The Complete Collection of Yellow River Ghost Coffins

Chapter 19

How did the girl get onto this white jade coffin? And how did she end up lying on it? The young master was pale, his breathing was rapid, my palms were sweaty, and my heart was pounding. The two looked at each other, and the young master gestured for me to go down first, and I followed him.

I nodded, and the young master climbed over the beam again. Then, with a thud, he jumped down towards the coffin, and I followed suit...

We made a lot of noise, but the girl lying on the white jade coffin didn't move at all. The young master and I looked at each other, and we both had an indescribable strange feeling. We walked around the coffin, but for some reason, neither of us dared to touch the girl.

After hesitating for a moment, I finally couldn't help but say, "Young Master, the maid..."

"Damn it!" the young master cursed angrily, and said directly, "Old Xu, we can't worry about all that now. Without the girl, I can't live either. You take action and see if there's any hope for her."

I nodded and carefully reached out to touch the girl, my fingers finding her pulse, which was ice-cold to the touch. My heart sank instantly, thinking, "It's over, it's over, is she going to die here?" For some reason, I suddenly thought of her disheveled appearance in Shazhen, and how she had playfully asked me, "Do I look pretty?"

"Old Xu, what's wrong?" Seeing that I looked strange, the young master couldn't help but ask again.

"Hah...hah..." Suddenly, a "hah" sound came from the girl's throat, which was already ice-cold, as if she were dying and her throat was blocked with phlegm. A thought flashed through my mind: the girl wasn't dead yet, so did that mean—there was still hope?

I didn't care about anything else. Following some first aid methods I had seen on TV and in newspapers before, I immediately pressed hard on the girl's chest and kept pressing. But no matter how hard I tried, the girl didn't respond at all, except for a couple of "hoarse" sounds in her throat earlier.

The more anxious I became, the less strength I had in my hands. The young master hurriedly said, "Old Xu, let me do it..." As he spoke, he took my place without giving me a chance to explain. I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and warmed my sweat, and only then did I have time to glance at the armor shell that the maid had pushed next to the coffin.

Although there were no corpses inside that armor, it was still quite strange. Just now, when the young master touched it slightly, it attracted a group of black corpses. Now that the girl has pushed it aside, there is no movement at all.

With a crisp "snap," just as I was examining the armor, I heard a clear sound, as if it were the sound of flesh colliding. Before I could think, I instinctively looked up and saw the young master covering one of his swollen cheeks with one hand, staring blankly at the girl.

The girl had already sat up and was sitting blankly on the white jade coffin, giving off an indescribable eerie feeling—a living person sitting on a coffin.

"Girl..." I felt my mouth was dry, and after a long while, I stammered, "Are you... are you alright?"

The maid looked at me in confusion, then at the young master, and asked, her face flushed, "What's going on? How did I get here?"

I shook my head. How would I know? In the blink of an eye, she was out of our sight and had run here. I quickly explained what had happened to the maid. It turned out that she herself was confused, not knowing how she ended up on the white jade coffin, and had even fainted. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the young master's hands pressing hard on her chest. The maid assumed the young master was intentionally being harassed, and without thinking, slapped him across the face. The young master swallowed his anger, his good intentions only earning him a slap.

I said, "Girl, think about it carefully, how did you end up here?"

The girl sat on the coffin for a long time before saying, "My stomach hurt just now, and I needed to relieve myself..." As she said this, her face turned red again, which I found hard to believe. I was puzzled as to why a woman would blush when she had diarrhea. Diarrhea is perfectly normal!

It turned out that after the girl finished having diarrhea, she felt a sudden darkness before her eyes and became delirious. She didn't even know how she got to the white jade coffin and just lay down on it.

I thought to myself, this place is truly eerily strange. Finding Liu Qu's epitaph and figuring out how to break the curse is the most important thing; ignoring irrelevant matters is the right path. As for how the professor and Old Bian got here and how they mysteriously disappeared, that's none of our concern. Our immediate priority is survival.

I shared my idea with the maid and the young master, and they both agreed. The young master suggested we examine the armor shell first to see if there were any clues. I thought that made sense, since we had previously found similar markings on the head of the armor shell, suggesting there must be some connection between the two.

I asked the girl some more questions, but apart from her strange behavior earlier, she seemed completely unaffected. I was incredibly surprised. It was already strange enough that the young master was unharmed after being choked by that black corpse, but for the girl, who had been bewitched, to be alive was nothing short of a miracle.

