CHAPTER 2488: CHAPTER 2478: ULTIMATELY, IT WAS ALL IN VAIN

Long Yan gazed towards the direction Chu Meng pointed, and saw a void he had previously overlooked. Originally, in this secret passage, it was pitch-black; last time, Long Yan’s White Tiger’s Secret was sealed, so he naturally didn’t discover this hidden domain.

Fortunately, Long Yan unearthed this secret path, otherwise, even if one were to exhaust their mind, they wouldn’t have thought of this. Since a discovery was made, Long Yan led the four people towards the cave entrance.

Even with torches, the surroundings remained pitch-black. In the direction of the gaze’s end, everyone could see a clear crimson light, followed by a sound of crying.

"Wuuu...wuuu...wuuu..."

The wind carried harsh sounds into everyone’s ears; Chu Meng shivered entirely, then hid in Zhu Ying’s embrace beside her, after all, she was a girl, and as a mercenary, she had never encountered such terrifying matters.

Gradually approaching, Long Yan finally discovered that the crimson light was from a person—no, it couldn’t precisely be called a person. It was more an outfit-clad skeleton, which, towards everyone’s arrival, didn’t even turn its head but was engrossed in its task.

Chu Meng covered her mouth, nearly letting out a gasp. At the skeleton’s feet lay several dead bodies, from one of which it grasped a blue light and then pressed it harshly against the Great Formation before it, causing the light to vanish instantly.

"Look."

Chu Lu apparently responded the fastest, as he quietly patted Long Yan’s shoulder from behind, pointing to a key at the skeleton’s waist. Even though the entire Western Monk’s Room had been searched, no trace of a key was found—it was unexpected to see one at the skeleton’s waist.

"Mhm."

Long Yan nodded unemotionally, scrutinizing the Great Formation before him. Everything made sense now; the seal beside Corpse Mountain was indeed meant to seal him, while many bodies and souls over at Ming Zhu’s side likely stemmed from this skeleton.

Long Yan attempted to use True Qi to retrieve the key at the skeleton’s waist but failed. Originally robust, his crimson True Qi vanished upon contact with the skeleton, seemingly dissolved by the red light emanating from the skeleton. This skeleton had peculiar attributes.

"Move... move the corpse."

At this, the red skeleton seemed to have been electrocuted, startling everyone, yet it wasn’t complicated, just reaching out to grab a corpse and place it on the Soul Transfer Array.

Long Yan glanced at the corpse, nearly vomited; the corpse’s face was bloated from soaking, with white maggots thickly covering the body. Some maggots, touched by the red skeleton, instantly turned into a thin wisp of smoke, as if ignited by fire.

"Be careful not to let it touch you."

Long Yan whispered a warning to everyone, then fetched a Golden Bowl from his storage ring, previously found by Chu Meng.

When the Golden Bowl appeared in the air, the red skeleton busy with work suddenly turned its body, its eyes fixated on the Golden Bowl in Long Yan’s hand; despite this, only hollow eye sockets stared, yet strangely, Long Yan felt a burning gaze on his hand.

"Golden Bowl... Golden Bowl... give it to me."

Chanting, the red skeleton hobbled towards Long Yan, but after only two steps, a seal appeared beside the Soul Transfer Array, preventing further progress. Even so, it seemed oblivious and continued to inch towards Long Yan, evidently wanting the Golden Bowl in his hand.

Long Yan’s face reflected a "just as expected" demeanor; apparently, his suspicions were correct. The red skeleton before him was Monk Meng Nian, the true master of the Golden Bowl, but he was dead now, leaving the Golden Bowl as his obsession.

"How strange it is for a ghost to still be so covetous."

Chu Lu frowned at Monk Meng Nian with open hands, wondering what use the Golden Bowl served, for it couldn’t be pressed into gold paper on the skeleton, could it?

"It’s likely the deceased’s obsession."

Usually silent, Tian Luo Yi sighed slightly, commenting that living can be driven by greed; to survive, one is greedy, wanting to live better, one is greedy—it’s an original sin, an unsolvable matter.

Like Monk Meng Nian before them, guessing his demise has a link to the Golden Bowl in Long Yan’s hand, turning it into his obsession. Perhaps every day’s corpse hauling related to obtaining enough corpses to exchange for the Golden Bowl.

"No wonder I saw him mouthing without speaking earlier, unexpectedly counting."

Listening to Tian Luo Yi’s words, Chu Lu clapped his hand, then spoke, earning glances from all, surprised at the detailed observation Chu Lu made, unseen by Long Yan.

"Should we return the Golden Bowl to him?"

Tian Luo Yi glanced at Long Yan, seemingly deferring the decision to him, who sighed lightly before handing out the Golden Bowl and quickly snatching the key from Monk Meng Nian’s waist into his hand.

Upon grasping the Golden Bowl, Monk Meng Nian abruptly crouched, embracing it; even his speech became unclear.

"My... Golden Bowl."

Long Yan initially intended to act against it but realized he couldn’t act within the secret passage, fearing a collapse of the cave. He glanced at the bowl-clutching Meng Nian, then departed without looking back.

Let him fizzle out here.

Despite their leaving, Meng Nian was unconcerned, just caressing the Golden Bowl with his remaining bone palms, while around him, seals brightly flickered, then the red light dimmed gradually.

The encompassing red light seeped into the Golden Bowl in his hand, which began to melt, flowing away from Meng Nian’s palms.

"My... my... my Golden Bowl!"

Attempting to grasp the Golden Bowl’s gold liquid, Meng Nian tried in vain, frantically clawing at air, then slumped to the ground.

"The Golden Bowl is gone! How did I become like this!"

Meng Nian exclaimed, staring incredulously at his skeletal hands, but in the end, he received no answer amidst the void secret passage.

"In the end, it amounts to nothing."

On the skeleton’s face, a mocking expression arose; was this the Golden Bowl he sought? Amidst creaking sounds, his skeletal frame began to disintegrate.

"That’s the end, Abbot; I’m sorry, I let you down."

Soft murmurs echoed through the secret passage, though the speaker remained unseen—merely a heap of white bones, with a pool of yellow gold liquid beside.