Buried Together Alive; No Resting in Peace in the Earth

Xie Lian said in a low whisper, "…There's no way it can steal behind us and do something so major without us noticing."

Even if Xie Lian didn't believe in his own ability to observe, he believed in Hua Cheng's.

Besides, when it came to gut instincts for danger, he honestly did trust himself quite a bit.

"Let's retrace our steps and see," Hua Cheng said.

The two walked side-by-side and returned the way they came, turning and rounding corners in the cave for a while before they came to a stop.

It wasn't that they voluntarily stopped; rather, there was no more path to go on and they were forced to stop. Even though that tunnel was winding and full of turns, it was still only just the one path. Yet now, before they had even reached the starting point, there was a cold, hard stone wall that had appeared out of nowhere!

The two never faltered. Xie Lian wondered, "Is this an illusion or is this real?"

A silver butterfly languidly flew over, and tapped lightly on that rugged stone wall. There was nothing out of place, but it was forced back.

"It's real," Hua Cheng said.

Xie Lian nodded. "Then, this is troublesome."

There were usually two types of demonic walls: the first type made one see an illusion, meaning one would think there was a wall when there actually wasn't one. This type was easy to get rid of; just touch it or give yourself a slap, or pour a bucket of cold water to wake up then go on to touch it.

The second type muddled one's sense of direction and memories of the path. This type was a little more powerful. For example, at a fork in the road, when you thought you had chosen the left, in reality your mind was confounded and you actually went right instead. And the so-called "Devil's Roundabout" boiled down to nothing but a small trick: when people step with their left and right feet, there is naturally a slight deviation between the steps, and inhuman creatures can confound one's mind to widen this deviation. Thus, without knowing, when you thought you had been walking in a straight line, in reality you were walking in a large circle. Once you rounded back to where you started, you would be puzzled: Eh? How did I end up back here again?!

However, to the two of them, both methods were but meager tricks. As for this cold stone wall before them, it was actually the third type: it was real.

Xie Lian was just thinking on whether he should brutishly punch through this wall to see what was behind it, when he heard Hua Cheng speak up.

"Gege, give me your hand."

Xie Lian: "?"

Although puzzled, he still obediently gave Hua Cheng his hand. Hua Cheng gently grasped his hand and held it in his palm, his other hand hovering over like he was putting something on him.

Xie Lian held his breath for a moment. Soon after, he raised his hand, curious.

"This is?"

On the third finger of his left hand was a very thin red string, and it was Hua Cheng who had personally tied it on him. This red string also extended out, long and ceaselessly connecting with the red string knotted around Hua Cheng's finger.

Hua Cheng raised his own hand and showed him the tiny red butterfly knot that was now identical on both their fingers. He smiled.

"Now we're joined together."

Hearing this, Xie Lian could feel his face grow hot. Maybe he was a little too self-conscious; he hurriedly rubbed his face, scared that Hua Cheng might notice his heart was beating faster than normal. He smiled back.

"Is this some sort of a spell?"

"En." Hua Cheng straightened his expression somewhat and dropped his hand. "Even though we won't be separating voluntarily, but just in case. This string won't break, and won't grow shorter. If the string doesn't break, then it means the person on the other end is alright. Unless the person is no more, otherwise, this string will for sure lead to the other."

"What do you mean 'no more'?" Xie Lian asked.

"Dead, or dissipated," Hua Cheng explained.

Xie Lian was about to speak, when suddenly, the faint sounds of tremors came from the distance.

He listened tensely and wondered, "Is someone throwing fists?"

This power and frequency, it was as if someone was throwing punches heavily at the body of the mountain.

Xie Lian remarked, "This power definitely doesn't belong to a mortal, it must be a martial god. Could it be General Pei?"

"It's coming from ahead of us," Hua Cheng observed.

This "ahead" naturally meant the way they had intended to head in, but then had to turn back because Pei Ming and the others disappeared halfway. However, Pei Ming and the others disappeared behind them, so how could they suddenly reappear ahead? And if it wasn't Pei Ming, then who could it be?

The two exchanged a look and walked side-by-side, ready to check things out. However, halfway down the path, that mountain- punching sound suddenly disappeared. It was unknown whether it was intentional, or because the energy fueling it had been depleted.

But since they had already come this far, why would they turn back? Thus, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng continued to walk in the direction where the sound had come from. A few silver butterflies danced in the bluish darkness of the cave ahead of them, lighting their way. Suddenly, Xie Lian sharply caught sight of something odd on the stone wall on the side.

