Tomb raiding: following the plot while tearing up the script

After Wu Xie swallowed a Rejuvenating Pill, he felt a warm current slowly flowing from his stomach to his limbs and bones. In less than five minutes, his cold hands and feet became warm, and his body felt comfortable.

Knowing it was a good thing, she quickly fed the remaining pill to Wu Sansheng. Seeing that Wu Sansheng's complexion had visibly improved, she felt relieved and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Although he didn't fall into the water, he had been in that cave of corpses for so long that his body was covered in a strong stench of decay.

After washing for most of the day, it felt so good. All the stench of the corpse was gone. When I came out, I saw that Wu Sansheng, who had been half-dead, was now sitting on the edge of the bed. Apart from not being in good spirits, he was fine.

……

There was only one table with five people eating in the downstairs hall. The proprietress was probably busy in the kitchen. There was only one waiter in the hall, tidying up and chatting with them.

This waitress must be the daughter the owner was talking about who was studying away from home, and she's only helping out at home recently because she's on winter break.

We were talking about how a large cauldron was unearthed from a landslide on the mountain last year, and since then, strangers have been coming to the village every few days.

The waiter, whose face still looked somewhat youthful, wore a knowing smile and moved slightly closer to them, speaking in a low voice.

"These people don't look like ordinary tourists. Perhaps they're here to do 'that'?"

Apart from Zhang Qiling, who was content with his job, and Wu Sansheng, a seasoned veteran, the other three people present all stiffened slightly.

Seeing that they were all silent, the girl simply sat down next to Wuxie. "To be honest, we've seen plenty of people in our village with all this gear. Aren't they all here for this kind of thing? It doesn't look like you're here for tourism in our poor, remote village."

Wu Sansheng poured the girl a glass of wine. "You sound very experienced! We don't look like tourists. What should a trip be like then?"

Unexpectedly, the girl actually had a suggested answer, gesturing with her chin towards the stairs. "It should at least look like that."

Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively looked in the direction the girl was pointing, where two people, one tall and one short and dressed similarly, were coming downstairs.

"Look at them, they're with their kids, wearing matching outfits, and carrying cameras. That's what it looks like to be on vacation."

The girl nodded affirmatively as she spoke.

"Although the older one doesn't look like a good person, he seems to dote on his child. He took his child on a road trip around during the Lunar New Year."

The two people who were going downstairs, the older one was boneless and slacking off, still wearing sunglasses and trying to look cool even though it was dark, and followed behind listlessly.

The younger one also had sunglasses, but he wore them on his head. He had a camera hanging around his neck and was walking out with great enthusiasm. His ponytail swayed back and forth, making him look quite carefree.

Wu Xie: Huh? Isn't that the little girl eating candied hawthorn? Oh, right, that car outside belongs to them.

Wait! No! It's not a little girl!

He's not blind. He only saw a side profile and a back view before, and was misled by the long hair. It turns out it was a boy with long hair.

Luckily, he didn't say it, or he would have been embarrassed.

Wu Xie was focused on the young boy walking in front, while Wu Sansheng's attention was clearly on the tall figure behind him.

Wu Sansheng: ...

He doesn't seem like a good person at all; he really isn't a good person!

Black Glasses, a notorious and ruthless figure in the underworld, is no good person at all!

Wu Sansheng was completely stunned. He had expected that there would be other teams on this trip, and he was certain that two teams would definitely get in.

But he never expected that this black bear would also join in this strange commotion, and bring such a young, unfamiliar face with him.

Judging from his attire, could he be one of his apprentices?

This guy, Hei Xiazi, has been acting like he's gone mad lately. He's turned down most of the invitations to him, acting like he's going to retire in Beijing. Is he training an apprentice?

Who could possibly be so capable of getting him to agree to this?

He even brought his young apprentice with him.

"Xiao Su, are you going out so late? Haven't you had dinner yet?" the waiter greeted Su Li.

