There were too many strands of hair, so dense that they were everywhere. Tens of thousands of silky threads were entwined around Li Weiyi, pulling him inch by inch into the grave with an overwhelming force that could not be resisted. He couldn’t breathe.
His nose and mouth were either buried in dirt or caught in the hair. Just as Li Weiyi was on the verge of suffocation, a surge of internal qi erupted from the sole of his right foot. Instantly, his nearly bursting lungs were relieved, and miraculously his internal qi entered a mysterious state that kept flowing.
“This qi flow, it can actually replace breathing. Does that mean I can hold my breath as long as I want from now on?”
For just a brief moment, Li Weiyi was excited, but then he was thrust back into the dangerous and terrifying reality. He struggled with all his strength, but in the process he exhausted himself completely, unable to fight off the relentless hair. Gradually, he sank deeper, the layer of dirt on his back growing thicker and thicker.
At one point, Li Weiyi felt only a bone-chilling cold emanating from beneath him. Through strands of hair, his eyes caught sight of an ice coffin glowing with a piercing white light. Inside the coffin lay a slender, long-dead figure dressed in a red robe.
The bones, lying in peace, had its hands clasped together at its lower abdomen, exuding calmness and dignity. The bones were like celestial jade, and bright red veins of blood flowed across them… Astonishingly, some of the blood had been preserved, and it contained extraordinary vitality.
All the hair had grown out of the head of that skeleton, stretching out along the cracks of the ice coffin.
“It really is a resurrection! That shouldn’t be possible. They should have all turned to white bones, so how could it suddenly awaken?”
Li Weiyi thought.
“And this ice… it’s melting…”
As the coffin melted, Li Weiyi’s entire body became wet. The coffin lid was growing ever thinner. His sense of crisis intensified; surely nothing could pull him down but it wasn’t because that one person lying below was feeling lonely?
If he didn’t break free soon, once the coffin completely melted, he too might turn into nothing but white bones. Then he remembered—the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish. That Chan Sect treasure was still in his hand.
Those two fish eyes, of great origin, could surely subdue the red-robed celestial beauty in the coffin—no, scratch that! It was nothing more than a white bone demon now. Back then, it seemed the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish was activated only after coming into contact with his blood, releasing green light and scarlet glow.
No matter what, he decided to treat a dead horse as if it were a live one. At the exact moment when the coffin lid had melted through completely, Li Weiyi summoned his strength. Struggling against the hair coiled around his right arm, he forcefully pulled that hand—which still gripped the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish—backwards.
Immediately, his wrist came into contact with the uneven, melted edge of the coffin lid.
“Bang!”
As Li Weiyi tumbled into the coffin, his wrist scraped against the sharp edge. Fresh blood burst out and immediately flowed down his arm towards his palm. The white bone demon was so rough, with not a shred of flesh on it.
Falling onto it, Li Weiyi was battered all over. To make matters worse, the hair was so tightly bound that he couldn’t move at all, forced to passively contact it.
Li Weiyi’s eyes were nearly pressed into the deep sockets of the skull, his nose sunk into its cavity, and his lips were held in place by a set of snow-white teeth. The hair coiled tighter and tighter… Li Weiyi’s body felt as if it were about to be crushed to pieces.
The most tormented parts—his lips, cheeks, shoulders, and hips—were already battered, with skin broken and fresh blood flowing. Strangely, that blood was being absorbed, seeping into the white bones.
“Is it trying to devour every bit of my flesh and blood? Could it be trying to come back to life?”
Li Weiyi thought, his consciousness growing hazy as the hair and the white bones pressed him down. Even the scalding qi within him receded. What was even more terrifying was that an icy force spread from the skull’s forehead, penetrating into his brow, causing his whole body to shudder violently.
“Hua!”
Just at the moment when Li Weiyi was almost sure he would be toyed with to death, the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish finally reacted, bursting out with green light and scarlet glow. The hair that had entangled Li Weiyi scattered like dry straw caught by flames. Li Weiyi finally broke free, sitting up.
