I Have a Date with a Thousand-year-old Female Corpse-Chapter 44: Tomb Ghost_1

Du Xishan nodded and continued to ask, "If it’s not a robbers’ tunnel, then how did this hole form?"

You shrugged and said with a smile, "How should I know? Maybe it was struck by lightning."

"Shall we follow this hole down then?"

You held your head, a wry smile on your face, "Old Du, why are you so persistent? You saw for yourself just now. The person below made it very clear. Those who come uninvited and trespass will wind up dead. Look at Old Yang over there; he knows what’s sensible. Besides, you’ve got to think about everyone, right?"

Du Xishan looked at the people around him and said to you, "They are the field workers, tasked with exploration, arrangement, writing, and communication—that’s their job. Tomb raiding, of course, is your job, isn’t it? Otherwise, why would I have called you here?"

"Alright, alright, you win!"

You stood up, walked around the hole to a peach tree, and plucked some of the older-looking leaves from it.

After that, in front of everyone, you took out a small yellow pouch from your backpack and pulled out a vermilion pen from it. The vermilion pen looked like an ordinary ink pen, only slightly thicker.

Using the vermilion pen, you drew magic seals on the peach leaves—one after another until there were about twenty.

Then you went to the mouth of the cavity and threw a leaf into the hole.

Ever since the ’seal’ on your eyes was lifted, allowing you to see ghosts, you also possessed a terrifying memory ability—photographic memory!

This is no exaggeration. As long as you glanced at something, you could recite it word for word even a few days later, and you could perfectly copy foreign text that you didn’t understand at all, even though you had no idea what it meant.

After Zhao’er left, Xiao Feng, Zhang Zifeng, and you got dead drunk. The next day, you told yourself that no matter what, from now on, you would do everything in your power to become stronger!

So, in the past three days, you read through the neglected old books on the third floor of Jiang University’s library, instantly imprinting all their contents in your mind. You felt as if your brain were an enormous hard drive that could effortlessly copy any information you saw into it.

Many of these books dealt with yin and yang theories, and you even perused two photocopied manuscripts related to Taoism, one of which was titled "Pure Yang," documenting the personal experiences and insights of a practitioner of Taoist techniques from Mount Mao.

The knowledge from the books was all in your head, but learning Taoist techniques wasn’t something that could be mastered casually. To cast spells, one needed Taoist power, which unfortunately, you didn’t possess.

However, there were a few spells that required no such power, and the one you were using now was one of them, known as the "Yang Exploring Spell."

Though the name of this spell might sound odd, it was easy to understand. Practitioners of Taoism often deal with spirits, and sometimes they would enter places with dense ghostly Qi. Before entering, they would cast a Yang Exploring Spell. If the ghost Qi in the place was too dense, they would know to retreat, avoiding encounters with something they couldn’t handle.

As the peach leaf fell into the hole, you raised your right hand’s index and middle fingers while tucking the ring and pinkie fingers in, and with a low shout, you exclaimed, "Mao!"

At that moment, the peach leaf suddenly emanated a faint yellow light, which stood out in the pitch-black cavity.

"Not bad, kid."

Du Xishan patted you lightly on the back.

The others witnessed your actions, and their gaze toward you changed somewhat, showing no more hints of disdain.

The hole was roughly ten-odd meters deep, not too deep; with the peach leaf still glowing yellow at the bottom, it was clear that the ghost Qi was not very dense. Even a novice like you wouldn’t get killed just by making contact.

Du Xishan, astute as ever, though unfamiliar with Taoism, had discerning eyes. He laughed and said, "The leaf is still glowing, does that mean the two of us can go down?"

You sighed softly, "Yes... wait, no! The two of us?"

Facing your astonished expression, Du Xishan confidently replied, "Of course, the two of us. Who else?"

"You think we can come out alive if both of us go down there?"

You truly couldn’t comprehend what Du Xishan was thinking. Going down into the tomb with two people, not to mention the contents, could be truly regrettable if there were traps inside.

"Mu Yun, with greater abilities come greater responsibilities. Let’s go, I know you want to take a look too."

Though somewhat reluctant, Old Du had hit the nail on the head—you did indeed want to explore the depths below.

Others might not know, but you were well aware that the blood-written message on the LCD display just now was an illusion, a common trick used by lower-level ghosts. If there was a ghost with higher powers below, it wouldn’t be so polite.

Just as you and Du Xishan were getting ready to enter the hole, Fan Yi approached and said to Du Xishan, "Professor, I’ll go with you."

