As the two approached Ge Mei, they were about to move on when the Fatty suddenly recalled Ge Rong, a wave of confusion washing over him. "Where's Ge Rong? I don't see him anywhere."

Ge Mei shook her head. "It’s better if we don't talk about it. Let's hurry and leave."

But the others could hardly abandon Ge Rong alone, especially since they all sensed something was amiss—Ge Rong must have run into trouble. They pressed again, their tone demanding. "Tell us quickly, what exactly happened to Ge Rong?"

Ge Mei remained visibly hesitant, her face etched with confusion, unwilling to speak. The Fatty grew anxious, fidgeting like a pork roast on hot coals—neither ready nor willing to be served.

It was then that the usually tight-lipped Company Commander suddenly spoke. His voice betrayed a distinct terror, and he stammered, "That monstrosity... that monstrosity."

Lu Zong figured the Commander must have witnessed something truly shocking to be acting so frantic. Though he had wronged the Commander before, it shouldn't have driven a grown man to this state. He quickly inquired, "Commander, what do you know? Tell us."

The Commander could only stutter, muttering repeatedly, "That monstrosity... haha... Ge Rong the monstrosity... that..."

The instant the Commander uttered Ge Rong's name, a shiver ran through everyone present. They grasped seven or eight tenths of the truth: the monstrosity must be connected to Ge Rong. But what exactly was that monstrosity?

Just as Lu Zong was about to press for more details, Ge Mei stopped him. "Lu Zong, Professor Lu, there's something I need to say to you. I warn you again, don't investigate this. Both Fatty Professor and the two of us have experienced it. Since Fatty Professor could keep it hidden, it means these things are best left unsaid. But I can tell you clearly, our situation isn't much better than Fatty Professor’s, so I won't elaborate. Fatty Professor, what do you say?"

The Fatty glanced at Ge Mei, a flicker of alarm in his eyes, and quickly agreed. "Yes, yes. If we all feel there's a reason to keep these things quiet, and it's not meant to harm anyone, we should just leave. Let's forget about Ge Rong for now."

Ma Xiong couldn't bear to let Ge Rong go, especially since she was a beautiful woman. He felt a pang of regret. "Why don't we look for her? We’re friends, after all. Besides, if we leave like this, won't Ge Rong’s parents hound us to death?"

The Fatty brushed off his backside. "You go look for her yourself; I’m leaving. Lu Zong, Ge Mei, let's go."

Ma Xiong watched the other three hurry away, then touched his conscience, sighing with genuine feeling, "Alas, there aren't many men left nowadays as conscientious and loyal as I am." His proclamation complete, he quickly caught up with the others, showing no actual regret at all.

Although everyone stopped pressing the matter, a knot remained lodged in their minds. How could a living person vanish instantly? The fact that Ge Mei, a close relative, abandoned the search suggested Ge Rong was either beyond help or involved in something truly mortifying.

Lost in thought, they reached a dead end. Before them stretched an immense, open plain, covered entirely with disjointed, limbless corpses, densely packed so tightly that not a single gap remained on the ground.

Ge Mei gasped sharply, immediately choking and tearing up. The Fatty eyed her reaction, frowning. "The death qi is incredibly thick here. It seems we're near the Demon Pagoda, perhaps encountering a Corpse Fiend formation."

The Company Commander seemed much clearer-headed now; his anger was fading. After all, it was only one or two subordinates, hardly worth such elaborate revenge. He pulled out the map of the Demon Pagoda and looked it over. "Indeed. Once we break through this Corpse Fiend formation, we’ll find the Pagoda. Then we can really have a grand time."

"A grand time? We should have a grand time right now," the Fatty mumbled to himself.

Lu Zong and Ma Xiong, seeing the ground littered with bodies, were confused. "Fatty," Lu Zong asked, "look, these bodies are wearing military uniforms from the Three Kingdoms period—that’s over a thousand years ago. Why haven't they fully decayed yet?"

The Fatty explained, "That has to do with Cao Cao's profession."

"Cao Cao's profession?" Ma Xiong and Lu Zong asked in unison.

Ge Mei interjected, "Fatty Professor, let me try to explain instead. See if this makes sense. Cao Cao was a great strategist and statesman, but he also acted as a grave robber."

The Fatty shook his head. "No, you should call him an archaeological expert. You can’t call him a grave robber; he’s our founding father, an archaeology expert! What does this tell us? That archaeologists and grave robbers—Cao Cao’s Mojin Xiaowei—share the same roots, the same lineage."

Ge Mei countered, "It’s not false to say Cao Cao was the first grave robber. Have you ever seen an archaeologist take all the treasures he excavated to use as military stipends?"

