Chapter 96: There's a Ghost

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"Do we need to stick it to our bodies?"

White Advisor remembered that the exorcism talismans Zhao Lu and the others had used were effective just by keeping them in their pockets. It was quite strange to him: in his experience, people in the world of occult and martial arts usually attach the talisman paper to their bodies.

Tang Ailian smiled, "Stick it to our bodies? That's so unsightly! What if it gets blown away by the wind? My talisman only needs me to activate it, and as long as people keep it close to their bodies, it can protect the ones I want to protect."

White Advisor was surprised and even more determined to stay by Tang Ailian's side, and he even considered the idea of becoming her apprentice. However, every time he tried to ask about Tang Ailian's master, she skillfully avoided the question. Meeting her master seemed impossible, but becoming the apprentice of this five-year-old girl in front of him felt somewhat comical.

Tang Ailian was unaware of White Advisor's inner thoughts as she was about to knock on the door. However, a chilling voice echoed from inside the stone door, "You can leave. This place is not welcoming you."

The voice seemed to come from the depths of hell, carrying an unparalleled coldness that felt like it could pierce through their ears and enter their bodies, trying to steal their souls. This sensation made them want to turn and run.

Just as they were filled with fear, the protective talismans on their bodies suddenly activated, emitting a faint golden light under the beam of a flashlight, blocking the intrusion of that eerie feeling.

They exchanged glances, all of them realizing that there was indeed someone, or rather, something, inside. There was a ghost here!

Tang Ailian was also a bit nervous, but she thought that many people had come here before and never returned, and now they were being told to leave. It indicated that whatever was inside here was afraid of them, or more precisely, afraid of her.

She asked, "Who are you?"

"I am the guardian of this tomb," the voice replied.

Tang Ailian burst into laughter, "This place is not a tomb at all, so where does the guardian come from? Moreover, guests have already arrived; there is no reason to keep them outside. Please open the door."

Zhao Lu and the others admired Tang Ailian even more. They, as grown men, had felt the urge to turn and flee upon hearing that voice, but Tang Ailian remained unmoved.

After a long silence inside the door, the voice spoke again, "Fellow Daoist is a cultivator. Why come to this mortal's tomb? I do not wish to trouble Fellow Daoist, which is why I used the formation to send Fellow Daoist out of the tomb passage. Why must Fellow Daoist persist and force me into this situation?"

Hearing this, they realized why they had involuntarily walked out of the tomb when they first entered. It seemed like this guardian had used a formation to send them away.

But why did he call them cultivators? Did he mean Tang Ailian?

White Advisor's heart was pounding. "Cultivator" was a term reserved for legendary immortal cultivators! Could it be that Tang Ailian was indeed the legendary cultivator?

The "guardian" was quite frustrated. He was just a low-level ghost cultivator who, in his previous life, had discovered a spiritual vein here. After his death, he entrusted his descendants to build this place and turned to cultivate as a ghost, establishing a formation to convert the spiritual energy into Yin energy for his cultivation.

As a ghost cultivator, he wasn't afraid of ordinary mortals no matter how many came. However, if a cultivator came, everything would change.

When he sensed the spiritual awareness (in reality, it was Tang Ailian's psychic power), he knew that the incoming person was a cultivator, and judging from their spiritual awareness detachment, they were a powerful one. He realized he was in trouble.

But he felt wronged. He had made this place look like a common tomb for mortals, and he stayed inside to cultivate without causing any harm to the world. Why did cultivators keep intruding on him?

Maybe it was because of the box and the pearl inside it that he had obtained at the cost of his life. The box was from a cultivator's cave, which had a formation that he accidentally triggered. Although he managed to escape with the box, he couldn't save his own life and had to become a ghost cultivator.

He had never opened the box because he felt it was extraordinary, but his life was lost, and he couldn't unlock it.

The last time Zhao Lu and the others came, he hoped they would open it, so he left the box on a table. Sure enough, they opened it, and he saw what was inside: a pearl that could devour souls. All of them were sucked into the pearl.

He didn't dare to touch the pearl, and whenever he got close, he could feel its pull. He could only let it sit there, circling around it every day, wanting to get closer but fearing being devoured.

However, he had a feeling that if he could obtain this pearl and become its master, he would gain tremendous benefits.

So, he could only guard the pearl and prevent anyone, human or ghost, from getting near it. The last time Zhao Lu and the others came, he attacked them and drove them away.

But who could tell him that they had invited a cultivator? Moreover, from the cultivator's spiritual awareness, it was clear that this was a powerful cultivator.

Regular people and even those from the world of the occult and martial arts were no threat to him because they had worldly desires. As long as they had desires for worldly treasures, he could kill them. But if a cultivator came, how could they have such desires? He didn't have the treasures that cultivators sought, so how could he deal with them?

So, he had to pretend to be weak and hope that this "powerful cultivator" would not bother with him.

He had seriously misjudged the situation.

First, Tang Ailian was not the powerful cultivator he believed her to be; she was a witch doctor who had awakened her past life's memories. In her past life, cultivating her spiritual power came before her physical abilities, and her extraordinary psychic abilities were a result of accessing the sealed memories in her soul.

Second, Tang Ailian wasn't a cultivator, but in reality, she was a target for worldly desires. If he had tempted her with worldly treasures instead of acting weak, she might have been swayed.

His judgment was flawed, and it had brought him to a dire situation.

Listening to the guardian's words, Tang Ailian couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. After all, he lived here peacefully, and they humans had repeatedly invaded and disturbed him, preventing him from cultivating in peace.

However, the box and the pearl inside that room looked extremely valuable, and the pearl had even resonated with her soul. It might have a connection to her past life as the ancient witch doctor. She really wanted it, but what should she do?

(End of this chapter)