Zhang Yuanqing realized he had missed the point.
Based on his experience at the Mountain God Temple and the knowledge he had accumulated from reading numerous guides, he subconsciously believed that this kind of survival instance required the Spirit-Realm Wanderer to discover clues, find ways to deal with the crisis, and then solve the crisis one by one.
Just like what he did at the Mountain God Temple.
Therefore, after successfully overcoming the crisis of the ghost doll with the help of intelligence, he actively looked for the rouge box, believing that there must be a way to solve the paper doll crisis in the rouge box.
In fact, it was true, and he realized the law that the paper doll would kill one person a night, or stop killing after satisfying its essence and blood, thus surviving.
But this is unreasonable. Not every Night Wanderer has the capital like him.
It can be said that with the difficulty of the first two levels, 99.9% of the Night Wanderers would not be able to pass, and would definitely die, and this is not the biggest crisis of the instance.
He missed the point. The Village of Silence is a survival instance, not a combat instance (although combat is also for survival). Survival is the main quest. He shouldn't have fought from the beginning.
But in the village, you can't survive without fighting. The elusive ghost doll and the teleporting paper doll will inevitably encounter them when the time comes. You can't survive without fighting. So, the correct way to play is to leave the village and go to the ancient tomb.
Yes, the ancient tomb and the village together are the complete map of the Village of Silence.
From the introduction of the Spirit-Realm to Wang Xiao'er's narration, to the old man's description, and then to the location of the ancient tomb given by Mr. Xu, these clues are telling the Spirit-Realm Wanderers that there is another map in the instance.
The ancient tomb is safe, at least at night. Because the Spirit-Realm introduction clearly states: "That night, she followed out."
Princess and the paranormal item have already left the ancient tomb. Now the most dangerous place is the village, and the ancient tomb is safe instead. Therefore, the "run away" hint given by the Cat King speaker is not a way to deal with the paper doll, but a way to pass this instance.
After figuring it out, Zhang Yuanqing didn't set off immediately. He continued to sit on the edge of the bed, stroking the cold metal shell of the Cat King speaker, and muttered to himself:
"There is still a doubt, a question.
"The doubt is that there is no crisis at the third watch, and all the villagers died at the fourth watch. According to the existing law, what is encountered at the third watch should be the mirror, and at the fourth watch it is the Princess. The Princess is the most brutal, so the whole village died.
"But there is no crisis at the third watch. Is the crisis at the fourth watch the mirror or the Princess? If it is the mirror, what about the Princess? Is she just a background board?
"The question is, the ancient tomb is safe at night, what about during the day? Is it safe during the day? The main task is to survive for 24 hours, not to return to reality when it dawns. I entered the instance at about ten o'clock this morning."
Because of the lack of prior information, it was difficult for him to deduce the answer. He could only put the matter aside for now, and leave Mr. Xu's yard with Undead No. 1 to go to the ancient tomb.
"Squeak~"
Undead No. 1 politely closed the yard door.
Zhang Yuanqing stood by the small river, cautiously looking around. In the village, the rammed-earth houses and stone houses were arranged in disorder, and the field of vision was not wide, but there was no strong Yin energy gathering in his perception.
The paper doll was not nearby.
Leave quickly… He led the Yin corpse a few steps, but suddenly stopped, dumbfounded. Zhang Yuanqing encountered a very fatal problem - he couldn't tell the directions.
The usual method of distinguishing directions at night is to "observe the moon" and "observe the constellations", but the night sky in the instance is as dark as ink, without stars or moon.
Lack of reference objects.
In addition, there are no fresh plants in the village, so it is impossible to infer the light according to the growth of branches and leaves. "The passage of time in the instance is the same as the outside world. It is summer now. I remember that the southeast wind blows in summer."
*The All-Powerful Soldier King of the Female President*
However, the village is shrouded in Yin energy, like an invisible gauze mist, which disrupts the natural wind.
Zhang Yuanqing searched his stomach, but couldn't think of a good way. He felt sorry for himself and said that he was a top student of Songhai University, a top university in the country, and he was defeated by such small details?
