The tributary of the Sichuan River in front of us branches off again.
One continues to flow around the mountain.
One stream flowed directly into this huge black cave.
Seeing this scene, a thought came to my mind subconsciously - Li Miao must have gone to this cave, right?
After Heizi barked two more times, he swam towards the shore.
Lao Cao and I followed closely behind and followed it ashore.
Wow!
Heizi shook it vigorously, and all the water on his body was shaken off, and the hair on his body immediately became dry and fluffy again.
After all, it is already considered a "demon", and it must have some special tricks.
But Lao Cao and I were at loggerheads and couldn’t get rid of each other no matter what. Of course, he uses the Qi in his body to forcibly evaporate the water...
Heizi led us to run along the river bank, heading straight for the mountain cave ahead.
As I got closer, I could hear the roar of the water getting louder and louder.
This "small tributary" of the Sichuan River is also more than ten meters wide. It flows into the arched cave formed by the mountain. The surrounding stone walls echo, so the sound of the water is like thunder.
There is something strange about this place too.
You could call it an underground river, but it's not completely enclosed underground.
You could say it's a normal river. It's not open to the air. It seems to flow entirely between caves in the mountain - but the cave is very huge, and there are riverbanks on both sides of the stone wall that people can walk on.
At this time, Heizi led us on the slippery river bank and ran towards the depths of the cave, while Madoka flew at low altitude above our heads.
I ran like this for about four or five minutes.
The speed of the river ahead began to slow down, the river surface became calmer, and the roar became smaller.
But I can clearly feel that the yin energy around me is getting stronger and stronger!
And it gradually began to become a little faintly ferocious.
This shows that the front may not be easy!
After a while, my eyes suddenly became clear.
From a linear passage to a huge three-dimensional cave, we should have arrived inside the mountain. The flowing river water merged into a huge pool - almost like a small lake.
The water surface of the lake is calm. Except for the place where the river joins, the rest of the lake surface is calm.
This shows that it is obviously extremely deep!
Moreover, the bottom of the lake should be connected to deeper underground caves or rock cracks.
Heizi stopped and barked several times toward the lake.
I understood.
"Heizi, are you saying that Brother Li jumped into the dark lake in the mountain?"
Woof woof!
Kuroko nodded vigorously.
Lao Cao was worried that I was impulsive and said quickly.
"Xiao Wu, this place looks a bit spooky and evil. Take a closer look first and don't act rashly."
"Don't worry, Lao Cao, I understand!"
As I spoke, I raised my hand.
call!
The three talisman papers flew up, then burned with a bang, turning into three basketball-sized fireballs, floating and lighting up a large area of the cave.
Lao Cao pointed to a cluster of gray mosses on the damp stone wall next to him.
"Look, Yin corpse moss. It will only grow in places with extremely strong corpse Qi. It means that there are probably a lot of old corpses in this place. But I can't see any in front of me, so that means..."
"They're all in this lake."
I took what Lao Cao said and stared at the seemingly calm lake with a solemn expression.
In fact, just now Heizi took us down the river to this place with the help of the power of the undercurrent in the river, which already explains the problem!
If it was a corpse that drowned nearby, then 80% of the time it would have been brought to this cave by the rapid undercurrent. Then she sank into the seemingly peaceful and beautiful dark lake in front of her.
To put it simply, this is a horrible and weird "corpse lake"!
There must be a lot of corpses in the lake.
It's even possible that there might be an old corpse hidden for nearly a hundred years!
Although Li Miao is also a very powerful corpse collector, I don't think he can break into this "underground corpse lake" unscathed by himself...
I held my chin, thoughtfully.
"Brother Li, as a body hunter, must know more about this kind of ghost place than we do. He dared to jump down, which means there must be something hidden in it."
Lao Cao also agrees with me.
Although the business of eating from yin people has its own risks. But the people who do these things are not fools!
It's okay to make money while helping people eliminate disasters, but this kind of money is obviously worth your life... Who is willing to take it?
Unless you don't know the details at the beginning, you have already agreed and started doing it. Halfway through, I discovered something dangerous and troublesome, and I was too embarrassed to give up.
But the problem is that the danger of this "underground corpse lake" can be seen at a glance!
There is no such possibility.
Lao Cao said after considering it.
"It seems... Brother Li is not doing things for others with money. It's either a huge favor, or it's his own business! It may involve some privacy and difficulties, and it must be done."
Madoka cooed twice.
"You two fools, why do you think so much? Can't you just ask this stupid dog?"
It folded its wings and landed on Heizi's back.
Fortunately, Heizi is not an ordinary dog, but has already become a demon. The strength of the body is almost comparable to that of wild beasts in the mountains and forests.
Otherwise, with this damn fat bird weighing only 20 to 30 pounds, most dogs would be crushed to the ground directly by it!
"Stupid dog, let me ask you. Did your master, Xiao Lizi, pay someone to help him come here to retrieve the body, or did he have some secret matters to deal with here? In the first case, call him, in the second case, call him Twice."
"Woof woof!"
Heizi shouted twice decisively.
Xiao Yuan glanced at me and Lao Cao proudly.
