Chapter 133: Ginseng Spirit

The water of the Yin Dragon River was much colder than normal water, especially since I had just descended from Suppressing Yin Mountain, making the bone-chilling cold feel even more piercing. I swam desperately toward the shore. The surface of the river was dozens of meters wide, a distance that felt no less than running a whole kilometer. I exerted every ounce of my strength to swim toward the bank. Fortunately, no ghosts came out to make trouble at this moment.

Just as I managed to swim close to the shore, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed my ankles from beneath the water with vicious force. Before I even had time to react, he dragged me straight back into the depths of the Yin Dragon River! At the same time, the symbiotic ghost on the back of my hand abruptly darted out, slithering along my body and plunging toward my feet.

Once dragged into the water, I saw clearly that the one who had grabbed me was one of the corpses from the stone chamber, and two more corpses were swimming rapidly toward me right now. The symbiotic ghost intercepted the first corpse instantly, letting out a sharp, piercing shriek. Its entire body actually burrowed straight into the corpse!

Suddenly, the corpse loosened its grip on my leg, turned around to swim backward, and started fighting fiercely with the other two incoming corpses. Seizing this golden opportunity, I swam back toward the shore with all my might.

Upon leaving the water, I immediately felt the bone-deep chill in my chest dissipate quite a bit. Turning around to face the water's surface, I had already grabbed my rune brush. All my paper talismans were drenched and completely ruined, rendered useless. But with the brush in hand, I could draw new talismans on the spot, and once on solid ground, I had no need to fear these corpses anymore.

The water's surface churned incessantly, giving a vivid sense of how violent the underwater battle was. It took a long while before the surface of the water finally broke open with a splash. The symbiotic ghost slithered back and burrowed into my arm. After it came ashore, the water settled back into calmness, and even ten minutes later, not a single corpse broke the surface again.

I let out a huge sigh of relief; the symbiotic ghost must have completely eliminated those corpses. Collapsing onto the bank in exhaustion, I re-bandaged my wounds. Then, I opened all my backpacks. The mountaineering and exploration tools were of no use to me anymore. I left behind the valuable items and unzipped the third pack, which I hadn't had the time to open earlier.

To my heart's wild astonishment, what was packed inside turned out to be several sealed wooden boxes. The wood of these boxes was of exceptionally high quality; they hadn't let any water in and were even sealed with waterproof lacquer. The contents inside were definitely extraordinary—that was the immediate thought that flashed through my mind.

I packed all these boxes into a single backpack and pushed the rest of the miscellaneous items into the Yin Dragon River. Rising to my feet, I walked along the riverbank back toward the mountain village where we had come from.

After walking for a short while, I suddenly felt a cold, slightly eerie sensation at the back of my neck. Looking back, my pupils contracted violently: standing atop the mountain cliff on the opposite side, right at the entrance of that cave, was a person. He possessed an exceptionally bulky and massive physique; even across such a great distance, he gave me the distinct impression that he must have stood at least two meters tall. Furthermore, there were some very bizarre things on his body. Around his neck, it looked as if he had grown fur...

It looked just like the tail feathers of a white-feathered chicken, sending a chilling shudder straight through my heart. My eyelids twitched wildly, and my heart leapt straight into my throat. I also saw that at the junction where the cliff met the Yin Dragon River, three corpses were carrying two other corpses on their backs, climbing upward. The lone corpse in the rear had the backpack I had just discarded strapped to its back.

A realization struck me. Those corpses hadn't just wanted to kill me; they also wanted to retrieve their own belongings. Those five men had undoubtedly been grave robbers up on Suppressing Yin Mountain. They had dug into this Sage Cave and crawled inside, only to lose their lives entirely. The laws of karma and heavenly retribution never miss their mark.

Since I had walked quite slowly, it was already close to noon by the time I returned to the village at the foot Suppressing Yin Mountain. Everyone in the village had gathered along the main street. Taking a detour through a side path, I originally intended to head straight back up the mountain, but then I figured I might not necessarily cross paths with Zhang Chang and the others. By this point, I couldn't even remember precisely where we had separated.

Instead, I went straight back to Gama's house. Gama's wife, Suifang, was in the courtyard picking vegetables. Seeing me, she looked genuinely surprised and came over to ask where I had been. She said she had knocked on our door this morning, but no one answered, and the village chief had even come to invite us over, only to leave empty-handed. Clearly, Suifang's attitude toward me had undergone a noticeable change.

