Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Monster in the Tomb Passage

As the miasma in the tomb chamber dissipated, Zhou Yi and Baozi once again followed the rope down into the depths. As soon as they stepped into the dark passage, the walls on both sides emitted the clacking sounds of activated mechanisms.

“Be careful, there must be traps,” Zhou Yi cautioned.

Baozi nodded, picked up a green brick from the ground, and tossed it into the passage. The brick had barely touched the floor when short arrows shot out from the walls on either side. The arrows would fire from one wall, and if they missed their mark, they would enter through the opposite wall, so precise was the design of this mechanism.

“What do we do?” Baozi asked.

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes. “This useless trap thinks it can stop me? Let’s dismantle it.”

Baozi grinned and, picking up another brick, hurled it at one wall with a burst of spiritual energy. The heavy thud echoed, but the wall remained unmoved.

Zhou Yi quickly pulled Baozi back. “What are you doing?”

Baozi, confused, replied, “Aren’t we supposed to break the trap?”

Zhou Yi sighed deeply. If Baozi dismantled traps this way, they’d be at it till dawn without results. Without further explanation, Zhou Yi extended blue spiritual energy outward and pushed against the mechanism wall. There must be empty space behind it, as is typical for traps. Though the wall did not collapse, it shifted slightly.

He repeated the process on the other side, causing both walls to shift. Then he threw another brick into the passage. The mechanism clattered again, but the arrows, unable to align with the opposite wall’s holes, fell harmlessly to the ground.

After tossing several bricks, no more arrows emerged from the walls. The floor was now covered with the arrows that had once been hidden within the traps.

“Let’s go,” Zhou Yi said, glancing at the still-stunned Baozi.

“Yi, why aren’t the arrows returning anymore?” Baozi asked, puzzled at how Zhou Yi’s push had disabled the mechanism.

“This trap was constructed with extreme precision. The arrows were meant to fire through the opposite wall’s holes, then reload for another shot. But the makers overlooked one thing—if the walls shift or deform, the arrows can’t be retrieved. No matter how meticulous the mechanism, it’s rendered useless by such a flaw,” Zhou Yi explained.

This was a trap devised to deter tomb robbers; with it destroyed, nothing else blocked their path. The passage was not deep. After walking its length, they found themselves at a fissure in the ground of Zhuolu. With no further clues ahead, the two had no choice but to retrace their steps.

Zhou Yi did not blame Baozi; instead, he offered comfort. “When this tomb passage was excavated, the fissure didn’t exist. I don’t know what caused so many cracks in Zhuolu, especially since the area isn’t dry—it shouldn’t be this way.”

The best way to comfort someone is not through words but by shifting their attention. Once their focus moves away from the incident, their mood improves naturally.

“Whatever you say. We wasted so much time for nothing,” Baozi reflected, not pursuing Zhou Yi’s line of thought but instead examining his own actions.

“No worries. Let’s head back and see what monsters lurk behind the other passage,” Zhou Yi said, patting Baozi’s shoulder.

They returned to the tomb chamber, where the corpse on the floor had undergone a transformation. Sensing Zhou Yi and Baozi’s scent, it stood upright and lunged at them.

Zhou Yi scoffed. “A pitiful zombie dares to challenge me? Baozi, it’s yours.”

Baozi roared and charged at the zombie. Lacking a soul, the zombie was immune to Daoist incantations. The best way to deal with such creatures was with talismans, but neither Zhou Yi nor Baozi knew that art; they could only rely on brute force.

The fight was brief. Baozi tore the zombie’s head off and tossed it into the passage. Without its head, the zombie collapsed to the floor.

Since corpses in this chamber could mutate, the previous one had surely become a zombie and escaped. But both men were focused on what might be hidden in the other passage and didn’t notice this.

Baozi punched the eastern wall, breaking it to reveal a passage wide enough for one person. He checked and found no traps inside.

“Yi, come in,” Baozi called back.

Zhou Yi nodded and followed. He had intended to lead, but Baozi, feeling guilty for wasting time, insisted on going first. Zhou Yi considered that Baozi, now at the Yellow Qi level, could handle himself, so he acquiesced.

Not far into the passage, Zhou Yi cautioned, “Wait. Throw in a couple of firecrackers before we go farther.”

Baozi stepped back, letting Zhou Yi take the lead. “You do it. Who knows when those things might go off—be careful not to let one explode in your hand.”

Zhou Yi nodded, took two large homemade firecrackers from his backpack, lit them with a match, and hurled them into the passage. The narrow space amplified the explosions, causing their ears to ring.

Once the smoke cleared, Zhou Yi lit another, repeating the process. This time, the firecracker was slow to ignite. Instead of a bang, the sound of hooves pounding echoed from within. Feline and canine monsters run silently, their padded feet leaving plum-shaped prints.

Herbivores, on the other hand, leave hoof-shaped prints, their feet shielded by keratinous layers that sound loudly against the ground.

Hearing the hoofbeats, Zhou Yi felt reassured. Creatures with hooves rarely possessed much aggression. As the beast drew closer, it let out a cry—part dragon’s roar, part horse’s whinny. Before Zhou Yi could see it clearly, the firecracker exploded, and the creature howled in pain.

Zhou Yi finally glimpsed its form and urgently called, “Run!”

Baozi didn’t dare linger; he turned and fled. They hadn’t ventured far into the passage, so their escape was swift. Back in the main chamber, the creature followed them out.

Now, they could see it in full: its head was that of a tiger, its tail like a lion’s, its body that of a leopard, crowned with a pair of deer antlers and sheep’s ears. Its fur was jet black without a trace of other color, and it glared at them with bovine eyes, yet made no move.

At first, Zhou Yi thought it was a Di Ting, but it had horse hooves and not the four-fingered paws characteristic of Di Ting, whose fur was white, not black.

Beqio had been crouching at the cave entrance. When the creature emerged, Beqio let out a wolfish howl from the summit, ignoring the depth of the pit and leaping down.

Beqio couldn’t descend by gripping the rope like a human. Zhou Yi looked up and quickly reached out to catch him, easing his fall.

Once on the ground, Beqio bared his teeth at the monster, which responded with a screech. Beqio, proud as ever, would not tolerate such a display from an interloper. He sprang at the creature, hind legs propelling him forward.

The battle was vicious and bloody. Beqio attacked mainly with his teeth, tearing chunks of flesh from the beast. The monster fought with its head and hooves, its blows powerful enough to split Beqio’s skin and flesh.

Neither Zhou Yi nor Baozi had ever seen such a creature, but Baozi couldn’t help but ask, “Yi, what is this thing?”

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