"Let's see! I am still very powerful. You will know if you ask me. Silly dog, I will ask you again. What secrets does your master have?"
Woof woof woof woof, woof woof woof, woof woof...
Heizi barked rapidly, very rhythmically and regularly, and his paws were still gesturing hard, as if a person was trying to speak.
However, of course it cannot speak.
Even Madoka can't really use her "mouth" to speak. Under normal circumstances, the so-called "speaking" of monsters is essentially thought transmission, which is to communicate directly with people in their minds.
I once asked Master, can monsters and spirits speak directly and truly with their "mouths" like humans?
She shook her head then nodded and answered me.
"It's almost impossible...but there is actually a way, but it's very, very difficult. A Zhong, just pretend that you can't do it."
When Heizi barked like this, we naturally looked at each other and couldn't understand.
It's no problem to communicate with it about simple things.
But this kind of complex communication involves telling the causes and consequences of an event. It is still impossible to expect a dog... Unless Heizi himself goes one step further and becomes a monster that can communicate with people's thoughts.
I glanced at Madoka.
"Don't you understand what Heizi is saying?"
"Isn't this nonsense! This dog is so stupid that he can't even do something as simple as telephony."
"Even if there is no voice transmission from the mind. But we are humans, and you are also an animal after all? Isn't it possible for ordinary animals to communicate with each other?"
"Boy Wu, you are stupid! I am an eagle and it is a dog. They are two different species. How can we communicate such complicated things?"
Madoka looked disgusted.
I was speechless for a while... Then you just asked someone about the black guy!
Seeing that we couldn't understand, Heizi became a little anxious and spun around anxiously for a few times. Then he suddenly reacted, turned around and ran not far away along the lake.
"Xiao Wu, let's go! Let's follow."
Lao Cao said hello and we all followed him.
Three glowing fireballs floated over with us, lighting up the path.
Heizi stopped at a place, pointed at the ground with his paw, and turned back to bark twice.
It should mean there are clues here, right?
So, Lao Cao and I approached to see if there were any clues.
really!
As soon as I squatted down, I smelled a faint weird fragrance in my nose.
It's a bit like sandalwood, but more greasy than sandalwood. And the smell makes people feel uncomfortable in the chest for no reason, and also feels a little uncomfortable.
My heart suddenly shook and my eyes widened.
"This, is this smell..."
"That's right! It's the corpse incense."
Lao Cao's expression was a little solemn.
The so-called [Zombie Demon Fragrance] is a weird fragrance exuded by a real Corpse Demon.
There is one thing that may surprise many people, that is - the two smells [stinky] and [fragrant] are actually related in some cases!
For example, rotting corpses and human feces are extremely smelly things. But in fact, some [flavor enhancers] can be extracted from corpse oil and feces using certain techniques.
Rumor has it that in some very high-end perfumes abroad, aromatics extracted from feces or corpse oil are added. It’s scary to think about!
In the supernatural world of Xuanmen Jianghu, there is a similar situation.
That is, when the zombie reaches the level of [Zombie Evil], the strong rotting smell of the corpse will also change...it will even smell like a faint weird fragrance!
This smell is the so-called [Corpse Fragrance].
In other words, the zombies who are so ferocious actually exude the faint and strange fragrance of evil spirits!
Of course, only the corpse evil in its true and complete state can emit this evil [corpse evil fragrance] smell.
More than two years ago, Lao Cao, Daniu and I worked together to kill the blood evil spirit in Baijiabazi. It had been suppressed for a long time and was constantly weakened.
So it's not actually a complete zombie, so it doesn't have this weird fragrance.
On the other hand, this also means that the real owner who left the strange fragrance of the zombie here... is much more powerful than the blood demon back then!
Lao Cao looked at Heizi with a wry smile on his face and said.
"Your master, have you ever stayed in this place? And does this matter have something to do with the corpse ghost that leaves the smell of [corpse evil fragrance]?"
Woof woof.
Kuroko yelled and nodded, with some fear in his eyes.
I don't know what to say either.
A zombie... and a complete zombie in the true sense. That’s almost on the same level as [Black Zombie] in zombies!
Even if my current cultivation level has improved by leaps and bounds compared to two or three years ago, it has already surpassed Lao Cao by a lot.
But if you want me to deal with a zombie alone, it's still very dangerous!
Although there is a high probability that I can win, I am afraid that I will have to pay a high price.
Although Li Miao is a well-known corpse collector in the neighborhood, he is much worse than Lao Cao... Facing such a level of vicious creature is simply seeking death.
"It stands to reason that Brother Li is a very cautious and sensible person."
I could not understand.
What is the reason and difficulty that makes him want to deal with this corpse evil?
But at this time, I didn’t have time to think too much, so I had better quickly check with Xiao Yuan and Lao Cao to see if there were any information clues around here...
Fortunately, although Heizi can't tell us the ins and outs of the whole thing, he is also very smart.
After its nose sniffed around this place for a while, it barked again and pointed at a certain ground with its paws.
Lao Cao and I quickly went over again.
I sniffed.
"I smell a... special smell. It seems like some kind of medicinal herb? This aspect is almost a blind spot of my knowledge. Old Cao, do you know what this is?"
