Chapter 326: What Do You Mean, ‘Money Makes the Ghost Turn the Mill’!
Hu Liuqi’s words made his colleagues in the expert panel look at him sideways.
You old rascal, didn’t you refuse to admit you were a tomb raider? How are you so knowledgeable about this stuff!
But Hu Liuqi had the identity of an expert panel member now, so his colleagues naturally wouldn’t make things difficult for him.
After all, if he really didn’t admit to something like this and there was no evidence, they really couldn’t do anything about it.
At this moment, Hu Liuqi was staring fixedly at the big screen, not wanting to miss a single detail.
Seeing Zhang Yangqing move through the imperial tomb with such ease, opening mechanisms without a single mistake, Hu Liuqi was more excited than anyone.
There was no helping it. He’d been in this line of work for decades, and this was his first time seeing a Celestial Master descend into a tomb.
In the past, Hu Liuqi had partnered with a fake Daoist—a so-called Mountain-Moving Daoist.
This profession basically involved wearing tattered Daoist robes and using the title of Daoist to bluff their way around.
They didn’t know any actual Daoist arts at all, only some simple Daoist tools like the Bagua compass, Soul-Suppressing Token, ritual flags, and ruyi scepters.
At that level, peers would say he was pretty impressive, and they’d all try to recruit him into their teams.
Hu Liuqi knew that Mountain-Moving Daoist’s abilities well. Every time they descended into a tomb together, they’d basically come back with something.
The team members basically didn’t dare offend him, afraid he’d get upset and switch teams.
In Hu Liuqi’s eyes, that Mountain-Moving Daoist was already incredibly skilled at tomb raiding. Many of his own tricks were learned from him.
But seeing Zhang Yangqing’s performance today, Hu Liuqi finally understood what a dimensional strike looked like.
Though Hu Liuqi had retired many years ago, he still remembered the scenes of his old team descending into tombs.
Every time that Mountain-Moving Daoist arrived somewhere, he’d sit down and calculate, using his tools to determine whether there was danger inside and teaching everyone how to avoid it.
Even when they encountered mechanisms that others couldn’t solve, it was always him who opened them in the end.
Sometimes, the team would spend three or four hours just to open one mechanism and get the treasure inside.
But look at this Celestial Master today—it felt like he was strolling through his own backyard. One glance and he found the correct passage, one twist and he opened the secret door, less than a minute and he’d cracked the mechanism.
Hu Liuqi felt that Zhang Yangqing’s abilities were simply a hundred times stronger than that Mountain-Moving Daoist he knew.
Even if he said this out loud, that Mountain-Moving Daoist wouldn’t be angry—he’d feel honored.
Being compared to a Celestial Master was already an honor that a fake Daoist like him could never achieve. They weren’t even on the same level.
When Zhang Yangqing started searching for mechanisms, Hu Liuqi wondered if he’d found the tomb’s map in the horror tale world beforehand and just hadn’t looked carefully, which is why he felt he’d missed some details.
But after watching it again, he understood—it wasn’t that he’d missed details. It was that Zhang Yangqing didn’t need a map at all!
This kind of Five Elements and Eight Trigrams feng shui layout was simply child’s play to him.
It was like an adult playing with children’s building blocks. Why would you need instructions? One look and you just assemble it.
When he saw Zhang Yangqing arrive at the main burial chamber, offer incense, and get a ‘bead,’ Hu Liuqi’s admiration grew even more.
Because the main burial chamber wasn’t small. There were three suspended staircases leading to three different altars, and if you fell, it was a bottomless abyss.
In this pitch-black environment, with only faint candlelight, ordinary people wouldn’t even dare to look at these stairs, let alone walk on them.
You have to know, these stairs had no handrails—just steps.
Climbing up was terrifying, climbing down was even worse.
Based on Hu Liuqi’s tomb-raiding experience, this was a mechanism set by the tomb owner.
Step on the wrong stair and you’d encounter unexpected danger.
Zhang Yangqing walked up without hesitation, as if he knew exactly where the tomb owner’s altar was, and he didn’t take a single wrong step. How could Hu Liuqi not admire that?
