Tomb Guardians

Just out of the wolf's den and into the tiger's mouth?

Fatso and I exchanged wry smiles. No wonder Zhang Jinya and his crew refused to go any further upon reaching this point. It turns out there's a dead end ahead!

Given the current situation, if we want to escape through the opened tomb passage, we'll definitely have to pass through the left and right side chambers, and an encounter with those ghostly things that patted my shoulder at the beginning is all but certain. But if we turn back, we'll be heading towards the main burial chamber, where we'll have to face the flying corpses and corpse fiends.

It seems like both options are deadly!!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang Clang Clang!

...

The footsteps in the corridor never stopped, stimulating our nerves like the call of the Grim Reaper.

"What should we do? Say something, will you!"

Zhang Jinya was anxiously howling, "We can't just stand here dumbfounded, it's like lighting a lamp in a latrine, looking for death!"

I bitterly smiled to myself. Both options were fraught with danger. Which way could we possibly go?

Can you handle flying corpses and corpse fiends?

The things in the side chambers are even more vicious, and we still have no idea what they are!!

How do we make this choice?

One wrong step, and we could lose our lives!!

"Let's head towards the tomb passage!"

At that moment, Rosa suddenly spoke up, "If we go back to the main burial chamber now, we might inadvertently draw the creatures from the side chambers there too. By then, Qingyi will definitely be under immense pressure. Not only will she be unable to suppress the flying corpses and corpse fiends, but she'll also be affected by the things from the side chambers. The likelihood of our entire team being wiped out is high, which is the worst-case scenario. So no matter what, we can't turn back!"

After Rosa said this, we thought it over carefully and it seemed to make sense. After discussing it among ourselves, we agreed—whether it's a blessing or a disaster, if it's a disaster we can't avoid it. Since there's already movement in the side chambers, an encounter with them is inevitable. Preventing them from joining the flying corpses and corpse fiends seems to be the best option for us at the moment.

Once we made up our minds, we set off.

To be honest, I still had some psychological shadows about the thing that patted my shoulder at the beginning, so I always kept the Faqiu Seal hanging at my waist and drew out the Hundred Spirits Knife, fully alert. We walked cautiously, and it took us more than ten minutes to traverse the hundred-meter-long corridor.

When we finally saw the fork in the path leading to the left and right side chambers, we all froze.

We saw soldiers in ancient military uniforms continuously emerging from the right side chamber. Judging by the style of their armor, which originated from the late Three Kingdoms period, it was the popular Mingguang armor of the Tang dynasty, with two plate-like breastplates on the chest. They held long halberds in their hands and kept assembling in the corridor. Their movements were smooth and not stiff at all, but their skin was a strange dark blue color...

There were nearly a hundred such soldiers, forming squads of ten in the corridor, constantly marching in place. The eerie footsteps we heard earlier must have been made by them.

Seeing these soldiers, my heart sank with a thud, and I felt a chill run through me!

Without a doubt, these soldiers must have been buried with Gao Xianzhi as his guardians. They were definitely not human, as how could a human's complexion be dark blue? However, their movements were fluid, and they didn't seem like the typical stiff zombies!?

Could they be flying corpses?

The thought made me shake my head vigorously. It was impossible. If hundreds of flying corpses appeared all at once, I'm afraid all the living people near the Qinling Mountains would have been wiped out.

So... what exactly were these soldiers?

My mind was full of questions, and I couldn't help but poke Fatso in the waist and ask if he recognized them. After all, Fatso spent his days exploring tombs and had a wide range of knowledge, much more than I did.

"I'm not entirely sure what they are..."

Fatso shook his head, "But if nothing else, they should be another group of Gao Xianzhi's tomb guardians!"

Tomb guardians?

I knew about this. It was written in the "Faqiu Secret Techniques." In ancient times, some emperors and nobles, to ensure that their tombs were not destroyed by tomb robbers, would create a group of "tomb guardians" in addition to the tomb's anti-theft structure and various mechanisms within the burial chambers. The idea was to use sorcery to turn living people into filthy things, sealing them forever in the tomb chambers. As soon as any grave robbers entered, these filthy things would immediately attack. It is said that the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang had the most tomb guardians. The mystery of his tomb lies in those terracotta warriors. My ancestor speculated that the terracotta warriors might have been sealed with living people inside, who were suffocated to death in the clay, leaving behind lingering resentment, eventually turning into filthy things to guard Emperor Qin's tomb.

Of course, the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang mentioned here is the real one, not the suspected tomb discovered in Shaanxi. A suspected tomb refers to a fake grave, specifically designed to confuse tomb robbers, also a kind of anti-theft measure. The contents inside are worthless. The tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang that has been excavated is actually a suspected tomb, and the terracotta warriors inside are not tomb guardians, just made of clay!

The corpse fiends in this Gao Xianzhi's tomb were tomb guardians, and I didn't expect there to be another batch here!

However, the exact method used to create these tomb guardians was unknown, and we knew nothing about their characteristics...

"Alright, let's not worry about what these things are for now, let's think about what to do!"

