The ice-cold embrace had the coldness of silk and also the coldness of skin, without any vitality. She couldn’t help but shiver.

A zombie?

She strained to look back from the corner of her eye, trying to see if there was white hair or something, but still couldn’t see anything.

That hand skillfully laid her back, rolled her up, and nimbly dragged her into the broken grave behind. The entire process made no sound at all.

Jing Hengbo smelled the slightly fishy scent of earth and felt the darkness as she entered the broken grave. She desperately thought that the next moment she wouldn’t fall into a decayed coffin and sleep with an ancient corpse, would she? God protect her—hopefully only white bones remained, definitely not half-rotted, especially not with a giant view…

She didn’t fall into a coffin, only into an embrace—still the same, ice-cold, without vitality, like a living dead person.

Er Gouzi poked its head out, tiptoeing to look at her, then at this grave, not daring to enter, and whooshed away.

Jing Hengbo rolled her eyes. Not one reliable companion.

She didn’t want to be held like this and instinctively struggled, but the grave was very narrow and his arms were so strong that she couldn’t break free. Instead, she caused earth and sand to fall from overhead. The sand didn’t fall on the zombie’s head but only on her. She was choked with a noseful of dust and had to stop struggling.

The two were now very close, close enough to feel each other’s tense skin and fine breathing. In the darkness flowed a faint green fragrance—an indescribable scent that could make one forget this was inside a gloomy and disgusting grave, and think instead of distant mountains and green grass, crow wings at the end of pine trees carrying the dying light of sunset clouds.

His embrace had the taste of encompassing everything.

Jing Hengbo was originally not a person who worried about minor details, but now she felt uncomfortable all over. She wanted to move but had nowhere to go, and her nose and throat felt even more itchy.

A handkerchief suddenly spread open in front of her. She looked down at the handkerchief—very ordinary, with common material, similar to what ordinary people outside used.

She took it and wiped her face and nose. Naturally she couldn’t return the soiled handkerchief to him, so she casually prepared to throw it away. But his hand reached over, seeming ready to catch it.

She was stunned, not expecting that he would even take back a dirty handkerchief. Looking down at his hand, his hand paused, then withdrew. She held the soiled handkerchief, and suddenly that feeling of discomfort all over came again. After waiting a while—though she didn’t know what she was waiting for—he made no movement and even pushed her slightly outward. She sighed and quietly stuffed the handkerchief into the earth, feeling that everything about her was awkward, even this handkerchief was awkward.

She had to turn her attention outside. Outside there were scattered footsteps—that group had indeed reached the large grave, walked around a few times, and disappeared, presumably having opened a mechanism and entered through the grave entrance.

Jing Hengbo was itching with curiosity, wondering whether to follow, when that hand reached over again in the darkness, and it actually held a shovel.

The shovel had a special shape—a long handle with a semi-cylindrical shovel bottom. She wondered if this was similar to the Luoyang shovel from tomb-raiding legends?

Seeing this thing gave her a sense of temporal displacement. She suddenly remembered modern times when four people reading books each had their preferences. She preferred “Empresses in the Palace,” but what she liked wasn’t the romance or palace intrigue plots—it was the casting choices. Every time she’d point at the screen saying “Hahaha the emperor is so old and ugly, Sun Li still has to act deeply in love with him, that’s really hard on her!” Taishi Lan liked “The Walking Dead” and “The Da Vinci Code” and such things. Jun Ke liked “Doraemon” and “Detective Conan.” Little Cake liked “Tomb Robber’s Chronicles” and “Ghost Blows Out the Light.” When bored, she’d casually glance at what they were reading. Now she couldn’t help thinking that if Little Cake were here now, she’d definitely be excited and happy—a zombie! A living zombie! A zombie with a Luoyang shovel digging its own grave! Even more ridiculous than the plot of “Ghost Blows Out the Light”…

This zombie had such high intelligence, directly digging a tunnel into the other party’s underground base, avoiding the entrance mechanisms. Thumbs up.

But why was this zombie helping her? Why dig this hole? She hefted the shovel, suspiciously examining him, ready to bash him with the shovel if anything seemed wrong.

