We were gasping for breath when we arrived at the forbidden area. Sure enough, Old Wu’s daughter was looming over the tomb, trying to dig out the soil with her bare hands. Her fingernails were all gone, and her blood was mixed with the mud. However, she didn’t feel any pain. I even caught a glimpse of satisfaction on her face as she smiled, repeating, “You said that I’m beautiful. Is that true?”

Old Wu was terrified. He hurried to grab her and pull her close to his chest. However, the little girl gave an ear-splitting scream. She suddenly became too strong for her age and pushed Old Wu away. Then, she dashed toward the tomb again.

The Village Elder called over some strong young men to pull the girl away and suppress her.

“What should we do now?” The Village Elder looked at me with deep concern.

I lifted my head to check the sky. It was still a few hours till dawn. I asked the Village Elder, “Get a rope and tie the girl. We have to wait until the break of dawn.”

If we dug the tomb at night like this, we would disrespect the tomb owner and encounter great danger.

After hearing me, the villagers exhaled in relief.

It was curious to find that, although the village didn’t have many things, they sure had ropes. They tied the girl’s hands together with the swine-killing knot.

“Everybody, please stay here and wait. We’ll take action when the sky gets brighter.” To encourage them, I even added, “This is Wuyan Village, where you have lived for generations. It’s the land of the living… The deceased should leave! Please do your best today, for the future of your children, and to prevent more cases like that of the mad girl from appearing.”

Some people found my pep talk amusing.

“Hey, little brother, you’re not old, but your speech was really pleasant to the ears. You’re right. The deceased should go away and reincarnate! Don’t linger and hold on to grudges about matters that happened when you were alive. Stop disturbing the living!”

“Yeah, right. We grew up in 

Wuyan

 Village. 

Wuyan

 Village is our home!” the villagers shouted.

No matter what, my purpose had been achieved. Li Mazi smiled at me in admiration. We then went to a secluded place to fend off the strong wind.

Li Mazi, who was someone that could even sleep while hugging an atomic bomb, began to snore shortly after. 

Zhao Wuyang and I couldn’t sleep. He said to me, “That night, I was also like this. I hid behind a big tree, not daring to move. I’ve thought about it these days. They wouldn’t have died if I had been brave enough to stop them that day.”

Zhao 

Wuyang

 began to blame himself since his friends had been harmed and later died one after another.

I smiled and comforted him, “You’re still young. You’ll get to experience more and more things in the future. If this event can change your personality and lessen your regret, my actions would not have been in vain.”

Zhao Wuyang appreciated my words. He looked at me and said, “Is the fee to invite you very expensive? I don’t know if my savings are enough.”

“Don’t worry. If your deposit isn’t enough, you can pay slowly.” I winked at Zhao Wuyang. “If I need to fix my teeth later, I’ll rely on you.”

Zhao Wuyang smiled happily. Right until dawn, he kept repeating the things I had told him.

Except for Li Mazi, none of the people who had gone to the forbidden place slept a wink. We started to work when the sky turned brighter. At first, I poured the rice wine into the empty bowls, placing them around the tomb in accordance with the Eight Diagrams’ directions. I used the red threads to chain all the bowls together. This setup was called ‘Immortal Binding Rope,’ which was used to prevent resentful energy from escaping.

I checked the sky again; it was the right time. I quickly announced, “It’s good now! Let’s start digging!”

Since many people had joined our outing, the coffin was soon exposed.

Zhao Wuyang seemed like he had fixed his cowardly personality. He was at the front, digging harder than anyone else. I smiled, feeling satisfied.

Li Mazi was surprised. “That kid’s bewitched? Should we tie him up too?”

He wasn’t bewitched. He had finally changed!

The coffin was smaller than I had imagined. It was made of cedar wood, and it had yet to rot, even after thousands of years. No one would buy it if people said there was nothing strange about this coffin!

Anyway, there was no need to be wary of this coffin since it had been opened many times. I asked four strong young men to pry the coffin open for us.

The Village Elder was worried. “Don’t you need to light up some candles?”

Li Mazi burst out laughing. “You should do that if you want to take the grave goods. But we aren’t going to take the goods. No need to light up a candle.”

The Village Elder embarrassedly stopped talking.

The coffin lid was gently lifted, revealing a gray-white skeleton. Its hands were crossed over its chest, holding a sparkling bronze mirror.

Copper material would develop a patina when placed in a humid environment. However, except for some dabs of patina at the corners, this bronze mirror was really bright, reflecting dazzling flashes under the sunlight.

I had reminded people earlier that they should move aside once the lid was opened. They had to prevent their curiosity from getting the best of them. If they were careless and their faces got skinned, they could not blame it on my skills!

At this moment, the red thread I had tied around the tomb began to vibrate.

It

 s

eems like the resentful energy is trying to escape!

I hurried to cover my eyes with my hand as I rushed toward the tomb. I used a piece of red fabric to cover and wrap the bronze mirror with it. The red threads calmed down.

This bronze mirror was the most important clue. If we wanted to solve this case, we had to subdue this mirror first.

But how to subdue it?

I took out the rooster blood from my bag and carefully poured it onto the red fabric. The blood seeped through the fabric layers, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Holy crap! This mirror sure can drink rooster blood…

The mirror was strong, and it wasn’t afraid of many tricks which were normally used to expel evil.

This case is tough!

I scratched my head as I tried to think of a solution. Li Mazi suggested, “This mirror will return to this tomb no matter where it’s been taken, right? We should deal with its lair first. Once we fix the matter with the grave, we can deal with the mirror.”

It was rare for Li Mazi to offer such a reliable suggestion. If I didn’t consider it, I’m afraid it would hurt his confidence.

I agreed, giving him a nod. “Good idea!”

Li Mazi was excited since I had agreed to his proposal. “Guys, collect some wood. We’re going to burn the lair of this bastard.”

We had burned Ruan Lingyu’s coffin when we solved the goldfish bracelet case. This day, we were going to burn Zhong Wuyan’s coffin. A funny thought crossed my mind: we should leave the otherworldly item business for good and focus on mastering our burning skills.

I hurried to stop him. “No need to burn it. This place isn’t similar to the others. Her skeleton is all that remains, so she can cause no harm. The real source of the problem is the mirror. You shouldn’t disturb the house of the deceased!”

Li Mazi was surprised. “Then, what should we do?”

“Get a red cloth and soak it with rice wine and use that cloth to cover the skeleton. Then, chain the Five Emperor Coins with the red threads, winding them three times around the coffin.

The people hurried to follow my instructions.

No wonder many people wanted to be leaders. The feeling of giving orders wasn’t bad at all!