The color on Ye Yang’s face became exceptionally grave.

Although Bei Yiye didn’t rob tombs, he knew the dangers within them like the back of his hand. "That's a tomb-guarding spirit beast. If I want to get in, I'll have to slay the jiao. You guys…"

Before Ye Yang could finish speaking, I grabbed Xiao Hong, who wasn’t expecting it at all, and threw her into the water.

Nie Xiaochun cried out in alarm, "Why did you throw her in?"

I didn’t have time to talk to Nie Xiaochun. I took a few pills from my backpack and threw them into the water.

Those were the “Tiger Blood Pills” that Butcher Wang had given me before I left. They were refined from the blood of a demon tiger and served a similar purpose to tiger feces used by hunters.

It was said that hunters who frequently ventured deep into the mountains would try to obtain some tiger feces to carry with them. When camping in the mountains at night, throwing the tiger feces around the campsite would deter most wild beasts from approaching.

Legend had it that tiger urine was even more effective, but few hunters had the ability to get close enough to a tiger to collect its urine, so they used tiger feces instead.

Butcher Wang gave me demon tiger blood so that I could repel wild beasts in critical situations, like the python at the entrance to Grand Dream Village.

I threw the Tiger Blood Pills into the water, not knowing whether they would work or not, and rushed towards the end of the tunnel, hugging the side of the mountain.

As I turned around, the sound of the jiao dragon churning the water abruptly stopped, and the surface of the water became eerily calm.

However, a chilling and fierce aura emanated from the water, instantly filling the entire channel.

When two powerful opponents meet, they don't immediately attack each other. Instead, they gather their strength, looking for a weakness in their opponent to launch a fatal strike.

I took advantage of that moment to rush out of the tunnel.

When Ye Yang and the others caught up, the jiao dragon in the tunnel had already been driven mad. The narrow tunnel was filled with turbulent waves. From a distance, we could clearly see the furious jiao dragon thrashing about in the water, searching for its opponent.

I had just breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the Dragon Severing Gate not far away.

According to the design of the tomb, the Dragon Severing Gate was located before the main body of the tomb. To prevent outsiders from disturbing the rest of the tomb's occupant, once the Dragon Severing Gate fell, it couldn't be opened.

However, there was a person pinned under the Dragon Severing Gate.

It looked like the person was trying to crawl out from under the Dragon Severing Gate, but was crushed under the massive stone just as they were about to escape, leaving only half of their body protruding from the tomb.

I walked up to the corpse and used my knife to lift its chin and raise its head.

Judging from the clothes of the corpse, he should have been a Qing Dynasty officer. However, the corpse showed no signs of decay. When I lifted the corpse with the knife, blood even flowed from the place where the knife had cut the skin.

Ye Yang also walked over and said, "This is still a witchcraft mechanism. If you want to open the Dragon Severing Gate, you need a ghost to enter the corpse and act as fuel."

Now, the only ones who could enter the corpse were Qin Xin and Nie Xiaochun, but once they went in, they would never be able to come out.

Ye Yang stood up and said, "Let's find a way to slay the dragon! We need to coordinate."

Even if we gave up the treasure, we wouldn't sacrifice Qin Xin and Nie Xiaochun. But the way back was already blocked. The only way was to slay the dragon.

I stared at the churning lake water and said, "Do you think that when the jiao dragon eats people, it swallows their souls as well?"

Ye Yang looked at me and asked, "What do you mean?"

I pointed to the water and said, "Wait a moment, wait until it calms down over there, and we'll see if we can get a ghost up here to use."

"Anyway, ghosts are just fuel for witchcraft mechanisms. It doesn't need to control the mechanism, so what does it matter what kind of ghost we use?"

Ye Yang was silent for a moment before saying, "That makes sense!"

We simply sat down near the Dragon Severing Gate and took out a roll of fishing line, a cloth bag, and a package of bloodied raw meat from our backpacks.

I held the raw meat in my hand and weighed it. "I'm afraid this won't work!"

Nie Xiaochun lowered her voice and asked, "You want to fish for a water ghost?"

Ordinary people like to fish, but sorcerers often engage in fishing for water ghosts.

Sorcerers all share a consensus: If you encounter a water ghost, don't go into the water if you can avoid it.

People are definitely not as agile as water ghosts in the water. Sorcerers usually kill water ghosts on the shore or on a boat.

Before that, what the sorcerer needs to do is to get the water ghost out of the water.

I nodded and said, "There's a jiao dragon in the water, so there definitely won't be anything like water monkeys. The bloodied raw meat is for fishing water monkeys. It probably won't work for fishing ghosts."

As I said this, I drew my knife. "Xiaochun, I'll cut off a piece of soul…"

Before I could finish speaking, Nie Xiaochun went crazy. "Are you trying to kill me! Cutting off a piece of me to use as bait?"

I looked at Nie Xiaochun seriously. "Or, you can convince Qin Xin and I'll cut off a piece of her."

Qin Xin shook her head repeatedly in fright, and Nie Xiaochun was too embarrassed to say, "Let me go cut off a piece of Qin Xin."

Ye Yang added at this moment, "You don't have to cut it off, you can just use the whole thing. Put it in a bag."

"You two dogs must have planned this, right!" Nie Xiaochun completely lost it.

"No!" Ye Yang said expressionlessly.

"Birds of a feather flock together!" I nodded with a smile.

With her protest ineffective, Nie Xiaochun packed me and Ye Yang into the bag and threw us into the water.

The only thing Nie Xiaochun shouted before going into the water was: "Li Po, I'm going to kill you when I get back!"

Why was I the only one who was going to be killed?