Chapter 63: The Skeleton Monster

Anyone with even a slight understanding knew that the true Dragon Pulse of the Great Qing must have been the burial place of five generations of Qing imperial ancestors.

Those five magnificent underground palaces bore witness to this very fact.

Standing majestically, the five subterranean palaces concealed the solitude of departed souls, buried the secrets of the imperial family, silenced the cries of their descendants, and preserved their ultimate dignity.

Cheng Xiangru stared blankly at the sight, his mouth agape in utter shock, rendered speechless.

The luminous pearls on the dome were resplendent, casting a gentle, emerald-green glow that illuminated the underworld and veiled everything in a translucent, jade-like mist.

Only now did Cheng Xiangru notice that the glazed tiles of those palaces were not green, but yellow—a color reserved exclusively for the sovereign.

Chen Shangke rattled the Five-Emperor coins in his pocket, clinking them together. Thinking of the priceless treasures likely concealed within those five palaces, he suddenly felt the coins in his pocket were not appealing at all.

Lin Xiaqi gently nudged her husband and whispered in a voice barely audible, "Did you bring the sacks?"

Zhurov was always reliable. "Naturally."

Even the worldly Boss Zhou was deeply stunned, standing motionless and rooted to the spot for a long time.

Among them all, only Leng Ying remained relatively calm. She had stopped singing after just a few lines. Her delicate eyebrows were tightly knit as she vigilantly scanned her surroundings, as if guarding against something.

Coming back to his senses, Cheng Xiangru noticed Leng Ying's change and asked with growing unease, "What's wrong?"

Leng Ying countered with a question, "Did you hear anything?"

Cheng Xiangru frowned as well. He listened intently and indeed caught a faint rustling sound, closely resembling something being dragged across the ground.

Though faint and sluggish, the sound grew increasingly clear, as if something was drawing near.

Yet upon closer inspection, it was impossible to determine the direction from which the sound originated; it seemed to come from all around.

Cheng Xiangru's expression changed instantly. He thought of the gigantic black-haired spiders and the various venomous insects kept in countless pottery jars.

The false tomb was fraught with hidden perils, and the true Dragon Pulse of the Great Qing would undoubtedly harbor even greater dangers.

Chen Shangke's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. "What are we waiting for? Let's hurry and—"

Leng Ying shushed him, quickly dropping to the ground and pressing her ear against the floor tiles. After listening for a moment, she sprang to her feet. "Quickly, hide back in that room!"

The others did not understand why, but given Leng Ying's earlier display, everyone trusted her acute perception. Without wasting a breath, they hurried back and hid inside the adjacent secret chamber.

Leng Ying entered last, carefully pulling the tomb door shut with a creaking sound, leaving only a narrow gap to observe the outside.

That strange rustling sound grew closer and clearer. Without even looking, just by listening, one could sense the heaviness of the footsteps.

Curious about the situation outside as well, Cheng Xiangru sidled up to Leng Ying and whispered in a mosquito-like voice, "Let me see too."

Leng Ying squatted down, making space above.

Cheng Xiangru pressed against the crack in the door, keeping one eye closed while peering outside. The sight that met his eyes startled him so much he almost cried out.

Out there, along the wide flagstone path, was a procession of figures clad in animal skins, wielding steel forks, long sabers, spears, and other weapons, dragging heavy footsteps and shuffling forward.

Those figures were completely wrapped in animal skins, obscuring their features. Their shoe soles barely left the ground, and their bodies swayed slightly as if they might topple over at any second, yet they maintained their formation with uncanny order.

"Let me have a look!" Chen Shangke wriggled his way over, shoving Cheng Xiangru aside to press against the door gap and peer outside.

Lin Xiaqi muttered a low curse of "shameless," then stepped beside Cheng Xiangru and whispered, "What is out there?"

With a complex expression, Cheng Xiangru hesitated for a moment before answering, "It should... be people, I think."

Boss Zhou, standing nearby, was stunned upon hearing this. "Who is it?"

Presumably, Boss Zhou's first thought was that the people outside were either Gao Zhuang's gang or Cheng Zhifeng's faction.

Cheng Xiangru shook his head. "I can't see their faces, but... they don't look like normal people."

Chen Shangke retreated at that moment as well. Whatever he had seen had turned his complexion ghastly pale, and his body trembled slightly.

"Shangke, did you see clearly?" Boss Zhou asked anxiously.

Chen Shangke waved a hand without speaking, gesturing for Boss Zhou to look for himself.

Leng Ying had also retreated to the side by then. With her back against the wall, she took heavy, gasping breaths, appearing thoroughly terrified.

Sensing that the situation was growing increasingly abnormal, Boss Zhou hurried to the door and looked out. He saw a procession of figures wrapped in animal skins slowly moving toward the five palaces, while at the very tail end of the line, one figure had turned around, holding a long saber in both hands and shuffling toward the wooden door.

In the eerie green glow of the night-pearls, Boss Zhou clearly made out the intruder's appearance and stumbled back two paces in horror.

Beneath those animal skins was no human at all, but a skull with pitch-black eye sockets!

Leng Ying warned the others, "Everyone stay here and don't wander off. I'm going out to deal with that ungodly monstrosity."

Cheng Xiangru blurted out, "I'm coming with you!"

Judging by the sound, Leng Ying knew the creature outside was already perilously close. With no time for further discussion, she shoved Cheng Xiangru away. "Who's coming with me? Stay back!"

Caught off guard, Cheng Xiangru staggered and nearly fell. Recovering his balance, he tried to follow Leng Ying, but he was already too late. He could only watch helplessly as Leng Ying dragged her red-tasseled spear and charged out, standing alone to block the wooden door with her weapon leveled.

Glancing at the red tassel on her spear, Leng Ying gritted her teeth. "You love drinking blood, but you've barely tasted any. There won't be any blood for you today either—if you're really that hungry, chew on some bones!"

The skeletal monster seemed not to take Leng Ying seriously; it swung its long saber at her with formidable, crushing force.

No matter how exceptional Leng Ying's physical conditioning and reflexes were, taking a direct hit would likely leave her crippled, if not dead.

At the critical moment, Leng Ying showed no panic. Moving in a sweeping circle, she seized the precise opening and thrust her red-tasseled spear forward, driving the tip accurately into the skeleton's eye socket.

"Down with you!" Leng Ying muttered, applying sudden force to leverage the spear tip upward.

With barely a sound, the monster's skull was actually pried off by Leng Ying. It flew through the air, landed on the ground, and tumbled away into the gloom.

Leng Ying felt a fleeting sense of surprise. She truly had not expected to dispatch a skeletal monster so easily—it was far simpler than she had anticipated.

However, she rejoiced too soon.

That skeletal monster continued to move even without its head, and its speed had actually increased significantly.

Dodging another saber slash, Leng Ying retreated a few steps and glanced toward the distant line of advancing skeletal monsters, only to realize that the creatures from the rear had turned around and were now closing in to surround them.

Seeing this, Cheng Xiangru threw caution to the wind and rushed out, determined to fight alongside Leng Ying.

This time, Leng Ying did not stop him. Staring blankly at the multitude of closing monsters, she muttered under her breath, "Well, we're done for. Absolutely finished!"