Chapter 20

He has a bright, smooth white face; and the side of his face was angular, cold-looking. The most intoxicating thing about this man was his smiling peach blossom eyes, they were dark and deep, slightly bent upwards, just like the peach blossom. His eyelashes were long and his eyes varied naturally like water. He looked extremely intoxicating and very beautiful.

‘ A single smiling glance that can charm a hundred people gives place to an amorous glance, that makes your heart aflutter…. ‘ That was a documentary description for the peach blossom eyes, and right now, Qin Cheng was able to experience what it felt like to look at them up close….

The man’s cheek was so close to him, that it didn’t take much for Qin Cheng to figure out what he had just run into.

The ghost’s approach should’ve been grim and icy-cold, but the gloomy atmosphere was shattered by this sudden kiss, shattering like stardust.

Because of this accident that couldn’t be prevented, Qin Cheng took a step backwards. Meanwhile, a hint of embarrassment began to spread on him.

Su Jingmo’s slender fingers touched his own cheek, and while hooking his lips, he squinted at Qin Cheng, who had retreated in shock. Su Jingmo then took a few steps forward and with a smile in his face, he said: “I didn’t expect that you would actually dare to come back.” After a brief pause, and while looking at the old Taoist priest, he continued: “This time though, you came with an old Taoist priest. Are you perhaps trying to destroy Zhen?”

“No!” Qin Cheng, who quickly denied Su Jingmo’s accusations, didn’t think that beside him the other three people weren’t able to hear nor see Su Jingmo at all.

After hearing Qin Cheng’s sudden shout, Jiang Ping looked back at him and asked: “What are you telling ‘no’ to?”

“Nothing…..”

Gazing at Qin Cheng, who lowered his eyebrows and eyes, Jiang Ping felt even more curious and confused about Qin Cheng’s attitude. Qin Cheng, who was standing in front of him, obviously knew something. However, whatever it was that he knew was buried inside his mind, since just now, when no one was talking, Qin Cheng suddenly said that ‘no’….

With a suspicion slowly forming in his mind, Jiang Ping looked around, and then with a mocking smile he said: “There’s no one else around either, so I just thought, who’s Qin Cheng talking to?”

“You’re overthinking.” While slowly raising his head, Qin Cheng returned the mocking smile in a seemingly gentle manner. “If you’re going to perform an exorcism ritual, then hurry up. I have to go back early, after all, it’s the weekend and I have two days off.”

“You’re quite a strange man. You could’ve told that old Taoist priest that the ghost he’s trying to extinguish is right here, isn’t it?”

Qin Cheng knew that Jiang Ping had been staring at him for a long time, so when Su Jingmo spoke to him again, he couldn’t answer him nor move his eyes. The only thing he could do was to pretend that he couldn’t hear nor see Su Jingmo at all.

Meanwhile, the old Taoist priest had set everything up and now was waving the Peachwood Sword, sprinkling some bloodied glutinous rice on his side as he moved.

The Taoist priest then ran around the available space inside the tunnel, until he naturally and inevitably ran up to Su Jingmo, who was watching the show from the side. When Qin Cheng saw that the Peachwood Sword was about to pierce through Su Jingmo, who was still camly standing in place, Qin Cheng suddenly became extremely anxious.

‘ Get out of the way! ’

However, Qin Cheng had apparently overstimed the Dao of the Taoist priest, and the Peachwood Sword sliced through Su Jingmo’s body as if it had sliced through a void, not harming Su Jingmo in the slightest.

“This sword is waved three times. The first one is to drive away bad luck, which is what I did at the foot of the mountain. The second time is to exorcise evil spirits, while dancing the sword, and sprinkling glutinous rice wrapped in black dog’s blood. Those little ghosts can’t stand this.”

As he spoke, the old Taoist priest took out three yellow talismans from his sleeve, but when Qin Cheng clearly saw that there was nothing written on them, he somewhat despised the Taoist priest. If this swindler really wanted to get more money, at least, he should’ve done a better job with the props.

