Chapter 32: Escaping the Trap

Zuo Qingcang thought very clearly, once Shen Zong was released, with his completely overwhelming power, he and the Old Man would have no right to bargain at all. Because of the treasures in the Ancient Tomb, and those South Saint Sect classics, in the face of wealth that could rival a nation, Shen Zong had no reason to let him live, and would definitely choose to silence them.

But just as Zuo Qingcang was about to throw the strong acid in his hand into the coffin, two deep crimson ghostly lights lit up from within the pitch-black coffin. A malice as solid as a mountain came pressing down on him.

Zuo Qingcang felt as if the air had solidified, making it impossible for his body to move.

No, it wasn’t just a feeling—his body truly could not move. Whether his hands, his feet, or any other part of his body, even his eyeballs could not twitch. Naturally, the strong acid in his hand could not be thrown either.

‘It’s not that something is pressing me down; I really can’t move my body.’ Thinking of various knowledge from the Dao Arts, a thought flashed in Zuo Qingcang’s mind: ‘Illusion technique… or hypnosis? With just a look, he could actually influence my body, make me unable to move. But when did he plant the suggestion?’

A low chuckle came from the coffin. A man with a face as pale as snow, an extremely thin body, even gaunt, slowly crawled out of the pitch-black coffin.

As he moved, Zuo Qingcang realized that the so-called pitch-black coffin—its blackness—was actually all the man’s hair. The man’s hair was incredibly long, even directly covering his body and filling the remaining space in the coffin.

Remembering the scene in the mural where the man fought with his hair, Zuo Qingcang felt a bad premonition.

Sure enough, as the man moved, the hair around him all danced like spirit snakes, quickly grabbing Zuo Qingcang’s limbs. Then, a biological electric current came from the hair, and Zuo Qingcang’s body fell into paralysis.

Watching Zuo Qingcang’s body convulse, the man smiled, revealing an elegant grin. Then, with his hands spread flat, the surrounding hair wrapped around his body like clothing.

Gently stroking Zuo Qingcang’s head as if petting an animal, Shen Zong’s pale face twitched at the corner of his mouth, and he let out a low voice.

“Your only remaining value now is the Life Grove called Night Sea.”

“One of the seven great Divine Fate Clusters—keeping it on you is a waste. Hand it over to me.”

The next moment, countless black hair strands pierced into Zuo Qingcang’s eyeball, forcibly gouging out his eye. Veins bulged on Zuo Qingcang’s forehead; the intense pain made him tremble violently.

But after taking Zuo Qingcang’s left eye, Shen Zong discarded Zuo Qingcang onto the ground like trash. He looked at the eyeball before him as if admiring a piece of art.

“So this is… Night Sea?”

A low laugh came from his mouth. Glancing at Zuo Qingcang, who was still trembling on the floor, Shen Zong said lightly, “Your plan was quite clever. Indeed, once I came out, I would definitely kill you to silence you. But what you don’t understand is the vast difference in strength between us. Your little tricks mean nothing to me.”

Zuo Qingcang’s mind was filled with excruciating pain. He wanted to stand up, to struggle, to fight, but the spasms and paralysis in his body made it impossible to move at all.

As Shen Zong finished his last sentence, a black hair strand pierced directly through Zuo Qingcang’s chest. A high-voltage current traveled from the other end of the hair, instantly piercing Zuo Qingcang’s heart.

Without another glance at the body on the ground, after searching Zuo Qingcang for other Dao Arts materials, Shen Zong left the coffin. Only Zuo Qingcang remained lying quietly on the floor, silently staring at the ceiling.

……

Drip… drip… drip… drip… drip…

Lines of blue unknown text lit up on Zuo Qingcang’s retina.

These unknown texts kept changing, shifting from countless unknown characters into English, then into Chinese, then transforming again, finally becoming the script of the Central Plains.

“Demihuman data monitoring… unknown humanoid species…”

“Near death… activating C-2023 protocol…”

“Temporary rescue mode commencing…”

“Prosthetic modification module initiating…”

In Zuo Qingcang’s left eye socket, which was originally a bloody mess, silver metal suddenly emerged. As if in a vastly sped-up film, this silver metal rapidly formed Zuo Qingcang’s left eye, becoming a metallic silver eyeball. Then it continuously changed into different colors like red, orange, blue, green, and finally became a completely black eye.

On the other side, the heart that had been pierced by high-voltage electricity was also completely reshaped under the interference of this unknown force—not just ordinary reshaping, but even stronger and healthier.

