Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Did they put me in the coffin?”
Jiang Li observed for a moment and quickly noticed his current situation.
Wasn’t it just stuffed into a coffin? He was familiar with this.
Eh, they even changed his clone’s clothes into a groom’s outfit. Oh, this groom’s outfit was actually an artifact.
This was incredible. If he got a free set of artifacts, he would probably be able to sell it for a high price.
He touched the coffin lid beneath him. The material was also of high-grade, but it was clearly much inferior to his Yin Burial Coffin.
His back would hurt if he slept here for too long.
Jiang Li first pressed his ear against the coffin lid and listened carefully outside. When he used his clone’s body to execute the Bodhisattva Heart Sutra, the effect would be greatly reduced. However, this was already his best probing method.
After listening for a long time, there was no movement.
To be cautious, he used the Nine Nether spiritual qi and Liquor Fire spiritual qi to ignite a small cluster of dark green flames on his finger.
With Jiang Li’s Nine Nether spiritual qi, the wood spiritual qi fueled the fire, so the might of this small flame was completely sufficient to burn through a Golden Core cultivator.
His finger pressed down on the coffin wall with flames, and the high-grade Yin Wood quickly became charred and fragile on the surface of the contact. Along with Jiang Li’s light poke, a small hole appeared on the coffin lid.
Looking out through the small hole, the spiritual hall outside was quiet and empty under the flickering lights.
There were no signs of other ghosts around. There were only two paper effigies that looked like children kneeling in front of the spiritual hall.
Jiang Li heaved a sigh of relief, and then he quietly pushed open the coffin lid from the inside.
This coffin was not nailed shut, saving him some trouble.
He rolled over and landed at the side without making a sound.
In the past, the sword cultivator clone had specially bought a pair of silent boots to go to the Water Element Peak to have a secret meeting with his junior sister. The effect was excellent with a five-star rating.
Looking around, he saw that the spiritual hall that had been completely destroyed had been fixed.
That Ghost King Bride was really quite rich. She smashed her house every day, and the furniture here was all high-grade Yin Wood. Over the years, she had wasted countless cultivation resources.
On the spirit table at the top of the spiritual hall, there were two long green lamps. There were endless joss sticks and golden paper, and spiritual fruits and nectar were offered.
In the middle were two tablets tied together by a red string.
[The tablet of the eldest son, Du Xianzhu]
[The tablet of the eldest daughter-in-law, Yang Ruozhi]
Jiang Li was a Yin-Wood attribute cultivator and knew a little about this kind of ceremony. He understood after a glance.
These two tablets were used to consecrate the two parties of the ghost marriage. In that case, the powerful Ghost King Bride was called Yang Ruozhi.
To be able to come up with such a name, the family should also be well educated.
Jiang Li clicked his tongue twice and started to size up the surroundings with appraisal again.
Now, those ghosts seemed to have gone out to harm people. If he was not here, he would have been in danger for nothing. If he did not take out something here, he would be letting himself down and lying in someone else’s coffin.
The clone’s eyes were glowing as he sized up his surroundings. Where had the Ghost King’s dowry that the husband had brought in been taken?
His eyes darted around and saw the two paper effigies.
Eh? Were their actions different from before?
Jiang Li stared at them for a while and did not discover anything. They seemed to be two ordinary paper effigies.
He turned to look elsewhere, but kept noticing them from the corner of his eye.
There was still no movement. Was he thinking too much?
Jiang Li stepped forward and poked them. There was nothing happening even after poking a hole. He simply raised his hand and burned them clean, but there was still no abnormality.
It seemed that he had been thinking too much.
“The two of you have been together for a long time. Those in the underworld cannot use the possessions of the living. I’ll keep them for you.”
After returning to the spirit table, he picked up three sticks of incense and lit them on the green lamp. Then, he pretended to offer incense to the spirit tablet.
However, in the next moment, the flames on the incense stick’s head suddenly turned into a black and white Ghost Lantern Cold Flame.
Jiang Li controlled his clone to attack with lightning speed. This flame flickered twice and lit up the two long lamps.
Immediately, the flames on the green lamp rose two meters high, turning into two huge flaming snakes that were about to devour him.
After Jiang Li lit the fire, he turned around and directly lay in the coffin again. The coffin lid closed, and no matter how the two fire snakes wreaked havoc outside, he remained unmoved.
These were two rare Green Lantern Ghosts. It was said that the last time they appeared was in the tomb of an emperor in the cultivation dynasty.
It was unknown where that ghost bribe had found two to guard her spirit tablet.
