According to the previous excavation and exploration of the archaeological team from University A, the tomb gate was hidden about half a meter underground.
Deng Yang successfully found the location of the tomb gate according to his memory. Strangely enough, the entrance they had previously opened was somehow completely covered by clods of earth, leaving not a single gap.
Yu Nian looked at the surging black and resentful qi outside the tomb gate and said calmly, "This tomb is the lair of the old ghost. He must have used his ghostly power to repair the tomb gate."
Deng Yang was completely stunned. "Last time we dug it open with instruments. This time we don't have any tools. What should we do?"
"Let me give it a try," Guan Sheng, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.
They saw him take out a stack of talismans from his bosom. Standing in front of the tomb gate in a solemn manner, he uttered a couple of incantations in a low voice and then abruptly threw out the talismans.
The talismans fluttered in the wind, making a rustling sound. But this imposing momentum only lasted for a moment. Then, just like a broken - down car that had run out of steam, there was not a single sound.
The tomb gate stood quietly in front of them, as if mocking their overconfidence.
Guan Sheng tried a few more times, but the talismans still had no effect. He pursed his lips, withdrew his hand, silently picked up a wooden stick from the ground, and started to dig the earth laboriously.
Yu Nian said calmly, "Stop digging. By the time you dig it open, it'll be Chinese New Year. We can only use magic to attack this tomb gate with ghostly qi attached to it."
Guan Sheng's hand paused. He looked up and saw Yu Nian picking off the talismans stuck on the tomb gate and examining them carefully. Those yellow papers seemed to have been kept for a long time. Their surfaces were a bit wrinkled, obviously because Guan Sheng often took them out and fiddled with them.
"Did you draw these?"
A hint of uneasiness flashed across Guan Sheng's cold face. He said fiercely, "What are you looking at? Give them back to me!"
But before he could even touch the corner of Yu Nian's clothes, he was stopped by Feng Chengyuan with a single hand.
Yu Nian slowly unfolded the talisman and saw a mess of scrawled characters. The strokes were intermittent and crooked. One had to take a close look to barely recognize that it was a talisman for summoning thunder.
Guan Sheng must have intended to use the power of thunder to split open the tomb gate.
The old master who had adopted Guan Sheng must have had some supernatural powers. But perhaps he had passed away too early and hadn't taught all his magic arts to Guan Sheng. That was why the talismans drawn by Guan Sheng only had the form but not the essence, only grasping the general idea.
Most of the stack of talismans drawn by Guan Sheng could only serve as decorations.
Even the few talismans that could be used could only exert extremely weak effects.
For example, the talismans originally used to exorcise evil spirits could only dispel some bad luck because of the lack of spiritual power. The talismans that could originally ward off disasters and relieve misfortunes could at most cure minor ailments like headaches and colds.
If it was about summoning thunder, it was absolutely impossible to summon thunder with just this wrinkled talisman. At most, it would attract a wisp or two of clouds.
But things were different when this talisman was in Yu Nian's hands. She mobilized her qi and gathered her spiritual power at her fingertips.
"Receive the order and summon. Quickly descend with your mighty spirit." Yu Nian read out the characters on the talisman one by one and then casually threw it out. The moment the talisman left her hand, it suddenly burst into flames and burned to ashes in the blink of an eye.
In an instant, the sky suddenly changed. The strong wind howled past. The dark clouds surged towards them like waves.
Several deafening thunderclaps suddenly exploded from the sky. The silent clouds continuously spat out extremely dazzling flames. Everyone felt a very powerful hurricane howling past their heads.
Immediately afterwards, a deafening sound that could shake mountains and shatter rocks suddenly rang out and echoed continuously in the empty mountains.
For the first time, cracks appeared on Guan Sheng's usually calm face. He stared at the sky in disbelief. Astonishment and shock welled up in his eyes.
A meandering lightning bolt shot down like a sharp sword and precisely struck the tomb gate.
Rocks flew everywhere. Everyone was choked by the dust and couldn't open their eyes.
A huge boulder fell heavily a few steps in front of Yu Nian, but Yu Nian didn't even blink an eye.
The tomb gate was thus opened.
It took Guan Sheng a long time to come to his senses. He looked at Yu Nian with a complex expression.
The same talisman was just a piece of waste paper in his own hands, but it could exert such great power in Yu Nian's hands. Just who was she?
...
The air in the ancient tomb was thin, and the air was filled with a damp and putrid smell. The tomb passage leading directly to the underground palace was very narrow. Only one person could pass through at a time. It was pitch - black inside and one couldn't see the end at a glance.
Yu Nian threw out a fire talisman. The light emitted after the talisman caught fire finally allowed everyone to see the surrounding scenery.
Everyone entered the tomb passage one by one. There were several grooves on the cold stone walls on both sides for placing torches. The stone walls were engraved with dense scriptures. After walking through several sets of dense stone steps, the scene in front of them suddenly opened up.
Rather than a tomb, this place was more like a huge natural cave. The ground was covered with unknown gravel and sand. When walking on it, it would make a "creaking" sound, which was particularly obvious in the empty tomb.
Jiang Jin was in an ancient tomb for the first time. While being scared, she also felt a bit excited. She hid behind Yu Nian and looked around.
But Deng Yang stared with wide eyes in surprise at the surroundings and murmured, "The ancient tomb was not like this at all when we came here last time! After we followed Professor Sun through the tomb passage, we directly reached the main coffin chamber. Where on earth is this place? Could there be two tombs?"
Yu Nian silently took Deng Yang's words to heart. As she looked around, she saw a group of faintly green corpses scattered on a stone altar not far away. Due to the passage of time, those corpses had already dried up, distorted, and curled into a ball, making it impossible to tell whether they were human or animal corpses.
The surfaces of the corpses were covered with thick moss, but one could still tell their state before death. Each corpse had its mouth wide open in pain as if dislocated, and the stench of the corpses was so strong that it was suffocating.
Feng Chengyuan stared at the group of corpses for a while and then suddenly frowned. "Did the corpses just move?"
As soon as he said this, Deng Yang and Jiang Jin were extremely frightened. They immediately turned their heads and stared fixedly at the group of corpses, but they didn't find anything.
Even so, Jiang Jin was still highly nervous, and her voice was tinged with a sob. "Uncle, you really know how to joke. There's nothing interesting about corpses. Let's go quickly!"
But Feng Chengyuan ignored Jiang Jin's words and strode towards the group of corpses together with Yu Nian.
Without Yu Nian and Feng Chengyuan by their sides, Jiang Jin and Deng Yang always felt insecure. After exchanging a look, they quickly followed.
When everyone got closer, they found that the bellies of those corpses were bulging high, deformed to the point of being terrifying. It seemed that there was something constantly wriggling inside, as if it was about to burst out of the belly the next second.
Yu Nian frowned tightly. She gently prodded a corpse with a wooden stick, and a pile of white things poured out of the corpse's mouth.
They were a group of white eggs. Their outer skins were soft, and each one was as big as an egg. They were scattered densely on the ground.
Even more terrifying was that they were constantly wriggling in the light of the fire. Obviously, they were live eggs!
Jiang Jin's face contorted for a moment, and she retched.
"What the hell are these things? Parasites?"