Chapter 56 - Burial Grounds (II)
Editor: Kitty
The pa.s.sageway was particularly long. It was so long it made Luo Jian feel a little desperate. No matter how far he walked, the pa.s.sageway ahead still stretched forward endlessly.
But the footsteps behind him were getting closer. Luo Jian could not understand how the other party seemed to be able to walk faster than him when the other had one lame leg. The footsteps were getting closer and closer! The creature was but a short distance away from him! He was so scared that he left all his doubts behind and stretched his little legs to quickly run. However, within two minutes of running, a hand suddenly stretched out from the side and caught Luo Jian by his shoulders!
Luo Jian was so scared that his whole body shivered. He didn’t even get to utter a sound before someone covered his mouth and nose. After that, he was dragged into a pitch-dark hole! The frightened Luo Jian opened his eyes wide and heard a voice in his ear: “Don’t make a sound!”
This voice was very familiar. It was so familiar that tears coursed down Luo Jian’s cheeks; it was Feng YuLan!
“Why are you here, Ah Lan?”
“No time to explain.” Feng YuLan suddenly took away the shining stone in Luo Jian’s hand, stretched half of his body out of the small hole, and immediately threw the stone as far away as possible. Then, at this time, Luo Jian noticed that there were some small holes in certain spots on the lower parts of the wall. In the long pa.s.sageway that seemed to stretch on endlessly, the holes had the capacity to hold one or two people within. The entrances of the small holes were relatively low. Especially in such a dark environment, it was easy to overlook them. Luo Jian had walked such a long distance and actually did not notice them.
After Feng YuLan threw away the stone, he opened his mouth to read a few obscure incantations. Shortly after that, a faint light formed on his left hand. With his left hand, Feng YuLan gave a single-handed wave toward the entrance of the small cave. After that, Luo Jian clearly saw that there was a layer of transparent film at the entrance of the small cave that they were in. It appeared to be a protective cover.
Just after Feng YuLan cast the spell, the footsteps that had been following Luo Jian neared. When Feng YuLan recited the spell, the faint light had disappeared. The whole cave was dark. Both of them held their breaths. Hearing the footsteps that reverberated in their ears, they listened as the limping footsteps continued onwards and walked past the small cave where they were hiding. The creature paused for a while, but it did not seem to discover anything unusual. Then, it continued forward again.
After a long time, the footsteps could not be heard anymore, and Luo Jian heard a sigh from Feng YuLan and then heard a spell. Soon, a small ball of light appeared in Feng YuLan’s palm, illuminating the entirety of the narrow s.p.a.ce.
“Magic is so convenient.” Luo Jian glanced at the small light ball in Feng YuLan’s hand with envy and jealousy.
“Don’t envy me; the Heavens are fair,” Ah Lan shrugged and handed Luo Jian a small note. Luo Jian lowered his head and saw that it was Ah Lan’s small note given by the secret chamber. The content on the note was almost the same as Luo Jian’s, but the contents on the back were totally different. It read as follows:
[The last one sent to the tomb was a stranger who was forcibly dragged into the tomb by this clan. He was an outsider who was a deserter on the battlefield. He had fled to the place where the clansmen would gather and was isolated and ignored by the clansmen. They rejected the outsider, believing that he foreshadowed something ominous. Thus, they pushed the deserter into the tomb and asked him to serve as the funeral accompaniment of the clan heads.]
[The spirit of the funeral accompaniment cannot rest in peace. He wanders the tomb day and night.]
After reading the note, Luo Jian abided by the good habit of exchanging information and showed his note to Feng YuLan. After that, the two men cooperated tacitly and began to discuss countermeasures. Luo Jian took the lead in asking: “Do you know…… what that was? ”
Luo Jian was referring to the creature that made the strange footsteps, and Feng YuLan also understood what Luo Jian meant and answered, “It’s not human.”
“How do you know? Have you and that creature met?”
Ah Lan nodded. “When I woke up, beside me was a stagnant pool. I didn’t know whether it was for funerary objects or other purposes. There were several pots that were half a person high and sealed by lids. Moreover, on top of each lid, there was an altar lamp. One of the five lamps was actually lit.”
“What happened afterward?”
“Afterward? Of course, I was curious. Naturally, I wanted to see what was in the pots, so I opened them one by one in the order of left to right,” Feng YuLan said regretfully and shook his head, “If I had known earlier on, I wouldn’t have opened them.”
“What was in them? A corpse?” It could be said that Luo Jian had already met countless corpses, and according to the general development, whatever was placed in a tomb would not be anything good.
“That’s right. It was a corpse. It was the corpse of a child. It was very small and curled up inside. It was still soaked in some strange liquid. How disgusting. Every pot I opened contained this kind of corpse until I opened the last pot, where the altar lamp was lit. After I placed the altar lamp somewhere else, before I reached out to lift the lid, the lid opened on its own, and a hand stretched out from it! I was so scared that I kicked the pot with my feet and turned it over. As a result, the pot broke, and one of them climbed out…”
Feng YuLan paused for a moment after he spoke to this point. It seemed that it was hard for him to describe what had occurred. He organized what he was about to say next and continued, “In other words, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s a monster. It seemed to be a creature made of all kinds of different people’s limbs pieced together. Its hands and feet are not of the same length. It can only hobble as it moves forward. But the speed of this guy is very fast. It can’t see but is very sensitive to light and sound.”
