Chapter 111: Stone Bead

At these words, Cang Yin's moon-like eyes widened in alarm; she whipped her head around to gaze at the water illuminated by torches.

Li Musheng, meanwhile, frowned. Why did it get more terrifying the more he spoke?

"You'd better not be trying to alarm me with false tales, boy."

He spoke softly, then took a single step, vanishing from his spot; in the blink of an eye, he appeared above Abin's head.

Soon, Li Musheng's expression changed:

"Damn, how is that corpse actually moving?"

At this moment, in the deep water where the floating corpses lay before him, there were over a dozen bodies clad in red, purple, and blue robes.

The heads of these corpses, which had originally sunk beneath the water, began to twist left and right continuously, causing the floating black hair to rise, fall, and sway without cease.

Before long, the limbs of those corpses also began to paddle rapidly, and the paddling grew faster and faster.

They seemed like drowning people struggling helplessly; for a moment, water splashed in all directions, and the resulting sounds began to echo endlessly through the silent rock cave.

"My lord, did I lie to you?"

At this, Abin looked up at Li Musheng above, then, with a grim expression, suggested in a low voice:

"Perhaps we should retreat for now; I feel we may have taken the wrong path."

Hearing this, Li Musheng stroked his chin thoughtfully, turned to look at Cang Yin, and said:

"I think what he said has merit. Miss Cang, what do you think?"

Cang Yin's pale face flushed slightly; she shot Li Musheng a distant glare.

According to her memory, the direction she had chosen should have been correct.

Yet the underground waterways connecting the remnants of Great Qi to the Dragon Abyss Lake were built for their own people's convenience; they would hardly deliberately create such a strange group of corpses to block the way.

Therefore, judging from the current situation, it was indeed possible that, unable to pinpoint the direction accurately underground, the deep cave that seemed correctly oriented had actually drifted slightly, causing her to misjudge the true bearing.

However, just as Cang Yin pondered the cause of her mistake, Abin's startled cry suddenly came from the water surface far away:

"Damn, that... that corpse turned its head and looked at me!"

Hearing this, Li Musheng glanced down at Abin; the boy was quick to mimic his speech.

Nevertheless, the other party was not merely exaggerating; at this moment, those dozen-plus corpses clad in various bright-colored robes had suddenly turned their heads, gazing toward the direction where the two of them stood.

Their eyeballs were entirely white, without a single speck of black pupil, and their complexions were as deathly pale as if they had been dead for hundreds of years.

In the next instant, the dozen-plus corpses suddenly flipped their bodies, paddling their hands and feet furiously across the water surface, swimming toward the two of them.

Seeing this, Abin's face instantly turned rather grim; he looked up at Li Musheng.

Li Musheng merely waved his hand and said:

"Rest assured; you are so high above the water. They can't possibly jump up and grab you, can they?"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than those dozen-plus corpses suddenly leaped several zhang high from the water surface, launching directly at him and Abin.

Moreover, these corpses opened their mouths and emitted extremely grating cries; the piercing sound waves possessed tremendous penetrating power, shaking the water into waves and causing rocks on the cave ceiling to rattle and fall.

At the same time, the other dense mass of corpses, previously motionless and floating on the water, seemed awakened by the cries of those dozen-plus corpses and began paddling their hands and feet in unison.

In an instant, the dense mass of corpses paddled across the water surface, and the entire expanse of water ahead seemed to boil instantly.

Waves of water splashed up, creating huge swells; the rolling "plop-plop" sounds of water were deafening, as if they would sweep through and collapse the entire rock cave and mountain.

Abin was clearly stunned by the scene before him; gazing at the terrifying corpses lunging through the air, he, wrapped in true qi and unable to flee, could only watch helplessly as their pale faces and sharp claws drew closer and closer, powerless to do anything.

Just then, Li Musheng, standing upon the air, suddenly let out a cold snort.

Immediately after, Abin's eyes slowly widened, and his face instantly displayed an expression of disbelief.

He saw that, within his line of sight, the corpses that had leaped into midair and were rushing toward him at high speed suddenly froze motionless in an instant.

In the next moment, those corpses, like melting candles, instantly turned into pools of corpse-water, flowing down from midair.

At the same time, the dense mass of corpses paddling endlessly on the water surface beneath his feet, at that very same moment, just like the dozen-plus corpses that had lunged, without exception all melted into corpse-water, merging into the cold underground river.

All of this happened extremely quickly, in the blink of an eye!

Every corpse in the water before his eyes had turned into corpse-water; the surroundings instantly fell silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

"Slapping my face? You corpses truly have admirable courage."

Li Musheng raised an eyebrow, while Abin looked up at him.

At this moment, Abin finally witnessed this person's true martial arts strength with his own eyes.

In an instant, he had turned hundreds of corpses into corpse-water, yet Abin had not seen the other party make a single move from beginning to end.

Abin truly found it hard to imagine: how could someone so young possess such terrifying martial arts cultivation?

At the same time, Li Musheng's gaze shifted; he looked toward the depths of the water ahead and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Then, with a casual wave of his hand, Abin, wrapped in true qi, felt his entire body lighten; he was now completely free to move.

"Miss Cang, you two stay here for now. I will return shortly."

Li Musheng turned and spoke to Cang Yin; then, his entire person vanished from the spot, heading toward the deep cave ahead.

"Be careful."

Cang Yin offered a warning; at this moment, she too began to sense that a indescribable aura was rising from the depths of the water ahead.

After Abin regained his mobility, he lightly tapped the water surface a few times and found a rock to squat upon.

He gazed in the direction Li Musheng had departed, the shock in his eyes still not fading.

"Crack!"

Sounds of rocks splitting came from the dark cave; Li Musheng's figure, moving at extreme speed, passed silently through the deep cave.

As he delved deeper, a murmur of chatter gradually rose in his ears, as if countless people were whispering beside him.

Yet these voices were indistinct; he could not make out the meaning of the words they spoke.

"Noisy!"

Li Mu stopped his form and lightly uttered the word.

And at a spot on the water's surface a hundred zhang away from him, ripples suddenly stirred, then exploded with a thunderous boom.

In an instant, countless water droplets shot up from beneath the surface, slamming into the mountainside ahead so violently that the whole mountain began to shake.

At the same moment, from the broken water a round stone bead, glowing with a hazy grey light, suddenly flew up.

The stone bead spun and whirled in the air, while in the darkness countless voices seemed to buzz and whisper urgently, as if calling the stone bead by name.

(End of this chapter)