The divine attendants around them suddenly turned toward them in unison.
An eerie blue light flared in their hollow eyes, and hundreds of gazes stabbed at the pair as though they had substance.
"Don't move!" Cui Jiuyang grabbed the Ninth Lady beside him. Fortunately, something on the offering platform seemed to have caught her attention, and she stayed still.
Holding on to the Ninth Lady, he slowly backed away, keeping his movements small and not daring to make any sudden motions...
Then the divine attendants withdrew their gazes and continued walking along their strange paths.
Cui Jiuyang whispered, "Ninth Lady... they don't seem to mind us watching from here, but we can't get too close to the Offering Altar."
The Ninth Lady couldn't care less whether those living corpses minded. She lowered her voice. "There's a three-foot sword on the Offering Altar. I want it."
Cui Jiuyang looked at her helplessly. "They stare at us the moment we get close. We can't act rashly. That said... that clay jar of golden liquid... I suspect it's Golden Milk Stone Marrow! If we get a chance, I want to take that jar."
After drinking too much, the Ninth Lady's expressions had become much livelier.
She gave him a scornful sidelong glance, a gesture that lent her eyes a breezy charm. "What are you, a child craving something to drink?"
Cui Jiuyang waved a hand. "Ah, you don't understand. Golden Milk Stone Marrow... consuming it extends your life. Just what I need!"
The Ninth Lady glanced at the clay jar, then back at Cui Jiuyang. "How old are you, anyway? What do you need something that extends your life for?"
Cui Jiuyang didn't want to explain, nor did he know how, so he brushed it off. "Come on, who complains about living too long?"
The Ninth Lady snickered. "You'd have to ask our troupe master. When he beats apprentices who slack off in training, he says, 'You're like the God of Longevity drinking arsenic-tired of living because your life's too long!'"
Suddenly, someone spoke behind them.
"How charming, you two, flirting in front of the Water God’s Tomb... I'd say you're the ones who are truly tired of living!"
Cui Jiuyang and the Ninth Lady's expressions tightened. They looked toward the voice and saw a man and a woman standing on the distant steps.
The woman made no move, seemingly unconcerned with anything on the stone platform.
The man bowed to them with a smile, then straightened and raised a hand to snap his fingers.
Cui Jiuyang suddenly sensed something wrong and looked back at the Offering Altar.
Several beetles were flying directly above it.
They hovered.
They circled, finding a good position.
They began clustering together.
Red light began shining from the seams in each beetle's shell and the joints of its limbs.
The red light grew brighter and brighter.
Cui Jiuyang's pupils contracted. This is bad!
Boom!
A tremendous blast rang out.
They exploded.
Chapter 35: Framing Them
The instant the beetles exploded, Cui Jiuyang only had time to tackle the Ninth Lady to the ground.
It was those two Japanese!
They meant to have someone else do their killing!
"Run!" Cui Jiuyang hauled the Ninth Lady up and charged toward the offering platform.
Still bewildered, the Ninth Lady hadn't caught up with what was happening. "Exploding bugs! Was it those two Japanese? How did they get here?"
But cracking sounds came from behind them. Several divine attendants knocked down by the explosion rose again at grotesque angles, their joints twisted like broken branches.
Every divine attendant on the platform stopped its mechanical patrol.
Their heads turned toward Cui Jiuyang and the Ninth Lady in unison, blue light surging in their hollow eye sockets.
Then all the divine attendants on the stone platform opened their mouths at once and shrieked.
The shriek wasn't harsh or piercing. It was as though a thousand waves had surged into existence, the thunder of a great river's churning waters echoing through the vast space.
"Mr. Cui, they've come alive!" The Ninth Lady was mostly sober now, her hand already reaching for the Hundred-Unheard Nuo Mask at her waist.
Cui Jiuyang dragged her along as he spoke urgently. "Yes, they've come alive! Since they're alive anyway, let's grab what we want from the offering platform! Then head for the palace!"
The divine attendants weren't particularly fast. Cui Jiuyang scooped up the clay jar, and the Ninth Lady picked up the three-foot sword. They ran toward the palace without looking back.
The palace doors were open!
Once they hid inside, the divine attendants would stop pursuing them.
Tomb guardians never entered the tomb itself. Even mortals followed that rule, let alone a Water God!
But taking the offerings and running wouldn't be so simple.
Cui Jiuyang suddenly felt his chest constrict, as though something heavy were pressing down on it. The Ninth Lady stumbled, nearly falling.
The two Japanese on the steps, who had planned to watch the trouble from a safe distance, also looked unsettled. Had something inside this Divine Tomb awakened?
Was it the Qingyuan Water God? Cui Jiuyang's mouth went bitter. Had the Ji River Water God come back to life?
No, it wasn't the Qingyuan Water God. It was something else. Togo and Miss Abe exchanged a glance. Their earlier intelligence was still inadequate. What else lay sleeping in this Divine Tomb?
