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nChapter 98: Eight-Armed Vajra

nTranslator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

nThe pale face disappeared in a flash.

nLin Yan’s heart almost skipped a beat as he took three steps back.

nThe burning sleeve landed on the ground outside the crack. It was actually paved with stone bricks. The dim light vaguely illuminated a small artificial stone room that looked like a quiet room.

nThe pale face from before was already hidden in the shadow of the fire and could not be seen.

nIn its place, a tall and thin black shadow that was unknown if it was a human or a ghost stood by the burning hempen sleeve.

nLin Yan paused for a moment and stared fixedly at the black shadow. Even when the sleeve burned out, the black shadow remained motionless, as if it was dead.

nHe had already gone too far to give up…

n…..

nHe tore the other sleeve and lit it up again. He threw it into the stone room and slowly walked forward.

nEven when Lin Yan stepped into the stone room, the black shadow remained motionless. Lin Yan slowly raised the candle and swept it in front of the black shadow.

nThe light was dim, and a pale face filled with pity and despair suddenly appeared from the darkness.

nHis two eye sockets had been dug out. They were pitch-black and reflected a terrifying light under the light of the fire. It was as if he was staring at someone. It was the face Lin Yan had seen just now.

nLin Yan’s breathing instantly quickened. He suppressed his instinctive fear and looked carefully under the candlelight before slowly relaxing.

nThe face and the black shadow were not living people at all. Instead, they were wooden carvings of a tall and thin bald old monk.

nIt was made of grayish-white dead wood. Its face was lifelike. Other than the parts of its eyeballs that seemed to have been dug out, the other facial features were bearded and wrinkled. It was lifelike. There were no traces of being cut by knives or axes.

nLin Yan leaned closer to the wooden statue and observed it carefully.

nIts body was shriveled like a dead tree, but it was two meters tall and did not look human.

nIt was clearly a wooden statue, but like a human, it was wearing a tattered and rotten gray monk robe.

nIts body was incomplete, and a large arc was missing from its waist. The edge was jagged, as if it had been bitten by teeth.

nThere were also three to four rusty bronze chains tied to its body. They were held in front of its chest by its two withered hands. Its body leaned forward, as if it was dragging something forward in the darkness.

nHence, Lin Yan raised the fire and swept his gaze behind the old monk’s statue. His expression immediately turned cold.

nA huge blood-colored stone coffin that was ten feet long was flipped to the side behind the old monk. The heavy coffin lid was slanted and half of it had been opened, revealing the black interior of the coffin.

nUnder the coffin were circles of bronze chains.

nIt was obvious that this stone coffin was originally carried on the old monk’s back and bound tightly with bronze chains. Now, it fell to the ground because of the vibration or something. Even the coffin lid was opened.

nWasn’t the coffin a container for the dead? He was already dead. Why did they tie him up with chains?

nA chill ran down Lin Yan’s spine.

nHe carefully squatted down and placed the candle in front of the coffin. The coffin was made of blood-colored ore. There were mysterious golden complicated patterns drawn on the four corners and both ends. A faint sandalwood smell emitted from the coffin.

n“Empty?

nThere were some scattered things inside the stone coffin, but there were clearly no corpses.

nSuch an imposing and tightly bound stone coffin was actually empty?

nLin Yan stood up straight and scanned his surroundings.

nWas the stone coffin empty to begin with, or…

nHe walked carefully and used the faint light of the candle to carefully search and observe the stone room.

nThis was clearly a man-made stone room, like a quiet room for chanting and worshipping.

nTo the right, there seemed to be a passageway, but it was all buried by huge rocks.

nThere were square stone bricks on the ground, engraved with an exquisite and ancient lotus pattern.

nThe left and right areas were not big. There was almost no place to hide.

nLin Yan had just heaved a sigh of relief when he suddenly realized that there was another direction…

nHe suddenly raised his head and his eyes narrowed. He almost retreated to the entrance.

nOn the top of the quiet room, there was actually a statue of the Eight-Armed Vajra that looked benevolent but was not benevolent. It looked angry but was not!

nThis Vajra statue was about two meters tall. Its entire body was black jade, and its chest was bare. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female.

nThe muscles on its exposed chest were clearly visible. The muscles and bones of its eight arms were lifelike. Its eight arms stretched out like a spider’s and were embedded in the dome. It looked down from above.

nIts appearance was also very strange. Not only did it have eight arms, but it also had four eyes on its head.

nOther than the original eyes, there was also an eye on the left and right of the forehead. The statue even deliberately chiseled out round eyeballs for these two additional eyes to highlight their characteristics.

nIt was both strange and creepy.

nLin Yan stared at it for a long time. After confirming that it did not have any characteristics of a living creature, he lowered his head.

nHe had never heard of a similar belief in Ding’an City. It was obvious that this ancient ruin had been built a long time ago. The religious style was completely different from today’s.

nHe continued to check and walked around.

n“This is…”

nLin Yan’s gaze focused slightly. In the corner of the wall on the left side of the quiet room, he found a pile of snow-white bone fragments.

nHis expression was solemn as he stretched out his leg and kicked. There were many gray fur mixed in. It was clearly the corpse of the gray wolf from yesterday.

nThe bone was snow-white and had been bitten cleanly. Other than a few large bite marks, there were also many dense, jagged, and tiny bite marks.

nTwo different bite marks.

nIt was as if…

n“Feeding? The parent caught the prey to feed the children.”

nLin Yan’s heart sank. Could that thing be reproducing?

