As soon as Qin Cheng said this, he himself didnât realize what was wrong, but at his side, Su Jingmo covered his emotions deep inside his eyes with a smiling facade.
âGo out? Where will Zhen go?â With his hands on his back, Su Jingmo walked around slowly: âZhen never thought of leaving this ancient tomb, and Zhen isnât even interested in the outside world.â After he said that, Su Jingmo turned to look at Qin Cheng, who has been staring at him the whole time: âBesides, even if you want to take Zhen out, a weak scholar such as yourself wouldnât be able to help Zhen leave this tomb.â
Su Jingmoâs words really made Qin Cheng sober up a bit. Last time, Su Jingmo told him that he wasnât able to leave the tomb. At that time, Qin Cheng didnât think about it, but this time, he was a bit confused.
â Why Su Jingmo canât leave the tomb? â Qin Cheng doesnât know the art of Qi Huang, and he knew even less of Taoism and Buddhism. However, even if he didnât understand it, he knew that something was wrong.
Su Jingmo died more than a thousand years ago. And yet, why is his soul still lingering in the world of living?
Ever since he got that Jade pendant, Qin Cheng was able to see spirits and fierce ghosts, but when he counted the times he saw them, it was actually few. When he thought carefully about these times, and excluding when he deliberately attended Zhang Qishuoâs funeral and saw his ghost, or when he unintentionally saw Wu Haiâs girlfriend on campus, after so many days, no matter if itâs day or night, the only ghosts he saw were the ghosts that reside inside the tomb. When he thought about the countless fierce ghosts lingering around the tomb with their faces grimacing in pain, Qin Cheng could only frown.
According to the cycle of karma and the cycle of reincarnation, the ghost of a dead person will be sent to the AvÄ«ci <sup>1</sup> on the 7th day after their death. Could it be possible that the ghosts inside this tomb werenât taken away by the demons, evenâŠ. Su JingmoâŠ.
â Thereâs something really wrong with this ancient tomb, however, the problem wasnât Su Jingmo, but the tomb itself? â Qin Cheng doesnât know the answer to this, so he can only speculate.
When Su Jingmo saw Qin Cheng frowning in front of him, as if he was thinking about something, Su Jingmo amusingly reached out his hand and shook it in front of Qin Chengâs unfocused eyes. However, his hand was suddenly grabbed by Qin Cheng after coming back to reality.
While Qin Cheng was immersed in his thoughts just now, the only thing he saw was a dark shadow approaching him, so he got startled and hurriedly reached out to stop that shadowâs movement. But when he noticed what he had just done, Qin Cheng quickly let go of that hand, feeling extremely embarrassed.
With his hands hanging on both sides of his body, Qin Cheng couldnât help but squeeze his fists. Even though it was only for a brief moment, the feeling of holding that manâs icy cold wrist was still tickling his hand: âI apologizeâŠ. I was thinking about some things, and got too immersed into itâŠ.â
Su Jingmo only glanced at Qin Cheng but didnât speak, while his right hand, the one that had just been grabbed, was hidden on his back. As he lowered his eyes, he saw the picture that Qin Cheng had just traced with that âpenâ.
âWhatâs this?â
As Qin Cheng saw Su Jingmo looking at the cartography he drew on the paper, Qin Cheng wasnât stupid enough to think that Su Jingmo would ask about what cartography was, so he took two steps forward and moved his searchlight, pointing at the middle of the picture: âThis is the where we are, at the mountain.â Qin Cheng explained his sketch, which was the general appearance of the tomb under the mountain: âThis is the structure of the main tomb that weâve discovered until now.â
When Su Jingmo saw Qin Chengâs sketchy description of the main types of objects stored in each chamber, he nodded his head. â The pattern drawn by this man really is the structure of Great Xuâs Imperial MausoleumsâŠ. â
After thinking so, Su Jingmo looked at another tomb at the west from the main tomb and asked: âWhatâs this again?â If the Mausoleum painted at the northeast was the so-called âEmpressâ Mausoleumâ then what was this? The Mausoleum of his concubines?
âThis is the burial pit of a thousand peopleâŠ.â Since he was closely seeing Su Jingmo, Qin Cheng was able to see his expression suddenly changing after he mentioned the burial pit. Qin Cheng figured out that there must be something wrong with this burial pit. While he looked at Su Jingmo, Qin Cheng tentatively asked: âAfter the Qin Dynasty, there have been very few burial pits as big as this one destined for real peopleâŠ.â
âThe ancestors of the Qin and Han Dynasties were barbaric and wild, and they used people to accompany them on the burial. However, after the Qin and Han Dynasties, this burial system was abolished.â Su Jingmoâs eyebrows were slightly frowned as he said: âNaturally, my Great Xu wouldnât use living people to accompany the burialâŠ.â
Su Jingmo could guess that the thousand people that were buried in the pit were those that vowed with their lives to follow him, his subordinatesâŠ.