However, what cultivation method did Jiang Li possess? These two Green Lantern Ghosts were easily exposed in front of him.
This time, the sneak attack did not succeed. Instead, they were sent into Jiang Li’s soul.
Their strength was actually not weak at all. Even if Jiang Li’s main body was here, he might not be able to obtain any benefits.
Unfortunately, they did not choose to attack directly and were tainted by the terrifying Ghost Lantern Cold Flame. If they did not have another Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire to rely on, they would most likely be unable to escape this calamity.
The black and white flames were originally small.
In just a blink of an eye, it had already spread out, completely matching the surface of the fire snake.
The surface of the Green Lantern Snake turned black and white. It struggled in the air and lashed at the surrounding things from time to time, but it did not leave any charred marks.
The inside of the fire snake was extremely hot, but its surface was already covered in the Ghost Lantern Cold Flame, so it could not ignite anything.
About half an hour later, the movements of the fire snake stopped, leaving only a bit of ash and two extinguished green lamps in the hall. Only then did Jiang Li open the coffin lid again and jump out.
“These two green lamps are good stuff.”
Using appraisal, Jiang Li discovered that these two green lamps were actually high-grade Profound-rank fire attribute artifacts.
They could be used to store and nurture the fire of heaven and earth. After obtaining a certain flame, even if he did not refine it, he could use this green lamp to control it.
To fire-attribute cultivators, this was definitely something that could be used as a core artifact to refine.
After dealing with these two Green Lantern Ghosts, Jiang Li quickly checked around the residence and did not find any more enemies.
While heaving a sigh of relief, he casually found a black cloth and made a simple bag before starting to plunder the land.
Jiang Li had some experience in plundering treasures.
In such an old house, there were actually only a few places to hide things.
He quickly rummaged through the cabinets, looking for tiles that could be opened under the study table, and the hidden compartment behind the signboard.
There were also the secrets buried under the well water in the courtyard and the treasures in the bed in the main room.
Jiang Li took out a few more items and was about to leave.
Because storage artifacts could not be used in this place, even if he found the large baskets of dowry, he could not take them away. He could only pick up some of the most valuable things and bring them away.
“Fellow Daoist, Fellow Daoist, wait a moment. Can you bring me along?”
Just as Jiang Li took out a small box of purple coins from the dowry and was about to leave, a slightly sickly and refined male voice stopped him.
Jiang Li jolted and looked back. At the memorial tablet in the spiritual hall, a translucent figure had appeared out of nowhere and was cupping his hands in greeting.
The figure was wearing almost the same clothes as the sword cultivator clone.
There was no need to guess. This was definitely the spirit of one of the two tablets. It was the dead Du Xianzhu, the male lead of a certain ghost marriage.
However, Jiang Li noticed that the phantom’s eyes were closed, as if it was unwilling to see anything.
Jiang Li hesitated for a moment before stopping and turning around to ask.
“You’re Du Xianzhu? What do I gain by taking you away?”
“Also, are you blind?”
Jiang Li directly asked for benefits.
Taking the other party away was very likely to attract the pursuit and hostility of the Ghost King. If there was not enough benefits, he would not hesitate to turn around and leave.
However, the situation of this male lead in the ghost marriage really surprised Jiang Li.
“I am indeed Du Xianzhu. If not for you eliminating the two Green Lantern Ghosts, I would have been sealed in the spirit tablet forever and would never have the chance to come out.”
“I’ll thank you again in advance. As a thank-you gift, on the beam above, there’s a mystic technique manual passed down by our ancestors. I’m willing to give it to you.”
“In addition, I am not blind. My sight is connected to my ghost wife. If I open my eyes, she will immediately know everything here.”
This Du Xianzhu did not mention the reward, but he spoke about the thank-you gift from Jiang Li when he killed the Green Lantern Ghost.
The second sentence was to tell Jiang Li that besides having benefits to give, he could also summon the ghost bride by opening his eyes, causing the sword cultivator clone to be unable to leave on his own.
Jiang Li thought for a moment but did not leave immediately. He returned to the hall and jumped up. Sure enough, he discovered a wooden box on the crossbeam.
He reached out and took it down. The wooden box was not locked. After opening it, there was a six-section ancient text.
Jiang Li was slightly disappointed when he saw that it was not a jade slip.
However, after flipping through it, the content inside surprised Jiang Li again.
The words inside were extremely ancient. He could not understand a few, but the words were clearly the same as the words Jiang Li had seen in the Ink Sect’s illusion.
Jiang Li had once asked the most knowledgeable seniors in the sect about these words, but even they did not know them clearly.
