The Tale Never Ends Chapter 196

Chapter 196 Menace in Midnight
No one seemed to notice that voice. They were all so pre-occupied with their own thoughts and the crackling from the flames had deafened the sound.

But I knew something was gravely wrong! I might not have encountered such things personally before, but I had definitely read or saw about this in movies and fiction! I might have not read the whole series of Goosebumps, but I definitely saw enough; that, plus movies such as the Mummy and the Mummy Returns were enough to make me quiver. The jiangshis in Lam Ching-ying's films might scream and shriek, but I would never bet against those corpses now resting in the coffins now buried all around us!

Bian Dashou was sitting with his back to one of the exhumed coffins, with a mere three meters away from it. The stone chamber was hardly a large one and the moaning echoed from behind him yet he was showing no signs of having to notice it! I could feel the skin on my face curdling with worry and apprehension when suddenly a shrill cry rang from outside, “OHHH MMYY GODD!”

It was a cry so frightening and fearful as if one had seen a ghost. Bian Dashou, Jia Huan, and Li Cheng were awoken from their stupor and they instantly got up and moved outside. “What's this? What's going on?” Jia Huan was shouting as he walked out. The three men strolled out of the grave chamber and a man was tugging up his pants. One of his arms was outstretched with a finger thrust at the cliff top hanging overhead us. We looked up to find the pale glow of the moon pouring down on the cliff. Immersed in the soft, faint luminescence were rows of innumerable silhouettes, all lumbering and hulking, as they stared down at us from atop. We could not see them in the dark as their backs were kept to the moon. But I had a feeling that they were yetis! Ferocious ape-like beasts that surveyed us with unfriendly emerald-green eyes that shone like stars in the dark or flames that flared with unbridled fury!

The hordes of yeti greatly outnumbered us, but they merely stood overhead and watch us. Looking at us with their fiendish eyes like hungry vultures surveying their prey. Just then, I felt the Spirit Gourd in my pocket shuddered. As soon as I took it out, I could hear my Forest Sprite's voice, saying, “The yetis will not come here, Master! They'd never dare come near these graves!” That sent me reeling in shock. “I had forgotten about my Forest Sprite! Forest sprites share the same family of creatures with yetis! How could I have forgotten about this?!” “How did you know that they would never dare to come here?” I asked at once. There was a brief beat of silence before the Forest Sprite responded, “We're not of the same species, but we share the same family tree. I can understand their tongue and speech. They are now communicating amongst themselves, waiting for ways to hunt you down as soon as you leave the vicinity of the graves!”

With a surprised “Ah”, I prodded further, “What else do you know about them, Freaky?” Freaky was a name I gave to my Forest Sprite. It was thought up from the common nickname used to describe amphibious Forest Sprites, grindylows. The Forest Sprite fell quiet for a moment before it said again, “We have different species in our family of xiaos (sprites or monstrous and mythical simians), although few still live to walk the earth today. But my kind is smaller compared to these yetis, but we can traverse forests and lakes and rivers with ease. Yetis are different; they live in the snow. Only in the snow and nowhere else. But we share a common similarity: we are forbidden to enter any hallowed grounds rich with the Qi of the dragon leys without a permit from anyone learned in arcane skills and magic. But snow is not a regular occurrence here; hence I am not sure myself how could yetis live around here.”

I nodded. “I see. So without a person with authority agreeing, these yetis would never intrude into these burial grounds. Am I right?” “Yes,” came the confident voice of Freaky, “Not only them. I too would never dare enter these grounds if not for you, Master!” I nodded again. I walked amongst the fearful crowd towards Bian Dashou and placed a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered again, shocked at being touched by an invisible hand again. I took his hand and began writing on his palm, “Have no fear, gloom, nor fright of doom; in hallowed grounds of sacred bloom; Evil hath no seed sow; to neither hurt nor ruin you Bian Dashou!”

This time, Bian Dashou quickly understood my message. He exhaled heavily with relief. But I did not tarry outside any longer. I went back to the grave cavern, for there could still be untold horror waiting in the casket inside!

Like shadows that trailed behind me, Bian Dashou, Li Cheng and Jia Huan returned back to their cave chamber and sat around the fire. But I instead strode towards the exhumed coffin. The wood did little to dull the soft moaning emitting from inside and the sounds sent another jolt of shiver through me! I was right! The corpse inside had absorbed human aura from the peasants digging the grave and it was reanimating! This was made worse by the fact that we were at the hallowed grounds for the dragon leys where the Qi was richest! For all we knew, the corpse might reanimate into something terrible with unspeakable powers!

