BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 61 Karma…

Seeing how convincingly Sun Desheng spoke, and recalling how Yang Xiao had been so frightened by him earlier that he had fled using a blood escape technique, Che Qianzi began to believe that people like Old Yang truly existed—people who clearly possessed great abilities, yet were timid and overly cautious. Completely different from himself…

Now that Yang Xiao, the most capable among the three, was gone, Sun Desheng began discussing their next move with Che Qianzi.

“Brother, it’s not that I’m complaining, but Old Yang shamelessly ran away. As for whether we keep going, I’ll follow your lead. Who knows what’s waiting ahead? Just relying on these two shotguns, I don’t think we stand much of a chance… Huang Ran’s life is important, but not important enough for us brothers to trade our lives for his.”

Those words made Che Qianzi hesitate. Just as he was wavering, he heard that strange sound again—the one he had heard earlier while lying on the ground. It was as if an old monk were right beside his ear, chanting scriptures nonstop.

“Who’s there? Fatty, can’t you hear it?” Che Qianzi looked around before continuing, “Sounds like a monk chanting… I’m a Taoist! You’ve got the wrong person! Monks and Taoists don’t pee in the same pot—why are you chanting only to me?”

Sun Desheng watched him carefully and listened with his ear tilted, but he heard absolutely nothing. Immediately, he grabbed the young Taoist and said, “You’re the only brother I’ve got. Nothing can happen to you. Let’s head back and leave Old Huang’s fate to chance. We’ll let La Zi and the others come down to handle it… Brother, what’s wrong? Why are your ears bleeding?”

As he spoke, blood began trickling from both sides of Che Qianzi’s ears. He himself hadn’t noticed anything. Only after Sun Desheng pointed it out did he wipe his ears and see the blood on his hand.

Before he could understand what was happening, the sound of the monk chanting grew louder and louder. In moments, it became deafening. No matter how tightly he covered his ears, he couldn’t block it out. Soon, his mind went numb, and aside from the chanting, he could hear nothing else.

Sun Desheng was helpless. Che Qianzi heard the ear-splitting chanting, but he himself couldn’t hear anything. Watching his brother rolling around on the ground in agony, Sun Desheng anxiously rubbed his hands.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

He pulled out a voice recorder from his pocket and found the recording he needed.

Placing the recorder beside Che Qianzi’s ear, Sun Desheng said, “Brother, I’m out of ideas… Let’s give this a try. Maybe it can drown out that chanting…”

As he spoke, he stuffed two pills into his nostrils. A refreshing coolness surged straight into his brain through his nasal passages. Then Sun Desheng pressed the play button.

From the recorder came a heart-rending scream:

“Kaaarrrmaaaa—!”

Despite his preparations, half of Sun Desheng’s body still went numb. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. It took him quite a while before he could slowly crawl back up. Only after resting for some time did sensation finally return to his body.

Turning back toward Che Qianzi, he found the young Taoist curled up on the ground, drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a bath.

During his rolling around, his oxygen mask had struck a rock, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear. However, his condition was much better than before. His breathing had become steady, and he looked as though he had simply fallen asleep.

Seeing the cracks in the mask, Sun Desheng hurriedly covered them with his hand. Having nothing to repair it with, he could only hoist his brother onto his back and prepare to return to the surface.

Just then, Che Qianzi suddenly opened his eyes and asked, “Fatty, what did you do to me? The chanting’s gone. Did you shoot that old monk with the shotgun?”

Seeing that he had recovered, Sun Desheng finally sighed in relief. But time was precious—they had to reach the surface before the oxygen leaked out, or his brother would still be doomed.

Yet Che Qianzi showed no signs of oxygen deprivation. Upon noticing the cracked mask, he simply took it off.

Sun Desheng nearly jumped in fright. He was just about to put it back on when he noticed that the young Taoist looked perfectly fine. He breathed calmly, without the slightest problem.

Could it be that the swamp gas and death energy had somehow dispersed?

After hesitating for a moment, Sun Desheng cautiously removed his own mask.

The instant it left his mouth, he felt as though he had been thrown into freezing water. No matter how hard he gasped, not a trace of air entered his lungs. His consciousness nearly vanished, and his mind went completely blank.

Terrified, Sun Desheng immediately put the mask back on and finally regained his breath. After taking several deep breaths of oxygen, he realized that the poisonous gas outside was still there—it was simply too much for him to endure.

What he couldn’t understand was how Che Qianzi could breathe freely under such conditions.

“Brother, looks like you don’t need oxygen anymore. Don’t waste it…”

As he spoke, Sun Desheng removed the oxygen tank from Che Qianzi’s back and strapped it onto himself.

“When did you get such a skill? Breathing inside death energy? Brother, what other tricks have you been hiding? Pulling this on your big brother is a bit much…”

Che Qianzi looked at him blankly and asked, “Fatty, what was that scream just now? It went straight into my brain and blew away the chanting… You say this is death energy? Feels no different to me…”

“We’ll talk about that later. There aren’t many people in the world who can withstand that scream. Brother, you’ve really opened my eyes.”

Sun Desheng chuckled before continuing, “Brother, even that bastard Yang Xiao was wary of this place. We should head back first. Once I gather a few more white-haired experts, we’ll come back and kill our way in. Whether Old Huang survives this ordeal depends on how tough his life is…”

“Let’s keep going.”

Che Qianzi shook his head and looked deeper into the ancient tomb.

“That chanting came from inside. If I don’t go in and catch that old monk and slap him a few times, then all the suffering I went through just now would be for nothing. There’s no way I’m letting him off that easily.”

Then he shouted into the depths of the tomb:

“You bald donkey! In a moment, this Taoist master is coming in to kill you! If you’ve got guts, don’t run! I’ll squeeze your balls out and use them to make wine for your sweetheart!”

With that, the young Taoist raised his shotgun and marched forward.

Sun Desheng wanted to stop him, but seeing the murderous determination on Che Qianzi’s face, he worried that he might become the target of his bad temper. Left with no choice, he gritted his teeth and followed behind the half-grown youth.

Their current location was a burial passage used for sacrificial interments.

Although the Song Dynasty no longer emphasized burying living people as sacrifices, numerous skeletons with heads severed by sharp weapons were found within these burial tunnels. The corpses were tightly bound with iron chains, and many still retained kneeling postures from before their deaths.

“They’re all monks…”

As Che Qianzi passed by, he noticed many Buddhist prayer beads scattered among the remains. Combined with the fact that no hair could be found on the severed heads, there was a high probability that these were monks captured and buried alive as sacrifices.

Using monks as sacrificial victims was something he had never heard of. He had no idea what kind of customs had been practiced here.

After discovering that the remains belonged to monks, Che Qianzi frowned. Squatting down, he stared at the skeletons.

After a while, he shook his head and stood up.

“The one chanting earlier wasn’t them…”

Suddenly, his expression changed.

“What’s that sound?”

Immediately, he shined his flashlight ahead.

About a dozen meters away, lying on the ground, was a foreign-made communication device.

Through the static came Huang Ran’s hoarse voice:

“Stephen… don’t come in…”

“No one should come in…”

“No one can save us…”