Thirty-Fifth Chapter: Main Quest: Obtain the Ghost Controlling Seal

The coffin appears to be intact, so the people from Oster Company probably haven't opened it, as they likely don't know how to deal with the gatekeeper.

Unica's knowledge of her country's history is unparalleled; she knows the legend of the gatekeeper ghost so well that others may never have even heard of it.

The knowledge found in these tombs is inherently obscure and taboo, and is not included in formal books. To understand it, one must rely entirely on their own abilities to visit, investigate on-site, and consult folk legends, ultimately arriving at the most rigorous answer through comparison.

In this respect, Unica is truly remarkable. Even Yu Xing admires her a bit. He himself has lived for so long, just going wherever he goes and seeing whatever he wants, without ever specifically learning about the history of any particular place.

He was like a floating duckweed, leaving little trace wherever he went, but Unica was like a lotus flower, quietly taking root in the soil and understanding the nutrient layers within it perfectly.

She loves her own culture, her history, and the exotic folk customs of different places—a quality that most Chinese people would have to admit is beyond her reach.

Tomb raiders may have seen the gatekeeper ghost, but they may not know its origin or how to deal with it. Therefore, for safety's sake, it's the right choice for the people from Oster Company not to touch the coffin unless they have a historian or archaeologist comparable to Unica.

Yu Xing pointed to the coffin and whispered to Carlos, "What treasures are inside?"

"I don't know either. Although I've been here for quite a while, I've only come intermittently, so my understanding of history is limited," Carlos replied in the same low voice, glancing at Master Li. "He should be able to tell you; you see, he's just waiting for someone to ask him."

"..." Yu Xing naturally saw it. It was a secret that ordinary people, even ordinary tomb raiders, didn't know, but Master Li knew it, so of course it was something to brag about.

Master Li is all set, just waiting for someone to hand him an opportunity to show off.

Yu Xing cleared his throat, walked to Master Li's side, and humbly asked, "Master Li, this is my first time going into a tomb, and there are many things I don't understand. What treasures are inside this gatekeeper's coffin?"

Master Li felt relieved. He grunted twice and said to everyone, "Why don't you all think about this? The gatekeeper ghost couldn't find the tomb owner because of the maze, but why didn't it just leave through the entrance? It's only one door away from the entrance. Rather than being trapped here for a thousand years, giving up revenge and leaving directly wouldn't be a bad idea."

"So, there was something in the coffin that prevented the guardian ghost from leaving the tomb." Carlos understood, then asked, "So what exactly was that treasure?"

Master Li's gaze fell on the coffin, a hint of longing in his eyes. "The Ghost Controlling Seal."

Uncle Zhang's expression changed drastically. "The Ghost Controlling Seal is here?"

The others looked completely bewildered.

What is the Ghost Controlling Seal? I don't think I've ever heard of it.

Even Unica was unfamiliar with this term.

Master Li rolled his eyes at the group of ignorant fools. "The Ghost Controlling Seal can suppress many evil spirits and ghosts. Wherever the Ghost Controlling Seal is, the power of ghosts and ghosts will be forcibly suppressed. If we can get our hands on it, we'll have a divine artifact in the tomb."

"Wow, that's amazing." The bespectacled man was also hearing this for the first time and was immediately surprised.

With the Ghost Controlling Seal, the probability of dying in the tomb will be greatly reduced! It's definitely worth the risk of opening the coffin.

Those who were initially opposed to exhuming the coffin were silently persuaded.

Master Li also said to Unica privately, "If you've ever excavated royal tombs from this period, you must have seen the Ghost Controlling Seal. It might even still be with your appraisers and restorers, but you don't recognize it, which is a waste of a treasure."

"... Is that so?" Unica rarely faced criticism on her professional level, and she retorted, "Then tell me, what does the Ghost Controlling Seal look like?"

"You'll see when we meet you." Master Li deliberately kept everyone in suspense, telling them to carefully observe the mechanisms on the ground.

Yu Xing also squatted down, squinting at the tiny cracks on the ground. As soon as he squatted down, the voice of the Absurd Deduction System, which he hadn't heard in a long time, rang in his mind.

[Main Quest has been updated]

[Task 1: Obtain the Ghost Controlling Seal]

[Task completion reward: Obtain key information]

[Mission Failure Penalty: Encounter a scripted death in a subsequent storyline; there is a 50% chance of survival.]

"Oh ho?" Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. This Ghost Controlling Seal is really that important, even the system quest is related to it?

