As I searched alongside them, I asked Liu Ying, "Where are Xie Chen and Wu Luo now?"
Liu Ying shook her head and said that after entering the house at the village entrance, her mind went blank, and she ended up wandering into the village in a daze. When she regained clarity, she realized she was already in the underground palace. She hadn't seen Xie Chen or Wu Luo; she had been wandering aimlessly alone until she ran into the big Fushou ghost. If it weren't for the spirit-repelling grenades she carried, she'd already be dead.
"You two stop chatting like you're on a date, will you? Hurry up and find the exit, or we'll all be screwed!" Xiao Gundao said impatiently.
A date? Come on, man! If I were to flirt, I wouldn't be picking an old-fashioned spinster like this! Liu Ying shot Xiao Gundao a cold glare, and this guy shrunk back, intimidated. Having been kicked in the crotch by her before, he clearly knew how dangerous she could be.
"This spot looks suspicious. Try punching it," Dead Girl (Yan Xiaoning) said as I ran my hands over the wall.
I clenched my fist and gave the wall a punch. Damn it! This wall was solid as hell, and I almost broke my knuckles. My whole hand throbbed in pain, and I waved it around, hopping in frustration. Liu Ying grabbed my hand with concern and asked, "Why are you taking your anger out on the wall? Let me see if your hand's hurt."
In my pain and anger, I ignored lip-syncing and just yelled out, "Damn it, Dead Girl, this is all your fault—"
Liu Ying froze. Her brows furrowed as she asked, "You recognized me?"
The Dead Girl didn't get mad this time and sheepishly said, "Oops, I forgot to tell you. It's one foot to the left."
"You couldn't have said that earlier?!" I barked through gritted teeth.
Liu Ying misunderstood again, saying, "I didn't want you to know, but—"
Her voice faltered, and her words were strange. Suddenly, it hit me. I grabbed her hand and asked, "You're Xiao Ying?"
Liu Ying bit her lip and nodded. "It's me!"
I stood there stunned. After not seeing her for months, running into her again should've been a happy occasion. But under these circumstances, what's there to celebrate?!
Why does this girl always have to mess with me? Last time, she had her reasons, and I let it slide. But this time? I suddenly realized the truth: it was a trap. Since she was Xiaoxiang's bodyguard, she was once again using me—my Yang energy—as a shield. She probably figured I wouldn't come willingly, so they schemed up this whole plan to lure me here.
I hated myself for being a complete idiot. Dead Girl warned me, but I didn't listen. I rushed to Mount Dahuang and ended up being played as a fool again!
A fool so big, even a pig's head wouldn't be enough to match it!
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you…"
I didn't wait for Xiao Ying to finish. I yanked my hand away. "You don't need to explain. I'm not stupid…"
Before I could finish, a chill surged from behind me, and Xiao Gundao shouted in panic, "It's over! We're done for!"
Xiao Ying and I turned around at the same time to see Fushou Ghost and Ghost Lady now inside the room. They didn't dare step past the ring of incense burners and were hugging the walls instead. Xiao Gundao reacted quickly, leaping onto the prayer mat and lighting a stick of incense. He inserted it into one of the incense burners and chanted loudly, "With this faithful incense, I offer it to the Eastern Azure Spirit Elder, the Lord of Nine Essences. I plead for the descent of true energy to liberate these restless souls. Bow!"
The stick of incense, which had been burning straight upward, suddenly split into nine streams of smoke and bent forward toward Fushou Ghost and Ghost Lady. Their faces contorted in shock, and they retreated, clearly alarmed—probably because this method resembled their ghost-forging techniques.
"Hurry and find the exit!" Xiao Gundao yelled at us.
Xiao Ying and I nodded hurriedly. I turned back to look at the bloody handprint I'd left on the wall earlier when I punched it. Moving one foot to the left, I punched again. This time, with a crack, a large hole appeared in the stone wall. The pain wasn't nearly as bad, and I realized the wall had been covered with a weak wooden board.
Xiao Ying quickly reached over, expanded the hole, and revealed an opening just big enough for a person to crawl through. Despite my frustration with Xiao Ying, I still had a shred of decency and said, "You go first!" She nodded and crawled through the hole.
Then I called to Xiao Gundao, "Hurry up, I'll cover you!" I pulled out a Samadhi True Fire Talisman and lit it with a lighter.
"That crappy talisman of yours won't work! You go first, I'll follow!" the guy shouted back. Considering how sinister Fushou Ghost looked, he might be right. Samadhi True Fire probably wouldn't work on him. So I quickly crawled through the hole.
The next room was different; it didn't look like a ghost-forging place. A portrait of a Taoist patriarch hung on the left wall, with four lamps glowing brightly in the corners. On the right was a table covered in yellow cloth, holding an incense burner, sacrificial offerings, talismans, a peachwood sword, and a ringing bell. In the center of the room stood a tall, ornate bronze cauldron engraved with mythical beasts.
"This place is safe. With these four long-burning lamps, it's protected by the Four Spirits. And the walls are covered in spells. Forget Ghost Kings and Fushou Ghosts—even underworld ghosts wouldn't dare enter here," Dead Girl said with a sigh of relief.
"Spells? I don't see any spells," I said, looking at the bare walls.
"You can't see them with your mortal eyes. They're drawn with invisible ink," she explained.
Meanwhile, Xiao Ying had already scoped out the room and was peering through a door on the opposite side. I glanced back to check on Xiao Gundao. He had forced the two ghosts to retreat and was now dashing over like a rabbit. I grabbed his shoulder and yanked him through the hole just in time.
As soon as he tumbled in, flames and a ghost baby shot toward the hole outside, but they stopped abruptly at the entrance. The flames extinguished, and the ghost baby was flung backward, clearly terrified of this room.
Xiao Gundao, panting heavily, looked around and groaned, "We've reached the inner part of the underground palace. It's safe, but now we're trapped here!" His face turned sour like a wrinkled bitter melon.
Just then, Xiao Ying, still at the door, turned back and said, "Wang Lin, look! There are two people over there!"
Xiao Gundao and I ran over to look. Outside was a vast circular space with a domed ceiling. The walls and dome were engraved with mythical creatures, exuding an eerie, mysterious aura. Aside from our door, there was no other visible exit—it seemed this room was the only connection.
In the middle was a large, circular pool of water emitting wisps of chilling mist. Two figures stood with their backs to us at the edge of the pool. The light barely reached them, leaving their outlines shadowy and unclear.
"They're Wu Luo and Big Mouth Rong, right?" I said.
Xiao Ying frowned and replied, "Wu Luo is my cousin. He should've turned to look at us by now after hearing all this noise. But they look like… two corpses."