The Secret Treasure of the Spirit

Chapter 9: Back in the Coffin The female ghost gave Sun Luyun an eerie smile—a smile that was not frightening, but rather somewhat alluring. Sun Luyun’s mind was filled with questions. There was clearly a female ghost right in front of him, so why did it feel like he was touching a human? Seeing that Sun Luyun had let his guard down, the female ghost broke free from his grip and struck him squarely in the chest with her palm, sending him stumbling backward several steps. Seeing Sun Luyun struck by the female ghost, Xia Feixue cursed, “You filthy ghost! Only I am allowed to hit Luyun—no one else can lay a finger on him! Take this!” The female ghost flew into the air, avoiding Xia Feixue’s attack. Who knew when she might strike again from the depths of the tomb chamber? The group gathered close, raising their waist knives. Sun Luyun stood at the front, his eyes fixed on the spot where the female ghost had been lying, on guard against a sudden pounce. The white mist vanished completely, leaving only two talismans on the ground, but the female ghost was nowhere to be seen. The group scanned the tomb chamber warily, but still found no trace of the female ghost. Sun Luyun stepped forward: “Where is she hiding? How can she just vanish like that?” Sun Luyun scanned the tomb chamber but found no sign of the female ghost. He walked over to the coffin and looked through the glass—the female ghost had returned to her resting place inside the coffin, looking serene, as if she were asleep. Xia Feilong grabbed his dagger: “Well, well. So the female ghost has gone back to sleep in her coffin. Serves you right. Watch me smash this glass right now, then have Sun Luyun subdue you with his talismans.” Sun Luyun reached out and said, “Wait a minute. This is really strange. Usually, if you encounter a female ghost and she escapes, she wouldn’t leave a single trace behind. How come this female ghost went back into the glass coffin today?” Xia Feilong replied, “This female ghost must think she’s safe back in the coffin, which is why she returned. Now I’ll smash the coffin, and you use the talismans to subdue her.” Sun Luyun stopped Xia Feilong again, lowering his head to observe the female ghost inside the coffin. Her bizarre behavior left him completely baffled. If the female ghost couldn’t defeat them, she could have easily fled—so why would she return to the coffin? The female ghost’s beautiful face made Sun Luyun forget her ferocious appearance moments ago; instead, a sense of pity welled up within him. Perhaps there were aspects to this strange occurrence that were simply beyond his understanding—he just didn’t know them yet. Sun Luyun stepped back. “Aunt Huang Wei, now that she’s gone back to sleep in the coffin, she won’t harm us. There’s no need for us to destroy it.” Xia Feilong said, “So you’re saying we should let this female ghost off today? No way. How can we just let her go? She almost ate us a moment ago.” Huang Wei tried to persuade them: “All right, Luyun, listen to Feilong. The female ghost really hasn’t done us any harm, and the tomb raiders have already been scared off. Let’s just go.” Sun Luyun looked at the outer coffin and asked Xia Feilong and Gao Feng to help push it back into place. After they had pushed the coffin back, Sun Luyun gazed at it and said, “I hope no one else ever enters this burial chamber again.” The group headed back down the tomb passageway. Sun Luyun brought up the rear when a chilling breeze brushed against his neck, sending a shiver through his body. He turned to look back at the tomb chamber. At that moment, Sun Luyun’s heart skipped a beat. Inside the tomb chamber, the female ghost was floating in midair again, smiling faintly at him. Sun Luyun stared at the tightly sealed coffin. How could the female ghost have emerged from it again? His hand instinctively reached into his pocket. With a swish, the female ghost smiled once more and vanished. Sun Luyun muttered to himself, “What’s going on?” Xia Feixue heard Sun Luyun’s voice and turned back. “What do you mean, ‘what’s going on’? Luyun, what are you looking at?” Sun Luyun thought it best not to let anyone else know about seeing the female ghost again: “Nothing, nothing at all. Let’s just get out of here quickly. Once we’re out, I’m going to give Pang Dahai a good scolding for not letting anyone know we tomb raiders were coming.” As they emerged from the tomb, Hu Xuanhai walked over with a grin. “Old Sun, I bet things went smoothly for you guys this time. We saw those five tomb raiders running away screaming.” Zhao Shuirou took Sun Luyun’s hand: “Brother Luyun, were you in any danger? Did those tomb raiders hurt you?” Sun Luyun said, “Don’t worry, we’re fine. We’re in good shape. This trip into the tomb chamber was definitely worth it. Not only did we successfully scare off the tomb raiders, but we also encountered something truly bizarre.” Hu Xuanhai asked with interest, “What kind of strange thing? Did you run into another mermaid mummy again? Oh, since we can’t take anything from the tomb chamber, we should really bring that mermaid mummy out.” Xia Feixue said, “I see you really only have money on your mind no matter what. Let me tell you, we encountered a Tang Dynasty beauty in the tomb chamber. She’s still lying in the coffin there. If you’re interested, you can go in and bring her out right now.” Hu Xuanhai, Zhao Shuirou, and Zhao Luohong looked completely bewildered. Xia Feixue told the three of them what had happened inside the tomb chamber, and they all wore expressions of disbelief. Hu Xuanhai was about to crawl into the tunnel: “No way. How could we miss something this bizarre?” Sun Luyun pulled him back: “Are you crazy? If that female ghost shows up again, she’ll eat us alive.” Hu Xuanhai backed away timidly: “You’re right. What was I thinking? Life is what matters most.” Huang Wei had everyone fill in the tunnel, placed some plants over the filled-in hole, and then buried the exposed statue. Once finished, the group surveyed the hillside, checking to see if everything had been done properly. Sun Luyun felt quite satisfied with this mission to protect the ancient tomb. Sun Luyun was surprised by the change in his heart. The feeling of having driven away the tomb raiders—how could that be even better than finding treasures inside the tomb chamber? He smiled at Huang Wei beside him and began to agree with what she had said earlier. The group began walking back along the foot of the mountain, feeling the night breeze. Sun Luyun felt truly cheerful that evening; the fatigue of the day vanished along with his joy, and he couldn’t help but quicken his pace. When they reached the foot of the mountain, the group was just looking for a place to rest before continuing their journey back early the next morning. Suddenly, Zou Li’s voice rang out from the woods, shouting, “Stop right there.”