Chapter 35

Last day, there were wooden stakes blocking the entrance of the tunnel, but at the moment, it was plastered with yellow talismans with red runes written on them. These yellow talismans were shining in the darkness, and it was like a golden net spread throughout the tunnel. Even without the flashlight, Qin Cheng was able to see that, as long as the wandering ghosts in the tunnel touched the net, they would burn in an instant.

Outside the tunnel, there were five men dressed in dark clothes who just stood there, attracting the ghosts to the nest. Naturally, since the fierce ghosts prefer the Yang energy, they were like moths flying towards the fire. Even if they dissapear in an instant after touching the net, their green eyes glowing in the dark keep rushing towards the golden net.

Even if he didn’t think it through, Qin Cheng still knew that these people weren’t just some passersby, so if they came at the tomb in the middle of the night, who else could they be except for those grave robbers?

At this time, if he went there, he would be looking for death.

However, when he looked at that golden net, Qin Cheng couldn’t help frowning. ‘ Are these people planning to exterminate all the fierce ghosts, and then walk inside the tomb? ’

‘ What about Su Jingmo? Will he also fall for their trick? ’

However, Qin Cheng only guessed a little bit of the grave robber’s method, after all, they were indeed using their Yang qi ¹ to attract the fierce ghosts into the ghost net, but they weren’t just using their Yang qi.

People who can plan for so many days to do something wouldn’t only have little tricks like this one. The yellow talismans at the edge of the net were painted with the blood of a living person, and the smell of blood with the catalyst of the curse of the yellow talismans were more attractive to the fierce ghosts than the living people standing in front of them.

This past month, the surroundings of the tomb have been filled with this same net, which seemed a simple arrangement, but for these fierce ghosts, it was like a net of heaven and earth ² .

The most important ghost here was the soul of the tomb’s owner.

“The first few times we couldn’t enter the tomb because the tomb’s owner wouldn’t let us pass. For thousands of years, let alone the Emperor’s soul, even animals can cultivate into immortality. But, even if he’s not immortal, he’s been tainted with ghostly qi for over a thousand years. If we get infected, we won’t be able to fucking live until the next Sping Festival ³ .”

The man who spoke was short and he was inhaling a cigarette.

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“Uncle ⁴ , we’ve been here for so long but the Emperor’s ghost hasn’t come out yet? Is the formation not working?”

“Tch, who said he was going to come out?” As he threw the cigarette, he squatted down, stained his index finger with the blood inside a bowl and then began tracing a pattern on the ground. “Even if he wanted to come out, he couldn’t. This tomb was casted with a spell, even the people who exorcise ghosts won’t dare to hunt the souls of those who had died here. Moreover, this whole tomb was set up with a formation to trap the Emperor’s soul.”

Qin Cheng, who was hearing everything while hiding in the dark, clenched his fist. He knew that there was something wrong with the tomb, and he had always thought that Su Jingmo’s obsession might have caused all this. But, it seems that this wasn’t the case at all?

‘ If this tomb is a formation, then…. who made such a formation in the first place and why did they do it?! Was it to make Su Jingmo unable to reincarnate? To trap him in this tomb for over 1600 years… never to be reborn?! ’

While Qin Cheng was at a side drowning in thoughts, the younger man at the entrance of the tunnel looked at the older one, who was painting strange patterns with human blood, and asked: “Can this really subdue the ghost of the Emperor?”

The middle-aged man, who just drew some patterns, spitted out strange and unintelligible words, but he didn’t answer the young man’s question.

At the young man’s side, another man who was paying close attention to the movement inside the tunnel, noticed something and patted the young man on the shoulder: “Don’t disturb your uncle, he’s working on it. If what he’s doing doesn’t work, then we will die in an instant.”

“Qi Erge ⁵ , I heard that the ghost of the Emperor is extremely powerful, are you sure that we can trap him?”