"What's that? A red string?"

From afar, they really couldn't tell what it was, but it was exceedingly bizarre. It looked like a red string, but much thicker. It kept twisting, appearing more like a long, red worm. Xie Lian approached and looked at it closely.

"Isn't this Banyue's scorpion-snake?"

Sure enough, it was the bottom half of one of the wine-red scorpion-snakes, twisting and throwing its body. Its upper body seemed to be buried in the stone wall.

Xie Lian wondered, "Did it crawl into a hole and couldn't get out?"

"Probably not," Hua Cheng said.

This scorpion- snake's entire body was hung in mid- air; snakes didn't climb walls, so how could it have slithered to such a height before crawling into a hole? Besides, there were many holes on this stone wall, so if it must slither, why pick such a small one? This "hole" was also strange; it was almost the exact same shape as the snake's body, which was why it trapped it so completely.

Xie Lian had wanted to grab hold of that snake and pull it out to see, but that snake was abnormally alert, swinging its tail madly, randomly pricking, almost stinging Xie Lian. Thus, Hua Cheng flicked it. It looked like he did so very casually, but that snake seemed to have been shocked by it and became too stunned to move. Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and was just about to speak when he suddenly closed his mouth.

"Do you hear that?"

"I hear it," Hua Cheng said.

The two looked ahead at the same time.

In the darkness, there was the sound of low breathing, very steady, very calm.

The two wraith butterflies dallied and danced around each other, and fluttered towards that breathing sound, flying higher and higher, the silver light also lifting higher. Gradually, a pair of hands were illuminated.

It was the hands of a person. The hands of a man. The back of the hands were spotted with blood, covered with gashes, drooping down like the dead's. Going up further, the messy head of a person was illuminated, and that head was also drooping as if dead.

However, there was no lower body.

That's right. This person who was "hung" so highly upon the stone wall didn't have a lower body. He only bore an upper body, like he was grown straight out of the stone wall!

In the past, Xie Lian had seen some nobles and aristocrats who, when they'd successfully hunted rare game, would cut off the game's head, treat it with chemical solutions to prevent it from rotting, and hang it on the walls of their residence. The sight before him now reminded him of the heads of tigers, bucks, wolves, and other such beasts that were hung on those walls neatly in a row. However, this man was clearly still breathing, so he was still alive!

Xie Lian took a step closer. "What is this creature? The true body of the mountain spirit?"

However, there was no response coming from next to him. Xie Lian suddenly felt his heart go cold. He whipped his head around and sure enough—Hua Cheng was gone!

"SAN LANG?!" Xie Lian exclaimed.

Naturally, no one answered, but the man hung on the wall mumbled, like he was talking in his sleep but about to wake. Under the current circumstances, however, Xie Lian had not a bit of interest in him. He turned around in a circle twice standing where he was, when suddenly, he remembered the red string tied around his finger and raised it in cheer. Sure enough, that red string was still there, unbroken. Thus, Xie Lian relaxed a little, and he picked up that red string, pulling it as he walked. Walked and walked, and reached the end of the thread.

The other end of this red string was linked into a stone wall!

Xie Lian couldn't believe it. He yanked at it twice, but more red string was pulled out incessantly from within the stone wall, making him wonder: was Hua Cheng actually inside this stone wall at this very moment?

When he thought that might be a possibility, without another word, Xie Lian raised Fangxin and was ready to shatter this wall. Yet unexpectedly, the tip of his sword hadn't even touched the stone wall when his sight suddenly went black. As if the stone wall before him suddenly opened a giant mouth, it howled and swallowed his entire person whole!

The blackness didn't go away quickly, and as Xie Lian was swallowed, it grew darker and darker. All around was sand and mud crushing at him, exceedingly suffocating. The sand and mud was also moving endlessly; the feeling was like he was swallowed into the stomach of a giant monster, and that monster had also eaten a bunch of other things besides him, tumbling everything in its stomach, trying to digest. It also felt like he had sunk into quicksand, unable to exert power though he had the strength, and the more he tried to struggle the deeper he'd sink. Xie Lian wanted to break the wall to escape, but then thought perhaps Hua Cheng could be in here. So, instead of backing out he moved forward, swinging his arms to break away the earth and sand as he pulled at the red string to continue onwards. Just then, a hand suddenly stretched out, seizing his wrist without fault. Xie Lian was alarmed.

"WHO?!"

The moment he opened his mouth it was filled with a mouthful of mud, and he spat it out miserably. As for that hand, it clutched him and pulled, pulling him into someone's arms, a familiar voice coming from above his head.