Suddenly, he caught sight of the cheerfully flowing river water and thought of an alternative method.
The river water flows from high to low, and the terrain is higher where there are mountains, so the direction of the stream can be ruled out. The back mountain is not there.
Although the river water does not necessarily flow out of the mountains, as long as you go against the water, at least you won't be going in the opposite direction.
"One *li* is 500 meters, and 23 *li* is about 11 kilometers. Mountain roads are more difficult to walk than flat ground, plus the time to find the ancient tomb…"
It was very close to the third watch. Zhang Yuanqing calculated silently that it was difficult to find the ancient tomb before the third watch, but there was plenty of time to reach the destination before the fourth watch.
A man and a corpse walked in the dead village. Their footsteps and the cheerful sound of the water intertwined into a lonely and monotonous movement, echoing in the silent night. In this atmosphere, if ordinary people with weak wills, even without any danger, would suffer a mental breakdown.
It has to be said that the Night Wanderer's exclusive Spirit-Realm is indeed a bit gloomy.
Zhang Yuanqing walked forward while counting. After about fifteen minutes, he finally walked out of the village. A solid dirt road led to the fields outside the village. At the end of the fields was a continuous mountain.
Majestic and tall, dormant quietly in the darkness.
Good luck, the river water flows out of the mountains. Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, just as he was about to completely walk out of the village and into the fields, a chill ran down his spine, and he felt like he was being watched from behind.
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly turned his head. Behind him was a desolate and dilapidated mountain village, shrouded in gloomy darkness. The path was quiet and led to the depths of the village.
Eerie. Zhang Yuanqing frowned secretly, stopped lingering, and started running quickly with the Yin corpse, running farther and farther, disappearing into the fields.
Flying over muddy ridges, they soon arrived at the foot of the mountain.
After entering the mountain, there were more ways to identify directions. The sunny side of a single tree is extremely south, and the shady side is north.
In the dense forest, the drier side of the rock is south, and the wetter side with moss is north. Even the ant nests (cave entrances) face south.
After finding the southwest, Zhang Yuanqing took the Yin corpse deep into the dense forest, passing through the forest, and moving forward quickly.
Every few minutes, he would stop, re-identify the directions, and adjust his direction to avoid getting lost in the lush mountains.
As for the 23 *li* distance, there was no better way but to rely on his own estimation.
After running for about a dozen *li*, Zhang Yuanqing stopped next to a pine tree and spat out a mouthful of Yin energy. The Yin energy landed gently, condensing into a round and lovely little baby with sparse fluff.
"Aba Aba…"
Little Brat opened his big, dark eyes, looked around, and then climbed to his master's feet in fear, hugging his calf.
Speaking of which, Little Brat has grown so big, oh, not so big, anyway, since his birth, he has never seen deep mountains and dense forests, and has an instinctive fear of unfamiliar environments.
"Go find the treasure!"
Zhang Yuanqing comforted Little Brat while giving orders.
It's not difficult to find the ancient tomb. Just use Little Brat's treasure hunting function reasonably to locate the tomb in the deep mountains. Of course, the premise is that it can't be too far away.
If Little Brat was released in the village, he would most likely go find the rouge box.
Little Brat received his master's order and said "Aba" a few times, quickly climbing behind Zhang Yuanqing.
I asked you to find the ancient tomb, not to go back to the village to find the rouge box. Zhang Yuanqing grabbed his little chubby legs, lifted him into the air, and threw him forward: "Reverse, go find it over there!"
Little Brat showed a dazed look, seemingly not understanding why his master's orders were contradictory, but he still obeyed his master's instructions, suppressed his instincts, and crawled towards the designated direction.
The little infant spirit quickly moved his limbs, like an agile little spider.
Zhang Yuanqing followed behind the infant spirit unhurriedly.
Crawling, Little Brat suddenly turned around and returned the same way. "Reverse!"
Zhang Yuanqing quickly stopped him and re-calibrated his direction.
Little Brat immediately broke away from the treasure hunting state, glanced at his master blankly, obeyed his orders, and crawled towards the southwest.
