Chapter 9: Evil Ghost Near Lu Wang Palace?
Su Mo quickly returned to the boat, and after the group drifted forward with the water flow for a while, they left the bottom of the mountain from the cave entrance ahead and abandoned the boat to go ashore from the bank outside the cave.
In the distance ahead, faint cooking smoke could be seen vaguely in the forest, which was exactly the mountain village that Uncle Wu San and the others were looking for.
At this point, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Along the way, there was the Boatman causing trouble, Corpse Beetles eating people, then Black Fur Zombies and White Corpse Puppets, which scared this group pretty badly.
Uncle Wu San couldn’t help but sigh:
“Master Su, the techniques you used today really opened my eyes. It turns out all Mountain Movers are so formidable. I’ve only heard that the Mountain Mover Zhe Gu Shao could break a zombie’s Da Zhui with one Kui Xing Kicking the Dipper move back in the day, but your techniques are actually much stronger than that Zhe Gu Shao’s!”
Su Mo smiled faintly:
“Although Little Brother and I are both Mountain Movers, we are not from the same lineage, so naturally there are some differences!”
Anyway, Mountain Movers have existed since the Qin and Han dynasties, with who knows how many sect branches and sub-branches among them, so Su Mo simply said that he and Zhe Gu Shao were not from the same branch, and apart from Kui Xing Kicking the Dipper, there weren’t many similarities.
This one sentence resolved both Uncle Wu San’s and Little Brother’s doubts.
Da Kui and Pan Zi didn’t understand anything about Mountain Movers or Xie Ling Forceful Persons, and just kept praising him nonstop:
“It has to be Master Su. When that female zombie jumped out, I was so scared I didn’t even dare to breathe, but Master Su didn’t even turn his head and killed it with one sword strike!”
“Exactly, that sword of Master Su’s is also extraordinary. In my opinion, it’s worth quite a bit of money too!”
At this time, Su Mo had already slung the Frost Moon Sword on his back and returned the Black Gold Ancient Blade to Little Brother.
Da Kui and Pan Zi looked at the Frost Moon Ancient Sword on his back and couldn’t help but drool.
Such a treasure sword that could even slay zombies—if sold, it would be worth at least a million or eight hundred thousand!
However, they could only drool over it. After all, this sword was personally retrieved by Su Mo when he climbed the mountain wall himself, so if any of them were envious, they could only go get it themselves.
While talking, the group arrived in the village. Uncle Wu San found a guesthouse there, and everyone took a hot bath, washing away all the fear and fatigue from the day.
After finishing dinner, Su Mo returned to his room and examined the Frost Moon Sword placed on his legs.
Although this sword’s blade was like a curved moon and looked quite strange, it could be used with both the Golden Crow Saber Technique and the Frost Moon Sword Technique, and could even be fused with the Sun Moon Sword Technique that Su Mo had comprehended.
It was truly a divine weapon perfectly suited for Su Mo.
Unexpectedly, before even arriving at Lu Wang Palace, Su Mo had already had many encounters and harvests.
And inside Lu Wang Palace, as far as Su Mo knew, there were also strange things like the Nine-headed Cypress, Jade Coffin Armor, Kirin’s Gall, and other rare treasures.
Once they got there, who knew what kind of enlightenment and encounters they would gain!
Thinking of this, Su Mo couldn’t help but look forward even more to this trip to Lu Wang Palace!
……
The next morning, after everyone had breakfast together, Uncle Wu San immediately discussed the next travel route with Su Mo, Little Brother, and the others.
While chatting, a server walked over:
“You gentlemen wouldn’t happen to be tomb raiders, would you?”
Uncle Wu San was a bit surprised upon hearing this.
How did a server at a guesthouse in such a remote little village know about tomb raiding!
The server smiled:
“This place is so remote—who else would come here if not tomb raiders!”
It turned out that there was indeed a large tomb near this mountain village. A few years ago during a big flood, some good things had washed down, so the national cultural relics bureau and archaeological team had sent people to investigate specifically, even cordoning off the entire mountain.
However, later it seemed the archaeological team didn’t find anything, and gradually all withdrew.
Afterward, many people came here one after another, basically tomb explorers coming under various pretexts, but although these people put in a lot of effort, none seemed to have any harvest.
Some even went straight into the mountain after arriving and were never seen again.
The server chatted idly with Su Mo and the others for a few sentences, then turned and left.
After Uncle Wu San and the others were silent for a moment, they all looked toward Su Mo.
“Master Su, it seems quite a few people have come here, but I wonder if we can find good stuff this time. When do you think we should set off?”
Su Mo knew that Lu Wang Palace was in the mountain, and there was no need to waste time now, so he said:
“The sooner the better. Whether others have explored it or not has nothing to do with us!”
Uncle Wu San nodded:
“Master Su is right. We tomb raiders don’t care about who comes first. As long as we find the Lu Wang Palace entrance, the grave goods inside will all be ours!”
After the few of them settled on it, they simply packed their tools, procured some food, water, and other supplies from the village, then left the village and headed into the mountain.
Just after leaving the village, they saw an old man fetching water by the mountain stream ahead who looked very familiar.
It was exactly that cart-driving old man from yesterday.
When Da Kui and Pan Zi saw the cart-driving old man, they were instantly furious and charged toward him.
The old man saw Su Mo and the others and got scared, turning to run, but with his old arms and legs, how could he outrun Da Kui and Pan Zi, two veterans? In a flash, they caught up, kicked him down, bound his hands and feet like tying up a piglet, and dragged him before Uncle Wu San.
“Spare me, sir! Yesterday I really wasn’t trying to trick you—it was all that Boatman’s doing, it has nothing to do with me…”
Seeing he was caught, the old man immediately shifted the blame and begged for mercy with tears streaming down, pushing all the blame onto that Boatman:
“I only took guests to the boat— I really don’t know anything else!”
Uncle Wu San and the others, being seasoned veterans of the trade, weren’t going to be fooled by a few words from him.
Da Kui immediately gritted his teeth and said:
“You old bastard, still trying to argue! In a bit, I’ll drag you back to the waterway and feed you to the Corpse Beetles!”
“That won’t do at all!”
Hearing he was to be fed to Corpse Beetles, the old man was so terrified he nearly wet his pants and hurriedly kowtowed for mercy:
“I really haven’t harmed anyone! All those things were done by that Boatman. You gentlemen are magnanimous—please don’t take it out on an innocent like me…”
Su Mo glanced at him, too lazy to listen to his nonsense, and kicked him as he said:
“Cut the crap. Have you taken people into the mountain to look for ancient tombs before?”
The old man shut his mouth upon hearing this, his eyes darting around a couple times without answering immediately.
Su Mo could tell he was scheming again and immediately grabbed the old man’s neck:
“Behave and take us there, and I’ll let you go. Otherwise, I’ll snap your neck right now and toss you into a Corpse Beetle nest!”
The old man turned pale with fright and hurriedly begged again:
“Sir, it’s not that I won’t take you—it’s that place… that place is very eerie, with Evil Ghosts appearing!”
Hearing the old man’s words, Su Mo and the others were all stunned.
There were Evil Ghosts near Lu Wang Palace?
“It’s true, grandpas! I’m not lying to you! A few days ago I took a team there, and they vanished into thin air—weren’t they eaten by Evil Ghosts?”
“That place is very eerie—better not go there!”