If this weren’t the Horror Tale World, Hu Liuqi might even suspect that Zhang Yangqing had designed this tomb himself.
If Hu Liuqi’s thought reached Zhang Yangqing’s ears, Zhang Yangqing would surely retort angrily: Are you insulting me?
This low-level imperial tomb, and you say I designed it? That’s an insult!
This is only a six-and-a-half-star horror tale world. How hard could it be?
If I, Zhang Yangqing, needed to waste time here, everyone else might as well just die and get out.
To be precise, this level runs from eight at night to six in the morning.
A full ten hours for the Chosen Ones to solve puzzles—naturally, the difficulty was high.
It was just that Zhang Yangqing found it easy. That didn’t mean the other Chosen Ones did.
Many Chosen Ones had already been wandering the imperial tomb for an hour and still couldn’t remember some of the paths inside.
According to the information they’d gathered, the ghost wedding would begin at midnight.
They needed to familiarize themselves with this place as much as possible during this time to prepare for what came next.
Rahman had already found two important clues and pieces of intelligence in fifty minutes.
Among the Chosen Ones’ progress, he was far ahead.
Zhang Yangqing also had fifty minutes, and not only had he found two important clues and pieces of intelligence, he’d even found time to solve the most complex puzzle. Without needing any intelligence, he’d already obtained the greatest reward of this horror tale.
This was a reward that other Chosen Ones couldn’t even touch at this stage. Most of them still thought the spirit tablet referred to Empty Void Young Master’s spirit tablet.
It was precisely because Zhang Yangqing solved the 【spirit tablet】 mystery without gathering intelligence that the audience couldn’t understand what they were seeing.
The audience could understand that this was a reward, but they didn’t understand how he found it.
Normally, wouldn’t this require a massive amount of intelligence and information, then slow deduction?
Never mind audiences from other countries—even the Dragon Nation’s audience was completely baffled.
Zhang Yangqing once again showed the outside audience what fighting on home turf really meant.
If they’d been watching the Dragon Nation’s big screen from the start, the audience wouldn’t even know what this level’s secret was. They’d only know that Celestial Master Zhang was awesome.
Because Zhang Yangqing even skipped the deduction process and went straight to the answer.
This was also why many audience members watched others first, then came back to this one.
So to figure out what Zhang Yangqing was doing in this horror tale, the audience opened other big screens one after another to piece together the flow.
First and foremost was naturally the Pyramid Nation’s Chosen One, Rahman—one of the most closely watched Chosen Ones.
Rahman also had a huge advantage, and his progress was fast.
He didn’t need to familiarize himself with the layout like other Chosen Ones before starting to solve puzzles.
After slipping out of the guest hall, Rahman directly started looking for eerie NPCs that didn’t seem too busy and began conversing.
This was his experience. Through exchanges and purchases, Rahman had already obtained news of the Black Market and a map of the surrounding area.
What he’d accomplished in fifty minutes already left other Chosen Ones in the dust.
Next was making contact with that Ghost Cultivator connected to the Demon Cultivator.
Rahman found some White-Clothed horrors that were easier to communicate with. This White-Clothed horror didn’t ask for any gift and patiently talked with him—one of the few horrors in this tomb that wasn’t money-grubbing.
But the problem was, though he was kind-hearted, he also didn’t know such a person existed.
Even some Red-Clothed horrors who’d accepted gifts didn’t know what Rahman was talking about.
So Rahman judged that only a few knew about this.
Empty Void Young Master definitely knew, but he had no time right now.
Because Empty Void Young Master was busy preparing for the wedding—though of course, it wasn’t his own wedding.
“Huh? ‘No time’ might mean that person isn’t nearby, isn’t attending the wedding, and is somewhere far from the main burial chamber. That’s why he doesn’t have time to take me there. If that person were close by, Empty Void Young Master could just stop by on the way.”
With this thought, Rahman found his direction.
This tomb was truly enormous, crisscrossing and layered.
Just from what Rahman had gathered, there were four underground levels.
If you knew the way, you could actually tour it in a few dozen minutes.
But if you didn’t know the way, even several hours might not be enough to find what you wanted—let alone spending time solving puzzles.
