Chapter Eleven: The Gate of Life and Death

  Wencai heard what Jiushu said and knew there was still hope. He asked doubtfully: "What will happen if it stops again?"

  "Stop it, and the blood will not circulate, all blocked in one place."

  "What's going to happen if it's blocked again?"

  "If it gets blocked, it will harden, and if it hardens, it will become stiff. If it becomes stiff, it will turn into a zombie. At that time, I won't know what to do either." Ninth Uncle let out a somewhat impatient sigh as he finished speaking, just in case Wen Cai kept asking questions.

  "Wencai heard Ninth Uncle's words and said with a sob: 'Master, what should I do?'"

  "What are you still sitting there for? Can't you get up and move?" Ninth Uncle glared fiercely at Wen Cai.

  Then, Qiū Shuǐ saw Wén Cái's dance moves and burst out laughing! She laughed so hard that tears almost flowed out. Jiǔ Shū heard Qiū Shuǐ's laughter and glared at her, scaring Qiū Shuǐ into rushing to the kitchen to fetch glutinous rice. However, Jiǔ Shū himself was also trying to stifle a laugh as he watched Wén Cái dance, his face turning bright red from holding it in. It seemed that Jiǔ Shū was also on the verge of bursting out laughing.

  After entering the kitchen, Qiu Shui found the glutinous rice she had bought a few days ago. Looking at the glutinous rice in front of her, there was still a lot left, which was more than enough.

  After packing a small basket of glutinous rice, Qiū Shuǐ came to the house with the glutinous rice and saw Wén Cái still dancing. Qiū Shuǐ stifled her laughter and poured all the glutinous rice from the basket onto the bed.

  Jiu Shu saw Qiu Shui sprinkle glutinous rice on the bed and said to Wen Cai, who was dancing: "Take off your shoes and jump on the bed."

  "What does 'jumping bed' mean?" asked Wen Cai while jumping.

  "Corpse poison is very hard to cure once it reaches the soles of the feet," said Ninth Uncle with a scowl.

  Wencai was frightened by Ninth Uncle's words and hastily took off his shoes and went to bed. Wencai was just ordinary and hadn't studied well, but he wasn't stupid, so he understood Ninth Uncle's meaning.

  The autumn-born beside him suddenly asked in doubt: "Master, what's the use of glutinous rice?"

  Jiǔ shū heard of Qiūshēng's doubts and said: "Glutinous rice is used to dispel his corpse poison."

  "Oh no! Master's feet are itchy." Wenchang said as soon as he stepped on the glutinous rice with his bare feet after taking off his shoes on the bed.

  Ninth Uncle heard Wen Cai's words and didn't even look at him, saying casually: "I don't like it, you can sweep it to the side." As he spoke, he walked towards the outside.

  "I like you." Wen Cai could only hold back his true feelings in his heart and said something contradictory.

  "Uncle Jiu."

  Suddenly, Ah Wei's shout came from outside the door.

  "Captain, what's up?" Jiū Shū asked ā Wēi with a questioning tone after seeing him enter.

  "It's nothing, I was thinking of going with you to catch zombies," Ah Wei said to Ninth Uncle. But in his heart, he thought, zombies are so scary, our security team only knows how to catch people, where can we catch zombies? It's better to drag someone who knows how to catch zombies along, at least it's safe and guaranteed.

  "The zombie was hit by the ink bullet and couldn't move its limbs. If you want to catch it, go now, otherwise when night falls, it'll be more ferocious than you." Ninth Uncle responded to Ah Wei in a perfunctory manner. In his heart, Ninth Uncle knew that if he really let Ah Wei go catch it, he wouldn't have the guts.

  "What's going on there?" Ah Wei asked, his face a bit stiff in front of so many people, especially with Ren Tingting present.

  "Go to a deep and secluded place to find it," said Ninth Uncle, bowing his head in thought. "Let Autumn Water go with you all, I still need to take care of Wen Cai at home."

  At this time, Wencai saw Awei's appearance and jokingly said: "Hey, are you scared?"

  "What's there to be afraid of? Let's go." Ah Wei straightened his waist, held his head high and puffed out his chest as he said this to the security guard.

  "Awei, you go to the yamen first and prepare glutinous rice, black dog blood, and chicken blood. I'll gather my things and follow after." Qiu Shui said seriously to Awei as he took in the situation before him.

  A Wei saw Qiushui helping him speak up and was moved to nod his head, then walked out.

  Looking at Ah Wei leaving, Ninth Uncle turned his head to face Qiu Shui and said: "You be careful, although the zombie was destroyed by us, but there is still a master behind it. However, it's not a big deal, Ah Wei has an official position, he has the red light of official luck on him, facing the Taoist curse, the evil technique will not work, unless you face it head-on. If your skills can't beat it, just run, understand?"

  Qiu Shui nodded vigorously after hearing Jiu Shu's words and went to pack up his things.

  After gathering his men, Qiū Shuǐ went to the yamen with ā Wēi and the security team members, heading towards the deep mountains.

  White fog spreads over the mountain.

  "Awei, the zombie was hit by Mo Dou last night and its strength has greatly decreased. If you encounter it later, don't be afraid. Your weapons have been smeared with chicken blood and black dog blood, which can all harm the zombie. If you can't defeat it, sprinkle glutinous rice towards the zombie, got it?" Qiu Shui said to Awei and the security guards as she looked at the vast fog in front of her.

  "Did you all hear that? Whoever drags me down, I'll make sure to deal with them when we get back." Ah Wei nodded at Qiu Shui's words and then sternly said to the security guards.

