Not a Wasted Trip

A strong beam of light cut through the tomb passage. The man holding the powerful flashlight scanned his surroundings, examining the stone walls and vaulted ceiling of the passage, as well as the dark expanse ahead.

When the strong light illuminated the stone wall up close, the man's appearance was reflected in the darkness.

He was a middle-aged man, slender, with his hair neatly tied back, a clean and fair complexion, full of vigor, his eyes sharp and his demeanor calm and composed.

He was impeccably neat and tidy, dressed in a black Tang suit, and held a straight walking stick.

Such a clean appearance in a tomb environment would seem unusual to strangers, but normal to those who knew him. He was an 'underground archaeologist,' known in the martial arts world in his younger days as Grandpa Dao. As his experience and status grew, he came to be respectfully called Daoist Master.

Nowadays, Daoist Master usually stayed in seclusion for cultivation, much like a true Taoist priest, rarely venturing out personally. He would only make an appearance for particularly interesting places, like the tomb he was currently exploring, the structure of which was quite rare.

The walking stick tapped rhythmically on the ground as he walked. When it produced a metallic "clang," Daoist Master stopped. Instead of immediately looking at the ground, he swept the flashlight beam around the area ahead. A vast, dark underground space appeared. Under the light beam, he could vaguely make out that he had reached the tomb's underground palace. Such a massive underground palace was extremely rare.

After a brief survey of his surroundings, the flashlight beam finally moved to his feet. He tapped the ground a few more times with his walking stick and then scraped his toe along the ground, brushing away a layer of dust to reveal a metal floor with a slightly bronze sheen.

He lifted his walking stick and tucked it under the arm holding the flashlight. His free hand hung naturally at his side. He slowly raised his palm, and a slight vortex of dust appeared on the ground. Suddenly, he flipped his palm forward and pushed, unleashing his Internal Energy. A gust of palm wind whooshed out, scattering the dust on the ground ahead. He struck several more times, raising a cloud of dust.

He grabbed his walking stick and planted it by his side, waiting. The swirling dust could not approach him. He shone the powerful flashlight on the ground where the palm wind had cleared the dust. He could tell that the ground within a radius of about ten meters ahead was paved with metal, not just the small area beneath his feet. There seemed to be carved patterns on the metal floor, and their full appearance would be difficult to discern without completely clearing the dust.

When the dust settled, Daoist Master continued forward, leaning on his walking stick. The flashlight occasionally illuminated the domed ceiling above. Around the underground palace, there were several more dark entrances, similar to the passage he had entered through. He didn't know where they led or what secrets lay at their ends.

"I've never seen a structure like this before, how interesting..." Daoist Master muttered with a smile. Suddenly, his foot made a "crunch" sound, as if he had stepped on a section of the floor that gave way. Immediately, a humming sound seemed to come from underground, accompanied by the sound of a mechanism.

BOOM! A heavy object landing with a thud came from the direction of the entrance passage.

Daoist Master's expression shifted slightly. Based on his experience, he knew instantly that the entrance passage had been blocked by something falling.

Following that, dull creaking sounds came from the other dark openings, as if heavy doors were opening.

Daoist Master released his foot and retreated a few steps. He quickly swept the flashlight beam around, knowing he had triggered a trap. He didn't know what mechanism the tomb had activated, but the fact that it could block the entrance and exit indicated that this trap was not to be trifled with.

He remained highly alert to his surroundings. After waiting for a moment, the area was silent, with no further sounds.

Instead, from the direction of the entrance, a "clang" of an explosion resounded, shaking the ground and causing the humming sound to echo throughout the underground palace.

Soon, he detected a different movement within the echoing hum. The flashlight beam quickly illuminated a dark opening, where the sound of something running could be heard. Under the light, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared from the depths of the opening. Then, a complete silhouette emerged – a person in tattered clothing.

It didn't look like a person; it was like a dried corpse, covered in white hair, with sharp teeth and claws. Under the flashlight, its eyes glowed green, and its ten fingers were sharp and dark green. It charged out of the opening with a roar, lunging directly at him. Similar figures appeared from all the surrounding openings.

Zombies! The thought flashed through Daoist Master's mind. His hands didn't stop. He twisted the handle of his walking stick, and a cold glint unsheathed from within. He dodged the zombie's fierce lunge with a quick sidestep, and with a raised hand, a flash of sword light instantly severed the zombie's neck, sending a spray of green blood flying.

The zombie's head flew off, separating from its body. The headless torso crashed to the ground with a thud and twitched, struggling to get up several times before collapsing.

Daoist Master's movements did not cease. The sword light in his hand flashed repeatedly, and figures lunging at him were felled. The flashlight beam flickered wildly in front of him.

Not just one zombie, but zombies were roaring and charging at him from all the surrounding openings, and there were more and more of them.

Caught off guard by the encirclement, his sword alone was no longer enough to fend off the attackers. He used his hands and feet, hastily thrusting his sword through the heart of one zombie. However, he found that piercing the heart was useless, as the zombie still swiped at him with its claws. Daoist Master kicked out with his leg, a powerful force that sent the zombie flying backward, knocking over several others behind it. Before his foot landed, he leaped into the air, spun, and delivered a back kick, sending another flying. He then twisted his body and continued to kick rapidly, sending several more flying, while his sword continued to flash, beheading several more.

