The firelight flickered within the valley crevice, while the wind outside howled like a banshee.
After hearing my words, Wei Shengnan gripped her waist knife, her face deathly pale: "Duan Shenxing, are those things really behind me?"
"Hahaha!"
When I saw Wei Shengnan's appearance, I burst out laughing: "Isn't your Wei family supposed to be able to exorcise demons and monsters? I never expected that you, the eldest daughter of the Wei family, would be afraid of something like this. It's absolutely hilarious!"
"Duan Shenxing! You son of a bitch!"
Enraged by my words, Wei Shengnan grabbed a wooden stick and was about to hit me: "Come here, I'll switch places with you!"
"You're not really afraid of ghosts, are you?" Seeing Wei Shengnan's excited look, I said helplessly, "We came to India to raid tombs, aren't you even mentally prepared for this?"
"My understanding of tomb raiding is similar to archaeology. I'm not afraid of encountering corpses and skeletons! But that doesn't mean I'm not afraid of ghost stories!"
Wei Shengnan stood up and threatened, "Come here quickly and switch places with me."
I got up and switched places with Wei Shengnan: "What I just said was to scare you, but it's true that I encountered the Ghost Temple. This is not a joke."
Wei Shengnan, having been teased by me, clearly didn't trust me much: "Duan Shenxing, we're going down into the tomb tomorrow, so be serious and don't put more pressure on me."
“I’m not kidding you, I really saw a ghost temple, and I believe such things are real. I’ve seen related records in the Judge’s Records.”
After I finished speaking with Wei Shengnan, I also told him a story recorded in the Judge's Record.
During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the Duan family produced a man named Duan Hezheng. He was extremely talented, possessing a photographic memory and an exceptional talent for tomb raiding.
According to the Duan family's ancestral teachings, only the eldest son could inherit the family business. Although Duan Hezheng was exceptionally talented, he was the second son in the family and therefore could not access the family's secret techniques.
Duan Hezheng held a grudge about this matter. His family forbade him from getting involved in the business of the four gates, so he went out and worked on his own.
Although he didn't receive systematic training, he had learned some skills from a young age through exposure to the industry. He gathered a group of accomplices to dig up graves and became quite well-known in the business.
The term "ghost market" didn't exist during the Yuan Dynasty, but similar trading markets called "Yinrenchang" already existed. These places had a wide variety of transactions, including selling children, petty theft, bandits, and tomb raiders. People from all walks of life would come here to sell their stolen goods.
The underworld operates shady businesses, starting at night and ending at dawn. They only discuss transactions and are not allowed to ask each other for information.
Back then, those who could go to the underworld to do business were mostly poor people, except for tomb raiders like Duan Hezheng.
At that time, Duan He had just robbed a large tomb and set up a stall in the Yinrenchang for several days. Every day, an old man dressed in fine clothes would stand in front of his stall without saying a word or buying anything.
On the third day, Duan Hezheng couldn't hold back any longer and took the initiative to ask the old man what he wanted to buy.
The old man's voice was like that of a palace eunuch, so shrill it made your ears itch.
He said he wasn't interested in the items at Duan Hezheng's stall, but rather in his craftsmanship, and wanted Duan Hezheng to help him rob a tomb.
At that time, Duan He originally wanted to refuse, because according to the rules of the underworld, one should not inquire about the other party's background. Unexpectedly, the old man directly took out one or two taels of gold as a deposit.
In those days, a family of five working hard all year round couldn't even save five qian of silver, so one or two taels of gold was a huge fortune.
Encouraged by money, Duan Hezheng took the job and, following the directions given by the old man, found an ancient tomb.
The details of the process are omitted, but Duan Hezheng eventually obtained what the old man wanted and delivered it to his residence as instructed.
After I finished speaking, Wei Shengnan poked at the campfire with a twig and asked, "And then?"