The zombie really looked very zombiesque. Even in the darkness, she could see his face was deathly pale, features very flat, as if waxed. Being in the dark grave hole and seeing such a person was really creepy. She involuntarily looked away.

She gripped the shovel and looked at the zombie questioningly—though that guy seemed to harbor no hostility, what was he planning to do?

That zombie actually seemed able to guess what she was thinking. He stiffly pointed to one side. Only then did she notice a piece of rotten coffin board pushed aside.

The coffin board was rotten—wanted to get a new one?

If he wanted a new one, why didn’t he dig the hole himself? Why was there no shovel in his hands? Could it be that he planned to have her, this delicate and soft great beauty, do this hard labor?

It seemed so, because he then pointed at her, then pointed at the ground.

Translated into human language, it was roughly “You dig.”

Before Jing Hengbo could show resistance, that guy picked up a leg bone and seemed to casually play with it, then the leg bone disappeared.

Jing Hengbo immediately started digging. Her movements were active, her expression willing.

That bone looked very hard—definitely harder than her anyway. So she promptly became soft.

A purple shadow flashed beside her as Feifei slipped in. Jing Hengbo gave it a look, and Feifei immediately leaped up, flying past the zombie’s face while extending its head down, big eyes slowly blinking…

The zombie flicked his finger, and with a snap, Feifei fell into the rotten coffin. The zombie smoothly covered it with the coffin lid, and ugly scratching sounds came from inside.

Jing Hengbo looked worriedly at that coffin. The little monster’s combat power was a bit weak today, wasn’t it? Also, this coffin was broken and tattered—it could get out through any hole, so what was it scratching at?

Putting on an act, obviously just being cowardly!

None of them were reliable—she’d have to dig herself. Just as she was about to start, the zombie reached over and grasped her hand.

Jing Hengbo’s hair stood on end. Just as she was thinking of violently shaking off this claw, the zombie gripped her fingers tightly to prevent her from moving and already had some cloth strips in his hand. Very quickly he wrapped her palms.

Jing Hengbo was puzzled—she wasn’t injured, so why wrap them? Fortunately, the cloth strips looked very clean, weren’t burial shrouds, and had a faint fragrance.

The zombie lowered his head to wrap her hands. His movements weren’t gentle and careful, but were quite skillful. His long hair hung down, brushing against her cheek—very smooth and shining with silver light. Only now did Jing Hengbo discover that the zombie’s hair was silver-white, smooth and shining like moonlight.

She had seen many characters with white or silver hair in film and television works before and had scoffed at them, thinking human hair should be black, white belonged to the elderly, and couldn’t be beautiful no matter what. But now this silver hair was truly beautiful—before her eyes seemed to ripple an arc of exquisite moonlight.

In that moment of being mesmerized by the silver hair, he had already finished wrapping her hands. He quite impolitely dropped her claw that seemed to want to touch his hair and pointed at the ground again.

She had no choice but to grab the shovel and start digging a hole. She immediately discovered that many things seemed simple in imagination but difficult in practice. This shovel was cylindrical, long and round, with a very small contact area with the ground. The grave was very low, so she couldn’t stand up to assist with her legs and feet. Because there were still people keeping watch outside, each shovelful required great effort.

Then she understood the zombie’s intention in wrapping her hands—all the strength was in her hands. If not wrapped, delicate hands like hers would quickly be worn raw.

She thought about the hardships she’d face in the future—it seemed she’d need to always have wrist guards and palm protectors.

But would a zombie also be so thoughtful?

She glanced at him sideways, but that face in the darkness really looked too deadly, making one lose the mood to study it carefully. She had to look away again.

The hole was dug faster than imagined. Every time her posture was wrong or her strength flagged, he would casually pat her back, and she didn’t know if it was from fright or stimulation, but she’d instantly have strength again.

The excavated earth was promptly removed by him and transported to one side, not letting mud fall below.

Finally, she personally dug a crooked “robbery hole.” She looked down into it with a sense of accomplishment, muttering: “Hey, that tomb robber, don’t know where he is now. If he were here, he’d come see how well this girl dug this hole.”