“Light and sound?” Luo Jian rubbed his chin as he thought. Suddenly, he said, “Now, since we are holding a conversation this way, will it be able to hear us?”
“No.” Feng YuLan pointed to the entrance of the cave. “I casted a ignore spell and a silencing spell.”
Luo Jian was more envious and jealous: “That was why I said magic or whatnot is so convenient.”
“Don’t envy me. I have almost no offensive incantations.” Feng YuLan shook his head regretfully. “And my const.i.tution is also very weak, so I’m unable to become part of the fighting force.”
Luo Jian smiled in relief: “Conversely, I think that in this sort of game which requires us to escape from a secret chamber, what is needed most is not combat effectiveness.”
“Alright, what you have said all made sense, so what do we do next?”
“Find someone; we have to find the rest of our companions, though I’m reluctant to do so.” Luo Jian thought of Duan Li and gnashed his teeth in hatred. He felt that he had not gnashed his teeth enough when he heard Feng YuLan suddenly speak shocking words.
“If you’re talking about Duan Li, I know where he is.”
Luo Jian raised his head, feeling baffled. “Did you meet him before you met me?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know where he is?”
Feng YuLan seemed to think of something, and he also gnashed his teeth in hatred. He grinned and said, “I know where he is, but I don’t know why the h.e.l.l I do.”
“Gosh, you’re similar to me……” All of a sudden, Luo Jian couldn’t help but touch the ouroboros mark on his neck. Through this imprint, he could feel Xing Yan’s existence from time to time. Although he did not know how to describe it in words, it felt magical, as if he could feel the body temperature of the other person.
“What’s similar?” Feng YuLan did not know what occurred. Thus, after hearing what Luo Jian said, he was confused.
“No, it’s nothing.” Luo Jian shook his head and subconsciously concealed the truth.
The two men then left the cave. Luo Jian picked up the shining stone again. Then, they headed in the opposite direction of where the monster was heading. Feng YuLan led the way. He did not use magic to illuminate the way because it took a lot of energy. Therefore, they used Luo Jian’s flashlight, and after leisurely walking for a long time, they returned to where Luo Jian woke up in the beginning.
“This is where I got this shining stone.” Luo Jian felt for a dent in the rock wall.
“It should be phosphorite. Do you think this thing would be a useful prop?”
“Small details determine success or failure, and the less obvious things may be more useful.” Luo Jian placed the stone into his pocket, and in the dark, his pocket appeared shiny and translucent.
“What you just said is right, so like you, I brought an interesting thing, too.” Feng YuLan seemed to be very happy. He took out a small object from his pocket. Luo Jian glanced downward and looked at it carefully. It was actually an altar lamp! And it had actually shrunk down to the size of a thumb and became a small plaything.
“This is the altar lamp that was placed on the pot that the monster drilled out from. I put out the light, and it shrank.” Feng YuLan was immensely proud. Luo Jian also looked at him in surprise and guessed, “It’s a shrinking spell, right?”
Feng YuLan nodded: “There are many incantations in the grimoire, and I selected some that are practical and easy to learn, such as the floating spell, shrinking spell, luminous spell, silencing spell, deformation spell…… However, if the object is too large, I can’t make it smaller. It’s the same for the floating spell. If something is too heavy, I can’t make it float, but what’s magical is that I can make my body float. ”
“Can you make me float?” Luo Jian suddenly said.
Ah Lan shook his head regretfully, “I’m afraid I can’t do it now, but I will be able to do it in the future.”
“Alright.” Luo Jian laughed, pointed to the lamp in Ah Lan’s hand, and said, “After you took this lamp, the monster ran out, right?”
“Yes.”
Luo Jian was absorbed in his thinking. He touched his chin and suddenly laughed, “Then, let’s light it up and carry the lamp as we walk.”
“That seems like a good idea.” Ah Lan seemed to agree with him. Following that, he waved his hand to restore the lamp to its original size. However, after a brief pause, he said to Luo Jian, “Can you light it?”
Luo Jian raised his head in surprise. “Didn’t you learn an igniting spell?”
Feng YuLan’s head was full of black lines: “What the heck is the igniting spell?! Don’t make up some inexplicable spells in your mind, and don’t impose these inexplicable spells on me!! The spells are not omnipotent!”
After Feng YuLan finished cursing, Luo Jian immediately turned his head and made an unfathomable expression as he muttered to himself, “I miscalculated!”
Of course, they did not continue this silly bantering. Luo Jian obediently went to his ‘carry-on secret chamber,’ found the two lighters, and lit the lamp.
The altar lamp was an object that was an allusion to the ancient times. One would place a lamp that would not go out in a tomb, and it would serve to illuminate the way forever and help the dead. However, if it was extinguished, the sky and the earth would descend into darkness, and ghosts and other monsters would make an appearance. Under the cover of darkness, they would attack living creatures. Generally, the altar lamp would not be able to be extinguished. After the lamp was lit, it would need to continue to burn until the oil evaporated and the lamp was dry.
T/N: On a side note, according to what my dad had said in the past when conducting Taoist funerals, the altar lamp needed to be kept lit for 49 days when someone had pa.s.sed away, so the person that pa.s.sed away could find their way back home. If it’s not lit, the person would be lost… (I can’t remember what else he said…but generally it doesn’t bode well for the spirit to rest in peace).