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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
I impatiently told it our names and urged it to answer Qingcheng's question.
"It’s all that beast Liu An's fault! You must have heard the saying, 'When one person ascends, even their chickens and dogs rise with them,' right?" White Snake flicked its tongue.
"Yes!" We all nodded.
"At that time, it wasn’t just chickens and dogs that were affected; I was there too, but I was a bit far from Liu An. So, I could speak, but I couldn't ascend with him." The white snake seemed quite frustrated, shaking its head like a human and letting out a dramatic sigh.
"You’re over two thousand years old?" I asked in surprise. This was definitely a snake spirit. If Bai Suzhen being over a thousand years old was enough to make me exclaim 'Wow,' then this White Snake was worth two 'Wows.'
"What? Can't you hear my weariness?" the white snake asked sharply.
Weariness? I thought your voice sounded a bit like someone I knew. I laughed and said, "You've looked like this for over two thousand years? Have you ever heard the saying that wasting food is shameful?"
"You have no idea. If I gained weight, I'd be eaten by the yellow-skinned ones. I'm forced to control my figure. Look at those snakes on the ground; they've all been eaten by the yellow-skinned ones. Tsk tsk, that's what happens when you don't pay attention to maintaining your figure," the snake sighed dramatically again.
"All these years, has this giant python only eaten a few of you snakes? How is that possible?" I found it hard to believe.
"Yes, definitely more than just these. That Liu An's avatar occasionally opens the big stone door and drives some wild beasts in for us to enjoy."
"Where did you learn all these strange phrases?" I couldn't help but voice my curiosity.
"Isn't it from that Liu An's avatar? Every time he goes out and comes back, he has to chat with me. Who else can talk here but me? Honestly, I'm so annoyed with him. Are you here to rob tombs? If so, your first task should be to kill Liu An's avatar. If you don't kill him, he'll kill you. Anyway, I'm on your side now," the snake chuckled.
What a bizarre situation; I didn't want you on our side. Just as I was about to refuse, Qingcheng spoke up: "You've been in the tomb for so long; you must be familiar with it, right? Do you know where Nine Nether Grass is?"
“Nine Nether Grass? Are you here looking for Nine Nether Grass?” The snake asked in surprise. After hesitating for a while, it continued, “Of course I know where it is. I can take you there. Uh... but before we go, you have to agree to one condition.”
“What condition?” Both Qingcheng and I asked in unison.
“Get me something to eat! I don’t need to control my appetite anymore; I feel like my hunger is as endless as the flowing river, and like the Yellow River in flood, uncontrollable.” Bai lowered its body and lay on the ground, forming an S-shape. “Look, I’m this hungry!”
If you have the guts, show me a B-shape!
I casually took out a piece of ham from my Spatial Bag, had Qingcheng cast a Spell to ensure the ham wouldn’t freeze in this low temperature, unwrapped it, and was about to toss it to the snake when suddenly I felt playful: “Since you like strange phrases so much, let me hear a phrase I like!”
Bai lifted its head slightly, paused for a moment, then shouted loudly, “Down with Japanese Imperialism!”
I burst into laughter and threw the sausage on the ground. Upon seeing this, Bai quickly slithered over to the sausage and gulped it down in one bite. Its body, which was only as thick as a thumb, soon bulged in the shape of the sausage.
This scene was somewhat comical.
Bai seemed uncomfortable as it slithered toward me. I quickly shouted, “What are you doing?”
“Taking a walk to digest!” Bai mumbled and crawled directly onto my leg.
A snake like this shouldn’t pose much of a threat. I suppressed the urge to stomp on it and decided to see what it wanted to do first. After all, I had a dagger in hand; if things went awry, I could easily cut it into pieces.
Bai wound around my leg a few times and then tightened its abdomen. I felt pressure on my leg; thankfully, it wasn’t too uncomfortable; otherwise, I would have stabbed down with my dagger without hesitation.
Before long, the sausage was evenly distributed in its belly. Only then did Bai lazily slither away and shape itself into a round disk, asking, “Have you seen Nine Nether Grass?”
I rushed to answer, "I've never seen it, but I know what it looks like."
"Do you know the nine forms of Nine Nether Grass?" Bai's tone was somewhat strange, as if Kong Yiji were asking, 'Do you know the four ways to write the character for 'return'?"
Nine Nether Grass actually has nine forms? Damn, Lin Tao didn't mention this to me. Kong Xuan only briefly described the general appearance of Nine Nether Grass, which is similar to a daffodil but entirely emerald green and glossy, like crystal jade.
Hearing Bai say this, I couldn't help but stammer, "Isn't Nine Nether Grass just a very green plant?"
Bai didn't mock me but calmly replied, "The emerald green grass is just one of its forms. Its shape changes with the passage of time. I don't know the specifics, but I've seen several of its forms: one is the emerald green grass shape, another is a crimson bamboo shoot shape, one is a golden ball shape, and there's also a dark black trident shape."