While speaking, she glanced at the zombie. The zombie didn’t move—very zombiesque.

Jing Hengbo boredly prepared to go down the robbery hole. There was no sound below—probably no one there currently.

But the zombie grabbed Feifei and threw it down.

Jing Hengbo had originally thought the seemingly gentle but actually difficult little monster would give him a claw swipe, but the little monster jumped down without a sound, so obedient it made her rub her eyes repeatedly.

After a while, a white shadow flashed below—Feifei’s big tail, signaling safety.

The zombie seemed about to jump when he suddenly turned his head to look toward the darkness outside the grave, then pushed her down.

Jing Hengbo was caught off guard, but fortunately she’d been practicing teleportation from different positions recently. She flashed mid-air and landed.

Before her was a corridor.

Brightly lit, with no one front or back, only at the corridor’s end was a closed door with faint voices coming through.

She had originally thought that down here should be a quite large underground palace or underground base. Now it looked very crude—the rooms on both sides of the corridor weren’t even dug out yet, and the end seemed to have just one room.

She was a bit disappointed because a small scale meant not many good things.

There was no movement overhead. She looked up strangely—why hadn’t the zombie come down?

…

In the graveyard, a blue shadow flashed over quickly. That person’s movement technique was very special—sliding east and slipping west, seeming to walk circuitously but reaching the front in the blink of an eye.

Pei Shu’s special movement technique practiced in Tianhui Valley.

He headed straight for this graveyard while running and sniffing: “The stench of Er Gouzi and Feifei… it’s about here!”

His eyes were sharp, and he also saw the guards at the grave entrance from far away. Frowning, he muttered to himself: “How can there be people at a mass burial ground in the middle of the night? Where’s Da Bo? This silly girl wouldn’t have gotten into trouble, would she?”

He turned and swept behind a withered tree, preparing to hide and see what those people were doing first.

He had just taken position under the tree when he suddenly heard wing-flapping sounds. His neck felt cold, and when he touched it, a handful of stinking bird droppings.

Pei Shu looked up furiously and vaguely saw a white shadow sweep past from the corner of his eye. With a crack overhead, a bird fell on his head like a cannonball, and he smelled that stinking odor again.

Pei Shu was furious and reached out to snap the neck of this detestable bird. The unlucky bird panicked and cried urgently: “Er Gouzi! Er Gouzi!”

Pei Shu’s cracking fist stopped, suspended in mid-air. After a long moment, he put it down viciously, grabbed Er Gouzi down, and glared at the green bean eyes with his fierce gaze.

Er Gouzi dared not meet the murderous glare, covered its face with both wings, leaned back, and said in a thin voice: “This concubine’s body is weak, please have pity, young master…”

“Ugh…” Pei Shu’s face changed dramatically and he almost flung Er Gouzi away. “Who did you learn this disgusting tone from!”

After a pause, his expression changed again: “This tone sounds very familiar! Like… like…” After thinking for a long time, his face looked even worse. “Like that little bitch Ming Cheng!”

Mentioning this name increased his disgust. He was about to strangle Er Gouzi again when Er Gouzi stared with wide green bean eyes, its gaze terrified, feeling that Lord Dog was probably doomed this time.

But Pei Shu’s hand stopped 0.01 centimeters from Er Gouzi’s neck. He curled his lip and snorted angrily: “If I kill this thieving bird, Da Bo will definitely be angry.” He threw Er Gouzi aside, and Er Gouzi quickly ran away. Pei Shu’s anger hadn’t subsided as he said hatefully: “In her heart, I’m not even as good as a bird!”

This commotion, with Er Gouzi’s loud voice, immediately alerted the guards in the graveyard. Someone ran over with continuous shouts of “Who’s there!”

These people drew weapons while running. This place was secret and couldn’t be exposed—they had to kill to silence witnesses.

Seeing them draw swords made Pei Shu’s eyes brighten—he had a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent it!

“Can’t kill the bird, so killing people is perfect!” He flashed forward to meet them, his dragon-like form turning. Cold light flashed like lightning in the darkness, and with several swishing sounds, blood splattered as those people fell simultaneously. Just as they were about to scream, Pei Shu turned, and something like thin wire in his hand flashed again, piercing those throats and blocking the screams in their throats.

