Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 71 - 69: The 28 Xingxiu [Zhen Water Worm]

Chapter 71: Chapter 69: The 28 Xingxiu [Zhen Water Worm]

"Uncle Qi, this stuff seeping out of the walls stinks! It’s like..."

In a crooked and twisted tomb passage, two young Tomb Guardians scraped up a bit of black and yellowish mucus oozing from the wall with their knife sheaths and brought it to their noses to sniff cautiously.

Next to them, Wang Yunfang frowned deeply and declared:

"There’s no need to guess blindly, this is Corpse Oil!

The amount of Corpse Oil needed to coat the entire Underground Palace would require the drying up of thousands of corpses to accumulate.

Those craftsmen, who had been smashed to bits by the Ma Brothers and later melted away, were probably the source of this Corpse Oil.

All of you, brace yourselves. Corpse Oil naturally attracts the yin and is a necessity for casting many Evil Techniques. Don’t let yourself be caught in its influence without knowing."

As she spoke, Wang Yunfang raised the Tiger Head Saber in her hand and walked in front of her two kinsmen.

The Heyan Killing Ghost Seal on the blade of the sword violently clashed with the pervasive yin energy in the tomb, lighting up with an unprecedented red glow.

The two young men immediately followed suit, forming a three-person combat formation from the White Tiger Military Art, warily guarding against every dark corner.

The ancients divided the constellations near the ecliptic path in the sky into twenty-eight groups, each representing the positions of the sun, moon, and stars. These were called the ’Twenty-Eight Mansions’, used as reference points in celestial observations.

The East, South, West, and North have seven mansions each; Eastern Azure Dragon, Southern Vermilion Bird, Western White Tiger, Northern Black Tortoise.

All the Twenty-Eight Mansions revolve around the sky’s center, and Lang Qi asked everyone to meet at the ’Jingsu’, the first mansion, because it is closest to the center.

One with ’Integrated Force’, two with ’Inner Strength’, the three of them had gotten separated from the others as they moved through the Underground Palace and could only proceed along the crooked and twisted tomb passages.

Attempting to reach ’Jingsu’ as quickly as possible.

But everything in the Underground Palace was completely different from the tomb knowledge they had learned.

This grand underground complex seemed as if it had been haphazardly pieced together by an utterly clueless child, with various tomb chambers, corridors, and statues randomly assembled.

Up is down, walls tilt at odd angles as a norm, with eaves underfoot and thresholds overhead, the locations of doors and windows swapped... all these constructions contradicted common sense.

It made one feel intensely disoriented and disgusted.

Making one doubt if they were still securely standing on solid ground.

Moreover, the longer they stayed here, the weirder the tomb became.

Thirty minutes passed.

Everywhere they looked, whether on the ground, the walls, or the ceiling of the tomb, that nauseating Corpse Oil began to seep out increasingly, and the air filled with a stronger and stronger stench of decay.

The tomb paths, originally looking like dirt and stone, seemed to have gained a fleshy aspect.

They began to doubt whether they were in the Underground Palace at all or inside the digestive tract of some enormous creature.

Suddenly.

Plop!

"What was that noise?"

In the deadly still tomb passage, where only their footsteps and their barely audible breaths could be heard, there suddenly came the sound of raindrops hitting the ground, making them instinctively press back-to-back together.

Looking towards the sound, they saw a large black and yellowish bug wriggling in the Corpse Oil on the ground.

Bigger than a finger, with a head bearing saw-like sharp mandibles, it squirmed while gobbling up the putrid Corpse Oil on the ground.

"Eugh..."

Even for Tomb Guardians accustomed to seeing corpses in all sorts of states at Beimang Mountain, the sight of this vermin turned their stomachs.

"Get away!"

In that moment, Wang Yunfang, who had achieved ’Integrated Force’, and possessed the ability to respond vigorously to stimuli, suddenly shouted, darting towards a corner of the wall.

The other two young Tomb Guardians were not so slow as to ask why, their bodies instinctively springing into action.

Yet, due to the gap in their physical capabilities, they were still a step too late.

The next moment, from above them came the "crackling" descent of a multitude of vile bugs like the one they had just seen, engulfing half of their bodies.

Two heart-wrenching screams instantly echoed far and wide.

...

At this moment, Wang Yuan was walking alone in the tomb passage.

Only, trailing behind him was a tail as thick as an iron rod with tiger stripes flicking to and fro, and atop his head sat two tiger ears.

He was only partially using the Transformation into Tiger Technique in order to invoke the ’Five Ghosts Moving Mountains’.

With faint ethereal winds swirling around him, he covered long distances in a single step, sometimes even crossing walls that seemed solid in front of him.

Five green-faced little ghosts, eagerly wishing to show themselves before their master, attentively accompanied him on the side.

After resting for a day and a night, ’Mr. One-Eyed’ had fully recovered, effortlessly carrying Wang Yuan using the ’Five Ghosts Moving Mountains’ Divine Skill, allowing them to move through walls with ease.

However, this tomb’s underground palace is the closest place to the Underworld, and even they dare not move too far at once for fear of accidentally dropping their Mountain Lord into the Underworld.