"Gege, it's me!"

Hearing that voice, Xie Lian's entire person relaxed. He hugged the other tightly, blurting, "…Thank goodness, the red string didn't break. I really did find you!"

Hua Cheng also embraced him back tightly, speaking with conviction, "It didn't break! I've found you too."

Turns out, the weird incident that happened to the two was the same. Xie Lian was observing that half-bodied man hung high on the wall, and Hua Cheng was keeping an eye on their surroundings, guarding against anything that might ambush them from the shadows. Yet unexpectedly, it only took a blink of an eye for Xie Lian who was standing next to him to disappear; a stone wall erected out of nowhere standing in his stead. Hua Cheng pulled at the red string, searching as he followed, and discovered the ends were linked into the wall, so he went in directly to look for Xie Lian.

In truth, from the very beginning, there was just the extra wall separating them. But both had thought the other was within the wall, so they both went in at the same time. Xie Lian repeated again for the umpteeth time mentally that Hua Cheng really thought of everything.

"Thank goodness we're linked by a red string! Otherwise, who knows if we'd find each other. No wonder General Pei and the others disappeared so abruptly, so it wasn't anyone who ambushed, but rather…they were swallowed by the mountain spirit."

"That's right," Hua Cheng said. "We didn't pick a good spot, and ended up digging right into the stomach of the mountain spirit."

Xie Lian cleared his throat softly.

That's right. They were currently, no doubt, in the stomach of one of the three mountain spirits. At the time when Yin Yu asked Xie Lian whether to dig upwards, the chosen location just happened to be the resting place of these mountain spirits, and Xie Lian cheerfully agreed. His luck truly was completely out of this world, no lie. The sand and mud from all around were crushing their space, squishing tighter and tighter, becoming more and more suffocating. Xie Lian felt they really shouldn't stay in that place any longer.

He asked, "How do we get out now?"

Hua Cheng replied, "It got dug through at the bottom, so it's not very happy. It's trying to digest us at the moment, so it's a bit troublesome. But, rest assured, gege, we'll get out eventually." Then, he joked, "To die buried together¹ probably feels like this."

When Xie Lian heard he was slightly taken aback, but the corners of his lips actually curved upwards. When he noticed, he hastily suppressed it.

"The half-bodied man outside was probably also swallowed by the mountain spirit. The mountain-punching sound we heard must be him trying to escape, pounding at the stone walls. He and that scorpion-snake are the same; they weren't swallowed fully, and were only half-devoured."

Which was why the effect was exceedingly creepy.

"But, he's not someone from the party that came to Mount Tong'lu with us," Hua Cheng pointed out.

Xie Lian suddenly recalled that messy hair and said, "Wait, I know who that was. It was probably Qi Ying!"

Hua Cheng thought for a bit before he seemed to remember. "Oh, the one with the curly hair."

"I wonder if he's alright," Xie Lian said. "Did he pass out? He seemed to have lost consciousness earlier."

"He's fine, just asleep," Hua Cheng said.

"…How do you know?" Xie Lian asked.

"I left a few silver butterflies outside," Hua Cheng said. "I sent one over just now. My right eye can see the present situation outside."

Just as the words left his lips, he "hm?"-ed lightly, seeming to have seen something strange.

"What's happened outside?" Xie Lian asked.

Hua Cheng didn't say anything, only bowing his head slightly, gently lifting Xie Lian's chin as the two touched foreheads. Xie Lian's eyes widened, but then he closed his eyes, then reopened his eyes.

"This is…truly magical."

His right eye seemed to see a scene completely different than what was before him. Although still dark, he could still see the general silhouettes of things.

This silver butterfly that was monitoring the external world seemed to be hiding behind a bunch of weeds. Below the scene, a black shadow was slowly approaching.

Xie Lian whispered, "Someone's come, I wonder who it is. Where is your silver butterfly hiding? Would it be discovered?"

"It's in his hair," Hua Cheng said. "The light is hidden, it won't be discovered."

That black shadow finally approached close enough and lifted his head, his face pale white.

"Yin Yu?" Xie Lian said.

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Translator Notes:

¹"Same quilt when alive; same cave (grave) when dead": This is a verse from "The Propitious Pavilion of Romance", one of the tales recorded in the book "Mount QingPing Hall Novella Collection", which is the oldest recorded novella collection in Chinese history. This verse describes a married couple who are intimately in love. When Hua Cheng said "To die buried together", he was quoting the second half of this verse, which basically has the same sentiment as "not even death shall part us"