Tomb raiding: Carrying a coffin during a funeral procession, rewarded with the Dragon Elephant Prajn

Just as Mike and the others placed their hands on the vermilion wooden coffin, a faint singing voice suddenly rang out from inside the cave.

The voice was mournful and plaintive, filled with endless sorrow, sending a chill down everyone's spine.

Mike and the other mercenaries turned pale with fright and quickly retreated, drawing their crossbows from their backs and frantically searching for the source of the sound!

From this eerie singing, one can roughly discern that it sounds like the voice of a middle-aged woman.

The sound echoed in the cave, and for a moment it was impossible to tell where it came from; it was as if someone was softly singing in your ear!

This unexpected turn of events caused even Xiang Yunfeng's expression to turn extremely grim!

but……

Just then, Ah Ning suddenly whispered, "I've heard that kind of singing before!"

"ah?!"

Xiang Yunfeng, Hei Xiazi, and Gou Daoshi all looked at A Ning with a hint of surprise in their eyes.

Ah Ning realized that everyone had misunderstood her, so she quickly explained, "What I meant was that when I was traveling in Japan before, I heard similar singing. They call it 'ghost voice' there, and it's performed in small theaters. Those who can sing 'ghost voice' are their national treasure-level divas."

"Ghost sound..."

Xiang Yunfeng gave a wry smile and said quietly, "This name is quite fitting, but why are there ghostly sounds from Japan here?"

Upon hearing this, Li Changsheng, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

"Chief Xiang, I must criticize you here. Ghostly sounds are not something from the island nation. They originated in my country, dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties, and flourished in the Tang dynasty. This singing technique imitates the mournful and plaintive voices of ghosts and monsters, hence the name 'ghostly sounds.' Back then, the island nation sent envoys to Tang China and learned a lot, including ghostly sounds. However, ghostly sounds are not something that ordinary people can appreciate, and they were lost after the late Ming dynasty."

Xiang Yunfeng suddenly realized what was happening and quickly apologized, "I was truly ignorant..."

Ah Ning blinked and looked at Li Changsheng, asking, "Advisor Li, do you know the source of this sound?"

Without wasting words, Li Changsheng walked directly to the vermilion coffin and casually slapped it down.

In an instant, the mournful and melodious ghostly voice disappeared without a trace, and the minds of everyone who had been drowsy from the singing returned to clarity.

However, he didn't rush to open the coffin. Instead, he grabbed one corner of the coffin with one hand and flipped it over.

Xiang Yunfeng was taken aback, then his gaze was drawn to the few lines of gilded characters on the bottom of the coffin.

"The woman's fate is unknown; she was buried and concealed... The candle was lit, the lamp extinguished, and ghostly voices led the way!"

"This is?!"

Black Bear paused for a moment, then quickly joined in.

When Ah Ning saw the handwriting on it, she subconsciously frowned.

"I know what a shrine maiden is, but what does 'mono-onna' mean?"

Hei Xiazi began to explain.

"I know that. 'Wonnv' actually means female corpse, but not an ordinary female corpse. In the past, in the Xiangxi area, women who were skilled in invoking spirits and communicating with the supernatural were called 'Shiniang'. Because these Shiniang could invoke spirits and communicate with the supernatural in life, their bodies could not be disposed of casually after death, so they needed a special burial method, and their bodies were called 'Wonnv'."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded slightly.

Hei Xiazi's words make a lot of sense. People who can summon immortals or communicate with the underworld carry a different kind of aura, so their afterlife must be handled with care.

Generally speaking, the bodies of such people are more likely to encounter problems after death, or become demonic corpses.

Ah Ning suddenly realized: "So the person inside the coffin was someone like my master's wife, and that's why the coffin was sealed with vermilion lacquer and bound with iron chains after her death?"

"almost."

Hei Xiazi nodded, then looked at Li Changsheng.

Even now, he still couldn't figure out Li Changsheng's purpose.

He felt that Li Changsheng seemed to know everything, but he seemed to have little interest in the various secret techniques in the Earth Immortal Village, and even little interest in Feng Shigu.

On the contrary, the initiator of this operation, Aning, was particularly concerned about Feng Shigu and the secret techniques he possessed, probably because he came for the Earth Immortal secret techniques.

