Chapter 142

The good news was that although Lin Shuyou was carrying a bamboo pole in the corpse retrievers’ procession, he could still open his eyes and seemed to retain a certain degree of self-awareness.

That meant he might not have been “picked up” and brought in, but had entered this procession of his own accord.

But the problem was that although Lin Shuyou occasionally had mental lapses, before opening his face he had always been obedient, especially since Li Zhuiyuan had arranged for him and Yin Meng to work as a pair.

Under normal circumstances, the two of them absolutely would not start sneaking off to improvise in the middle of an existing mission.

The thing this team valued most was discipline.

So something must have changed midway. Some accident must have happened, forcing the two of them to get dragged into this.

The bad news was that they were entering the water.

The bell in the lead yellow-robed Daoist’s hand gradually fell silent, and the sound of water rose up. Li Zhuiyuan’s hearing was sharp enough to catch the sound of them stepping one by one into the lake.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed his lips together and began thinking quickly.

Because… there was not much time left.

Right now, Lin Shuyou still retained some self-awareness. Yin Meng had not been observed clearly, but she was most likely not in the worst possible state either.

But that was right now. What about a day from now?

Tomorrow, eight teams would leave the surface of the lake and set out again. But by then, every team should be in the standard three-person formation of “two carrying one.”

The eight teams would return around this same time tomorrow, which meant twenty-four hours from now.

In that day and night beneath the lake, could Yin Meng and Lin Shuyou really still be guaranteed safe?

So if he chose to wait another twenty-four hours, it would be almost the same as giving up on rescuing them and simply hoping they could work a miracle and come out alive on their own.

And if he wanted to do something, the only opportunity was the eighth team already appearing ahead as a dark silhouette, about to arrive.

He had to slip into that eighth team and go underwater.

Li Zhuiyuan made up his mind.

In the boy’s dictionary, there was no option of lighting the lamp a second time, ending the river walk, and admitting defeat.

So sooner or later, he was going into that water.

And on that basis, if he was going down anyway, then why not do it while Yin Meng and Lin Shuyou still retained their self-awareness, reunite with them, and rescue them? Was he supposed to wait until after they were dead?

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head and looked at Xiong Shan.

Xiong Shan had gone down before. He had experience.

Whether as a guide or as a teammate in a group, if Xiong Shan could go with them, it would undoubtedly greatly increase their chances of saving people.

There was struggle in Xiong Shan’s eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan had no way to measure exactly how deep the bond was between Xiong Shan and his brothers, but earlier Xiong Shan had already revealed that he wanted to stop after lighting the lamp a second time.

When a person openly reveals that kind of feeling, it means the dam inside him has long since been riddled with cracks.

And the ones going down were his brothers, while the ones staying above were he himself, his wife, and his child. If those positions had been reversed, his struggle might not have been nearly so intense.

Things had clearly spiraled out of control. Xiong Shan could light the lamp a second time right now, declare defeat on the spot, and then spend the rest of his life with his wife and child. At most, in the dead of night, when old memories returned, he would think of the two brothers he had abandoned to die and endure a little guilt.

“Ding-ling-ling… ding-ling-ling… ding-ling-ling…”

The bells of the eighth team drew near.

Xiong Shan closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the struggle in them had vanished completely.

He looked at Li Zhuiyuan, but reached out and gently patted his wife as he said, “We’re going to save Second Brother and Third Brother.”

Lihua let out a breath of relief, a smile appearing on her face. She first lowered her head and kissed her son, then tied the swaddled baby tightly against her body, freeing both hands completely.

Meeting Xiong Shan’s gaze, Li Zhuiyuan calmly replied:

“Together.”

Xiong Shan laughed. “Looks like I’ve been shown up by you, little brother. You’re the one with deeper feelings.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “What do we do next?”

Xiong Shan had explained before how to blend into the procession, but he had not gone into the real operational details. He had deliberately held something back.

“When they enter and leave the ‘inn,’ quickly slip into the team and throw away the spirit money. That way you can blend in successfully without alerting them.

Once you get in there, when the bamboo pole starts turning, let go immediately. Stand still and play dead.

There’s an eye there. Don’t move while it’s open. Wait until it closes before looking for an opportunity.”

“You succeeded on your first try last time?”

“I count as half a local. After killing that evil cultivator back then, what I learned was also the Chenzhou talismans he left behind. I understood a little of the taboos and methods of the corpse retrievers’ path.

If you’re interested, little brother, I have some fragmented Chenzhou talisman manuscripts in my possession. If all of us make it out alive this time, I can let you borrow them.”

“I’m not interested in that.”

“I see. You’re worried that would entangle you in my jianghu karma.”

Li Zhuiyuan did not bother explaining further.

The eighth team had only three people, which meant this team had not picked up anyone.

Xiong Shan said, “The three of us on this side go first. The three of you go after.”

By saying that, he was clearly counting his son as one of the three.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “All right.”

The boy cast a glance at Runsheng and Tan Wenbin, and they nodded back.

The eighth team arrived, and everyone lowered their heads together.

When the team adjusted its angle and began circling the Inn on the Path of Yin and Yang, the so-called “entering the inn,” Xiong Shan and Lihua sprang up quickly, one on each side, each grabbing the bamboo pole with one hand and bracing it up with a shoulder.

