The Secret Treasure of the Spirit

Chapter 64: A Living Person Under the Tree As the cold white mist gradually dissipated, the scene inside the pit dug beneath the Ghostblood Tree became crystal clear. The six walked forward, staring at one another, unable to believe what they were seeing. Hu Xuanhai even set down the shovel in his hand, clutched his stomach, and muttered to himself, “Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible. But my stomach hurts, and what’s happening right before my eyes is real—it can’t be impossible.” Xia Feilong said, “Though I can’t believe it, it’s happening right before our eyes. Wait—how could it be impossible? I’ve experienced the same thing myself. But the ice around here hasn’t frozen solid. Why are they here?” It turned out that the upper half of a middle-aged man, frozen solid by ghost ice, had appeared in the pit. He had a thick beard, a rugged face, and small eyes—giving him a rather menacing appearance. His face was filled with terror; his hands were clenched into fists, raised to his neck, as if he were trying to strike something. His mouth was wide open, as if he had been shouting loudly just before being frozen. Hu Xuanhai turned to Old Sun and said, “What should we do? Maybe we should just cover him back up with dirt and pretend nothing happened.” Xia Feixue gave him a light tap on the arm. “Hurry up and keep digging! Get him out—saving him is the priority right now.” Sun Luyun said, “Wait, let me take a look first.” He told the others not to approach and walked forward himself to examine the man, reaching out to touch the ghost ice. “Strange. Why is there ghost ice here too?” Sun Luyun looked up at the Ghostblood Tree. “Could it be that those ghosts used Ghost Ice to freeze them, buried them beneath the tree, and let the Ghostblood Tree slowly drain them dry? But why didn’t they just kill them outright, letting their flesh and blood rot away so the Ghostblood Tree could absorb them faster?” He then dismissed his own theory: “No, it probably has nothing to do with those ghosts. If it were them, we would have been frozen solid by the ghost ice long ago.” Seeing that there was no danger, Sun Luyun motioned for the others to approach. Xia Feixue asked, “Is he still alive? Judging by the look on his face before he was frozen in the ghost ice, it seems he must have encountered something terrifying, which is why he was screaming.” Sun Luyun replied, “He’s still alive. Let’s dig him out first, then I’ll perform a ritual to melt the ghost ice. Be careful as you dig—don’t break the ghost ice under any circumstances.” The six continued digging downward, carefully chipping away at the ghost ice. Zhang Shan and Li Shui jumped into the pit to move the ice aside, but as soon as they did, they both felt a chill seep up from beneath their feet. Zhang Shan reached down and felt another block of ghost ice. He cried out in surprise, “Everyone, look! There’s another block of ghost ice beneath this one.” The others looked into the pit and saw that Zhang Shan was right—buried beneath the ghost ice was another block of ghost ice, oriented vertically. The six of them began widening the pit in all directions, intending to dig out the other person trapped by the Ghost Ice. But as soon as they started digging, they discovered two more people frozen by the Ghost Ice. Continuing their excavation, the six uncovered a total of nine people frozen in ghost ice. They laid the nine bodies aside, confirmed there were no more trapped individuals beneath the Ghost Blood Tree, and then stood before the nine blocks of ghost ice. Hu Xuanhai said, “This is truly strange—exactly nine of them. Look, they’re just like those dead bones.” Sun Luyun decided to rescue the first person they found and ask for an explanation: “You all wait over there. I’ll rescue the first person first, then the others.” Sun Luyun took out yellow water and yellow paper from his bag and began performing a ritual on the first person trapped by the ghost ice. Hu Xuanhai was so frightened he hid to the side. Sun Luyun gave a nod to Zhang Shan and Li Shui, and the two of them grabbed Hu Xuanhai. Hu Xuanhai screamed, “Old Sun, we’re classmates! You can’t be so unfaithful!” Sun Luyun said, “If we find anything, I’ll give you an extra ten percent. How about that?” Hu Xuanhai held up two fingers. “Twenty percent. I won’t do it for anything less.” Sun Luyun ran a small knife along Hu Xuanhai’s finger: “Three percent. Is that okay? Anyway, if this happens again in the future, you’re the one I’ll call.” Hu Xuanhai yelped, “Alright, but you said it—three percent. Don’t ever call me greedy.” Sun Luyun drew a talisman on the yellow paper: “Who told you to have so much blood?” Hu Xuanhai said, “Once I get back, I’ll live it up every day. Then you won’t need my blood anymore.” Watching the two of them banter, Xia Feixue chuckled. “I see Fat Dahai really is as greedy as they come. As long as the price is right and the deal is fair, he’ll do anything.” Hu Xuanhai held up his bleeding finger. “I’m selling my blood here, you know. Take a look—do you think I’d be too greedy? Why don’t you try it yourselves?” Sun Luyun said, “Alright, we all get it. Hurry up and squeeze out the blood.” Hu Xuanhai squeezed his finger: “Here it comes, boss. The blood you asked for is on its way.” Sun Luyun stuck the talismans he had drawn onto all four sides of the first Ghost Ice he found and began performing the ritual, while the others watched from the sidelines. After completing the sequence of movements, a cloud of white gas billowed from the Ghost Ice, and the trapped person gradually emerged from within it. Zhang Shan and Li Shui stepped to either side. Once the ghost ice vanished, they supported the trapped man and gently laid him on the ground. Xia Feilong walked up to the trapped man and shook his head. “Who are you? Wake up, wake up!” Sun Luyun said, “Don’t worry. He’ll come