Initially, when the tomb began to deform, Lady Peach Fairy, standing beside him, had tried to grab hold of him.

To prevent "Cui Tong," who was supposed to stand in for someone else’s marriage tomorrow, from meeting with an accident in this underground palace and letting all her previous efforts be in vain.

But Wang Yuan had a true purpose for descending into the tomb this time, and it couldn’t be mentioned to anyone. The emergency escape tactic "Five Ghosts Moving Mountains" also couldn’t be exposed in front of others.

Scanning the increasingly filthy walls the closer he got to the depths of the tomb, his brows furrowed but then relaxed slightly:

"Even though I’m acting alone, I’ve gathered enough intelligence on the three ’Weird’ murder rules, so the risk is still controllable.

When facing ’Jishan,’ I must abide by various ancient rituals and strive to kill it politely.

When facing ’Judge,’ I need to obey the law. The regulations state that one cannot kill officials and rebel, but Wang Yunhu’s ’Treasonous Hand Writing’ would be perfect for this situation.

If worse comes to worst, I can also release the ’Ghost King Altar Sealing Seal’ and kill it head-on.

The last one, ’Construction Director,’ is a bit tricky. Lang Qi said this remodeled tomb within a tomb belongs to the Vermilion Bird Bureau and can only move according to the trajectories of the stars.

But since it’s an ancient tomb already equipped with formations, the underground palace probably has more than just the ability to transform, not lacking in all sorts of tomb-guarding mechanisms and formations.

Plus, to me, the most terrifying thing about the ’Construction Director’ isn’t the killing rules but its inherent Daoist skill. If the Nightmare Suppressing Power is broken, a head-on battle might not guarantee victory over it."

However, Wang Yuan now has more ample equipment on him.

He wore a "Human Face Painting" on his face, with "Talisman·Fire Dragon Coiled Sword" hanging at his waist.

One "Rashamon Bone" was deliberately handed over to "Shadowless Rat" Wen Juncai, while the second "Rashamon Bone" was carefully wrapped in cloth and kept in his pocket.

He also had a total of eighteen "Mixed Element Thunderbolts," made from the residues of medicines like the "Wolf Heart Dog Lung Pill."

It was strange, Wang Yuan had yet to see a proper magic artifact up to this point and had only come into contact with these odd and bizarre objects.

Although he hadn’t been able to use the "Rashamon Bone" to make a "Mixed Element Thunderbolt" yet, he had a good number of cards up his sleeve.

The bottom-of-the-box "Transformation into Tiger Technique" was bold enough to confront anyone except a "Dao General" or "Red Seal Mage."

"Talisman·Fire Dragon Coiled Sword," if it could consume an "Integrated Force," could entirely overpower a "Daoist Soldier"; having consumed a "Daoist Soldier," it might even pose a threat to a "Dao General."

"Right now, the most urgent thing is to quickly find someone to sacrifice to the ’Fire Dragon Coiled Sword.’ Otherwise, I would be defenseless in the face of danger."

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Wang Yuan’s tiger ears perked up as he looked toward the depths of a tomb passage that twisted like intestines.

There seemed to be faint cries of anguish coming from that direction.

Since he was in a "Weird" body, even with just the dim light of the luminous pearls, "Unsightly Observation" could see everything as clear as day.

Wang Yuan did not immediately approach but paused for a while in his spot.

Then he heard a series of rapid footsteps coming towards him at high speed.

"Is it him?"

Upon recognizing the newcomer, it was none other than Wang Yunfang from the Wang Family’s Yun generation, who had earnestly pleaded with him to support them on the mountain during the animated corpse outbreak that night.

Yet, this Tomb Guardian’s condition was very poor at the moment, covered in blood, with half of his body riddled with thumb-sized holes.

Within these were disgusting worms—either maggots or taenia—wriggling in and out, voraciously consuming his flesh.

Behind him, two beings whose bodies had completely turned into a den for insects, merged with them, were in hot pursuit.

Seeing their horrifying and nauseating appearance, Wang Yuan couldn’t help but shiver.

"Although in the twenty-eight constellations, the one representing ’Zhenxiu’ is indeed called ’Zhen Water Worm,’ what does that have to do with maggots?"

"Mr. Cui! Save me!"

At this moment, Wang Yunfang also caught sight of "Cui Tong," as if seeing a lifesaver, and called out loudly for help.

He rushed over without stopping, completely disregarding that he might bring those "Zhen Water Worms" along with him.

Hearing his plea for help, Wang Yuan didn’t hesitate at all.

Boom—!

His arm’s tendons snapped taut like a strong bow, shooting out a beam of red light.

Even without activating the "Sacrifice Sword," the "Talisman·Fire Dragon Coiled Sword," being a "Deceit Object," was more durable than any sword.

In a blink, it pierced through... Wang Yunfang’s chest.

Following that.

This cousin of Wang Yunhu slowly looked down at the sword talisman that had shattered his heart, murmuring in disbelief:

"Ah... murdered the wrong one, I murdered the wrong one!"