The crimson jade casket, a treasure box, sliced through the air in a streak of bloody light. Before I could clearly make out its features, it vanished with the other items, plunging into the rising corpse-pit below.

I froze, not in regret over losing the important jade box, but because a sudden flash of insight illuminated my mind, allowing me to vaguely intuit the secret it contained.

A sharp thud from the mouth of the "Gourd Cave" below snapped me back to reality. I remembered Fatty hadn't climbed up yet and rushed to assist him. The sound turned out to be the Great Horned Owl missing its mark; it wheeled mid-air, swung back from the shady side of the cliff, and struck again. Fatty dangled precariously, his only functional weapon—a "Chicago Typewriter" with remaining rounds—dangling beneath him on the climbing rope, rendering it useless in the moment. He snatched up his entrenching shovel with one hand and swung it savagely at the diving owl.

The shovel connected squarely with the owl’s head and neck, shattering bone and sinew. It plummeted like a broken kite into the corpse-pit. Fatty’s momentum carried him outward with the force of his blow, nearly snapping the three strands of climbing rope. He immediately let go of the shovel to save the line, straining desperately, face angled upwards, eyes squeezed shut, unwilling to look at what lay below.

I roared his name from the cave opening, urging him to regain focus, hauling on the rope. With every ounce of strength I possessed, coupled with Fatty’s sheer will to survive, we finally managed to drag him up.

The moment Fatty scrambled into the cave, he collapsed onto the ground, wiping sweat incessantly, clearly still recovering from the terror of the near-fall. I checked his backpack. A meager half-bag of supplies remained, mostly Mùwěi stored in sealed bags, plus the two remaining blocks of explosives from breaching the "Heavenly Gate." Everything stored higher up—including the "Cyclone Shovel," which proved useless—was gone.

I pulled out the explosives for immediate use, taped the tear in the pack, and secured it temporarily with clips. At this point, I had no appetite for counting losses. I switched on my tactical headlamp, hoisted Shirley Yang onto my back, clapped Fatty on the shoulder for reassurance, and urged him to follow me quickly as we retreated deeper into the dark "Gourd Cave." The corpse-pit’s rate of consumption visibly slowed when swallowing large objects; perhaps the half-dead great worm inside could delay it, buying us precious time to escape.

Fatty gritted his teeth, stood up, grabbed his submachine gun and backpack, and asked while running, "Hey Commander Hu, you’re acting strangely today, like a different person?"

Shirley Yang, on my back, awoke from her stupor. Whether the Mùwěi had taken effect or the oxygen grew richer deeper inside, she remained extremely weak and unable to speak. My greatest fear was that she would remain comatose, which was dangerous, yet I also feared her waking was a final burst of life. Time forbade me from examining her injuries; my mind was a chaotic mess, and I missed what Fatty said, responding casually, "What the hell do you mean, a different person?"

Fatty countered, "Normally, with your temper, you’d be chewing me out for dropping that cursed jade box, perhaps giving me a lecture about the responsibility we bear. But today, you didn't even raise your voice—you just took charge!"

I retorted, "What are you talking about? You’ve caused me plenty of trouble before, but when did I ever harshly criticize you? Haven’t I always favored patient persuasion and education? Besides, I think you’ve got it backward. Didn't you always claim you’d stand defiant against a thousand pointing fingers? What happened just now was sudden; none of us is to blame. Not losing any limbs is our biggest victory."

"Furthermore, the other funerary objects, though valuable, don't matter. As long as we’re alive, we’ll have plenty of chances to make money. Of course, the ancient mirror, one of the two most important items, is valuable, but losing it isn't a disaster. Memorize its appearance; we can ask around in Beijing and perhaps find another one someday."

"And that scarlet jade casket—I suddenly realized it must contain the so-called Dragon Bone Heavenly Script, the same kind as the one Shirley Yang’s family passed down, detailing 'Phoenix Crying at Mount Qi.' The one found in the Xixia Black Water City, and the Dragon Bone that disappeared after the transport plane crashed following its excavation in Gutian County, should all contain the same content."

"Connecting this with the Dragon Bone Heavenly Script from Shirley Yang’s lineage, found deep within the secret chamber of the empty tomb treasure trove in Black Water City, and the one from Gutian County—neither found in a traditional tomb—it seems this type of Dragon Bone Heavenly Script cannot be used as tomb burial goods. This might reflect the ancient people’s values and cosmology."

