Chapter 1 Hearing the News

Upon hearing that the Zhennan Marquis was also present, Tang Qisheng raised an eyebrow slightly at the celebratory news. This contradicted the information Jiang Cheng had brought. If the Zhennan Marquis was still in the residence, what was it that was carried away in the coffin last night?

But they had no time to think about it now. The group followed General Yuwen to the outside of the residence's mortuary. Many people were already waiting outside. An extravagantly decorated sedan chair was situated in the center, covered by a large light gauze umbrella. The sky was already dark, and there was no sunlight. The person inside the sedan chair seemed to live in another world.

Through the light gauze umbrella, a figure could be vaguely seen sitting in the sedan chair. The figure was very thin, giving the impression of someone close to the Zhennan Marquis.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Cheng quickly took a few steps forward but was stopped by a guard. The guard wore a saber and exuded a murderous aura. Jiang Cheng did not try to force his way through. He bowed respectfully toward the person in the sedan chair and said loudly, "Greetings, Marquis."

The person in the sedan chair seemed to have heard Jiang Cheng's greeting and nodded slightly, then waved toward General Yuwen.

The person's every move revealed a feeling of weakness, as if their time was approaching.

Seeing the Marquis wave, General Yuwen immediately led Jiang Cheng and his group to push open the mortuary gate.

With a "creak," the mortuary's old wooden door was pushed open, and everyone's hearts were raised. Perhaps it was because of the darkness, but the mortuary seemed even more dilapidated. Withered grass and trees hid in the shadows, and their splayed branches were like withered arms, pointing weakly at the sky.

Fatty looked around warily. It had only been a day since his last visit, but the mortuary seemed to have been deserted for ten years. This was more than just a feeling.

Everyone shared a similar feeling to Fatty's. It was as if something terrible had happened inside the mortuary after they left.

Coupled with the bizarre death of the worker in this mortuary, tonight's mission was shrouded in a dark shadow before it had even begun.

Suddenly, Zhang Qizheng, who was walking in the front, stopped, and everyone's breathing became rapid.

Not far past the mortuary gate was an entire mourning hall. At this moment, a "creak, creak" sound suddenly rang out in the originally silent and dim mourning hall. At the same time, a swaying shadow was clearly reflected on the paper on the door, as if someone lying down had stood up.

But... but what kind of place was this?

This was the Marquis's mortuary, and it was full of dead people!

The scene before him made General Yuwen, who was leading the way, also stop. But after a few seconds, General Yuwen's voice rang out, "Don't panic, masters. The person in the mourning hall is the spirit keeper of the mortuary. The spirit keeper will arrange tonight's mission for you."

Although General Yuwen spoke lightly, Jiang Cheng could see that his expression was not relaxed, and General Yuwen's hand unconsciously touched the saber at his waist. This was an unconscious action of sensing danger.

General Yuwen quickly gave a few more instructions and then turned and left. As General Yuwen walked out of the mortuary, the gate was immediately closed from the outside.

At this time, besides Jiang Cheng and his group, only the so-called spirit keeper in the mourning hall remained in the mortuary.

As the candlelight flickered, the shadow in the mourning hall became more and more illusory, as if a gust of wind could blow it away.

"Is that a person or a ghost inside?" Zhu Jie asked in a low voice. The successive blows had also caused her to quietly lose her composure.

Tang Qisheng frowned and turned to look at Jiang Cheng. "Mr. Jiang, when we came last time, the woman who led the way seemed to say that no one usually comes to this mortuary."

Jiang Cheng stared at the shadow, separated only by a door, and nodded. "That's right, I remember it that way too."

"So... the one behind the door is a ghost?"

Fatty wore a mournful expression. He felt that the heavens were too unfair to him. He had just escaped death last night, and he was the only one who was targeted. Today, he encountered a ghost again.

"What's the panic? I don't believe that a ghost can kill us all as soon as we open the door." Although Lu Qin's expression was ugly, her temperament was still calm. Even if there really was such a ridiculous setting as an "opening kill," she had a way to avoid being the one who died.

"Yes, yes, listen to Sister Qin, Sister Qin is experienced." Shao Tong whispered, fearing that a loud voice would attract the attention of the thing inside the door.

But before everyone could discuss who should be the one to open the door, the door of the mourning hall was opened, and a figure appeared before them.

Everyone was shocked to see the person's appearance and attire. It was actually a woman.

"Come in."

The woman's voice was hoarse, and her eyes were like a pool of stagnant water. There was no emotion in her eyes as she looked at Jiang Cheng and the others.

However, the brief eye contact also allowed Jiang Cheng to breathe a sigh of relief. He was 80% certain that the person in front of him was a human, not a ghost.

"Strange, how could the spirit keeper be a woman?" Fatty couldn't help but mutter. It was customary in almost all places for women not to keep vigil, and to put it seriously, it would ruin the family's feng shui. Especially in ancient times, where rules were strict, this was no small matter.

Jiang Cheng and the others couldn't understand this point either. On the contrary, Tang Qisheng's eyes moved thoughtfully. "Could it be a disaster-averting woman?" (shezai nü)

Li Bai's expression suddenly changed upon hearing this, but considering that everyone had already entered the mourning hall and was very close to the spirit keeper woman, it was inconvenient to say some things.

The mourning hall was still the same as before. Dozens of wooden frames were filled with many corpses, which were covered with a layer of white cloth. The stench of decay floating in the air went straight to the nose.

The strange spirit keeper woman led them straight to a corner of the mourning hall, which was the brightest place in the entire mourning hall. Many white candles were placed there, and the flickering candles illuminated the memorial tablets, making them appear and disappear.

Jiang Cheng and the others were no strangers to this place. General Guo and the late Madam's memorial tablets were all here.

The woman devoutly knelt in front of the many memorial tablets, kowtowed three times, then stood up and said coldly to Jiang Cheng and the others, "Kowtow."

Everyone did not dare to neglect this. Fatty kowtowed eight or nine times in a row, after all, one should not strike a smiling face, and ghosts would more or less abide by some rules.

After kowtowing, the spirit keeper woman led everyone to an open space, where several old prayer mats had already been placed. Everyone followed suit and sat down cross-legged.

"Tonight, your mission is to replicate the scene from 10 years ago, disguise yourselves as the Zhennan Marquis, and steal the embroidered ball from my young lady," the woman said.

Yao Shunyu intentionally tried to get information out of her, so he pretended to be confused. "May I ask, your young lady is..."

Unexpectedly, the woman ignored him completely, as if she hadn't heard him. She continued, "Tonight, at the third watch, my young lady will appear in the backyard of the yin residence. She will be carrying an embroidered ball with her. The embroidered ball contains my young lady's birth date. Find a way to steal the embroidered ball, and your mission tonight will be over."