"What do we do now? Should we go back to them?" Shi Lan asked Leng Qingyue, noticing his anxious expression.
Leng Qingyue turned her head, looked at the dark tomb passage, and shook her head. "No, let's move on. Something's not right here. That flying zombie is really powerful. Even I can only trap it for a while. I have to get you out of here before that happens."
Shi Lan raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
A smile appeared on Leng Qingyue's pale face. "What? Do you think I'm heartless? Abandoning Wanrou?"
Shi Lan shook her head and said, "That's between you two, it has nothing to do with me."
Hearing her indifferent reply, Leng Qingyue neither argued nor got angry. She simply curled the corners of her lips and stepped forward, saying, "Let's go then. We don't have much time."
Having someone lead the way was certainly a good thing, and Shi Lan followed without objection. Out of the corner of her eye, she unconsciously glanced around and noticed that the black mist that had been lingering around them was slowly receding as the two of them walked.
Shi Lan was surprised. She hadn't recited the Chaos Mantra at the moment, so why were these ghosts acting like this? Could it be because of... him?
Shi Lan turned her gaze to Leng Qingyue in front of her.
The doubts in my mind slowly grew.
Huang Wanrou was able to repel the fog before. Although she didn't know why, she vaguely felt that they didn't belong here. Could it be that they, like her, had traveled here from somewhere else?
If that's the case, then what is their purpose?
Huang Wanrou's purpose was undoubtedly Shi Tou, but Shi Lan couldn't quite figure out Leng Qingyue, who had always acted indifferent.
Suddenly, the image of him stopping Huang Wanrou and excitedly calling him "Immortal Lord Lan" flashed through his mind. Could it be that he came to find the "Immortal Lord Lan" he mentioned?
Shi Lan was puzzled and couldn't help but linger her gaze on Leng Qingyue for a long time.
Leng Qingyue, unaware of Shi Lan's thoughts, continued to lead the way. Shi Lan followed Leng Qingyue's straight back to his powerful long legs and his quick, agile steps. Suddenly, she paused, unsure of what she had just seen.
Leng Qingyue, with her keen senses, immediately noticed and turned her head to ask, "What's wrong?"
Upon hearing his question, Shi Lan quickly smiled and said, "It's nothing."
Leng Qingyue glanced at Shi Lan, and seeing that she looked normal, he continued walking. "The tomb that can nurture flying zombies has extremely strong evil energy. Evil energy is the nourishment for yin creatures. This tomb may contain other things. If you feel something is wrong, just say so, and I can deal with it in time."
"I understand," Shi Lan said, sweeping the ground with her flashlight while her gaze lingered on Leng Qingyue.
Seeing that she answered readily, Leng Qingyue nodded in satisfaction, then pointed ahead, "Look, there's light ahead."
Shi Lan looked up and followed the direction he was pointing; there was indeed a dim, yellowish light shining from there.
"Hurry up, let's go over there," Leng Qingyue seemed to be in a very good mood, her usually refined and elegant face even had a touch of gorgeous blush.
Shi Lan curled her lips, then suddenly stopped, staring at Leng Qingyue with eyes as calm as ice. "Thank you for leading the way, but this is not the path I want to take. Shi Lan thanks you in advance!"
Leng Qingyue was stunned, seemingly not understanding what Shi Lan was talking about.
“You acted very well, but you have an undeniable flaw,” Shi Lan said, shining her flashlight on the ground beneath Leng Qingyue’s feet to signal him to look down.
Leng Qingyue frowned and looked down at her feet, only to find that her feet were floating in the air, more than two inches above the ground.
Shi Lan raised her flashlight and shone it on Leng Qingyue. "What exactly do you want to do by leading me in here?"
When Leng Qingyue saw that his trick had been exposed, he was not angry. He chuckled and shook his body. In the blink of an eye, a handsome man in casual clothes transformed into a young master in a wide robe and long sleeves with a high bun inlaid with jade.
Shi Lan blinked, feeling like she was in a fantasy world.
The man slightly tucked his sleeves and bowed to Shi Lan, saying, "Greetings, Miss Shi. I am Zhang Ke from Jinyang."
Shi Lan twitched her lips and said, "No need to be so polite, Young Master Zhang, please speak frankly. Let's skip these formalities."
Zhang Ke waved his sleeve, and the black mist immediately transformed into a round table and two chairs.
"Miss Shi, please sit down and let me explain in detail."
Shi Lan glanced sideways, then, realizing they were all ghostly illusions, she immediately lost interest. "No need, I'll just stand here."
Seeing this, Zhang Ke waved his hand, and the round table instantly turned into mist and dispersed.
"To be honest, I had no choice but to invite you here this time," Zhang Ke said, his face showing a hint of bitterness as he explained the reason.
It turns out that Zhang Ke was a scholar from thousands of years ago. He and his childhood sweetheart, Qin Yi, were deeply in love. His family had planned to marry them when he came of age, but unexpectedly, Qin Yi was chosen by the current emperor and taken in.
Zhang Ke was resentful, but there was nothing he could do but accept it.
After a few months of disappointment, Zhang Ke heard that Qin Yi had fallen ill from excessive worry.
Zhang Ke was extremely anxious and tried to bribe a servant to sneak in so he could see her.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and he was caught red-handed by the Ninth Prince.
The Ninth Prince was violent and held great power, so killing a few people was nothing to him.
Zhang Ke was beaten to the point of near death, but the Ninth Prince was still not satisfied and ordered his men to skin him and boil him for oil. In her haste, Qin Yi lost her breath and died.
In his anger, the Ninth Prince became even more ruthless.
He had Qin Yi's soul locked inside his body, then suppressed her corpse in his tomb a hundred years later, and made candlesticks from Zhang Ke's skin and embedded them in the tomb walls, also placing his corpse oil inside.
Zhang Ke thought this was for the best, at least he could stay by Qin Yi's side.
But he never expected that before his death, the Ninth Prince had someone set up an array, sacrificing a thousand people alive and sealing off a hundred ghosts, turning this place into a ghost realm, and making himself an immortal ghost king.
Hearing this, Shi Lan understood. So that's why she felt the place was eerie even before entering.
What puzzled her was that the tomb passage was very clean along the way, and there were no remains of the people he had mentioned being buried alive with the dead.
"What do you want me to do by telling me all this?"
After hearing Zhang Ke's story, Shi Lan felt sympathy for him.
Zhang Ke was indeed wrong in this matter, but his mistake was visiting Qin Yi in private. After all, it was inappropriate to do so, especially since Qin Yi was already married. He should have avoided any appearance of impropriety.
On the other hand, that old man was really too domineering. It was just a meeting between relatives, but he was able to kill the person directly and then put the person in his own tomb and turn him into a lamp.
Shi Lan was speechless, deeply feeling that this 9000-year-old's thought process was different from ordinary people.
"I want you to help me beg the magistrate to intervene and ask the Ghost King to release Qin Yi and stop torturing her," Zhang Ke said, his face filled with sorrow and his expression desolate.
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