Chapter 51: Ghost Hunting? Tomb Raiding?

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Ghost Hunting? Tomb Raiding?

Old Tomb Ridge was a burial ground nestled deep in the mountains. Rumor had it that the feng shui there was excellent, so all the deceased elders of Tianxin Village were laid to rest there. Because it was so remote, no one usually went there except for burials or tomb-sweeping.

Zhang Long and the others had only come up with such a wicked idea to visit it because of a drunken bet.

Bao Sheng really hadn’t wanted to come out tonight. However, he didn’t dare tell his family about what had happened. If he didn’t resolve this issue, he wouldn’t dare sleep tonight either, and he was already miserable enough as it was. While Zhang Long waited at the meeting spot, Guang and Jin Lu went to drag Bao Sheng out of his house.

"Look, not only are we going with you, but Zhang Yun is coming too. There are definitely no ghosts, so don’t be afraid!" Zhang Long had lured Zhang Yun here with the promise of a haunting, yet now he was comforting Bao Sheng by insisting ghosts didn’t exist.

Zhang Yun chuckled. "Bao Sheng, I often spend the night in the mountain valleys guarding the fish ponds. It’s not because I’m brave, but because I have a Protective Talisman!" He pulled out the jade pendant Xiuxun had given him from under his shirt to show Bao Sheng. "With me here, you’ll be fine!"

"Now that Zhang Yun is here, you can finally relax, right?" Guang and Jin Lu chimed in to persuade him.

Having not slept for a day and a night, Bao Sheng was in terrible shape. Zhang Yun’s words gave him a shred of comfort and confidence.

Since it was still early, the group chatted idly as they slowly made their way into the mountains. Being of similar age, they shared common interests. Although Zhang Yun didn’t usually hang out with them and was out of the loop on many things, they still chattered endlessly.

Once they entered the mountains, the ambient light dimmed significantly, forcing them to slow their pace. By the time they reached Old Tomb Ridge, it was already ten o’clock at night.

"If it really is haunted, the ghost should appear during the hour of the Rat, between eleven and one. We still have a while to wait." Zhang Long pointed at the mountain ridge ahead. "Are we heading over there?"

"I’m not going!" Bao Sheng was the first to cry out. Last night, fueled by liquid courage and a dare, he had come here alone—and had been scared out of his wits. Even with a group of people now, he still didn’t dare go near it.

Guang looked at the dark, gloomy burial mounds, his heart pounding. "Let’s just find a place to watch from a distance. Just in case it’s real... we shouldn’t disturb them."

"Right. If it’s real... they’re all our village ancestors anyway. We shouldn’t disturb them," Jin Lu immediately agreed.

They had originally come to help Bao Sheng conquer his fear, but arriving at a mountain graveyard in the dead of night—with its eerie environment and chilling atmosphere—made them start to panic as well.

Zhang Long didn’t know how to scold them, so he nudged Zhang Yun. "What do you think?"

Zhang Yun pointed to a spot nearby. "Let’s hide under those trees on the hillside. There are five strong young men here. If we just stand there, would someone pretending to be a ghost still dare to show up? With all of our abundant Yang Qi, even a real ghost wouldn’t dare show its face."

"Right, right. Let’s just observe for now," Guang and Jin Lu quickly echoed.

Zhang Long was courageous, but since everyone else was on the same page, he couldn’t exactly insist on venturing into the graveyard alone. The five of them went over and picked a spot to sit down. As the bravest, Zhang Long sat at the front, Zhang Yun sat at the back, and Guang and Jin Lu sat in the middle with Bao Sheng.

Having chatted the whole way there, they had nothing left to say. They all sat in silence, scrolling on their phones.

At ten-thirty, Zhang Yun heard a series of footsteps. He immediately shushed the others and whispered, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" The others were startled.

Seeing their reactions, Zhang Yun briefly wondered if he was hallucinating the sound. However, the rest of the group immediately tensed up, peering nervously at the sprawling graveyard, terrified that a ghost might crawl out of one of the mounds.

