Chapter 661: Extra Chapter 1: One Entry, One Death

Those corpses were all female, their bodies tightly wrapped in white cloth, hands and feet bound, only the heads exposed.

From their hair ornaments, they all predate the Qing dynasty.

Their abdomens, without exception, were all prominently swollen, appearing to be pregnant women, and the babies in their bellies were all full-term.

What exactly happened back then?

How many secrets does this tomb actually hide?

I steadied my mind, set aside sympathy for these women hanging like cocoons, and carefully discerned their arrangement pattern.

These pregnant women were obviously sacrificial offerings, but they wouldn't be hung here for no reason; they must correspond to some meaning or mechanism.

I lean more toward it being a mechanism.

You should know that after Xuan Ye Ye and his group fled in panic from this thousand-year-old tomb back then, no one has entered this tomb since.

Ordinary people can't even get past the Red Armor Army zombie stage, let alone enter here without leaving any trace.

Therefore, these hanging pregnant women were already here when Xuan Ye Ye and his group entered back then.

Since they were able to enter the main tomb chamber and see the thousand-year female corpse, they must have successfully broken this formation; I only need to find traces of their breakthrough to open the mechanism.

If I really can't find them, it's likely that the Blood Compass's positioning has deviated.

Then we had better leave this place as soon as possible.

Fortunately, not long after, I discovered a dried yellow spot on the lower abdomen of the pregnant woman on the east side.

That is a trace left by seeping corpse oil.

Without hesitation, I raised the Blood Compass, aimed at that yellow spot, and pulled the trigger.

With a swish, a slender willow-leaf dagger shot out and instantly sank into the pregnant belly.

Jin Wuya and Shi Yin were both startled; they didn't expect me to act so rashly.

Drip… drip…

Yellowish-brown corpse oil seeped from the woman's abdomen, dripping drop by drop onto the ground.

Those corpse oils acted like a signal; the scent they emitted was like a catalyst, and the pregnant women's eyes suddenly all opened.

Pair after pair of scarlet eyes stared straight at me.

At the same time, the white cloth wrapped around them naturally loosened, continuously unwinding in circles and falling down to the ground.

Shi Yin was more alert, shouting loudly: "Everyone inside, prepare defenses, stand ready to attack."

Hardly had his words finished when the women's bellies were already exposed.

The round bellies were bare, their skin painted with large patches of symbols using gold lacquer mixed with cinnabar, each surrounded by a coiling azure dragon.

No, they weren't azure dragons, because their heads lacked horns.

Only the azure dragon I had shot had sprouted unforked horns on its head, and at the struck spot, wisps of black energy were seeping out.

As we watched, those symbols and dragon patterns actually began to move; I held the Blood Compass, about to attack again, when Jin Wuya grabbed me.

Immediately, we saw those round bellies split open, and withered purple-black infant corpses crawled out, cackling shrilly as they jumped and bounced about.

Shi Yin led the Red Armor Army in a charge, engaging the infant corpses.

The Red Armor Army was well-trained and still armed, but the infant corpses had white cloth wound around their waists from their mothers, which stretched and tightened, flying and swinging in midair, making them especially agile.

They didn't bite people or run wildly, like kites pulled by strings…

"Something's off," Jin Wuya said. "Shi Rou, have you noticed that their target doesn't seem to be biting or sucking blood, but rather to wrap around the people below?"

I also noticed that several times Red Armor Army soldiers got stuck to the infant corpses.

Those infant corpses clung tightly to their heels, taking big steps to follow the Red Armor Army's footsteps, forcing them to walk in circles on the spot.

As the number of turns increased, the upper end of the white cloth wound tighter and tighter; once a certain point was reached, the infant corpses suddenly sped up, and the white cloth wrapped directly downward from above the Red Armor Army's heads.

The speed was especially fast; they had no preparation, and their heads were already tightly bound.

The infant corpses hadn't stopped moving, continuing to wrap downward.

The first Red Armor Army soldier whose ankle was bound, his chest heaved greatly, obviously beginning to struggle for breath.

"I understand," I thought in shock, "the infant corpses sustain their cultivation by absorbing nutrients from their mothers, and where do the mothers get their nutrients? Besides the flood dragon's resentment, the Red Armor Army soldiers bound to them also become a source of nourishment."

"That's probably it," Jin Wuya said. "The key is, we can't stop this from happening; it's a sacrificial formation array, and to open the formation array, someone must necessarily sacrifice."

This is the cruellest part.

Clearly we could save that bound Red Armor Army soldier with all our might, but we can't do anything, because that is the key to opening the mechanism.

Jin Wuya reached out and gripped my shoulder firmly, comforting me: "Shi Rou, those who undertake great deeds find sacrifice inevitable; the more you struggle to save people, the more lives may ultimately be lost—they are dead warriors, this is their mission."

At such times, any sympathy, reluctance, or impulsiveness is unacceptable.

Indeed, when one of the Red Armor Army soldiers was wrapped in white cloth, the other infant corpses quickly swaddled themselves in white cloth, their bodies continually moving upward; soon they had returned to their respective mothers' bellies, and the white cloth was rewound tightly.

The bound Red Armor Army soldier, under everyone's gaze, unknown what had drained his essence and blood, in the blink of an eye was reduced to skin and bone, entering the pregnant woman's opened belly together with that infant corpse.

The belly skin gradually healed, the azure dragon coiled upon it surrounded by a bloody aura, and the sound of bones folding and cracking, making one's scalp tingle, came…

This process was especially fast; by the time we came to our senses again, everything had already returned to calm.

With a boom, the whole tomb chamber shuddered; immediately, a door appeared out of nowhere on the eastern wall of the tomb chamber, and strands of Yin Cold Qi were released from within, instantly lowering the temperature inside by several degrees.

It turned out the only way to open the tomb chamber door was through sacrifice.

Each time it is opened, a person must necessarily be sacrificed, not even leaving bone fragments.

Just what kind of evil person devised this formation array?

That person will surely come to a bad end!

Anger aside, the tomb chamber door was already open; we couldn't waste this opportunity, so we immediately ran toward the door.

The temperature in this tomb chamber was too low, water vapor condensed, and everywhere was a blank white.

Shi Yin led the Red Armor Army to clear the way, while I and Jin Wuya followed closely behind.

But after entering the tomb chamber, the Red Armor Army's footsteps suddenly vanished; I instinctively glanced at my side, about to tell Jin Wuya about this, only to discover there was no one beside me…