Chapter 54

“What happened?” Su Jingmo slowly turned around to face Qu Zhiwen: “And how do you know that something happened…. to Qin Cheng? Also, why should Zhen believe you?” Not being someone who believes in others easily was the most important element for Su Jingmo, to protect himself in his era. As he looked up and down at Qu Zhiwen, not only did the man in front of him know a lot about mysterious spells, but also Su Jingmo was a mere ghost at the moment. Such a person was the most dangerous to be around with for someone like him. Whether what Qu Zhiwen said was true or not, Su Jingmo certainly wouldn’t believe it immediately.

Qu Zhiwen shook his head: “I don’t have any evidence to prove that Qin Cheng is really in trouble, let alone know what happened to him in Shanxi. Jiang Ping, who’s the fastest man in arresting criminals of this time, received a message from Qin Cheng’s colleague, and he’s now on his way there. I won’t know what happened until he gets there.” After saying this, Qu Zhiwen stared at Su Jingmo, and only after a long time, he said: “I see that your body is covered with Qin Cheng’s qi. So, you’ve taken his Yang qi, right?”

Qu Zhiwen’s words made Su Jingmo look away. Then he turned his back at him, and laughed: “Oh? So what if Zhen did?”

“After you died, Qin Cheng has been the living being you’ve spent the most time with. I’m afraid you know that Qin Cheng has too much contact with you, and that his body is full of ghostly qi. Ghostly qi, isn’t good for living beings.”

“What are you trying to do, by saying this?”

“I don’t want to do anything. I just wanted to tell you that you two have too much contact with each other. Moreover, Qin Cheng has a jade pendant that has been with you for more than a thousand years. That jade pendant has long been covered with your qi, so I don’t believe that you can’t sense that Qin Cheng is in danger. Perhaps, you don’t know this, but you should still be able to feel some fluctuations from Qin Cheng.”

His words sunk deep in Su Jingmo’s mind. Sure enough, the uneasiness he felt today should be because of Qin Cheng….

Seeing that Su Jingmo didn’t reply, Qu Zhiwen thought that this man didn’t care, so he couldn’t help but frown: “Humans and ghosts have different paths. Even though I don’t know how Qin Cheng and you met, his feelings for you are so obvious that even I can tell. I just had to look at the way he looks at you, and I understood it immediately. The person on the spot is baffled ¹ . Qin Cheng may not be able to see through it, but I can see that you’re not ignorant of him.”

“All right!” Su Jingmo interrupted Qu Zhiwen. As he looked at him again, Su Jingmo smiled, and said: “How can Zhen help you?”

Knowing that the Emperor in front of him didn’t want him to keep talking, Qu Zhiwen didn’t say more about their relationship. He changed the subject, and said: “Jiang Ping said that there were three murder cases in the tomb. Even though two of them were caused by an accident inside the tomb, they died outside. However, the first case, a man named Jiang Bo, died inside the tomb, in the tunnel.” Then, Qu Zhiwen turned his eyes to Su Jingmo, and continued: “I think that you probably understand what I’m trying to say. This tomb can lock up the souls of the deceased. Of course, in addition to you, anyone who sets foot in this tomb and dies would get their souls trapped here, unable to reincarnate.”

“Among those three, only this Jiang Bo died here?” After hearing Qu Zhiwen’s words, Su Jingmo continued: “Do you want Zhen to find this Jiang Bo’s soul?”

Qu Zhiwen nodded: “There are too many ghosts inside this big tomb, and even though I know some spells…. as long as the bones of that divine beast are here, even immortals are unable to cast spells. I can merely use some charms at most.”

Su Jingmo was aware of that fact. Just like how that rat immortal had to make great efforts to enter the tomb, with the help of the body of that old Taoist priest.

“If that Jiang Bo really died inside the tomb, then Zhen can find his soul. Let’s hope that the grave robbers who came a while ago didn’t scatter his soul.”

“You didn’t know that Jiang Bo died inside the tomb?”

“Zhen doesn’t even know who this ‘Jiang Bo’ is. How would Zhen know whether he died in this tomb or not?”