"The Dragon Bone Heavenly Script has always been a guarded secret of the Imperial Treasury. If its content were merely the legend of 'Phoenix Crying at Mount Qi,' it surely wouldn't be hidden so closely. This Heavenly Script must hold another secret in its cryptic text, very likely detailing the origin and history of the 'Muchen Orb,' or perhaps the path to immortality. But the method of interpretation must be different. Either that old devil Professor Sun never told us, or he hadn't deciphered it himself. There must be a major connection between the Dragon Bone Heavenly Script and the 'Phoenix Gallbladder.'"

These thoughts surged through my mind, but I had no time to explain them to Fatty. I simply told him not to overthink things and to follow orders for now.

The water level in the "Gourd Cave" had dropped significantly, seemingly due to a shift in the earth's magnetic field rerouting the subterranean water flow. Where the water receded, slick, wet rock layers were exposed. We scrambled across the safest footholds deeper into the cave. The Xian people on the ground and the female corpses cocooned as Xian pupae became increasingly numerous, sometimes piling up like mountains. Navigating through them felt like wading through a sea of corpses, yet we never encountered a living soul.

As we descended further, a tremor of unease struck us. Could the drastic shift in the earth’s energy have altered the environment inside the cave, perhaps killing off all the Xian people? However, the higher oxygen concentration suggested a link to the "Toad Palace." Were those Xian lurking deeper inside, waiting for prey to wander in?

A piercing, rhythmic noise approached from behind. There was no turning back now. Even knowing an ambush lay ahead, we had to press forward. Fatty and I readied our weapons as we walked; hardly any usable offensive equipment remained. I told Fatty, "We're truly out of ammunition and provisions this time, tougher than when the Red Army was at Jingshangang. Damn it, more officers than soldiers, more soldiers than guns, more guns than bullets—this fight is nearly unwinnable."

A dense rustling sound emerged, coming from above, below, left, and right, as countless pale, writhing bodies materialized from the darkness. A large contingent of Xian people finally appeared, already forming a crescent encirclement. We were mentally prepared for this: being bitten to death or swallowed whole by the corpse-pit amounted to the same end. Carrying an extra weight, today was either our doom or our breakthrough.

The sound of the corpse-pit was only meters away now. Fatty and I charged forward without hesitation. The group of Xian blocking our path, about to close the trap, suddenly met chaos from behind—the slower ones were swallowed by the pit.

These Xian didn't realize how devastating the corpse-pit was; they were drawn by the stench of the great mass of rotting flesh. Opening their massive, pinkish mandibles, they swarmed forward. Fatty and I seized the opportunity to push through. A few stray Xian that got too close were obliterated by Fatty’s IA-I gunfire before they could reach us, their brains spraying violently.

The cave devolved into pandemonium. We used the confusion to gain distance. We heard the clash of heavy armor—the giant insect draped in dragon-scale demonic armor was struggling and slamming against the walls. It turned out the Xian deep inside the cavern, driven mad by hunger, had found a sluggish, giant "Huo’s Undying Worm" nearby. Except for the areas protected by its scales, its entire body was riddled with holes from the Xian mouths. The section beneath the mountain, lacking the protection of the dragon-scale bronze armor, had been gnawed clean through, separating it from the mountain structure.

This "Huo’s Undying Worm," lacking a central nervous system and relying on a diffuse neural network, remained alive even when horribly mutilated. Given time, it regained strength and thrashed violently, like a chunk of meat being bitten by giant ants, trying to fling off the clinging Xian.

To avoid the entangled giant worm and the Xian, our escape speed was forced to slow. By then, the corpse-pit, resembling a massive wooden trunk, had swallowed countless Xian regardless of whether they lived or died, and it was right at our heels.

We fled toward the left side of the "Gourd Cave’s" vertical axis. To the right thrashed the bronze-armored giant worm and a horde of Xian. The corpse-pit closed in from the left. With nowhere left to hide, it was time for my final trick. I reached out, yanked free the head of King Xian, and hurled it behind the "Huo’s Undying Worm."

The "corpse-pit" immediately shifted its course, veering toward the right side of the "Gourd Cave," where it was blocked by the mass of the worm body. Its speed instantly dropped. Seeing my chance, I darted forward, snatched King Xian's head back, and continued fleeing toward the deeper reaches of the cavern.

This time, utilizing the large number of creatures within the Gourd Cave, we had temporarily stalled the relentlessly pursuing flesh sarcophagus. Next time, there might be nothing to stop it. Despite my extreme reluctance, I had to abandon this head, which might contain the "Muchen Orb," to save our lives and plan another strategy.

We hadn't gone more than a few steps when Fatty tripped, catching himself awkwardly. From the darkness, a large number of Xian suddenly surged out, completely surrounding us.