Mysterious Revival

Late night.

Outside Taiping Ancient Town.

Feng Quan was carrying two bodies wrapped in sheets, following Boss Liu from the inn to a wasteland by a riverside outside Taiping Ancient Town.

This wasteland was overgrown with wild grass, and the growth was particularly lush, taller than a person and verdant, in contrast to the other areas where the wild grass was short, weak, and wilted. It was unknown if the wasteland was fertile or if it was due to the proximity to the river and abundant water source.

“This is it.” Boss Liu stopped.

In the black night, his shadow stretched long, the dim oil lamp flickered unsteadily, finally bringing Feng Quan here.

This was a burial ground.

In the old days, it was often referred to as a mass grave.

“Dig a pit and bury these two bodies here.”

Boss Liu pointed to a relatively clear patch of ground with fewer weeds in front.

Feng Quan’s numb gaze moved slightly: “Are all the people who die in the town buried here? No wonder the wild grass on this wasteland is growing so lush, yet people die and disappear one after another, and it doesn’t attract any attention?”

“You know what kind of place Taiping Ancient Town is, don’t you? Do you think ordinary people can investigate anything here?” Boss Liu laughed: “Don’t you want to know the secrets of this place? Help me, and I can tell you some of it.”

“I want to know about Ghost Lake. How much do you know?” Feng Quan didn’t expect this boss to be so direct and bring it up without any prompting from himself.

This was fine.

It saved him the time of beating around the bush.

Immediately, Feng Quan tossed the two heavy bodies to the ground and began digging a pit with the old, dirt-covered shovel in his hand, preparing to bury the couple’s bodies in this wasteland.

Although these two people were innocent.

But when it comes to supernatural events, it’s always like this; people will die.

Feng Quan was accustomed to life and death, and two dead bodies were nothing unusual to him; compared to a real supernatural incident, having only two people dead was already minimal casualties.

When a supernatural incident erupts outside, dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people die each time.

The bizarre dirt-stained shovel was a supernatural item, but it could still be used to shovel dirt without causing any special supernatural phenomena.

“Ghost Lake, huh.”

Boss Liu squatted down in a spot with fewer weeds, holding the oil lamp. He skillfully lit a cigarette from a pack he retrieved from somewhere, then took a deep drag.

After exhaling a smoke ring, Boss Liu slowly said, “It all started with a coffin, a black coffin placed in the back hall of Taiping Ancient Town’s ancestral hall… This was decades ago. I remember it from my childhood. Although it’s been a long time, certain memories from childhood remain particularly vivid.”

“That coffin was one of them.”

Feng Quan paused in his digging and looked at Boss Liu: “What was special about that coffin? Was a fierce ghost trapped inside?”

Boss Liu said, “From the start of my memory, that coffin was already in the ancestral hall. I don’t know how long it had been there, probably an old coffin from the Republic of China Period, but an old coffin like that didn’t concern me. After all, at that time, it was customary for every household in the ancient town to have a coffin prepared.”

“Until one day, when I went outside at night to relieve myself, I inadvertently wandered near the ancestral hall and vaguely heard a woman’s crying.”

“Taiping Ancient Town has many taboos. Not going out after dark is one, and the second is not entering the ancestral hall at night… That day, I broke both taboos. I was drawn by the crying and climbed over the wall into the ancestral hall, curious as to which girl was crying at night.”

Boss Liu continued smoking and said, “I followed the crying and went to the back hall of the ancestral hall. There I saw an old, black coffin.”

“Without a doubt, the crying was coming from that coffin, and there was a puddle of water around it, as if it were tears coming from inside the coffin.”

“Perhaps it was youthful ignorance, or maybe just curiosity. I thought a girl was trapped inside, so I wanted to open the coffin and save that person.”

“Did you open it?” Feng Quan put down the shovel and asked.

Boss Liu laughed: “No, I tried to lift the coffin lid, but someone stopped me. It was a person I didn’t know. I still remember what that person looked like: a man in a black long gown, full of wrinkles, looking as if dead. He stopped me and smiled, advising me to leave.”

