I Have a Date with a Thousand-year-old Female Corpse-Chapter 45 What is a ghost called after it dies_1

Some say that the simplest way to resolve disputes in this world is through force.

Whether or not others believe it, you certainly did.

The moment you received Du Xishan’s call yesterday, you considered this. Du Xishan, that old codger, was a sly fox through and through. Despite usually looking unkempt and dishevelled, he actually had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

You and Fan Yi were just two freshmen who knew nothing, with the military training still two days away, yet this old codger rushed to bring you to this godforsaken place, which could only mean he was up to no good.

Because of that, you deliberately drew some talismans with cinnabar, and the one you used just now was the simplest Exorcism Charm from Taoism.

"We are just ordinary archaeologists, not the tomb robbers you mentioned." Saying this, you grabbed the ID hanging around Du Xishan’s neck and showed it to the black-clothed female ghost, "If you don’t believe us, take a look. We have many staff members up there. Also, the group you scared away just now are archaeologists too."

"I don’t care about any of that! I finally found this place, and I will not leave!"

"Tch, why be so stubborn?" You scratched your head in annoyance, then turned to Du Xishan and said, "Lao Du, you’re more articulate than I am, talk some sense into her, will you?"

Du Xishan shrugged: "Do you think it’s useful to preach these grand principles to a female ghost who died because of her obsessions?"

"So what you’re saying is, should I just obliterate her?"

As you spoke, you casually pulled out a handful of talismans from your pocket, even deliberately flaunting them in front of the black-clothed ghost with a gesture akin to a nouveau riche showing off a wad of cash to a beggar—an action asking to be punched.

Seeing this, the black-clothed female ghost hurried back into a corner, her voice trembling as she said, "You, don’t come any closer, don’t! If you come any closer, I will die right before your eyes!"

Panic, fear, and helplessness made even the ghostly her revert to a timid nature once again, like a helpless and lonely young girl crouched in a corner, whimpering.

Of course, ghosts don’t have tears, but listening to a female ghost cry in an underground tomb more than ten meters deep, that feeling was truly bittersweet!

Seeing a girl cry, the old bachelor Du Xishan immediately lost his composure. What was even more frustrating was that he actually pushed you forward. You turned around and gave him a hard glare, but after collecting your emotions, you approached the black-clothed female ghost and crouched down in front of her.

"Look here, little sister..."

"I’m already thirty years old, I’m your elder sister!" The black-clothed female ghost turned her head and glared at you.

"All right, elder sister it is, then." Faced with an unreasonable woman, men naturally tend to back down. You squeezed out what you thought was a dashing smile and said, "I guess you haven’t been a ghost for long, so let me enlighten you about the ins and outs of being a ghost."

"Are there restrictions on being a ghost, too?" At this point, the black-clothed female ghost looked up at you, allowing you to finally see her face clearly.

Well, how to put it? Her features were quite ordinary, the kind that wouldn’t stand out at all in a crowd.

Seeing her change in attitude, you smiled and said, "Of course, there are, and the restrictions on being a ghost are much more than those on living humans. Look, let me start with the basics. When people die, they become ghosts. Normally, the Ghost will come and take away the soul and spirit within a very short period of time, and on the night of the seventh day after death, the Human Soul will return to the Underworld as well. But your case is different; I guess you slipped away. Once the seventh day passes, your Human Soul won’t be restored, and even if you’re caught by the Ghost, you won’t be able to enter the Underworld."

"What happens then?" Du Xishan asked from behind.

"There are generally two choices in such cases. The first is to be directly scattered by the Ghost, ending everything once and for all; the second is to become one of the Lost Spirits."

"And then star in a romantic ghost tale?" Du Xishan joked.

You "heh"ed: "A romantic ghost tale? You’ve been watching too much TV. Do you think it’s that easy to become a Lost Spirit? Not to mention the skilled demon hunters among the common folk, if other ghosts kill you, that’s really the end."

"Ghosts would also kill ghosts?" This time, the black-clothed female ghost was clearly scared.

"Of course, didn’t you know, ghosts can die too, and when a ghost dies, it turns into a Ni, and once you become a Ni, that’s it, for this life, no, for all eternity, there’s no hope whatsoever."

"What happens then?" Du Xishan prompted at the right moment.

You said with a smile, "Ever heard of The Nineteenth Level of Hell?"

Both the female ghost and Du Xishan shook their heads.

"Ni will be trapped in that sunless, dreadful world. As for the specific tortures it would suffer, I’m not clear on the details, but I’ve heard that ghosts would rather be obliterated than become a Ni."

"Then... what should I do?"

At this point, the black-clothed female ghost had lost all her earlier fearsome demeanor.

In fact, ghosts are also a form of life, not as terrifying as legend has it. They retain the nature they had in life, so good people become good ghosts, and bad people, naturally, become Evil Ghosts.