Three sheets of spirit money fell from their bodies.

When the team was about to “leave the inn,” Li Zhuiyuan and his two companions also rose swiftly.

Runsheng and Tan Wenbin copied Xiong Shan and Lihua’s movements, while Li Zhuiyuan gripped Runsheng’s clothes.

Three sheets of spirit money were quickly thrown aside.

In that instant, it felt as though everyone’s perspective had changed.

The surroundings became completely blurred, and only behind them was there the faint shadow of a lit inn.

Though they were advancing one step at a time, their speed of movement was strangely exaggerated, carrying an eerie sense of spatial dislocation.

Earlier, Lin Shuyou had probably sensed something and so opened his eyes to search, but he was inside the corpse retrieval procession, while Li Zhuiyuan and the others were inside the inn holding spirit money, which was effectively a separate barrier. So it was perfectly normal that Lin Shuyou had failed to find them.

Walking at the back of the team was worse than walking at the front.

Because the one in the middle whose feet did not touch the ground had to be avoided. You could not look at it.

So Xiong Shan and the others at the front could look ahead much more freely, while Li Zhuiyuan and his two companions at the back could only glance from side to side.

But since they were the experienced ones, having the guide walk in front made perfect sense.

The sound of splashing water came from below their feet.

They were about to enter the water.

The front end went in first, then the rear followed.

The water was somewhat cold, and when they were completely submerged there was a stifling sensation, as though they could not breathe. But it was more a psychological sensation than real physical suffocation.

It felt awful, deeply uncomfortable, yet it could not drown them.

That should have been another peculiarity of this corpse retrieval procession.

So this was what Liangliang had to experience every time he went to see the Bai Family Matron.

Even having to endure this pain twice every time had not stopped him from making repeated trips to Nantong.

The procession advanced along the lakebed. The two bamboo poles were like a boat, steady and stable under the weight.

As they walked, Li Zhuiyuan saw an underwater village. It lay submerged beneath the lake, and this should have been Peach Blossom Village.

The underwater Peach Blossom Village still retained most of its original appearance, and the procession passed straight through the middle of the village road.

After leaving the village, the team continued descending. This, then, should have been the real Yinma Lake.

Downward, downward, and further downward. They should have been heading toward the center of the lake.

Finally, Li Zhuiyuan felt both feet lose contact, and the whole team began descending vertically.

Even so, the “corpse retrievers” behind him still kept moving their legs back and forth at the same pace as before, and everyone followed that rhythm, continuing to swing their legs.

Down, down, and still further down…

Splash.

For the first time, he experienced the sensation that after sinking, one could emerge from the water again. Filthy yet undeniably real air poured into his nose and began soothing his lungs.

This place was an underwater pool.

In front of the pool stood many people.

Everyone stood with their lower bodies in the water, eyes closed, steady and unmoving.

At that moment, the bamboo pole began to turn.

Xiong Shan and Lihua let go and stood where they were. Runsheng and Tan Wenbin also released their grip and remained standing in place.

The standard three-man corpse retrieval team seemed to have completed its delivery here, then continued onward.

Above the pool stood an ancient, heavy stone gate. The left gate was only half left, while the right gate was covered in cracks. On the steps leading to the gate there was a huge pit, its edge marked by four thick grooves, as though someone had smashed it out with their fists.

The surrounding rock walls had once been covered in carefully painted murals, in a domed, curving layout, but now those murals were densely stained with black blotches of varying depths, likely splashed blood.

A great battle had once taken place here. Many people had died.

Suddenly, the “sky” lit up.

Above them appeared a mass of red ghost fire.

Ghost fire normally was not this color, but within this flame there really seemed to be an eye, sweeping over everything below and bringing immense pressure.

That “eye” gave Li Zhuiyuan an intensely familiar feeling.

The corpse retrieval procession, now having unloaded its people, began walking into the stone gate. As they advanced, faint sparks kept flaring around them through constant friction, only to be suppressed and extinguished again by another force.

They should not have been able to move at all. Under that ghost eye, any unnecessary motion would be regarded as heresy and punished by descending fire.

But either the ghost eye had been damaged before, or it had been altered by human hands, or perhaps both. In any case, this ghost eye had no effect on the corpse retrievers.

The corpse retrievers could freely enter and leave this place, but no one else enjoyed the same privilege.

Even without Xiong Shan’s warning on the shore, none of them would have dared move recklessly now. The warning from the ghost eye was so dense it was almost tangible.

There were still many rows of people standing ahead. Li Zhuiyuan was short, so through the gaps between people’s legs he could make out some of the details in the front rows.

He discovered that he could see the backs of the heads of the people in the first two rows.

Judging by their head shapes, they were all adults.

And from the front rows to the back, their overall height clearly increased in a gradual trend.

That meant it was not because the first two rows were all dwarfs with enlarged heads.

It was because they had melted.

This pool was like a candlestick. The “people” brought here would melt here and become wax oil, used to maintain the existence of that ghost eye.

But the problem was that although the method was indeed ingenious, placed beside this majestic ghost eye, it felt strangely out of place.

Wei Zhengdao had once given a thorough and severe critique of evil formations.

The boy deeply agreed.

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