After the Yugi's background information was introduced in three parts over eighteen hours, there was a notification that the Main Quest would be released later, but that later release was delayed for many days.

The belated Main Quest seemed to be emphasizing to him that everything he had experienced in the forest was nothing compared to the fear that was just beginning once he entered the tomb.

Only...

Yu Xing glanced discreetly in Carlos's direction, and Carlos was also looking at him. Both of them read the message from each other's eyes, "He has also triggered the mission."

Yu Xing mentally finished what she hadn't said earlier, "I just don't know if Carlos's mission is the same as mine. If it is, what are the criteria for obtaining the Ghost Controlling Seal? Is it enough to just get the Ghost Controlling Seal and figure it out, or is it enough for the team to get it, or do I have to keep it on my person?"

Based on the difficulty of the Main Quest, Yu Xing guessed it would be the last one.

If Carlos were like him, wouldn't their relationship instantly transform from teammates into enemies who need to be wary of each other?

The atmosphere instantly became awkward.

People like Master Li, being natives of this world, naturally had no idea what kind of suspicion Carlos and San had developed. After looking around at the mechanisms, the group started discussing among themselves.

The mechanism is located around the coffin, extending an unknown distance. If the designer wasn't out of their mind, they must have included the doors to the three passageways within the mechanism's area. The mechanism must be solved to pass safely.

Otherwise, taking any path will alert the gatekeeper ghost, leading to its awakening and subsequent slaughter and harm.

"The Oster Company didn't destroy the mechanism, nor did they leave a body, which means they used a method to break the mechanism," said Master Li. "This kind of mechanism isn't complicated, and it's easy to break. It's designed to stop people who don't know the rules, but if we want to get the Ghost Controlling Seal, we have to open the coffin. That way, the gatekeeper ghost will definitely rise."

"So?" Uncle Zhang walked over to Master Li, his expression indifferent. "Just say what your plan is. There's no point in beating around the bush and pretending to be knowledgeable with the younger generation."

Master Li, unperturbed by the rebuke, chuckled twice, "First, disarm the mechanism. Once it's dormant, open the coffin, and then rely on your skills to take down the gatekeeper ghost."

"Take them down!?" Unica's beautiful eyes widened. "You guys are that confident?"

"We can try to appease them if we can, but a fight could be quite noisy, and someone might get hurt." Carlos didn't quite agree. He knew many ways to suppress corpses, like the ink lines used to deal with zombies... Well, ghosts and zombies are different; there's no such absolute counter.

"If you can appease them, that's fine too. It all depends on your abilities." The bespectacled man smiled.

"Alright, then let's see who has the best skills." Carlos remained outwardly calm, but a small paper figure peeked out from his sleeve, looking at Yu Xing with a gloomy gaze.

Yu Xing felt the gaze but didn't pay it any mind. He just smiled and continued to extract information from Master Li and the others.

"You're asking about the power of the gatekeeper ghost?" The person Yu Xing had asked a second ago was Lin. Lin replied calmly, "More powerful than a rice dumpling, probably... about the same as the fish in the ancestral hall."

That's really impressive. That strange fish could shatter Yu Xing's internal organs with a single flick of its tail. Although being in the water gave it an advantage, it was still enough to demonstrate the power of the gatekeeper ghost.

Yu Xing said, "You should have more experience dealing with gatekeeper ghosts, but gatekeeper ghosts vary in strength, right? This is a gatekeeper ghost from the demon daoist. What if it's too strong for us to handle after being released?"

Is this team really that powerful? At least Yu Xing hasn't yet discovered their unique advantages in tomb raiding.

"What kind of thing can't a human handle? Kid, remember this: the living are always more powerful than ghosts." Master Li patted Yu Xing on the shoulder. "The gatekeeper ghost has a physical form. It has some characteristics of a rice dumpling. Glutinous rice can suppress it, but swords with blood aura can also hurt it. Just treat it like a rice dumpling that can attack from a distance."

"But shouldn't you discuss a plan beforehand for dealing with the gatekeeper ghost?" Yu Xing hesitated on the surface, "What if we don't coordinate well?"

"Cooperation? Hahaha..." Uncle Zhang suddenly laughed, "Young man, you're truly the most interesting kid I've seen in tombs in recent years. We tomb raiders, what do we need cooperation for?"

Master Li chuckled, as if he had heard something amusing.