The Fatty, who usually defended Cao Cao as an archaeologist, fell suddenly silent, apparently out of arguments.

Ge Mei pressed on. "Cao Cao, this tomb raider, plundered other people's graves, especially the large ones, which invariably contained many buried attendants. Consequently, resentment qi, grievance qi, death qi, and other noxious energies mixed together. If the death qi is particularly dense, it can preserve the corpses for a time, resulting in the drowned corpses we see now. Drowned corpses are different from desiccated mummies. Mummies are preserved by nature; since nature is omnipotent, who knows where or when a mummy or a large collection of them might be preserved. But drowned corpses are different; they rely primarily on the body's reaction to various noxious energies to maintain a semblance of freshness. If the death qi in a tomb is weak, no matter how strong the other energies are, it’s useless. Forming death qi is a long process; often, by the time enough death qi accumulates, the body has long since rotted. That’s why preserved drowned corpses are rare. Cao Cao must have moved the corpse fiends formed in other tombs into his own while robbing them, ensuring the preservation of his own body. Damn it, this old man must have turned into a demon, a Corpse Fiend! Maybe one of the people lying here is Cao Cao himself, who once dominated the world."

The Fatty felt a touch of jealousy; this girl certainly knew quite a bit.

But then he noticed a flaw and countered, "However, if you say Cao Cao turned into a Corpse Fiend, I don’t agree. Haven't they already found Cao Cao's skull outside? How can you claim Cao Cao became one of these Corpse Fiends here?"

Ge Mei pouted. "I didn't say he became a Corpse Fiend here; I was just speculating. Besides, why couldn't Cao Cao leave his head behind and come here to become a Corpse Fiend? Also, how sure are you that the publicly displayed skull actually belongs to Cao Cao? I suspect that skull might not even be his."

Lu Zong said, "I have heard about that skull. Although it’s outside my area of expertise, the outside world has been clamoring for DNA testing, right? With the help of scientific advancement, how could they fail to identify it?"

Ge Mei explained, "That sounds easy, but where would you find a descendant of Cao Cao? Furthermore, extracting DNA from a skull could inevitably damage it, ruining it completely. So, whether this is truly Cao Cao's tomb is still debatable."

The Fatty was clearly growing impatient, grumbling, "Stop all the chatter! Whether it’s Cao Cao’s head or not, we might not save our own heads soon! Let's think about how to get past this place."

The others quieted down and gathered around the Fatty to survey the terrain.

It was essentially a vast plain, almost limitless, as they could see no edge—only a hazy, gray substance drifting in the distance. The Fatty said that was the malevolent energy, a millennium’s worth of Sha Qi.

Everyone shivered, unsure what lurked behind that haze.

Looking again at the corpses on the ground, though they seemed randomly strewn about, they were actually arranged in the pattern of a Tai Chi Bagua diagram. They stood precisely at a small intersection point of the Bagua, surrounded by Corpse Fiends front, back, left, and right.

The Fatty muttered, "I wonder if this Bagua formation rotates."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Corpse Fiends suddenly began to rotate, circling a brilliantly shining coffin at the center of the formation.

Ma Xiong glared furiously at the Fatty, cursing him as a genuine jinx. "Why say such things!"

After waiting a moment, the Corpse Fiends didn't stop turning; they accelerated. The Company Commander looked down at his feet. "Why aren't we rotating?"

Lu Zong surmised, "If I’m not mistaken, the ground beneath the Corpse Fiends is rotating. They are maintaining a circular motion to generate an inward attraction. Eventually, those Corpse Fiends will rise, awaken, and won't we be done for?"

The Fatty reassured them. "It’s nothing, nothing. It's just a thin layer of people; absolutely no problem. Rushing out? I alone am more than capable."

The others exchanged glances, then nodded. They all took a step back. "Fine, we leave these Corpse Fiends to you. Just carve out a bloody opening so we few can pass."

The Fatty grinned slyly. "Heh, did you think I, Fatty, was just for show?"

With that, he placed his hands on his hips, bent his fingers sharply—a movement that visibly engaged thousands of muscles—and with such speed and force that his belt was yanked clean out of his trousers. The belt, which had been soft and drooping like the Fatty himself, transformed with a single sharp snap into an incomparably hard Peach Wood Sword.

This stunned everyone. They hadn't expected the Fatty to be concealing such an unbreakable divine weapon right around his waist. Ma Xiong, especially, regretted ever insulting the Fatty's physique.

The Fatty turned back, nodded to the others, and said, "Alright, everyone follow me."