Mai Bao Xiao Lang Jun
Chapter 231 Hidden Mission
Zhang Yuanqing's gaze landed on the top of the passageway door. The three-arch, three-layered curved wall was adorned with a yellow paper talisman, its twisted incantations drawn in cinnabar. This was absent in the illusion.
"Eh…"
Zhang Yuanqing stared at the yellow paper talisman for a moment, finally deciding against touching it.
*I can't be reckless,* he thought to himself, having already put away his gun and gauntlets.
He didn't head towards the main burial chamber behind him, but instead walked in the opposite direction, down the tomb passage.
Just now, he'd recalled a description from some tomb raiding novel. Ancient nobles would often erect an epitaph in the tomb passage after death, recording the tomb occupant's identity, birth date, and life achievements.
Zhang Yuanqing entered the tomb passage and, after some searching, indeed found a blue brick recess built into the side of the passage. Inside the recess was a stone stele. The writing on the stele had been mostly worn away by the years, making the information unclear.
Based on the remaining content, Zhang Yuanqing roughly understood the identity of the Junzhu (princess). She was the eldest daughter of a certain prince from the early Ming dynasty, named Yin Yao. From a young age, she was intelligent, beautiful, and possessed a rare talent for cultivation.
She had cultivated under Niangniang (a Taoist goddess) of Sandao Mountain in Song Prefecture. After completing her studies, she traveled the world, living for two Jiazi (120 years) before passing away in the mid-to-late Ming dynasty, never marrying. *This Junzhu is a disciple of the Old Hag?!*
"There are so many Lingjing Xingzhe (literally Spirit Realm Traveler) instances at the extraordinary stage, and the first time I enter the Niangniang Temple of Sandao Mountain, the second time I enter her disciple's tomb? Do I have some kind of karmic debt with the Old Hag?!"
No words could describe Zhang Yuanqing's current mood. If he had to, it would be—*What the hell!*
With complicated feelings, Zhang Yuanqing left the tomb passage and returned to the burial chamber. Passing through the six-meter-long passageway door, he entered the main burial chamber. In the center of the tomb, as large as a five-star hotel lobby, was a Sumeru pedestal stone coffin bed. On the bed was a white jade coffin.
The east, west, and south walls each had niches.
Everything was the same as in the illusion, except that many of the porcelain and pottery were broken, and two black wooden boxes, half the height of a person, had been opened, their contents scattered across the floor.
They were mostly clothing, books, and some objects that ancient women would use.
They were not particularly valuable. There wasn't a single large piece of gold or jade, but there were quite a few small pieces of gold and silver jewelry, such as gold buttons the size of a fingernail. *It seems to have just been looted.*
"This is more like it," Zhang Yuanqing muttered. But the words that came out of his mouth were filled with righteous indignation:
"Stealing from the dead, Wang Xiao'er is too much."
…Zhang Yuanqing was stunned, suddenly realizing that the cost of the Houtu Boots had begun.
*Honest man!*
He glanced at the coffin. Because of the psychological shadow from opening the coffin, he didn't dare to touch it. He first checked the objects scattered on the floor. Clothing, bronzes, ceramics, ceremonial instruments, gold buttons, twisted and deformed silver… Zhang Yuanqing touched each item, but found no props.
He then flipped through the yellowed and brittle geographical records and a copy of *Night Watcher's Breathing Technique*.
"These are all things of little value. Tsk, Wang Xiao'er happened to take all the props? Although those three props seem valuable, there were only those three props in the tomb. It's a bit of a coincidence…" At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing "Eh" sounded, his eyes locked on the *Night Watcher's Breathing Technique*. He wasn't attracted to the book, but saw something seemed to be sandwiched between the pages.
Picking up the breathing technique to check, he found a piece of parchment paper sandwiched inside. It recorded a certain ritual method. By finding the materials recorded on the parchment paper and performing the ritual, one could pray for power from the supreme being in the dark.
Holding the parchment paper for a few seconds, the item information appeared:
\[Name: Batch-Manufactured Parchment Paper]
\[Type: Leather] \[Function: Sacrifice]
\[Introduction: By performing the sacrifice according to the contents recorded on the parchment paper, you can borrow power from the supreme being in the dark.]
\[Note: It has no price, as long as you can collect the sacrifice materials.]
*What a strange thing.* This was the first time Zhang Yuanqing had seen such an item. No, to be precise, this was his first contact with the concept of "sacrificing to a supreme being." Based on his understanding, he interpreted this item:
"Gaining a certain buff through sacrifice, very similar to a buff skill in a game. I just don't know how strong this buff is. When I return to reality, I'll collect the materials and try it. Anyway, there's no price, at most it will cost some money, but if the strengthening is great, it will be another trump card."