“No matter how powerful he is, he’s still a ghost. Ghosts can’t compare with people who can act at will. Besides, we’re not trying to trap him, we just want to find a way to get him out.”

As if he heard something unbelievable, the youth replied with surprise: “Let him out?! If he’s trapped inside the tomb, and we can’t get rid of him, then how can we let him out?”

“Hey kid, do you even know what your uncle drew?”

“What is it?”

“That’s a ghost formation.” The man said with a smile on his lips. “It’s designed to summon the Demon Messengers ⁶ .”

“Demon Messengers?!”

“Exactly, this is an ancient method passed down by the Zhong family. According to legend, the ancestor of the Zhong family, Zhong Kui ⁷ , was generous to Yama, so Yama gave him the ability to recruit the descendants of the Zhong family. Even though your uncle’s surname isn’t Zhong, your grandmother was from the Zhong family. Otherwise, how would you be able to see spirits?” The man sneered, and after lighting a cigarette, he continued: “The reason why the Demon Messengers didn’t come to take away these ghosts after so many years, is because of the formation inside the tomb. The ghosts inside can’t come out and they cannot enter. So, as long as we let the ghost of the Emperor out of the tomb, the Demon Messengers will do their work.”

“Didn’t you just say that his ghost hasn’t been able to leave this tomb for thousands of years? Then, how can we get him out now?”

“Do you think that what we did the other day was useless?”

The one who spoke was the youth’s uncle. After finishing drawing the formation, the middle-aged man inserted three leading incense sticks next to the formation and sprinkled a circle of glutinous rice.

“We can’t break the formation around this tomb, but we can make a loophole. This way, the ghosts won’t be able to leave, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t go in. The day we used the ghost bomb, I added human ashes and blood in it, so we will be able to create a little loophole in this tunnel. As long as we attract the ghosts to the tunnel, we can work together outside to get him out.”

However, what the middle-aged man didn’t say was that the ashes must be from someone burned alive, and that the blood has to be the blood of a child under six years old…..

Qin Cheng’s mind was buzzing at this point, almost unable to react to what these people were talking about, and what he wanted to do.

It wasn’t until the middle-aged man shouted for everyone to guard silently that Qin Cheng realized that these people were trying to make Su Jingmo leave the tomb…. and then, let those Demon Messengers take Su Jingmo away?

‘ Does, does this mean that Su Jingmo will be able to leave the tomb and be free? ’

‘ But, can he really be freed? Didn’t he say that he wanted to know what happened to Great Xu after he died? ’

Just before Qin Cheng could finish those wishful thoughts, the sky around him became extremely bizarre. The originally dark blue night sky got covered by bloody red clouds, which were tossing and turning in the sky, covering the mountain with a crimson color. The birds in the mountain were so frightened at this that they flew away in fright.

Inside the tomb, Su Jingmo, who sensed the movement happening outside the tomb, snorted and walked towards the tunnel.

When he saw the golden net that killed so many fierce ghosts, Su Jingmo raised an eyebrow: “Zhen didn’t know why the ghosts were so noisy tonight, but Zhen is disappointed after seeing they were fooled by this thing.” Su Jingmo said as he nodded his head. Then he looked at the middle-aged man: “So, you’re a real Taoist.”

When they saw him, those grave robbers didn’t expect that the Emperor buried under this great tomb would be so young, or that he would be a handsome man…..

“So he’s actually a handsome man.” Qi Erge whispered this to the other four men.

The middle-aged man glanced at the smirking Qi Erge: “Pay attention to his actions! If there’s a mistake and we can’t make it, our lives will be in danger!”

After he said that, the middle-aged man looked at Su Jingmo and said in a stern voice: “The reincarnation of human life is the way of Heaven. Even though you’re an Emperor, you can’t avoid this. I can help you reincarnate if you help me…”

“Oh?” Su Jingmo slowly walked two steps ahead and lowered his head to look at that middle-aged man. He seemed to be very interested in what he said: “Are you capable of that? But Zhen doesn’t know if he can trust you, after all, you used ‘interesting’ human ashes and blood to lure Zhen out of the tomb.”

