Chapter 17: 70 Days

Bang, bang, bang, bang—continuous explosions echoed through the tomb.

Relying on his amazing physical fitness and combat skills, Zuo Qingcang quickly killed more than half of the Dwarf Spirits. He casually grabbed a Dwarf Spirit that was biting towards his chest, lifted his thigh high, and trapped the Dwarf Spirit between his palm and knee like a meat sandwich.

After casually tossing away the mangled flesh in his hand, Zuo Qingcang turned and shouted to the Old Man, “Come help, grab more dried rations to take back.” Although Zuo Qingcang seemed to fight very easily and effortlessly, taking down a Dwarf Spirit in just a few moves, each strike was the result of coordinated movement from muscles all over his body. It could be said that every blow consumed a lot of Zuo Qingcang’s stamina.

It was like a person punching with full force continuously—only a dozen or twenty times at most—and what’s more, they were in the middle of an intense fight. Stamina was being drained even faster. So, given that enemy reinforcements were likely to arrive soon, Zuo Qingcang chose to have the Old Man immediately start collecting the corpses as food.

This was to avoid being trapped and starving to death in the tomb if they had to retreat in a panic later with no food at all.

While the Old Man, hiding by the tunnel entrance, was still stunned by Zuo Qingcang’s swift and ruthless moves, he snapped to attention upon hearing Zuo Qingcang’s words and headed toward the shelves where the bodies were placed.

He also understood that after their exposure today, they probably would never get another chance to come here, so they had to hurry and gather food one last time.

The remaining Dwarf Spirits, seeing the Old Man’s actions, shrieked angrily and tried to get around Zuo Qingcang to charge at the Old Man. But this only hastened their deaths.

After Zuo Qingcang adjusted to their size and speed, although each kill required his full effort and drained a lot of stamina, he killed faster and faster. By the time the Old Man had moved more than ten cans to the other side of the tunnel entrance, Zuo Qingcang had finally smashed the last Dwarf Spirit into pieces with one palm strike.

A series of intense movements greatly increased the heat on his body surface, making Zuo Qingcang appear like a blazing fireball in the Old Man’s Spiritual Energy Vision. The Old Man watched Zuo Qingcang take a few deep breaths and asked, “How are you?”

“Fine,” Zuo Qingcang replied, estimating his remaining stamina. But just after he said that, countless screams and roars came from beyond the Dwarf Spirit tomb chamber’s passage. Judging by the sound, it seemed like there were hundreds or even thousands of Dwarf Spirits.

“Didn’t you say there were at most a hundred Dwarf Spirits on this island?” Originally, after testing the Dwarf Spirits’ combat power, Zuo Qingcang had been considering whether he could kill all the island’s Dwarf Spirits in several rounds. But hearing the overwhelming roar, he immediately grabbed two cans beside him and dashed toward the tunnel opening without looking back.

“How should I know? This island’s size shouldn’t be enough for so many Dwarf Spirits to reproduce!”

The Old Man’s face also changed, and he quickly scrambled into the tunnel opening.

At that moment, Zuo Qingcang could only feel glad that he had told the Old Man to take many cans earlier. With a burst of effort, he pushed the Old Man from the tunnel entrance into the tomb hall, then threw the two cans in his hand over as well. He then turned back and threw several punches at the tunnel opening.

During the half-year of training, Zuo Qingcang had reinforced the “dog hole” as planned and, just in case, improved its load-bearing capacity so that he could seal it off at any time to prevent monsters from invading.

Now it seemed this preparation hadn’t been in vain. With Zuo Qingcang’s current strength, a few punches at the key support points caused the dog hole to collapse immediately. By the time Zuo Qingcang scrambled out of the dog hole, the entire opening was buried in soil.

The earlier clamor, like mountains and seas, had disappeared, leaving only faint cries from the other side of the collapsed opening.

The Old Man stared fearfully at the collapsed entrance and asked, “What do we do now?”

Beads of sweat streamed down Zuo Qingcang’s forehead—sweat produced from the intense exercise. He picked up a can on the spot and started eating.

“There are nineteen cans left. If we ration them, it should be enough to keep us alive for about seventy days.”

“Although you said those Dwarf Spirits wouldn’t dare dig into the Ancient Tomb, that’s only a guess. And now that their ancestral tomb has been violated, who knows what madness they might do.”

Chewing on the Dwarf Spirit’s flesh, Zuo Qingcang showed no trace of tension or impatience, speaking calmly, “We must leave here and go deeper into the Ancient Tomb. Whether we find another exit or unlock the tomb’s great formation, no matter what method, we must try to escape this Ancient Tomb within seventy days.”

Zuo Qingcang picked up a rope—the same one he had brought before coming to the island’s center—and tied all the cans together at once. After bundling them up, he slung them over his back.

Not just the rope from last time; during this period, Zuo Qingcang and the Old Man had also used their Daggers to cut down many roots and vines that had grown into the Ancient Tomb near the tree hollow corridor, weaving them into ropes. This was preparation for exploring the tomb further, as ropes could be very useful in many situations.

Meanwhile, the Old Man picked up several Luminous Pearls they had collected earlier to use for lighting. Then the two followed the Corridor again and arrived at the Sacrificial Chamber with the two Tomb Robber’s Tunnels.

They planned to check the situation by going down the two Tomb Robber’s Tunnels first; only if absolutely necessary would they try the corridor fissure. After all, that fissure was caused by an earthquake, and no one knew how deep it was or even which part of the Ancient Tomb it led to.

In comparison, although the two Tomb Robber’s Tunnels were certainly dangerous, they were at least dug by professionals and definitely aimed for the lower levels of the Ancient Tomb.

Carefully, the two opened the second Tomb Robber’s Tunnel. Since the Corpse Fiend had appeared in the first tunnel, it seemed more dangerous, so they decided to check the second one first.

Zuo Qingcang put down the dozen or so cans he was carrying on his back, then tied one end of the vine-woven rope around his own waist and the other end around the Old Man’s arm.

“I’ll go down first to check. If I tug the rope once at a time, pull me up hard. If I tug rapidly and continuously, it means I’m done for. Quickly seal the entrance and don’t come down after me.”

Then Zuo Qingcang tugged the rope a few more times, agreeing on the frequency of the two signals.

Holding a Luminous Pearl in his left hand and the Dagger he brought earlier in his right, he leapt down into the pitch-black Tomb Robber’s Tunnel.