He slapped once on the skull’s head, making it turn away.
“That’s just too bullying. I have to vent this anger out.”
The Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish flashed brightly for a moment, then dimmed again. Terrified, Li Weiyi immediately fled, unable to risk further punishment. While climbing over the mound of graves, he came upon the Yellow Dragon Sword.
As he leapt down with the sword in hand, he suddenly heard the sound of wind chimes coming from a slate stele. Black hair, like a dark cloud full of sinuous serpents, rushed out from a pit at the top of the grave mound towards Li Weiyi.
In an instant, within an area of five zhang, hair danced wildly through the air. Li Weiyi wasn’t sure if the activation of the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish was indeed caused by his blood. Should he become entangled in the ice coffin again, he might not be able to escape.
“Swish! Swish! Swish…”
His legs dodged and leaped swiftly as the Yellow Dragon Sword was swung repeatedly. With the surging scalding qi flowing from the sole of his right foot to his right hand, a faint layer of golden light shimmered upon the sword’s edge. With sweeping horizontal cuts, the sword’s arcs shone like crescents in the moonlight, dazzling in their brilliance.
The black hair that was struck by the sword turned instantly into wisps of smoke, vanishing into the air. That sword had clearly transformed into a demon-slaying blade, one that demons and fiends dared not approach. …
On the deck near the medical tent, several tens of people—men, women, old and young—had their hands bound behind their backs, sitting or lying near the railings. Some were barely conscious from having eaten a medicated breakfast.
The clear-minded members of the expedition team had faces full of anger as they denounced Chen Hong, Kong Fan, and others who stood not far away. Kong Fan, the head chef, was a short, stout man in his forties. His white chef’s uniform was stained with grease and fresh blood.
Three other members of the kitchen team were dragging injured people from inside the medical tent one by one. Professor Xu had both his legs broken and was being pulled out by a young cook who had grabbed one of his arms.
Pain contorted Professor Xu’s face, and between laughing and crying he howled, “Even animals return to their true nature… When they sense danger, they attack and kill. When food is scarce, they resort to cannibalism.
Unrestrained human nature will allow all kinds of evil to run wild, unbridled… desires… madness…”
“Old fart, you’ve been eating more than anyone lately. With all that whining, it seems your strength’s all in your mouth now!”
Kong Fan sneered at Professor Xu, holding a long-standing grudge against him. These past few days, Professor Xu had increased his intake so much that his students ran to the kitchen tent several times a day, causing him endless trouble.
Of course, neither Kong Fan nor those students knew that most of the food Professor Xu ate was actually being fed to the person sleeping in the nearby bunk. Professor Xu’s head was then forcefully kicked twice by Kong Fan. Fresh blood spurted from his mouth and he fell silent immediately.
“Bang! Bang… Bang…”
A series of gunshots rang out. Moments later, Xie Tianshu emerged from the dense nether fog with a grim face. Wearing a dragon-pattern ring on his left thumb and holding a handgun in his right hand, he appeared resolute.
Four members of the security team dragged along two corpses and then threw them in front of the onlookers. When they saw Captain Gao Xin’s corpse and that of another crew member, the earlier shouts of accusation turned into shrieks and cries. Some, completely frightened, couldn’t even breathe, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
“You actually killed people? What did Captain Gao do to provoke you? You’re utterly lawless,” Professor Xu roared in anger.
Xie Tianshu, a man with a calm and steady demeanor, patiently explained, “Professor, we’re now in that ghost wasteland world where no land can be seen. There’s neither law nor heaven here. The captain was a good man, but good men are doomed to be the first eliminated in such a harsh environment.”
“You’re a professor of biology, you should know better than anyone that survival is the fundamental law in the universe,” he continued.
“When the environment becomes harsh, creatures grow irritable and anxious. They then actively attack their competitors. Those who don’t strike first are doomed to fail. Survival of the fittest, right? Isn’t that what you always talk about? Only by clearing out the inferior ones who drain our supplies of food and water can the superior ones have a chance to live.”