"San, I believe this is your first time going into a tomb. Going into a tomb isn't like a picnic. You can't just bring back a few heads intact. People who dare to come to this demon daoist tomb of the evil Daoist priest are all capable and can manage their own lives. As long as no one objects to a decision, it means everyone agrees that they will protect themselves."

"Up there, we have people with great wilderness survival skills, some who are complete novices, and experienced ones who can help out, like Old Zhang cooking for everyone. But once we're in the tomb, everyone's skills, though different, ultimately serve the purpose of tomb raiding, and the most important skill is to save our own lives."

"Apart from the pure researcher Unica, and you, whose background we still don't know, everyone else here has long been prepared to die here because they are too weak."

Master Li chuckled, his face suddenly darkened. "Or I'll ask right now, hey, I need to open the coffin. Anyone who's unwilling should speak up now and give me a reason. If you can convince me, I'll listen!"

No one said a word.

"See? Kid, none of them object. That means even if I open the coffin and find a monster that no one can handle, causing some of us to die or go insane, it's everyone's own choice. Don't blame me." Master Li gave Yu Xing a scrutinizing look. He thought this delicate, pampered young man would immediately back down upon hearing the true cruelty of tomb raiders, but to his surprise, he only saw indifference on San's face.

It looked as if San had just asked a casual question, and they had overreacted.

"Are tomb raiders afraid of death? It's all for treasure. People die for money, birds die for food. You should be mentally prepared for this before you come here," the bespectacled man added, though his tone was much gentler than Master Li's, as if he were afraid of scaring San.

"I see." Yu Xing curled his lips in amusement. So, for the sake of the Ghost Controlling Seal, they were willing to provoke the demon daoist gatekeepers. It wasn't that they were confident they wouldn't die; they were simply unafraid of death.

Yu Xing could foresee that once the gatekeeper ghosts were released, they would run around in a frenzy after obtaining the Ghost Controlling Seal, and who could escape and who couldn't would depend entirely on their own abilities.

Those who get along well might stay together, while those who don't might go their separate ways, until the gatekeeper ghost is eliminated and everyone reunites.

Anyway, he'll be the one to get the Ghost Controlling Seal, and then Carlos's paper dolls will come in handy. He'd heard long ago that Master Li valued Carlos's abilities because of these lifeless paper objects. They could serve as emergency communication devices in the tomb. Carlos would place the paper dolls in various parts of the tomb when it was safe to do so, so that even if someone got separated from the group, they could be found quickly by asking Carlos.

At that time, he had the Ghost Controlling Seal, so even if Carlos was doing it for the mission, he had to control the paper doll to come to him.

But that's a story for later. The most pressing issue right now is how to solve the mechanism.

After observing carefully for a long time, Master Li finally straightened up, rubbing his back as he murmured, "It's the highest-level Big Dipper formation."

The Big Dipper formation is a type of earth formation. As the name suggests, within a certain area, only seven points can be stepped on, and the order of these seven points must be correct; otherwise, the mechanism will be triggered.

The Big Dipper formation has the fewest footholds but the most complex route, bar none. The coffin is placed in the very center of the Big Dipper formation, and that small area is called the "absolutely safe zone." Those who have crossed the Big Dipper formation can safely solve the second formation, the Coffin Formation, at the coffin; or they can find a safe path extending from the absolutely safe zone to go directly into the deeper part of the tomb.

"Can you tell which seven dots they are?" Unica blinked.

Uncle Zhang pulled Lin over and placed him next to Master Li, both answering Unica and explaining to everyone, "Without a password or blueprints, this requires precise calculations, which will probably take some time. Master Li is very good at math, and with Lin's feng shui calculations as an aid, we should be able to finish it in twenty minutes, right?"

"Twenty minutes? What are you flattering me with?" Master Li glared at Uncle Zhang. "Twenty-three minutes, no less."

Everyone: "..." It's not even close to being flattered, Master Li is awesome.

Uncle Zhang ignored him completely and told everyone to rest for a while and replenish the energy they had lost while swimming while holding their breath.

The group dispersed and sat down. Yu Xing had intended to use this time to probe Carlos's intentions, but Uncle Zhang approached him instead.

"Uncle Zhang." Yu Xing's tone was somewhat puzzled.

"It's nothing, San. I just came to confirm your true strength. I need to have a better understanding of your abilities so I can decide if I need to help you in a dangerous situation." The concept of a dangerous situation differs depending on the level of strength, so Uncle Zhang wanted to clarify.