Zhang Jinya peeked around the corner at those eerie soldiers and said in a deep voice, "I counted them, exactly one hundred. There are only four of us here, and if we count Zhou Jing and Heizi, the kids, we can barely make one more. Five against one hundred is like delivering food!"

"There's no need for a desperate fight!"

Rosa said in a deep voice, "It seems impossible for us to run to the ancillary chamber now. We can only take refuge in the left side chamber, which is still relatively calm for the time being. When we came, I noticed that the door of the left side chamber was a stone gate, very sturdy. As long as we hide inside, we should be able to hold out for a while. In a moment, we'll go together. I'll provide fire support. When I need to reload, Xiao Tian, you take over. We can alternate back and forth, holding on for a while shouldn't be difficult. Once Zhang Jinya and Fatso pry open the door of the left side chamber, we'll retreat inside. We'll wait for Qingyi to deal with the things on the other side and come to our aid. Without Qingyi, we can hardly move an inch in this tomb chamber!"

After discussing it, we felt that Rosa's plan was quite feasible, so we all agreed.

Rosa was decisive. Seeing that we all agreed, she grabbed her shotgun without a word, cocked it twice to load the bullets, and then charged out from around the corner.

Seeing her take action, I couldn't care about Zhang Jinya and Fatso anymore. I picked up the Hundred Spirits Knife and followed her out. At this moment, those eerie soldiers also noticed us. The front dozen or so soldiers "clacked" their rusty halberds towards Rosa and me.

Seeing this, my scalp tingled—I had no idea what sorcery had created these soldiers, but it seemed that after becoming tomb guardians, they still retained their combat instincts from when they were alive. This was going to be troublesome. The soldiers who were chosen to be buried with Gao Xianzhi were likely not ordinary people; they must have been elite troops in the military. It's difficult to gain an advantage when fighting such ghostly things.

Bang!

At this moment, Rosa, the fierce woman, had already fired. She opened fire when she was twenty or thirty steps away from the soldiers, and her shotgun spat out a long tongue of flame, instantly blowing the front two soldiers into two pieces, scattering silvery-grey liquid all over the corridor. It didn't look like blood, but more like melted silver!

Although I was curious about what was inside those soldiers, I was somewhat relieved—it seemed that these soldiers were not as invulnerable as the flying corpses and corpse fiends. At least there was hope!

Rosa also noticed this and became even more aggressive. In a blink of an eye, she had blown away seven or eight soldiers. We were getting closer and closer to the remaining soldiers, and I could almost clearly see the features on the dark blue faces of those soldiers!

"Xiao Tian, I'm out of bullets, you're up!"

Suddenly, Rosa called out to me, and I was in a tough spot. You charge up to their faces and then tell me to take over?

As those soldiers charged towards us, I was somewhat fearful but had to steel myself and charge forward, roaring to bolster my courage. I rushed past Rosa towards the front two soldiers, raised my knife to deflect their incoming halberds, but the force that came back was so strong that not only did I fail to deflect their weapons, I was thrown against the stone wall of the corridor, seeing stars and tasting blood in my mouth, probably from biting my tongue.

Before I could react, the two soldiers had already retracted their halberds and stabbed at me again!

Cursing my luck, I ducked and rolled on the ground to avoid being stabbed. I did all these actions with my eyes closed, and when I opened them, I found myself right under the feet of the two soldiers. Without thinking, I swung my knife at their feet, cutting off their legs with one strike. The silvery-grey liquid splashed all over my face, and it was only then that I realized it was... mercury?!

The two soldiers I had cut down also fell, but they didn't die. Instead, they started crawling towards me, scaring me into retreating!

Bang Bang Bang!

The sudden gunfire directly blew the heads off the two soldiers whose legs I had cut off, splashing silvery-grey mercury all over me. I looked up to see Rosa had reloaded and was firing again. This time, Zhang Jinya joined in, wielding the submachine gun Rosa had been carrying on her back and spraying bullets at the soldiers, knocking down a bunch in an instant. They stepped over me and charged forward.

I watched the soldiers fall one by one, still somewhat in shock. You never know how formidable they are until you face them head-on. The force of their initial strike left a deep impression on me. These creatures were terrifyingly strong, much more formidable than ghost soldiers, and I had no idea what they were, with their bodies full of mercury!

"Hey, Xiao Tian, what are you dazing off for? Hurry up and come in!"

Suddenly, I heard Fatso's voice. I looked up to see that Rosa and Zhang Jinya had already made their way to the front of the left side chamber without me realizing it. Fatso had pried open the door, and they were retreating into the left side chamber!

I wanted to slap myself. What was I still pondering about at a time like this? If Zhang Jinya and Rosa went in, and there was no one left to suppress the fire, what would I do?

With this thought, I grabbed the Hundred Spirits Knife and ran over as fast as I could, reaching my limit. In just a few steps, I reached the front of the left side chamber. By then, Zhang Jinya had already gone in, and after firing another shot, Rosa also retreated inside. I was the only one left outside, and as the remaining soldiers were about to pounce on me, I was so scared that I threw myself to the ground and crawled towards the gap in the door that Fatso had pried open. Just as my head got through, I felt a cold sensation on my ankle—a cold hand had grabbed my foot at that moment!!