Chapter 25 Yin-Yang Stream (Thirteen): Prying open this human's jaws...
Using his feet as a measuring stick, Song San knew that this was no different from trying to fill the sea with stones, but he still refused to turn back until he hit a wall.
Starting from the medical hut, they extended outwards, spending seven and a half days and breaking a total of thirty-six soil-probing sticks. With the concerted efforts of several people, they finally roughly marked the direction of the semi-water-to-soil transition on the map.
By this time, the snow had melted by about 70% in the shaded areas, and the ground had become dry.
Song San threw down the long stick in his hand, took out a crumpled piece of hemp paper from his pocket, knelt down on one knee, and beckoned the others to come over.
“Just as we suspected, there is indeed an underground river hidden beneath the village.” She reached out and traced the black line, finally stopping at the center of the village. “This is where the river converges, and this is the land we are standing on now.”
As soon as they finished speaking, the group looked away from the paper and around.
This is a clearing hidden behind a bamboo grove; apart from the lush bamboo leaves, there is not a single farmhouse in sight.
"What should we do now? Start digging?" Yu Qi asked, eager to try, carrying the shovel he had prepared.
Song San released his grip and pressed his ear to the ground. Seeing this, Gu Lianzhou also half-squatted down, observing his senior brother's expression.
The rustling north wind passed by his ears, stirring up dust. Song San closed his eyes, his brows furrowed.
Her hearing was excellent; she lay prostrate on the ground, concentrating and listening to the noises coming from all directions.
Fearing that something might be missed, they even deliberately held their breath.
Gradually, a sudden "thump-thump" sound entered my ears, like spring thunder, but weaker, coming from deep underground.
Song San suddenly opened his eyes and met a pair of moist and bright phoenix eyes.
Gu Lianzhou's heart skipped a beat when he was suddenly stared at like that. He subconsciously lowered his eyelashes to avoid the sharpness in his senior brother's eyes.
"What did you hear?" Yu Qi and Liu Dai came over and, imitating Song San, lay down on the ground. After listening for a while, they looked confused.
Where is the noise coming from?
Song San stood up, looked at the ground, raised the corners of his lips, and smiled, "It's a cave, we can dig it."
Upon hearing this, Yu Qi immediately perked up, picked up the shovel that had fallen to the ground, and stomped on it. The rusty, curled shovel sank into the mud with difficulty, and with the boy's movements, a shallow layer of mud was dug out.
"This shovel is really no good. At this rate, we'll be digging for ages!" Yu Qi raised his head, flicked his ponytail behind him, and, still finding it in the way, turned to call Liu Dai, "Liu Xingchuan, help me tie my hair up."
"You're such a busybody." Liu Dai twitched the corner of her mouth, reluctantly but already stepped forward and deftly tied his hair up.
Of the group, only Yu Qi was carrying a shovel. Seeing that he had already started digging, the others couldn't just stand by and watch. Song San said, "I'll go back and get some tools."
Gu Lianzhou nodded: "I'll go too."
With the arrangements made, everyone got to work.
As the saying goes, "constant dripping wears away a stone," the group worked from sunrise to sunset, digging for four days straight, until their shovels finally struck a hard brick.
As soon as the blue stone bricks, located three zhang underground, were exposed on the ground, a chilling, bone-deep aura immediately spread towards the edge of the pit.
Suddenly, the sound of metal clashing against metal rang in their ears, enveloping them.
Amidst the shockwave, the light above the cave suddenly dimmed, and rolling dark clouds completely obscured the sky and earth.
"Damn it, it's already dark." Yu Qi put down the shovel, picked up the oil lamp at his feet, and looked around.
In the dim light, the group of people, covered in dust and dirt, looked at each other in bewilderment.
Gu Lianzhou looked up at the crimson moonlight slowly seeping in from the top of the cave, and said in a trembling voice, "Look at the sky."
Within a small area, a crimson full moon hung high above the cave.
"A blood moon suddenly appears, yin and yang are reversed. We've dug in the right place and encountered a demonic energy formation." Song San shouted sharply, "Don't stop, keep digging!"
Upon hearing this, the group dared not slacken their efforts any longer. They used all their strength to smash the brick. In an instant, the ground shook violently, and sand and stones rained down, rushing towards their faces.
"Pah, pah, pah! What kind of ridiculous formation is this? Is it trying to bury us?" Yu Qi was furious when he saw that the bricks and stones were as hard as iron. So he squatted down and reached his hand into the sand to try to feel the gaps between the bricks and stones.
Seeing this, the others also began to explore.
"There's a gap here, come and lend a hand." Song San inserted his fingers into the crack between the bricks and tried to push upwards, but it felt like an ant trying to shake a tree. The stone was stubborn, and he couldn't budge it an inch with just his own strength.
If one person can't do it, then what about the combined efforts of four?
Liu Dai tried his best, then shook his head and said, "Master Song, the space here is too small to perform your skills properly."
"Let me try to pry it up with a shovel. Hey, what's that noise?" Yu Qi roughly wiped his face and looked out of the cave.
I felt the cave walls tremble slightly, and then a series of rhythmic footsteps sounded overhead, growing louder and louder as they approached.
Liu Dai was immediately dumbfounded. "Oh no! The blood moon has arrived early, does that mean the demons have entered the village ahead of schedule?"
"Whether it's mentioned beforehand or not, if it dares to come, I'll kill it one by one." Yu Qi drew his peach wood sword from his waist, pointing it at the full moon. "Come on!"
