Chapter 14: Turmoil

Hair, too much and too dense, was everywhere.

Like a hundred thousand threads, it coiled around Li Weiyi, pulling him inch by inch into the grave earth with an irresistible force.

He couldn't breathe. His mouth and nose were filled with either dirt or hair.

Just as Li Weiyi was about to suffocate, an internal stream of air surged from the sole of his right foot. Immediately, his lungs, which felt like they were about to burst, found relief, miraculously entering a mystical state where his internal breath was unending.

"This airflow can actually substitute for breathing. Does this mean I can hold my breath indefinitely from now on?"

His excitement lasted only a moment before Li Weiyi returned to the terrifying reality of his situation. He struggled with all his might for a while but only exhausted himself, utterly unable to fight against the hair.

Gradually, he sank deeper and deeper, the soil on his back growing thicker.

At a certain point, Li Weiyi felt an icy, bone-chilling cold emanating from beneath him. Through the strands of hair, he saw an ice coffin radiating dazzling white light beneath him.

Inside the coffin lay a slender skeleton dressed in red, its hands clasped over its lower abdomen, appearing calm and dignified.

The bones resembled celestial jade, with crimson threads of blood flowing within them... How could blood have been preserved? And it possessed extraordinary vitality.

All the hair grew from the skeleton's head, spreading out through the gaps in the ice coffin.

"It's truly a reanimated corpse! But that shouldn't be possible; it's already a skeleton. How could it suddenly awaken?"

"This ice... it's melting..."

As the ice coffin melted, Li Weiyi became completely soaked. The coffin lid grew thinner and thinner.

Li Weiyi's sense of danger intensified. He couldn't have been pulled down just because she was lonely lying there. If he couldn't break free, once the ice coffin completely melted, he would probably turn into a skeleton himself.

Right, the Daoist Ancestor's Taiji Fish. This supreme treasure of the Chan school was still in his hand.

The two fish eyes had immense power and could surely subdue this red-clothed immortal maiden in the coffin... Bah! Immortal maiden? It was a skeletal demon.

The Daoist Ancestor's Taiji Fish seemed to have been activated by his blood back then, emitting blue and red light.

He decided to try anything, even if it was a long shot.

Just as the ice coffin lid melted until it was transparent, Li Weiyi gathered his strength, fighting against the hair wrapped around his arms, and forcefully pulled back his right hand, which was clutching the Daoist Ancestor's Taiji Fish.

Immediately, his wrist scraped against the uneven edge of the melted coffin lid.

"Thump!"

As Li Weiyi fell completely into the coffin, his wrist slid across the sharp edge of the lid, and blood instantly gushed out, flowing down his arm towards his palm.

This skeletal demon was so bony and uncomfortable; there wasn't an ounce of flesh on it. Falling onto her, Li Weiyi felt pain all over from the hard bones. Crucially, the hair was wrapped so tightly that he couldn't move at all, only passively making contact with her.

Li Weiyi's eyes were almost pressed into her deep-set eye sockets. His nose sank into her nasal cavity. His lips were pressed against her set of white teeth. The hair wrapped tighter and tighter...

Li Weiyi's body felt like it was being crushed, and in the most uncomfortable spots where her bones pressed, such as his lips, cheeks, shoulders, and hips, his skin was already broken and bleeding. Strangely, this blood was being absorbed by her, seeping into her bones.

"Is she trying to devour all my flesh and blood? Is she trying to come back to life?"

Li Weiyi's consciousness blurred from being squeezed by the hair and the skeleton beneath him. Even the hot airflow within him receded.

Even more terrifying, an icy power emanated from her forehead, seeping into Li Weiyi's glabella, making him shiver all over.

"Whoosh!"

Just as Li Weiyi was about to be tormented to death, the Daoist Ancestor's Taiji Fish finally reacted, erupting in blue and red light. The hair wrapped around Li Weiyi scattered like straw meeting fire, retreating in a panic.

