Chapter 54 The people who stayed

I saw Hu Xueman lead us down the straight path, and I was speechless. I also knew that my spiritual awareness had pointed in the wrong direction. Why was that? It was for reasons I could not imagine.

At this time, the shocking sound of the tomb passage that went diagonally out had disappeared, and it was deathly quiet.

But Hu Xueman’s face was not at all relaxed. He picked up Ling Ruyue in one arm and said to me and Su Rou, “We’re running. You two must keep up with my pace!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a light footstep was heard in the tomb passage. It was only light because the distance was too far. If it were close by, the sound of the footsteps would be very shocking. You have to know that it takes about 20 minutes to walk in that tomb passage!

But after all, the tomb is a relatively closed place, and the sound can indeed travel far.

Along with the sound of footsteps, the chilling sneer came again. This time, it wasn’t just a sneer, but also a sound similar to the constant buzzing of an electric wave. Ling Ruyue and Su Rou immediately held their heads and shouted that they couldn’t take it anymore.

Hu Xueman took out a few balls of cotton from his pocket and stuffed them directly into the ears of Su Rou and Ling Ruyue. He said to me, “Read the incantation yourself and run!”

As she said this, Hu Xue-man ran ahead of Ling Ruyue, and I and Su Rou followed closely behind. Poor us, we just ran once, and now we have to run again. Why is this happening?

If we hadn’t come to the Hungry Ghost Tomb, we would have been sitting in the bamboo forest pavilion eating dinner by now, right? It was drizzling outside, the bamboo forest swayed in the rain and mist, and the world was all misty. How pleasant it would have been!

But there is no such thing as a pill for regret in this world. Now we can only run as fast as we can, because if we are even a little bit slow, we won’t know what the consequences will be!

After running a few steps, I saw the secret room next to the tomb passage. Hu Xueman kept running, and I couldn’t stop either. In the blink of an eye, I saw that the inside had been completely destroyed. The master and the others took this path, and it turned out that they were destroying secret rooms along the way!

After running for nearly five minutes, I saw at least seven such secret rooms. I don’t know how many there were exactly, because I was running so fast that who could possibly keep track?

At this moment, the sound of Su Rou panting came: “I… I… can’t… run anymore.”

After running like this for more than ten minutes, with only a short break in between, even an ordinary person would not be able to take it, let alone a fat guy like Su Rou. I turned to look at him, and sure enough, his face was already pale.

Hu Xueman grabbed Su Rou by the collar and yelled, “If you can’t run, you’ll die. Sanwa, lend a hand.”

I understood Hu Xue-man’s meaning, and I grabbed Su Rou’s collar, too. The two of us simply dragged him along, and the pace slowed down a lot. It seemed like we were being taunted for being slow. Then, from somewhere, came another sound of a ‘roar’, reminding us that death was approaching.

“No… don’t… worry about me, go find… Master Jiang to save me!” Su Rou’s physical strength had probably reached its limit, and he could no longer run. This was a helpless situation. The body has a limit, and once that limit is exceeded, it becomes numb. You have to use your will to support it, but when your will can’t support it anymore, the result is like Su Rou’s.

In fact, Su Rou is already doing well. If anyone else ran at top speed for five minutes, they would be doing well. It was the threat of death that inspired Su Rou’s potential, but even potential has its limits!

After saying that, the crispy meat sat on the ground with a “pop,” not because it was fighting against anyone, but because it had really reached its limit. Its face was pale, and because it was so tired, its breathing was like a bellows, and it felt like its entire lungs were rubbing together. It occasionally coughed, and the white foam that came out was choking.

“Go, go, if you don’t go, you’ll die.” Hu Xue-man shouted, and he was about to pull the crispy meat.

I grabbed Hu Xue-man by the arm and said to him seriously, “Uncle Hu, let him stay here. If he keeps running, his heart won’t be able to handle it and he’ll die. He needs to rest, and I’ll stay with him.”

“Are you kidding?” Hu Xue-man’s eyes were bigger than a bull’s eyes, and in an instant his fists were clenched, as if he was going to beat me. He didn’t understand why I was causing trouble at such a tense moment.

“I’m serious. You take Ru Yue and go find my master and the others first, and then ask my master to come and save us. I’ve studied with my master for so long, so it should be possible to buy some time.” I helped him up, but he had already made up his mind not to go.

The current situation of Su Rou is not suitable for sitting and resting like this. It is like a tight string that cannot be relaxed at once, but must be relaxed slowly.

“No, it’s not possible. It’ll take at least 10 minutes to get to Master Jiang’s place. It’ll take even longer to get back. I…” Hu Xueman obviously didn’t expect this either, but in fact there was really no other way. Su Rou couldn’t run anymore. Could you carry him? He wasn’t Ling Ruyue, small and light. He was a fat teenager who was 1.7 meters tall.