"Something familiar, let me think about it."
While Lao Cao nodded, he lightly dipped his fingers on the wet ground, then put it under his nose and smelled it carefully.
He frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly said.
"I remembered! This is the smell of corpse grass boiled into potion."
Corpse grass?
What it is?
I don't think I've heard of this.
Lao Cao explained.
"You also know the business of catching the dead woman. Just like us coffin bearers and corpse collectors, we all feed on the dead people. In fact, the [Yin-Jie Po] also has another name, it's called the [Corpse Shengpo] 】. This means that we don’t induce labor for living people, but only for dead bodies!”
"If you look at normal living people giving birth, if they don't go to regular hospitals in towns and use modern Western medicine to give birth, then in rural areas, some experienced midwives will use various Chinese medicinal materials based on their experience to promote production. It went smoothly.”
"The dead body is given birth to by the corpse woman. In order to make it easier for the corpse fetus to be born, some special herbs are also needed. Among them, the rhizome of a plant called corpse grass is dried in the sun, and then mixed with mountain yin. The soil near the local locust tree is boiled with water to make a medicine. It can promote the emergence of corpses."
"Even if the corpse fetus doesn't want to come out, you can use this corpse-producing herbal medicine to forcibly lead it out from the belly of the female corpse! After all, this kind of pregnant female corpse ghost will become stronger as soon as the fetus comes out. Decline in magnitude.”
I see……
After listening to Lao Cao's story, I turned to look at Heizi and asked him.
"Brother Li didn't come alone? Is there a yin-catcher with him?"
Woof woof!
Kuroko shouted and nodded.
Madoka, standing on its back, lightly flapped its head with its wings.
"You stupid dog, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Woof woof woof...
Heizi felt a little aggrieved.
I glared at Madoka, this guy was just looking for trouble!
Heizi can't express such a complicated thing.
I said thoughtfully.
"Old Cao, the information we know so far can roughly outline some basic outlines of the whole matter."
"First of all, Brother Li must have some secrets or difficulties that he has not told us. So this time he came to solve the problem at his own risk and was unwilling to inform us."
"The whole thing should be related to a female corpse with a fetus in her belly, so Brother Li went to find a female corpse to come with him. He just wanted to lure the fetus out of the female corpse's belly first. In this way, , should be able to greatly weaken the strength of the female zombie. It will also make it easier to deal with her."
"It seems that Brother Li's plan was relatively smooth at the beginning. He probably used some forbidden secret method of corpse fishermen to successfully fish the female corpse ashore from the lake. And then put it where we are now. In this place, quickly let the Yin-receiving woman pour the corpse-resurrecting herbal medicine into the female corpse..."
"But there must have been some unexpected trouble later. I guess it was probably the female corpse that suddenly woke up, causing Brother Li's plan to fail."
Lao Cao also agreed with my speculation, but what he found strange was...
"If Brother Li and the Yin-receiving woman fought against the corpse evil, there should be traces of fighting here, right?"
Hearing this, Heizi reacted first.
It pointed to the ground with its paws, then quickly pointed to the lake, barking.
We all understood clearly - what Heizi meant was that the moment the female corpse came to life, she took the two of them and rolled directly from the shore into the lake!
After all, this place is less than two meters away from the lake, so the corpse evil may launch a sudden attack again. Li Miao and the woman who received the Yin probably didn't even react before they entered the water.
I looked at the calm yet eerie water of the lake.
"In other words, the fight between Brother Li and the Corpse Demon took place in the water?"
Woof woof!
Heizi shouted and nodded, then pointed at the wounds on his body, and then shook his head with a somewhat sad look. Finally, he made a gesture of closing his eyes.
I understood what it meant. It was saying that the three of them besieged the zombie, but they still couldn't defeat it! Closing his eyes means he was knocked unconscious?
Needless to say, this is obvious...
A real zombie, and a [Mother and Son Evil] that is more vicious and evil than ordinary zombies! I was horrified to see it.
Although I don't know how powerful the Yinjie woman Li Miao asked to help is, it is probably impossible to deal with the awakened corpse evil.
Their original plan must have been to quickly remove the fetus from their bellies without waking each other up. Then the odds of winning are much greater!
But man’s calculation is not as good as God’s calculation, and there are always some unexpected risks...
Lao Cao sighed, his expression a little sad.
"Brother Li and the Yin-receiving woman were probably dragged to the bottom of the lake by the female corpse. It's been so long, I'm afraid..."
I know, it must be very bad!
"Even so, you have to see people alive, and you have to see the corpse when you die. Brother Li can be regarded as saving my life during Zhu Qihan's big conspiracy against the river god. He had an accident. If I don't find him, I won't I’ll give up.”
good!
Lao Cao patted me on the shoulder.
"Xiao Wu attaches great importance to love and justice, and I support it very much. Now that we have determined that Brother Li was dragged into the bottom of the lake by the corpse evil spirit, let's discuss now, what should we do next? We can't just do it without a charter. Just dive into the water like a green head. When dealing with such a dangerous creature, you are still on someone else's territory, so you have to be very careful."