I smiled and said, "There was such a big incident in the village last night. Early this morning, I went down to the Yin Dragon River to inspect the village's feng shui and make sure there were no lingering issues. The others went up the mountain to check if any of the old corpses had undergone physical transformations."

"Where is Gama?" I asked smoothly, steering the conversation.

Suifang wore an expression of sudden realization. She smiled and said, "Gama went to help carry the corpses. Last night, thank goodness for your talismans. I heard from others that there were noises coming from the ancestral hall all night long, and it almost suffered a corpse resurrection. So today, during the cremation, the village chief called all the strong men over, saying that the abundant yang energy would prevent any accidents."

With that, Suifang lowered her voice and asked me, "Little Boss, I've had a feeling you guys are extraordinary. You're definitely not just regular businessmen, right? Is that chubby boss actually Master Wang who sells talismans in the town ahead?"

A jolt went through my heart. I had no idea how Suifang had figured this out.

Suifang smiled and whispered, "My niece went into town once and saw Master Wang selling talismans. She didn't manage to get one, but she recognized him from the commotion last night when everyone went to watch the excitement. However, my niece didn't tell anyone else; only Gama and I know."

"Master Wang must be a true master of the esoteric arts, right? Even though he looks a bit slovenly, he clearly just wants to do good deeds in a low-profile way." As Suifang spoke, her face was filled with unmistakable gratitude.

I couldn't help feeling a mixture of amusement and exasperation in my heart, though the fact that they hadn't exposed Wang Erjun's identity would save us a lot of trouble. She found me a set of clean clothes, brought some food to my room, and even helped me re-bandage my wounds.

Taking the opportunity, I casually mentioned to her that while examining the feng shui, I happened to spot a group of men drilling into the Sage Cave on the opposite cliff, after which all of them fell into the Yin Dragon River and not a single one came out alive.

Suifang looked genuinely shocked and asked if there were five of them. I nodded and said yes. She immediately declared that those must have been the men who brought the night watchman up the mountain, and she needed to go find the village chief right away to report it.

I nodded, knowing that spreading this news would prevent unnecessary panic in the village; once those people were confirmed dead, the villagers wouldn't have to live in fear anymore.

After Suifang left, I changed into clean clothes. Famished, I devoured all the food she had brought, and I finally felt a lot better. I opened the backpack once more. I had no interest in the gold and silver treasures, but those wooden boxes filled me with a profound sense of mystery.

I wondered what they contained. Since they were burial objects treated with such extreme care, they had to be valuable. Hesitating for a long moment, I prepared to open one up and take a peek.

Just then, a soft sound came from the bedroom door—someone was knocking, tap, tap, tap.

"Who is it?"

Suifang had just left; could it be her coming back?

However, no one answered my question. The rhythmic tapping on the door did not stop.

Frowning slightly, I stood up, walked over to the door, and pulled it open.

To my surprise, there was no one outside at all.

My eyelids twitched, and a thin layer of sweat broke out on my forehead. I was certain I had heard someone knocking just now; it was impossible for there to be no one. Yet, not even footsteps could be heard echoing away, and the corridor was completely empty.

A primal sense of vigilance made me whip my head around to look back inside the room.

With a soft clatter, the backpack containing the boxes suddenly fell to the floor. The window, which had been securely shut, was now wide open.

My expression changed drastically. I strode forward quickly and picked the backpack up from the ground. None of the contents inside were missing.

I was on high alert. Something had come in, entered my room, and tried to make off with this bag.

Could it be those corpses from earlier?

At that exact moment, the symbiotic ghost suddenly emerged from my arm. It landed on the bed, staring intently at the bag in my hand.

Even the symbiotic ghost was interested in these contents?

The next instant, it abruptly leaped out through the open window.

I hurried to the windowsill, only to see the symbiotic ghost darting along the ground and rapidly vanishing from my sight, as if it were chasing after something.

In a flash of insight, I understood: what it was chasing was whatever had just sneaked into my room to drag away this bag.

Subconsciously, I glanced down at the windowsill, and my scalp prickled slightly. Right there on the edge of the window frame was a faint imprint. It looked almost identical to the marks on my face—an imprint left by the spiritual essence of the Seven-Root Ginseng.

Could it be from last night?

I immediately picked up the backpack again, my pupils contracting sharply.

On the strap of the backpack, there was the exact same imprint!