“At that moment, I was a bit dazed and wandered away in a muddle. Later, I found out that there was no girl trapped in that coffin, that it was an empty coffin left there for a long time, and that there was no old man in a long gown in the ancestral hall.”

“And that was the first time I became aware of the town’s secret, as well as my first involvement in the supernatural world.”

At this point, Boss Liu seemed somewhat sentimental.

“What happened afterward?” Feng Quan continued digging the pit, listening to Boss Liu narrate his eerie past experiences.

Boss Liu said, “Later on, for a period of time, the woman’s crying was constantly heard from the ancestral hall, especially clear at night. I didn’t know what it meant back then, only that one day, some elders in Taiping Ancient Town made a decision to move the coffin out of the ancestral hall and bury it somewhere, similar to what we are doing today.”

“Buried? Buried where?” Feng Quan keenly noticed that the burial grounds of that coffin could be the origin of the brewing of a Ghost Domain.

Boss Liu, smoking and squinting, said, “Buried beyond the real world, in a supernatural place inaccessible to the living. The coffin was hauled away on a black ship, and no one knows where it ended up. But ever since that night, the crying in Taiping Ancient Town ceased, and everything returned to peace.”

“A black ship? What was that?” Feng Quan asked further.

“The older generation says it’s a Ghost Ship that ferries the dead away. If a living person boards it, they can never come back, but that’s just a story to scare children, something I don’t believe in.” Boss Liu showed a slight smile at this point.

The smile was somewhat eerie, as if he was recalling something peculiar.

“The reason the living can’t return is because they don’t want the living to come back on the boat since there’s a ghost on board. As long as one rides the boat, they will suffer from the curse of a fierce ghost, subject to misfortune and danger, which no one can avoid. So, strictly speaking, it’s a road of no return, which isn’t incorrect.”

Feng Quan’s expression shifted: “If there’s a ghost on the boat, can’t it be captured and dealt with?”

“Perhaps the ship itself is the ghost.”

Boss Liu glanced at him: “Young people always think things are that simple. Do you think a boat capable of sending off the dead is ordinary? Okay, enough about the ship; let’s talk about Ghost Lake, which you’re interested in.”

“Actually, I had already heard about Ghost Lake before you all arrived. The moment I heard the news, I immediately thought of that black coffin that was taken away… So many years have passed; if something were to happen, it would likely be happening around now.”

“I just didn’t expect that the coffin taken away on the Ghost Ship would eventually form Ghost Lake, even affecting the outside world.”

Feng Quan frowned: “So, is this the truth about Ghost Lake? Didn’t you previously say that the out-of-control situation of Ghost Lake was due to too many ghosts being imprisoned?”

“I was talking about the cause of Ghost Lake, not its function. Whatever people did with that coffin wasn’t something I, as a child at the time, could understand.” Boss Liu said.

“The function of Ghost Lake to imprison fierce ghosts is something I inferred and speculated on later.”

“So that’s how it is.” Feng Quan nodded.

That makes a lot of sense.

This Boss Liu is merely a witness, not a participant.

“So, finding that coffin and dealing with the ghost inside can solve the Ghost Lake incident?” Feng Quan continued.

“Things are not that simple…” Boss Liu said, turning his head to look down the small river into the distance.

In the distance, it was pitch black, with nothing visible, only a vague glimmer on the river surface.

“If the ghost inside that coffin was so easy to deal with, the elders wouldn’t have needed to transport that coffin away in the past. Using Ghost Lake to imprison ferocious ghosts is definitely not the best option; it might just be a forced choice. Otherwise, Ghost Lake should have formed long ago.”

Boss Liu then expressed his concerns.

Feng Quan was silent, having already dug a very deep pit that would be hard to find.

Rustling sounds continued in this overgrown wasteland.

Two corpses began to be buried.

And in Ghost Lake.

Yang Jian, akin to a sculpture, had not eternally sunk into the cold, dark lake water.

As time passed, the coldness on his body slowly began to fade away. This sensation wasn’t physical but rather an eerie repression that was gradually weakening. No, the supernatural forces in Ghost Lake hadn’t weakened; instead, their impact on him was diminishing.

This change was strange and hard to describe.