nThe flames swept past, and soon, he found a place in the corner. It was similar to the cave entrance he had seen on the mountain wall previously. It led to an unknown depth.

nIt was the same hole, the same narrow size, and the same sharp scratches around it.

nCould it be that this mysterious creature was locked in the coffin?

nHe reached out and knocked. This time, it was solid. It was obvious that he could not get through.

nLin Yan looked at the hole and thought for a moment before walking back to the toppled coffin.

nThen, he reached out and grabbed the bronze chain. Strength passed through his arm and pulled with force. A huge force passed through the chain, and the stone coffin immediately flipped and fell to the ground, emitting a muffled sound.

nThen, he reached out and grabbed the coffin lid. He lifted it forcefully and dragged the heavy coffin lid out with one hand.

nThe entire coffin opened, and an even more refreshing sandalwood smell spread out.

nLin Yan dragged the heavy coffin lid with one hand and dragged it out, leaving an obvious scratch on the ground. When he arrived in front of the narrow hole, he stretched out his leg and kicked, blocking the coffin lid outside the hole.

nIn that case, even if the monster came out, it was impossible for it to be quiet.

nAfter blocking the cave entrance, Lin Yan circled around again and didn’t find anything. He returned to the open stone coffin.

nThe candle approached the coffin. Lin Yan searched briefly. The stone coffin was covered in a layer of half-withered spices, and the fragrance assaulted his nose.

nThere were also a few rotten prayer beads and two rusty incense burners.

nSurprisingly, he found a few black and heavy finger-sized metal pieces. Lin Yan had read tomb raiding novels in his previous life and knew that they were formed by oxidation of gold. He kept them in his arms.

nHe reached out and stroked the spice.

n“Hmm? This thing…”

nHe took it out and saw that it was a grayish-yellow beast skin the size of a belly. It was actually still intact.

nOn it was a language that he did not recognize at all. They were filled with small words.

nHe tugged at the beast skin and realized that it was quite tough. It had not rotted for so many years, so it must be a precious item.

nGold and beast skin could not be said to be useless, but it was useless for Xiaozhi’s illness.

nLin Yan was indignant. He looked around again, but there was nothing.

nHelpless, he could only prepare to leave.

nBefore leaving, he unintentionally glanced at the statue on the dome. It was still looking down, as if it was staring at Lin Yan.

n“Huh? That’s not right!”

n…..

nLin Yan’s pupils constricted.

nJust now, he was standing in another position, and the statue was looking down at him.

nNow that he had changed his position, why was the statue still looking down at him?!

nA chill suddenly surged to his scalp.

nHe immediately retreated to the entrance of the crack and held the rock wall with one hand. He raised his head and stared at the Eight-Armed Vajra.

nIn the silent underground world, only his uneasy heartbeat was left. Lin Yan couldn’t take his eyes off it.

nAfter about half an hour, he suddenly clenched his fists and forcefully dug out a stone from the rock wall.

nThe Eight-Armed Vajra really moved!

nThis time, not only its head, but even its eight arms shrank inward, causing its entire statue’s body to sink a little. Although the movement was small, it did move!

nWhat the hell was that!

nLin Yan leaned against the crack and felt confident. The cold light in his eyes increased as he shouted, “Stop pretending!”

nHe suddenly swung his arm, and the large rock he had just dug out immediately shot towards the statue’s head from the bottom like a cannonball.

nHowever, the scene of the statue tilting its head to dodge that he expected did not appear.

nThe stone smashed into the statue’s head. The huge force directly tilted its head, and a layer of fine cracks slowly expanded.

nThe next moment, the statue began to shake left and right. The eight arms that were clinging to the top seemed to have independent joints. They loosened one by one and fell. Then, the entire statue seemed to have lost the support of the ceiling and fell down.

nBOOM!

nThe heavy sculpture fell straight down and smashed into the blood-red sarcophagus below. The sarcophagus was firm, and the stone sculpture actually shattered into pieces. Other than a few scattered arms, the rest of it actually landed into the sarcophagus.

nLin Yan’s breathing tightened. Could it be that this stone coffin was originally filled with this statue?!

nHe raised his head and looked at the top. Eight medium-sized holes were scattered around the top. They corresponded to the palms of the eight arms of the Eight-Armed Vajra!

nA terrifying guess appeared. Could it be that this eight-armed Vajra had jumped out of the stone coffin and embedded itself on the top with its eight arms?

nIt wasn’t dead, but alive?

nHowever, that was not right. If it was not dead, why did it not dodge and fall to the ground, shattering into pieces?

nWas it possible that this statue was an inanimate object? The reason why its head moved just now was because it could not hang on the top and sank bit by bit, causing the head to deviate.

nLin Yan hesitated for a moment and walked forward step by step.

nIn the stone coffin, the Eight-Armed Vajra’s entire body had already completely shattered. Its head fell from its body and rolled in the corner of the stone coffin.

nThe crack on its body was also made of a black jade-like material. There were also golden veins on the cross section, as if they were the patterns of stone itself.

nNo matter how he looked at it, it did not look like a living creature.

nDid the Eight-Armed Vajra jump out of the stone coffin and climb to the top?

nOr was it originally an inanimate object that was embedded at the top and fell down bit by bit because of the earthquake?

nLin Yan couldn’t judge.

nWhen he walked past the side of the stone coffin and the head of the statue…

nSuddenly.

nIn his mind, the Golden Bodhi Scripture trembled slightly, reminding him that there was an external spiritual substance nearby!

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