For now, I was thankful that the nails on the coffin were far from rusted and crumbling. With unyielding staunchness, they held on, keeping the lid tightly shut. But it was the wood of the coffin which had moldered and deteriorated by age and moisture and the decay was further accelerated when this grave chamber was dug and outside air came in.

I laid my head on the wooden lid and listened. The voice was weak and soft. At least whatever it was inside, it was still far from reaching full strength. I made the Seal of the Sword and pointed at the tip of the flames at the burning hearth before I drew my hand back swiftly and cast a spell, the Talisman of Sealing Undead, on the wooden lid.

It was a spell I rarely used. Or in fact, I had yet actually used it in real life before. The last time I used it during our early skirmishes against the Creed of the Eight Trigrams was on a human. A living man. Hence, with no prior experience of success, I was scarcely certain if my magic would work. But it was all I could do and it was what I did to the other five coffins in all six grave chambers that we had dug today.

Yet even the magical Talisman of Sealing Undead could do much to quell the murmurs of unrest from within the coffins. It was impossible that the deep ominous voices had gone unnoticed by the rest of the party, although none dared to speak anything of them. The common folk of ancient times was exceedingly superstitious folk and they must have realized as well what was going on. It was only when the morning sun began to peek from the horizons when the deep rumbling voices died down. But everyone slept deeply through the night. It could be the fatigue of the journey and the work or the relief after being worried and tense for almost the entire day. Either way, everyone had had a good night's rest that even Bian Dashou himself could hardly wake up from his deep slumber. I scowled at him and shoved him.

His eyes blinked open at once, taut as a bowstring, as he got up and looked around. But he saw nothing, save for the black words, “Back to work” that stared up at him from the floor of the chamber, written from the ashes from the extinguished fire from the hearth. The message seemed to jerk him awake at once and he woke up Jia Huan who was still asleep beside him.

Then he got up and erased the message with his feet. He could not see me, but he knew something, or rather, someone, was helping him. But he was uncertain of my intentions, and that must have prompted him to keep me a secret for now.

As the eastern sun continued its climb, the men resumed to their chores of digging through the rest of the graves. I watched from the sidelines as they worked, looking at them toil with sweat and strain and only to move on to the next grave when the disappointment came with no signs of any black bowl was found.

When the noon sun was high overhead, a voice broke the dull and humdrum of the peons' drudgery. “We've found it, milord!” My head jerked towards the voice and I saw one of the hired hands was raising a dirt-stained bowl. Its clay surface glistened in the bright sunlight as the man approached Bian Dashou proudly. Everyone ran to him, including Bian Dashou. Li Cheng took the bowl in his hand and studied it closely, nodding anxiously afterward. “Indeed, this is it! This is the bowl that was buried with Li Shouzhong's remains!” For one of the rarest moments since arriving, Bian Dashou's face broke into a delightful grin. He thrust an excited hand at the grave chamber from which the black bowl came from, roaring only two words, “DIG ON!” The peasants all rushed inside and began their work with renewed fervor. Deeper and deeper, the diggers clove and hewed; finally, the remuneration for all the suffering and agony that they had experienced was beginning to look as certain as the sun rising from the East, although everyone could hardly deny their curiosity to steal a glimpse at the remains of the father of the infamous rebel Li Zicheng.

“Hey!” “Ho!” “Hey!” “Ho!” The men grunted loudly as they worked, chiseling off inch by inch of rock and dirt from the walls of the cave. Bian Dashou looked on quietly. His eyes were narrowed, his mind swimming in deep thought. I could almost guess what he was thinking of. He must have not brought the Dragon-slaying Blade with him. In fact, I had never seen him carry it before. Bian Dashou must be worried of any perils or traps that could be waiting inside, especially since the Blade was not with him now.

But I was hardly bothered by it; the household of Li Zicheng had never enjoyed much wealth and prosperity and the shabby and simple grave chamber of Li Shouzhong was exactly proof of that. That alone convinced me that there would not be any traps hidden inside. “At most, there would only be the reanimated corpse of Li Shouzhong,” I mused dryly, “and I am more than able to deal with it.” I chuckled at myself and set alight a cigarette for myself.

But I had barely taken a couple of swigs, when the peasants came out, hooting elated shouts, “We're through! We're finally through!” Bian Dashou got up at once, looking as if he was woken up from a long dream. With a wave of his arm, he beckoned Jia Huan and the rest of the men to follow in and the interested mob rushed in after them with me in tow as I hastily crushed the stub of my cigarette. But as soon as my eyes got used to the darkness in the chamber, I was surprised by what I saw!

The insides of Li Shouzhong's grave chamber was simple and bare, looking no less different from the other stone chambers we had emptied, save for a freshly-furnished wooden coffin. But what was more unbelievable was a strong and huge elm tree growing robustly at the top of its lid!

Chapter end