Some Chosen Ones were like rats in a maze, going back and forth through the same places.
Rahman knew that wandering without intelligence was no good. Wasn’t that just relying on luck?
The Horror Tale World would definitely have special people or special events.
You just needed to observe carefully to notice some clues.
There were many people conversing nearby. The Chosen Ones just needed to listen to whether their conversation was related to what they were looking for.
The first level probably had no information, so keep going down.
Sure enough, while walking through the central area of the third underground level, Rahman heard a few eerie NPCs complaining.
“What a waste. We’ve collected so many resources, yet we can only trade them to the Demon Cultivator for some ordinary items. I really don’t know what that guy is thinking.”
“Who told him he’s a Red-Clothed? I always feel like he’s lining his own pockets, but there’s no evidence.”
“I see. Now that you mention it, I understand. He’s using the pretext of procurement to pocket all the resources. I was wondering why he’s been so extravagant lately.”
“Shh, just keep it to yourself. Don’t spread it around. If he hears about it, we’re dead.”
Hearing this, Rahman knew this person must be connected to the Demon Cultivator.
So he went up to gather information.
At first, these two horrors ignored him. After Rahman gave ‘gifts,’ they told him where that person was.
“No wonder my sales revenue determines whether I survive. Money is needed every step of the way.”
Rahman felt another pang of heartache over losing money.
His sales revenue wasn’t much to begin with, and he’d already spent quite a bit.
Not to mention he still had to go to the Ghost Market—just hearing the name told him it would cost money.
Arriving at the inner part of the third underground level, this was where the Red-Clothed informant was.
Except for the first level, everywhere else looked gloomy and dark.
As soon as Rahman entered the depths, there were no more horrors passing by.
Taking a deep breath, he could feel the cold, eerie aura stimulating his entire body.
The main path had faint lighting, but the small passages were pitch black.
It felt like there might be ghosts inside.
No, actually, this was exactly where ghosts lived.
Rahman tried not to let his imagination run wild, recalling the rules as he walked deeper.
Analyzing the rules carefully, this level actually only had two conditions that triggered horrors to descend.
The first condition was turning back after having your shoulder tapped.
The second condition was falling asleep on the path.
As long as you didn’t violate these two rules, you could safely pass this level.
Because the Chosen Ones’ identity was that of guests—guests invited by Empty Void Young Master.
The vast majority of horrors here had to give Empty Void Young Master face. Those who wanted to eat the Chosen Ones naturally wouldn’t act recklessly unless the Chosen Ones violated the rules.
Just thinking this far, everyone would know this level was actually simpler than the previous one.
Rahman was relatively fine—after all, he’d often descended into tombs before. Other Chosen Ones were nervous and uneasy when they arrived here.
His own footsteps echoed through the main path of the third level, making his nerves tense.
Just as Rahman reached a dimly lit area, a footstep inexplicably came from behind him.
It was as if something had suddenly appeared, sending a chill down his spine.
When he sped up, the footsteps sped up. When he slowed down, the footsteps seemed to be closing in, forcing him to accelerate.
What Rahman couldn’t understand most was—why hadn’t the horror behind him tapped his shoulder?
Logically speaking, the one following behind was the horror that wanted to attack him.
It was just that he hadn’t violated the rules yet, so it had no way to attack.
As long as it tapped his shoulder and he turned back, it could attack him.
But it didn’t tap Rahman’s shoulder, which gave Rahman the urge to turn around and look.
Because at this moment, Rahman was thinking—maybe there’s no one behind me, maybe I’m just being paranoid?
Just as he was about to turn back, he stopped. Rahman suddenly understood!
“Damn, the trap in this level isn’t simple either.”
Rahman now knew this level’s death routine.
If the horror behind directly tapped the Chosen One’s shoulder, the Chosen One would simply follow the rules and ignore it.
After all, what terrifying things hadn’t the Chosen Ones seen yesterday?
The beginner village was meant to train the Chosen Ones’ courage and awareness.
And many were already clearers. They definitely wouldn’t violate such an obvious rule.
So even a very terrifying horror wouldn’t scare the Chosen Ones.
