Chapter 441: Chapter 378: Rather Hear Ghosts Cry Than Hear Them Laugh_2
"Better to hear a ghost cry than to listen to a ghost laugh," Yang Xiao and the others had heard this saying, and thinking of the story told by Wuma Haoming, the Fierce Ghosts within this Chaos Burial Mound were filled with immense resentment.
"Don’t just stand there, how do we break the situation?" Yang Xiao furrowed his brows and urged.
"Find that ghost’s grave, dig up the coffin, and then... then lay it flat," Wuma Haoming quickly explained, "The ghost’s coffin is upside down, with the corpse inside facing down."
"There are so many tombs here, how do we know which is the one we’re looking for?"
"There’s a tablet standing in front of the tomb, with a name written on it. The name is... just wait, let me think hard, it’s been too long."
Wuma Haoming racked his brains for a long time but in the end, he still couldn’t remember. Lu Youcheng, anxious and irritated, clenched his fist about to punch him when Wuma Haoming suddenly came to a realization, "Don’t, don’t hit me, I may not remember the name but I remember the tablet in front of the tomb is very special. It’s made of wood, but this wooden tablet is much heavier than ordinary wood, it feels very cold to the touch, like the chill that seeps into the marrow. The texture... the texture is like that of stone."
"Is that tablet pure black?" Yang Xiao asked.
Wuma Haoming nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, it’s black, whether it’s pure I do not know."
Yang Xiao turned his head to look at everyone and nodded slightly, "There’s no mistake, that tablet should be made of Gloomy Wood, those people really spared no expense."
Now that they had confirmed the information, everyone decided to search immediately. But with so many graves, it was clearly too late to search one by one. Seeing this, Wuma Haoming immediately offered a suggestion, "Don’t worry, we can split up and search, but be careful not to stay in one spot for too long. Otherwise, your own name will slowly appear on the nearest tombstone. Once the name is completely visible, that ghost will immediately appear and bury the person alive in the corresponding grave, just like the way it died."
It was at this moment that Yang Xiao understood why Wuma Haoming had been leading them around in circles in the cemetery; there was such a taboo.
After confirming the information again, everyone split up to search in four groups. Concerned about the three resurrected individuals—Sui Chengguo, Lu Youcheng, and Liu Haiping—Yang Xiao assigned them separately, with one person watching each of them. He, Tong Han, and Cheng Cha each took responsibility for one, so that in case anything unusual happened, they wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Soon there was a result. Tong Han’s group signaled from afar, and the other three groups immediately converged toward them. In front of them was a very old grave. To call it a grave was a compliment; without the pitch-black wooden tablet in front, it just looked like an inconspicuous mound of earth.
"It should be this one." Tong Han focused on the wooden tablet in front of the grave.
Yang Xiao reached out to touch it, and as soon as his fingers made contact with the tablet, he felt a sudden chill rise, and he quickly retracted his hand, looking at Wuma Haoming. Wuma Haoming crouched down, and after clearly seeing the words on the tablet, seemed to remember something, nodding repeatedly, confirming this was the site.
Scattered around were broken wooden tablets. Picking up a few handy ones, the group began digging the grave. Digging up a grave at the Chaos Burial Mound in the middle of the night—and a ghost’s grave at that—was a novel experience for Yang Xiao, noting it could be written into a script later.
A few people set about digging the grave while the rest were responsible for keeping watch. Tong Han clearly saw the tombstones in front of the surrounding graves were beginning to loosen. He then signaled to those digging the grave as decrepit tombstones slowly started to reveal letters. The letters were crooked and twisted, as if they had been scratched out with fingernails, which was spine-chilling to behold.
"That’s enough, switch!" Tong Han decisively called a halt to the three digging when he saw the first stroke of the character "Ping" in Liu Haiping’s name appearing.
Yang Xiao, Liu Haiping, and Sui Chengguo were rotated out, and the digging of graves continued. Strangely, once Liu Haiping was replaced, the name on the corresponding tombstone slowly disappeared, and soon a new name appeared, the same happened with the other two.
Fortunately, the soil here was rather loose and the coffins were buried shallowly. By the time the fourth group took over, the coffin was finally unearthed. It was a pitch-black, large coffin, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, buried upside down with the lid underfoot.
Leaving two people to keep watch above, the rest jumped into the large pit they had dug. Working together, they lifted the coffin and with effort turned it over. But just at that moment, an accident occurred—a movement from inside the coffin, a force striking the wall of the coffin, disrupted the balance, and uncontrollable, it tipped over to the right side, crushing Wuma Haoming who couldn’t dodge in time, and also striking Lu Youcheng’s left leg.
Lu Youcheng’s leg twisted instantly, and Wuma Haoming fared even worse. He didn’t even make a sound before the coffin pinned him underneath.
"Forget the people for now, steady the coffin!" Yang Xiao roared.
After stabilizing the coffin and completely turning it over, and safely setting it down, they then began to rescue the injured.
Oddly, after the coffin was turned over, the faint ghostly laughter that was previously heard from the gravesite disappeared, and the names that had appeared on several tombstones around had vanished as well.
Lu Youcheng got off relatively well; Wuma Haoming was knocked unconscious by the impact. Everyone worked together to lift him out of the grave, and after much effort, they managed to wake him.
Luckily, it was just superficial skin wounds, nothing involving muscles or bones. Wuma Haoming quickly recovered, and after getting up, he immediately urged everyone to leave with him, as this place was not suitable for an extended stay.
"But what about backfilling the pit?" Cheng Cha asked.
"There’s no need, let’s go, hurry up and leave this place," Wuma Haoming said decisively.
Yang Xiao couldn’t help but furrow his brow. It was a serious taboo to dig a grave and not fill it back in, and leaving a coffin exposed with a ghost’s true form inside was dangerous—was Wuma Haoming not concerned?
"Move, haven’t you heard me?" Wuma Haoming said frantically, his expression almost too terrified and now somewhat twisted, "Staying here any longer is a dead end!"
Even Mi Shu and the others started to sense that something was off. Wuma Haoming, who used to be very timid, would never dare talk to them like this. Now that he’d been hit by a coffin, it seemed as if he’d become another person.
Yang Xiao didn’t argue with Wuma Haoming further. Instead, he tried to pacify him. Observing closely, he noticed Wuma Haoming had been standing in front of the Gloomy Wood tombstone tablet, effectively blocking everyone’s line of sight. Sensing something was amiss, he sent a silent signal to Tong Han, and they all began to walk out of the burial site, with Wuma Haoming stubbornly trailing at the end of the line. The sensation of being watched from behind reminded Yang Xiao of the Taoists sent by the Du Family Village.
As Yang Xiao walked, he suddenly fell flat on the ground and shouted in a panic, "Something’s grabbing my foot!"
Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, Tong Han quickly turned around, stealthily broke away from the group, ran back to the tombstone, and briskly wiped the dust off the tablet. The next second, a familiar name pierced into Tong Han’s eyes.
"Wuma Haoming!"
