I was sleeping drowsily, and even in my dreams I didn't feel scared. Just as I was about to ask him what he thanked me for, a sharp pain suddenly spread through my leg, and I really woke up.

  And was awakened by pain

  I let out a loud cry, quickly pulling my legs back, but was held tightly by someone. I opened my eyes to see that my shoes had already been removed. My second uncle was holding one of my feet with one hand and pouring disinfectant with the other.

  He gave me a cold face, applied medicine to my wound, bandaged it up, and then pulled out a needle, probably with some anti-inflammatory medication inside. He stared at me coldly and said, "Take off your pants." This injection from Second Uncle was indeed merciless, and I almost cried out in pain. After the injection was finished, half of my butt hurt to death.

  His complexion also improved a bit, his voice somewhat tired, said: "There's food over there, go eat some yourself"

  I felt a surge of emotion, although Second Uncle was furious and unusually fierce, but towards me, the only descendant of the Wu family, it's naturally good without saying anything. Immediately, I ran to the equipment package place to find something to eat with a limp.

  Sitting next to the equipment bag was a familiar figure, it was Hei Mian Shen Lao Lei who followed Er Shu, he sat motionless, just like in meditation, seeing me pass by, his eyelids didn't even lift, his whole body had an extremely ominous aura.

  I nodded at him, forced a smile, and hobbled off to find something to eat. I felt that this time my foot injury was not quite right, it seemed to have hurt the tendon, it hurt badly, and I couldn't exert any strength on my ankle. I really don't know if I'll end up with some kind of disability. If I really become crippled, it will be so hard to find a wife in the future.

  I pulled out half a package of compressed biscuits and chewed them with clear water. In the tomb passage, only one white candle was lit, and the flame burned straight up, dyeing the wall of the tomb passage a piece of orange yellow.

  I replenished some food, and my physical strength recovered. After thinking about it, I decided to ask Ershu (Second Uncle) anyway. Plucking up the courage, I said: "Ershu, how did you end up here? Do you have any news about San Shu (Third Uncle)?"

  Second Uncle leaned against the wall for a long time without speaking, after a while, Old Lei suddenly spoke up and said to Second Uncle: "Second Master, he hasn't come back yet, what should we do?" I felt like an extra person, no one paid attention to me, probably this time Second Uncle was very angry, so I could only shut my mouth awkwardly.

  But who did Lao Lei say was the one? Is there someone else?

  My gaze turned to the remaining three people, the woman was about 24 or 25 years old, with a ponytail, and her features were quite beautiful, but there were also many scratches on her face, so it was hard to tell what she really looked like. At this moment, as Old Lei's voice fell, her black eyes also turned towards Second Uncle

  The other two men were different, one with dark yellow skin, apparently exposed to sunlight for a long time, or walking in the deep mountains, slender figure, even leaning against the tomb wall, still holding a gun in his hand, sharp eyes, very cunning.

  Another man, slightly chubby and looking very ordinary, heard Lao Lei say this and immediately frowned: "Second Master, I think we can't wait any longer." I watched their conversation, it seemed like something had happened, but Second Uncle was still in a bad mood and didn't want to talk to me. I didn't dare ask, so I could only listen quietly, thinking to myself.

  They are clearly waiting for someone, but who is it? Is the grave path outside blown open by them? The map left by San Shu must have recorded very important information, otherwise Er Shu would not have found the location of the Tianyuan coffin so quickly. So what is Er Shu's purpose this time? Is he looking for San Shu's whereabouts like me, or does he have other purposes?

  My second uncle is a man who usually stays at home and rarely goes out, but he has some means inside. His social circle is also extremely secretive. I've never seen him gather with friends before. Most of the time, he's alone at home studying antiques and calligraphy. And now, the people following him, let's not mention Old Lei, just that tall and thin one, I think they're not simple either. That kind of sharp gaze like an eagle's is not something you can learn by pretending to be someone else. In these two years, I've seen many characters, if I'm not mistaken, that brother is likely a professional tomb raider, whether he's from the Southern or Northern school, that's unknown.

  How did Second Uncle gather these people together? And why are they all here now?

  A lot of questions were stuck in my stomach, but I didn't dare to speak at this time. At this moment, Second Uncle frowned and looked at the tall and thin man, saying: "Old Six, what do you think?" The person called Old Six by Second Uncle stood up with his gun and said: "Those two are probably not coming back, let's continue moving forward, we must have missed something before."

