Chapter 137

Chapter 137

I was honestly a little surprised to find myself face-to-face with the Gray Immortal.

Everything had gone far too smoothly since I entered through the mouth of the tomb.

I swept my gaze around. The oppressive rows of dark coffins made my chest feel tight.

The Black Cat stood in front of me, its entire body taut. It raised its small head, and the runes on its two upright ears flashed continuously with green light. Even the tiny spark at the tip of its tail flickered.

This was the first time I had ever seen it in such a state. Following its gaze, I looked up.

Another coffin hung from the very center of the tomb’s vaulted ceiling.

It was plastered with Talisman Paper, completely obscuring its original appearance.

Upon closer inspection, however, I saw tiny holes in some of the Talisman Paper, as though they had been pricked with a needle.

I narrowed my eyes, then lowered my gaze back to the Gray Immortal before me.

The Gray Immortal immediately gave me an ingratiating smile.

I smiled back and said, “Bai Xian’er, you’re oozing pus.”

As I spoke, my gaze dropped to the ground beneath the Gray Immortal’s feet. The Gray Immortal instinctively followed my gaze. A split second later, the figure realized the trick, but it was already too late. The Black Cat had pounced.

The Black Cat was incredibly perceptive. I didn’t even need to issue a command for it to launch the exact attack I wanted.

This little fellow truly made things easy for me.

Bai Xian’er had fought the Black Cat before. The first time she broke down was when the Black Cat clawed open her face and exposed her true form.

This time, as the Black Cat swiped at Bai Xian’er, countless lines of scripture manifested around its body. It meowed incessantly, as though chanting scriptural incantations.

The sheer dominance of the attack made me realize once again just how much the Black Cat had changed.

During this time, it had received offerings alongside Liu Junyan and joined him in chanting scriptures and meditating. Its spiritual power had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Or perhaps the wound on its back had nearly healed, allowing it to return to the state it should have been in all along.

I watched as the Black Cat leaped straight onto Bai Xian’er’s head and slashed down with one paw. Bai Xian’er was instantly forced to reveal herself.

Her entire body was covered in wounds that oozed black blood and pus. Her face had rotted away, yet strangely, she gave off no foul stench.

Whatever else might be said about the Bai Family, there was no denying their extraordinary medical skill. Bai Xian’er must have used some kind of medicinal powder to temporarily seal away the stench of decay.

What a waste of such remarkable medical skill.

Bai Xian’er tried to fight back, but the moment the Scripture Barrier descended over her, she let out a piercing shriek. In an instant, she transformed into a white hedgehog and curled into a trembling ball on the ground.

If she hadn’t reached the end of her rope, why would Bai Xian’er have cooperated with Dou Zhifu and had him carry her into the Dou Family Ancestral Tomb?

She could only have come here for two reasons.

First, to ruin the feng shui of the Dou Family Ancestral Tomb. Second, to find an opportunity to assume the Gray Immortal’s appearance, deceive me, and seize the chance to receive my Salvation.

She had succeeded at the first.

But the second had ended in utter failure.

Even as the Black Cat attacked Bai Xian’er, I didn’t lower my guard. I kept watching our surroundings.

Bai Xian’er hadn’t entered the tomb alone. She still had her most capable accomplice — the Little Monster.

Where was the Little Monster?

Suddenly, something occurred to me. I shouted toward the Black Cat in the center of the tomb, “Black Cat, come back! Now!”

By the time I called out, I was already running toward it with the Hexagonal Palace Lantern in hand. At a moment like this, I couldn’t be certain the little fellow would obey me.

I had to make sure I could pull it out immediately.

Just then, a thunderous boom erupted from high on the tomb wall to my right. One of the coffins moved.

That movement only confirmed my suspicion. I shouted again, “Black Cat, come back!”

It was so close-just one more moment, and it would have killed Bai Xian’er.

The Black Cat was unwilling to stop.
But after I called to it twice, it gave me an irritated hiss. Even so, it leaped onto my shoulder, and I retreated several steps with it.

Almost the instant it landed on me, the coffin sliding along the upper-right wall dropped.

The moment it fell, countless coffins lining the walls swiveled their head ends around and surged toward the center.

This was the Lu Ban Arts. You could never imagine what might serve as the medium for its Formation, much less where its mechanisms might be hidden.

Every Formation had a Formation Eye. Sometimes, the same Formation Eye could be either the Gate of Life or the Gate of Death.

Bai Xian’er was doomed. That was already an established fact.

I had seen through her disguise, leaving her with nowhere to turn.

Yet even under these circumstances, she remained standing there without moving. Why?

She wanted to lure me over and drag me down with her.

The coffin in the upper right was the Formation Eye. Dou Zhifu must have marked it long ago, and the Little Monster was most likely hiding inside.

Without the slightest hesitation, I shouted, “Fengwu, appear!”

The Longbow instantly materialized in my hand. With the hand still holding the Hexagonal Palace Lantern, I hooked the bowstring, took aim at the Formation Eye coffin, and released. A ball of fire whistled through the air and struck the head of the coffin dead center.

I fired two more balls of flame in quick succession. The Black Cat meowed incessantly as the Scripture Barrier enveloped my entire body, and it kept pawing at my ear.

It only scratched me with its soft paw pads, keeping its claws sheathed.

It was urging me to run.

But I didn’t move.

My best chance to escape had been the first time I called the Black Cat.

At that point, the Formation Eye coffin had yet to move. If I had quietly backed out then, I wouldn’t have ended up in this predicament.

But now, not only had the Formation Eye activated, the surrounding Formation was also in motion. No matter which direction I ran, I would either be buried beneath the falling coffins or crushed to death.

My only hope of survival was to destroy the Formation Eye coffin and break the Coffin Formation.

All three balls of fire struck the coffin. The instant the third plunged inside, the coffin lid blasted open. The Little Monster, neither human nor beast, sprang out and flipped through the air, firing countless Flesh Thorn projectiles straight at me.

Behind it, the Formation Eye coffin erupted into flames. Blazing tongues of fire swept outward in every direction, unstoppable.

As the Formation Eye coffin caught fire, the coffins hurtling down around us hung suspended for a brief instant before losing control and crashing to the ground.

The entire tomb chamber rumbled as though struck by an earthquake, sending dust billowing through the air.

The fallen coffins trapped us within the center of the tomb chamber.

“Mrrrow!”

The Black Cat let out a piercing cry. The Scripture Barrier deflected the Flesh Thorn projectiles, and the cat kicked off with all four paws. Its pitch-black body shot toward the Little Monster like an arrow released from the string.

The Black Cat chased the Little Monster wildly around the tomb as they fought. Its claws raked across the coffins from time to time, producing a screech that set my teeth on edge.

The ground began to shake violently. The coffins piled around me swayed precariously, threatening to topple over and crush me at any moment.

Just then, the White Hedgehog lying collapsed on the ground suddenly transformed into human form. She lay on her back with her eyes closed. After two soft squeaks, she seemed to sink into a realm of Hundun and murmured, “Do you remember?”

“That year, when we had only just taken human form, he came walking toward us alone, Prayer Beads in one hand and a Spirit-Collecting Talisman in the other. He asked us one question: Did we want to remain demons, or did we wish to become gods?”

Two trails of bloody tears streamed from the corners of Bai Xian’er’s eyes. Her pupils had already begun to lose focus, but at that moment, they seemed to be infused with a new soul.

“But how did it end? He succumbed to his inner demon before any of us and fell to the path of evil! If you were given another chance… would you still be as resolute as you were back then and choose to remain by his side, walking that path with him?”