Every divine attendant's presence faltered. At the same time, a sigh of boundless desolation rose with the sound of waves, filling this realm.
"A thousand years without end; the god vanished without a trace.
"Intruders tread heedlessly, trampling the ancient court.
"Though a thousand years have passed, this hatred shall not cease.
"I would take up arms to guard this sacred domain.
"A thousand years erode my bones; my body slowly rots.
"This heart remains undying, awaiting the god's return.
"How brief a thousand years, as though but yesterday.
"The Ji River flows on, still washing my cap tassel."
Cui Jiuyang's expression changed sharply. "Something big is coming! Put on your Nuo Mask!"
With that, he gulped down some of the golden liquid in the jar.
Sweet, rich, fragrant, smooth.
His great-grandfather had made special notes in the Record of All Under Heaven about things that could extend one's life, and Cui Jiuyang had naturally committed every one of them to memory.
He was now certain the clay jar contained Golden Milk Stone Marrow. I'll have to drink it somewhere, so bottoms up!
It was a fine plan.
But a divine attendant lunged at him and shattered the clay jar with one swipe. The precious Golden Milk Stone Marrow spilled all over the ground, infuriating Cui Jiuyang, who had only managed three mouthfuls, into a torrent of curses.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Lady had barely fitted the Nuo Mask over her face when the nearest divine attendant lunged within reach.
Its gray-green hand shot straight for her throat, faint water vapor rising from beneath its nails.
The Ninth Lady bent backward into a deep bridge. A beam of white light shot from between the Nuo Mask's fangs and struck the divine attendant square in the face.
Bang! The divine attendant's head burst like an overripe watermelon.
Yet its headless body kept lunging forward until Cui Jiuyang, still swearing, flicked out a paper talisman and stuck it to its chest.
The talisman ignited without a flame, burning the body to ashes.
"They're hard to kill!" Sweat beaded on his forehead. Divine attendants were swarming in from all directions. Some were even climbing over the edges of the stone platform, water from the enormous lake below still dripping from their bodies.
Understanding suddenly dawned on Cui Jiuyang, followed by a measure of despair.
They moved through the Water God's lingering power. Here in this Water Palace, there was no end to them!!!
And something enormous was awakening. Wind began to stir through this realm, and the sound of waves grew louder and louder. That thing might wake fully at any moment.
Judging by its imposing presence, unless Cui Jiuyang could transform on the spot into his ascension-level great-grandfather, who had attained The Eight Extremes, he was certain to die!
On the distant steps, Togo grinned from ear to ear. "Miss Abe, look at those two Chinese vermin. Don't they look like lumps of sugar dropped into an ant nest?"
Miss Abe toyed with the ring on her index finger, sneering.
As she watched, she suddenly frowned. "What is that man doing?"
Cui Jiuyang saw the divine attendants closing in, blocking the path to the palace, then glanced at the Japanese waiting in the distance for their chance to act.
His expression shifted, and he turned, pulling the Ninth Lady back toward the Iron Rhino.
As he ran, he pulled a handful of copper coins from inside his robe, bit his finger, and drew a blood talisman on each coin.
The Ninth Lady swung the three-foot sword, severing a divine attendant's arms. "You still have time to count money?"
"This is money to buy our lives!" Cui Jiuyang scattered the copper coins toward the Iron Rhino like a shower of petals.
The coins clinked against the Iron Rhino and stuck to it, forming a strange pattern.
"I just figured something out! The Japanese never intended to wake the Malevolent Flood Dragon. They need it asleep! Think about it. If they wanted to wake it, they'd have done it already. Why go to all the trouble of bringing this huge Iron Rhino to the Water God’s Tomb?"
The Ninth Lady's expression hardened. "You're going to wake the Malevolent Flood Dragon?"
Cui Jiuyang grinned. "I hope those Japanese see what I'm doing and think the same damn thing!"
He held a copper coin between two fingers and shouted, "You two Japanese bastards! I know you're waiting for me to die! Well, you won't get the chance! I'm letting that big snake out right now, and we'll all die together! Then you can stay here and play cards with me and the Qingyuan Water God!"
With that, he flung the coin, striking the top of the Iron Rhino's head.
All the coins stuck to the Iron Rhino began to vibrate. Mere copper coins rang out with the clash of iron and steel.
A cold, murderous aura spread across the stone platform.
This spell was called Striking the Drum and Sounding the Metal, and could only be used after attaining Ultimate Unity. By using copper coins and his vital blood to lay out a formation, Cui Jiuyang could barely unleash seventy percent of its power.
The spell produced the martial clangor of metal, striking the enemy's mind and even plunging them into illusions.
Cui Jiuyang was merely using its metallic, murderous aura to stir the Malevolent Flood Dragon.
Before you continue