I had initially thought the girl was in grave danger, but seeing her safe and sound fills me with joy, and I no longer worry about the rest. Although our lives are still hanging by a thread, at least we're alive…

It's always good to be alive!

The young master had already jumped down from the white jade coffin and was about to reach out to touch the empty armor shell again. I reached out to help the maid, who was still half-sitting on the white jade coffin. However, when I reached out to support the maid, I noticed that her gaze was fixed on a certain point, and her expression was extremely strange. I was startled, fearing that something had happened to the maid, and quickly followed her gaze.

Upon seeing this, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine—from the girl's angle, Liu Qu's underworld palace was vast, surrounded by a magnificent palace layout. I had heard that underworld palaces were generally built to resemble the palaces of the deceased in life; therefore, although this place was much smaller, the pavilions and eaves were still extremely opulent. But in one of the smaller palaces, a black shadow was huddled, and in the blur, it seemed to be a human figure…

"Old Xu, come and take a look, what is this?" The young master's voice came from the side. I ignored him and just stared blankly at the blurry figure.

The young master called out again, and seeing that neither the maid nor I paid any attention, he quickly turned around and asked curiously, "Old Xu, are you possessed?" Before he could finish his sentence, he probably noticed the strange look in our eyes and immediately looked in that direction. After a long while, he asked in surprise, "What is that?"

"It looks...it looks like a person?" the girl stammered, twisting her neck stiffly as she looked to the other side.

All around the white jade coffin were tall, pagoda-like structures. Unless one was sitting directly on the white jade coffin, it would be difficult to spot the figure curled up inside the pagoda—or rather, a ghostly figure would be a more apt description.

The young master took out a crossbow and asked me in a low voice, "Why don't we go take a look?"

I nodded with difficulty, but I couldn't help cursing in my heart. That damned Liu Qu, he really is no good. He's already dead, but he still harms people. What's the point of putting this thing in the pagoda? As I thought this, I helped the girl and carefully walked towards the pagoda next to the white jade coffin.

Upon getting closer, the young master practically lay on the ground, shining his flashlight inside for a long time before saying, "This is really strange."

"What's wrong?" Since the pagodas weren't very big, the young master had already crouched down, so the maid and I shone our flashlights on them to look at them. Only then did I get a good look at these white pagodas. I don't know where Liu Qu found these stones, but at first glance, they looked just like white jade, with a translucent color throughout. Of course, I knew they definitely weren't white jade; otherwise, even an emperor might not have the wealth to build just these four pagodas, let alone Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan.

The Han Dynasty valued elaborate burials, and Liu Qu, the King of Guangchuan, was infamous for his cruelty and tomb raiding. The Taiping Guangji provides a relatively detailed account of him. However, I don't understand how such a magnificent tomb could exist here, given that Emperor Xuan of Han decreed that he was stripped of his title and exiled to Shangyong, and he committed suicide during his exile.

Just as I was lost in thought, the young master exclaimed, "Old Xu, look... this is a mannequin, but why is it made to look so strange?"

His words piqued my curiosity, so I couldn't help but lie down as well. The two of us lay on the ground, looking at the mannequin inside the pagoda. Although it was called a mannequin, we couldn't tell what it was made of. Its appearance resembled a dried-up corpse. What was even stranger was that it was lying on the ground in a strange posture, with a pair of red eyes staring at us.

The girl also came closer, and I whispered, "Girl, you're the expert, take a look. Is there anything strange about this person? Why is he dressed like this?"

The girl stared at it for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter without warning. My heart skipped a beat, and I thought to myself, "Oh no, is the girl possessed by an evil spirit?" But then the girl said, "Brother Xu, look at this mannequin. Doesn't it look exactly like the one we see when we lie on the ground?"

I hadn't paid any attention at first, but after the girl mentioned it, my heart skipped a beat. Looking at the mannequin inside the pagoda, then back at the young master beside me, it was indeed true. The mannequin inside the pagoda was kneeling on the ground, its head slightly raised, its eyes wide, staring at us from the pagoda's entrance, while the three of us were kneeling outside, looking up at it. This awkward exchange of glances was truly indescribable.

