Chapter 101

Li Miao, Yin Minjun, and Yongjie were the last to jump into the hole. After sliding down eighty zhang by pushing off the stone walls, they saw a pool of water below.

Those with poor light-body techniques could not react in time and fell into the water. Even with Zhou Tian Qi protecting their bodies, they could not help but shiver.

"This water! Why is it so icy!"

Li Miao struck out with his palms in mid-air, hitting Yin Minjun and Yongjie to send them lightly onto the shore, then used the force to fly to the bank himself.

Lao Qifeng was standing on the bank, looking into the distance, with water vapor steaming off his body. The Beggar Sect's "Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms" is supreme in Yang and rigidity; he was using this pure Yang Qi to steam his clothes dry.

"Hero Li, we are in big trouble."

He said without turning his head.

After the previous events, the group had implicitly come to regard him and Li Miao as their leaders, so he spoke only to Li Miao.

Li Miao walked to his side, looked out, and could not help but sigh.

"Whoa, quite a scene."

They were at the edge of a stone platform, with stalactites hanging above, dripping water from time to time, which had clearly formed this pool over a long period. Below this platform was a karst cave that stretched out into the darkness, endless and invisible.

And in this cave, there were countless coffins placed in dense rows.

Cave burial, which the Miao people call "Bajiaoshe."

It refers to the custom where, after death, the body is not buried in the earth but placed in a coffin and carried by the young and strong into a cave for burial. Looking at the number and style of these coffins, it was likely the ancestral tomb of the twelve Miao clans.

After a cave burial, living people are not allowed to enter. Let alone outsiders like them.

If discovered by the Miao people, they would be making mortal enemies of all the Miao. By then, what they would have to guard against would not be swords and blades, but the strange, treacherous, and pervasive witchcraft.

Yet Li Miao smiled softly.

"Leader Lao, if the Miao don't come looking for trouble with us, we are going to look for trouble with them, aren't we?"

Lao Qifeng sighed softly; he was also an old hand in the Jianghu, and naturally, he had already guessed as much.

"Indeed."

"The art of witchcraft is passed down through generations by the Miao; others cannot learn it even if they want to."

"The Miao King's tomb, the news of the 'Wedding Dress Divine Art', the mole who plants poison... greed led us into a trap. If we can keep our lives, we naturally have to repay them."

At this point, Lao Qifeng turned to look at Li Miao.

"Let's explore forward first. Since they could bring the coffins in, there must be an exit."

"Very well," Li Miao replied.

Once those who had fallen into the pool reached the shore and dried their clothes, the group left the stone platform together and walked forward along the cave walls.

Naturally, they had to pass by those densely packed coffins.

Having witnessed the danger of the witchcraft above and seen the "Pupa Girl" corpses containing poison insects, their hearts were still not at ease. As they passed these coffins, they all carefully skirted around them, fearing something might suddenly pop out.

Fortunately, these coffins seemed to be ordinary ones; the group had walked halfway through without anything happening.

In the vast cave, only the sound of their footsteps and the dripping of water from the stalactites echoed continuously.

Lao Qifeng, walking at the front, could already faintly hear the sound of flowing water ahead.

Where there is flowing water, there is a way out.

Just as the group's tense hearts began to relax.

Snap.

A light sound.

Lao Qifeng turned back abruptly, only to see the lone swordsman Yuan Yu'ang, who had been surrounded by the crowd above, looking pale and gripping his sword hilt.

He had just walked through the gates of death and knew that there was only a way out for now, so he had put the matter aside for the moment. If anything else happened later, the group would still bring up the old matter and blame him.

Worried and distracted, he had bumped his sword scabbard against a coffin as he passed.

The coffin, having been in the cave for who knows how long, was already rotten. With just a light touch, a hole actually appeared in it.

He reflexively moved to dodge, but saw Lao Qifeng suddenly raise his hand in a gesture to stop.

Lao Qifeng had jumped into the hole first, already establishing his authority.

Seeing his action, Yuan Yu'ang forced himself to stop, standing still, though cold sweat streamed down his face.

Just then, a faint sound came from the opened coffin.

Click, click.

From the coffin, breaking through the lid, a pitch-black arm reached out.

"Fuck!"

"Is this still the Great Ming!"

"Yuan Yu'ang! Your mother!"

The crowd cursed inwardly, not daring to make a sound, and moved their feet slowly away from the coffin.

People of the Jianghu have seen the world, and those present were the best among them; they wouldn't blink even if a blade slashed their bodies.

But who the hell has ever seen a ghost!

The coffin was rotten; logically, the corpse inside should have turned to dust, so how could it still reach out a hand!

There were hundreds of other coffins here; if they all jumped out, we might as well just kill ourselves!

Just as the crowd was sweating profusely, their hearts pounding, waiting to flee with light-body techniques at the first sign of trouble.

Li Miao walked over with long strides.

"Hero Li!" Lao Qifeng called out softly.

Li Miao waved his hand behind him without speaking.

He walked up to the arm, examined it for a moment, and actually reached out to grab it!

"Holy shit!" The crowd was shocked.

Without Li Miao even exerting force, just a light grip, the arm snapped off, leaving a palm and half a forearm in Li Miao's hand.

The palm was still slowly clenching and unclenching, and the wrist was even shaking.

A few people felt like vomiting, but Li Miao remained completely unmoved; instead, after examining it up and down, he tossed the arm onto the ground.

Bang!

He reached directly into the coffin, fumbled around, and pulled out with a jerk!

He had actually pulled out a pitch-black, emaciated, skin-and-bones corpse! It was struggling slowly in his hand!

"!!!"

At this, even Lao Qifeng cursed under his breath.

Li Miao didn't care about their reaction, but looked seriously at the corpse that seemed to be alive, examining it up and down.

Then, with his palms joined like a blade, he sliced open the corpse's chest and abdomen.

Whoosh~

From the cavity, insects poured out like water, struggled a few times, and then stopped moving.

Li Miao squatted down, picked one up, examined it for a moment, and threw it on the ground.

He didn't speak, but twisted his fingers, thinking secretly.

"The poison insects in this corpse... are they the same type as the Ming Cult's poison soldiers?"

"The degree of decay of these coffins suggests they have been here for a hundred years or more. The Ming Cult creating these poison soldiers—shouldn't that have been fifteen years ago, after the Ming Cult suffered a heavy blow?"

"Ji Tianrui, according to Yun Zelin, is likely still alive... what exactly is his relationship with the twelve Miao clans?"

"Ji... this surname is very rare. Where did he pop up from?"