Zhang Yuanqing tried to put the parchment paper into his item bar, and was delighted to find that it could be stored.
"Just this parchment paper is worth it!" He thought with a guilty look.
He had become a tomb raider too.
Walking to the jade coffin, he pressed his hands on the coffin lid and was about to exert force to push it open when the item information suddenly popped up in his vision: \[Name: Millennium Jade Coffin]
\[Type: Coffin]
\[Function: Nourishing the Body]
\[Introduction: A prop left by the Niangniang of Sandao Mountain, originally used to store her body. After the death of the Niangniang of Sandao Mountain, her secular disciple ordered a stone coffin to be made to replace the jade coffin.]
\[Note: What a touching story of affection between master and disciple.]
"Pfft~"
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The Old Hag was indeed lying in a stone coffin, and he had personally pushed it open.
Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, *No wonder the Old Hag's lips were pale and her skin was dull when I opened the coffin for her. She looked like she lacked maintenance.*
"No, no, how can I laugh? I shouldn't gloat over such things… Come to think of it, what was the Old Hag's mood like when she woke up and found herself lying in a stone coffin? I must ask her if I have the chance. Well, at least I have to wait until I reach the Dominion Realm."
"No, no, I can't expose people's scars."
Muttering to himself, he silently exerted force with his palms, pushing the coffin lid open little by little.
There was another jade coffin inside the coffin.
Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and carefully opened the lid of the jade coffin.
Inside the coffin lay a Daoist in a green robe, his hair gray, his face covered with wrinkles, his complexion ruddy, as if he were asleep. Zhang Yuanqing silently closed the coffin lid, and then closed the lid of the outer coffin, vowing that he would never open a coffin again in his life.
*The wandering Daoist is in the coffin. He's actually here. He's really here.* Zhang Yuanqing's mind was full of thoughts. The wandering Daoist's appearance here was unexpected, but also reasonable.
In Wang Xiao'er's description, the wandering Daoist was looking for the Junzhu's tomb because his lifespan was about to end, and he wanted to make one last gamble. Even if he didn't get the secret to eternal life, just this jade coffin that nourishes the body was an irresistible temptation for the Daoist.
What does it mean to have a lifespan about to end? It means the body is decaying and heading towards death.
This coffin nourishes the body and, to some extent, does have the effect of prolonging life.
After seeing the Daoist in the coffin, Zhang Yuanqing combined the instance introduction and Wang Xiao'er's description, and understood many things.
The course of events should have been like this:
After finding the ancient tomb, the Daoist was delighted to find that the coffin could slow down the decay of the body, so he wanted to take it over. However, he was wary of the Junzhu in the coffin.
Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that the resentful spirits in the prop were asleep during the day, he instigated Wang Xiao'er to steal the props in the tomb. In this way, the Junzhu, discovering that the props had been stolen, would angrily chase after the thief. On the other hand, the props were equivalent to guardian spirits. He didn't dare to live in the tomb for a long time without clearing the "three" terrifying resentful spirits.
Once the Junzhu left, he immediately entered the ancient tomb and occupied the coffin.
"But there is a fatal loophole in this speculation. After the Junzhu discovered that the props were stolen, why didn't she kill her way back? Instead, she didn't dare to enter the tomb again…"
Thinking this, Zhang Yuanqing's heart moved, and he retreated from the main burial chamber and returned to the front chamber.
He stood under the three-arch passageway door, raised his head, and examined the yellow paper talisman pasted on the wall. In the illusion created by the bronze mirror, the yellow paper talisman did not exist.
In other words, this thing appeared after the bronze mirror left the tomb. The bronze mirror didn't know the existence of the paper talisman, so it didn't manifest in the illusion.
Who pasted the yellow paper talisman? The answer was obvious.
It was pasted after the bronze mirror was stolen and the Junzhu left the ancient tomb.
Zhang Yuanqing climbed along the steep brick wall, his fingers gripping the gaps in the bricks little by little. The strength of his whole body depended on a few fingers to support him. Ordinary people would never be able to do such an exaggerated operation.
Climbing to the top of the arch, Zhang Yuanqing pinched the gap in the drill block with two fingers, and stretched out his other hand. He didn't dare to tear it off directly, and his finger touched the yellow paper talisman. Item information appeared:
\[Name: Fiery Flame Talisman]
\[Type: Talisman] \[Function: Ward off Evil]
\[Introduction: A talisman drawn with blood containing the divine power of the sun, which can suppress evil spirits and protect the home.]
\[Note: It can only be used once.]