“Uncle Hu, you’re the one who’s wasting time. Leave a trail along the way, and Su Rou and I will try to go that way. That’s it.” I looked at Hu Xue-man and said as if I had already made a decision.

Su Rou looked at me and wanted to say something, but he was too busy breathing to say anything.

Hu Xueman also knew that this was not the time to argue, so he gritted his teeth and handed me a gun: “The bullets inside are all special bullets. There are seven of them. Do you know how to shoot?”

I nodded. I often went to that small courtyard to play. When I was bored, the uncles would teach me about guns. I even went to the local army with them once and played target shooting. I can’t say how accurate I am with a gun, but I always know how to shoot.

“The terrain of this tomb is complicated. As you can see, there are many turns and forks along the way. I will mark the right path with a check mark, and you will follow the mark.” Hu Xueman finally said.

I nodded again, and Hu Xue-man was about to leave, but then he seemed to remember something and handed me and Su Rou two talismans, saying, “Your master drew these talismans. They are quite powerful against evil spirits and demons.

“This red string is used to lock the yang energy of the person to prevent it from being discovered by evil spirits. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to tie it or untie it, and there’s only one. Otherwise, you two could find a place to hide, as long as that thing is not in front of you.” Hu Xueman sighed.

I hurriedly asked, “What is that thing? Do you know?”

“The one you released is the hungry ghost king! It has already taken on a form, depending on the situation! I’m leaving, I can’t delay any longer.” After saying that, Hu Xueman hugged Ling Ruyue and turned around and started running, a little faster than before.

This is not because he is cold-blooded and ruthless, but because he knows that the faster he runs, the more assured the lives of me and Su Rou will be.

As I watched Hu Xue-man’s quickly disappearing back, I helped Su Rou up and said to him, “I’ll help you walk slowly. After the intense running, you should walk slowly for a while before sitting down to rest.”

Su Rou had little strength to speak, but he nodded. We slowly walked in the direction Hu Xue Man had run, just like a walk.

After walking for three or five minutes, Su Rou was feeling better. I helped him sit down against the wall, took a sip of water, and then handed it to him: “Drink slowly, take a sip, rest for a while, it’s good for your body to recover, and you’ll have to work hard later.”

Su Rou drank a mouthful of water and felt much better. He said to me, “Why did you stay behind? You and Lao Hu ran together and were able to come back and save me.”

“No, Su Rou, I’m not being mushy with you. Do you remember what you said when you pulled me up? You said that if someone were to chop you, you wouldn’t let go. Similarly, I wouldn’t either! If I were with you, we would still be able to fight to the death if we met. But if you were alone, you would die. I wouldn’t dare gamble with your life. Now that the situation has turned back around, even if someone were to chop me, I wouldn’t let go!” I said seriously.

Su Rou’s eyes suddenly turned red, and he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Good brother.”

The two of us were silent for a while. After all, this kind of mushy atmosphere is not suitable for two grown men, even if they are big boys. Then we laughed out loud again.

“I just got goosebumps. I’m so scared, hahaha…” I said.

“Just now, I was so moved that I wanted to throw up, haha…” Su Rou also said.

But along with our laughter, there was a sound of ‘roaring’ and footsteps!

Su Rou and I stopped laughing. Su Rou looked at me seriously and said, “I bet that big guy is getting closer and closer to us.” With that, Su Rou grabbed the kitchen knife!

“Well, it seems that it can sense us from afar, like a ghost that won’t go away. I finally know why the master wants to lock the yang knot. It must be to avoid these troubles.” I also took out the rolling pin.

“Oh, I just saw that girl Ling Ruyue being held by Hu Xueman, with tears streaming down her face.” As Su Rou was talking, he took out a steamed bun and handed it to me, saying, “Eat up, so you can fight.”

I took a bite of the steamed bun. I had actually seen the scene with Ling Ruyue. I guessed that the little girl wanted to stay behind, but Hu Xueman wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t possibly take anyone back with him, could he?

I and Su Rou are at least teenagers, and Ling Ruyue is just a little girl…

“That little girl is still loyal.” As I spoke, I put down the steamed bun and grabbed Su Rou’s hand, pressing it against the sharp edge of the kitchen knife. Suddenly, Su Rou’s right middle finger began to bleed again.

“What are you doing?” Su Rou was still eating the steamed bun and suddenly became angry.

“To deal with these evil things, a bloody kitchen knife is better. It is more damaging to them. Don’t waste it. Rub it on the blade. Yes, I’ll rub some on my rolling pin too.” I explained.

“Sanwa, didn’t you say you’d use it next time?” Su Rou immediately grabbed my neck. I guess the kid was really angry. He didn’t say hello again, and he used it again.

“What a joke! Good things should be saved for last. You used them all up, so next time it’s definitely mine.” I said seriously.