Chapter - 61 Tomb of the Living Dead (9)

Yang Guo was startled, and felt that her words were cold and emotionless, but when he thought about it her words made sense; then he was struck with grief once more and burst out crying again.

Xiao Longnu looked at him coldly, her expression remained the same, after another while she said, "We are going to bury her, follow me."

She picked up the body and exited the room. Yang Guo wiped away his tears with his sleeve and followed her. The tomb's passageways were pitch black, he opened his eyes wide but could only see the ghostly white image of Xiao Longnu, he could only follow closely, he didn't dare to lose track of her.

She twisted east and winded west, after half an hour, she pushed open a heavy stone door and from her pockets she took a match and lit two oil lamps on a stone table. Yang Guo took a look around and shivered, he saw a large empty room with five stone coffins. He took a closer look and saw that two of them were tightly closed, the other three were half open, and he didn't know if there were corpses inside.

Xiao Longnu pointed to the first coffin on the right and said, "Ancestor Grandma lies there." She pointed to the second one and said, "Master lies there."

Yang Guo saw her pointing to a third coffin, his heart jumped, he didn't know who she was going to say lies in that one. The lid was not closed; if there was a corpse inside wouldn't it be extremely putrid? He heard her say, "Grandma Sun will lie in that one."

Yang Guo knew it was an empty coffin, and let out his breath. He saw the other two coffins and became curious, he asked, "What about those two coffins?"

Xiao Longnu said, "One is for my apprentice sister Li Mochou, the other is for me."

Yang Guo froze and said, "Li Mochou! Miss Li is going to return?"

Xiao Longnu replied, "My teacher planned it all, she will return. There is one coffin short because my master didn't plan for you."

Yang Guo was shocked and quickly said, "I don't want one…I don't want one!"

Xiao Longnu said, "I promised Grandma Sun that I was going to look after you forever. Since I won't leave, then that means you won't either."

Yang Guo heard her talk about his life and death; he lost any sense of concern and said, "Even if you don't let me go, when you die, I'll be able to leave."

Xiao Longnu said, "I promised to look after you forever, I won't die before you."

Yang Guo said, "Why not? You are older than me!"

Xiao Longnu calmly said, "Before I die, I will kill you."

Yang Guo's heart jumped into his throat, and thought, "Maybe not. People have got legs, won't I run away?"

Xiao Longnu went up to the third coffin and opened the lid, she then picked up Grandma Sun and placed her inside. Yang Guo didn't want to abandon her just yet and said, "Let me take another look at Grandma." Xiao Longnu knew they had just known each other for a over a day yet they managed to become so closely bonded, she agreed to his request. She frowned and picked up the corpse of Grandma Sun unmoved. Yang Guo looked at Grandma Sun under the dim light, and wanted to cry again. Xiao Longnu looked at him, then placed Grandma Sun's body into the coffin; she pulled the lid over, a click sound, and the lid locked into place tightly sealing the coffin.

Xiao Longnu was afraid that Yang Guo would cry again and said, "Let's leave!" She waved her left sleeve, the two oil lamps in the room were put out, and the room was plunged into darkness. Yang Guo was afraid that she would trap him in there and quickly ran out.

In the tomb, there is no difference between night and day. The two of them had a long day and were tired. Xiao Longnu ordered Yang Guo to sleep in Grandma Sun's room. Yang Guo had wandered around Jianghu by himself since he was very young; he would normally sleep rough or in old temples, and was brave. But now, sleeping by himself in this room, he began to think about the dead people in the coffins and was frightened out of his wits. Xiao Longnu said a few words but he did not reply.

Xiao Longnu said, "Did you not hear me?"

Yang Guo said, "I'm scared"

Xia Long Nu asked, "Scared of what?"

Yang Guo replied, "I don't know. I'm afraid to sleep by myself."

Xia Long Nu frowned and said, "You can sleep with me in my room." She then led him to her room. She was used to the darkness and would not usually light a candle, but because of Yang Guo she lit a wax candle. Yang Guo saw that she was beautiful, the clothes she wore were as white as snow, with not a speck of dust, and he thought that her room must be very elegant and refined. When he entered however, he was disappointed; he saw that her room was empty and was like the room with the coffins. There was a blue green stone bed with a cover of long grass, a white cloth for use as a blanket, and apart from these objects there were nothing else in the room.

Yang Guo thought, "Where am I going to sleep? I'm afraid that she wants me to sleep on the floor." Then Xiao Longnu said, "Sleep on my bed!"

Yang Guo said, "That's not right. I'll sleep on the floor."

Xiao Longnu's face changed and said, "If you want to stay here then you have got to do as I say. If you want to fight with the Taoists of Quanzhen, it's up to you. If you argue with me, I'll immediately punish you with death."

Yang Guo said, "If you say you won't use that terrible punishment, then I'll listen to you."

Xiao Longnu said, "You dare to talk back?"

Yang Guo saw that she was young and beautiful, but she was strict and domineering, he stuck out his tongue and didn't say a word.

Xiao Longnu saw and said, "Why are you sticking out your tongue? You refuse to obey is that it?"

Yang Guo didn't say anything, he took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed and went to sleep. He slept on the bed a while and then awoke as he felt his bones chilled, he was alarmed and quickly jumped off the bed. Xiao Longnu saw that he was frightened out of his wits and sympathized with him, but there was a slight smile on her face as she said, "What is it?"

Yang Guo saw that smile on her face, he smiled and said, "There's something strange with that bed; you wanted to make a fool out of me."

Xiao Longnu became serious again and said, "Who's making a fool out of you? The bed is like that, quickly, go to sleep." As she said this she took out a broom from behind the door and said, "If you get off the bed again, you will get ten whacks with this broom."

Yang Guo saw that she was serious, and could only climb onto the bed again, but this time he was prepared and wasn't shocked. It was as if there was a block of ice underneath the layer of long grass; the longer he slept the colder he became, his body shivered and his teeth chattered noisily. After a while, the coldness went into his bones, he couldn't endure anymore and got off the bed again.