The middle-aged man has been hiding this tactic from the other four; if they knew about the murder of the child, that would be extremely troublesome!

If that secret was disclosed suddenly by Su Jingmo… the middle-aged man panicked in annoyance: “It seems that you aren’t willing to cooperate!” After he said that, the middle-aged man tore open the golden net in front of him and the four charms absorbed nearly a hundred fierce ghostly qi in one go, then he threw it into the bowl with human blood inside, only to immediately drink the bowl of blood and charms combined.

In an instant, the middle-aged man’s body was surrounded by a shockingly furious qi: “What are you all waiting for?! Quickly come here!” The middle-aged man roared with all his might while the other four were stunned and frightened with his reaction, but they quickly rushed around him, sitting cross-legged. While standing in the middle of the formation, the man said aloud: “Come to separate human beings from talismans, come to separate ghosts from the mountains. A thousand evil spirits aren’t able to get out, ten thousand evil spirits aren’t able to escape…. I offer my body to the Messengers of the Underworld!”

After he finished speaking, the formation drawn with human blood started to emit a dark red light, instantly covering the middle-aged man. This red light also appeared around Su Jingmo, and when he found that something was wrong, he tried to dodge it, but he wasn’t able to move!

Inside the formation, a pair of pale and extremely long demonic claws slowly emerged, looking horrifying and scary. The demonic claws attacked directly towards Su Jingmo’s direction.

When he saw this, Qin Cheng’s mind didn’t have the time to react when his body had long since started to run uncontrollably towards the tunnel!

“NO! SU JINGMO!”

‘ No! What reincarnation?! I haven’t figured out yet what happened to the annihilated history of his Dynasty! I still have many questions to ask him, he can’t leave now! He cannot leave like this! ’

(๑・ω-)～♥ ”

Footnotes

<ol>阳 <b>气 yáng qì</b> ; In Ancient Chinese philosophy, yin and yang is a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. The Yin is related to the negative, dark, cold, moon, death, etc. While the Yang is related to the positive, light, warm, sun, life, etc. The <b>气</b> Qi, according to traditional Chinese medicine, is an energy that flows continuously through nature. The interruption of its free flow in the body is the basis of physical and psychological disorders. Practitioners of certain disciplines affirm that the human being can control and use this energy, through various techniques, increasing it, accumulating it and distributing it throughout the body or using it in a concentrated way. Others claim to be able to cure a number of diseases and other effects by releasing the free flow of the qi through the human body. <b>天罗地网</b> <b>tiān luó dì wǎng</b> ; It’s a Chinese idiom, it means ‘an invisible net preventing all escape’. <b>春节</b> <b>chūn jié</b> ; The Chinese New Year, better known as the ‘Spring Festival’ in China or as ‘The Lunar New Year’ abroad, is the most important traditional holiday of the Chinese calendar year, also celebrated in other East Asian countries. <b>叔</b> <b>shū</b> <b>;</b> Uncle from the father’s side of the family / Father’s younger brother / Husband’s younger brother. I want to point out that <b>齐</b> ( <b>qì</b> ) is different than <b>气</b> ( <b>qì</b> ). Here, <b>齐</b> ( <b>qì</b> ) is a surname, while <b>气</b> ( <b>qì</b> ) is explained in the 1rst footnote. <b>二哥</b> <b>èr gē</b> ; Second elder brother. <b>鬼差</b> <b>guǐ chāi</b> ; They’re responsible for catching and leading the souls of the deceased to the Underworld, where they will be judged before their new reincarnation. <b>钟馗</b> <b>zōng kuí</b> ; A Taoist deity who specialized in fighting ghosts and driving away evil spirits. Chinese folk often hang his picture on the entrance of their house to ward off evil spirits and disasters.</ol>