  Then, Qiū Shuǐ had ā Wēi and the security team members disperse to search for the cave. Once found, they must not enter by themselves.

  "Captain, there's a cave here." A shout came from a security team member at the waist of the mountain.

  Qiu Shui and Ah Wei heard it and immediately ran over. The other security guards also gathered in the direction where the sound came from earlier.

  Autumn water ran to the entrance of the cave and saw that inside the cave was pitch black, without a single ray of light. Autumn water looked around and suddenly discovered that on the ground there were several small withered grasses. Autumn water stretched out her hand and picked up one of the small grasses, putting it under her nose for a sniff, smelling a dead body odor.

  Qiu Shui hastily threw down the small grass in his hand, drew out the demon-expelling sword from behind his back, and cautiously watched the mountain cave, lest something ran out of it.

  Awei saw Qiushui's abnormality and was frightened, pulling out his pistol. Cold sweat flowed from his forehead. Seeing that nothing came running out of the cave, he took a step closer to Qiushui and asked: "Qiushui, is the zombie in the cave?"

  Qiu Shui nodded, but her eyes never left the cave, saying: "If it's not wrong, the zombie must be hiding in the cave. Look at the grass and trees under your feet, they are all blackened, that is because they have come into contact with corpse energy, only then will the grass and trees turn black and wither."

  After hearing Qiushui's affirmative reply, Ah Wei swallowed his saliva and shouted at the other security guards in a strong and steady voice: "What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and come over here."

  Qiu Shui looked at the cave for half a day and nothing came out, so he led A Wei and the security team members to retreat several steps, reaching a safe distance.

  Qiu Shui took out a stack of paper talismans from her bosom and handed them to A Wei, saying: "A Wei, distribute these paper talismans to everyone, three per person."

  After Ah Wei distributed the paper charms to other security guards, Qiushui said calmly to the others: "Don't be afraid, the zombies were seriously injured last night, there's nothing to fear."

  "Ah Wei looked at Qiushui and asked in a low voice: 'Qiushui, what should we do next? Are we all going to go in there?'"

  Qiu Shui looked at A Wei and said, "First scatter some glutinous rice at the entrance of the cave. At noon when the yang energy is strongest, we'll go in."

  Then Ah Wei ordered his men to scatter a whole bag of glutinous rice at the entrance of the cave, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief. He found a place to rest with Qiu Shui, waiting for noon to arrive.

  Time flies quickly, in the blink of an eye, the sun is high in the sky, and the mist on the mountain has also gradually dispersed. The entire mountain is filled with the sound of cicadas calling.

  Qiu Shui was resting with his eyes closed when he suddenly felt someone pushing him. He opened his eyes to see Ah Wei's anxious face saying, "Qiu Shui, it's noon now."

  Autumn water took a look, it was a sunny day, the sun was scorching. He stood up and said: "Not bad, on a day like today, zombies will get hurt again, this time he can't escape. Ah Wei, let each of your men light a torch, we're entering the cave."

  Before long, each person had a torch in their hand and three yellow talismans stuck on their body.

  "Awei, leave two people behind and guard the entrance. The rest of us will go in." Qiushui said to Awei after seeing that everyone was ready.

  A Wei's face turned sour as he said, "Or I'll stay at the entrance of the cave."

  Qiu Shui heard and glared at Ah Wei, saying harshly: "Whatever."

  A Wei saw Qiushui get angry and immediately ordered two security guards to stay at the entrance, while he followed Qiushui in.

  With torches in hand, as soon as they entered the cave, they felt a chill and the air inside was very damp.

  Qiu Shui A Wei led a few security guards cautiously towards the cave, each person not even daring to take a deep breath, afraid of startling something.

  Autumn water walked in the first place, and as she went deeper inside, she felt more and more uneasy. There were so many living people, if there were zombies inside, they would have definitely smelled human scent. But now, there was not even a slightest movement, only the cries of a few old mice.

  Qiu Shui's back hair stood on end, one hand holding a torch and the other clutching a handful of glutinous rice, waiting for the zombies to appear at any moment. Ah Wei followed behind Qiu Shui, holding a handgun in his hand. This was what Qiu Shui had instructed Ah Wei to do; if zombies appeared, Qiu Shui would deal with them, but if it was the Taoist priest behind the zombies who showed up, Ah Wei's gun would be much more effective than Qiu Shui's.

  After walking for a while, Qiu Shui found that the cave was actually getting wider and wider. Now two people can walk side by side.

  The cave is really a different world, when the autumn water and her group suddenly stopped in their tracks.

  Qiu Shui looked at the objects in front of her and was frightened into a cold sweat. Qiu Shui had originally felt that something was off, and now looking at the two cave entrances in front of her, she completely understood - this wasn't just any mountain cave, it was clearly a grave site, and not just a simple one either.

  The two stone doors had the words "Life Gate" and "Death Gate" written on them. This was the legendary Life and Death Gate! Autumn Water thought to himself, his cold sweat flowing freely. The Life and Death Gate, even if Ninth Uncle came, would be completely helpless.

  Just as Akua was about to give up, he suddenly noticed that there were some crumbs on the ground. Akua instructed Awi and the others to be careful, then took two steps forward, picked up some crumbs with his fingers, and put them in his mouth for a taste. Food, no mistake, this is food that living people eat, and at the entrance of the tomb, there is food that living people eat, which proves that there are people inside, that is to say, this tomb has been broken by the people inside.

  Thinking of this, Qiū Shuǐ has lost all confidence now. The person who can break through the Gate of Life and Death must have reached the realm of a grandmaster in terms of Taoist magic, enough to establish his own sect.