Chapter 131: Rescue

“What are you going out there for?”

“How should I know what you intend to do?” Wen Jinge’s hands, busy digging at the tree, paused for a moment. “How deep do you suppose these roots go?”

“When you told me to dig, I assumed you knew.”

“But according to Liang Si and Wang Xi, that fellow who claimed to be a god was taken down in a farmer’s house. He wasn’t merely some demon; even a god couldn’t resist it… Hm? Why are you looking at me? Keep digging!”

“I simply can’t make sense of it.” Lu Wei dug out several shovelfuls. “If that man, who claimed to be a god and possessed an immortal body, could still be trapped by that little courtyard, and if, as you say, the courtyard was formed from this tree’s roots, then what exactly are you?”

“I’m obviously not…” Wen Jinge stopped herself in time. When had this man learned to speak like that?

“You!” She sighed and drove the shovel into the earth several more times. “You’re no longer the innocent young man you used to be.”

“You make me sound positively filthy.”

“Fine, fine. Today is clearly not a good day for talking. I say one sentence, and you answer with ten. We’re discussing serious business here!”

“Have you said anything serious yet?”

“I…” Wen Jinge pointed upward.

The branches of the ancient tree shifted. As their excavation grew deeper, more and more black-robed figures, who had originally been kneeling on the ground, were lifted and hung from the tree.

“Tell me, is this a divine tree or a ghost tree?”

“You’ll have to ask yourself.”

“It wasn’t me!” Her raised voice suddenly dropped. She stamped her foot against the ground. “The soil seems to have softened.”

“Dig more slowly.”

They were already more than thirty feet below the surface, yet although it was clearly a tree, what they could still see was the trunk, not the roots.

If anyone above dared to move now, a few pushes would send enough earth down to bury them alive.

“I think I can hear something talking.” Wen Jinge listened quietly for a while. “It’s a little noisy. Can you hear it?”

“That chicken spirit.” Lu Wei stared at Wen Jinge in disbelief. He still could not understand how she had connected the two missing people with this ancient tree.

If it really worked that well, perhaps he should go in and lie down for a while himself.

“Hey! How strong were you when you were alive?”

“Why are you asking?”

“You’re plotting against this tree.”

“Hmm?”

“He told me.” Wen Jinge took her shovel and prodded the ground a few times. “Hey! Is anyone down there? If someone’s there, be quiet for a while. If no one’s there, keep making noise.”

The underground fell silent for a moment.

Wen Jinge and Lu Wei exchanged a glance, then looked at the black-robed figures hanging from the tree.

“Do you think they’re about to bear fruit? Do ginkgo trees symbolize having many children?”

“I remember your little apprentice never mentioned a ginkgo tree, and what I see isn’t one either.”

“Then what kind of tree is it?”

“I can’t say. The tree I saw doesn’t exist in nature.”

“Wow! A new species!” Wen Jinge knocked on the ground again and shouted, “I’m going to knock once now. During the first round, then the second, tell me where the sound is loudest. Wherever it’s loud, make more noise!”

“You really intend to rescue them?”

“We have to test my theory. If we really intercepted something that wasn’t meant for us, then we’ll destroy this place.”

“What if you were supposed to become that god? Would you stay behind and become one?”

“Is that likely?” Wen Jinge rolled her eyes at him. “Do I look like someone who’s easy to reason with?”

“You certainly aren’t. Who would have thought that before the other person had finished speaking, you’d twist your own neck and kill yourself?”

Wen Jinge looked at him, caught between laughter and tears. Recently, he had taken an especial liking to mocking people with a perfectly straight face.

“Have you been possessed lately? Why are you speaking in such a strange, sarcastic way? Are you really not going to let that go?”

“They’ve called out.”

“Here?” Wen Jinge struck the ground twice more. Only after receiving a response did she resume digging, muttering all the while, “Why do I feel like I’m taking part in a rescue operation? Watching other people do this used to seem so easy. Now that I’m actually doing it, I’m terrified something might happen down there, so I don’t dare act recklessly.”

“This tree…” Lu Wei helped her dig. “Keep your eyes on it for now. I have a bad feeling.”

“What kind of feeling…?”

Crash!

With a tremendous roar, the tree fell.

Fortunately, Lu Wei was a spirit. Although he could handle tools and work alongside her, being struck by the tree itself had little effect on him.

“She’s dead. She’s dead. Wen Jinge is dead. I can’t die anymore. I can’t die…”

“Why can’t I die anymore? I want to die! Let me die!”

“Why did Wen Jinge have to die…?”

“This shouldn’t have happened. This shouldn’t have happened…”

“He has to live. He has to live. He shouldn’t die. He shouldn’t die…”

“I’m the one who should die. Me. How could she die before me…?”

“Then what… what am I supposed to do?”

The man slammed against the walls like a madman. Ever since arriving in this place, he had remained in that deranged state. The chicken spirit had been afraid of him ever since she first assumed human form, and seeing him like this now terrified her into tears.

She did not know who had been speaking to her from outside. She could only pray that she would soon see daylight again. Even if she were thrown into a pot and stewed the moment she escaped, she would not mind.

If she stayed any longer, she feared she would become a madwoman just like her master.

At that moment, when her master once again smashed his fists against the wall, the wall suddenly collapsed in a cascade of debris. She saw a leaf.

The room had been as bright as day ever since they entered it, yet there had been nothing inside—let alone a leaf.

“Come out!”

She heard someone shouting outside. Overjoyed, she ran toward the leaf. The instant her hand closed around it, dizziness swept over her, and she saw a familiar face.

“Waaah! Immortal Master Wen, thank goodness I can see you! I’ve missed you so much.”

“You missed me so you could ask me to kill you?” A faint smile curved Wen Jinge’s lips. Her gamble had paid off.

When Lu Wei saw that restrained smile, he turned his back to them. He had been talking far too much lately; if he choked and gave himself away, that would be embarrassing.

When it came to using her brain, Wen Jinge was the expert.

“That… that would be fine too! You can stew me right now if you want. My master has gone mad, and I’m terrified.” She sobbed. “She kept saying that Immortal Master Wen was dead, that you were dead. So perhaps I’ve gone to meet the King of Hell…”

She suddenly let out a shriek.

Plop!

A black-robed corpse rolled down the slope. By accident, she also saw another headless corpse on the ground. Its head lay at Lu Wei’s feet.

It was Wen Xueshan’s body.

“Don’t kill me! I really don’t do evil! I’ve never even eaten a small animal! I’ve only eaten my own flesh!”

“Tsk!” Wen Jinge, weary with irritation, kicked the tree root. Coiled there was a writhing creature—the filthy god.

“Come out.”

The man’s entire body jolted as though startled by a wild horse. He was like a snapped piano string: with one abrupt twitch, he fell silent.

When he finally emerged, Wen Jinge looked at him with disgust.

He, however, gazed at her with the hopeful devotion of a dog.