Kneeling before the desolate grave, Li Maochun seemed to have gone mad. He grabbed handfuls of dirt from the grave and stuffed them into his mouth. After filling his mouth, he began to load the grave soil into a basket, then transported it to the edge of the last pit.

That's right, the edge of the pit. He didn't pour the dirt into the pit.

Again and again, Li Maochun took soil from different desolate graves. This operation made Yao Shunyu increasingly puzzled. Although he didn't quite understand Li Maochun's purpose, Yao Shunyu was certain that he had underestimated Li Maochun. At this critical moment of life and death, Li Maochun behaved calmly and professionally, a far cry from the person he was before.

"Hiss—"

Li Bai gasped. Li Maochun's actions gave her an indescribable feeling of familiarity, and at the same time, a strange sense of crisis.

Time was running out. Those desolate graves were closing in on Li Maochun in an incomprehensible way, the nearest one only 3 meters away.

And the biggest crisis still came from the Zhusheng Niangniang (Goddess of Birth) beneath the mound. At this moment, half of her body was exposed, and it would take a maximum of 2 minutes to completely break free.

In the dim light, Yao Shunyu and Li Bai saw the true face of Zhusheng Niangniang for the first time.

Zhusheng Niangniang was 5 meters tall, her dark green, bloated body almost naked, with a huge belly as if a woman was ten months pregnant. Her enormous head was covered by a tattered, dark red cloth, like a bride's red veil.

Both male and female physiological characteristics appeared on Zhusheng Niangniang's body at the same time, a discovery that was both shocking and terrifying.

This was not the appearance a deity receiving incense offerings should have, but clearly a monster!

At this moment, the mound finally collapsed completely, and the trapped Zhusheng Niangniang, under the fearful gazes of Yao Shunyu and Li Bai, swayed her body and walked towards Li Maochun.

Li Maochun stood by the last pit, surrounded by the grave soil he had carried over. He stared at the approaching Zhusheng Niangniang, the determination in his eyes overwhelming his fear. He quickly tore open his clothes, took out a few incense sticks and some folded paper ingots, lit the incense with the lantern's candle flame, then bowed three times to Zhusheng Niangniang, before turning around and sticking the incense in front of the pit.

Finally, he threw the paper ingots forcefully into the air, and then, in the shocked eyes of Yao Shunyu, resolutely jumped into the pit, quickly raking the soil from the edge of the pit into the pit. Soon, the soil buried half of Li Maochun's body, but he didn't stop.

Just as Zhusheng Niangniang was about to walk to the pit where Li Maochun was, most of Li Maochun's body was buried in the soil, leaving only his head and most of his right arm, and then he stopped moving.

And Zhusheng Niangniang, swaying her body, stopped strangely in front of the pit.

"What's going on?" Yao Shunyu was completely dumbfounded, and at the same time, a deep chill suddenly surged in his heart.

Li Bai's face turned completely gloomy. "We've met an expert. This guy is definitely not an ordinary college student. He's Shen Hong (Deep Red) we're looking for!"

"I know that too. I want to know why Zhusheng Niangniang isn't killing him!"

Yao Shunyu was also anxious. He sensed that something very bad was about to happen. He didn't expect Li Maochun to be such a good actor.

"It's not that she's not killing him. Zhusheng Niangniang is eating his incense offerings," Li Bai explained. "Look closely at the incense in front of the pit. Those are four incense sticks. Three sticks are for worshiping gods, four sticks are for worshiping ghosts."

With Li Bai's reminder, Yao Shunyu saw clearly that there were indeed four incense sticks, and even from this distance, he could see that the fragrance emanating from them was being absorbed by Zhusheng Niangniang under that tattered red veil. The incense was burning visibly faster.

Zhusheng Niangniang was eating the incense offerings provided by Li Maochun.

"Not only that, but this kid Li Maochun is staging a living funeral for himself!" Li Bai lowered her voice. "He's holding grave soil in his mouth, and using the grave soil from the surrounding dozen or so desolate graves to cover his body, in order to hide his living breath. That way, as long as he doesn't speak, he has a chance to be mistaken for a dead person and slip through, but only until the incense burns out."

But to Yao Shunyu's surprise, Li Maochun actually moved. He moved his right arm little by little, then suddenly grabbed a rock and threw it towards him and Li Bai.

The stone's accuracy was average, only falling 4 or 5 meters in front of him and Li Bai, but it undoubtedly exposed their location.

The next second, Zhusheng Niangniang, who was absorbing the incense offerings, suddenly turned her bloated body and swayed towards them.

"Fuck!" Yao Shunyu instantly cursed. The pressure brought by Zhusheng Niangniang was almost tangible, and his legs were a little weak.

Coming back to his senses, he pulled Li Bai and wanted to run, but Li Bai stopped him first. When Yao Shunyu turned around and looked behind him, he was stunned.

The road behind them had disappeared, replaced by densely packed desolate graves, one next to the other, stretching as if without end.

Yao Shunyu regretted it. They shouldn't have followed. But now it was too late to say anything. Li Maochun's trick of diverting the disaster eastward was truly vicious.

If they didn't handle it well, he and Li Bai might be buried in the hands of Zhusheng Niangniang tonight.

"How do we run?" Yao Shunyu knew little about these things. Li Bai was the expert. There were countless small paths between the desolate graves, but each one looked full of danger.

"We can't run. The resentment of these desolate graves is too heavy. If we accidentally touch them, the things inside will drag us in to be buried with them," Li Bai said concisely.

Yao Shunyu panicked. "What do we do?"

"There's no way out. We can only fight her." Li Bai also made up her mind, turned around, and faced Zhusheng Niangniang.

Yao Shunyu looked at the swaying, approaching Zhusheng Niangniang, who was like a mountain, bringing him a pressure that could not be described in words. "Fight? Can we fight Zhusheng Niangniang?" Yao Shunyu couldn't bring himself to fight head-on against Zhusheng Niangniang. That was just courting death.

"Who said we're fighting Zhusheng Niangniang?" Li Bai asked, while picking up a stone from the ground. "I'm talking about Li Maochun!"

Li Bai suddenly threw the stone at Li Maochun, but because she didn't have enough strength, it landed several meters away from the target, and the accuracy was also poor.

"How do we fight? Are we going to smash him to death with stones?" Yao Shunyu asked.

"First, destroy his ghost-worshiping incense. Without the incense offerings, there will be no connection between him and Zhusheng Niangniang," Li Bai said anxiously. But it was not easy to break the incense from dozens of meters away with stones.

But the next second, to Li Bai's shock, a stone with sharp edges drew an arc and landed steadily in front of the pit, smashing the four ghost-worshiping incense sticks to smithereens.

"What next? Do you want me to give Li Maochun another stone and smash his dog head!" Yao Shunyu picked up another stone, weighed it in his hand, and said eagerly.