That Taoist priest's purpose was probably similar; he also wanted the secret techniques of the Earth Immortals.

Xiang Yunfeng's remaining goal was simpler: he just wanted to make some money with his men...

Thinking of this, Hei Xiazi shook his head, thinking that if Wu Sansheng knew that Li Changsheng could control flying zombies, he would probably have run as far away as possible.

It's important to know that flying zombies are the zombies among zombies, and their strength is several levels higher than that of blood zombies.

"Forget it, I've done everything I could, and I've investigated everything that needed to be investigated. Let Wu Sansheng worry about the rest himself."

Thinking of this, Hei Xiazi couldn't help but glance at the black coffin behind Li Changsheng...

"This black coffin is too eerie; it can suppress flying zombies and command underworld officials to collect souls. I'll have to stay away from it from now on, lest I get my soul taken by the underworld officials inside one day..."

Hei Xiazi always felt that he was just lucky to have lived for over a hundred years longer, from the late Qing Dynasty to the present day.

Although living a long and healthy life can be boring at times, it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Even if it's boring, Hei Xiazi still wants to continue living.

In a short moment, many thoughts flashed through Hei Xiazi's mind.

Seeing his shifty eyes, Li Changsheng didn't pay much attention and simply turned the coffin back to its front.

Then, he looked at Xiang Yunfeng.

"Old Xiang, you open the coffin!"

"I?!"

Xiang Yunfeng also realized by this time that Li Changsheng really liked to have him open the coffin and move the corpse.

Although he didn't understand the reason, he didn't refuse.

After all, he was a descendant of the Northern School of Tomb Raiding, and he did enjoy personally opening coffins and witnessing the profound surprise or shock of history.

Xiang Yunfeng walked to the front of the vermilion coffin, first untied the iron chains on the coffin, and then took the tools handed to him by his subordinate Lao Jin, prying out the coffin nails one by one.

Once all the coffin nails had been pried off, he and Lao Jin stood at opposite ends and together lifted the coffin lid.

The moment the coffin lid was lifted, eerie, ghostly sounds suddenly echoed through the cave once more.

Almost instantly, Aning and the others felt a sharp pain in their heads, as if someone was stirring inside their heads with an awl.

Li Changsheng frowned slightly and chanted softly.

"A golden light appeared in an instant!"

The next second, thousands of golden rays suddenly resounded throughout the cave, illuminating the corpse of the woman inside the vermilion coffin!

There was not a trace of decay on this female figure. She was lifelike and wore a Ming Dynasty vest, which was a sleeveless vest from the Ming Dynasty, with a moon-white inner shirt underneath!

The moment the golden light shone on the woman, the mournful ghostly sound ceased.

Ah Ning and the others felt their minds return to normal, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Even the most foolish among them would know by now that the ghostly voice and the woman inside the coffin were inextricably linked.

"Advisor Li, can you handle this?"

Li Changsheng had now concealed the golden light, with only his palms still emitting a faint golden glow.

Where the golden light shone, a ghostly figure struggled left and right, as if trying to break free from Li Changsheng's restraints.

Li Changsheng did not answer A Ning's question, but simply uttered a strange sentence in a flat tone.

These words weren't spoken in standard Mandarin; they sounded more like the ghostly voices everyone had just heard.

As soon as he finished speaking, the ghostly figure struggling in the golden light suddenly gave up.

Seeing this, Xiang Yunfeng was full of surprise, his brows furrowed as he pondered.

After a long pause, he asked uncertainly, "Advisor Li, what you just said, could it be some kind of ancient, lost myth?"

"good."

Li Changsheng nodded.

Xiang Yunfeng was both surprised and delighted, and couldn't help but exclaim, "I never imagined there really are people in this world who understand ghost language!"

Confused, Ah Ning quickly asked, "Ghost talk? Talk about communicating with ghosts?"

"Yes, actually, as early as the pre-Qin period, there were alchemists who specifically sought out all kinds of zombies and ghosts and researched ghost language and corpse language that could communicate with the underworld. However, after the Tang Dynasty, ghost language was lost, and only corpse language was still passed down sporadically. My master told me that at least during the Republic of China period, there were still people who understood corpse language, and he personally saw someone communicating with zombies."