The figures had just appeared and fell with thuds, becoming corpses. Only one guy running at the back remained, shaking like chaff, suddenly turning to run.

After running a few steps, he found himself moving his legs in place. A burning hand had grabbed his collar. He looked up in terror and saw glowing eyes in the darkness and teeth bright as white jade.

Pei Shu dragged him to the graveside, looked around, and sneered: “What idiots—a mass burial ground, yet there’s an elaborate grave. Afraid people won’t discover it?”

Walking around the grave, he nodded again: “No wonder they need such a big grave—there are mechanisms inside. A small grave couldn’t contain them.”

He patted that unlucky guy and said: “Open the door!”

“I don’t know how to open it…” the man sobbed and begged for mercy.

Pei Shu didn’t listen at all and didn’t ask again. He dragged him straight toward the grave front. The man screamed loudly—seeing he was about to hit the grave mound, trigger the mechanism, and die, he had no choice but to desperately press somewhere on the grave mound.

With a clicking sound, the door opened. Pei Shu sneered and without another word threw the man inside.

That man had just felt relief at escaping death when he didn’t expect this demon king to be so ruthless as to burn bridges after crossing. The throwing technique deliberately made him hit the door edge. Continuous clicking sounds came from inside the grave as mechanisms activated. With a buzzing sound, the man screamed and flew back out, his whole body stuck full of various hidden weapons.

Pei Shu didn’t even look, kicking his corpse aside. Moonlight illuminated half his face, bright as diamond jade.

…

Jing Hengbo looked back at the corridor—still no sign of the zombie coming down. She simply walked forward herself. Not far ahead wasn’t a path but a section of black mud pool with bubbles faintly visible, sometimes showing glimpses of various colored backs flashing by, apparently hiding many fierce beasts.

This section had no leverage points and would be an insurmountable chasm for anyone, but for Jing Hengbo it was equivalent to non-existent. She only needed to consider what she’d encounter when flashing into that room at the corridor’s end. Seeing the bright lights there, if there were a whole bunch of people inside, she wouldn’t get anything good by flashing in.

While thinking, she suddenly heard someone beside her say: “Who’s there!”

Jing Hengbo was startled and looked sideways to see several people emerge from an incompletely dug earth chamber.

She silently cursed—attracted by that brightly lit room ahead, she hadn’t paid attention to chambers like this also having people.

The corridor’s lighting was quite clear, illuminating her face. The several people across from her were first angry and alarmed, then greatly stunned.

The leader’s eyes especially lit up, staring unblinkingly at her face.

A person dressed as a follower looked up and said: “Protector! This woman is a tomb robber! Look at the hole above—she dug down!”

This explanation made everyone’s vigilance relax a few more degrees—not coming through the door but accidentally digging in meant her abilities couldn’t be too great.

“Aha, young lady, with such beauty, who would have thought you’d be a female bandit thief.” The leading man, about twenty years old with a yellow, narrow face and ordinary looks but quite a self-styled romantic manner, smiled at her: “Young lady, do you know you’re in big trouble!”

Jing Hengbo almost burst out laughing but bit her teeth to hold it back, smiling: “How so?”

As soon as she spoke, that man’s eyes lit up again, and he couldn’t help but lean over to joke quietly with his follower: “And such a good voice too, tsk tsk, listening makes this master’s bones go soft…”

“This self-invited beauty is perfect for your enjoyment…” the follower smiled with lowered brows and fawning eyes. “Look at this whole seductive bearing—she must be a pleasure house expert, a courtesan leader. Scare her a bit and she’ll throw herself into your arms…”

That man laughed heartily, deeply agreeing. He turned to stare at Jing Hengbo, changed his expression, and said coldly: “Haven’t you heard that the martial world has many secrets, and each family’s territory cannot be coveted? Now that you’ve dug this hole here, we Thirteen Protectors can let you come but not leave!”