"There are so many intricacies?" I was taken aback.
"Well, Nine Nether Grass grows by absorbing the spiritual energy of the earth. If it didn't have any magical qualities, wouldn't that be a waste of the earth's spiritual energy?" Bai sighed deeply. "Actually, I'm also a divine being that absorbs the spiritual energy of the earth!"
"Hey, this isn't the time for sighing; you can take us to find Nine Nether Grass now!" I shouted, interrupting Bai's lament.
"Alright then, follow me!" Bai leisurely slithered toward the exit of the passage.
Qingcheng and I exchanged glances; our expressions were complex—filled with doubt, surprise, and mostly disbelief.
As we followed behind Bai, when we passed by the corpse of a giant python, Bai unceremoniously rushed up and bit into it. It seemed that the python's skin was tough and thick; Bai couldn't get through and spat twice while cursing something like 'yellow skin, I curse you!' before continuing on.
Since we had nothing better to do, I kept asking Bai about this tomb along the way. From her words, I learned that this tomb was indeed built by Liu An. Originally intended as his own burial site, he abandoned its construction halfway through for some unknown reason. Shortly after that, he left a clone to guard the tomb while he went off to another world.
This was something we already knew, so we weren't surprised at all. Seeing this, Bai couldn't help but drop a bombshell: "This tomb is actually an Ancient Prison used to imprison others."
I still casually responded with a "Oh," regarding the Ancient Prison. How rare! Just a few days ago, we had just come out of another Ancient Prison built by Liu An.
"You definitely can't guess who is imprisoned in this Ancient Prison," Bai said, becoming increasingly eager to show off as he noticed my indifference.
"Who?" Hearing Bai's words, I already had a vague answer in my mind. It couldn't possibly be one of the nine sons of the dragon again, could it?
"Yazhi!" Bai snorted. "The one imprisoned here is Yazhi, and his father is Liu Chang!"
This statement surprised me greatly, and I exclaimed, "No way!"
"So, he is just a beast!" Bai said disdainfully. Although this snake had no facial expressions, the tone of its voice could convey various emotions. Tsk tsk, a two-thousand-year-old snake spirit is indeed impressive.
As we chatted along the way, we returned to the Copper Door around ten o'clock.
"You should know how to open the mechanism, right?" Bai stood proudly in front of the Copper Door, flicking his tongue.
Qingcheng didn't respond but stepped forward to turn the mechanism on the Copper Door. With a Thunderous Roar, we transitioned to the final area. Clearly, we had not been here before; the stones on the walls of the passage were actually a fiery red color, and there was still only one passage leading straight into the distance.
Just as I was about to move forward, Bai asked in surprise, "Where are you going?"
"To find Nine Nether Grass," I replied puzzled.
"This tomb chamber is where Liu An imprisoned Yazhi; Nine Nether Grass is not in this area," Bai quickly clarified.
"Not here? Then where? We have explored all three other passages," Qingcheng said with a frown.
"Right at the first passage you entered!" White stuck out his tongue.
This guy, could he be trying to trick us into taking him to the entrance and then make a run for it? The mechanism of the Copper Door, while simple, was an insurmountable barrier for a snake without hands or feet; he would never be able to step outside. At most, he could follow Liu An's avatar around the tomb, like walking a pet, and that pet would naturally be this White Snake.
"When we came in, we didn't see any Nine Nether Grass. If you want to go out, just find the Nine Nether Grass, and we'll naturally take you out. This is not the time for jokes," Xiao Qingcheng raised her Peach Wood Sword, which faintly shimmered with Starburst; it seemed she thought this White was toying with us.
"Didn't see it?" The White Snake, oblivious to the impending danger, insisted, "How could that be? It's right at the end of the passage... Uh, did you only walk up to the Copper Door and not continue down?"
Upon hearing this from White, I suddenly realized.
Right, the mechanism of this tomb's Copper Door corresponds to four areas. According to the cross positioning mentioned earlier by Qingcheng, one area is the entrance, one area is where we were struck by the Copper Door—let's temporarily call it the Copper Ball Passage Area. Another area is the passage at the bottom of the lake where there is a giant python; we'll call it the Giant Python Passage Area for now. Then there’s this passage in front of us, which we'll refer to as the Eye of the Viper Passage Area.
Among these, the Giant Python Passage Area, Copper Ball Passage Area, and Eye of the Viper Passage Area are all straight passages. Only the entrance area has two passages; with the Copper Door as a right angle pivot, one leads to the exit while the other leads who knows where. It seems that what White referred to as Nine Nether Grass must be in that passage.
If what White said is true, why did we even come to other areas of the tomb? We could have just picked some Nine Nether Grass at the entrance and gone back without brushing past death twice. My heart was still racing; I had no place to vent my frustrations—it was truly infuriating...
Qingcheng and I exchanged glances and opened the Copper Door to enter the entrance area.
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