  I saw Second Uncle's face turn very gloomy, his complexion was pale and he nodded slightly, then stood up, Old Lei and the others also followed suit to pack up their equipment. I knew they were about to set off, so I hurriedly propped myself against the wall, limping as I got up. When I ran earlier, I didn't feel it, but now that I relaxed a bit, my wound felt like it was on fire, and the muscles inside were cramping, completely unable to exert any strength.

  My uncle directly scolded me with a sentence: "Useless thing" My face turned red, not because I was ashamed, but because I was angry. As the saying goes, even a clay figure has three points of temperament. Although I knew my uncle didn't have malicious intentions, as an adult, being scolded and beaten like this would make anyone angry. I was churning with anger in my heart, but it wasn't good to lose my temper, so I could only stand against the wall, preparing to set off with them, not wanting to think about these annoying things anymore. Instead, I thought of Fatso, and suddenly felt a shock in my heart - oh no, what if Fatso really ran down to the bottom of the cliff? If he met that big radish, it would be terrible!

  Just as I was worried, Hei Mian Shen Lao Lei suddenly patted my shoulder and slightly squatted down, saying: "Get on" The gesture was actually asking me to get on his back. I quickly waved my hand and said: "No need, I can walk myself."

  Old Lei said indifferently, "Second Master's orders." I took a look and saw that Second Uncle and the others were already walking ahead with candles in hand. This staircase tomb passage extended downward, and the candlelight was being suppressed to be very weak. At this time, I could only see a vague mass.

  Hearing him say that, I also climbed onto Old Lei's back and said a thank you. Old Lei had quite some strength, carrying me on his back he walked quickly and soon caught up with Second Uncle and the others who were walking at the back.

  The path to the grave was also unknown in length, and the atmosphere along the way was solemn. No one spoke, and I was bored, so I simply looked at the tombstones inside the tomb passage. At first glance, I suddenly discovered that something was wrong. The arrangement order of these tombstones was exactly the same.

  The arrangement of the tomb bricks follows a certain pattern, but once the path is too long, this pattern will be disrupted by small errors, and the placement of the bricks will change. However, after walking for over 100 meters, I found that these bricks were surprisingly neat and tidy, following the same sequence as the beginning without any mistakes. This situation could either be due to the extremely high skill of the people who built the tomb or some special reason that I couldn't understand at the moment. I looked down at Old Lei's expressionless face and quietly asked: "How long do you think this path will be?"

  Lao Lei's face was expressionless as he said, "I don't know."

  I was choked for a moment, and then I asked again without giving up: "How many of you are there in total? How long have you been here?" This time he answered honestly, saying lightly: "Ten people, five days." I let out an "oh" sound, suddenly feeling that something wasn't right, and immediately shouted out loud: "What, five days?"

  The person in front stopped, the woman looked at me with a silly look, Second Uncle frowned and was about to speak when suddenly a hissing sound came from the tomb: "Hsss"

  It was that chubby middle-aged man, and with this one shout, he drew everyone's attention to him. I followed his line of sight and saw a faint glow in the darkness ahead, but it was extremely far away and I had no idea what it was.

  At this time, the woman sighed and said: "Back again"

  I still didn't understand what was going on, when everyone had already walked towards that dim light. Then I saw clearly, that faint light, turned out to be emitted by a white candle.

  The candle has burned for one-third of its length and is now almost extinguished, with a very weak flame.

  Next to the candle, there was a packaging bag on the empty ground. I saw it and my eyelid twitched. It was the half pack of cookies that I had eaten. We were clearly walking forward all along, but now we've circled back.

  I stared at that candle, yet somehow I didn't feel anything in my heart.

  Maybe it's not that I don't feel anything, but rather I've become numb.

  This tomb passage that I can never get out of, I've encountered it several times already. Rather than being scared, I'd say I'm numb to it now, so my expression is very calm at the moment. On the other hand, looking at Second Uncle and his group, their faces are a picture of grief and indignation, each one looking like they've lost their mother, with deep-seated hatred on their faces. That fat guy is even gritting his teeth.

  Then, the woman turned her gaze to me and said to my uncle, "Uncle, how did your nephew get in?" As soon as my uncle heard this, he glared at me with his eyes wide open. I subconsciously shrunk my neck, although it was embarrassing, but there was no way out. When I was a child, my buttocks were often spanked by my uncle with a ruler, which can be considered a conditioned reflex. As soon as I saw my uncle, I felt uneasy all over my body.