"No!"

You would definitely agree if it were anyone else—the more people going down, the more protection, no, safeguarding. But not for Fan Yi. Apart from her being a girl, which meant she shouldn’t venture into tombs, your fond impression of her wouldn’t allow her to take such a risk.

Du Xishan hadn’t considered Fan Yi’s participation either and shook his head at her, "Little Yi, you and everyone else do the exploration around here. If there’s really something below, we will establish a base here for excavation. You’ll have a role to play then, don’t be hasty."

"All right."

Fan Yi nodded, sitting somewhat disinterestedly on a nearby rock.

You and Du Xishan exchanged a glance, and you said to him, "I’ll go down first; if anything happens, you retreat immediately."

Du Xishan nodded, his face also taking on a solemn hue.

The cave sloped at a sixty-degree angle; at first, you thought the walls would be made of soil, but upon setting foot on them, you discovered they were actually rock!

"Damn!"

"What’s wrong?"

Du Xishan quickly asked.

"Looks like this cave really was formed by a lightning strike." By now, you were halfway into the cave, tapping the wall with your hand—it was very hard!

"Why care about that now, let’s just go down and see."

The cave was only about ten meters high, and the two of you quickly made it down, then what appeared in front of you was the half-person-tall tomb passage you had seen before on the LCD monitor.

Initially, the passage was quite low, so both you and Du Xishan had to crouch and shuffle forward. After a few meters, a stone chamber appeared before you.

The area here wasn’t large; in the center stood a sarcophagus, while some murals were painted on the surrounding walls.

Upon seeing these murals, Du Xishan got excited, taking out a magnifying glass and eagerly examining them with the exploration light on his head.

"Professor Du, how about we leave the murals for later study and first check who the main tomb occupant is by entering the sarcophagus?"

"Okay." Du Xishan nodded, and as he stepped forward to walk around the sarcophagus, its lid suddenly flipped open!

A hand slowly extended from inside the sarcophagus.

"What... what’s this..."

Du Xishan quickly backed away, while you slowly approached and stood two meters away from the sarcophagus.

At that moment, a female ghost with long black hair and dressed in a dark robe slowly sat up in the sarcophagus. Strangely enough, no matter how the exploration light shone on her, you and Du Xishan couldn’t make out her face.

"Get out!"

The female ghost let out a ferocious shout. Her black hair, as long as a person is tall, scattered in all directions. Blood then started to pour out from the sarcophagus, and the whole chamber began to shake violently!

"Mu Yun, retreat fast!"

Du Xishan tried to grab your hand to pull you back as you reached into your pocket, smiling, and grabbed a handful of peach leaves, which you scattered over the black-clothed female ghost.

When the peach leaves touched her, the blood that had flowed to your feet quickly disappeared, and the chamber returned to calm.

You also bowed deeply to the ghost, saying calmly, "Young lady, like us, you came here uninvited, so it doesn’t seem like you have the right to kick us out, does it?"

"Hmph! I’m not the same as you grave robbers!" The black-clothed female ghost snorted coldly.

You smiled and said, "If I’m not mistaken, you haven’t been in this tomb for long. You’ve been absorbing ghostly energies here, and the tomb’s arrangements just so happen to cover up the escaping ghost Qi, which has prevented the Ghost from finding you, creating a perfect barrier."

"So what if it is?"

Even though the female ghost wore ancient clothing, her tone and manner of speaking were just like a modern person. Considering her Taoism, you thought she must have been a modern woman who hadn’t left the mortal realm for long.

"Behind me stands a renowned archaeological professor whose life’s purpose is to explore history and protect cultural relics. This tomb is so uniquely set up; its owner must not be ordinary. As archaeologists, we have the right and the duty to reveal the identity of the tomb’s owner to the world and ensure that their legacy is passed down."

You paused, then continued, "Now, about you— choosing to end your life at such a young age, your body and hair were gifts from your parents. Have you considered how your actions affect your family? They’ve raised you with such hardship..."

"Enough!" The black-clothed female ghost shouted in anger, "I’m already dead, do I still have to be dictated by others!? Leave! All of you, get out!"

Her black hair flew about again, and with her claws outstretched, she lunged at you!

Having anticipated this, you quickly pulled out a prepared talisman paper from your pocket with your left hand and accurately affixed it onto the chest of the black-clothed female ghost as she got within half a meter of you!

The lunging female ghost was suddenly repelled by a force and floated in the air, her gaze fixed on you with a cold intensity as she asked, "Just who are you?"