However, this idea was shattered in less than half a minute. When the three yellow talismans were lit on the burning white candle, a red pattern gradually appeared. Qin Cheng didn’t have enough time to identify what the pattern was because the three yellow talismans quickly burned out completely. The old Taoist priest then mixed up some water with the yellow  talisman-s’ ashes to make the Fushui water, after that, he studied the Fushui water once again and nodded his head, looking very pleased with himself.

Then, he took a mouthful of the Fushui water and sprayed it over the Peachwood Sword.

“These talismans are my treasure, I gave one to the police officer before, and now I only have these three left. It’s a pity that….”

How could Jiang Ping not understand the true meaning behind the old Taoist priest’s words? So he replied with a smile: “Don’t worry, the compensation will surely be big.”

The Taoist priest nodded with his eyes closed in relief: “Alright then. I’ll start the exorcism.”

This time, however, was different from the previous two presentations. As the Taoist priest took the willow twig and walked forward, he inserted two pieces of it in a diagonal position, and then inserted another willow twig every five meters around the tunnel until he reached the bottom of it.

“What is this going to do?” Qin Cheng couldn’t help but ask.

The old Taoist priest gave a fake cough and replied: “This is the last step to exterminate the ghosts. The willow is used to restrict the movement of the ghosts that stayed on earth for a long time. The exorcism should be done by parts; only when this place is free from ghosts, will we be able to move to the next place.”

“Restrict their movements?” Qin Cheng carelessly glanced at Su Jingmo, who was playing with a Jade ring on his finger. Qin Cheng didn’t know what to say.

“That’s right.”

The Taoist priest took the Peachwood Sword soaked in Fushui water and recited: “The Jade Emperor has orders to announce to the Sanyuan ¹ , the Ten Cao ² will announce his orders to his subordinates to stand united before the altar, to preach for the great harmony and enlightenment of the world, to worship for the God of the Peachwood Sword to descend on earth and patrol the world. I’m not afraid of anyone hurting me, with the method of sacrificing the Flying Sword, I’ll destroy the lives of the wicked, since I’ve been ordered by the Flying Sword Ancestor to send down the fire of the Divine Army!”

This time around, Qin Cheng found that the old Taoist priest’s swordsmanship was completely different from before. With his eyes closed, the Taoist priest held the sword with both hands in a midsection stance, he was moving slowly, while the sword in his hand arced with great speed. He thought that the old Taoist priest had merely changed the flowery singing for a sword play. When suddenly, the tip of the sword moved horizontally, pointing directly at the direction where Su Jingmo was standing!

Su Jingmo naturally noticed this change, so he turned around and avoided the Peachwood Sword’s stab. He waved his sleeve to shake off the Peachwood Sword, but when he touched the Peachwood sword, a piece of his sleeve disappeared for a moment!

The old Taoist priest, with his eyes still closed, was shocked by this blow and stepped back several steps, but he didn’t escape. Instead, he grabbed the Peachwood Sword and jumped forward to stab at Su Jingmo one more time.

Su Jingmo knew that he couldn’t touch the Peachwood Sword stained with Fushui water, so after looking at this old Taoist priest who seemed to act differently from before, he coldly snorted and said: “Unexpectedly, he has some true skills. But he’s being used by that filthy beast!”

After saying that, he stepped on the stone wall to borrow some power, and then crossed the willows, flying towards the depths of the ancient tomb through the iron gate at the end of the tunnel.

The old Taoist priest seemed to be possessed by something, and lost his original cowardice, so he used an unknown method to shatter the iron gate.

“What’s going on here?!” Jiang Ping looked at the broken iron gate in disbelief.

“I’m afraid he might be possessed by something strange.”

After saying this, Qin Cheng quickly chased after Su Jingmo, going in the same path he took.

Looking at this situation, Jiang Ping understood that the Taoist priest had some true skills since he had just found out that “thing” that Qin Cheng was trying to hide from justice. After thinking about it, he said to his old friend, who was still in a daze: “Lao ³ -Luo, go back first. Don’t stay in Ninghua Village, and if I’m not out by 18:00, then you can give this to our Chief.”

After saying that, he handed Lao-Luo a paper bag, turned around, and ran towards the iron gate.

