The dead-as-a-doornail skeleton naturally wouldn’t reach out to touch him. Instead, he brought the oil lamp up to illuminate the skull, even leaning slightly to shine light on its face.
Because of the steps, his position stood a bit higher than where the skeleton hung.
Careful inspection revealed the skeleton was indeed abnormal. The bones bore countless dense, fine scratches, caused by something unknown. They didn’t appear man-made, yet they certainly weren’t natural either.
Since the skeleton didn’t touch him, he couldn’t resist reaching out himself. He tried touching the skull with his fingers, wanting to feel what his eyes couldn’t discern, to understand what these fine scratches were about.
Big Head suddenly darted forward, also jumping onto the bones. Yu Qing grabbed it back. Was this something you could eat?
This touch set the skeleton in motion.
It swayed.
Yu Qing looked up. The rope suspending the skeleton was strange, or rather, the place where the rope hung was odd. It was actually two interlinked rings. The swaying came from that spot, accompanied by a faint, strange rubbing sound, “guji guji.”
His gaze returned to the skeleton. He could sense this corpse hadn’t been dead too long, otherwise it wouldn’t still emit such a foul stench.
The stench came more from the skeleton’s clothing, likely stained with blood that had rotted.
Because of this, he found it strange. How could a recently dead corpse become such a clean skeleton?
Looking at the scratches on the bones, could someone have scraped it clean?
In such a vast underground secret passage of the Wen residence, someone would commit such inhuman acts?
In such a secret passage, someone doing this, plus looking at the condition of the bones in the pit below, this place had probably existed for many years. If the head of the Wen clan didn’t know about it, he found that hard to believe.
If they knew and allowed it, or perhaps even did it themselves, the thought made his hair stand on end. Behind such a scene of wealth and prosperity, something so dark could be hidden?
Yet strangely, if the bones were scraped clean, why were clothes still on them?
Dressing the skeleton after scraping it clean? Only a pervert would do that.
Also, the piled bones in the pit below, he could see most were still wearing clothes, the difference being the skulls were separated from the torsos.
The skeleton hanging before him, illuminated again by the oil lamp to confirm, seemed to be wearing the clothes of a Wen residence servant. Careful inspection confirmed it, yes, the blue servant’s clothes, merely discoloured by bloodstains.
He squatted down, trying to let the lamp illuminate the clothing on the bones in the pit, discovering all sorts of male and female garments.
His gaze suddenly fixed on a sleeve of one garment, which seemed to be embroidered with a green lotus emblem. He recognised it at a glance as the style of certain sects. Making a quick connection, he was secretly shocked. Could these be the bones of Green Lotus Mountain disciples?
Dead Green Lotus Mountain disciples in the Wen clan’s underground passage, what on earth was this place?
Standing up again to look at the hanging skeleton, he suddenly looked at his own feet, feeling something odd. From the matching height of the steps and the hanging rope, it felt like the steps beneath his feet were built specifically to coordinate with this hanging rope.
If not, steps built in this position would be rather abrupt. These steps felt like a platform specifically designed for someone to hang themselves.
The “guji guji” swaying sound continued, the skeleton still gently swinging. The smoothness of the rings above also surprised Yu Qing.
Suddenly, a faint, rustling sound, like sand flowing, arose.
Listening carefully, without deliberately shining the light, he already saw it. From the bottom of the deep pit, a white mass suddenly surged out, rapidly spreading in all directions, climbing up the stone walls in a spreading manner.
What was it? On high alert, Yu Qing extended the oil lamp to look, discovering it was a massive number of ants, somewhat resembling spiders, pale white, slightly larger than green beans. Following the ants, a faint mist also emerged.
“Di di di…”
Big Head started its ghostly cries again at this moment, startling Yu Qing into a fluster. He gripped it tight, but Big Head only called out once.
Because of this warning, Yu Qing sensed these ants were certainly not ordinary. Seeing the ant swarm also climbing up the steps beneath his feet, he quickly retreated, floating down to the ground.
Wanting to figure out what these ants were about, yet also worried Big Head’s cries might attract someone, he kept looking back.
Countless ants climbed the walls, even crawling upside down on the ceiling, converging into a stream on the hanging rings, crawling down the rope, swarming onto the hanging skeleton, burrowing into the skull’s orifices and into the clothing.
Yu Qing instantly understood, realising what the fine scratches on the skeleton were. They were all bitten by these ants.
Being able to leave marks on bone, the biting force of these ants was clearly extraordinary.
Crack!
Perhaps too many ants climbed onto the skeleton, the withered bones couldn’t bear the weight, the neck bone snapped, the head and body separated, crashing down into the deep pit with a clatter. He now understood why the bones in the pit were all decapitated.
Large numbers of ants still spread across the ground and walls, rapidly crawling toward him.
Big Head’s cry made Yu Qing unsure what was wrong with these ants. Not daring to provoke them lightly, he quickly retreated.
Soon, the white mass spreading from the ground, walls, and ceiling suddenly stopped advancing. Those piling up behind also stopped at the same position, as if blocked by some invisible thing.
What was happening?
Yu Qing was slightly startled, then suddenly thought of something. Slowly releasing his breath, indeed, he had retreated to the area where the fragrance emanated.
This fragrance could actually block the spread of these ants?