He announced the Thirteen Protectors’ name, waiting for Jing Hengbo to turn pale with fear. Jing Hengbo indeed “turned pale with fear,” covering her mouth in shock: “The Thirteen Protectors!”

That man stared at her crystal-like fingernails and the red lips beneath her fingers, couldn’t help gulping, and mysteriously pointed toward the corridor’s end: “This place holds our gang’s secrets and cannot be approached by others. Since you’ve stumbled in today, you must be silenced.”

“What should I do?” Jing Hengbo said tearfully. “I didn’t do it on purpose. This is my first time. I’m so scared…”

“Scared…” that man smiled. “Come over here, let me see if I can think of a good solution for you.”

Jing Hengbo walked over gracefully, calculating whether secretly taking this guy hostage to enter that room would let her see clearly what was actually inside.

That man stared at her naturally swaying waist and innately seductive gait, calculating whether dragging this woman into the adjacent earth chamber would allow him to have a good sleep.

Jing Hengbo had already walked to within three steps of him, smiling like a flower. Her raised fingernails gleamed.

The man gave a look, and his followers faintly surrounded Jing Hengbo. He approached with a smile, coming to grasp her hand.

Suddenly there was a thunderous crash behind them, followed by the sound of sharp weapons cutting through air, and faintly someone’s agonized cry.

Everyone’s expressions changed as they exclaimed: “Someone’s entered through the entrance!”

“Go check quickly!”

This was precisely the moment when Pei Shu used a person to crash open the mechanism. Then a figure flashed, and Pei Shu had already appeared at that end of the corridor.

Just as Jing Hengbo was about to turn back, suddenly a white shadow flashed from the opening overhead—the zombie had come down.

His timing was skillful, right when everyone was attracted by Pei Shu at the entrance. Several people had already rushed toward Pei Shu, leaving only one or two around that man in a protective stance. When this zombie suddenly appeared, the remaining people hadn’t had time to give warning before he raised his hand slightly and those followers silently collapsed.

Seeing him strike, the Twelfth Protector couldn’t help but be alarmed. Still unwilling to give up on Jing Hengbo, he viciously reached to grab her waist while extending his other hand to draw his sword.

A white shadow flashed, then he felt his elbows go cold.

Looking down, he was horrified to discover that his hands could no longer be raised.

Intense pain only now reached his brain. He threw back his head, about to let out a piercing scream, when that white shadow had already pounced forward, throwing a clump of black earth into his mouth, forcibly blocking his scream.

Then the zombie grabbed him with one hand, Jing Hengbo with the other, and flashed backward into the earth chamber that the Twelfth Protector had emerged from.

Jing Hengbo was about to speak when he pressed her down with one hand. As soon as they had hidden themselves, alarms rang throughout the underground, and with a bang, the door at the corridor’s end seemed to open.

This underground structure was simple, not yet extensively developed. The corridor had two ends—one where Pei Shu had entered, with a black mud pool in the middle, and the other end was the brightly lit secret chamber.

When the alarm sounded and the secret chamber opened, someone shouted loudly: “Enemy ahead! Intercept quickly!” Then came whooshing sounds, and with a thud, a person landed in the corridor. After a while, another whoosh and thud as another person landed.

Listening to the wind sounds, Jing Hengbo suddenly understood—there must be some kind of launching device at the secret chamber end that could catapult people across that section of poisonous swamp infested with fierce beasts. People inside could come out easily, but those entering couldn’t cross without this device.

Continuous whooshing sounds as more and more people launched and landed, all rushing toward the entrance, determined to intercept Pei Shu at the door.

That end erupted in clanging and banging as battle began. Pei Shu fought while shouting: “Da Bo! Da Bo! Are you there? If you’re not, make a sound! Otherwise I’m going to get angry!”

Jing Hengbo broke out in sweat—so the tyrant had come looking for her?

Looking at the statue-like motionless zombie beside her, then at Pei Shu surrounded ahead, a thought flashed through her mind—this zombie hadn’t been here earlier, could he have gone to lure Pei Shu? Bringing Pei Shu to crash in through the entrance, attracting enemy attention, then bringing her to infiltrate and fish in troubled waters?

So devious, so devious!

