Has Plot Correction Started?

The three of them walked down into the valley and saw a stream ahead of them. It was five meters wide, and there was no telling how deep it was. Sheer cliffs rose on both sides. It looked like they had found the right place. Now that they were at the exact spot, Yu Zhi took out the boat he had prepared beforehand. What a joke. He knew the plot inside out, so how could he not have made arrangements?

Hei Xiazi was still amazed when he saw Yu Zhi wave his hand and produce a boat on the bank, his eyes full of envy. But he also knew that something like that had to be a treasure, so he tactfully refrained from asking anything.

"We're going into that cave next. Get ready. I think there are two things in there you can devour."

"You mean the female ghost that knelt to him and the Corpse Bug King?" Blind Man understood.

"That's right. Both of them are good stuff for you."

"Let's go."

The three of them jumped into the boat. It was a wooden boat with sheet iron wrapped around both sides, now covered in iron-red rust. The wood was full of scratches, but the oar handles were smooth, obviously from frequent use. The boat looked quite old overall. It was only about two meters long and less than half a meter wide. Yu Zhi had bought it from a local fisherman by the river. The Corpse Cave was very narrow, so it was convenient to get an old, rickety little boat like this and treat it as disposable.

Zhang Qiling sat sideways in the bow, Hei Xiazi rowed in the middle, and Yu Zhi sat sideways in the stern. Layer upon layer of mountains rose steeply on both banks, and the stream glimmered with a faint green light.

"I've got to say, this place really is like the book described. Honestly, Blind Man-ptui, force of habit." Hei Xiazi had almost referred to himself as Blind Man again. "I mean, it's still hard to believe."

"Won't we know once we take a look?"

As they spoke, the three made their way upstream and soon rounded several broad bends. The scenery along the way was beautiful, but none of them had the heart to admire it. They concentrated entirely on counting the bends and noting the landmarks they passed, matching them to the words in their heads. At last, they saw the cave in the distance.

Yu Zhi let out a long sigh, then breathed a sigh of relief. He sighed because things really were as described, and it was as if he could see the tragic fate that awaited Zhang Qiling, with others plotting against him. He was relieved because this place had been described in great detail in the book. If it was exactly the same, that gave him a little confidence about what they would encounter next. Although there were still many mysteries, he would protect his god.

"Well, well, it really is exactly the same. Say, Xiao Yu, you wouldn't happen to be an immortal who descended to earth to save Mute-ptui, to save Baldy, would you?" Hei Xiazi put on another strange grin.

Yu Zhi looked at Zhang Qiling and thought of the name Baldy. He was so distraught he wanted to scream. The name was such a defilement. "Brother Qi, call him something else, please!"

Zhang Qiling, on the other hand, took it well. He didn't care what anyone called him.

"Hahaha, Xiao Yu, you should know that all men turn bald in the end. I'm just getting you used to it early." Hei Xiazi turned around and gave Yu Zhi another cheeky grin.

"I can't accept it. Change it right now, or I'll have Xiaoguan beat you up," Yu Zhi protested.

Hearing that, Zhang Qiling turned around and gave the man in the stern a long look. He suddenly remembered the man saying before that his attraction had begun with Zhang Qiling's looks. It seemed that had been the truth. He really couldn't go bald.

"All right, all right, whatever you say, whatever you say. I really am a poor soul. I have to work and get beaten up for it. Then I'll just call him Old Yu." Hei Xiazi kept muttering, but his hands moved quickly, and the boat swiftly approached the cave entrance.

"Hahaha, Old Yu makes him sound several generations older than me. That works too!"

"Mm." Zhang Qiling nodded without looking back.

While they were talking, the three had nearly entered the cave. The whole cave was like a funnel-shaped hole, wider on the outside and narrower the farther in they went. Eventually, they had to crouch in the boat to keep from hitting their heads. There was still some light at the entrance, but it grew darker the farther they went.

"Old Yu, there's no room to row in here. No wonder they needed a dog to pull the boat."

"It's fine. Take a rest. I have a way." Yu Zhi released spiritual power from his hands and began controlling the boat, moving it slowly forward.

"Spiritual power really is good stuff. I'll have to cultivate diligently from now on," Hei Xiazi remarked.

"Shh, there's a sound. Something's wrong." Zhang Qiling made a hand signal, and the boat stopped.

Both men pricked up their ears. Hei Xiazi couldn't hear anything, but Yu Zhi could. The sound was very faint and quite far away, at least a kilometer off. Fortunately, Zhang Qiling and Yu Zhi had already reached the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining, so it was only natural that Hei Xiazi couldn't hear it.

The three held their breath and waited intently for the legendary swarm of corpse bugs to appear. But after they waited quietly for several minutes, the sound grew fainter and fainter, until the rustling could no longer be heard.

"Something's not right, Xiaoguan. They're not coming for us."

