Chapter 14: Turmoil
There was too much hair, too dense, everywhere.
Hundreds of thousands of silk threads wrapped around Li Weiyi’s body, pulling him inch by inch into the grave soil with irresistible force.
He couldn’t breathe.
His mouth and nose were filled with either soil or hair.
As Li Weiyi was on the verge of suffocation, qi flow erupted from the sole of his right foot. Instantly, his lungs, which were about to explode, found relief and miraculously entered a wondrous state of endless inner breath.
“This qi flow can actually replace breathing. Doesn’t that mean I can hold my breath for as long as I want from now on?”
The excitement lasted only an instant before Li Weiyi returned to the dangerous and terrifying reality. He struggled with all his strength for a while, but it only exhausted him completely, utterly unable to resist those hairs.
Gradually.
He sank deeper and deeper, the soil on his back growing thicker and thicker.
At a certain moment.
Li Weiyi felt a bone-chilling cold air coming from below, and through strands of hair, his eyes saw an ice coffin beneath him, emitting dazzling white light.
Inside the coffin lay a slender skeleton dressed in red clothes, hands folded over the lower abdomen, peaceful and dignified.
The bones were like immortal jade, with strands of bright red blood threads flowing on them… Blood had actually been preserved? And it contained extraordinary vitality.
All the hair had grown from the skeleton’s head, spreading out along the gaps in the ice coffin.
“It really rose from the dead! That shouldn’t be possible. It’s already turned into white bones—how did it suddenly awaken?”
“This ice… is melting…”
As the ice coffin melted, Li Weiyi’s whole body became drenched.
The coffin lid grew thinner and thinner.
Li Weiyi’s sense of crisis intensified. The thing pulling him down couldn’t possibly be because she was too lonely lying there alone, right? If he didn’t break free soon, once the ice coffin fully melted, he would probably turn into white bones too.
Right, the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish.
This supreme treasure of the Chan Sect was still gripped in his hand.
Its two fish eyes had immense origins—they could surely subdue the red-clothed immortal maiden in the coffin… Bah! What red-clothed immortal maiden? It was just a white bone demon.
Back then, the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish seemed to have been activated by his blood, emitting green glow and red glow.
No time to think—treat a dead horse as a live one.
Just as the ice coffin lid melted to a translucent state, Li Weiyi gathered his power and resisted the hair wrapped around his arm, forcefully pulling back his right hand that tightly gripped the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish.
Instantly, his wrist clashed with the uneven edge of the melted coffin lid.
“Bang!”
As Li Weiyi fell entirely into the coffin, his wrist scraped across the sharp edge of the coffin lid, and blood instantly erupted, flowing along his arm toward his palm.
This white bone demon was so bony—not a bit of flesh on her.
Falling onto her, Li Weiyi was jabbed in pain all over. The key was, the hair was wrapped too tightly; he couldn’t move at all and could only passively contact her.
Li Weiyi’s eyes were almost embedded in her deeply sunken eye sockets.
His nose sank into her nasal cavity.
His lips were pressed against her row of snow-white teeth.
The hair wrapped tighter and tighter…
Li Weiyi’s body felt like it was being crushed to pieces. The places jabbed hardest by her, like his lips, cheek, shoulders, and crotch, had all broken skin, blood overflowing.
Weirdly, this blood was absorbed by her, drilling into the white bones.
“Is she going to devour all my flesh and blood? She doesn’t want to come back to life, does she?”
Li Weiyi was squeezed until his consciousness blurred by the hair and the white bones beneath him; even the scalding hot qi flow in his body dissipated.
Even more terrifying, a icy power came from her brow, seeping into Li Weiyi’s brow, making him shudder all over.
“Splash!”
Just as Li Weiyi was nearly done in by her, the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish finally reacted, erupting with green glow and red glow.
The hair wrapped around Li Weiyi retreated like straw encountering flame.
Li Weiyi finally broke free and sat up, slapping the skull on her head full of hair strands, making her turn her head away. She was too bullying—he had to vent this anger.
The Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish shone brightly for only an instant before dimming again.
Li Weiyi fled in fright—how could he dare continue punishing her?
While climbing the grave mound, he found the Yellow Dragon Sword.
Just as he grabbed the sword and jumped down from the grave mound, the blue stone tablet rang with loud bell sounds again. Black hair surged out like a mass of dark clouds and wandering snakes from the pit at the top of the grave mound, rushing toward Li Weiyi.
In an instant, flying hair strands filled every inch within a five-zhang radius.
Li Weiyi wasn’t sure if the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish was truly activated by his blood. If he got entangled into the ice coffin again, he might not escape.
“Swish! Swish! Swish…”
His legs quickly dodged and maneuvered, the Yellow Dragon Sword slashing repeatedly.
As the scalding hot qi flow from the sole of his right foot flowed to his right hand, a faint layer of yellow glow appeared on the sword edge of the Yellow Dragon Sword.
He swung the sword in a horizontal chop.
The arc of light was like the moon, dazzlingly brilliant.
The black hair struck by the sword immediately turned into wisps of smoke, dissipating in the air. This sword had become a demon-breaking blade, feared by evil spirits.
…
On the deck near the medical tent.
Dozens of men and women of all ages had their hands bound behind their backs, sitting or lying prostrate against the gunwale.
Some were still unconscious from the drugged breakfast. The awake scientific expedition team members had faces full of anger, cursing Chen Hong, Kong Fan, and others standing not far away.
Kong Fan was the head chef, short and fat, around forty years old, his white chef uniform stained with grease and fresh blood marks.
The other three from the kitchen team were dragging the wounded from the medical tent out one by one.