Li Weiyi finally broke free and sat up. He slapped her hair-covered skull, making her head turn. It was too much; he had to vent his anger.

The Daoist Ancestor's Taiji Fish glowed brightly for only a moment before dimming again. Frightened, Li Weiyi immediately fled. How could he dare to lecture her further?

While climbing the grave mound, he found the Yellow Dragon Sword.

Just as he jumped off the grave mound with the sword, he heard the wind chimes on the blue stone tablet ring loudly again. Black hair, like a swirling dark cloud or a swimming snake, surged out from the pit on top of the grave mound, rushing towards Li Weiyi.

In an instant, flying strands of hair filled an area of five zhang in every direction.

Li Weiyi wasn't sure if the Daoist Ancestor's Taiji Fish was truly activated by his blood. If he were tangled back into the ice coffin, he might not escape again.

"Swish! Swish! Swish..."

His legs moved quickly, dodging and shifting, while the Yellow Dragon Sword continuously swung and chopped. As the hot airflow from the sole of his right foot flowed into his right hand, a faint yellow glow appeared on the blade of the Yellow Dragon Sword.

He swung the sword horizontally. The arc of light was like a brilliant crescent moon.

The black hair, when struck, immediately turned into wisps of smoke and dissipated into the air. The sword had clearly transformed into a demon-breaking blade, feared and avoided by evil spirits.

On the deck near the medical tent, dozens of people—men, women, elderly, and young—were bound with their hands behind their backs, either sitting or lying slumped against the bulwark.

Some were still unconscious from the drugged breakfast. The conscious research team members were all filled with rage, cursing Chen Hong, Kong Fan, and others standing nearby.

Kong Fan, the head chef, was short and stout, around forty years old. His white chef's uniform was stained with grease and fresh blood. The other three members of the kitchen staff were dragging the injured and disabled out of the medical tent one by one.

Professor Xu, with both legs broken, was dragged out of the medical tent by one arm by a young cook. He twitched in pain, wailing with a mix of tears and laughter: "Animals will revert to their instincts... when they sense danger, they will attack and kill. When food is scarce, they will resort to cannibalism. If human nature isn't restrained, all evil will be unleashed, becoming rampant... desire... madness..."

"Old man, you've been the biggest eater lately, wailing so loudly—looks like all your strength went to your mouth!"

Kong Fan held a strong prejudice against Professor Xu because the professor's appetite had increased greatly in recent days, and his students had been running to the kitchen multiple times a day, which was quite bothersome.

Of course, neither he nor the students knew that most of Professor Xu's food actually went into the stomach of the person in the neighboring bed.

Kong Fan savagely kicked Professor Xu's head twice, blood gushing from his mouth, and he immediately fell silent.

"Bang! Bang... Bang..."

A series of gunshots rang out. A moment later, Xie Tianshu emerged from the dark mist, his face stern. He wore a dragon-engraved thumb ring on his left hand and held a pistol in his right.

Four security team members followed, carrying two corpses, which they dumped in front of the crowd. Upon seeing the bodies of Captain Gao Xin and another crew member, the angry shouts and reprimands turned into screams and cries. Some were utterly terrified, not daring to breathe, their bodies trembling violently.

"You actually killed someone! What did Captain Gao do to provoke you? You're completely lawless!" Professor Xu roared.

Xie Tianshu, a person of mild and stable temperament, patiently explained: "Professor, we are now in a desolate, spectral world where land is nowhere in sight. Where is the law, where is heaven here? The captain was a good man, but good men are destined not to survive in harsh environments. He was the first to be eliminated."

"You're a biology professor; you should understand better than anyone that survival is the first law of the universe."

"When the environment becomes hostile, organisms become irritable and uneasy, and then they actively eliminate competitors. Those who don't act decisively are destined to be eliminated."

