Daomu Biji: The Mystic Nine
Chapter 25: Taut Thread Splitting the Jar

Qi Tiezui was standing on the lip of the jar with both feet, but the jar had an awkward width, so when he squatted down, his knees came together. It was really uncomfortable, but his limbs weren’t loose enough for him to try to open his knees in that position.

He looked at the lights below, and made a rough estimate of how deep the hole at the bottom of the jar was. If he were to fall and land on the tracks, he was convinced he would break his legs. He glanced at Lieutenant, who showed a happy expression as he gave him a look that said he should squat on the nearby corpse jar.

Qi Tiezui carefully moved to obey, telling himself that he shouldn’t have any accidents as long as he stood still.

Although the jar was crude, it had been well preserved for years. And even though he looked a little fatter than Lieutenant, Lieutenant was full of muscle, so he was sure to be heavier than Qi Tiezui.

With that thought, he stepped on the first corpse jar. But as soon as he put his weight down, he clearly felt that the lid was loose. He immediately gathered his strength, put more weight on his foot, and then brought his other foot over.

The jar shook as he steadied himself, but ultimately held. He moved the flare close to his feet and found that the lid had cracked in several places, but hadn’t completely broken.

Like a monkey, Lieutenant jumped head-first into the jar, hooked his foot on the lip to prevent himself from falling directly, pressed both hands against the sides of the jar, and then moved down little by little. It looked like the jar was swallowing him up.

Qi Tiezui didn’t dare lean too far towards Lieutenant for fear that he wouldn’t be able to control his balance. After quite a bit of time had passed, he faintly heard Lieutenant's voice come from below, "Ba Ye, jump down. I’ll catch you."

Qi Tiezui climbed over, propped both hands on the opposite side of the jar mouth, and then brought his feet over to the edge of the jar, as if he were doing push-ups. He could only faintly see Lieutenant illuminated by a single flare, and felt his heart clench, "Lieutenant… Brother… It's too high. You won’t be able to catch me when I jump down."

"Ba Ye, why are you suddenly being polite?" Qi Tiezui could hear Lieutenant laughing and gave a wry chuckle himself. He couldn’t help thinking that this habit of working underground really couldn’t be changed and said, "I see you carrying out your duties so conscientiously, and it really makes me admire how Fo Ye teaches his soldiers."

"In that case Ba Ye, you wait here and I’ll go check it out. We’ll meet back up with Fo Ye afterwards." Lieutenant continued, "And Ba Ye? Be careful. I just put a few handprints on you, so don't wipe them off."

Qi Tiezui paused, handprints?

He looked down at his legs and found that Lieutenant had placed bloody handprints on his pants, waist, and shoulders at some point. He couldn't help but shout, "Oh my god! This outfit was made by Dachangsheng. These fabrics are of the best tribute cloth from the biggest weavers to come out of the Qing Dynasty. Why did you wipe your hands on them?"

Lieutenant's faint voice came from below: "Fo Ye has plenty of these kinds of things, so I’ll ask him to send you some when we get out. But Ba Ye, I felt like something was really wrong up there, so you should pay more attention to your surroundings.” With that said, Lieutenant walked away.

Qi Tiezui looked around. All he had in this huge stone room was a small flare, and he immediately broke out in goosebumps when he realized how dark it was without Lieutenant around.

Maintaining this position was very demanding on his body, so Qi Tiezui took a deep breath and tried to stand up again. At this moment, however, he suddenly saw the taut red thread shake in the air.

“Lieutenant!” Qi Tiezui immediately shouted. "Don't touch the red thread. We don't know what this array is looking for. If you do replace something, don’t touch it. It might cause problems."

Lieutenant had already taken several steps, so his response was even fainter than before, "I didn't touch it." He had just finished speaking, when the red thread shook again and the sound of an earthen jar breaking could be heard coming from the darkness at the other end of the thread.

There was a "clang", followed by a crunchy sound, as if two jars had been smashed together by some external force.

Qi Tiezui's hair stood on end and he managed to stammer out, "Lieutenant… Brother… I changed my mind! You should come back and catch me!"

But after calling, he didn't hear a response. Instead, all he heard was the sound of a jar breaking, which was especially crisp in the empty stone room. Qi Tiezui took a deep breath, opened his bag, took out a stack of talismans, and threw them all forward. Then, he pulled a pistol from the depths of his bag, which Fo Ye had given him many years ago.

The pistol felt especially heavy in his hand as he checked the trigger. He then took out a handful of rice grains from his bag and threw them forward. When the rice fell, it came in contact with the talismans he had thrown out just now and immediately reacted and burned. Dozens of small flames instantly lit up in front of him, revealing a huge thing hanging upside down at the zenith of the stone room, just like a giant hanging beast.

The firelight wasn’t that bright, but it was obvious that the thing was a huge living creature.

Qi Tiezui rubbed his eyes. He couldn't get a clear look at what it was, but its shape was constantly changing, as if it was wrapped in countless writhing snakes. It moved forward slowly, and leaned towards him as if it was also observing him.

"This is my first time in the treasured land. I, I, I'm sorry if I offended you." As Qi Tiezui stood there completely stunned, he suddenly felt his foothold disappear and his whole body sank. While he had been distracted, he accidentally put all his weight on his feet, which caused the lid on the corpse jar to be completely crushed.

He quickly moved to pull his legs out, only to replace that they were covered in black coffin fluid.

There was something squirming in the fluid in the jar, just like how that huge shadow was squirming in front of him.