"Hahaha, the pagoda suppresses the river sprite!"
Wang Kaixuan laughed heartily. "Old Hu, you finally made it!"
With strong reinforcements, the threat of the corpse poison victims diminished. Wang Kaixuan, Hu Bayi, Shirley Yang, and the others joined forces to fight the enemy, repelling the corpse poison victims or knocking them down to the bottom of the cliff.
Xiao Hen's pressure also lessened considerably. Yoko had been too impulsive, charging straight ahead to attack the corpse poison victims. He stood in front of Ying Caihong, forced to watch the corpse poison victims attack Wang Kaixuan without being able to step forward to help.
"Wahahaha, we're saved, we're saved!" Big Gold Tooth cheered.
"Who needs him to save us?" Wang Kaixuan grunted, smashing a corpse poison victim away with a shovel. "You refused to enjoy the blessings of capitalism, what did you come here for!"
Shirley Yang held a metal umbrella in her hand, which was quite extraordinary. The umbrella surface could defend, and the umbrella tip could attack. With a single strike, she repelled a corpse poison victim and looked at Hu Bayi with a smile. "It seems they don't need your help at all. Only you are foolish enough to run all this way just to get scolded!"
Hu Bayi took two steps forward, kicked away a corpse poison victim, and shouted, "Stop bickering, let's get out of here first!"
Bang, bang, bang... Hu Bayi continuously beat back the corpse poison victims. The flying grapple in his hand became his weapon. After knocking a corpse poison victim before him down the cliff, he shouted, "Let's go, return by the original route!"
However, among Ying Caihong's subordinates, someone carried a bomb and was pressed to the ground by a corpse poison victim, accidentally dropping the explosive. Coincidentally, this exact spot was the only small path for their return.
Boom!
Hu Bayi and the others froze. Xiao Hen, Yoko, Ying Caihong, and the others also looked up toward that spot. Dust billowed as the path was covered by countless rocks, blocking the way back.
Big Gold Tooth instantly wore a mournful expression. "It's over, it's completely over. We can't get out now!"
"Don't panic, with so many holes, surely one of them can lead us out of here?" Wang Kaixuan narrowed his eyes, looking around. He had already scouted the area once before.
"Master, our way out is blocked. What should we do now?" Yoko approached Ying Caihong and asked.
"This..." Ying Caihong paused. How was she supposed to know what to do?
Xiao Hen swiftly sheathed his dagger back into the scabbard on his body, turned around, and smiled. "Master, do not worry. These three are professional Mojin experts. I believe they will surely find a way out."
"Mn!" Ying Caihong nodded, her gaze turning toward Hu Bayi and the others with a hint of anticipation.
"Every cave around here has an inscription, and there are sheep, chickens, pigs, dogs, horses, and so on... These are the twelve zodiac animals!" After finishing, Shirley Yang's gaze tightened, and she struck down a corpse poison victim crawling up from the ground beside her.
Hu Bayi observed carefully, shook his head, and said, "No, four are missing. There are only eight holes; it can't be the twelve zodiac animals."
"It's the Bagua!" Hu Bayi smiled and took out the Bagua Luopan from his person.
Big Gold Tooth was so anxious he was practically crying. "What on earth is this? We've run back and forth through these holes several times already, and we haven't found an exit!" When he and Wang Kaixuan had scouted earlier, they had indeed run around quite a bit.
Hu Bayi glanced at him, lowered his head to look at the Luopan, and while positioning himself, he sized up the surroundings. "Every trigram represents an animal..."
"Seeking dragons and dividing gold means watching the winding mountains; each layer of winding is a barrier."
"If clearing a gate has eightfold perils, you cannot escape the form of Yin-Yang and Bagua."
"The entrance is the horse, and the horse is the Li trigram. The Zi rat encountering the horse is Kan-Li, the Wei sheep encountering the horse is Kun-Li, the Xu dog encountering the horse is Qian-Li. Upper Qian and lower Li reveal the Gate of Life."
Hu Bayi suddenly looked up at the Xu dog statue. "The Xu dog is the exit, let's go!"
Hearing this, everyone immediately ran toward the direction of the Xu dog statue.