The crowd indeed all rushed toward the entrance. Jing Hengbo peered toward the corridor’s end and sure enough, the secret chamber door there had opened.

The zombie grabbed the Twelfth Protector who was nearly fainting from pain and pointed at that secret chamber. Jing Hengbo immediately cooperated skillfully, leaning over and saying: “What were you doing in this earth chamber just now? Is this the passage that bypasses the poisonous swamp to enter the secret chamber? Take us there, or I’ll crush you.”

After speaking, she smiled and glanced sideways at that guy’s crotch, grasping and gripping with her palm as if considering which position would provide more crushing force.

That Twelfth Protector urgently tried to speak, but his mouth was full of earth. Anxiously his face turned red. The zombie patted his back, patting out the mouthful of earth and some blood. Not daring to cry out in pain, he tremblingly pointed behind the earth chamber.

Jing Hengbo was about to rush and check for a passage, but from the corner of her eye she saw the zombie hadn’t moved at all. Her heart stirred, and she turned back to glance at that Protector, just catching his resentful, malicious gaze full of killing intent.

Though he immediately looked away, Jing Hengbo still broke out in cold sweat, feeling her vigilance was indeed insufficient. This Protector wasn’t like that wastrel from the Xuanyuan family—someone who could become a Protector shouldn’t be too weak. Having just had his arms severed, he must be full of hatred and killing intent. How could he be so compliant?

Seeing her face full of realization, the zombie’s eyes flashed with what seemed like satisfaction.

This time Jing Hengbo grabbed that Protector herself, saying: “You walk in front.”

That guy had no choice but to stumble ahead. Indeed, entering the inner chamber from outside couldn’t be done through the corridor—the passage was in a side earth chamber that looked unfinished. After this guy opened the door, Jing Hengbo kicked him unconscious with one foot. The zombie walked over and calmly stepped over the Protector’s body.

Jing Hengbo looked down at the flat footprint on that guy’s body, then at the zombie—when had this guy offended the zombie?

The door led to a narrow passage where the lights of the connected secret chamber could be faintly seen. Jing Hengbo consciously prepared to walk ahead and scout, but the zombie took the first step inside.

Jing Hengbo watched his back—he wore white hemp clothes, very tall and thin, taller than anyone she’d ever seen, like a bamboo pole. His silver-white long hair hung to his waist. From far away he looked like a thin white paper cutout. He walked without any sound, yet strangely with some hesitation. In any case, nothing about him seemed like a normal person—no one would believe he wasn’t a ghost.

The light ahead gradually brightened—indeed another entrance to the secret chamber. This entrance was for internal personnel, so there were no guards. The two walked out openly.

In the brightly lit secret chamber, there were still several people at the door, all focused on watching ahead, observing their people’s battle with Pei Shu. Suddenly sensing something behind them, they turned around to see a man and woman, one beautiful and one ugly, who had appeared from nowhere and were standing behind them. The beautiful woman even smiled and greeted them: “Hi, good evening.”

The Thirteen Protectors’ subordinates in the secret chamber were shocked—this underground base had only one entrance, and anyone entering would definitely alarm the interior. Where had these two people come from?

Even worse, because Pei Shu had broken in, all the masters in the secret chamber had shot across the poisonous marsh corridor through the ejection device to meet the enemy. Those remaining were all technical personnel with poor martial arts skills, while the only entrance passage was now blocked by that man and woman.

Before they could cry out, Jing Hengbo waved her hand and closed the door to the corridor. At the same time, the zombie said: “Close the door.”

Both were slightly stunned by this rare moment of coordination.

The people in the room saw these two had exceptional abilities and began fleeing in panic. But with all the elites absent, how could these people’s martial arts match the zombie? He floated around in a circle, and those people all lay on the ground.

While he was taking action, Jing Hengbo first closed the entrance they had come through, then went to study that ejection device. She changed the ejection device’s direction, placing it in reverse at the secret chamber door. This way, anyone charging over and stepping on the launching pad would be catapulted back into the corridor.