Professor Xu’s both legs were broken. A young cook dragged him out by one arm from the medical tent. In pain, his mouth twitched, and he wailed as if crying and laughing: “Animals will revert to their nature… When they sense danger, they attack and slaughter. Without food, they cannibalize their own kind. If human nature isn’t restrained, all evil will be unleashed, unrestrained… Desires… Madness…”
“You old thing, you’ve eaten the most during this time. Wailing so loudly—you must have all your strength in your mouth!”
Kong Fan had a big grudge against Professor Xu. These past few days, Professor Xu’s appetite had surged; his students had to run to the kitchen shed several times a day, very troublesome.
Of course, neither he nor those students knew that most of Professor Xu’s meals actually ended up in the stomach of the neighbor on the next bed.
Professor Xu’s head was kicked hard twice by Kong Fan, blood flowing from his mouth, and he immediately fell silent.
“Bang! Bang… Bang…”
A series of gunshots.
Moments later, Xie Tianshu walked out of the nether mist with a cold face, wearing a dragon pattern ring on his left thumb, holding a pistol in his right hand.
Four security team members carried two corpses behind him, throwing them in front of everyone.
Seeing the captain “Gao Xin” and another crew member’s corpses, the cursing voices turned to screams and sobs. Some were completely terrified, not daring to breathe, just trembling violently.
“You actually killed people. How did Captain Gao provoke you? You’re lawless.” Professor Xu said angrily.
Xie Tianshu was a man of mild and stable emotions. He patiently explained: “Professor, we’re now in the Ghost Wasteland World where no land is visible. Where’s the law? Where’s the heaven? The captain was a good man, but good men are doomed not to survive in harsh environments—they’re the first to be eliminated.”
“You’re a biology professor; you should understand better than anyone that survival is the first law of the universe.”
“When the survival environment turns harsh, creatures become irritable and restless, then proactively clear out competitors. Those who don’t strike first are doomed to elimination.”
“Survival of the fittest, only the adapted survive. Isn’t that what you always say? Only by clearing out the inferiors on the ship who consume grain and water do the superiors have a better chance to live.”
“Sigh, a man without foresight has immediate worries. We can’t wait until food is truly exhausted, everyone starves without strength, then resort to cannibalism, right? That would be so ugly—we’re people of civilized society.”
“Captain Gao couldn’t bear to do it, so I have to be the bad guy.”
Then Xie Tianshu came before Zhao Meng, squatted down, looked at his bent and broken legs, and said displeased: “How did your legs get beaten like this? You went too far! Brother Meng, does it hurt? It must hurt a lot. How about this: hand over the Buddha’s Sarira, and I’ll give you a quick end. I swear to heaven, I’ll absolutely keep my word.”
Zhao Meng’s face was like white paper. He opened his eyelids and gave him an indifferent glance.
Xie Tianshu’s eyes instantly turned cold, and he asked in a deep voice: “Have you found Li Weiyi?”
A security team member said: “Not yet.”
“The deck area is only so big—where can he hide? Search inch by inch for me. Dig open all the grave mounds too; find him no matter what. Where’s Xie Jin?” Xie Tianshu said.
“He took people to the planting area side and hasn’t returned,” that security team member said.
Xie Tianshu knew full well Xie Jin’s intentions—he must be going for Cai Yutong.
“Brother Meng, do you know why I’m certain the Buddha’s Sarira is on you two senior disciple brothers?”
Xie Tianshu smiled before continuing: “Because when the Long Ji Hao sank, I personally saw green glow and red glow erupt from Li Weiyi’s body. The more you deny and conceal it, the more it proves the Buddha’s Sarira is on the ship. Tell it now, and there’ll be much less pain.”
Zhao Meng remained silent.
Gao Huan’s hands were bound behind his back, his face pressed to the cold ground. He slowly woke up, his shoulders and wrists in excruciating pain, his head throbbing, his vision and hearing gradually clarifying from blur.
After seeing his situation, his gaze shifted to the two corpses, his pupils contracting sharply.
In disbelief, he struggled to sit up, staring deathly at Captain Gao Xin’s corpse, suddenly crying out: “Dad!”
He stood up and rushed over.
His center of gravity unsteady, his head hit the ground first, falling beside the corpse.
“Dad… Who killed my dad… Who did it, you… Ah… Waa…”
Gao Huan’s voice was hoarse, his heart convulsing in pain, tears mixing with the blood on the corpse.
Chen Hong was surprised: “So Captain Gao’s son was on the ship too—well hidden.”
“Another connected person,” Kong Fan sneered. It was just a research vessel, yet so many could be crammed in.
A security team member whispered in Xie Tianshu’s ear: “This kid is on good terms with Li Weiyi; they’ve been together a lot lately. He definitely knows where Li Weiyi is hiding.”
Xie Tianshu walked over to comfort him: “Little Huan, the dead can’t be revived. You must restrain your grief. Tell me, where is Li Weiyi?”
Gao Huan saw the pistol in Xie Tianshu’s hand, originally his father’s. How could he not know who the executioner was?
“I’ll kill you!”
Grinding his teeth, he charged headfirst fiercely.
Xie Tianshu quickly stepped back.
Gao Huan crashed into empty air and fell to the ground. Before he could get up, Chen Hong stepped on his neck, his ear bleeding from the hard shoe sole.
Chen Hong said: “Don’t refuse the toast and drink the forfeit. Can’t you see the situation?”
“I see you clearly… your mom…” Gao Huan roared.
Chen Hong’s eyes darkened, and he kicked out, nearly knocking Gao Huan out, silencing him completely.
From the nether mist came chaotic footsteps and cursing voices.
Xie Jin and three others brought back five students from the planting area.
Seeing the horrific scene on the deck.
The students who had been emotionally agitated just moments ago were all scared silent, as quiet as cicadas in winter. Two girls bowed their heads, their legs shaking badly.
