Chapter 1023 A Headless Corpse
Seeing that there seemed to be no traps or mechanisms, Ashina Zhuxie and Wang Shaoqiu exchanged a glance and slowly walked forward. Standing behind them was Lei Yu, who had just been protected by Ashina Zhuxie and had taken several steps back. She looked at Lüxiao beside her with concern.
Are you alright?
"..."
The usually alert Lüxiao remained silent this time. She glanced at the person next to her with a complicated expression, and finally nodded to Lei Yu after regaining her composure. The two of them followed the people in front and climbed back onto the stone platform, surrounding the coffin.
At this moment, everyone covered their noses and endured the stench, finally able to see the situation inside the coffin, and gasps of amazement filled the air.
Sure enough, there was a corpse inside the coffin.
Moreover, it was unknown how many years had passed since the burial, the body had long since dried up and turned to dust, and even the clothes that accompanied it were almost rotting and decaying. And—Green Silk frowned slightly, wondering if it was just her imagination, but although the clothes on the skeleton were so decayed that they were almost turning to dust, she vaguely felt that they were somewhat familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before.
But none of this is the most astonishing part.
What's most unbelievable is that this corpse was headless!
What was even more astonishing and exhilarating was that a golden human head was placed on the severed neck of the corpse!
The gold artifacts were not imperishable; on the contrary, they became even more radiant with the passage of time. Moreover, several torches shone on the coffin, making the golden hair of the person shine with dazzling golden light. The golden light that emanated from the coffin the moment it was opened was clearly from this person's hair.
"This...this is gold, isn't it?"
In the tense and astonished silence, someone finally spoke, their voice filled with indescribable excitement and joy. Immediately afterward, a Turkic soldier cautiously reached out to touch the golden head, but before he could touch it, Ashina Zhuxie stopped him with a low shout: "Stop!"
The soldier was startled, then immediately realized what was happening, hurriedly withdrew his hand, and lowered his head.
Ashina Zhuxie stared intently at the golden head, then turned to look at Wang Shaoqiu, whose face was bathed in golden light but whose expression was solemn and whose eyes even seemed somewhat dim: "What's going on here?"
Wang Shaoqiu remained silent, clearly bewildered by the situation before him.
Ashina Zhuxie asked, "Who is this?"
Wang Shaoqiu said, "I don't know."
"Is that Zuo Chen'an?"
"Not really."
"Why?"
"Zuo Chen'an died of illness, and he should have been buried in a burial shroud. But what this corpse is wearing looks like armor."
"Armor?"
Ashina Zhuxie frowned immediately, while Lüxiao, standing beside him, gasped.
Yes, no wonder she felt the decaying clothes on the skeleton looked familiar for a moment. But that feeling of familiarity shouldn't have come solely from the nearly rotting armor.
Thinking of this, her gaze shifted to the somewhat dazzling golden head, drawing everyone's attention.
The coffin wasn't filled with the gold and silver jewels they had hoped for; it only contained a golden human head. Compared to everyone's expectations, it was indeed rather lackluster. Even wealthy families had more burial goods than this, so it hardly deserved to be called a treasure.
But what kind of person's coffin contains no human head, yet is buried with a golden human head?
More importantly—
The golden head was exquisitely sculpted, with clearly visible features, including a pair of wide-open tiger eyes that shone brightly in the golden light, as if the person had such piercing gaze when alive, and thus carried that spirit into the silence of death.
Those eyes, and the look in them, seemed very familiar.
Countless memories of the past flooded into Lüxiao's mind. One vivid person after another, one unbearable event after another, all flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern. She was immersed in the river of memories, her mind reeling from the surging waves. One hand involuntarily reached out towards the golden head in the coffin.
Just as her slender fingertips were about to touch the golden head, Wang Shaoqiu's gaze suddenly fell upon the withered clothes worn by the skeleton, which seemed to move slightly.
"careful!"
He shouted and immediately reached out to stop them.
Startled by his voice, Green Silk looked down and saw that the tattered clothes suddenly bulged, as if the skeleton beneath them had raised its hand and was rapidly moving toward hers. Caught off guard, before Green Silk could retract her hand, a black snake suddenly sprang out from the collar, its wide-open mouth revealing several sharp fangs as it lunged at her.
Just as the fangs were about to bite her hand, Wang Shaoqiu struck the snake's head hard.
The snake was knocked off course by the blow, and seemingly enraged, it coiled up into a ball, its tongue flicking out and hissing, before suddenly lunging at Wang Shaoqiu!
No one around was surprised to find a snake in the coffin. This unexpected turn of events left everyone dumbfounded. Before anyone could react, the snake had already wrapped itself around his neck and bit him hard on the side of his neck!
"ah!"
A scream suddenly echoed through the stone chamber. Wang Shaoqiu's eyes turned red with pain, and he staggered back a few steps before falling off the stone platform!
Ashina Zhuxie was also stunned and hurriedly shouted, "Quick!"
As soon as he raised his hand, the other Turkic soldiers snapped out of their surprise and immediately surrounded him. They saw Wang Shaoqiu clutching his neck with one hand and forcefully pulling the snake down with the other. With a hiss, a spurt of blood gushed from the side of his neck. The venomous snake had actually torn a piece of flesh from his neck, which he then threw aside and it slammed against the stone wall.
Several soldiers immediately stepped forward, brandishing their swords and chopped the venomous snake into more than a dozen pieces.
Although the snake was dead, the fear it brought amplified hundreds of times in an instant. Amidst their astonishment, everyone turned to watch Wang Shaoqiu slowly stand up, one hand clutching his bleeding neck. He seemed unable to believe it himself, his pale face filled with terror and panic. Looking at the dismembered snake, he stammered, "This, this is—"
Before he could finish speaking, his eyes were already mostly dead.
Although it was severed, anyone could tell that it was a highly venomous silver-ringed black snake!
Just as Wang Shaoqiu's vision blurred and his already thin body swayed precariously, as if he were about to collapse at any moment, a voice so soft it seemed a mere breeze could dissipate it rang in his ears—
"Why...?"
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