  When he looked at me, I had to confess honestly and told him how I fell into the tomb and how I met them. After finishing, I found that my second uncle's expression was a bit strange, so I swallowed my saliva and asked: "Second Uncle, wasn't it you who blasted open the grave?"

  Then, the one called Lao Liu spoke up and said to Er Shu: "Er Ye, it seems that the road leading to this tomb is not just the one we came from. But as soon as we entered, all those paths disappeared. I heard my master say that it's probably because we encountered something unclean. Just now, Xiao San Ye also said that outside this tomb path, there is a ghost path connected to the burial pit. I think it's possible that we bumped into it."

  Second Uncle is not good at fighting, in my opinion, he has nothing to do with fighting. This old six, obviously a local tyrant, said after finishing: "Now what's your solution, you're in charge." It seems that Second Uncle found a professional this time, and it was this old six who led the team.

  I heard Old Six say that he bumped into something and couldn't help but take a look at the candles on the ground, the flames were perfectly normal.

  In the tomb, lighting candles must be in the southeast corner, but now, who can distinguish directions? But Pangzi taught me that if you get lost in the tomb and need to light a lamp, hold the candle above your shoulder, tilt your head and blow once, then light it again. It means: extinguish the yang fire, invite the yin soul, please sir blow the lamp. So I said to Lao Liu: "Why don't we try lighting the lamp?"

  Lao Liu finally looked at me with a serious expression, shaking his head and saying: "The Mò Jīn technique doesn't work, we've lit over ten candles and now there are only three left, nothing has changed." I reckon this brother is from the Southern School, plus the Northern School has almost disappeared from the Taoist path, if it weren't for meeting Fatzi, the only remaining deviant of the Mò Jīn school, I wouldn't have known these things.

  So I told Lao Liu the rules of blowing out the candles on my shoulder, and Lao Liu's sharp expression showed some surprise, then nodded and did it.

  The tomb suddenly fell into darkness, and then lit up again. At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on Lao Liu's shoulder. The fire was still normal. Then, the girl frowned and said: "What a ghostly lantern, scaring people, think of other ways."

  I didn't bother with that girl, I thought to myself, since the lamp wasn't blown out, it's not a soft persimmon, maybe it's a hard persimmon.

  In the jargon, ghosts of a certain type are called "soft puffs", and those that rise from the dead are called "hard puffs". The big-headed corpse I met in the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace was one of the hard puffs. This kind of rice dumpling, if you follow the rules, will kindly remind you to blow out your lamp and tell you, kid, get out, otherwise the puff master won't be polite and will come at you with a dark attack, the candle won't change, and he'll bite you to death. At this time, the ones who are upside down need to make a fierce effort.

  I didn't know these things originally, but after mixing with them for two years and chatting with Fatty and others, I've become quite familiar with them. So I said again: "Is there any black donkey hoof, smeared with virgin boy's blood and oil to burn?" As soon as I finished speaking, I saw my second uncle get angry, puffing his beard and staring at me. After a while, he pointed at me and scolded: "Did you learn these from your third uncle? You're so reckless!" I immediately shut up and didn't dare speak again.

  Lao Liu finally understood, after hearing my boastful words earlier, and didn't take me for a tender shoot. He nodded and said "I've got it" then took out the black donkey hoof. His gaze swept across several people before asking "Who is the child?" The chubby middle-aged man coughed, looking up at the ceiling of the tomb. This group of people, even the youngest was over thirty years old - where could you find a thirty-year-old child? Then Lao Liu's gaze fell on me

  I'd like to slap myself in the face, thinking: isn't this self-inflicted suffering? What's with the black donkey hoof and the child's blood, if it doesn't work, once I get out of here, I'll kick that fatty to death.

  Then, under the woman's astonished gaze, I stretched out my hand, and Old Six drew a line on my palm with his brow, without saying a word. I caught a glimpse of Second Uncle's mouth twitching, but I didn't know what attitude he was showing.

  After the bloodletting, I stared at the cut on my hand in a daze, thinking of that rascal who was as calm as if he were letting out water, and I couldn't help but sigh at how he could endure it.

  At this moment, Old Six poured oil on the black donkey's hoof and ignited it.

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