Volume Two: The Secret Burial of the Cliff Valley - Chapter 131: A Narrow Escape from Death

A wave of bitterness washed over me at the thought, and a sudden, nameless rage ignited in my heart.

If we hadn't listened to my Third Uncle in the beginning, we never would have come here. If we weren't searching for his tracks, we certainly wouldn't be trapped in this place.

We were in grave danger, yet he was nowhere to be found. Judging by the current situation, he was nowhere to be seen down here, and given his cunning and capability, perhaps Ma Su was right—he might have escaped the danger long ago, off to enjoy himself somewhere else.

Looking back, my thinking was perhaps a bit extreme, but in the heat of that moment, a nameless fire truly burned within me.

I couldn't help but scream at the top of my lungs, "Li Dagang, you bastard! I’m out here fighting for my life while you go off to find peace and quiet. Following your lead was the unluckiest thing that’s ever happened to me in eight lifetimes..."

I shouted and cursed while desperately waving that life-saving robe.

The other two understood my state of mind; they realized this might be my final outburst, so they let me rant.

Strangely enough, venting like that made me feel much better.

However, it did nothing to improve our situation—in fact, it only grew more dire. In this short time, we had all suffered injuries to varying degrees. Those sand-wolf insects bit down hard, and if you didn't rip them off, they would remain firmly attached to your body.

I didn't know if it was because of the poison, but I could no longer feel the pain of the wounds.

Instead, I felt my head growing heavy, and my limbs becoming increasingly sluggish.

I knew that once I fell completely unconscious, it would be the end for all of us. Ridiculously, my thoughts at that moment weren't focused on my own survival; instead, a strange sense of relief washed over me.

Summoning my final ounce of strength, I spat out a few more insults: "Li Dagang, your nephew is done for! When I get down there and become a ghost, I’m definitely coming back to settle the score with you..."

I was in the middle of my tirade when a voice echoed from mid-air: "You little brat, have you no manners? Is that any way for a nephew to talk? Your Third Uncle here is going to be cursed to death by you sooner or later."

I froze upon hearing that voice. It was unmistakably my Third Uncle’s.

But I quickly realized that I must be dying, and this was merely a hallucination. How else could my Third Uncle’s voice be coming from above my head?

To my surprise, Ma Su and Liang Yue seemed to hear it too, and they both looked up.

Ma Su exclaimed, "The stinking Taoist?"

That didn't seem right; it couldn't be a hallucination. I hurriedly looked up as well.

There was Third Uncle, wearing his tattered Taoist robe, perched on a tree branch, glaring down at me with his mustache twitching.

This was completely unexpected, and I was caught between shock and joy. I quickly shouted, "Third Uncle, is it really you? Are you a man or a ghost?"

"Cut the crap, you're the ghost! You little brat, I’ll deal with you later. Why are you just standing there like idiots? Get up here, quick!" Third Uncle waved at us from above.

Then, his figure swayed and vanished.

Before I could process what happened, Ma Su shouted, "Quick! The center of this tree must be hollow—climb up!"

Liang Yue, being agile, scrambled up the tree in a few swift movements.

She then pulled me and Ma Su up, and we used our hands and feet to climb onto the withered tree.

Once we were up there, we discovered that the center of the trunk did indeed have a hole as wide as a water bucket, pitch-black and bottomless.

Third Uncle's voice drifted up from below: "Hurry up, jump down!"

I looked down and saw the sand-wolf insects swarming up the tree. A few had already latched onto the branches and were crawling toward us.

We dared not hesitate and scrambled one after another into the tree hole.

The hole was just large enough to fit our bodies. Once we jumped inside, we realized there was a vast space beneath the tree. We had been circling around this withered tree the whole time, never imagining it held such a hidden world inside.

Even more shocking was that Third Uncle had emerged from here.

Once we reached the bottom, we found that all three of us had been bitten by the sand-wolf insects to varying degrees, and some insects were still clinging to our bodies, biting our skin without letting go.

We had been running on pure adrenaline while under attack, but now that we had slowed down, the world began to spin. Where we had been bitten, large, purple-blue welts had swollen up.

Liang Yue gritted her teeth and reached for her knife, preparing to cut the insects off us.

Ma Su took a few deep breaths and said, "Wait."

Liang Yue didn't know why Ma Su stopped her, but she watched as he reached out, pinched the head of a sand-wolf insect on his body, and tore it off. He then took the knife from Liang Yue’s hand, sliced the insect open, and squeezed out a green, pea-sized object.

At the sight of it, Ma Su was ecstatic: "Haha! Heaven doesn't cut off all paths of survival. These venomous insects really do contain this!"

Saying this, he popped the green bead into his mouth and swallowed it.

We watched in amazement. Ma Su explained that the gallbladder of these sand-wolf insects acts as an antidote, urging us to do the same before the venom spread too far.

I found it incredible. I only knew snakes had gallbladders—who knew these insects did too?

I quickly grabbed two of the insects and, following Ma Su's example, extracted the gallbladders and swallowed them.

The gallbladders felt cool; they didn't burst, and they weren't very bitter, though they had a fishy taste.

These sand-wolf insects were masters of group attacks, but individually, they weren't very aggressive. After we finished off the remaining insects we had brought down with us, Third Uncle helped us treat our wounds and bandage them. Fortunately, Ma Su had plenty of medicine for knife wounds and disinfectants in his pack, so our condition temporarily stabilized.

I looked up at the hole above; the sand-wolf insects had not followed us down.

Once we were finished, the three of us leaned against the wall, feeling like we had just escaped death.

Third Uncle squatted in front of us, watching us with a silly grin.

I glared at him and said bitterly, "Li Dagang, you’ve really screwed us over this time. What is going on? How did you end up here?"

The pit beneath the tree hole was quite dim. Where we were, a bit of sunlight filtered down from the hole above, but further into the pit, it was pitch black. We had no idea how large this space was.

Third Uncle kicked me and grumbled, "You were cursing me behind my back—I haven't even settled that score with you yet."

I wasn't backing down: "Settle what score? Didn't you say I was the only one who could come to South Willow Village? Didn't you come yourself? Is there a single word of truth in your mouth?"

Third Uncle glared: "What do you mean there's no truth? Wait, you’re saying this is South Willow Village? I followed that person carrying the spirit banner to get inside."

"Where is he now?" Ma Su asked.

Third Uncle spread his hands: "Lost him. Are you sure this is really South Willow Village?"

I nodded: "We saw the boundary marker for South Willow Village. It’s just that this village has been abandoned for a long time. How did you actually get here? Did you see Old Tan?"

"Old Tan? Who is Old Tan?" Third Uncle asked.