Qin Cheng really didn’t know how to explain the way he was feeling at the moment. He’s an archeologist, and if he thought with common sense, the less trouble that appeared, the better it was for him.

But now, he was worried that this “trouble” will get injured by that old Taoist priest. Qin Cheng wasn’t stupid, he could guess now why those grave robbers left behind the stolen treasure, and who had killed them.

After all, how could the Emperor allow others to invade his territory? Perhaps, Jiang Bo was also killed by him.

Qin Cheng himself should’ve escaped, he should just let the Taoist priest get rid of this Emperor, who has been on earth for thousands of years, but…. in reality, he didn’t want to.

Su Jingmo didn’t run that far away, but he went into the empty crypt outside the Underground Palace. He was looking at the old Taoist priest, who seemed to be possessed by a Rat Immortal ⁴ that was resting on the upper part of his body. Su Jingmo leaped up, instantly appearing behind the old Taoist priest before he could move, and reached for the Taoist priest’s heart without hesitation.

And bit by bit, Su Jingmo dragged the Rat Immortal attached to the old Taoist priest’s body.

“Yo-you may be a human Emperor, but you can’t be so evil!”

“Evil? Zhen wonders who’s the beast that wants Zhen gone, and clings to a living Taoist priest in order to destroy Zhen. Maybe you know who Zhen’s talking about?”

Su Jingmo sneered, feeling disgusted with the Rat Immortal, and throwing it a good distance away from the old man’s body.

“Indeed, you’re a stupid beast. Even after cultivating for hundreds of years and turning into an Earth Immortal ⁵ , you still can’t change your timid appearance.”

Even though the rat was an Immortal, he only cultivated into an Earth Immortal six hundred years ago. He was born in this mountain, and after he became an Earth Immortal, this mountain was supposed to be under his control. However, the mountain was actually an Imperial Mausoleum, not to mention other animals, even himself, an Immortal, couldn’t step into the Imperial Mausoleum.

This incident caused him to be mocked by the other Earth Immortals for such a long time, so he already held a heavy grudge against the Emperor.

Not long after he became an Immortal, more than five hundred years ago, the Emperor of some Dynasty somehow learned that there was an Imperial Mausoleum buried under this mountain, filled with enough treasures, gold and silver that the total amount could shake the veins of a Country. In the end, he appointed an army to try to steal everything inside this mountain Mausoleum.

At that time, he was already an Immortal, so naturally he couldn’t hurt people. In the end, he ended up inviting the Thunder God to bring down some thunder as a sign of bad omen. However, that didn’t scare off the army.

He was present the moment the mountain Mausoleum was about to get dug through and emptied. When suddenly, there was a loud noise inside the Mausoleum.

The Rat Immortal will never forget, for all eternity, what happened next.

The gate of the Mausoleum was opened, and the Emperor woke up. Naturally, his face was startled at seeing so many human beings, and his eyes were seemingly smiling maliciously. However, the seemingly harmless Gongzi, the bright ruler of an entire generation, actually killed all the soldiers that night, without even a hint of hesitation.

The Rat Immortal moved forward, trying to save a General, who was highly respected in the Country, however, his Immortal body was easily cut off by this Emperor with a single slash.

Why? How? He was an Immortal, and no matter how human that Emperor was, he was still nothing more than just a ghost. So why was he so invincible?!

He was extremely unhappy. This was his territory, so why was he unable to shake this human Emperor, even for a little bit? He almost even killed him as well!

At the beginning, the Rat Immortal didn’t dare to go against him ever again, because he saw how that Emperor had killed thousands of people as if it was nothing. In fact, he even saw him maliciously smiling the whole time….

Su Jingmo looked at the Rat Immortal, who was staring at him with anger, and after pondering for a while, he seemed to recall something: “Could it be that you’re the field rat that appeared in its original form and crouched in a corner last time? How many years has been……? And there’s not even a single hint of improvement.”

The Rat Immortal looked at Su Jingmo with hatred and said in an evil voice: “Aren’t you worried about being damned for eternity for doing such evil deeds?! What if you can never reincarnate again? This path will only ruin all the merits and virtues you accumulated while still alive!”