"Not yet. Could you please ask the landlady to prepare two dishes? We're going to the river to take pictures of the moon and the mountains, and we'll be back in a bit," Su Li nodded in reply.

The waiter's expression changed when Su Li mentioned going to the river. "You can't go to the river here at night, it's not clean."

Black Bear waved his hand. "It's nothing. The kid's gotten hooked on playing with these things lately. I'll take him to take a few pictures and then we'll be back. Otherwise, he'll be thinking about it all night. We'll just stay away from the river."

After saying that, the two walked towards the village road outside.

The group snapped out of their daze and prepared to continue eating, only to see Zhang Qiling put down his chopsticks, nod at them, and get up to go back to his room…

. . . . . .

The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

Let's continue...eating...

Zhang Qiling returned to his room but did not rest. Instead, he climbed out of the small window and found Hei Xiazi and another person by the river who were teaching Su Li how to use a camera.

They weren't lying; Zuli really has been learning this stuff lately.

“The people in the team have been replaced,” Zhang Qiling said.

That's why he followed him out. He noticed something was off about the person's aura while they were eating. Since his bloodline awakened, he's become even more sensitive to auras.

"That coward?" Su Li interjected.

Indeed, it's amazing how quickly someone who just fainted from fright can recover.

Zhang Qiling nodded. "It must have been when he was alone in the room."

"No wonder Master Hua said that in the story, he felt that the old fox deliberately wanted him to die." Black Bear stroked his chin.

"Be careful tomorrow, you mute."

Zhang Qiling nodded.

"We'll be heading into the mountains tomorrow, not too early."

Today's journey was too tiring. Even if Wu Xie could get up in the morning, he wouldn't be able to travel fast.

Black Bear nodded. "We'll go in first thing tomorrow morning, go down into the hole on the Nine-Headed Hydra Cypress, and change the items."

"Be careful, it's very dangerous without Tianxin Stone Powder," Zhang Qiling warned.

Su Li, who was taking pictures of the moon reflected in the water with her back to them, didn't even turn her head, and her voice was quite smug.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhang, it's time to show you the power of a top-grade wood spirit root."

Zhang Qiling looked at Hei Xiazi with a strange expression.

The smile on Hei Xiazi's face froze. "What, what's wrong?"

"If you keep teaching me nonsense, Xiaohua will kick you out of the capital."

Every time Su Li went out with Hei Xiazi, it was as if she had been infected by Hei Xiazi for a limited time. She became a perfect Hei Xiazi 2.0, with her little outfit and her little expressions.

When we get back, we'll have Xiaohua strip Heixiazi of his right to take care of the baby.

……

Having met Zhang Qiling here before, Hei Xiazi was now quite familiar with the place.

The next morning, before dawn, they set off with Su Li into the mountains, heading straight for the location of the Nine-Headed Cypress.

As Zhang Qiling expected, the sun had already been up by the time Wu Sansheng's team got up and set off.

When going up the mountain, they even hired a child from the village to guide them.

Wu Xie initially thought the little boy was quite cute, until after walking for more than two hours along the mountain path, he finally stood at the entrance to the deep mountains and saw the boy receive a red money note as a guide fee, while he himself was looked down upon as a poor wretch.

The puppy almost got all puffed up on the spot.

After finally getting past the place that was supposedly blocked by rocks after the collapse of the cauldron, Wu Xie leaned close to Zhang Qiling and started talking while they rested.

“Young man, you left early yesterday and didn’t hear what the waiter told us: what collapsed here wasn’t a bronze cauldron at all, but a sacrificial cauldron containing more than a hundred human heads.”

He glanced at the pile of stones behind him. "My third uncle said this place is what we call the 'human head pit' in the old saying, used for human sacrifices."

Zhang Qiling sat under a big tree, not reacting to Wu Xie's words, and stuffed a water bottle into the puppy's hand.

Drink your water quietly, don't talk...

The obviousness was too obvious, and Wu Xie stared at the kettle in his hand, lost in thought.