After looking at it for a while, I still couldn't tell what the mannequins inside the pagoda were made of, or if they were simply dried-up real corpses. What wouldn't that old pervert Liu Qu do?

The girl stood up first, shone her flashlight around, and whispered to me, "Brother Xu, it seems there are people inside all three pagodas."

I nodded, thinking to myself, "Of course, this person is probably the one guarding the pagoda. If the first pagoda has one, how could the other three not have one?" As I thought this, I got up and looked at the pagoda next to me.

Each pagoda was adorned with magnificent carvings of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, each containing kneeling effigies. Looking from where the white jade coffin stood, I began to understand. Liu Qu was indeed a pervert; from this angle, I could clearly see the three kneeling faces. Clearly, even in death, he still yearned for the life of an emperor, served by others.

However, when we approached Xuanwu, the young master was the first to lie down, take a look, and then exclaimed with a look of surprise, "Old Xu, something's strange!"

I shook my head inwardly. If this place wasn't strange, what could be? The young master just loved to scare people with his exaggerated antics. As I thought this, I lay down as well. Just one glance was enough to fill me with astonishment. Inside the pagoda symbolizing the Black Tortoise, there wasn't a mannequin, but—a white fox curled up inside!

The white fox was covered in shiny, silvery-white fur. Its pointed snout faced the entrance of the pagoda. It was curled up on the ground, with its head resting on an agate-colored pillow.

The young master and I stared at each other for a while, then exchanged a glance. Finally, the young master couldn't help but ask, "Girl, do you think foxes were ever used for burial in ancient times?"

"That's hard to say!" the girl frowned. "It's not uncommon for people to be buried alive with foxes, but it's relatively rare. Chinese people have always believed that foxes are spiritual beings with unpredictable supernatural powers, and they are very sinister, which is why many people dare not touch them easily."

I once heard Nanpaizi say that if a fox lives in an ancient tomb, it will inevitably absorb the essence of the ancient corpse and devour the essence of the sun and moon. Once it comes into contact with the aura of a living person, it becomes even more extraordinary. But this fox in front of me doesn't look like a living fox at all, and the treatment it receives is clearly much higher than that of the people who were kneeling on the ground earlier. You can tell from that agate pillow that Liu Qu values this white fox very much.

The girl nudged me with her elbow and whispered, "Brother Xu, that pillow is hollow. There might be some relevant records inside. Shall we take it out and take a look?"

I naturally agreed; the girl had followed the professor for many years and had a good eye for such things. Without waiting for instructions, the young master had already taken the rope and slipped it over the pillow under the fox's head—since the fox wasn't an ancient corpse, and didn't even have a coffin, there was no need to follow Nanpaizi's methods. The high-difficulty actions of using a mirror, putting the fox inside the coffin with its hand behind its back, etc., were handled directly by the simplest and most effective method.

The young master's eyesight was truly terrible; at such close range, it took him two tries to loop the rope around the agate pillow before he finally managed to get it under the white fox's head. Then, he carefully pulled the rope, trying to pull the pillow out from under the white fox's head, but with a forceful pull, he dragged the fox along with it to the pagoda's entrance. Then, in the flashlight's beam, I could clearly see that it was indeed a huge fox, its fur incredibly smooth; if skinned and made into a fur coat, it would surely be quite impressive.

But for some reason, the moment my eyes met the white fox's pointed mouth, I couldn't help but have the illusion that this fox... seemed to know what we were going to do.

The young master tied the rope around his waist, put on his protective plastic gloves, and reached out to touch the agate pillow under the fox's head.

His hand had just touched the fox's head when he suddenly jumped up as if bitten by something, his face full of fear.

"What's wrong?" I asked in surprise, noticing nothing was amiss.

"It's alive..." The young master looked at the white fox still lying at the bottom, his face full of disbelief.

"It...is it alive?" I asked, puzzled. To me, this white fox didn't look alive at all; it was clearly a taxidermied specimen. I don't know if the ancients had the concept of taxidermy, but this white fox really did look like a specimen, especially its somewhat shriveled body. Although its fur was smooth, it had lost the full vitality that an animal should have.

The girl offered a terrible idea, "Why don't you, Brother Li, shoot it with your crossbow and see if it's dead or alive?"

"It's alive!" the young master said, shaking his head repeatedly. "When I touched it just now, I could clearly feel that its body was still soft and warm..."