I continued, "This record wasn't told by Duan Hezheng himself, but by someone who was tomb raiding with him. The old man had made an agreement with Duan Hezheng to deliver something, but he never came back. After Duan Hezheng disappeared, the people from the Four Gates went up the mountain and found an ancient tomb there. After digging it up, they found a coffin inside, and the person buried in the coffin was none other than Duan Hezheng."
"Could it be that his accomplices were tempted by the money and buried him there?" Wei Shengnan analyzed. "There are far too many tomb raiders who work together and are tempted by the money."
"Our ancestors thought so too. After inspection, they found that the tomb had not been disturbed and that the burial objects inside were still there."
I shook my head: "After investigation, the people from the Four Gates discovered that the tomb belonged to a subordinate general who was buried alongside a Tang Dynasty general. The item he asked Duan Hezheng to take was the seal from the general's tomb, and this seal did not belong to the general. The elders of the Duan family at the time analyzed that when the general was buried, in order to ensure that others would continue to serve him, he withheld the item that could prove their identity, preventing them from being reincarnated. When Duan Hezheng went to the general's residence, he was actually entering the general's tomb through the gate of the burial site."
Upon hearing my story, Wei Shengnan tightened her collar.
"When I saw that ghost temple before, I found it to be magnificent, but the temple gate was very small, and it didn't look like the gate of the living world at all. So I figured it was probably not a path for the living."
I added sticks to the fire: "So I think the temple we saw should also be like a burial site. Maybe the person who designed the feng shui also built a burial tomb here as the core of the White Tiger Sha formation."
"Duan Shenxing! That's enough, stop talking!"
After hearing my story, Wei Shengnan looked around and sensed something was off. She hesitated for a moment, then sat down next to me. "I know you're just telling stories to scare me, and I admit you succeeded! This place is strange enough as it is; you should stop now!"
I was speechless: "The ghost temple is real, I'm not kidding you."
Just then, a gust of cold wind blew into the crevice, and the airflow was turbulent, as if someone were breathing in your ear.
"That's enough!"
Wei Shengnan glared at me, then grabbed my arm and bit it.
"Why!"
I felt a stinging pain in my arm and made a move to push Wei Shengnan away, but she suddenly pounced on me and pinned me down.
Immediately afterwards, I felt a warm touch on my lips.
In the firelight, Wei Shengnan's beautiful face filled my vision.
I was startled by Wei Shengnan's actions: "Wei Shengnan, are you crazy?"
Wei Shengnan tackled me again: "Your ghost stories are all I can think about right now, I have to find a way to distract myself!"
I'm a young man full of vigor, and seeing Wei Shengnan being so proactive, I naturally put my arm around her waist.
That night, I was entangled with her endlessly, and fell into a deep sleep from exhaustion.
...
I was woken up.
When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky, and I was only wearing an outer garment.
Old Song squatted down beside me, grinning as he looked at me: "Young Master Duan, you're really carefree. In this desolate wilderness, you're actually sleeping soundly with your bare bottom exposed. Aren't you afraid a wild snake will come out and eat your little bird?"
I looked around and saw that, apart from Song Laosan, Qu Ruilin, Monkey, and the others were all there.
Seeing Wei Shengnan standing beside them, I glanced at her with a slightly shy expression.
When Wei Shengnan saw me staring at her, she glared at me and said, "Are you sick? What are you looking at me for?"
I was secretly pleased when Wei Shengnan scolded me, but I didn't expect her to be embarrassed.
Come to think of it, when Song Laosan said he found me, I wasn't wearing any clothes, so Wei Shengnan probably wasn't in much better shape either. No wonder she was so angry and embarrassed.
The monkey saw my expression and gave me a push: "Young Master Duan, what are you grinning about? Where did you go after we parted last night?"
Seeing my clothes scattered to the side, I reached out and picked them up: "Weren't we trapped by the White Tiger Demon? I've been with Wei Shengnan the whole time!"
The monkey looked at me suspiciously: "What nonsense are you talking about? We were all together last night, except for you!"
Upon hearing the monkey's words, I looked at Wei Shengnan in the group and froze on the spot.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com