Then she closed the door, and immediately heard continuous tapping and whooshing sounds outside, mixed with various shouts and Pei Shu’s loud laughter: “Wahaha, run! Told you to run! Don’t you all obediently come back into grandpa’s embrace… Hey, Bo Bo, Da Bo, is that you inside? Come out and answer, or grandpa’s going to get angry!”

Jing Hengbo thought this guy being used as a shield was rather pitiful and was about to poke her head out to respond, when a hand behind her grabbed her back. She turned around—the zombie was expressionless, pointing at the secret chamber. Meaning: hurry up.

Jing Hengbo had to give up and turned back to see a large hall before her, filled with many bottles. At first glance, it really looked a bit like a modern laboratory, but the bottles weren’t crystal or glass—they looked extremely hard in texture, semi-transparent so you could see what was inside. The bottles came in various sizes, containing liquids of different colors with viscous textures somewhat like swamps. In the swamp-like liquids seemed to be living things—you could vaguely see various scales and claws.

Feifei slipped out and darted around among the various bottles, seeming excited but also somewhat wary, keeping distance from those bottles.

She felt a bit disgusted but still leaned in to look. The Thirteen Protectors had established this separate underground base to research something that must be very important.

She had just approached a head-sized bottle containing a mass of pale black mud with something slowly writhing inside. She wanted to press her face against it to see more clearly. Before she could get close, the zombie behind her suddenly said: “Careful!” and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.

At the same time, “Crack!” With a crisp sound, a black claw suddenly shot out from inside the bottle, viciously clawing at the bottle wall. Sparks seemed to fly as radiating cracks immediately spread across the bottle wall.

Jing Hengbo was startled—such great strength!

This thing was obviously still in its juvenile stage yet had such power. What would it be like when fully grown?

There was a label at the bottom of the bottle. She read aloud: “Keng Dragon juvenile, four claws and long tail, skin and flesh harder than diamond, three-zhang tongue can capture people.”

Moving to another bottle, this time she didn’t dare get close and stretched out her arm to pull out the label: “Oil Snake, extremely venomous throughout body, can corrode metal and iron, can mimic ghostly voices, can regenerate even when severed.”

Pulling another label: “Python Remnant, fish body with snake head, six scaled feet, emits poison mist, creates miasma over water.”

Jing Hengbo frowned, murmuring: “…Blackwater Marsh strange beasts?”

She was going to Blackwater to become queen, so naturally she had some understanding of the famous Blackwater Marsh. According to legend, there were nearly a hundred strange beasts in Blackwater, but people had truly seen less than one-tenth of them. Just these one-tenth of occasionally appearing strange beasts had already devoured countless lives.

The large hall before her had about fifty or sixty bottles, one type per bottle, encompassing fifty or sixty types of Dahuang Marsh strange beast juveniles.

Every strange beast in Dahuang Marsh was a fierce beast—difficult to kill and even harder to capture, especially juveniles. To this day, people living near Blackwater Marsh had seen only a few types of strange beasts. One could imagine that capturing each type of strange beast juvenile probably required hundreds or thousands of lives as sacrifice. With fifty or sixty types here, it was hard to imagine how much manpower and resources the Thirteen Protectors had spent on these fifty or sixty types of strange beast juveniles.

No wonder it was built in such a remote underground location. Once word got out, all their efforts would be wasted, and it would immediately attract countless Blackwater Marsh forces to compete for it.

As for why the Thirteen Protectors were raising fierce strange beasts in bottles here, either they wanted to domesticate them or change the beasts’ species. Blackwater Marsh fierce beasts could only survive in Blackwater Marsh—once on shore, their combat power greatly decreased. If they could possess Blackwater Marsh fierce beasts on shore, they would certainly cause tremendous destructive power.

The Thirteen Protectors seemed to rank last among Blackwater Marsh forces, but their ambitions weren’t small either. They appeared dissatisfied with their current ranking and had designs on competing for the Blackwater Marsh throne.

Jing Hengbo began to develop interest in the Thirteen Protectors. These fifty or sixty bottles contained something that was definitely a major investment. According to legend, though the Thirteen Protectors were headed by the Grand Protector, the real brain and backbone was the Second Protector. It was he who single-handedly developed and expanded the Thirteen Protectors organization from thirteen bare-handed brothers to gaining a foothold in the competitive Blackwater Marsh. His ambitions continued after gaining their position, and now he seemed to be looking toward even broader horizons.

