Chapter 659: Side Story 1: Artisan Spirit

Grandfather liked Jin Wuya when he was alive, and I knew he was excellent, but today, seeing him command the whole situation, I was still amazed.

After Jin Wuya finished speaking, Shi Yin did not immediately rebut him, showing that Jin Wuya was right.

If we hadn't come, Shi Yin would eventually have led the Red Armor Army to destroy the feng shui of Dragon Back Mountain, perishing together with it.

As for the backlash this would cause, its magnitude was no longer within their consideration.

This is drinking poison to quench thirst.

I didn't expect Jin Wuya to immediately ask another question: "Are you sure doing this will really solve everything completely?"

Shi Yin said: "I am a death warrior; a death warrior only needs to obey orders."

In other words, they have reached a dead end; they only give it their all, but cannot guarantee the outcome.

I closed my eyes, my mind as clear as a mirror; if this could truly solve the problem, back then Xuan Ye Ye wouldn't have needed to go to such lengths, using the reproduction of our Shi Family's direct-line descendants as a price to sacrifice whatever was in the small coffin.

Grandfather knew how things would develop after his death.

On one hand he didn't want to pressure me, on the other he needed to stabilize the situation, so he could only place all his hopes on Jin Wuya.

Jin Wuya said: "Shi Yin, mobilize your people; part will guard Dragon Back Mountain, another part prepare to go down the tomb with me."

From the moment we appeared at Dragon Back Mountain, Shi Yin's task had quietly changed, from initially being ready to die to fully cooperating with our actions.

Jin Wuya was the key to breaking the situation; he proved his strength with his actions, so Shi Yin submitted to him.

Shi Yin received orders to deploy, while Jin Wuya began rummaging through the backpack he had specially brought, and I stayed by his side, figuring out how to supply whatever he needed or lacked.

After everything was ready, Jin Wuya took out a brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and began tracing the patterns on the tomb door.

He was making markings.

After the markings were done, he took up the chisel and small hammer and began to chisel lightly.

Each positioning was extremely precise, each strike made with utmost care, and from time to time he called out: "Shi Rou, hand me the steel ruler… Shi Rou, pass me that long wooden peg…"

I realized this was one of the tasks Jin Wuya performed as a strange artisan.

In the years before we knew him, he had been engaged in strange artisan work meticulously and diligently, step by step entering my field of vision.

At this moment, I saw the artisan spirit in him.

Jin Wuya chiseled at the tomb door for over two hours, carving a series of tunnels in the center, into which he inserted dozens of wooden pegs of varying lengths, each at a different angle.

After everything was done, Jin Wuya let out a long breath and told me: "Back when your Xuan Ye Ye went into the tomb, he certainly brought many people; their skill in grave-robbing was something I, an outsider, could not match, so when they opened the tomb door back then they did not destroy its entirety, but the method I can use will have great destructive power."

I comforted him: "Besides my Xuan Ye Ye, only you now have the confidence to open this tomb door; you're already very capable."

Jin Wuya smiled.

At this time, Shi Yin left and then returned.

Jin Wuya then said: "Shi Rou, go up and stand guard; come down again when I call you."

I certainly did not want to.

But Jin Wuya said: "You are the direct-line blood of the Shi Family, and you may also be the key to finally breaking the situation; we are merely the vanguard, Shi Rou, you must first protect yourself, and what comes after will depend on you."

"No," I said. "Precisely because I am the direct-line blood, I cannot be a timid turtle; staying will surely be of great use, I will not leave."

Jin Wuya felt helpless and finally agreed to let me stay, but I had to stand behind him, and he would protect me.

I agreed.

Jin Wuya instructed Shi Yin: "In a moment we will press down these wooden pegs together, forcefully, until we hear the sound of the mechanism turning, then release; you have deployed your people above, and at the moment the tomb door opens, we must be ready to enter battle immediately."

After confirming Shi Yin had deployed his people, Jin Wuya said: "I'll count to three, then we'll press down together—one… two… three… press! Push hard! Yes, hold it, wait for the mechanism to turn…"

Jin Wuya and Shi Yin pressed the wooden pegs together, veins bulging on their hands, bodies tense; it looked like they were exerting great force, but for the tomb door mechanism it was actually a clever application of strength.

It was only two or three minutes, but to us it felt like half a century of agony; then the sound of the mechanism turning came from inside the tomb door.

With a muffled boom from inside the tomb door, I heard Jin Wuya shout: "Move to the sides; in one minute the Red Armor Army will enter the tomb."

While speaking, he had already pulled me aside.

At that moment I already had a compass in my hand.

At the moment the tomb door opened, my hand was already resting on the mechanism on the side of the compass, ready for battle.

What no one expected was that, as soon as the tomb door opened, the first thing to meet our eyes was two squads of zombies covered in mottled bloodstains.

These two troops wore the same uniforms; the bloodstains had dried black, the exposed skin had a bluish-purple hue, and some even showed stiffened wounds, looking fierce and eerie.

At first, their eyes and mouths were tightly shut.

The instant the tomb door was fully opened, they all opened their eyes simultaneously; their eyeballs were a lurid white, revealing a gloomy green light within.

Their bluish-black lips parted slightly, revealing half‑finger‑long fangs on each side, gleaming coldly.

Shi Yin stared for a moment, then said in a complex tone: "It's the Red Armor Army!"

It turned out these were the members of the Red Armor Army who had gone down the tomb with my Xuan Ye Ye back then and ultimately died inside.

One minute had passed.

The Red Armor Army members guarding the opening above were about to descend, but Jin Wuya had anticipated that something would happen inside even before the tomb door opened.

He had originally intended to send the Black Armor Army above as the vanguard, but he never expected that the tomb's guardians would be the Red Armor Army units that had suffered a horrible fate years ago!

Tracing back to the source, some of these Red Armor Army zombies inside were even ancestors of the Red Armor Army members above!

In that moment of hesitation, the Red Armor Army zombies inside had already begun to move.

They had been locked inside the tomb door for who knows how many years; upon catching a whiff of human scent they instantly grew excited, grinding their upper and lower fangs nonstop, emitting a sound that made one's hair stand on end.

Shi Yin was about to act when I grabbed him: "Wait, if we clash head‑on we might not win; there are many Black Armor Army zombies inside, and we definitely don't have enough people."

These are zombies! And they are death‑warrior zombies!

No matter who comes, meeting force with force is just courting death!

I put away the compass, yanked off the jade tablet I had worn since childhood from my neck, gripped it in my hand, and took a step forward: "Open your eyes and look well—what is this…"