But this horror behind was clever. It just didn’t tap the Chosen One’s shoulder. It deliberately followed behind, making certain sounds.
This made the Chosen One feel strange—was there really a horror following behind, or was it just their imagination?
Driven by this curiosity, the Chosen One would turn back to look.
But when the Chosen One turned back, the horror could tap them.
That would perfectly make the Chosen One trigger the rule.
So Rules 2 and 6 both emphasized 【don’t pay attention】 and 【no turning back】.
This was telling the Chosen Ones to suppress their curiosity and never turn back no matter what.
Rahman thought of this, which is why he gritted his teeth and kept walking forward.
At this stage, if you hadn’t guessed where the trap was and turned back rashly, you’d see a blood-soaked Red-Clothed horror smiling at you.
It wouldn’t speak, but it seemed to say: Welcome to the underworld!
After following for a while and seeing Rahman still not turning back, this Red-Clothed horror couldn’t hold back anymore. It tapped Rahman’s shoulder and asked what he was doing here.
It looked like a normal question, but the Chosen Ones were actually very close to death.
Rahman trembled. The icy touch on his shoulder made him uncomfortable.
He didn’t answer the Red-Clothed horror and couldn’t turn back. He prepared to keep moving, but his shoulder seemed to be gripped tightly by the Red-Clothed horror, making him unable to move.
This was where the Chosen Ones’ courage was tested. There were actually many methods.
Some extraordinary beings directly twisted their bodies, forcibly shaking off the Red-Clothed horror’s hand.
Bolder Chosen Ones would pry its hand off with their own hands.
As long as you didn’t turn back or acknowledge it, you wouldn’t be attacked.
What if your strength was poor and it still wouldn’t let go? Then just reveal your peach wood sword.
The powerful items obtained in the first level were meant to give the Chosen Ones some survival guarantees.
In Rahman’s case, after he revealed his peach wood sword, the Red-Clothed horror left from behind him.
This thing couldn’t be kept out all the time, or it would provoke the resentment of many horrors here.
So after the Red-Clothed horror left, Rahman put it away again.
At this stage, most Chosen Ones felt a chill down their backs.
After watching Rahman’s ‘correct answer,’ the audience switched back to the Dragon Nation’s side to review Zhang Yangqing’s method.
They saw that when the Red-Clothed horror was about to tap Zhang Yangqing’s shoulder, it found itself tapping an afterimage.
This scared the Red-Clothed horror—as if it had seen a ghost.
But next, something even more frightening happened to the Red-Clothed horror. Its own shoulder was tapped.
When it turned back, it saw a big slap coming at it.
Smack!
The loud sound echoed through the cold main path of the tomb’s third underground level.
This wasn’t the general store. Zhang Yangqing directly slapped its neck broken, sending its head flying to the ground.
Looking at the Red-Clothed horror’s terrified head, Zhang Yangqing said coldly: “Doesn’t the rule here say it clearly? No turning back. You violated the rule.”
The Red-Clothed horror’s head on the ground stared with wide eyes, as if saying: “Are you the horror, or am I?”
There were actually quite a few horrors beaten to death by extraordinary beings. After all, with peach wood swords and money swords, extraordinary beings’ abilities had greatly improved.
But being humiliated like this—he was the first.
Killed in his own home by his own rule.
It was ironic just thinking about it.
Rahman walked for about five more minutes and arrived at a stone door.
This was the location of the informant mentioned in the intelligence.
After entering, there was indeed a Red-Clothed horror inside.
But there was a problem to be careful about here—because there were actually quite a few Red-Clothed horrors here.
How to know if this one was the horror the Chosen One was looking for? You had to ask the two from the first level who provided the intelligence about the Red-Clothed horror’s appearance.
Because Red-Clothed horrors all looked strange, as long as you knew the general appearance, you wouldn’t mistake them.
If you didn’t ask clearly and didn’t come at the right time, you could easily trigger extra plotlines.
Rahman was naturally the careful type. He didn’t mistake it—the four-eyed Red-Clothed horror before him was the informant he was looking for.
How to get intelligence?
Asking definitely wouldn’t work. Money was needed here too.
What do you mean, ‘money makes the ghost turn the mill’?