"Master, be careful, slow down." Yoko supported Ying Caihong on the side. Xiao Hen cleared the way in front, and behind them was a group of black-clad subordinates holding various weapons.
Seeing that there was a way out, Big Gold Tooth cried out even more happily, "Xu dog, Xu dog, haha, there's a way out!"
Regrettably, as he passed a fallen corpse poison victim, a tumble tripped him into a face-plant, and the corpse poison victim on the ground grabbed Big Gold Tooth's legs in a death grip.
Wang Kaixuan came over to help, fiercely smashing his large iron shovel against the corpse poison victim's skull, but it had no effect at all. This level of force simply could not smash the corpse poison victim.
Xiao Hen stepped forward and kicked the corpse poison victim flying with one blow.
"Ah, thank you, thank you brother for saving my life!" Big Gold Tooth scrambled up in a flurry, muttering words of gratitude, but the moment he got back on his feet, he sprinted straight ahead. Escaping with his life was paramount!
Behind them, the corpse poison victims that had been knocked down earlier climbed back up one by one. These corpse poison victims possessed even more tenacious vitality than the zombies of the Resident Evil world; they were simply unkillable monsters.
"This... this is a dead end?" Big Gold Tooth ran to the front, took one look, and saw it was a sheer cliff. He collapsed onto the ground in despair.
Xiao Hen, Ying Caihong, and the others stood far off, watching Hu Bayi and his group begin to infight. Hu Bayi insisted on taking Wang Kaixuan back, but Wang Kaixuan disagreed, and the two began to argue.
Shirley Yang went so far as to mock Wang Kaixuan for being blinded by greed, signing this contract solely for money. Xiao Hen, however, knew that Wang Kaixuan's desire to enter the Goddess Tomb was not primarily for money, but for the girl who died twenty years ago: Ding Sitian. This was a man of deep loyalty and passion.
Of course, Hu Bayi trying to persuade Wang Kaixuan to turn back did not mean Hu Bayi was heartless. In fact, deep in his heart, Hu Bayi understood that feeling all too well. Back then, he and Ding Sitian had practically been in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and he had always blamed himself for Ding Sitian's death, feeling that it was because of him that she had died. However, Hu Bayi was extremely rational; he knew that Ding Sitian was truly dead.
Wang Kaixuan felt that Ding Sitian might still be alive, and their purpose in coming to the Goddess Tomb this time was because he had once promised Ding Sitian he would help her obtain the Flower of the Other Shore.
Shirley Yang liked Hu Bayi, and Hu Bayi held Shirley Yang in his heart as well. The relationship between them was difficult to untangle for the moment; matters of the heart were inherently complicated.
Xiao Hen walked to the edge of the cliff, picked up a stone, and tossed it down. He tilted his head, listening intently to the sound below. After a long while, a faint splash echoed back. Below was water, a river.
"It seems the Mojin Xiaowei have all gathered. This must be the arrangement of the heavens; then come and lend me a hand!" Ying Caihong clapped her hands as she walked over, interrupting the infighting among Hu Bayi and the others.
Xiao Hen stood up, walked to Ying Caihong's side, and watched the development of the plot in the open space, his heart completely calm.
"Aiyaya, Big Sis, we'll have to discuss this matter properly!" Big Gold Tooth's eyes lit up, and he trotted over with a smile. "As for this one here, I presume you've heard of him long ago!"
Saying this, he pointed a finger at Hu Bayi. "The illustrious Hu Bayi, Master Hu!"
"And this is Miss Shirley Yang!"
Big Gold Tooth smugly chuckled. "They are all top-tier experts in the industry. While Master Kai here commands the price of a single person, a combination of three Mojin experts like this is exceedingly rare in the trade. Your fortune today is truly massive."
Big Gold Tooth shook his head as he approached Ying Caihong. "Hehe, but this fee... will have to be multiplied several times over!"
Ying Caihong smiled faintly and swept her gaze across the crowd. "Mortals commit evil, and humanity is about to face a great catastrophe. As long as you can assist me in accomplishing this, all living beings shall be saved!"
Hearing these words, Xiao Hen rubbed his nose and remained silent, while Hu Bayi, Shirley Yang, and the others wore utterly bewildered expressions. What on earth was all this?
Before you continue