To be honest, I agree with what the girl said. Give it a crossbow shot, and it'll be dead even if it's not dead yet. Then we can slowly study what's inside the pillow.

The young master glanced at the two of us, then at the white fox lying on the ground. After a moment, he gritted his teeth, took the crossbow from his back, nocked a bamboo arrow, and prepared to shoot at the fox. Suddenly, under the light of our flashlights, the white fox seemed to inflate itself; its previously shriveled body plumped up, and its fur instantly became glossy and vibrant. Then, right before our eyes, it twitched its ears, opened its mouth wide, opened its bright red eyes, stretched out its limbs, and comfortably yawned.

Its movements were like those of a domesticated raccoon, indescribably charming and adorable. But as we watched, a chill ran down our spines—this fox was alive? It hadn't died? How had it survived in this sealed ancient tomb?

Moreover, since it can be resurrected, does that mean that the dummies in the remaining three pagodas may also be resurrected?

The white fox tilted its head, sizing up the three of us uninvited guests who had barged into the tomb. Then, mimicking a human, it hugged the agate pillow tightly with its two front paws, rested its head on it, and seemed to be planning to continue sleeping.

The three of us, perfectly healthy, stood there dumbfounded, staring at it without moving, utterly shocked. It wasn't that we forgot to react; rather, we simply couldn't remember what we should do.

In a tomb dating back to the Western Han Dynasty, three living people were locked in a stalemate facing a fox. The white fox did not move, and neither did we.

Suddenly, I felt a chill on the back of my neck. Before I could react, something jolted my shoulder, as if it had been placed on it. I was startled and knew something was wrong. I didn't dare turn around and crouched down. In that moment, I saw clearly—behind me, I didn't know when, several legs had appeared, several human legs…

I yelled and turned to run, but we were still near the white jade coffin, and the space was really limited. Where could I run to? I grabbed a bamboo arrow and stabbed it heavily into the person behind me—or rather, the rice dumpling.

My shout startled the young master and maid, who both noticed the same thing. The young master turned and fired the bamboo arrow from his crossbow. At such close range, his aim was naturally perfect, but the arrow failed to pierce the man's body; instead, it fell to the ground with a clatter…

I've turned around and can see it clearly now. The person behind me is exactly the same dummy we saw earlier, kneeling and guarding the pagoda. Now, observing it up close, I can see it even more clearly. This dummy is entirely black, as if it's been coated with black lacquer, even its face is a dark patch. Only its two eyes are a bright red, like blood.

Three black mannequins stood behind us, staring at us with bright red eyes.

They didn't attack, and naturally we didn't move either—three living people, three dummy people, and a huge fox lying next to them, just facing each other like that, an indescribably strange situation.

My unease and suspicion grew stronger. How big was that small pagoda opening? It seemed too small even for a person's head to fit through. How could these dummies have gotten out? Unless, there was a secret passage near that small white jade coffin.

That's not right. If this really is Liu Qu's burial place, why would he allow a fox to lie beside him?

The maidservant tugged at my sleeve and pointed to the side. Suspicious, I turned to look and saw the large, solitary fox from before, clutching the agate pillow, slowly retreating into the Xuanwu Pagoda. The maidservant gestured to me and then winked at the young master.

I understood what she meant and nodded in agreement. The maid gestured to the young master, who always obeyed her and naturally didn't object. The maid nodded to me again, then took a bamboo arrow and charged at the dummy, with the young master following behind.

Without the slightest hesitation, I pounced on the white fox—but the beast, seeing me approach, lashed out with its paw at my face. Relying on the gas mask I was wearing, I wasn't afraid of its fox claws and continued to grab the agate pillow it was protecting.

The girl said there was something inside the pillow, and I was still a bit skeptical, but seeing that damned fox protecting the agate pillow, I couldn't help but get angry. After all, how could a grown man like me be no match for a beast?

"Damn it, you give it to me..." My anger rose, and my initial slight fear of it had been greatly diminished by my anger. I decided to take it by force.

Seeing my menacing approach, the beast seemed frightened and weakly took a step back. I rushed forward with a wicked grin, unable to resist saying, "Scared? Ha, if you're scared, then just give me the stuff. Honestly, what do you need a pillow for, you fox..." Before I could finish my sentence, my legs suddenly gave way, and I fell downwards involuntarily.