"Mm. Keep going."

Yu Zhi channeled his spiritual power to guide the boat forward more gently and slowly. After they had drifted about a hundred meters, a tremendous scream suddenly rang out, echoing through the cave. This time, even Hei Xiazi heard it.

"Holy shit, there are people up ahead."

When Yu Zhi heard the sound, his first thought was whether it might be a young Wu Sansheng and his companions, or a group connected to the Nine Gates. "Brother Qi, who in the Nine Gates has seen you without your glasses?"

Hei Xiazi froze for a moment, then understood what he meant. "Don't worry. Everyone who saw me is dead. No one's seen me."

"Then change your jacket and keep your expression under control. Look proper and serious. We'll go meet that group in a bit." Yu Zhi took a white jacket out of his space.

"Come on, Xiao Yu, you didn't have to give me a white one, did you? I'll be a walking target. How cruel of you!" Hei Xiazi launched into an exaggerated performance.

"Make do with it. And Xiaoguan, watch your right hand later. Don't let anyone see it." Yu Zhi began to fret.

"Mm."

It couldn't be helped. His features were far too distinctive: the Faqiu Finger, that handsome face, and his unique bearing made him too easy to recognize. After thinking it over, Yu Zhi was still uneasy, so he released his spiritual force and covered Zhang Qiling's face with it.

"Damn, Xiao Yu, since you can do that, why don't you change my face?" Hei Xiazi muttered as he watched Zhang Qiling's handsome face slowly turn into an ordinary, unremarkable one.

Zhang Qiling shot him a cutting glare, making Hei Xiazi's back go cold.

Yu Zhi looked at Blind Man in disgust, then said slowly and quietly, "Because I don't want to feel your face inch by inch with my spiritual force. It's no different from touching it with my hands."

"Uh, don't get the wrong idea! I don't want that either!" Hei Xiazi felt he had run his mouth and said the wrong thing again. It hadn't mattered if he said the wrong thing before, because others couldn't beat him. That wouldn't work here. He might end up getting thrashed.

"Quiet."

The boat stopped when it was about a hundred meters from the group. There happened to be a small bend here that could conceal the boat. If there had been light, they certainly wouldn't have been able to hide, but it was dark and chaotic over there now, and no one noticed a boat approaching.

All three could see in the dark and had brought no lighting equipment. They quietly watched the people fighting over there. Three or four boats were linked bow to stern, with six people still standing aboard. There was no telling how many were struggling underwater, but the battle was drawing to a close.

"Do you two know them?" Yu Zhi used his spiritual power to deal with the stray corpse bugs that had made their way to their boat, then picked one up and examined it closely to see what it actually looked like. These things were veteran performers in tomb-raiding novels, but he had never been able to picture one. Today, his curiosity was finally satisfied.

Zhang Qiling and Hei Xiazi watched Yu Zhi turn the corpse bug over and over. It didn't look as though he had found any clues. He just looked like a curious child.

"Would you look at that? They're all old acquaintances. The one in gray on the boat closest to us is Wu Sansheng. The person he's reaching out to pull up is Qi Yu. The one wearing a hat on the second boat is Xie Lianhuan, and the others beside him are his men. The two women over there are Huo Ling and Chen Wenjin. It doesn't look like any of Zhang Dafoye's people are here." Hei Xiazi named them as easily as if listing his own treasures.

Yu Zhi wore an expression that said he had expected as much. He knew this feeling all too well. "The legendary plot correction. We have to be careful and keep Xiaoguan's identity hidden. If all else fails, we'll push Brother Qi out there. He's thick-skinned and tough enough to take a beating."

"You living King of Hell. What's plot correction?"

"Plot correction-you can think of it as something originally ordained by fate encountering an unexpected change. But to keep the outcome the same, it uses events different from the original plot to forcibly bend things back into place." Yu Zhi spoke viciously through clenched teeth.

"Got it. To put it plainly, it's a puppet show. So what do we do now? Go out, or...?"

"No. Once they've left, we'll wait here for the Corpse Bug King. The corpse bugs here haven't gone berserk, so the Corpse Bug King should still be alive. We can't waste a single needle or thread," Yu Zhi explained quietly.

"Xiaoguan, keep an eye out for the Corpse Bug King and alert me when you spot it. Hold it down. I don't know what the thing looks like. Don't kill it."

"Mm, all right."

"We'll definitely run into them later. What do we do?" Hei Xiazi asked.

"There's a corpse fiend up ahead. Even without Qilin Blood, it'll give them plenty to deal with. I'll do most of the talking later. Neither of you likes to talk." Although he said it to both of them, he was mainly glaring at Hei Xiazi. His mouth ran too much.

Hei Xiazi simply made a gesture of sealing his mouth and didn't say a word.

"Once they've gone a little farther, we'll make our move."