Bai Er Laizi was back there, blasting away at the Jiang Nü climbing ashore with his hunting rifle, cursing as he fired: "Damn it, what kind of horrors have you people summoned? Why are there so many of them?"

Liu Dashao knew that continuing like this was no solution; sooner or later, they would all be gobbled up alive by these Jiang Nü. The monster was already stepping over the Jiang Nü, slowly clambering up. Liu Dashao’s heart pounded with anxiety: "This is bad, what in the world should we do now?"

He glanced back and suddenly saw the massive cowhide drum suspended in mid-air. A daring notion sparked in his mind. It was the sound from the cowhide drum that had caused the corpses to mutate, and the Jiang Nü had surfaced only after the drumming began. Could it be that this drum was the key to controlling both the Jiang Nü and the monster?

Seeing more and more Jiang Nü surging toward the shore, Tian Guoqiang and Bai Er Laizi were barely holding them off. Even Zhang Enpu had drawn his Celestial Master Sword and joined the fray.

Liu Dashao knew he could wait no longer; he had to take the risk. If it failed, then it was fate.

With that thought, he turned and crawled back toward the giant cowhide drum.

Tian Guoqiang shouted from the front, "Dashao, what are you doing? Get back here, it’s dangerous!"

Liu Dashao scrambled quickly onto the drum, sweeping away the topmost Jiang Nü with his rifle stock. At that moment, the monster’s rotting skeletal hand had already gripped the iron chain. There was no time left for deliberation. Liu Dashao raised his stock and drove it fiercely into the center of the drum. With a sharp Tear!, the heavy stock plunged deep into the cowhide. An invisible wave of fluctuating air suddenly surged through the atmosphere, and then everything seemed to freeze at that instant.

The frenzied Jiang Nü were locked in rigid poses, as if frozen solid, utterly motionless. The monster, caught mid-climb on the chain, looked as if struck by a paralysis spell, unable to move even an inch.

"What is happening?" Everyone looked questioningly at Liu Dashao, standing atop the cowhide drum. Liu Dashao let out a long breath; heaven had been kind to him after all—his guess was correct.

He raised his bird gun and hurled it straight into the center of the monster’s head. A stream of foul, yellowish fluid spurted high into the air. Then, the beautiful flower bud rapidly withered. The monster stiffened and fell backward with a thump onto the platform, collapsing into a puddle of mush. Immediately, a sizzling sound followed, and all the Jiang Nü withered swiftly; their distended bellies deflated instantly, finally going slack like punctured balloons.

Tian Guoqiang gave Liu Dashao a thumbs-up, genuinely marveling, "Brother, you are amazing!"

Crash! A violent splash erupted from the blood pool below.

"Look!" Zhang Enpu called out, looking down.

The water in the blood pool began to spin violently, splashing water everywhere with a roaring sound. The octagonal platform at the center of the pool suddenly became riddled with cracks, and then the platform shattered instantly, sinking gradually into the blood. A black vortex formed where the platform had been, resembling a gigantic, rapidly spinning black eye.

Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter!

Stalactites began dropping continuously from overhead. The entire cavern started shaking violently. Liu Dashao stumbled, landing squarely on his rear atop the cowhide drum.

What was going on? Was this an earthquake?

Zhang Enpu roared, "Everyone get to the bank quickly! The eye of this ancient tomb has been destroyed; this place could collapse at any moment!"

Not daring to delay, they dodged the falling rocks and scrambled rapidly toward the bank. A sharp stalactite suddenly plummeted down, smashing the iron chain and breaking it. The taut chain suddenly slackened, and the powerful momentum sent it swinging wildly upward.

Liu Dashao held tight to the chain and was flung up with it. Seeing himself about to collide with the stone wall and be reduced to pulp, he desperately let go in a panic. He plummeted from mid-air, tumbling several times in a self-protective roll before finally stopping. Though uninjured, he saw stars and couldn't get up for a long moment.

"What do we do now? What do we do?" Bai Er Laizi asked with a crestfallen face.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Several loud explosions echoed, and massive waterspouts rushed in from outside the stone walls. Torrential water roared into the cavern. Standing on the bank, the group watched the spectacle with gaping mouths. The waterspouts hung suspended from the cavern roof, pouring down in a cascade, spraying them thoroughly with droplets.

The water level in the cavern rose rapidly; it would soon be submerged.

Tian Guoqiang urged anxiously, "Dashao, we have to run! If we stay here, we’ll drown!"

Liu Dashao studied the scene for a moment, then pointed to the cavern roof. "Don't panic, everyone. Look, the water flow has blasted several holes through the mountain wall. If we stay in the water and wait for the cavern to fill, we can swim out through those holes in the ceiling!"

Zhang Enpu agreed, "Dashao is right. This is our only chance to escape!"

