Everyone followed Deng Yang's finger and looked in that direction. There, they saw more than a dozen pitch - black coffins hanging from the top of the cave, each tightly wrapped by thick iron chains.
The chains reflected a cold and sharp glint under the light of the talisman fire. At the end of each chain was carved a strange double - headed stone statue, deeply embedded in the surrounding stone walls.
Unlike the old ghost's coffin, these coffins were much smaller. Presumably, they contained the remains of women and children.
After counting the number of coffins, Deng Yang was in disbelief.
"Could the people in these dozen or so coffins... be the old ghost's burial companions?"
Jiang Jin looked up at the closely arranged coffins. Whether shocked or scared, her eyes were wide open as she said dryly, "No wonder there were no coffins in the eastern tomb chamber. They've all been hung right above our heads..."
Deng Yang stared at the stone statue for a while and then suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "It's a tomb - guarding beast! I've seen it in textbooks! I can't believe it's here!"
The stone statue was neither fully human nor fully beast. It had a dragon's face and antlers. The two heads on its back were connected by curved necks. While looking majestic, it also gave off a strange and terrifying feeling.
Deng Yang said, "Tomb - guarding beasts are funerary objects. The ancients believed that wandering ghosts in the underworld would harm the soul of the tomb owner, so they set up tomb - guarding beasts to exorcise evil spirits and protect the soul of the tomb owner." He paused for a moment and then looked puzzled. "But tomb - guarding beasts are usually placed beside the tomb owner's coffin. Why are they placed on the coffins of the burial companions in this tomb chamber? And these big iron chains don't seem to be used to fix the coffins at all. They seem more like they're suppressing something..."
Just as he finished speaking, a harsh scratching sound suddenly came from the group of coffins. The board of one of the coffins suddenly flipped up, making a continuous and harsh "creaking" sound.
Jiang Jin immediately became alert and clung tightly to Feng Chengyuan's arm. "There aren't any thousand - year - old zombies here, are there?"
Yu Nian stared intently at the group of coffins for a moment, and her expression suddenly became serious. "What has gathered here is evil qi, not corpse qi. And I've fought against the old ghost. This isn't the evil qi from him. It seems there's more than one evil ghost in the tomb chamber."
The moment Yu Nian finished speaking, all the coffins began to shake violently. It seemed as if something was struggling desperately inside the coffins. The iron chains were shaking more and more violently, as if they were about to break at any moment.
Just as everyone was in panic, Yu Nian quickly threw a golden talisman paper towards the group of coffins. Then she pinched a magic seal and recited a spell. Her clear voice echoed throughout the tomb chamber. In an instant, the restless things in the coffins quieted down and didn't make a single sound!
Everyone listened quietly to Yu Nian's recitation, and the fear that had been building up in their hearts actually dissipated a lot.
Guan Sheng looked at Yu Nian with admiration and then asked, "What should we do next?"
They had searched the entire tomb chamber but still hadn't found any trace of the old ghost.
Yu Nian casually took out three coins from her pocket. From the moment she tossed them until they landed, it only took a few seconds. Before everyone could even see the heads or tails of the coins clearly, Yu Nian said calmly, "I've only temporarily scared the evil ghost away. When the time is right, it will come back. What we need to do now is wait for the ghost."
Although her words were brief, everyone couldn't help but shiver.
Jiang Jin forced a laugh. "Auntie, you're so humorous..."
He had experience waiting for people, but waiting for a ghost was a first!
Despite saying this, after experiencing so many dangerous events, everyone had already been convinced by Yu Nian and had no objections to her decision.
They had been running and hiding in this gloomy ancient tomb for a long time, and their physical and mental endurance had reached its limit. After finding a place to rest, they all took a break.
Jiang Jin and Deng Yang leaned against the same stone stele, huddling together for warmth. Soon, their breathing became steady.
Guan Sheng didn't like to have too much contact with others. He sat alone in the distance, lost in thought while looking at the talisman paper in his hand. Gradually, he also fell asleep.
Yu Nian leaned against the stone wall but didn't sleep. Her dark eyes stared intently at the group of coffins without blinking.
Feng Chengyuan draped his coat over Yu Nian and whispered, "What are you thinking about?"
Yu Nian turned to Feng Chengyuan and asked, "Where do you think the disappeared ghosts have gone?"
Feng Chengyuan thought for a while. Out of the corner of his eye, he accidentally caught sight of the soul - suppressing beasts on the iron chains and whispered, "Since the function of the tomb - guarding beasts is to protect the tomb owner, do the ghosts of the tomb robbers and burial companions count as wandering ghosts that have invaded from outside to the tomb owner?"
Yu Nian's eyes suddenly lit up. The originally fragmented clues in her mind gradually connected.
The punishment of the thunder, the old ghost with the rosary emphasizing "Don't eat me", all the teachers and students of the department being controlled by a powerful ghost force, the tomb - guarding beasts that shouldn't have appeared on the coffins of the burial companions, the numerous ghosts that had disappeared out of thin air...
Yu Nian and Feng Chengyuan glanced at each other and understood the emotions in each other's eyes tacitly.
Yu Nian said slowly, "It turns out that the other ghosts didn't disappear out of thin air. Instead, they were devoured by the tomb owner... that is, the old ghost. Their ghostly powers merged and became part of the old ghost!"
...
It was the end of summer, and the ancient tomb was damp and stuffy. Guan Sheng coughed twice. Half - asleep and half - awake, he rolled up his long sleeves.
But within a short while, a cool sensation like an electric shock ran across his arm. He looked down and saw that he had goosebumps all over.
Then two soft "drip" sounds came from directly above his head. Guan Sheng suddenly felt a chill on his neck, as if some water had dripped onto him.
Guan Sheng was taken aback for a moment but didn't pay much attention. He just thought that it had rained on the ground and the water had seeped into the ancient tomb.
Guan Sheng looked around in a daze and saw that Deng Yang and Jiang Jin were still sleeping soundly. Yu Nian was standing in the shadow. Her small face was pale and bloodless. She was standing quietly, seemingly lost in thought. Her hands weren't idle either. She was casually weighing the talisman fire, in which there were also a few corpse - eating moths.
Seeing that everyone was there, Guan Sheng let out a slight sigh of relief. But unexpectedly, another drop of dark liquid landed beside his foot the next second, and the smell of blood in the air seemed to become stronger.
The drops of water in front of him were falling faster and faster. Guan Sheng reached up and touched his head. While his hand got wet, he also grabbed a large clump of dripping hair.
Guan Sheng's eyebrows twitched suddenly. He quickly got up and took a step back. He took out his self - defense knife and looked up.
Even though he was brave, he couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
A pale and filthy face was sticking to the top of the stone wall.
It should be a woman. Her long, straight, wet hair was all hanging down, continuously dripping blood.
The woman's face was in a mess. There were cuts all over it. Her lips were charred black and oozing pus. There wasn't a single piece of intact skin on her body.
There were no eyes on her face. Instead, there were only two blood - filled holes that kept oozing fresh blood, staring straight at people.
The moment she grinned, countless drops of blood and pieces of minced meat slipped from between her teeth.
If he had to describe this face, the only word Guan Sheng could come up with was "horrifying"!
At this moment, that fragmented ghost face gave him a creepy smile!