“You didn’t kill him?”

Su Jingmo glanced at Qu Zhiwen, and chuckled: “There are thousands of evil spirits outside the tomb, so why would Zhen have to do it? Zhen did hear Qin Cheng mention that three people died. But what does that have to do with Zhen? Although, Zhen wonders why you want to find the soul of this Jiang Bo?”

“Even though these three murders were apparently caused by the ghosts of the tomb, Jiang Ping still has the suspicion that there should be a human involved. However, he doesn’t have any evidence yet….”

After mentioning this to Su Jingmo, Qu Zhiwen remembered that three days ago, he followed Jiang Ping to Jiang Bo’s home…..

Jiang Bo’s mother can be described as skinny. She was obviously no more than 50 years old, and because of her excessive grief, her hair was scattered. As she held a picture of Jiang Bo, she cried miserably, making her look ten years older at least….

Jiang Bo’s parents were ready to move, but they suddenly found that diary in a corner of the bed of Jiang Bo’s room. Jiang Bo didn’t come back home often, so he would write it once a week.

The diary was written from January from last year, until the beginning of May of this year, before Jiang Bo’s accident.

In total, there were about 60 topics in the diary. Some things were written several days a week, but some others were written once after several weeks of nothing. Starting from the beginning of Jiang Bo’s diary, Jiang Ping read it carefully, trying to not miss any details. What this archaeology-obsessed student wrote in his diary was almost the same as what he wrote in his work records, with the exception that the diary had more trivial things depending on his mood. For the first five months, in the diary there was nothing more than arguments with Li Guoxian, Qin Cheng, and how they couldn’t find a way to enter the tomb. A lot of Jiang Bo’s anger was directed to the stubbornness of Li Guoxian and the rest of his colleagues.

Until June 18th of last year, the seemingly ordinary form of the diary caught Jiang Ping’s attention. Jiang Bo met a person at the class party, who seemed to have some knowledge about archeology. That day, Jiang Bo had a good chat with him.

“It’s nice to have someone, with the same mind as you, to talk to.” That was what Jiang Bo wrote.

After that day, the name ‘Chen’ appeared several times in Jiang Bo’s diary. Their conversations would only be about the Ninghua Village’s tomb, and the strangest thing, was that it was clear that Jiang Bo didn’t agree with the views of Qin Cheng and the rest. However, he had similar views with this guy surnamed ‘Chen’….

When Qin Cheng and others described Jiang Bo, they would describe him as someone who was a thoughtful, opinionated person, who wouldn’t follow others blindly. He would always think twice about other people’s opinions, and he liked to refute and argue all the time. But, why would he believe so easily what that ‘Chen’ guy had to say?

This was written in the diary on January of this year: ‘The archeological team’s funding issue is in danger again. I think that Chen-ge’s proposal can still be accepted. If we don’t hurry to figure out the identity of the tomb’s owner, then who will provide funding for our archeological team? It’s better to get started before that happens.’

“I remember that the man named Zhang Jun told me that he didn’t expect that Jiang Bo would go dig by himself, in the middle of the night. In fact, he told me that Jiang Bo particularly respected Li Guoxian, and even though he disagreed with Li Guoxian, to the point of getting angry and starting an argument with him, he would never go against him. Because Jiang Bo still understood that Li Guoxian had more experience than him, and that he should listen to his words.”

These were the original words that Jiang Ping heard at that time. After he said this, he continued to read the diary, until the last page. The row of words made Jiang Ping suddenly stand up.

‘Chen-ge said that the tunnel should be almost dug, so tomorrow I’ll go help him. By then, I should be able to find something.’

The date of this entry in the diary was May 2nd. The day before Jiang Bo’s death.

Su Jingmo listened to Qu Zhiwen’s story, and tapped his fingertips on the stone table: “So, that Jiang Bo was killed by that Chen guy?”

“I suppose that the man surnamed Chen used a technique to confuse Jiang Bo ever since he came into contact with him.”

“Then, what’s the name of that man surnamed Chen?”

“I don’t know. His whole name isn’t mentioned in the diary. I guess that the man surnamed Chen purposely made Jiang Bo call him only that way. We can only ask Jiang Bo for more details.”