In a short time, over twenty ferocious zombies lay around him. Despite being surrounded, none of them managed to wound him, but his hands and feet couldn't stop moving. A normal person would have long since been too afraid to approach him, but these zombies were fearless and attacked ferociously, proving to be fierce and difficult to deal with.

"Da da da..." Urgent gunfire suddenly erupted from the entrance. A gun in the hands of a small, thin man spat flames, bullets wildly shooting at the zombies lunging towards Daoist Master, providing relief.

After a burst of firing, the small, thin man found that his bullets had little effect on the targets, and instead drew some zombies towards him. He clearly had some experience dealing with these creatures, quickly adjusting his aim to target the zombies' heads and knee joints.

The charging zombies were either knocked over and crawled towards him after their legs were disabled, or their heads were blown off, their brains splattering as they fell to the ground.

Under the muzzle's fiery breath, the small, thin man's cold, expressionless face was illuminated, showing extreme composure.

Seeing the zombies charge fearlessly, he advanced instead of retreating. With extremely swift movements, he quickly reloaded his magazine, pulled the bolt back rapidly, and the gunfire, after a brief pause, resumed continuously. Moving forward at a steady pace, he switched to holding the gun with one hand, drew a pistol from his waist with the other, wiped the gun body on his belt, and chambered a round with a click. Without even looking, he casually aimed at the head of a zombie that was crawling towards him after its knee joint was damaged and fired two shots, "pa pa," directly blowing its head off.

Occasionally, he would switch hands and fire a few shots backward with his pistol, blowing off the heads of zombies lunging at him from behind.

He handled the rifle and pistol with ease, reloading magazines with one hand. His proficiency with firearms was extraordinary; the zombies couldn't get close to him before falling.

As Daoist Master dodged and beheaded the last zombie in front of him with a sword, the small, thin man's rifle also fired two shots, "da da," felling the last charging zombie. Daoist Master flicked his foot to pick up the walking stick, flipped it into the air, caught it, and smoothly sheathed his sword, turning it back into a walking stick planted firmly on the ground. His movements were clean and efficient. He raised his hand and smoothed his disheveled hair.

A strange, pungent odor filled the underground palace.

The small, thin man circled Daoist Master. Any zombies that were not completely dead after being cut in half or had their legs severed and were still wriggling were met with the muzzle of his gun firing "da da" twice at their heads, or his pistol firing "pa pa" twice.

When all the zombies in the underground palace were still, the small, thin man cautiously scanned his surroundings, quickly reloaded his magazine, and tucked his pistol back into his waist. He slung the rifle over his shoulder, pulled out a tube from his backpack, and pulled it open. "Chih," a lit flare emerged. He casually tossed several flares around. Under the illumination of the flares, the general outline of the underground palace became visible: a circular dome, and zombie corpses littering the ground.

The small, thin man walked over to the man who was tidying his clothes and said indifferently, "Daoist Master, the troublesome individuals who followed us outside have been dealt with. Our brothers are guarding the entrance, and the fallen rocks blocking it have been blown open. We can withdraw at any time."

Daoist Master grunted. He shone the flashlight on the zombie corpses on the ground, examining them, and still poked at them with his walking stick.

The small, thin man looked at the surrounding corpses, estimating that there were at least over a hundred. He said with some surprise, "Where did so many zombies come from?"

"Who knows. In the past, even when we encountered them, it was only one or two scattered ones. So many is truly... this place is quite interesting, it wasn't a wasted trip!" Daoist Master chuckled. He shone the powerful flashlight around again, fixing its beam on a seated Guanyin statue nearly ten meters tall, carved against the wall in a posture of great mercy.

The entire underground palace was empty except for this abrupt Guanyin statue, making it impossible to ignore.

The flashlight beam focused on the area below the Guanyin statue's neck, where he discovered a pendant hanging around Guanyin's neck. The entire Guanyin statue was carved from a single piece of stone. The pendant was clearly a separate attachment. For now, it seemed to be the only movable item within the otherwise seamlessly integrated structure of the underground palace.

Daoist Master cautiously approached. Having learned from his previous mistake, he knew this tomb was unusually strange. He tapped the ground with his walking stick as he went, like a blind man feeling his way, but in reality, he was listening to the echoes from the ground to detect any anomalies and prevent stepping on another trap.

He reached the base of the Guanyin statue and looked up. He tapped the statue again with his walking stick, listened to the sound, took a breath, and suddenly leaped lightly onto the statue's leg. With another gentle bound, he quickly climbed onto the statue's shoulder and squatted down, pulling on the chain around Guanyin's neck to examine it. He found it was a metal chain. He pulled the pendant up, blew off the dust, and shone the flashlight on it. To his surprise, it was an ancient bronze mirror, about the size of his palm.

He had never seen a mirror of this style before. Unlike the chain, which was heavily rusted, the bronze mirror was antique and showed no signs of rust.

This was not a place for leisurely study. He wanted to remove the mirror and take it with him but found that the chain it was attached to was integrated with the statue. Seeing that the chain was also quite rusted, he estimated it wouldn't be very strong. Setting aside what he was holding, he grabbed the chain, exhaled, and with a snap, directly broke the chain. However, as he pulled, a golden thread emerged from the chain, seemingly pulling something inside Guanyin's neck.

PS: New book uploaded, please collect, recommend, warm, and care. Thank you all!

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