Zhang Yun focused his hearing. He was certain there were footsteps, and they were getting closer! He stopped looking at the graveyard and instead turned his gaze toward the direction of the sound.

"Someone’s coming! Turn off your phones and don’t make a sound!"

Zhang Yun’s whispered warning put everyone on high alert. A moment later, Zhang Yun saw a figure appear in his line of sight. He hadn’t misheard! It seemed his hearing was much sharper than that of an ordinary person.

"It really came..." Bao Sheng began to tremble.

"That’s a person!" Zhang Long sneered coldly. "Ghosts float. He’s walking!"

Zhang Yun whispered from behind, "Just like you said earlier, no one would come here just to pretend to be a ghost. There’s only one other possibility!"

"What possibility?" Everyone looked back at him.

"Grave robbing!" Zhang Yun patted Bao Sheng’s shoulder. "He was robbing a grave last night too. When you suddenly showed up, he pretended to be a ghost to scare you away!"

Bao Sheng’s eyes widened. He had also thought it unlikely for someone to run into a graveyard just to scare people, and it couldn’t have been a mere coincidence, which was why he had firmly believed he’d run into a ghost.

"But... we don’t have any famous Ancient Tombs around here, nor any officials or wealthy landlords. What is there to steal?"

Zhang Yun didn’t know either. He pointed forward. "We’ll know once we see what he does!"

Everyone immediately watched as the man walked into the graveyard and sat directly on top of a burial mound to smoke a cigarette. At this sight, even Bao Sheng let out a quiet, mocking laugh. If it were a ghost, there was no way it would be smoking in a graveyard.

But none of them moved. They continued to watch. The lighting was dim, and with the distance between them, they couldn’t see very clearly. They hardly dared to blink. After finishing his cigarette, the man slowly sauntered over to a patch of tall grass, pulled the weeds aside, and brought out a hoe and other tools!

"He really is a grave robber!"

Their fear of ghosts instantly vanished, replaced by the reality of a grave robber. The group’s mood shifted; they were now a mix of excited and furious. There were many graves here, and in the dead of night, it was impossible to tell whose ancestors belonged to which mound. However, they all belonged to Tianxin Village. No matter whose grave was being dug up, it belonged to their village, and the culprit needed to be caught!

"Wait a second! We need to wait for him to start digging so we have evidence!" Zhang Long rubbed his hands together, ready to charge out the moment the man started working.

"Whose family used to be landlords?"

"I heard all the landlord graves were destroyed a long time ago. There shouldn’t be anything left."

"Holy shit!"

Just as they were murmuring amongst themselves, they all gasped in shock! Zhang Yun hadn’t expected this either—the man was digging up the ancestral tomb!

The vast majority of Tianxin Village shared the surname Zhang. They all descended from the same ancestor two or three hundred years ago, and Old Tomb Ridge had formed by expanding outward around that very ancestral tomb. This ancestral grave was the core of their belief in feng shui. The graves of all later descendants kept a respectful distance, sprawling outward in rings. Over time, this created a layout with the ancestral tomb sitting perfectly in the center. The villagers had even pooled money to renovate it later on, making it the largest and most magnificent tomb in the graveyard.

So while the other graves were hard to distinguish, the ancestral tomb was recognizable at a glance. Touching the ancestral tomb meant offending everyone!

"Let’s get him!"

With Zhang Long’s low shout, everyone charged out. As soon as they started sprinting, the difference in their physical fitness became obvious. Although Bao Sheng was the most furious, he was currently the weakest, making him the slowest of the bunch. Meanwhile, Zhang Yun, who had started at the very back, quickly overtook Zhang Long at the front and was the first to charge into the graveyard!

Even though they didn’t yell, the man still heard the commotion. Seeing several figures sprinting toward him, he panicked. This wasn’t a situation he could escape by playing ghost. Terrified, he dropped his tools and bolted.

"Don’t run!" Zhang Long roared furiously. "Flank him! Don’t let him get away! Beat him to death!"