“Zhen should be able to find him. However, Zhen’s afraid that he has already turned into a fierce ghost, with an irrational mind.” The target of that man surnamed Chen should be the ‘thing’ that’s inside this tomb, if he goes to such lengths to let another person explore the tomb for him, meaning that he should be aware of the dangers of the tomb…. This person may have also used Qin Cheng that day, letting him step into the Underground Palace.

Living beings can enter the tomb, but they also have to break through thousands of evil spirits. As for opening the gates of the Underground Palace, and stepping inside, only the tomb’s owner can allow it. When Su Jingmo remembered Qin Cheng’s first visit to the tomb, and how he couldn’t notice him….

Su Jingmo then looked at Qu Zhiwen, who was in front of him, and said: “You want Zhen to help you? Alright. But you have to answer some questions.”

“What questions?”

“Are you unable to step inside this Underground Palace?”

Qu Zhiwen didn’t say anything, but he was quite confident, and even a little bit proud of his spells to drive away ghosts and catch demons. So, Su Jingmo’s words made him show an ugly expression.

“Yes.”

Seeing that Qu Zhwen thought that he was being sarcastic, Su Jingmo raised a smile, and said: “Zhen didn’t mean anything else. Zhen just wanted to ask you if there were any mortals in this world with the ability to open the gates of the Underground Palace.”

“Even immortals can’t do it, so how could a mortal? There are bones of ancient immortals and divine beasts in this tomb. This beast guards the tomb. So, in addition to this man-made formation, and your existence, I’m afraid no one, not even immortals, can break in. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to stay in the world of the living for more than a thousand years.”

After thinking quietly for a moment, Su Jingmo frowned slightly: “But, you know, when Qin Cheng stepped inside the Underground Palace for the first time, Zhen didn’t even know about it, nor did Zhen feel it. Not until he pushed open the sarcophagus.”

“You didn’t feel it? Did the Underground Palace’s gates open by itself?”

“Naturally.”

Qu Zhiwen thought of the many treasures scattered around this great tomb, and asked: “If no one can enter this chamber, then why are so many treasures scattered around the edge of this place?”

“You mean these?” Asked about this, Su Jingmo narrowed his eyes, and smiled: “Naturally, they were put there by Zhen, to hunt the army that broke in the tomb a long time ago. It’s more interesting and exciting to kill the prey after you play with it, is it not?”

After Su Jingmo said this, Qu Zhiwen no longer was interested to ask. He simply thought for a long time, until he could think of a way to step into this tomb without Su Jingmo noticing. But the mere thought of it was impossible.

“Unless… someone has the ability to suppress the aura of the divine beast.”

“Suppress it? Can you do that?”

“If you’re prepared, you should be able to suppress it for a moment, with all your strength.”

“Then, does that mean that someone can do it?” Su Jingmo recalled that time, and asked: “Then why didn’t you do it?”

“I’m just a human, facing a divine beast will damage my life span for at least 30 years.”

“But, what if you obtain that divine beast’s bones?”

Su Jingmo’s words, how could Qu Zhiwen not understand? He simply laughed, and said: “Then, even if I lose a hundred years, it wouldn’t matter.”

It seems that JB’s death hides more complicated things than we thought ? who is that mysterious ‘Chen’??? (〇o〇；)

And nothing is weirder than how was QC able to open the underground palace’s gates without SJM noticing? (・’v`・)？

.

(∩´∀`∩)

Footnotes

<ol><b>当局者迷</b> <b>dāng jú zhě mí</b> ; It means that the people involved can’t see the truth from the other party, but outsiders can. Meaning that since Qin Cheng has been around Su Jingmo for a long period of time, he doesn’t realize that the way Su Jingmo treats him is different from how he treats others, but since Qu Zhiwen is an outsider, he can see that Su Jingmo is soft on him. From <b>《恋绣衾·无题》</b> by ( <b>辛弃疾</b> <b>xīn qì jí</b> ) Xin Qiji [1140-1207], from the Song Dynasty [960-1279].</ol>