"Young Master, Maid..." I couldn't help but shout, but my body still plummeted downwards, leaving me dizzy and disoriented. After a while, I touched my bottom, which had almost been split in four pieces, and angrily cursed, "You cunning beast! You couldn't win, so you resorted to underhanded tactics!" My heart filled with worry for the young master and maid; I wondered how they were doing.

Those dummies are invulnerable to swords and spears; they're not easy to deal with. Liu Qu certainly wouldn't just put a few dummies in the tomb to amuse the children; there must be a powerful killing move coming up. As I thought this, I adjusted the flashlight. Thankfully, the flashlight was of good quality; it had been dropped twice and was still working. The only drawback was that the beam seemed to have weakened considerably.

Only then did I begin to take pictures and observe the surrounding scenery. This should also be considered a tomb chamber, also circular, but the ceiling wasn't made of wooden beams; instead, it was directly constructed of stone walls, and its size was the same as the one above. But strangely, there was a pool in the middle, and something was vaguely visible in the center of the pool—a thick iron chain that stretched from one side of the pool to the other.

"Old Xu..."

"Brother Xu..."

As I was surveying my surroundings, I faintly heard the voices of the young master and the maid. I was overjoyed, knowing that they had also fallen in. I wondered where the dummies and foxes were now. I listened carefully, and the young master's loud voice seemed to be nearby. I turned around to look and discovered that there was a small door next to the tomb chamber. It wasn't big; one had to hunch over to get in and out.

Curiosity simmered within me, coupled with the desire to reunite with the young master and maid as soon as possible, so I hurried over. The small door was blocked by a stone; I pushed hard, exerting tremendous effort, before finally managing to move it slightly. Just as I turned to squeeze through, a pale face squeezed through the stone doorway, giving me a strange smile…

I could see it clearly; that face was definitely that of the professor who had died in the moat above. There was even a large, bloody hole in his chest, and his hands, pale and swollen from being soaked in water, were trembling as they reached out to grab me.

I was terrified. My vest was soaked with cold sweat. I couldn't help but scream and kick the professor with all my might.

"Ah..." A piercing pain shot through my foot, as if my leg bone had broken. The intense pain also brought me back to my senses. Upon closer inspection, there was no professor anywhere. At the entrance to the tomb chamber, there was still the same crack I had slightly pushed open. My kick had landed squarely on the stone door, leaving a large, wet footprint.

When I saw this footprint, for some reason, I inexplicably thought of the footprints that Lao Bian left in the upper chamber of the tomb, and I couldn't help but feel a chill.

I bit my tongue hard and shook my head, trying to calm myself down. I had to stay calm! Thinking that the young master and the maid were nearby, I hurriedly tried to squeeze through the stone gate again. Suddenly, something fell down from the stone gate with a "thud," which startled me again, as I was already quite paranoid.

I shone my flashlight on it, and the thing that had fallen to the ground was actually a bronze piece. I already had two such bronze pieces. The first one was a gift from that old man Wang Quansheng, and the second one was the one that Shan Jun clutched tightly in his hand after he died. Later, the old man sitting on the corpse gave it to me, saying it was Shan Jun's instruction.

Damn, they're all dead, how can they signal? But when I saw this thing again, I couldn't help but think of the hideous, eerie smiles on their faces after they died, especially Shan Jun's eyes staring straight at me...

After a while, seeing that there was nothing amiss, I bent down and carefully picked up the bronze fragment. I held it up in my hand and shone a flashlight on it. Like the previous two fragments, this bronze fragment also had bird-script inscriptions and thunder-patterned cloud patterns, clearly from the same bronze artifact of the same period. I just didn't know why this one had inexplicably fallen in front of me.

Chapter Three: The Three Corpse Gods

I examined it for a while but couldn't discern any grains of rice, wheat, or soybeans. So, I carefully tucked the bronze fragment close to my body, intending to show it to the maid later. After all, she's an archaeologist, so she's more professional. As I thought this, I tried again to squeeze through the crack in the stone door to search for the maid and the young master.

The stone at the doorway was incredibly heavy; I struggled mightily and only managed to push it open a tiny gap. For someone over 1.8 meters tall like me, squeezing through was quite difficult. I half-squatted, pulled in my breath, and strained to move outwards. Just as I was sweating profusely, I suddenly looked up and saw a face right in front of me.