"Sure enough, it was this talisman that blocked the Junzhu. She can't go back to the tomb and can only wander in the village. Fortunately, I didn't tear it off just now…" Zhang Yuanqing retracted his hand and jumped off the wall.
"It seems that the Junzhu can't come back. As long as I stay in the ancient tomb until ten o'clock tomorrow morning, I can clear the Silent Village and return to reality."
At this point, the Silent Village instance was completely cleared. "It's really tiring. I almost died three times in one night. This is ten thousand times more thrilling than a martial arts competition. Why am I so unlucky? I always encounter hell mode instances?" Zhang Yuanqing was in a bad mood.
But soon, his mood became even worse, because he remembered that the instance he entered would most likely be the instance that the Demon Lord had experienced.
And with the Demon Lord's hidden rating, there would be many more hell mode instances in the future.
"It's all the Demon Lord's fault!"
"Wait…" Zhang Yuanqing frowned. If he could clear the instance by hiding in the tomb, then according to normal logic, the instance should have ended when the Junzhu's appearance time ended, which was at the end of the fourth watch.
Because all the bosses were gone, there was no point in staying any longer.
But the main quest of the instance was 24 hours. After dawn, he had to stay in the instance for another ten hours.
"These ten hours are completely meaningless. It's too exaggerated. Is it a bug? If it's not a bug, according to my experience, this instance has a hidden quest, so these ten hours are reserved for Lingjing Xingzhe to do the hidden quest…"
"Survival instances are instances where the Lingjing doesn't give any hints. Whether it's a hidden quest or not depends on guessing. Unlike Yin-Yang Town, once a hidden quest is triggered, the Lingjing will give a hint."
What is the hidden quest?
The props that will fall asleep during the day, the Junzhu who can't go home…
Zhang Yuanqing understood.
The hidden quest is to help the Junzhu find her props and help her return to the ancient tomb.
So the setting that the props fall asleep during the day is to allow the Lingjing Xingzhe to find the props without distractions. "In this way, finding the props is also a difficult task, but it doesn't matter, I have Little Fool!" Zhang Yuanqing became more and more certain, his eyes shining.
Moreover, this was in line with his enthusiastic and honest style.
After making up his mind, Zhang Yuanqing sat down in the corner of the outer chamber, leaning against the brick wall, and closed his eyes to rest.
Three hours later, Zhang Yuanqing, who was in a light sleep, woke up, put on the Red Dancing Shoes, followed the steep brick wall, walked into the upper tomb robber's hole, and then climbed out of the ground along the tomb robber's hole.
The outside world had dawned.
The mountain depression was lush with greenery, and the mountains on both sides were overlapping and verdant, with dense forests everywhere.
Zhang Yuanqing made full use of the wearing time of the Red Dancing Shoes, walked out of the deep mountains, and danced with it outside the village. Only then did he enter the village.
The desolate and dilapidated village was quiet, without any sound, but also without any danger.
Zhang Yuanqing spat out Little Fool and ordered him to hunt for treasure.
Little Fool crawled to his master's feet, opened his short, stubby arms, hugged Zhang Yuanqing's calf, and "rubbed" his round face against it to show affection.
Having experienced last night's crisis, his intelligence was gradually opening up, and he already knew how to be grateful.
Little Fool waved his limbs and crawled ahead to lead the way. Zhang Yuanqing followed slowly. Before long, they found Corpse Number One in a small alley.
Corpse Number One lay stiffly on the ground, like a frozen corpse. There were no obvious external injuries on his body, but Zhang Yuanqing looked sad.
The spirit body inside the Yin Corpse had been destroyed.
When refining a Yin Corpse, the first step is to let the spirit body remaining in the corpse reunite with the flesh. The spirit body is the foundation of the Yin Corpse, the core.
Without the broken spirit body, the Yin Corpse is just a shell, equivalent to being scrapped.
Zhang Yuanqing "plop" knelt down beside the Yin Corpse and kowtowed hard:
"Brother, you died for me, I will never forget this kindness, I can only repay it in the next life. Rest in peace!"
After kowtowing, Zhang Yuanqing felt that something was wrong, but his honest nature didn't make him think too much. Instead, he picked up the human skin membrane next to the Yin Corpse.
The perfect human skin was still there and had not been taken away by the Junzhu. It had shed from the corpse on its own.
"It was you who made me make the decision to sacrifice my brother. You are a disaster. I will sell you as soon as I leave the instance." Zhang Yuanqing painfully put it back into the item bar, and then went to the small courtyard where Mr. Xu lived and took away the silver rouge box placed on the desk.