But at least, Yang Jian could now open his ghost eyes to peer into the lake depths, and his limbs were gradually able to move.

If this change continued, it was believed that Yang Jian could regain mobility in the lake.

“I can wait it out, but Ah Hong and Li Jun cannot. This operation has just begun, and we can’t suffer too great a loss. The most urgent thing is to find a way to save Ah Hong. As long as Ah Hong doesn’t die, Li Jun won’t either, and this operation won’t be a failure.”

At this moment, with a slight improvement, Yang Jian began to think about how to reverse the situation.

He felt that he must find a way to ensure Ah Hong’s safety.

But what could he do in his current state?

The ghost eye rotated.

At the lake bottom, Yang Jian saw not only the slightly open black coffin but also a red lacquered cupboard partially buried in mud in an inconspicuous corner.

That was… the Ghost Cabinet.

The Ghost Cabinet was lying tilted in the mud, seemingly trapped and unable to escape.

“What on earth is this Ghost Cabinet? Its curse even extends into Ghost Lake.” Yang Jian was bewildered and uncertain.

The appearance of the Ghost Cabinet seemed to remind him that even in such a place, transactions could still proceed.

“Trying to take advantage of the situation, wanting me to start a new round of transactions right now?”

He gradually understood the Ghost Cabinet’s intention.

In such a desperate situation, it indeed easily prompted a desperate urge for help.

But Yang Jian remained calm, not panicking at all.

Even if trapped here, he could survive for a long time, with no immediate threat of death.

At this moment.

Yang Jian’s limbs regained some movement, and he found that he could slowly walk along the lake bottom.

With mobility restored, his mind became active once more.

“I don’t need the Ghost Cabinet for self-preservation, so starting a transaction would be unwise. However, if I utilize the Ghost Cabinet, perhaps I can save Ah Hong. As long as Ah Hong and Li Jun are safe and I regain full mobility, everything will improve. Without Li Jun’s Ghost Flame connecting Ping’an Tower, it will be hard to leave here.”

Yang Jian’s ghost eyes continued to fixate on the nearby Ghost Cabinet.

After a brief contemplation, he thought of a special method.

A method that doesn’t require initiating a transaction but can use the Ghost Cabinet to save Ah Hong.

Yang Jian was unable to move his limbs flexibly, but underwater his body was buoyant, allowing limited movement.

He struggled towards the Ghost Cabinet, while simultaneously pulling out a sticker from his body.

This was a Wish Sticker, capable of realizing a written wish, acquired earlier from a little girl named Zhao Ya.

“The Wish Stickers’ power will likely be nullified in Ghost Lake, but if I write down a wish to save Ah Hong and send it to the Ghost Cabinet, then the cabinet could shield it from Ghost Lake’s influence. By then, the Wish Sticker could work, and once it does, it would conflict with the Ghost Cabinet’s transactions.”

“Would it be the Ghost Cabinet’s transaction that works, or the Wish Sticker’s effect? Or would both be affected and not work at all?”

This is a clash of the supernatural.

And it’s the only way Yang Jian could think of to save Ah Hong.

Once this step succeeded, he could quietly wait for his full recovery to escape Ghost Lake’s influence and return to the surface.

“As for that coffin, I can’t deal with it for the time being; I don’t have the ability to approach what seems to be the source of Ghost Lake right now.”

Approaching the Ghost Cabinet, Yang Jian’s ghost eye glanced again at the black coffin.

A certain connection and sensation were growing stronger.

He knew that he was affected by whatever was inside that coffin, which helped him regain mobility. Otherwise, he would drift helplessly in the water like the others.

In fact.

Yang Jian was unaware that it wasn’t the ghost in the coffin influencing him.

It was because, in the world of memories, he had defeated the ghost invading his memories and was now using the supernatural force within the Ghost Domain.

No.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t possession because the ghost was still in Ghost Lake, not in Yang Jian himself.

Yet, somehow, Yang Jian was gradually gaining the supernatural power of Ghost Lake.

Thus, it is more apt to call it pilfering.

Yang Jian was unknowingly pilfering the supernatural power of Ghost Lake.

As for the limits of this pilfering, no one knew.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com