun Ziyou gathered his Sword Qi, cupped his hands and said, "Alright, thank you, Elder Shen."
Shen Shouxing nodded with a dull gaze.
Then he ordered someone to bring the mine map and led the way to Shen Family’s mine, accompanied by many Shen Family cultivators.
Xun Ziyou’s gaze slightly focused as he followed behind him.
Master Gu, without hesitation, also followed.
However, Fan Jin, his footsteps heavy as if filled with lead, hesitated.
From the bottom of his heart, he didn’t want to get involved in this mess.
But with the people from the Shen Family, Taixu Gate, and Gu Family all going, if he, as Solitary Mountain City’s Records Officer, didn’t go along and fulfill his duty, he would really face severe consequences later.
Not to mention being an officer, he feared he wouldn’t have a place anywhere in the Qianxue region.
Seeing everyone getting farther away, Fan Jin grew anxious, and finally gritted his teeth and, with heavy steps, joined them.
As Shen Shouxing and his group entered the mine, more and more cultivators from Solitary Mountain kept arriving, and the situation grew increasingly complicated...
Meanwhile, in the tomb, Mo Hua was still holding the compass, discerning the direction, leading Mr. Pi and the four unknown black-robed cultivators.
As they walked, Mo Hua suddenly stopped.
"What’s wrong?" Mr. Hui asked. .
"I keep feeling that something is following us..." Mo Hua nervously said.
Mr. Pi and his group looked around.
All around was pitch-black, with nothing visible.
"You must be mistaken," Haozi said.
Mo Hua frowned but said nothing, continuing to move forward.
But in the shadows behind them, there indeed seemed to be something making rustling sounds, though none of those walking forward noticed...
...
After walking for a while, another gate appeared in front of the passage.
Everyone had to stop before the gate.
"Another gate?" Mr. Hui frowned and said, "Why so many gates in this tomb passage..."
No one could answer him.
Mr. Hui shook his head and looked at Mo Hua, "Young brother, it’s up to you."
"Yeah." Mo Hua nodded, then proceeded as before, taking out the compass and formation pen, starting to deduce the formation patterns, seeking their solution.
Mr. Hui and his group patiently waited alongside.
Mo Hua looked over the formation patterns on the gate several times, calculating them mentally, and knew how to breach the formation on the gate.
But to appear as a "normal Formation Master," he stayed indifferent and pretended to work sluggishly.
On the blank formation paper, stroke by stroke, Mo Hua seemed serious, but internally he was perfunctory while deducing.
As he drew, Mo Hua suddenly paused, frowning.
"Seems like... there really is something..."
From the passage they came through, in the darkness, the rustling sounds seemed genuine, though calling it "sound" wasn’t quite right, it was more like a Divine Thought’s "synesthesia."
As if something eerie was crawling toward him from the dark.
But... what could it be?
Mo Hua frowned.
If there really was something in the darkness, could Mr. Hui with the tomb robbers and the four mysterious black-robed cultivators not sense it?
After all, they were Golden Core Cultivators.
Though Mo Hua walked the path of Divine Sense Proving the Dao with strong Divine Thought, he was only at Foundation Establishment with a Divine Sense of Peak of Nineteen-Pattern, and wouldn’t truly believe his Divine Thought was stronger than Golden Core.
Especially not stronger than seven Golden Cores.
If there was really something amiss, these seven surely wouldn’t be completely oblivious...
Mo Hua calmed down and continued feigning the solution.
As he drew, the eerie feeling grew closer, stronger, and clearer.
Mo Hua paused for a moment, suddenly realizing something.
But he remained silent, stayed calm for a while, then suddenly blinked, involuntarily looking up.
His unusual behavior also caught the others’ attention.
Everyone looked up, but above was a dark passage, devoid of light, and no sign of any presence.
"Kid, what are you doing, making a fuss..."
The tomb robber called Haozi, with a sharp-face resembling a monkey, frowned and was about to speak, when his expression suddenly changed, he exclaimed:
"...Mr. Hui!"
Mr. Hui was puzzled, but his face soon turned pale.
He felt as if something was tightly sticking to his back.
Sticky, disgusting, like a clump of decayed flesh wrapped around bone.
Mr. Hui dared not move his head, and glanced back with the corner of his eye, seeing a rotten, dirty, muddy hand clasping his shoulder.
At the same time, a foul breeze wafted from behind his head.
As if something had opened its jaws to bite his head.
In a rush, Mr. Hui lowered his head abruptly, dodging the bite behind.
And with this action, Mo Hua and the others saw what was clinging to Mr. Hui’s back.
It was a rotting corpse.
Distorted, emaciated, ugly, oozing black and rancid blood, its facial features crushed and deformed, unrecognizable as a face, except for the mouth, with three splits, resembling worm teeth in the earth, white and ghastly.
Everyone’s expression changed upon witnessing this scene.
And the bloody flesh monster, after missing its bite, immediately tore its face apart, opening its three-fanged mouth, like a maggot, once again aiming for Mr. Hui’s head.
It clung to his back, moving deftly and covertly, rendering Mr. Hui helpless for the moment.