to in time.” Sun Luyun instructed Zhang Shan, Li Shui, and Hu Xuanhai to help the other eight people trapped in the ghost ice to their feet, then carefully affix talismans to each of the ghost ice formations in turn. The first rescued man staggered over and shouted at Xia Feilong. Sun Luyun and the others hurriedly turned and ran over, only to find Xia Feilong already pinned to the ground. The man who had been revived roared, “Damn headless ghosts! Just wait until I tear you to pieces!” Xia Feilong reached out and grabbed his hand: “You’ve got the wrong guy. We’re not headless ghosts—we’re human beings.” Zhang Shan and Li Shui held the revived man down by the arms. As he slowly came to his senses and looked around at the others, he realized he had misidentified them. He stood up from Xia Feilong’s body and said, “I’m—I’m sorry. It turns out I was mistaken. You’re human, not headless ghosts.” Sun Luyun asked, “Brother, what’s going on here? How did you end up here? Are you here to hunt for treasure too?” Xia Feixue said, “You keep talking about headless ghosts—did you encounter them too, just like Luyun?” The man who had been rescued looked at the others who were frozen in place, then walked over to two of them: “Ma Baozi, Ding Datou—thank goodness! The headless ghosts didn’t rip your heads off either. That’s truly a relief.” He turned and walked over to Sun Luyun and Xia Feixue: “How did you manage to rescue me? Hurry up and get them out too. Consider this a favor owed to you by Old Xi Fei.” Xia Feilong had heard the name Lao Xifei before: “What? You’re really Lao Xifei? Could you be Lao Xifei, the leader of the Wasteland Corpse-Stealing Gang?” Lao Xifei replied, “That’s right. So you know my name. It seems I’m quite famous.” Sun Luyun asked, “Old Xi Fei, the leader of the corpse-stealing gang? How on earth is that possible?” Xia Feilong explained, “Tomb raiding and corpse theft actually share a deep connection. One seeks the treasures within tombs, while the other seeks the tomb’s occupant. Yet both sides look down on each other, viewing the other’s work as shameful. But corpse theft differs from tomb raiding—it comes in many varieties.” Xia Feilong continued, “Some engage in both tomb raiding and corpse theft, yet they’re still called corpse thieves; some specialize in stealing ancient mummies or desiccated corpses; others steal fresh corpses, mostly for use in ghost marriages. The Huangtu Corpse Thieves, however, engage in every form of corpse theft. I’ve heard their leader, Lao Xifei, is a man who’ll stop at nothing—he eats dried human flesh when hungry and drinks water soaked in corpse fluid when thirsty. He’s feared by everyone in the corpse-thieving underworld.” Lao Xifei burst out laughing. “Not bad, young man. So young and yet you already know my name. That’s right, I am Lao Xifei—the one who eats dried human flesh when hungry and drinks water soaked in corpses when thirsty. What’s the matter? Are you scared?” Xia Feixue said, “I don’t believe you really eat dried human flesh or drink water soaked in corpses. Both of those things stink so badly—how could you possibly stomach them? Besides, you’ve run into a headless ghost yourself, haven’t you? You were even locked up in a cave by that headless ghost. If we hadn’t stumbled upon you by accident, you would’ve definitely become fertilizer for that Ghost Blood Tree.” Old Xi Fei sighed, “It’s all my fault for being careless. That’s why I was deceived by Ma Miaofeng.” Sun Luyun asked, “Ma Miaofeng? What do you mean? Are you looking for her too?” Old Xi Fei looked at the others frozen in the ice: “Let’s rescue my brothers first. I’ll tell you the rest later.” Sun Luyun continued his ritual. After more than half an hour, the other eight people trapped in the ghost ice were all freed. Ma Baozi and Ding Datou, the two Lao Xifei had mentioned, were the first to wake up. They looked around at the others and, seeing Lao Xifei right in front of them, walked over to him. Ma Baozi said, “Big Brother Xi, did we die? Is this the Underworld?” Ding Datou also looked around in panic, touching his own head. “I heard that when people are killed by headless ghosts, their heads get severed and can’t be reattached. But how come our heads are still here?” Old Xi Fei patted both men on the head. “Don’t worry, our heads aren’t severed.” Pointing at Sun Luyun, he said, “It was this man, Sun Luyun, who saved us from the Headless Ghost. You two had better thank him properly.” Upon hearing this, the two men turned to Sun Luyun in unison to express their gratitude. This gesture actually surprised Sun Luyun; the corpse-stealing gang Xia Feilong had mentioned didn’t seem like unfriendly people after all. Could it be that Xia Feilong had been wrong? The others woke up one by one and walked over to Old Xi Fei. He continued, “As people, we must repay kindness. We can’t let others say we’re ungrateful. Go one by one to Sun Luyun and thank him.” One by one, the others approached Sun Luyun to thank him. Hu Xuanhai whispered, “Old Sun, they’re grave robbers too, but why are these people so different from Ma Miaofeng? They’re actually quite polite.” Seeing their sincere attitude, Sun Luyun let down his guard and said, “Old Xi, please don’t be so formal. When you encounter someone in need of rescue while treasure hunting, it’s only natural to do your utmost to save them—that’s the unwritten rule of our trade. If anyone stands by and does nothing when someone is in danger, the rest of us can do the same to them when they’re in trouble.” Lao Xi Fei said, “Well said, young man. I like that. It’s a pity that this time, I trusted people too much, which nearly got me and a few of my brothers killed by that headless ghost.” Xia Feixue said, “What exactly happened? Tell us the story.” Old Xi Fei looked at the group and sat down on a rock. “Alright, you all seem like decent people, so I’ll tell you exactly what happened.”