It was said he could have been Grand Protector but firmly declined, always appearing as the Grand Protector’s military advisor, yet held the highest position and most respect among the Thirteen Protectors. This base might be his handiwork.

But Jing Hengbo always felt that though this base was secret, its defenses seemed insufficient. Such an important base relying only on one or two checkpoint defenses seemed too careless.

Jing Hengbo was a bit disappointed. She hadn’t expected the secret chamber to contain these things. Though it touched on the Thirteen Protectors’ secrets, it was of no benefit to her. The cultivation of these juveniles surely involved the Thirteen Protectors’ own unique methods—taking them would be useless to her.

Her gaze turned to the wall beside her. This secret chamber was very large, about as big as three ordinary rooms. The opposite wall had many small doors, each with symbols above them. Some had opium pipes, some had blood-dripping large knives, some had raging fires, some had dancing ribbons.

These were the markings of Tortoiseshell Blackwater’s Three Gates, Four Alliances, and Seven Great Gangs. Jing Hengbo counted—exactly fourteen small rooms.

Her eyes brightened—the things inside might be worth taking.

She immediately rushed toward the nearest small door, took a step then turned back to look at those bottles.

Since she’d discovered this secret cultivation base, she couldn’t let these things be cultivated, or they’d become trouble for her later.

She waved her hand and a stool rose into the air. Just as she was about to smash it down on the bottles, the zombie flashed and suddenly blocked her way.

Seeing his disapproving gaze, she looked slightly puzzled.

He just pointed at those things and shook his head.

Jing Hengbo thought about it and suddenly understood. The strange beast juveniles in these bottles were all alive, all poisonous, most impervious to weapons, and couldn’t be killed quickly. Having them running around the secret chamber would cause trouble for herself. Moreover, the Thirteen Protectors had spent tremendous effort on these—destroying them all would create a deep hatred. Though she wasn’t afraid of making enemies, why provoke such an adversary before even entering Blackwater Marsh?

When you don’t want to fulfill something but also don’t want to bring trouble to yourself, what should you do?

Frame someone else.

Jing Hengbo’s arms moved continuously, and the mud at the top of each bottle used to cultivate the strange beast juveniles slowly rose, suspended in mid-air.

The mud in each bottle was mostly different colors, presumably already treated with additives. They rotated separately in mid-air, displaying various eerie colors.

This scene was quite magical—a woman standing in the center with both arms raised high, countless colored muds suspended in mid-air, hanging without falling, like floating patches of small clouds.

The hemp-clothed person stood to one side, quietly watching this scene, light flowing in his eyes.

All the mud floated up. Jing Hengbo crossed her arms and moved them continuously.

The colored mud shuttled back and forth in the air, fast as lightning, mixing with each other, then falling back into the bottles with pattering sounds.

Certainly, the mud that returned to the bottles was no longer the original types.

Since these strange beasts were cultivated in separate bottles with different colored muds, it meant the mud couldn’t be wrong by even a trace. Now mixed with impurities, could these fierce beasts still be cultivated?

These muds were also poisonous, yet the switching left no trace. Seeing this scene, what would the Thirteen Protectors think? Nine times out of ten they’d suspect their high-skilled mortal enemies, right?

Jing Hengbo finished her work and chuckled as she lowered her hands.

Let them fight like dogs among themselves from now on.

She turned to open those small doors when suddenly her nose was kicked by a toe.

Kicked by a toe…

Her body went numb for a moment, and she sensed the hemp-clothed person behind her also stiffened—with everyone locked outside or fallen down, who was now sitting above her head?

She stared at the shoe tip before her—embroidered shoes, purple, with purple lilac flowers, but the shoes weren’t delicate. What big feet.

Looking up along this foot, there was a purple skirt hem, a color that seemed familiar—that noble yet flowing fabric.

She drew a breath.

No need to look further.

The damn cheating examiner had come to cheat.