Next was to find the ghost doll and the bronze mirror.
Little Fool led Zhang Yuanqing around the dilapidated mountain village. In the end, they actually returned to the side of the small road outside Wang Xiao'er's residence. The headless corpse of the old man was still lying there.
Looking at the baby spirit who didn't hesitate to crawl into the courtyard, Zhang Yuanqing raised his eyebrows. He was about to follow quickly when he suddenly caught sight of the old man's corpse.
A burst of guilt and sadness welled up in his heart for no reason.
He walked to the old man's corpse, knelt down with a "plop," and honestly kowtowed three times to show his apology.
Then, he got up and chased after Little Fool, entering the inner room with the coffin. The little baby spirit was lying under the coffin, his small hands patting the rammed earth floor, making a tender "Ah Ba Ah Ba" sound.
Zhang Yuanqing's heart moved, and he grabbed the Bloodthirsty Blade, the sharp tip of the knife chiseling open the hard soil. After chiseling a dozen centimeters deep, the tip of the knife suddenly made a "ding" sound, as if it had pierced something hard.
Zhang Yuanqing reached out and wiped away the dirt, and a lid of an iron box was exposed in the pit. He continued to chisel the soil. As the area of the pit expanded, he finally dug out the iron box.
The iron box was half a meter long, twenty centimeters wide, and thirty centimeters high, with a copper lock hanging on it.
Zhang Yuanqing easily cut off the padlock, opened the box lid, and inside was a box full of gold, silver, and jade, the most obvious being a black, translucent sculpture, the image of a girl doll with a pair of Dumbo ears.
The girl doll had her mouth open, with no tongue inside.
Next to the sculpture was a palm-sized circular bronze mirror, gray and dusty, with a curved phoenix engraved on the back. The eyes of the curved phoenix were two red gems.
Zhang Yuanqing turned the bronze mirror over and looked at himself in the mirror, but his face didn't appear in the bronze mirror.
This was a mirror that didn't reflect people.
Holding the two props, he waited for a moment, and the item information appeared:
\[Name: Yin Jade Doll]
\[Type: Handicraft]
\[Function: Possession]
\[Introduction: It was originally a piece of Yin Jade nurtured for a hundred years in an extremely Yin land. It was accidentally obtained by a lonely little girl. The girl carried the Yin Jade for a long time, and gradually the Yin Qi entered her body, and she soon died. Her spirit body fused with the Yin Jade and turned into a sculpture.]
\[Note 1: The spirit body in the Yin Jade is eager to play games. Anyone who doesn't play games with her will be possessed. This possession cannot be avoided or blocked. This spirit body cannot be completely erased.]
\[Note 2: Let's play a game, I want to be the third person, hee hee~]
Zhang Yuanqing was stunned and murmured, "Rule, rule-based props…"
In the item attributes, any props with descriptions such as "cannot xx" or "unable to xx" are rule-based props.
Because only rule-based props are so overbearing, because rules are rules and cannot be changed.
The ghost doll's function is very simple, but it is indeed a rule-based prop.
In fact, when he learned that he must gather three people to avoid the ghost doll's crisis, Zhang Yuanqing had a premonition in his heart. This was similar to the rules of the Red Dancing Shoes.
——You must dance to break the rules and avoid the pursuit.
Zhang Yuanqing instinctively, subconsciously, and inconsistently with his honest personality, wanted to put the ghost doll into the item bar and take it for himself.
\[Ding! This item cannot be collected.]
*This thing belongs to the Junzhu, I can't take it.* Zhang Yuanqing felt ashamed for a few seconds and looked at the item information of the second prop: \[Name: Ghost Mirror] \[Type: Mirror]
\[Function: Bewitchment, Reveal Ghosts]
\[Introduction: Everything in this world can be reflected, but the human heart is difficult to capture. The Ghost Mirror is a prop refined by Princess Yin Yao after traveling the world for two Jiazi, experiencing vicissitudes, and mastering the art of bewitchment. It can record its own sights and sounds and transform them into illusions that are difficult to distinguish from reality.] \[Note: From the moment you use it, you are a—Great Sage]
*Great Sage? Is this a price?*
Because he hadn't become the owner of the prop, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't experience what the cost of "Great Sage" specifically meant.
But these were not important. It was more important to return the props to the poor Junzhu.
He found a bamboo basket in the outer hall to hold the three props, carried the bamboo basket, left Wang Xiao'er's stone house, and walked towards the back.
It was time to complete the hidden quest and end the instance.