Chapter 256: Ceramic Dolls

Endless Paradise

After discussing their strategy, I Love a Sword took out a blank talisman paper, tore it into three pieces, and wrote the words 'Front', 'Left', and 'Right' on them. Then, he crumpled the small pieces of paper and tossed them on the ground. Bai Mu, Scattered Fireflies, and Work Three Rest Four each picked one up.

"The left side, huh," Bai Mu muttered, opening the crumpled ball of paper in his palm.

"We got straight ahead," Brewing Cat declared.

"Then Scattered Fireflies and I will be taking the right..." I Love a Sword said, looking into the darkness. "Without further delay, let us move out quickly. Once we reach an open area, we will split up immediately."

With that said, the five of them immediately made their way through the narrow corridor.

Bai Mu walked at the very front, using his Night Vision Camcorder to observe their surroundings. However, it seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary passageway. In the final few feet of the tunnel, the stone walls on both sides began to lose their artificial carvings, returning to rough, natural rock.

These were signs of weathering. Bai Mu felt an extremely faint draft of air from ahead, and the kind of echoing sound that only existed in vast, open spaces reached his ears. The stone door in front of them was firmly shut, but not locked. With Bai Mu's strength, he pushed it open easily. He did not push the stone door all the way open, only leaving a narrow crack. He observed the space inside with his Night Vision Camcorder for a few seconds, then used the Hand of Walrider to feel around. Only after confirming that there were no ambushes waiting inside did he push the door completely open and step through.

The other four followed closely behind him. After taking a step forward, the sensation beneath their feet changed.

It was no longer solid rock, but a soft, thick layer of gray dust. When they stepped on it, their feet sank in up to their ankles without making a single sound.

This space was roughly the size of two classrooms. Bai Mu looked up. The vaulted ceiling of the tomb chamber was incredibly high, soaring about two or three stories tall as far as the eye could see. The astrological map originally painted on the ceiling had mostly peeled away, leaving only a few remaining cinnabar stars that flickered faintly in the firelight, as if they were truly rotating at a sluggish pace. The treatment of the four walls was exquisite; the lower half consisted of polished bluestone, while the upper half was smoothed over with white lime. Faint outlines of murals drawn with ink lines could be seen on it, mostly depicting processions of attendants or excursions with carriages and horses. The pigments had long since oxidized and turned black, leaving only barely discernible strokes.

I Love a Sword looked up and murmured, "An inverted astrological map, turning from Yang to Yin... turning from righteous to evil... The King of Huainan failed to achieve immortality through cultivation, so it seems he truly wanted to cultivate into a Ghost King instead."

The area illuminated by the firelight was limited. Beyond thirty feet, the darkness was as thick and impenetrable as a solid wall.

Bai Mu could sense that this space was far larger than what the firelight revealed. Both the left and right sides extended outward, and directly opposite them was another stone door.

Directly beneath the center of the tomb chamber lay a stone altar. Bai Mu stepped forward and blew away the dust, revealing four differently styled painted ceramic dolls facing front, back, left, and right, respectively.

With the dust blown away, the dolls were revealed to be a pale, ashen white. They wore eerie smiles on their faces, with spots of red blush painted on both cheeks. Each of them had a finger outstretched, pointing into the darkness.

The doll pointing straight ahead was a soldier clad in armor and grasping a long spear. The one pointing backward was a woman draped in ribbons and wearing a dancer's skirt. To the right was an official with bound hair wearing a crown, and to the left was a chubby, pale little child wearing a bellyband.

"Could these possibly be used to point the way for ghost slaves?" Bai Mu asked.

"It is possible," I Love a Sword replied. "After all... in a hellish place like this, only ghosts would need directions."

"If that is the case..." Bai Mu reached out, plucked the four dolls from their spots, and huddled them together. With one pointing at another in a continuous loop, he arranged them into a closed circle.