Thinking again, it wasn’t surprising. Those corpses were clearly all eaten by these ants. Without some means to control these man-eating ants, who would dare raise them beneath a residence housing a large population? If they crawled out, that would be disastrous.
Therefore, he could absolutely confirm that everything before him was deliberately man-made. These man-eating ants were being raised here by someone.
After stalemate outside the fragrance-emitting area for not long, the ants retreated like a tide, rustling as they flowed back into that pit.
Seeing the faintly pervasive mist, Yu Qing also didn’t dare stay there long.
He felt he’d been down here quite a while this time. First time down to scout the situation, unable to gauge the outside situation, staying too long wasn’t appropriate.
Thus he quickly withdrew.
On the way, he detoured back to the secret passage entrance leading to the family shrine, again standing in that peephole to peek outside. He found the oil lamp light outside had dimmed considerably. The cushions behind the yellow curtain were stacked up again, and as for the naked man and woman, they were naturally gone.
Thinking of that naked scene, Yu Qing blushed slightly, his mouth went dry, feeling a restlessness within.
Confirming no one was in the shrine outside, he retreated, began turning the rotating wall. When turned into position, a slight click sounded, locking again.
After resetting the scene, he quickly withdrew.
All the way, he pulled out the tags from the wall crevices. When running back to the intersection leading to the utility room, he again raised the lamp to shine down that tunnel leading to who-knew-where outside, curious, wanting to go look. But then thinking again, he restrained his curiosity.
There was plenty of time anyway, next time would be fine too.
Collecting himself, he quickly crawled back in, extinguished the oil lamp, and climbed back to the storage room.
Silently holding his breath and concentrating for a good while at the opening, confirming no abnormal sounds, he slowly closed the iron panel, slowly reset the bricks.
After finishing everything in the dark, he exited the storage room, tiptoed to the door, felt the dry branch beneath the door. Still there, no one should have come. Only then did he放心 remove the branch, gently reinsert the door bolt, and quietly return to his room.
Sitting cross-legged on the couch, he sorted through the situation of entering the passage. Based on the intersections he discovered underground, the entrance and exit points he explored tonight were probably only one or two tenths of the total.
Thinking of the locked storage door, the waterway blocked by chaotic rocks, and that pit for hanging people, who knew how many secrets the Wen residence underground held.
Wanting to sit cross-legged and continue cultivating, he found he simply couldn’t calm his mind. Scenes kept playing in his head.
Not the scene of the man and woman seeking pleasure in that shrine, but Wen Xin’s appearance kept turning over in his mind.
The more he thought, the more distracted he became, unable to cultivate in peace, tossing and turning with no desire to sleep.
Later he went out, moved a chair to sit in the courtyard, looking at the moonlight, his expression sometimes silly-smiling, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes sighing with melancholy.
The young Taoist, on his first venture into the world, had met for the first time a woman of similar age, good-looking, and who felt compatible in every way.
Just by that temperament, he felt it was truly good. Even looking a bit more felt pleasing to the eye.
In short, she had entered his heart, he felt everything about her was good.
Yet thinking she was already betrothed, he couldn’t help clutching at his heart.
For the first time in his life, he felt heartache over an unfamiliar woman. He now really wanted to see what kind of goods Wen Xin’s fiancé was, damn it, probably not that capable either, just born better than this old man, dare to fight this old man one on one?
Under the moonlight, Sect Leader Yu, sometimes covering his face with both hands, sometimes crossing his arms over his chest, sometimes sighing long and short, that murder-without-blinking lad had become quite abnormal…
Jade Garden.
At daybreak, Wen Xin rose early, squatting before the iron cage under the eaves.
The little creature in the cage, tired from fussing, would sleep, then wake with a rumbling stomach and start crying out.
Everyone in Jade Garden was nearly driven mad by it, the noise preventing them from sleeping peacefully.
Night after night of fussing, Wen Xin had developed dark circles under her eyes. Xiao Hong, who also came over to squat and yawn, looked even more haggard.
The little creature crying “ao ah ao ah” was already crying weakly.
Seeing someone come, it immediately lay on its back to fuss, four short legs kicking at the sky, rolling over and over, then throwing itself at the cage, desperately trying to poke its head out. When it really couldn’t get out, it actually curled in a corner whimpering and shedding tears, wetting the fur at the corners of its eyes.
Oh my, this scene of the fluffy little creature crying heartbroken tears nearly shattered Wen Xin’s heart.
She really couldn’t watch anymore. She said to Xiao Hong, “Go invite Sister Pingping.”
Xiao Hong immediately went, and after a while dragged a listless, dishevelled Song Pingping over. She also lived in Jade Garden.
“Driving me to death, not raising it anymore, kill it and stew it to eat, that’s that.” The unwilling Song Pingping muttered complaints.
Wen Xin stood up, consulting with her, “Sister Pingping, let’s still let it out.”
Song Pingping instantly sobered a bit, sighing, “My third miss, my master said, this is exactly the weaning period, just like a child, it will fuss. Can’t always indulge it. If it becomes a habit, fussing when it doesn’t get its way, that would be terrible?”
Wen Xin grabbed her hand, “No, Sister Pingping, this is what I’m thinking. Every time it escapes and is found, it becomes well-behaved. Is there some reason? Let’s release it, follow it, and find out the reason, alright?”