Tomb raiding: Trying to become a little painter

Knowing that Zhang Qilin might be in danger, Hei Xiazi disregarded everything else and spoke to Qin Henian.

The two weaved through passageways, turns, and forks in the road. Hei Xiazi led the way through the dimly lit passageways inside the meteorite, while Qin Henian sniffed the familiar scent.

Half an hour later, the two stopped at a large, two-story circular platform with a wide open space. On the black-edged side of the platform stood rows of skeletons dressed in clothes from various eras, while on the white-edged side, the person in charge was someone Qin Henian and Hei Xiazi were very familiar with.

"Zhang the Mute!"

"Little Qilin!"

This is the scene that Qin Henian and Hei Xiazi saw after rushing through the tunnel and entering the depths of the meteorite.

Around the platform, there were also large yellow-green cocoons wrapped around it, and the material seemed to be the same as that of the jade figurines.

On the other side, outside the Meteorite Cave, Wu Xie and his group watched helplessly as Qin Henian and Hei Xiazi disappeared into the cave entrance, exchanging bewildered glances.

Inside the Meteorite Cave, Qin Henian and Hei Xiazi, standing below the platform, both looked towards the center of the platform.

Zhang Qilin, who was humbly surrounded in the center of the platform, was facing a woman with a face full of wrinkles. The woman's eyes were fixed on Zhang Qilin without moving for a moment, and her smile grew deeper and deeper.

"what you up to?"

Why did you lead me here? Are you the Queen Mother of the West? What secrets does this place hold? Where are my memories? Why do I feel like I've seen you before…?

Zhang Qilin had many questions in his mind, but he didn't show them on his face. He followed this woman here because he wanted to know what she was up to.

"Ho...ho..."

"You...have returned again, the...thirty-seventh generation Zhang family...Qilin."

"Something seems to have changed about you..."

The Queen Mother of the West tilted her head to the side, her neck seemingly automatically resting on her shoulder, her eyes revealing a longing light.

"What changes... allowed you to become like this... your bloodline... has it reverted to its ancestral form?"

Let me see what changes have occurred in you.

The Queen Mother of the West raised her hand and reached out to Zhang Qilin. The fingernails on her two fingers slowly grew longer, as if she wanted to grasp Zhang Qilin's head and examine it closely.

"Ah Yao, it's been a long time."

Just as the Queen Mother of the West was about to observe the Zhang family Qilin opposite her, which caused a fluctuation of energy within her body, a voice that seemed very familiar in her memory suddenly rang in her ears. The Queen Mother of the West shook her head to shake off this feeling, and it was in this action of shaking her head that she seemed to see something.

Then, with her head stiff, long hair flowing, and eyes wide open, the Queen Mother of the West tucked her hands behind her back and stared sharply at the familiar figure walking up the stone steps below the platform.

"You...you...you're still...alive..."

A hoarse, bellows-like voice was directed at Qin Henian and Hei Xiazi, who were walking up the steps toward the stone platform.

"Yes! I'm still alive. After all, we're different species, so our lifespans are naturally different too."

Qin Henian raised his hand and brushed the cuffs of his long robe, then stroked the strands of his long hair that were now in front of him, and looked at his old friend with a smile.

"No! Why...why! Why can you live like this?!"

"It's not fair! You deserve to die! Zhao...Zhao He...Nian!"

The Queen Mother of the West seemed unable to accept the news that Qin Henian was still alive. In her memory, this person had come to find her a thousand years ago. At that time, he had even tried to persuade her that he seemed to be a person from the Qin state. How could this person still be alive after all these changes in time?

"Hehe... Ah Yao, you're just like your old flame! He wanted to live a life of deception like you, but unfortunately he wasn't as lucky as you, he died young..."

"He died by my hand!"

As soon as Qin Henian finished speaking, he held a gray-white, semi-transparent feather between his fingertips and shot it straight toward the Queen Mother of the West.

"King Mu!!!"

When the Queen Mother of the West heard that her lover was dead, the string in her mind snapped instantly. Strands of white silk emerged from her palms, sharp teeth grew from her lips, and her green eyes stared intently at Qin Henian. The bones in her back creaked.

puff!

The sound of clothes tearing rang out, and eight spider legs emerged from behind the Queen Mother of the West, green slime oozing from between the legs and her skin...

Seeing that something was wrong, Zhang Qilin, who was closest to the Queen Mother of the West, had already placed his hand on the hilt of the black gold ancient sword behind his back. Just as he was about to make a move, Zhang Qilin met a pair of green pupils, and his whole body instantly stiffened. A lot of memory fragments were suddenly stuffed into his mind, and he stood there standing still.

"Oh no! That woman is controlling Zhang the mute!"

Hei Xiazi witnessed Xi Wangmu brainwashing Zhang the mute once again in his lifetime. If she succeeded, Zhang the mute would probably suffer from amnesia for some time. Without time to think, Hei Xiazi raised the pistol on his back and fired in the direction of Xi Wangmu.

boom! Bang bang! boom!

Gunshots rang out. The bullets pierced through the body of the Queen Mother of the West but left nothing behind. The bullets seemed to cut through the air, passing directly through the Queen Mother of the West's body and hitting the meteorite jade wall with a series of thuds.

"Heh...heh...it's no use, you can't hurt me."

Xi Wangmu didn't even glance at Hei Xiazi; her eyes remained fixed on Zhang Qilin. Her spider legs spread open and directionally inserted into a large cocoon lying not far away on the stone platform.

Pfft!

Spider legs pierced the cocoon, air seeped into the web, thinning it and revealing eight different faces of men, women, and children. What they had in common was that their clothes were not from the same era, but they all looked very expensive, suggesting they were of high status.

The eight people stood motionless on the stone platform, but Shouhe's body began to creak, and its closed eyes seemed about to open, as if it were about to awaken...

"We can't let them wake up!"

Although Zhang Qilin's memories were in disarray and he was unable to move, he subconsciously uttered this phrase.

Hearing this, Black Bear was about to deal with these people who shouldn't have woken up again and wanted to live when a slender hand grabbed his leg before he could take a step.

"Black Bear! Fighting them in your current state is like a cub fighting an adult. These ancient people who have lived for countless years are not someone you can handle right now. If you want to help, you should ask to awaken the little Pixiu. We beasts are naturally good at processing food."

Qin Henian blinked and stared at Hei Xiazi until he made the man nod before letting go.

"Ah Yao, I remember you and your old flame had a little-known love story, what was it again...?"

"The Queen Mother of the West opens her embroidered window at the Jade Pool, and the mournful song of the Yellow Bamboo echoes across the earth. Her eight steeds travel thirty thousand miles a day, why does King Mu not return? But you are not the Queen Mother of the West in heaven, but merely a human clinging to worldly desires. Humans are humans; how can the desire for immortality and godhood be so simple?"

Qin Henian walked step by step towards the Queen Mother of the West, stopping in the middle of the stone platform next to Zhang Qilin, and looked at her. The Queen Mother of the West also glared at Qin Henian with fierce eyes, and for a moment neither of them made a move.

While Qin Henian remained still, on the other side, a skeleton corpse on the other side of the stone platform suddenly lunged at Hei Xiazi. Just then, Hei Xiazi had already pressed his chest and summoned the little Pixiu.

A flash of golden light, and a pile of severed limbs and bones fell.