“Reincarnation?” As if he had heard something funny, Su Jingmo laughed out loud. “Zhen has been dead for at least 1500 years, right? If Zhen could reincarnate, Zhen doesn’t know how many lifetimes he could have already. Instead, Zhen would like to ask this ‘Immortal’, why is Zhen’s soul still here?”

This made the Rat Immortal extremely stunned. In fact, this was something that he hadn’t thought about. According to reason, this human Emperor should’ve been reincarnated long ago, but somehow, Hei Wu Chang and Bai Wu Chang ⁶ hadn’t appeared here yet either….

However, regardless of whether the Emperor could reincarnate or not, there was one thing that the Rat Immortal was more worried about, which is why he would risk himself by possessing a living person in order to get rid of him.

Hundreds of years ago, when this human Emperor woke up, thousands of people died. This time, he was afraid that after he wakes up once again, there will be another big tragedy.

“Yo-you, are you planning on killing all these archeologists this time too?” He had some doubts. Even though there had been three homicides already, this time, these weren’t the Emperor’s doing. This human Emperor had awakened for so many days now, and yet, he had killed only one human who dared to step into his tomb…..

“Archeologists?” Su Jingmo’s eyebrows were slightly raised. “Zhen is rather curious about these ‘Archeologists’. So, slowly, one by one…..”

“Are you all right?!”

Su Jingmo’s words were abruptly interrupted, and his face suddenly darkened, but right the next instant, that gloomy expression was hidden under his usual smiling face.

—

<b>-The author has something to say-</b>

<b>Su Jingmo</b> : This man really wants to die.

Ajdldjdkdl Qin Cheng accidentally kissed Su Jingmo’s cheek ((o(*>ω<*)o))

Things Qin Cheng and we know about Su Jingmo until now: he’s shockingly beautiful and hella mysterious, but mostly, he has beautiful eyes!

.

(๑•ᴗ•๑) ♡

Footnotes

<ol><b>三元</b> <b>sān yuán</b> ; In Taoist doctrine, it originally refers to the origin of the universe and the origin of Taoist scriptures; but it can also refer to: heaven, earth and water / The three dantian fields, such as upper, middle and lower realms / The essence, qi and spirit. / By one generalization, it refers to all the elements that make up the world. <b>十方曹治</b> <b>shí fāng cáo zhì</b> ; Ten is an imaginary reference to every place/everywhere. Cao was the administrative governing organization in ancient times. Together, it means that each department and division was responsible for its own work. <b>老</b> <b>lǎo</b> ; A prefix used before the surname of a person to indicate affection or familiarity. <b>仙</b> <b>xiān</b> ; Used in ancient religions and myths to refer to those who transcend the earthly world and live forever. Immortals are divided into two categories: Innate Gods and Human Immortals. <b>地仙</b> <b>dì xiān</b> ; Earth Immortals are Immortals who are believed by Taoism to live on earth, and they’re also known as an omniscient Daoist spiritual master. According to the “Book of Immortals”: The upper-classmen who lift up their forms and ascends to emptiness are called Heaven Immortals; the middle-classmen who travels to famous mountains are called Earth Immortals; and the lower-classmen who die first and then shed their bodies are called Postmortem Immortals. <b>黑白无常</b> <b>hēi bái wú cháng</b> ; They’re a pair of deities in Han folk culture, one dressed in black, and the other dressed in white. These two deities specialize in arresting ghosts, rewarding the good ones and punishing the evil ones. They’re the subordinates of the gods of the Underworld such as Yama (or King of Hell), Shing Wong (the City God) and Emperor Dongyue.The black-dressed deity is named Fan Wusai (or Wu She) and he’s a Yin deity. He’s fierce-looking and his face is green; his body is fat and small. “Peace under the World” is written on his official’s hat, which means ‘no amnesty for those guilty of disobeying the law’. The white-dressed deity is named Xie Bi’an and is a Yang deity, he’s always smiling, he’s tall and thin, with a pale face and a long tongue. On his official’s hat, is written “Wealth at first sight”; which means ‘to give thanks and wish good luck to those who honor the gods’.</ol>