"Survival of the fittest, natural selection. Isn't that what you often say? Only by getting rid of the inferiors on board who consume food and water will the superiors have a better chance of survival."

"Alas, those who don't plan ahead will face trouble soon enough. We can't possibly wait until food truly runs out, everyone is too weak from hunger, and then resort to cannibalism, can we? How unsightly that would be. We are people from a civilized society."

"Captain Gao couldn't bring himself to do it, so I had to be the villain."

Xie Tianshu then walked over to Zhao Meng, squatted down, and looked at his twisted and bent legs, saying displeasedly, "How did your legs get so badly beaten? You guys were too brutal! Meng Ge, does it hurt? It must hurt a lot. How about this: hand over the Buddha's sarira, and I'll give you a quick end. I swear to heaven, I will keep my word."

Zhao Meng's face was ashen. He opened his eyelids and gave him an indifferent glance.

Xie Tianshu's eyes immediately grew colder. He asked in a deep voice, "Have you found Li Weiyi yet?"

A security team member replied, "Not yet."

"The deck area is only so big, where could he hide? Search every inch for him, dig up all the grave mounds; you must find him. Where's Xie Jin?" Xie Tianshu said.

"He took people to the cultivation area and hasn't returned yet," the security team member replied.

Xie Tianshu knew Xie Jin's intentions perfectly well; he must have gone for Cai Yutong.

"Meng Ge, do you know why I'm certain the Buddha's sarira is on you or your fellow disciple?"

Xie Tianshu smiled before continuing, "Because, when the Longji sank, I personally witnessed blue and red light erupting from Li Weiyi's body. The more you hide and deny it, the more it proves the Buddha's sarira is on this ship. Tell us now, and you'll suffer much less."

Zhao Meng remained silent.

Gao Huan, with his hands tied behind his back, his face pressed against the cold ground, slowly regained consciousness. His shoulders and wrists ached intensely, his head felt dizzy and swollen, and his vision and hearing gradually sharpened from a blur.

After understanding his situation, his gaze shifted to the two corpses, and his pupils suddenly constricted.

He struggled to sit up in disbelief, his eyes fixed on Captain Gao Xin's body, then suddenly cried out, "Dad!"

He stood up and rushed over. Losing his balance, he fell headfirst beside the corpse. His voice hoarse and his heart aching, Gao Huan cried out, "Dad... Who killed my dad... Which one of you did this, you... Ah..." Tears mixed with the blood on the corpses.

Chen Hong was surprised: "So Captain Gao's son was also on board. He hid very well."

"Another one with connections." Kong Fan sneered. "It's just a research vessel, and they managed to cram so many people onto it."

A security team member whispered into Xie Tianshu's ear: "This kid has a good relationship with Li Weiyi; they've been together often recently. He definitely knows where Li Weiyi is hiding."

Xie Tianshu walked over to comfort him: "Xiao Huan, the dead cannot be brought back to life; you must bear your sorrow and accept what has happened. Tell me, where is Li Weiyi?"

Gao Huan saw the pistol in Xie Tianshu's hand, which had belonged to his father. How could he not know who the executioner was?

"I'll kill you!"

Clenching his teeth, he lunged forward, head first. Xie Tianshu quickly stepped back.

Gao Huan hit nothing but air and fell to the ground. Before he could get up, Chen Hong stepped on his neck, his ear bleeding from the hard sole of the shoe.

Chen Hong said, "Don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Can't you see the situation clearly?"

"I see you, you motherf—" Gao Huan roared.

Chen Hong's eyes darkened, and he delivered a kick that nearly knocked the wind out of Gao Huan, rendering him unable to curse any further.

From the dark mist, disorderly footsteps and curses could be heard. Xie Jin and three others brought back five students from the cultivation area.

Upon seeing the tragic scene on the deck, the students, who had just been agitated, were now all terrified into silence, like cicadas in winter. Two of the girls lowered their heads, their legs trembling violently.