Volume 2: The Secret Tomb of the Cliff and Valley - Chapter 143: Escape

As Ma Su spoke, his emotions became somewhat agitated. "When we went to Mount Niuyang last time, all those bizarre and uncanny events were your doing! That includes you being lured away by the spirit banner in the middle of the night, your strange behavior while we were in this village, and that extra person appearing overnight—all of these were real, not hallucinations of mine..."

Zhou Zheng nodded. "That's correct. I know your dedication to academia; without extraordinary events taking place, nothing would have stopped you from continuing your exploration. Moreover, I happened to discover that Teacher's destiny falls under the yin branch, which is why we ended up finding South Willow Village after all. I had no choice but to intentionally poison myself, creating the illusion of unfathomable ghosts and deities at Mount Niuyang. Sure enough, after that incident, the research project was terminated."

Xing Mo asked coldly, "Why go to such redundant lengths? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just kill all three of us back then?"

I glanced at Xing Mo. He had just been bitten by toxic insects, yet he had recovered remarkably fast. This caught me off guard; it seemed Zhou Zheng's words were true—he had not intended to deal a fatal blow to Xing Mo.

A trace of surprise flashed in Zhou Zheng's eyes, though he showed no other particular reaction, merely shaking his head. "Teacher holds too much weight in the academic world. If he were to die, the sensation would likely be massive, drawing more and more people's attention to Mount Niuyang. Besides, I still have many biological problems that rely on Teacher. Over the years, Teacher has helped me resolve quite a few difficult problems from various perspectives, hasn't he?"

Ma Su nodded. "Over the years, Zhou Zheng has frequently come to me with questions. I patiently answered them for him, thinking he simply had a strong thirst for knowledge and was adept at discovering problems. Who would have guessed he was using them for this purpose?"

Xing Mo shook his head, pointing a glaring finger at Zhou Zheng, and said angrily, "And yet Youyou still died—she died at your hands."

A sudden look of bitter sorrow crossed Zhou Zheng's face as he muttered to himself, "I didn't want to... I didn't want to... That night... she..."

Ma Su said, "Youyou discovered your secret, didn't she?"

Zhou Zheng nodded. "That night, she saw me together with the mountain ghoul..."

"Mountain ghoul? You can control mountain ghouls?"

Zhou Zheng smiled. "Teacher, I am your most valued student. On many occasions, you've said that I am the most likely to inherit your legacy in the future—how could I ever disgrace you? The method of controlling biological behavior by understanding and analyzing the energetic substances within living bodies is something you taught me. You only ever applied it to academics, whereas I am going to carry it forward and make it greater. At the same time, I also possess the skill of commanding insects. The parasites can enter a creature's brain, and by controlling them, the success rate of directing the host exceeds sixty percent."

Ma Su shook his head. "You really planned this meticulously. You've truly spared no effort in this endeavor over the years..."

I looked at Zhou Zheng. Beneath his frail and delicate exterior lay such a vicious and ruthless heart. A sudden memory of the dozen or so people locked inside the cages flashed through my mind, and I asked, "What on earth are you planning by imprisoning those deliverymen?"

Hearing this, Zhou Zheng raised an eyebrow, and a chilling gaze shot toward me.

"Some secrets can be told, but others must remain unspoken... I've reined in my patience to talk with you for this long, and the time should just about be right..."

With that, Zhou Zheng reached down and picked out several venomous insects from the crawling mass on the ground. This time, instead of drinking their bodily fluids, he allowed the creatures to crawl onto his own neck.

To my astonishment, the bellies of those toxic insects rapidly turned red—they were actually drinking Zhou Zheng's blood.

Zhou Zheng wore a relaxed expression. Once the insects had drunk their fill, he scooped them up into his hand and flicked his fingers, sending them flying off one by one.

I originally thought Zhou Zheng was preparing to launch an attack, but to my surprise, the toxic insects did not fly toward us.

Instead, they flew toward the dead body of Zou Baizu resting on the sacrificial altar behind us.

The venomous insects landed on Zou Baizu's neck, and the blood in their abdomens slowly drained away—they were actually transferring blood to the corpse.

What on earth was Zhou Zheng trying to achieve with this move?

Before we could figure it out, we saw Zou Baizu's body begin to move.

"He's alive... Zou Baizu is alive..." Gasps of shock broke out among us.

As Zou Baizu's body stirred, the piles of skeletons scattered across the ground around us also began to shift, and the grinding sound of bone scraping against bone echoed once more.

The few of us quickly huddled together, staring intently at everything unfolding around us.

Only Third Uncle remained seated there like a corpse. Wondering if something had actually happened to him, I called out twice, "Li Dagang, wake up! Stop pretending to be asleep, damn it..."

Third Uncle still gave no response.

Meanwhile, the skeletons on the ground churned continuously, and thousands of insects began burrowing out from beneath the bones.

"They're earth mirages."

Those thousands of bugs were precisely the venomous insects previously known as underground dragons. I never imagined their numbers would be so immense. If every single one of those insects could spit out a pellet of Dragon-Gall Sand, that would amount to thousands of them.

No wonder Zhou Zheng had gone to such painstaking lengths to come here and harvest the Dragon-Gall Sand.

The moment these earth mirages emerged from the soil, they swarmed like a tidal wave toward the newly revived Zou Baizu.

Terrified, we scrambled out of the way. Fortunately, their target was not us. Once we cleared a path, the insects began circling endlessly around Zou Baizu.

"You've seen enough of the show; it's time for it to end."

Suddenly, Zhou Zheng shouted, thrust his fingers into his mouth, and let out a sharp whistle.

At the sound of the whistle, the venomous insects surrounding Zhou Zheng began to crawl toward us in a frenzy.

"Not good!" I shouted, stepping forward without hesitation to haul Third Uncle up. His eyes were tightly shut as if he were dead, and his body was completely limp.

Without further ado, I heaved him onto my back.

At the same time, Xing Mo roared, "Everyone, don't panic! Follow me."

With that, Xing Mo flung a handful of powdered substance into the air, and the dust drifted down to settle upon the oncoming insects.

To our amazement, the venomous insects seemed terrified of the powder and frantically scattered, leaving a clear path open on the ground.

A surge of respect for Xing Mo arose within me. This powder was clearly different from what he had scattered earlier; he had deliberately withheld it to use as a last-resort escape route in a critical moment. Zhou Zheng apparently hadn't anticipated this either.

Xing Mo led us in a rapid retreat along that cleared path, scattering medicine powder as we moved.

Aided by the medicinal powder, we fought our way through, running frantically in the direction of the exit.

Although there were still numerous skeletons scattered across the ground, without the obstruction of the toxic insects, they could no longer halt our desperate desire to escape.

By this time, the entire cavern had descended into utter chaos.

Clearly failing to anticipate our escape from the cavern, Zhou Zheng blew his whistle loudly, driving the retreating insects to surge forward once more.

After leading us a short distance, Xing Mo handed a cloth bundle to Ma Su. "Teacher, these are the phosphorus tubes."

Understanding instantly, Ma Su reached into the bag, pulled out small bamboo-tube-like items one by one, and hurled them in all directions.

The moment those so-called phosphorus tubes met the air, they instantly ignited into bright yellow flames.