Chapter 12: A Seductive, Sinister Heart

Chapter 12: The Sinister Heart's Temptation

From up ahead came the faint rustling sound of clothes brushing against the ground, and Zhang Sanlu could only keep his head down, crawling toward the source. With only one hand, it wasn't long before his knees began to ache fiercely from the friction.

But as he crawled, the sounds ahead gradually faded. Zhang Sanlu stopped, and in that pause, the silence around him felt deeper than a midnight graveyard.

Could it be that the exit was near?

He crawled forward a bit more, but still saw no sign of an exit. Now there was no sound, no direction, and it seemed even the people were gone.

"Qiu Ming?"

The person who should have been just ahead gave no reply.

"Qiu Ming?!"

Zhang Sanlu raised his voice.

What kind of cursed place was this? Three entered, and as they crawled, one by one, they vanished.

"Man Shan?"

"Man Shan?"

"Hey~" came a sudden response from not far ahead.

"Senior brother... Can we rest a bit? I really can't take it anymore."

Zhang Sanlu exhaled, rubbed his burning knees, and agreed to rest. He crawled over, drew close to where the voice came from, and settled down.

He hadn't noticed it much while crawling, but now that they paused, the sweat on his body cooled, and it felt as if things pressed in from every direction in the darkness, almost suffocating him.

"Senior brother, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Can I light a torch?"

"Go ahead," Zhang Sanlu agreed; it was too dark in here.

"Senior brother, could you give me your fire starter?"

"I don't have one on me. Do you?"

Man Shan hesitated. "I don't either."

Zhang Sanlu fell silent for a moment, then suddenly found it amusing and let out a chuckle. Hearing his laughter, Man Shan joined in quietly.

"Let's keep crawling. We'll be out soon," Zhang Sanlu said, pausing. "Or if we catch up to Qiu Ming ahead, he should have one."

"Senior brother... There's something I don't know if I should say."

"What is it?"

Man Shan hesitated, then lowered his voice. "I feel like Senior Brother Qiu Ming is acting strange..."

Zhang Sanlu frowned, instinctively lowering his own voice. "What do you mean?"

Man Shan whispered, "Brother Zhenfu, Qiu Ming was never like this before..."

"Speak plainly, don't beat around the bush." In the darkness, Zhang Sanlu found Man Shan's words unsettling, though he couldn't say why.

"Well, Qiu Ming—where did he hear about the solution to this maze?"

"He said he overheard the senior brothers talking about it, didn't he?"

"Exactly, but the only senior brothers he calls that are you, Brother Zhenfu, and... the late Brother Konggao..."

Man Shan's voice trembled. "Since you don't know, it couldn't have been you."

"Then maybe Konggao?"

"Konggao never spoke to Qiu Ming. He always looked down on him."

Zhang Sanlu frowned. "Maybe he remembered wrong, or maybe it was one of the junior brothers who said it?"

"Brother Zhenfu, when Qiu Ming crawled into the cave, did you notice his posture? Wasn't it like a woman's?"

Now that he mentioned it, Zhang Sanlu recalled Qiu Ming's odd posture entering the cave, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"So what? Maybe his leg was injured."

Man Shan paused, then whispered, "And did you see Qiu Ming's expression before entering the cave?"

"Are you trying to scare me? What's wrong with his expression? Even Master Tongxuan, powerful as he was, I defeated him!"

"Brother Zhenfu, don't be angry. I'm not trying to frighten you—I'm really worried something unclean is in this cave... After all, the legend is..."

"What legend? Don't leave it half-said!" Zhang Sanlu's irritation flared again.

"Senior brother, this mountain... is said to be the domain of the Queen Mother of the Underworld! That's why Master Tongxuan was able to refine the Elixir of Longevity here."

"The Queen Mother of the Underworld? Who is that? Why must it be here to refine the elixir?"

"I don't know. All I know is, that deity is very sinister... Maybe everything we've encountered here is its doing? Qiu Ming... Qiu Ming is no longer himself..."

Hearing this, Zhang Sanlu truly began to suspect something was off about Qiu Ming. In the darkness, it felt as if several pairs of eyes were watching him from hidden places.

Brave though he was, he couldn't help feeling uneasy.

"Enough nonsense. Crawl forward—once we're out, we'll know if Qiu Ming's real or not," Zhang Sanlu urged Man Shan to move ahead.

"Alright."

They had barely crawled a few steps when suddenly something bumped Zhang Sanlu's lowered head. He reached out, and his hand touched a cold, clammy neck.

"Man Shan, why did you stop?!"

"Senior brother, I didn't stop." Man Shan's voice came from further ahead.

In a pitch-black cave where you couldn't see your own hand, the most terrifying thing wasn't being alone, but encountering someone whose identity was unknown—or worse, something that might not be human.

"Who are you?!"

Man Shan, frightened, pressed himself against the cave wall, shouting, "Senior brother, please don't scare me!"

Zhang Sanlu ignored him. When his question received no reply, he quickly retreated, drawing the short sword at his waist and stabbing forward.

The figure made no sound.

Zhang Sanlu prodded with his sword, but still there was no reaction. He reached out to feel the mouth and nose—there was no breath. This was a corpse.

He hurriedly felt the face; the skin was smooth and delicate—a woman, not Qiu Ming.

"Senior brother, what's wrong?! What did you find?" Man Shan's voice trembled.

"A dead woman pressed against the cave wall!"

Man Shan's voice remained low. "Are you sure she's dead?"

"No breath, definitely dead!"

Man Shan's voice quivered again. "If the spirit left the body, then a corpse is just a corpse. But who will it possess next?"

Suddenly, Zhang Sanlu thought of Qiu Ming's crawling posture—just like a woman.

"Are you saying—"

Man Shan whispered, "Senior brother, think about it. What if I'm right? Something left this woman's body, and then..."

Zhang Sanlu felt Man Shan's voice creeping closer, until it was like a whisper in his ear.

He seemed dazed by Man Shan's words, and replied softly, "You mean... Qiu Ming?"

Man Shan gave a low, eerie laugh, his breath almost brushing Zhang Sanlu's face. "Senior brother, I never said that."

That laugh, sharp and abrupt, sounded in the darkness like the cry of some wild animal.