“Look, we’re civilized people. We can’t wait until our food is completely exhausted, until everyone is so weak from hunger that they turn on each other. That would be a deplorable sight. Captain Gao Xin couldn’t bring himself to be so ruthless, so it fell to me to play the villain.”
Xie Tianshu then approached Zhao Meng, knelt down and looked at his bent, broken legs with displeasure, saying, “How did your legs get beaten like this? You all were too ruthless! Brother Meng, does it hurt?
Tell you what, hand over the Buddha Relics and I promise you a quick end. I swear on heaven, I’ll keep my word.” Zhao Meng’s face turned as white as paper.
He opened his eyes and stared at Xie Tianshu indifferently. In that instant, Xie Tianshu’s gaze turned icy. In a deep voice he asked, “Have you found Li Weiyi yet?”
One member of the security team replied, “Not yet.”
“The deck isn’t that large. Where can he hide? Search every inch, dig open every mound of graves—find him, no matter what. And Xie Jin? Where’s he?”
Xie Tianshu pressed.
“He went with some men to the plantation area and hasn’t come back yet,” the security member answered.
Xie Tianshu wasn’t unaware of Xie Jin’s intentions—he must have gone after Cai Yutong.
“Brother Meng, do you know why I’m convinced the Buddha Relics are on the both of you seniors?”
Xie Tianshu smirked before continuing, “Because when the Longjihao sunk, I saw Li Weiyi burst forth with that green light and scarlet glow. The more you try to hide and deny it, the more it proves that the Buddha Relics must be on board this ship. Now that it’s out in the open, there will be much less pain.”
Zhao Meng remained silent. Gao Huan, with his hands tied behind his back, lay face-down on the cold ground. Slowly, he began to regain consciousness.
His shoulders and wrists ached terribly; his head throbbed, and his vision and hearing, once blurry, gradually cleared. When he finally saw the situation, his eyes fixed on the two corpses. His pupils contracted sharply.
He could hardly believe it. Struggling to sit up, he stared fixedly at Captain Gao Xin’s corpse and suddenly cried out, “Dad!” He sprang to his feet and rushed over.
Losing his balance, his head hit the ground near the corpse.
“Dad… Who killed my dad… Who did this? You… ah… oh…”
Gao Huan’s voice was hoarse as his heart twisted in pain. Tears mixed with the blood on the corpse. Chen Hong exclaimed in surprise, “So Captain Gao’s son is also on board.
Hiding so well…”
“Another connection, I see,” Kong Fan sneered.
“It’s just an expedition ship, yet they managed to stuff so many people on board.”
A member of the security team whispered in Xie Tianshu’s ear, “This kid is very close to Li Weiyi. They’ve been together a lot recently. He must know where Li Weiyi is hiding.”
Xie Tianshu went over, patting him on the shoulder, and said, “Little Huan, the dead cannot be brought back. You must accept this truth. Now tell me, where is Li Weiyi?”
Gao Huan caught sight of the handgun in Xie Tianshu’s hand—a weapon that originally belonged to his father—and he immediately knew who his executioner was.
“I’ll kill you!”
With gritted teeth, he charged forward fiercely. Xie Tianshu quickly stepped back. Gao Huan collided with empty air and fell to the ground.
Before he could get up, Chen Hong had already stepped on his neck with his boot, the hard sole pressing against his ear and drawing blood. Chen Hong said, “Don’t act like you’re too good for punishment. Can’t you see the situation clearly?”
“I can see you… your mother…”
Gao Huan shouted hoarsely. Chen Hong’s eyes darkened. With a swift kick, he nearly flipped Gao Huan over, leaving him too stunned to curse out anymore.
From within the nether fog came the sound of chaotic footsteps and curses. Xie Jin and three others returned, dragging five students from the plantation area. They looked upon the grim scene on the deck.
The students, who had been so fired up just moments ago, now fell silent in terror, as still as winter crickets. Two of the girls lowered their heads, their legs trembling violently.
(end of Chapter)