Not just the heart, Zuo Qingcang’s entire body, all injured areas, were enveloped by streams of silver metal and then rebuilt. All tissues became more advantageous and robust during the reconstruction process. Even some internal hidden injuries were completely eliminated.

When Zuo Qingcang sat up with a thud, all the silver metal, both inside and outside his body, had disappeared without a trace. It was as if the energy had been exhausted, vanishing completely.

“I… should be dead.” Zuo Qingcang looked at his palm, his mind still replaying the earlier scenes: Shen Zong’s power, his eeriness, the various Dao Arts, and his own eventual death.

Thinking of this, Zuo Qingcang immediately stood up. As soon as he stood, he noticed the difference in his body. The Innate Primordial Breath that he had long been unable to unblock had actually cleared the lower yin area. Not only that, his current physical condition was incredibly good, as if he had never been injured.

He knew his situation must be related to dying and reviving, but Zuo Qingcang had no time to study it now. He climbed back up the cliff along the chain. The first thing he saw was the Old Man’s body lying on the ground. He first picked up all the Dwarf Spirit corpses he had thrown on the ground earlier.

Then he gently closed the other’s eyes and said softly, “Don’t worry, I will avenge you, and also avenge myself.”

Even as he said this, Zuo Qingcang knew that currently, he was far from a match for Shen Zong. He wasn’t blinded by hatred.

The opponent had easily defeated him using only means of the Leakless Realm. Not to mention his unfathomable true strength—just a single look had rendered him motionless.

So Zuo Qingcang cautiously ran out along the Ancient Tomb’s tunnels. He knew that after Shen Zong broke out of the coffin, he would definitely undo the Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations Grand Array. He might build a ship to move all the supplies from the Ancient Tomb. Or he might leave all the supplies behind, leave first, and come back for them later.

Zuo Qingcang’s goal was to secretly leave the island before Shen Zong discovered he was still alive.

Later, when his wings were fully grown and his strength was sufficient, he would seek revenge on Shen Zong.

But even when he reached the place where the secret manuals were stored, he still saw no sign of Shen Zong. Zuo Qingcang didn’t know where Shen Zong had gone, but looking at the rows of secret manuals on the shelves, an idea came to him. According to what Shen Zong had said earlier, these manuals should all be genuine, hidden here by the South Saint Sect when they encountered some disaster.

But Shen Zong could appear at any moment. Zuo Qingcang had no time to look carefully, so he directly picked the two thickest beast-skin scrolls, took them, and ran.

Just as he took the beast-skin scrolls, silver poison gas began gushing out continuously in the Stone Chamber. Iron gates descended on both stone doors, about to seal the entire hall.

Zuo Qingcang’s eyes widened, and he roared. At the last moment, he finally leaped out of the hall. In less than a second, the iron plates fell, sealing the entire hall.

Next, Zuo Qingcang quickly passed through the Ancient Tomb tunnels, then directly crawled out through the tree hole. He ran at full speed all the way to the coastline. For some unknown reason, he didn’t encounter a single monster along the way—it was incredibly smooth.

Finally, he dragged out the raft he had made earlier from the grass. With a few coconuts and the Dwarf Spirit corpses, Zuo Qingcang rode the raft out into the sea.

Meanwhile, Shen Zong was still in the Ruins above the Ancient Tomb, slaughtering those monsters while unraveling the Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations Grand Array. Countless monsters continuously swarmed him, but he stood firm in the ocean of monsters like a meat grinder.

It was precisely because he was unraveling the grand array, attracting almost all the monsters’ attention, that Zuo Qingcang encountered no danger along his way.

By the time he finally unraveled the grand array and returned to the Ancient Tomb, intending to take some gold and silver for use after leaving the island, Zuo Qingcang had long since left the island on his raft.

Standing before the sealed iron door, Shen Zong’s hair split off a section like swimming snakes. A series of electric lights flashed, and the next moment, the hair strands, like an electric welder, took half a minute to cut a large hole directly through the iron door.

Completely ignoring the poison gas rushing toward him, Shen Zong first looked at the top shelf, where the books had originally been placed. When he saw the two empty spots and the missing beast-skin scrolls, the fury on his face boiled over.

And when he returned to the coffin and saw the vanished corpse, the killing intent in his eyes became as solid as substance.

“Zuo Qingcang… you have no idea what you’ve just provoked.”