The Corpse-Raising Cave

Corpse-Raising Cave

I was just thinking about how to deal with Green Nest-Head when a voice suddenly rang out, startling me badly.

Green Nest-Head was startled too. It sprang up and leaped straight into the black cloth bag, burrowing inside in an instant. Though I couldn't see what was happening in the bag, I could guess that Green Nest-Head had gone back into the bamboo tube to rest. After eating its fill, of course it had to sleep its fill.

I swept a wary gaze around the ancestral hall. The guard had fallen fast asleep, and Ma Erlei wasn't moving either. Aside from me, there wasn't a second person inside. Then who had made that sound?

"Who's there?" I called in a low voice. "Don't play ghost and spirit tricks with me. This young master isn't afraid of ghosts, and he isn't afraid of gods either."

Since it hadn't been someone inside the room, then it might have been a ghost in the ancestral hall. This was the Qingya Village ancestral hall; maybe the spirits of the Ma family's ancestors were here.

"Heh heh, my silly son, you can't even recognize your dad's voice?" The voice sounded beside my ear again.

I twisted my head and looked around again, but there was simply no one there. Yet the voice had truly and clearly rung right by my ear. It definitely wasn't an auditory hallucination.

I cursed inwardly. What the hell kind of ghost thing was this, daring to take advantage of me!

"Who are you? Get out here!" I called again in a low voice.

As soon as my words fell, a black shadow sprang up from the vent high on the eastern wall of the ancestral hall and landed lightly on the ground. When it touched down, it made not the slightest sound.

The oil lamp inside the ancestral hall flickered at once, and I saw the black shadow's face clearly. It was actually the big zombie—Xiao Tianxing. I was overjoyed. I never expected to run into Xiao Tianxing here.

Xiao Tianxing padded over, a smile on his face. Compared to a while ago, his complexion looked much better. He stopped in front of me. "Silly son, how did you end up tied up here?"

I thought of how he had used me to lure Ma Huoxin away and turned my head to the side. "You big liar. I don't want to talk to you!"

Xiao Tianxing couldn't help laughing twice. The guard made an uh-uh sound. Xiao Tianxing's body flashed, and he hid beside a pillar. After a while, the guard fell fast asleep again.

"It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go somewhere else." Xiao Tianxing untied the ropes, grabbed me with his right hand, and tossed me straight onto his shoulder. His body flashed, and like a ghostly wraith, he arrived at the side door of the ancestral hall, opened the latch, and carried me out of the Qingya Village ancestral hall.

The heavy rain was still falling.

Xiao Tianxing carried me at great speed. He ran from beneath one eave to another, cleverly dodging the rain. Still, quite a bit of my body got wet, and when the night wind blew, I shivered.

Qingya Village was extremely quiet. The whole stronghold was pitch-black, with only two households lighting lamps after getting up in the night. When we reached the village exit, Xiao Tianxing set me down and made a shushing gesture.

Under the eaves at the village entrance, two huge bonfires had been lit, illuminating the road out of the village until it was bright as day. There should have been night watchmen inside the low houses on either side. No matter who tried to leave the village at night, they would be discovered.

Xiao Tianxing looked alertly ahead, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. He picked up two big stones from the ground and said, "In a moment, I'll carry you on my back and rush out quickly. When I tell you to throw the stones, throw them. Got it?"

I snorted, but still took the stones. This time, Xiao Tianxing didn't carry me over his shoulder. Instead, he carried me on his back and ran outside. His movements were swift and fierce; with a whoosh, he charged out of the village.

As soon as we left the village entrance, Xiao Tianxing called softly, "Good son, throw the stones!"

I threw the two stones out with all my strength.

With two bangs, the stones landed, splashing up water, as if they had hit something. Immediately after, I saw two large nets rapidly contract, catching the stones.

That was close! There were actually two large nets laid over the ground at the village exit. If someone charged forward rashly and stepped on the ground, once the nets closed, their whole body would be caught in them.

With me on his back, Xiao Tianxing ran the whole way, following the mountain path downward. When we reached halfway up the mountain, he suddenly checked his steps and charged straight into the thatch by the roadside. The thatch opened up empty, and we slipped into a cave.

As soon as we entered the cave, I sensed a completely different aura drifting inside. As we went farther in, rustling sounds rang by my ears. The light in the cave was dim, and I couldn't see clearly, but judging from the sounds, the cave was packed full of scorpions.

After running through the pitch-black cave for more than ten minutes, Xiao Tianxing put me down and said, "Good son, there's no one here. Now we can talk."

Xiao Tianxing lit a candle. I found a rock and sat down. The candlelight illuminated the surroundings of the cave, and I discovered a faint aura drifting in the air. Smelling it carefully, I judged it should be corpse qi.

Looking at the ground again, all kinds of scorpions were sleeping on the rocks. The largest scorpion was as big as a child's arm.

The most numerous among them were Golden-Tailed Scorpions. Golden-Tailed Scorpions were the finest grade among poisonous scorpions. I never expected there would be so many in this cave.

This place wasn't far from Qingya Village. It should be within Qingya Village's territory.

I glanced at Xiao Tianxing and reproached him, "Back then, in order to escape, you actually secretly put the Qingfu Larva on me. Luckily, I didn't accept you as my dad. There's no dad like you in this world."