"Brother Bai... what are you doing?" Brewing Cat asked in confusion.

"If you guys have the time and come across dolls like this on your way, you can do the same. It might just make those ghosts walk around in circles," Bai Mu explained. "If you find it too troublesome, you could also just destroy them, but then they would probably end up like headless flies, crashing around randomly."

"That makes a fair bit of sense," I Love a Sword noted.

"Then we will part ways here," Bai Mu said, standing up. "I will head out first and take the left. Hopefully, my luck will hold out and I can find the exit straight away."

He waved his hand, offering no further farewells, and turned directly into the darkness, quickly vanishing from sight.

The other four exchanged glances. Knowing that every second counted, they quickly pulled out their mobile phones, split into pairs, and marched off into the dark. As Bai Mu walked, he kept a close eye on the field of vision provided by the Guard Mushroom. Scattered Fireflies and her partner were still on the move and had yet to encounter anything.

To be honest, he really wanted to explore the entire map of this tomb, clearing out all the side quests and hidden items. However, the tomb was built like a labyrinth. It would likely take several days just to walk through it completely. Moreover, there was still a Zombie King lurking somewhere unknown. All he could do for now was head left, search for that pair of Evil-Warding Beasts, and deal with whatever he bumped into along the way.

He traveled through the pitch-black corridor, relying entirely on his Night Vision Camcorder to see, having already stored the bronze lamp in his inventory.

The corridor was not perfectly straight; it curved slightly to the left, forming an almost imperceptible arc.

This might have been a construction error, or it could have been intentional, designed to avoid a specific rock formation or a clash of 'negative energy' in feng shui.

Walking through such a curved passageway gave off a strange sensation. The entrance behind him grew farther and farther away, yet the exit ahead remained forever hidden in the darkness, as if he were looping along an endless arc that could never be completed.

It was not long before he reached another intersection. It was exactly the same as before; in the center of the crossroads sat a group of ceramic dolls, identical in style to those at the previous junction.

Repeating his earlier trick, he plucked the dolls out and arranged them into a circle.

On the other side, Scattered Fireflies and I Love a Sword, having reached their next intersection, did the exact same thing.

"These dolls did point me in a direction, but... where exactly does following their fingers lead?" Bai Mu wondered, glancing at the ceramic doll in the bellyband before his figure continued forward into the endless gloom.

He kept track of the time in his head. Right around the fifteen-minute mark, he arrived at the third intersection.

Through the Guard Mushroom, he saw that on the other side, Scattered Fireflies and I Love a Sword had already encountered two waves of ghostly creatures. They were not nearly as troublesome as the Red-Clad Female Ghost, and the pair easily wiped them out using their skills.

Bai Mu had not encountered a single one yet. He noticed that the ghostly creatures the other duo faced never attacked them from behind; one wave came from the front, and two waves attacked from their left.

"It seems the doll formation is working."

An image flashed through Bai Mu's mind of those low-level ghost slaves stupidly marching in circles at the intersection. It felt just like kindergarteners playing a game of tag.

Drawing his focus back, Bai Mu continued past the third intersection. After walking for another five minutes, he finally came across a tomb chamber with no doors. He raised his camcorder at the entrance. The scene captured through the lens was spine-chilling. The room was filled with clay figurines, but they were not terracotta warriors; instead, they were life-sized replicas of young children, standing barely half the height of a grown man.

They were neatly arranged within two sunken pits, densely packed together, their faded eyes staring blankly at the doorway Bai Mu had just stepped through. There were easily over a hundred child clay figurines gathered in this place.

As soon as Bai Mu stepped inside, it was as if he had disturbed something. He first heard a burst of childish giggling, and then, something began to coalesce around the edges of certain clay figurines.

They were deathly pale and bloodless Ghost Children, clad in bellybands and appearing to be no more than five or six years old.

Immediately after appearing, they melted into the shadows, vanishing entirely into the darkness...