Of the four, only Zhang Enpu’s swimming skills were poor, so Bai Er Laizi again took the Taoist master onto his back. The others discarded everything they could carry to reduce their load. Then they quietly settled into the water, allowing themselves to float slowly upward with the rising current.

Water poured into the cavern, and the four constantly paddled their limbs, struggling to keep from sinking. The holes in the ceiling grew closer and closer.

After floating in the water for so long, Liu Dashao was starting to tire. Zhang Enpu choked on water several times, but thankfully Liu Dashao held his arm tightly, lifting him up again and again.

Hearing the rushing sound of water near his ears, Liu Dashao roared, "Hold on, everyone! We can almost see the dawn of revolution!"

After holding on for a little longer, they reached the mouth of the holes. An invisible suction immediately grabbed them, rapidly pulling them toward the openings.

Liu Dashao suddenly shouted and kicked hard in the water, shooting out first through the hole in the ceiling. Everything before him was pitch black, and his head felt fuzzy. Apart from the gurgling sound of water, he could hear nothing else. His chest felt constricted, making it unbearable to breathe. Oxygen was depleting, and Liu Dashao felt like he was about to die, tossed about like a fish nearing its end.

In a short span, he felt he had traversed a long cycle of life and death. Just as he thought he had crossed into the netherworld, a sudden brightness flooded his vision. Having grown accustomed to the dim light inside the cave, this sudden glare temporarily blinded him.

He kicked backward fiercely with both legs, his foot seemingly striking a rock. Using that push, Liu Dashao burst to the surface with a splash, frantically wiping the water from his face while gulping down lungfuls of fresh air.

Outside, the sky was already bright; the morning light filtered through the mist, creating shimmering ripples on the water’s surface.

Next, one by one, heads popped out of the water, followed by heart-wrenching coughs and heavy gasps.

Bai Er Laizi clutched his head and cursed, "Damn it! I was carrying the old master, so I was already slow, and just when I was about to surface, someone kicked me right on the head! That almost drowned me! Who kicked me just now?"

A thought suddenly struck Liu Dashao: Could the rock he thought he kicked have actually been Bai Er Laizi’s head?

Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to tell Bai Er Laizi that the kick had come from him, or he'd surely be killed for it.

After his eyes adjusted to the outside light, Liu Dashao began surveying their surroundings. They were floating in a stream flowing down from a mountain gorge, flanked by hills in a hollow. The stream wasn't very wide; in a blink, they swam to the bank. The low-lying ground near the shore was covered in reeds. Pushing aside a clump of reeds revealed numerous holes in the marshy ground—it seemed these were muskrat dens.

The four climbed one after another onto the earthen mound by the bank. The mountain forest in the early morning was cool. Still soaking wet from the water, a breeze made them all shiver uncontrollably. Liu Dashao and the others were relatively hardy, but the elder Zhang Enpu was suffering. All semblance of immortal dignity was gone; his lips were blue, and his teeth chattered loudly, like kernels rattling in a gourd.

Tian Guoqiang shivered as he said, "Dashao, we really have you to thank this time. If not for your audacious idea, we’d probably still be trapped inside that Bird Emperor's tomb!"

"It's nothing! At worst, in five hundred years, we can be excavated as ancient corpses by future generations and fetch a good price!" Liu Dashao joked.

"D-Dashao... is... is there... any... any decent... way... to warm... up?" Zhang Enpu stammered, his face starting to turn purple.

Liu Dashao looked at Zhang Enpu’s condition and knew he must be badly chilled. However, they were all soaked, and they didn't even have a match; it looked like starting a fire for warmth was impossible. In that case, the only option was exercise. Vigorous activity would speed up blood circulation, making them feel less cold.

Although Liu Dashao knew his suggestion wasn't perfect, in that situation, no one could think of anything better. To prevent catching a cold, the four stripped off their outer clothes and tied them around their waists. Then, shouting a cadence, they began a "naked run" through the misty woods.

The sensation of running naked felt quite pleasant. The wind felt cool on their rear ends, and their skin could better absorb the nutrients in the air. The four sped through the woods like a band of wild men. Of course, this type of exercise was only suitable for deserted areas; running naked in public would make one a hooligan, but for them now, it was merely "returning to nature."

Liu Dashao’s tactic proved highly effective. After running several li, their skin was covered in a thick layer of sweat, and everyone’s complexion turned ruddy, no longer pale and ashen as before. However, this exertion had completely drained their remaining energy; they felt as if lead had been poured into their legs and could barely walk.

Panting, Tian Guoqiang suggested, "Dashao, maybe we should go for a naked run every morning from now on?"

Liu Dashao glanced pointedly at Tian Guoqiang's lower anatomy and sneered, "With your model, you still have the nerve to go running naked!"

Zhang Enpu, nearby, blushed deeply and quickly used his clothes to cover himself. If Tian Guoqiang’s model was subject to ridicule, his own might make the others assume he was carrying a number five battery.