Xiao Tianxing scratched his head and said awkwardly, "Actually, that corpse-driver wasn't too bad. Even if you'd been caught by him, he wouldn't have made things difficult for you. I was badly injured, so I could only act according to convenience. Don't worry, I'll definitely lie to you in the future. I, Xiao Tian... I, Xiao Tian what was it again? I forgot my own name again. Don't worry, I definitely won't lie to you again."

As he spoke, he kept rubbing his temples with his hands, and his brows were twisted tightly together.

Seeing Xiao Tianxing's sincere expression, and since he had taken the initiative to apologize to me, I wasn't the kind of person to make a fuss. There was no need to stay angry. "Fine, I accept your apology. I heard Uncle Ma—that is, the corpse-driver who caught you—say that your name is Xiao Tianxing."

Xiao Tianxing froze. Then he clapped his hands and cried, "Good, wonderful! I have a name. So I'm called Xiao Tianxing. I finally know my name. Good son, Dad has a name now."

"I never accepted you as my dad." I rolled my eyes at Xiao Tianxing. "Big zombie, why are you here? And how did you find me?"

Xiao Tianxing pointed with his hand and said, "This Corpse-Raising Cave has extremely abundant corpse qi. I was injured, so I've been recuperating here. Yesterday, I was sleeping in the cave when I suddenly heard someone talking. The voice sounded a bit like yours. So I went into the village to check, and I never expected it really would be you."

I thought to myself that the Corpse-Raising Cave was beside the mountain road leading to Qingya Village. Ma Erlei, Xiao Yudao, and I had arrived at Qingya Village yesterday afternoon. When we were going up the mountain, Ma Erlei and I had been talking as we walked, and Xiao Tianxing must have heard my voice then.

It seemed Xiao Tianxing and I did have some affinity after all.

I reached out and felt the corpse qi flowing through the air. When it touched my skin, there was indeed a slightly tingling, numbing sensation. A living person couldn't stay inside too long, but for a zombie, it was an excellent place.

I hurriedly asked with concern, "Corpse qi—then have your injuries healed?" At this moment, Xiao Tianxing's skin looked much better than before, faintly tinged with red light. He was greatly different from an ordinary dried corpse, and looked many times better than Wu Daochao.

Xiao said, "For my injuries to heal completely, I'll need to recuperate for at least three years. Right now, I can only say they've improved slightly. But Dad is capable of taking revenge for you. Hurry and tell me why the people of Qingya Village captured you."

Xiao Tianxing was tall and powerfully built, dressed in black, and with the corpse qi emanating from his body plus his disheveled hair, he looked strange. By rights, he should have been the kind of figure everyone feared at first sight. But seeing him again, I felt all the more familiar with him, without the slightest trace of fear.

When he asked me, I spoke almost without thinking, spilling out everything that had happened after I entered Qingya Village like beans poured from a bamboo tube. At the end, I looked at Xiao Tianxing with expectation, hoping he would tell me a way to break out of this deadlock.

Xiao Tianxing blinked and said, "A Gu King Insect that hasn't fully matured ate Qingya Village's village-guarding treasure insect, the Seven-Colored Gu. You don't have reason on your side. But the way they're eating is far too ugly. Not only do they want your Earth Egg, they even want to snatch your wife. They're simply bullying people too much."

I hurriedly coughed a few times and said, "Hey, hey, hey, that Xiao Yudao is not my wife. Don't take this so far."

Xiao Tianxing burst into laughter. The fingers of his right hand tapped, and a plump Golden-Tailed Scorpion obediently crawled onto his right hand and used its scorpion tail to scratch him.

Xiao Tianxing said, "Let me take a look at the Earth Egg."

I thought that since Xiao Tianxing could suppress the Innate Insect, he was someone with real ability, and he definitely wouldn't try to take the Earth Egg for himself like Ma Shi had. So I went along with it and took out the Earth Egg, offering it to Xiao with both hands. "Big zombie, is this Earth Egg really as powerful as the legends say?"

Xiao Tianxing took the Earth Egg and examined it carefully, then said, "Legends aren't necessarily true, but they aren't necessarily false either. Hatch the Earth Egg first and see what kind of insect is inside."

I hurriedly asked, "Is there any way to hatch the insect inside the Earth Egg?"

Xiao Tianxing's eyes spun about as he said, "Heh heh, good son, you need something from me now, don't you? If you acknowledge me as your daddy, I'll tell you. I know a great many things."

I snorted, crossed my arms over my chest, and shouted, "I won't! If you don't want to tell me, forget it. I'll go back and figure it out myself." I jumped down from the rock and snatched the Earth Egg back.

Xiao Tianxing's eyes spun about again. "Fine, fine. Since you told me my name, I'll tell you. The Earth Egg was nurtured by the feng shui and spiritual energy of nature, and moonlight is also something with spiritual energy. So every time the moon comes out, place it under the moonlight and let the moonlight hatch it. When the time is right, the Earth Egg will crack open, and an insect will naturally crawl out."

I found it funny. Xiao Tianxing was still pretty good at giving himself a way down the steps. The method he mentioned should work; the Black and White Twin Insects had been bathed in moonlight and had slowly recovered their vitality.

I raised my thumb and praised him. "You truly are learned and talented, old sir, to even know this. This junior has really had his eyes opened. Otherwise, the Earth Egg would have been smashed in my hands."

Hearing the praise, Xiao Tianxing was delighted. After a while, he deliberately sighed and said, "Too bad it's useless even if you know to bathe the Earth Egg in moonlight now. If you can't bear to give up the Earth Egg, your wife will be gone. Haha..."