When he thought of that possibility, Su Jingmo clenched his fists. â When I was defeated that year, the subjects that have been following me on my journey of conquering the land also suffered. So, when I died, Su Jingyan naturally wouldnât let those people live. Ah, Su Jingyan, the man who gave up his sense of telling right from wrong in the name of powerâŠ. â
Qin Cheng wasnât sure what Su Jingmo was thinking about at the moment, but he was more interested in the fact that Su Jingmo knows about the Qin and Han Dynasties. In other words, if Great Xu really existed, it must have been after the Han Dynasty. Moreover, when they tested the carbon-14 dating <sup>2</sup> on the collected bones from the burial pit, they estimated that the bonesâ age was approximately 1500 years, meaning that this tomb is 1500 years old tooâŠ.
According to this, the Xu Dynasty shouldâve existed around the Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Sui and Tang Dynasties <sup>3</sup> âŠ.
Qin Cheng looked at Su Jingmo and pondered over his deductions for a while before asking: âWhen was Great Xu established as a Country?â
âAfter the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties <sup>4</sup> , Great Xu unified the land.â
â After the Northern and Southern Dynasties came the Xu Dynasty? â Qin Cheng was stunned for a while: âBut after the Northern and Southern Dynasties is the Sui Dynasty! Thereâs no Xu Dynasty!â
âSui Dynasty?â Su Jingmo laughed out loud before replying: âAnd what is that?â
Qin Cheng was extremely confused: â Whatâs going on? Thereâs nothing wrong in history with the Sui Dynasty coming after the Northern and Southern Dynasties!â
When he saw the pen and paper on top of the stone table, Qin Chengâs heart moved. He took out a piece of white paper and started tracing a rough map of the split between the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
âIâm not sure what kind of cartography technology you had back then.â Qin Cheng said while sketching: âThis is a rough map of the country, made in the last decade, indicating the Northern and Southern Dynasties territories. Take a look, does this seem familiar to you?â
When Su Jingmo saw the unparalleled clarity of the map, and how the borders and territory were quickly outlined, he was surprised to see that Qin Cheng was so familiar with the borders of the country and the countryâs territory from more than a thousand years ago. At that time, it took a lot of effort to draw the borders and territory of the Great Xu.
As the map was slowly getting complete before his eyes, Su Jingmo found something wrong, and after stopping Qin Chengâs drawing movements, Su Jingmo spoke: âThis territory is almost the same, but these namesâŠ. Wei of the Northern Dynasties and Qi of the Southern Dynasties <sup>5</sup> were destroyed by Great Xu, but, where did this Zhou of the Northern Dynasties and Chen of the Southern Dynasties <sup>6</sup> come from?â
Su Jingmoâs words caused Qin Chengâs heart to beat heavily.
Unexpectedly, there was something broken in history?
After taking a deep breath, Qin Cheng stood up straight and looked at Su Jingmoâs eyes: âI-âŠ.â
âBoom-boom-!â
However, before Qin Cheng could say anything, not far away from where they were a loud sound suddenly came. The sound of an explosion brought the resounding vibration making the tomb tremble, and Qin Cheng, who was unprepared, nearly fell down due to the strong vibration. Luckily, Su Jingmo, who was at his side, extended his hand to help him.
"
"
While holding Qin Chengâs arm, Su Jingmo brought him to his side. Fortunately, the vibration only lasted a few seconds, and when Su Jingmo looked towards the direction the vibration came from, he couldnât find anything abnormal.
Due to Su Jingmo sudden movement, the distance between the both of them shortened significantly. They were only 10cm apart, and in front of Qin Cheng was the manâs diamond-shaped face. He didnât know why, but Qin Cheng couldnât stop thinking about the time when his lips accidentally touched Su Jingmoâs cheekâŠ.. which was cold but also soft to the touchâŠ.
Qin Chengâs eyes slid along Su Jingmoâs cheek, following his long black hair, his inclined handsome eyebrows, his slender harboring sharp black eyes, his thin and lightly pursed lips, his angular profileâŠ
Qin Cheng softly sighed in the ear of the man in front of him: âDid you⊠really exist in this world⊠Su JingmoâŠ.?â
âŠ
Jiang Ping invited the young man, whoâs name was Qu Zhiwen, here, and they were quite far away from where the sudden sound of explosion came from.
âWas there an explosion somewhere?â
Jiang Ping, didnât know what was going on, but that didnât mean that Qu Zhiwen, who came from a family that for generations specialized in ghost hunting, didnât know. The seemingly ordinary explosion wasnât ordinary at all, because the normal explosions were used to kill living people, however, this particular explosion was made with a spell to kill ghostsâŠ.
â An explosion to destroy ghosts with the power of thunderâŠ. hahaha. Someone who really knows what theyâre doing has appearedâŠ. I wonder, how big is the issue with this tomb? â
A literal explosion happens.
Qin Cheng: â Ah! Su Jingmo is so handsome, ah I canât stop thinking when I accidentally kissed his beautiful, cold and soft face. â