Chapter 162: Main Text Chapter 164 Beheading

Main Text Chapter 164 Beheading

I wiped the searchlight on my helmet that was covered by sewage, trying to make the beam from the lamp opening as clear as possible, and in the eye socket of this 'Aconite Flesh Coffin' I could see the surroundings clearly.

This place is like a narrow, short vertical shaft; its shape and depth are completely different from the eye frame of the entrance, about four meters deep and a person wide, all around is black viscous substance, seemingly formed from rotting eyeballs, since the 'Aconite Flesh Coffin' is rotting and dissolving, this eye socket is gradually enlarging, the coffin of King Xian happened to fall in, leaning against it; the coffin itself is not small, and with me also jumping into the eye socket, the space inside feels extremely cramped, leaving no room to advance, retreat, or stretch.

Just then a flash of light from above, Shirley Yang was leaning out from above, anxiously saying to me: 'Lao Hu, hurry up, the Corpse Cavern Effect is constantly expanding; if we delay any longer we won't be able to get out, forget about the Burial Dust Pearl—we can't let you drag us all to die here because of me.'

While I wiped the slime off King Xian's coffin with one hand, I said to Shirley Yang with the other: 'Leaving now would naturally be possible, but if we go back we'll regret it to the point of turning our intestines green; this flesh coffin has existed for far too long, and deep down a Corpse Cavern won't form that quickly—give me three minutes… two and a half minutes will be enough; quickly have Commander Wang throw down the supplies for opening the coffin.'

I originally wanted Pangzi and Shirley Yang to withdraw outside and wait for me, but I knew saying that would be useless; I'm staying here, they certainly wouldn't agree to retreat first, so I can only have them assist me from above, finish the task quickly, and then we all escape together.

In a moment I had determined King Xian's inner coffin: it is a semi‑human‑shaped 'Jade‑Topped Gold‑Pinned Qilin‑Toe Coffin', with the shape of a head and two shoulders on top. Jade top, gold box. The seal is formed by four golden 'qilin toes' interlocking, because King Xian intended to unlock his corpse and ascend as an immortal, so the coffin lid was never firmly wedged. Earlier, when I saw this 'Jade‑Topped Gold‑Pinned Qilin‑Toe Coffin' fall into the eye socket, there seemed to be a crack in the middle; actually that was because the outer layer of the flesh coffin's corpse shell, eroded by the air, had melted away, revealing a strip of jade top as red as blood.

Human‑shaped coffins are rare in ancient China, and if they exist they are mostly wooden. However I had no time to distinguish these details; I only noticed a vortex pattern engraved on the coffin lid, its shape almost covering the entire jade top, resembling an eyeball. Looking closely it turned out to be a curling phoenix. The vortex shape forms the phoenix's body, with the pupil position as the phoenix's head—this must be the mark of the 'Burial Dust Pearl'. As soon as I saw this mark, my blood surged and hope rose in my heart; this mysterious pearl is most likely inside King Xian's inner coffin. Heaven pities us; after risking life and limb all the way, we have not come in vain.

The eye socket could not accommodate a second person; 【Dear】 Pangzi and Shirley Yang were anxiously useless, unable to come down to help, so they could only lower the tools to me. Earlier I had planned not to open the coffin here, intending to tie it with rope and haul it all up, then drag it away from the flesh coffin to a safe place to open and examine it carefully, but upon descending I discovered that part of the bottom of this inner coffin had grown fast to the corpse shell of the myriad‑year‑old lingzhi flesh, making separation impossible, so I had to work in this cramped space.

Time ticked by second by second. I took a deep breath, using the 'Probing Yin Claw' to pry open the qilin toes one by one, feeling that even two hands were hardly enough—I wished I could use my feet as well, for if my movements slowed by just a few seconds I would miss the chance to escape.

Although I tried to calm myself, knowing that haste makes waste, my heart pounded louder and louder, and I could not calm down; I had focused all my attention on this inner coffin, turning a deaf ear to Shirley Yang's and Pangzi's constant urging and reminders from above.

I estimated that less than a minute had passed; according to my calculation, if I could obtain the 'Burial Dust Pearl' within three minutes, the eye socket at the outlet of the Aconite Flesh Coffin would not yet be overwhelmed by the gradually expanding Corpse Cavern; breaking open the coffin lid in just over a minute would still be timely—thinking of this, my mood eased a little.

Seeing that I was about to lift the lid of King Xian's inner coffin, Shirley Yang immediately threw down a cold‑fire flare: 'Lao Hu, this is the last one; before it goes out, whether or not you find it, you must come up.'

In the pitch‑black, sticky eye socket, the flare shot up, blazing like daylight, and I replied in a relieved tone: 'Don't worry, there's definitely enough time—we'll use a rope to drag this old zongzi out…'

As I spoke, I forced the jade lid open, and immediately a corpse lay revealed: its hat had fallen to its feet, its head wore only a gold‑inlaid jade 'Upswept Kerchief' pin, its body clothed in black‑scaled jade armor with a dark robe, a purple‑gold sash around its waist—this was certainly not King Xian, but who then?

But I immediately felt a chill run down my spine—King Xian's corpse actually had no face; perhaps that description is not quite apt, the cavern's space is narrow, my face and the corpse's are almost touching, (illegible characters) the corpse's five senses have become blurred and twisted, leaving only faint traces; mouth, nose, and eyes are hard to distinguish, as if they had melted into the face, making the head appear smooth and uncanny, like a jade‑skin mask, which under the cold flare's light looked extremely bizarre.

I silently wondered to myself, 'Damn, have I fallen for the old thief's trick again?' Is this a dummy? I hastily grabbed the corpse's arm and peeled off the scaled robe, only to see the fingers clenched tight—clearly holding some burial objects, the skin waxy yellow as if about to drip water, as if undergoing some extraordinary change.

Looking at the corpse's hand skin, it was certainly not a dummy; I pinched it and found it even had some elasticity, remarkably well preserved, but when I pinched the face it felt hard as stone, as if it had completely turned to jade.