Through your subsequent exchange with her, you learned her name was Xu Sha, an ordinary name for an equally ordinary white-collar worker, a single woman of thirty years of age.

She said her life was a tragedy, then went on and on about it, and you had to admit, she was quite a chatterbox, or perhaps it was due to the long-term repression and depression that had made her what she was now.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

After listening to your explanations, Xu Sha grew fearful, looking at you with a pitiful face.

"No worries, you’re pretty chummy with the Ghost, a simple nod from him, and the Ghost will take you down. As long as you cross the Bridge of Helplessness and drink the Grandma Meng Soup, you’ll have nothing to do with your previous life."

You gave Du Xishan a direct blank stare, but since things had come to this, you had no choice but to ask the Ghost for help.

"How about this, you wait here for a while, we’re going to check out the main coffin, and we’ll take you to see the Ghost when we get back."

Since you’ve come down to the tomb, you can’t leave empty-handed, that’s the rule.

Xu Sha shook her head and said, "I’ll go with you. I want to see what’s really inside."

"You haven’t been inside?"

According to Xu Sha, she had been here for six days already, and you never thought that she hadn’t been inside.

"Yeah," Xu Sha nodded, "I’ve visited all five stone chambers around here, and each contains a stone coffin. The walls all have murals, similar to this one, telling the tales of the tomb’s owner when he was alive. But I can’t get into the central stone chamber; there’s always some kind of invisible force pushing me out."

You and Du Xishan exchanged a glance, both of your eyes lighting up.

The ability to place restrictions on one’s own tomb that last thousands of years indicates that the tomb’s owner must have been an extraordinary person, which means for you that the tomb must contain some jewels of invaluable worth.

And for Du Xishan, it means that the chamber must hold artifacts of great research value, which would keep him occupied and far from boredom for a considerable time.

Following Xu Sha, you and Du Xishan circumvented the stone coffin and entered a corridor. The corridor, several meters long, was flanked by walls built of brick and stone. For some reason, the path underfoot was not paved with stone bricks but felt somewhat soft to the tread.

What presented itself before you next was a thick stone door, carved with strange patterns, all ancient characters unfamiliar to you.

In front of these ancient characters, you felt like an illiterate and made a mental note to memorize all recorded languages in the world once you returned, to prevent the regret of "finding a lack of knowledge when it’s needed."

You pushed against the stone door but couldn’t budge it, so you began gently tapping the corridor walls on both sides with your searchlight.

At this time, Du Xishan stepped up to carefully study the characters on the stone door, even gently caressing them with his fingers while sighing, "Ah, this craftsmanship is simply exquisite. These pictographs are somewhat like oracle bone script, meaning—hiss!"

Quite suddenly, Du Xishan sharply inhaled a breath of cold air.

"What happened?"

You turned your head towards Du Xishan and saw that his fingertip had been pricked, a trace of blood staining the stone door.

Immediately, your sharp eyes noticed that the stone door absorbed Du Xishan’s blood!

"Not good!"

You shouted instinctively.

Sure enough!

Suddenly, a hand emerged from the somewhat soft earth beneath your feet!

Soon after, more hands reached out from the soil, revealing ancient zongzi. In no time, the corridor was packed with them!

"Damn it!"

Quickly, you found yourselves trapped by the zongzi emerging from underground. Their movements were slow as they encircled you.

"Mu Yun, think of something quick!"

You pulled Du Xishan back to the front of the stone door. Escaping via the original route was now impossible. Just then, you realized the vision in your left and right eyes seemed different. When you closed your right eye and looked at the stone door with your left, a faint red light flickered in the center of the door.

Without a second thought, you threw a punch at the red light!

"Bang!"

Hiss—

That hurt!

Despite the pain, you clearly felt the stone door shudder slightly.

"Lao Du, do you have any hard objects?"

You obviously wouldn’t be foolish enough to pummel the stone door with your bare fist, so you quickly turned to Du Xishan.

While Du Xishan searched himself, you didn’t wait, swiftly removing the watch from his wrist.

"Hey hey, my Longines!"

You turned around and glared at him, saying fiercely, "If you don’t want those zongzi to violate you, give me this thing!"

Looking somewhat pained, Du Xishan whispered, "Be gentle with it."

"I will," you said with a smile, swiftly turning and smashing the watch against the stone door!

"Boom!"

With this strike, the entire stone door trembled violently and, remarkably, the seemingly solid stone door shattered under your blow!

"Run!"

You grabbed Du Xishan, and the two of you sprinted along the corridor!

You had thought you would find the main coffin after the corridor, but bizarrely, the passageway kept going down and was spiraling like a staircase. To avoid being caught by the zongzi, you ran as fast as you could.

Having descended for an unknown distance, when the staircase finally came to an end, another stone door appeared in front of you.