Chapter 122: Strange

The entire tomb passage was pitch black and dead silent, like a stagnant pool of water. Only the three of us’ footsteps echoed through the corridor. It did not feel like anyone had ever come here before.

Darkness and silence together felt like the gaping mouth of a monster, ready to swallow a person whole. Especially inside the Hungry Ghost Tomb, there was an indescribable energy field that subtly dragged people’s emotions toward negativity.

Fear, irritability, heaviness...

So we moved forward in silence. One after another, the hungry ghost relief carvings flashed past in the edge of our vision. I did not even bother to look directly at those lifelike carvings. At that moment, I only had one thought, find Master and the others as quickly as possible.

After about five dull minutes of walking, a small open door appeared in front of us. My first thought was the secret chamber Guo Er had mentioned before, the Gu breeding chamber.

“Do we go in and take a look?” I turned back and asked Su Rou and Ling Ruyue.

Su Rou nodded, and Ling Ruyue also agreed. But at this moment, she took out Hua Feifei and let it climb onto her shoulder.

I really wanted to scold Ling Ruyue. Did she think this tomb was not strange enough already? A little girl with a spider on her shoulder, the scene looked as bizarre as it could get, and it only made people feel more suffocated.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to hold back the urge to curse. I did not know why, but ever since entering this place, I had become unusually irritable, and that irritability came with impulse.

The three of us entered the secret chamber. When the oil lamp lit up the room, Su Rou could not help but shout, “Master Jiang and the others have been here!”

It was exactly as he said. The entire chamber was originally supposed to have many jars according to Guo Er’s description, filled with eggs of the hungry ghost worms, but now the floor was covered in shattered fragments. The jars had clearly been smashed.

On the walls, there had originally been many pipes connected to a large vessel above, according to Guo Er’s description. My master had once said that the large vessel was used to cultivate a chamber’s worm king. But now, those pipes were twisted and broken, and the large vessel above had tilted to one side. I knew this was done by Guo Er and the others.

It seemed Master and the others had indeed been here, but they had entered the tomb in the morning. Why was there still no movement now? The entire tomb was so silent. Where had they gone?

“There is nothing much to see here, right?” Su Rou looked at the mess and suggested leaving.

But Ling Ruyue crouched down, picked up a fragment and examined it carefully, then brought it to her nose to smell it. The Hua Feifei on her shoulder suddenly became restless, its posture turning even more ferocious than before, as if it wanted to attack something.

“Feifei,” Ling Ruyue called softly, even gently stroking the spider as if calming it down. Could a spider even accept human comfort? In fact, the spider really did quiet down.

“What did you see?” I asked curiously, unable to help myself from questioning her actions.

“Very impressive. This kind of formula is almost lost,” Ling Ruyue said, tossing the fragment aside without explaining further. Then she said to me, “Let us go.”

We left the chamber and continued forward. The tomb passage was completely straight, without any twists or turns.

What followed was territory that Guo Er and the others had not explored. I did not know why, but my heartbeat suddenly accelerated. I felt like I was truly on an adventure. This was clearly a place my Master and the others had already been to, so why did I feel this way?

The straight passage seemed endless. After another five minutes of walking, another chamber appeared.

We exchanged a glance and entered without hesitation. Walking this straight passage was suffocating. There was nothing to see except endless hungry ghost relief carvings, no turns, no changes, just oppressive silence. Even our footsteps sounded unpleasant.

The appearance of this chamber felt like a rescue, pulling us out of that endless dullness.

“Damn it, I thought I would have to walk like this for my entire life. Looks like this passage does have an end,” Su Rou cursed. I could not blame him. Even I could barely control my temper in this place.

However, I also felt a wave of relief. The appearance of another chamber meant we were moving forward. The feeling just now really did feel like what Su Rou said, endless.

Ling Ruyue did not comment, but she began humming a tune again, a Miao ethnic tune. It seemed her mood had also relaxed.

The three of us walked into the chamber with a lighter feeling. This must have been processed by my Master and the others, nothing to worry about. And even if something went wrong, Ling Ruyue said Hua Feifei could deal with the hungry ghost worms. One chamber only had one worm king, and the eggs were not a problem.

But the moment we stepped inside, we all froze.

To be precise, we were stunned. It was the same kind of wreckage, the same absence of living things. It looked strangely familiar.

To be precise, we had just seen this exact chamber.

“Heh, heh...” Su Rou suddenly laughed foolishly for no reason. It was a sign of mental strain. He turned to me and said, “San Wa Er, Master Jiang and the others really destroyed this place thoroughly.”

“Exactly, my grandmother...” Ling Ruyue also said.

Before she could finish, I cut in, “What are you doing? Comforting yourselves? Look carefully!”

Staying clear-minded in this situation felt cruel. I also wanted to tell myself that this was another chamber destroyed by my Master and the others, but clearly it was not. The tilted large vessel that once housed the worm king was in exactly the same position. How could that be possible?

“Maybe it really was done by Master Jiang and the others?” Su Rou’s tone became uncertain, his foolish smile disappearing and being replaced by confusion.

“Right, it is just destruction. What difference does it make?” Ling Ruyue’s gaze also turned hazy.

I stared at them in disbelief. Was this really happening? Were they trying to force themselves into believing something that was clearly wrong?

Anger rose in me. I grabbed Su Rou and said, “Look at this. This jar was originally in this corner. You are saying my Master destroyed it, but look closely. It is impossible for two chambers to have identical jar placements!”

Su Rou replied lightly, “San Wa Er, you are overthinking it.”

My anger flared. I shoved Su Rou away, then grabbed Ling Ruyue and pulled her over. I ignored Hua Feifei on her shoulder and pointed at a fragment on the ground. “Ling Ruyue, this is the piece you personally threw just now, right by the entrance. You did not notice?”

Ling Ruyue replied in that drifting tone, “Third Brother, once a jar breaks, fragments are everywhere. What is so strange about that?”

An uncontrollable rage surged into my head. Were they idiots? What were they trying to do?

Thinking about it made me furious. I rushed over and grabbed Su Rou by the neck, shouting, “Are you doing this on purpose? Have you gone stupid?”

Su Rou shoved me away and roared back, “I think you are the one who is stupid, picking fights for no reason!”

Then he ignored me completely, turned to Ling Ruyue and said, “The path is right. Let us go, Ruyue.”

“You are not allowed to leave!” I roared.

At that moment, Ling Ruyue turned back and gave me a cold look. Hua Feifei on her shoulder suddenly assumed a vicious posture, as if it would attack at any moment.

I was already in a rage, but I still felt instinctive fear toward spiders. Cold sweat instantly covered my forehead. Yet I could not stand Su Rou or Ling Ruyue anymore. I wanted to rush over and stop them.

Almost instinctively, I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my left hand. A familiar fragrance drifted into my nose, the agarwood bracelet on my wrist.

That scent had a soothing effect I could not describe. Normally I would not even notice it.

As the fragrance entered my nose, my mind jolted. I suddenly snapped out of my rage and realized something. My whole body trembled.

Without hesitation, I tore off the agarwood bead strand. The beads scattered. I stuffed them into my pocket, then grabbed two and immediately chased after them.