As soon as the words were spoken, a dark shadow rose up and crashed down on them in the crimson moonlight.
"Get out of the way!"
Like a drop of cold water falling into boiling oil, the narrow, confined cavity explodes instantly.
In the chaos, the oil lamp was kicked over, flickering and rolling before finally turning into a wisp of smoke.
The world was plunged into darkness.
In the silence, a drop of liquid fell to the ground, damp, foul-smelling, and sticky, clinging to the skin. Between four breaths, a rough panting sound, not of human origin, lingered.
They resemble beasts, but are not entirely so.
The creature clearly had no body temperature, resembling a damp water ghost, moving and wandering among the people.
"Lighting talisman, ignite!" Song San pinched the yellow talisman with three fingers, and a flame lit up in his hand.
She squinted, and after her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see what was in front of her.
The creature was covered from head to tail by damp black fur, with its webbed feet exposed, making a "splashing" sound as it stepped on the bricks.
Is it because time was too short, and the evil spirits failed to take human form?
Upon seeing the light, the thing shook its head, let out a sharp shriek, and charged towards the source of the light.
"A hairy monster." Yu Qi scoffed lightly, stepping on the edge of the wall and slashing with his sword.
With a whoosh of sword energy, the peach wood sword easily pierced the monster's body in the blink of an eye.
Dark green liquid flowed out from the wound, running down the wooden sword.
Yu Qi frowned as he kicked the hairy monster off, drew his sword, and flicked his wrist with disgust. "What a disgusting thing, it even oozes fluid."
Yu Qi kicked the monster so hard it flipped over, then used his sword to brush aside its tangled fur, revealing its rough, uneven skin. "Hiss... It's neither human nor ghost, it's really sullying my sword."
"Alright, business is more important." Liu Dai squatted down again, inserted one end of the shovel into the crack between the bricks, then stood up and stepped on the other end.
With a loud clang, the already rotten and old shovel could not withstand the force and broke apart.
Liu Dai: "..."
Why is it so fragile?
Yu Qi picked up the long stick at his feet and threw it over, "Again."
After taking the long stick, Liu Dai squatted down again and examined the edge of the brick by the light of the fire in Song San's hand. He said, "Please move to the side. If you step on the brick, it will be difficult for me to pry it up."
The remaining three remained silent for a moment, and then each took a step back.
Yu Qi kicked the troublesome hairy monster to the wall before stepping over to Liu Dai and joining forces with him.
"One, two, three, go!"
"Again!"
Another whooshing sound came from both overhead and underground at the same time.
A wave of damp air pushed up a crack in the brickwork, and the sound of gurgling water came from below. Above the cave ceiling, several dark figures appeared one after another. Song San threw down the illumination talisman, raised his hand to hold the crack in the stone, and lifted it upwards.
Amidst the rushing sound of water, one after another, hairy monsters crawled down the edge of the cave, forming a dense, overwhelming mass in the crimson moonlight, as if they wanted to fill the entire space.
Several more sounds of sharp blades slicing through flesh rang out. Yu Qi asked with difficulty, "Is it done yet? I can't see!"
The monster's blood, when it touched the skin, was both slippery and foul-smelling, yet it was impossible to kill it all, and there was no way to avoid it; one could only endure it.
The others were in the same boat, enduring the discomfort in the darkness, yet daring not to relax for a moment.
With a low shout, the stone was finally pushed aside, revealing a dark, deep hole underground.
"Should...should we jump?" Liu Dai asked cautiously, stepping on the sand and stones beneath her feet.
A wave of damp air surged upwards, ruffling everyone's clothes. Gu Lianzhou silently tugged at his senior brother's sleeve and looked down.
Without the shelter of bricks and stones, one step forward leads to the abyss.
Song San bit his tongue, forcing himself to calm down. He swallowed hard and said in a hoarse voice, "There's no turning back, jump!"
She reached out to the side and took Gu Lianzhou and Yu Qi's hands. Yu Qi understood and gripped Liu Dai's hand tightly, as if he had made up his mind, "Whoever doesn't jump today is a coward."
"Come on, I fear not being crushed to pieces, but only that my integrity remain in the world!"
"Grandson, that's not how you use that phrase."
"I can't worry about anything else, jump!"
A strong sense of weightlessness swept over them, and the few ghostly howls were swallowed up by the cold, wet water after only a moment.
Under the immense impact, their tightly clasped hands were forced apart, and Song San felt as if he were a small boat caught in a sudden downpour, bobbing up and down in the water.
After she finally got used to holding her breath, she opened her eyes and looked for the other three people.
Seeing was difficult enough in the pitch-black lake, but after a long time, she finally saw a person kicking their legs haphazardly, hovering in front of her.
Song San immediately stretched out his arms and bent his legs to swim forward.
When I swam up to him, I realized that his hands were weak and he was sinking.
He's a complete landlubber.
Song Sanhuan grabbed its waist and swam upwards, secretly feeling that this scene was very familiar—just like the last time he dragged Gu Lianzhou, that dead pig, in the same way.
The current is deep and swift; if this continues, people may die.
Fearing that someone would die at his hands and he would have to bear the consequences, Song San exerted force with his feet, changed direction, reached out and supported the back of the person's head, and bent down.
With blurred vision, I managed to hold a piece of my lips in my mouth, pry open the person's teeth, and breathe into them.
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