Zhang Yuanqing followed behind with the Yin corpse. After about a few minutes, Little Brat turned around again, returning the same way.
Alas, you silly kid, reversed again. Zhang Yuanqing leaned down and picked up Little Brat, no longer letting him lead the way, frowning deeply.
He carefully analyzed it and concluded that there was probably no treasure in the ancient tomb, or the remaining things were of little value, so Little Brat repeatedly crawled back to the village.
Because there was a rouge box, a ghost doll, and a mirror there. Although they were all brutal paranormal beings, they were also top-quality props.
They attracted Little Brat.
"In this case, I can only rely on myself…"
Zhang Yuanqing swallowed the little infant spirit in one gulp and continued on with the Yin corpse.
The night was dark, and time passed quietly. After about forty minutes, Zhang Yuanqing finally found the tomb robber's hole.
It was a mountain depression overgrown with weeds. There were no rocks around, and a circular hole was exposed among the lush green weeds. A stream of rich Yin energy gushed out from the dark and deep cave.
Found it! Zhang Yuanqing was overjoyed.
Although there was no timer, he estimated the time. It was very close to the fourth watch.
As a precaution, Zhang Yuanqing split his spiritual body into two, entered the Yin corpse, and jumped into the tomb robber's hole. The entrance of the hole was not deep, about two meters. After landing, Undead No. 1 moved forward in the dark along the narrow tomb robber's hole that could only accommodate one person. After a dozen meters, he came to the end of the tomb robber's hole. The circle around the entrance of the hole was not soil, but thick bluestone bricks.
This tomb robber's hole was dug in from the top of the tomb. The tomb chamber was below. "Zhang Yuanqing" picked up a pebble and threw it into the darkness below. Soon, he heard a slight sound of falling to the ground.
About four meters high… He jumped into the tomb chamber.
The Zhang Yuanqing outside waited for a few seconds, confirmed that there was nothing unusual in the tomb, and then jumped down the tomb robber's hole, walked forward with a low waist along the tunnel, and jumped into the tomb.
Having night vision, he saw everything in the tomb chamber at a glance.
This tomb covered an area of about 40 square meters. The walls were made of bluestone bricks. At each corner of the tomb chamber, there were two clay sculptures of maids and guards. Over the long years, the clay sculptures had already cracked and lost limbs.
Outside the tomb chamber was a stepped tomb passage leading upwards, paved with pebbles.
Behind the tomb chamber was another passage door leading to the depths.
"This should be the front chamber…" Zhang Yuanqing analyzed based on the clay sculptures in the four corners.
Probably because the tomb robber's hole was connected to the outside world, the air in the tomb chamber was not dull, and there was plenty of oxygen.
He manipulated the Yin corpse to explore the road ahead, and he followed behind, looking at the surrounding brick walls. The brick walls were built with staggered bluestone bricks and white lime mortar. The walls of the passage door used three layers of vertical bricks and three layers of horizontal bricks.
In archaeological terms, this is called three arches and three layers.
Only very high-level tombs can use this kind of bricklaying… Well, these are what Zhang Yuanqing learned from watching tomb raiding movies. The school doesn't teach this.
Passing through the passage door, which was about six meters long, a man and a corpse arrived at the main tomb chamber.
The main tomb chamber was vast, as large as the lobby of a five-star hotel. A Sumeru pedestal stone coffin bed was placed in the center, and a white jade coffin was placed on the bed.
The east, west, and south walls of the main tomb chamber each had niches.
Some of these niches contained porcelain pottery, some contained rusty bronze ware, and some contained half-meter-high black wooden boxes.
And in the four corners of the main tomb, there were some bronze ceremonial instruments.
Zhang Yuanqing withdrew his gaze, silently exited the main tomb chamber, stood by the passage door, and then manipulated Undead No. 1 to push the coffin.
Next, he wanted to verify a guess. If the Princess's body was lying in the coffin, then the crisis at the fourth watch would come from that bronze mirror.
Conversely, the biggest Boss of the instance was the Princess.
Unexpectedly, Undead No. 1's strength could not open the coffin.
