Chapter 247
Chapter 247
Drip, drip.
Damp air washed over them.
Qin Ying still had her phone clutched in her hand, its flashlight on.
Her foot caught on something, and she nearly went sprawling face-first. Fortunately, she grabbed Han Lie’s hand in time.
Looking down, she discovered an absurdly high threshold blocking their way.
Qin Ying was fairly tall, yet the threshold almost reached her thighs.
If this were a reading-comprehension question asking what the height of this threshold revealed about the owners of the ancestral hall, Qin Ying would have answered that it symbolized the ambitions of the Hu Family to rise to a higher station.
Her thoughts wandered, but her body remained nimble. Using Han Lie’s pull for leverage, she vaulted over the threshold.
Xie Shao’s condition was steadily worsening. His eyes were unfocused, and he looked as if he might fall asleep at any moment.
The few scraps of intelligence he had left told him to follow Han Lie and Qin Ying over the threshold.
But he yawned three times for every move he made, like a wild boar that had stuffed itself to bursting.
Once he had clambered over, he slumped against the threshold and began dozing off. “What’s… wrong with me?”
“You’ve been infected with gu,” Han Lie answered.
Having once ventured alone into Sanmiao Kingdom on the East Bank of the Chishui River, he knew the tricks of the Drum-Keeper Head of Sanmiao Kingdom inside and out.
What he didn’t understand was why something originating from the same source as the gu poisons of Sanmiao Kingdom would appear here.
“The inside of that helmet was covered in gu eggs.
“People in San-some mysterious place often use things like that to create an obedient Living Corpse.
“They clad each Living Corpse in heavy armor and send it into battle to kill their enemies.”
This sort of Living Corpse, tireless and unafraid of death, was also known in Sanmiao Kingdom as a Ghost General.
Han Lie spoke rapidly. His explanation seemed less intended to reassure Xie Shao than to inform Qin Ying.
Hearing that gu was responsible actually put Qin Ying somewhat at ease.
She still had plenty of bug-killing Fei Yi portioned out in her freezer at home. There was no need to panic.
She switched her phone to her other hand and shone its light around the room.
As soon as she got a clear look, a foul stench seemed to fill her nose.
The place closely resembled a modern ancestral hall, both in its layout and furnishings.
The difference was that there were no memorial tablets here. Instead, several things covered from head to toe in teeth sat cross-legged inside.
Judging by the outlines of their hands, feet, and heads, they should have been human.
Or rather, they had once been human.
Teeth encrusted their bodies like barnacles underwater, densely covering every inch of them.
Disgusted, Qin Ying wanted nothing more than to order a high-pressure washer on the spot and blast every tooth off the corpses.
If that didn’t work, she would switch to an angle grinder.
Perhaps her expression looked strange, because Han Lie asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Qin Ying shook her head. Only then did he turn his attention back to the corpses sitting inside the ancestral hall.
After a moment, he said, “The teeth on these corpses are still alive.”
That sounded strange at first, but it became easy enough to understand if one thought of mushrooms or wood ear fungus growing on rotting logs.
In both cases, something living grew from something dead.
Qin Ying examined the seated corpses more closely. Sure enough, their chests did not rise or fall.
The skin visible between the teeth had turned the same dark red as human gums.
Every so often, the teeth covering their bodies twitched like living things.
The sight made Qin Ying’s skin crawl.
Xie Shao, by comparison, was considerably calmer.
His eyelids kept drooping as he leaned against the towering threshold. Even if he wanted to look terrified, he couldn’t manage it.
Teeth covered the floor as well. Despite the place having gone unvisited for years, there wasn’t a speck of dust in sight.
Like a wolfdog, Han Lie raised his head and sniffed the air. His face lit up.
“The Earth Womb is here.”
The scents inside the Corpse-Hiding Cave had been too muddled before, causing him to lose track of the Earth Womb for a time.
Only after entering this place did he sense it again.
A flicker of delight flashed through his eyes, only to harden into murderous intent.
The Earth Womb was a disaster waiting to happen. No matter who had made it or stored it here, they needed to get rid of it as soon as possible.
The lives of the people here, and the Supreme Deity’s home, could not be allowed to suffer the slightest harm.
This was where Qin Ying had grown up. More than anyone, she didn’t want anything to happen to this place.
She said simply, “Let’s go.”
With that, Qin Ying turned to look once more at the things on the shrine’s Altar Table.
She figured she would have the Thunderbird blast them with lightning a few times first.
But the moment she looked, her heart sank.
The number of seated corpses covered in teeth was wrong.
One was missing.
She hurriedly glanced around.
Click.
A broken tooth fell from above and landed in front of Qin Ying. It had an unusually long root, with tartar still clinging to it.
It looked foul enough to stink to high heaven.
Qin Ying snapped her head up. A face densely packed with teeth rapidly filled her vision as it launched itself at her.
She whipped the Di Shang dagger across with her right hand, about to strike, when a black-scaled claw shot in from the side and seized the Tooth Corpse by the throat in midair.
Teeth scraped against fine scales with a grating squeal.
It was Han Lie.
While Xie Shao was still dazed, Han Lie had used Monstrous Beast Transformation on one arm and caught the Tooth Corpse.
He yanked the Tooth Corpse away from Qin Ying and smashed it against the floor several times.
Teeth exploded across the ground like shards of glass.
At first, the Tooth Corpse continued struggling, incomprehensible growls rumbling from its throat.
Then Han Lie slammed its head into the floor once, twice; after that, its flattened skull stopped moving altogether.
Qin Ying took half a step back to avoid the flying teeth, then stroked the listless Thunderbird on her shoulder. “I know you’re tired. Just push yourself a little longer.”
Ever since they had come down here, the Thunderbird had stopped calling out. It hadn’t even reacted when Qin Ying was attacked just now. The poor thing looked utterly wilted.
In response, the Thunderbird rubbed its beak against her chin, then spread its wings and took flight.
“Shock those.” Qin Ying pointed at the seated corpses.
Violet-blue lightning flashed, illuminating the room for an instant before it plunged back into darkness.
The smell of char filled the air.
Black smoke rose from the Tooth Corpses on the Altar Table. They looked like ears of corn roasted to a crisp.
Even if they wanted to cause trouble, they wouldn’t be able to do so anytime soon.
Qin Ying turned her attention to the one Han Lie had dealt with.
Most of its teeth had been shaken loose, revealing a body riddled with crimson, gumlike pits.
A few scattered teeth still dangled by a thread, neither falling out nor staying put. The sight was maddening.
In the end, Qin Ying couldn’t resist extending her sinful foot.
She pried quite a few of the remaining teeth from the Tooth Corpse before finally feeling a little better.
She let out a breath. “These teeth are unnaturally loose.”
Pushing them off with the tip of her shoe had felt like stripping scales from a pinecone.
Han Lie’s hand returned to normal. He crouched beside the corpse and examined it for a long while before saying, “The Hu Family was probably using corpses like these to make Ancient Corpse Teeth regrow like living teeth.”
The teeth on those ancient skeletons outside had been fungal mycelia, revived inside these fresh, living petri dishes.
Qin Ying’s own teeth ached just from hearing it. “With all that time and effort, couldn’t they have done literally anything else?”
They had really become obsessed with teeth.
The moment the words left her mouth, she laughed at herself. “No, that’s not right. They did accomplish something extraordinary.”
She looked toward the passage leading behind the ancestral hall.
Barring any surprises, the Earth Womb was in there.
“W-what happened?” Xie Shao stammered behind them. He seemed to have recovered slightly and forced himself upright.
“Let’s go together. Don’t leave me behind.” As he spoke, he pinched his own cheek hard.