It was only said to be a high-grade text similar to runes that could directly mobilize the power of heaven and earth.
To be able to use such words to record information, it was obvious that it was extraordinary.
“Then don’t open your eyes.”
“Since this is a thank-you gift, I’ll accept it.”
“Apart from that, what do you plan to use as my reward for bringing you away?”
Jiang Li’s expression did not change. He put away the book as if it was natural. He did not have any intention of being short-handed.
Du Xianzhu did not mind.
“This tablet of mine was created from the Purple-Golden Southern Wood. There’s a Three Lifetime Stone embedded in the base. If you don’t mind, you can refine it into an artifact.”
“In addition, if Fellow Daoist is interested, I can teach you the ancient words in the booklet.”
As expected, they were waiting for him here. The thank-you gift was actually tied to the reward. If he did not take him away, Jiang Li would not even be able to find a place to read the contents of the ancient booklet.
Also, was this white stone the three lifetime stone?
Something worth a hundred thousand spirit stones looked so ordinary.
From the looks of it, he really could not leave this guy here.
“You should have a way to escape your wife’s pursuit, right? Otherwise, with her methods, no matter how far I bring you, it will be in vain.”
When Du Xianzhu heard Jiang Li address the Ghost King as his wife, he shook his head helplessly.
“My family has let her down. As long as you untie the red string and burn it, she won’t be able to find me.”
Jiang Li followed his instructions and untied the red string.
After careful observation, he discovered that there were two black hair strands of slightly different thicknesses mixed in the red string.
This should be the hair bond of the ghost marriage.
After establishing the ghost marriage, before the Yin lifespan of both sides ended, their destinies were tied together.
This was probably the reason why the Ghost King, Yang Ruozhi, did not directly kill this cheap husband that she had forced to marry.
Because the connection between the two sides was too deep, once one side dissipated, the other side would suffer a severe blow.
However, after thinking for a moment, Jiang Li did not burn the red string.
Instead, he rubbed his finger and immediately tore the red string.
He removed the red string and every strand of hair.
He took out a small bottle of dragon blood and used it as ink to draw talismans on the black paper.
Every string and hair was wrapped in a black talisman.
After doing this, Du Xianzhu seemed to have sensed something and opened his eyes.
“Fellow Daoist, our connection has been severed. She has also discovered it. We should leave quickly.”
When he heard that a Ghost King that was even more impressive than a Soul Formation cultivator was rushing here, Jiang Li grabbed the spirit tablet in front of him and left the house.
As for the Ghost King Yang Ruozhi’s tablet, he had no intention of taking it away.
If he held that tablet, even across the entire Eastern Region, the other party would probably instantly lock onto his location.
Upon leaving the house, Jiang Li decisively threw the groom’s clothes on him to a corner by the roadside and quickly left the scene.
After running for a long time, Jiang Li suddenly heard an angry scream behind him. The female ghost had returned.
Jiang Li directly hid in a nearby restaurant.
Not long after, the greasy-looking housekeeper led people to search the streets anxiously.
Fortunately, there were many Ghost Kings in Fengdu City, so they could not search all places casually.
After drinking eight pots of tea and not being found, he finally relaxed a little.
“Young Master Du, do you know the situation in Fengdu City?”
Sitting in the corner of the Ghost Restaurant, although it was a little strange, it could barely be considered safe.
After putting away Du Xianzhu’s spirit tablet, Jiang Li ordered two small dishes that were made with poisonous insects and started to communicate with the other party.
“My ancestor is not from Fengdu City. That ancestral mansion was also moved here by Miss Yang more than ten years ago.”
“However, although I’ve always been in the spirit tablet, I still know a little about the situation here through Miss Yang’s eyes.”
“If Fellow Daoist needs it, I can introduce it to you.”
Jiang Li naturally did not disagree.
It turned out that this Netherworld Illusion had appeared much earlier than the cultivation world of the Eastern Region had imagined.
Long before the Ghost King Desolate Ground was named, this Netherworld Illusion had already appeared in that area. An environment completely different from the current cultivation world had a fatal attraction to all ghosts.
After all, that was the home of the dead. Without the legendary underworld governing them, it was like a Garden of Eden to ghosts.
Every time an illusion appeared, it would attract a large number of ghosts.
It was unknown what they obtained inside, but more and more Ghost Kings were born. In the end, they became the famous Ghost King Desolate Ground, a dangerous place in the Eastern Region.
“My ghost wife once went to a strange place. Although I didn’t see it clearly that time, it seemed to be a strange mountain range that was completely inverted..”