Zhang Yuanqing at the passage door returned to the main tomb chamber in surprise and pushed the coffin with the Yin corpse. With the combined strength of the two, they still couldn't open it.
What's the situation? Is it the Spirit-Realm restricting me, or is the coffin sealed with secret techniques so that outsiders cannot open it? Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a few seconds, gave up the idea of opening the coffin, and felt a sigh of relief in his heart.
Since the Old Hag incident, he has had a lot of psychological shadows on opening coffins. Zhang Yuanqing instead manipulated the Yin corpse to move the wooden boxes in the niches, only to find that they could not be opened either.
"Okay, it seems to be just a shelter."
Zhang Yuanqing sat on a wooden box and stopped tossing, waiting quietly for dawn.
It was dark and silent in the ancient tomb. Zhang Yuanqing sat for a few minutes, feeling a little bored. Undead No. 1 couldn't chat, so he thought again about "a doubt and a question". Although he had come to the ancient tomb, he still hadn't found the answers to these two points.
This made Zhang Yuanqing feel uneasy.
"Let's get through to dawn first. After dawn, the village should be safe. The villagers will return to normal. I'll go back and ask an old man. If the mirror has been sold, then the lack of strange things at the third watch is explained. The danger at the fourth watch is the Princess."
"But why can't the coffin be opened…"
That's right, the wandering Taoist priest.
According to Wang Xiao'er's description, the wandering Taoist priest also entered the ancient tomb…
Linking this to the fact that the coffin cannot be opened, Zhang Yuanqing has a guess in his mind. The wandering Taoist priest is lying in the coffin, and he does not belong to the plot line of this instance, so the Spirit-Realm Wanderer cannot open it.
It would have been nice if the Old Hag's stone coffin had been so sensible back then… Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, his eyes swept across the tomb chamber, and he always felt that something was wrong.
He pondered for a few seconds and pulled out the Observer glasses.
After putting on the glasses, he scanned the room again, and his pupils suddenly narrowed. Through the glasses, he discerned the details in the main tomb chamber and understood what was wrong.
The burial goods were arranged too neatly.
It shouldn't be like this. Wang Xiao'er had been here. When a thief breaks into a house, there is no reason not to rummage through the boxes and cabinets.
But from the porcelain to the pottery, to the boxes and ceremonial instruments, everything was so neatly arranged. At this moment, it felt like an electric current ran through Zhang Yuanqing's body, bringing a trembling sense of horror. "Phew~"
He quickly spat out Little Brat, stared at the round and lovely baby, and ordered in a deep voice:
"Find treasure!"
Little Brat received his master's order, moved his limbs smoothly, and crawled out of the main tomb chamber.
The infant spirit ignored the coffin, ignored the valuable burial goods, and crawled away…
Zhang Yuanqing's face instantly became extremely ugly.
He suddenly understood why Little Brat had been returning the same way, and also understood why the coffin and boxes could not be opened. All of this was fake.
This was not an ancient tomb at all. He had not even approached the ancient tomb at the time. He… was under a charm!
When was he charmed? Who cast the charm on him?
Zhang Yuanqing thought of the gloomy gaze when he left the village. From beginning to end, only at that time did he feel something unusual. As for who cast the charm, the answer was obvious—the bronze mirror! Calculating the time, it was almost the third watch when he left the village.
"I understand why there were no strange things at the third watch, because the charm of the bronze mirror is imperceptible to ordinary people and does not bring substantial harm. It's not that nothing strange happened at the third watch, but that no one knew."
If that's the case, I didn't leave the village at all…
Didn't leave the village…
Zhang Yuanqing's eyes gradually became terrified, and his face gradually turned pale, until it lost its color. "What time is it now?!"
Zhang Yuanqing shouted sharply, even though no one would answer him.
As soon as the words fell, a bone-chilling Yin wind swept through the closed tomb chamber, an overwhelming Yin wind.
"Weeping…"
Zhang Yuanqing heard the howling of the Yin wind and saw the brick walls, coffin, burial goods—everything in front of him being shattered by the Yin wind.
No matter how strong the charm is, once it is interfered with by the outside world, it will immediately shatter.
The Princess is coming!