Xia Lin didn't disturb Sera, who was absorbed in the diary. He simply carried his torch and wandered around the main burial chamber.
His gaze swept over the rune-covered walls. The twisted lines made his head spin, and [Item Appraisal] offered no useful information beyond "ancient protective runes, energy inactive."
Since he couldn't touch the coffin for now, he'd start by scavenging the "outer perimeter."
His gaze fell on the pitiful remains of a tomb robber not far in front of the stone coffin—the unlucky fellow they'd seen outside, with a hole pierced through his head.
Xia Lin fished a reasonably sturdy wooden stick out of his Space Bag and cautiously dragged the skeleton over.
The bones clattered and scattered a little. Most of the bits of metal on the body—tools, daggers, and the like—had rusted beyond recognition.
But the leather armor he wore was the sole exception. Though caked with dust and dried blood, it still had a strange, supple sheen in the torchlight, a stark contrast to the rotted items around it that crumbled at the slightest touch.
"Heh, now this is interesting." Xia Lin narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Everything around here's rotted to pieces, but this leather armor's still fine. There's got to be something special about it!"
Without further hesitation, he focused his mind and used [Item Appraisal] on the armor.
[+1 Magic-Reinforced Leather Armor] [Quality: Fine+] [Effect: Grants a +1 enhancement bonus to defense. Made from supple leather treated with a special tanning process, making it lighter and sturdier than ordinary leather armor.] [Assessment: A highly practical piece of magical protective gear that can significantly improve your chances of survival. Its previous owner clearly failed to get the most out of it—friendly reminder: magical leather armor is great, but don't forget to dodge!]
"I hit the jackpot! The jackpot!" Xia Lin was so thrilled he nearly shouted.
A +1 magic leather armor!
At a reputable shop in Orlando City, this thing would cost at least ten gold coins!
He couldn't believe he'd gotten one for free off this unlucky guy. Even if he found nothing else, this trip into the tomb had already been worth it just for the armor!
Xia Lin quickly stripped the magical leather armor off the skeleton, not even bothering to mind the stench of the corpse and the bloodstains. He'd give it a thorough cleaning once they got out.
With another "trophy" added to his Space Bag, Xia Lin was in high spirits, and his enthusiasm for scavenging grew.
He circled around behind the stone coffin. The torchlight illuminated a corner shrouded in shadow.
His sharp eyes caught a few scattered stones and some rotten debris, stacked in a way that seemed oddly deliberate, as if they were hiding something.
"Oh? Stashed savings, or some dirty little secret?" Xia Lin muttered. He carefully moved the debris aside with his longsword, then used its tip to pry at one of the looser-looking stones.
The stone rolled aside with a thunk, revealing a small, pitch-black recess beneath it.
The soil inside was damp, and a strangely shaped plant grew quietly there.
Its leaves were a deep, dusky purple, with fine serrations along the edges. In the torchlight, they gave off a faint, eerie glow like ghostly flames.
At the top of the plant was a crystal-clear fruit, as if it had gathered the dew of a moonlit night.
"Found it!" Xia Lin was delighted. The plant looked exactly like the "Graveyard Ghost" the old dwarf had described! Without thinking, he reached out to pick it.
Halfway there, Xia Lin abruptly stopped. A sheen of cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
After so many strokes of bad luck in a row, he'd grown instinctively wary of anything that seemed "too conveniently timed."
He took a deep breath, tamped down his excitement, and carefully scanned the recess and the area around it.
[Graveyard Ghost] [Status: Growing well, energy stable] [Effect: Contains dense necromantic and shadow energy. A material required for certain rare alchemical potions or evil rituals.] [Assessment: Looks harmless, and even smells kind of nice? Friendly reminder: don't pick wildflowers by the roadside.]
There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the plant itself, but that assessment felt ominous no matter how he looked at it.
Still uneasy, Xia Lin widened his scan. The torchlight crept inch by inch across the floor and walls between the stone coffin and the recess.
At last, when his Mental Power was nearly depleted, the pale blue screen in his vision flickered, and a line of text appeared, so faint and wispy it was almost impossible to make out:
[Inactive magical link (source: core of stone coffin, target: Soul Devouring Flower)] [Status: Dormant, link weak] [Assessment: An invisible dog leash. One end is tied to a sleeping ferocious hound, and the other... to a juicy meaty bone. Guess what happens if you move the bone? Will the hound wake up and make you its appetizer?]
"Just as I thought!" Xia Lin felt a chill run down his back. The link was so well hidden and weak that any other adventurer would probably have gleefully plucked the "Graveyard Ghost," triggering who knew what.
"Xia Lin! What are you dawdling over there for? Did you find something good?" Sera called from behind him.
She'd clearly recovered from the diary's disturbing contents and was walking toward him.
When she saw Xia Lin crouched in front of the recess, staring at the faintly glowing plant, her expression changed abruptly and her voice turned urgent. "Wait! Don't touch that plant! Whatever you do, don't pull it out—oh, you weren't going to."
Xia Lin spread his hands, a rueful, slightly shaken smile on his face. "After all that bad luck, I'd better learn from it, right?"
He pointed at the "Graveyard Ghost" and the empty ground between it and the stone coffin. "I can sense an invisible magical link between this plant and that coffin. It's extremely weak, but it's definitely there."
At his words, Sera studied Xia Lin closely. She seemed surprised that this human, who always struck her as a bit of a loose cannon, had such keen powers of observation.
"A magical link?" She went over to the spot he'd indicated, extended a hand, and carefully sensed the dark energy swirling in her palm.
A moment later, she nodded, her expression growing even more grave. "That's right. It's a negative-energy link, extremely well concealed, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding deathly energy. If you hadn't pointed it out, I might not have noticed it either."
She took a deep breath and handed Xia Lin the heavy diary. "Read it for yourself, especially the last few pages. I think the 'Graveyard Ghost' we found is the 'Soul Devouring Flower' mentioned in the diary, and that link is the key to starting some kind of evil ritual."
Xia Lin took the diary and quickly flipped to the last few pages. When he read the passage about the "Great Revival Ritual" and how pulling out the Soul Devouring Flower while alive would trigger it, his expression darkened too. "Damn it! This is one trap after another!"
"What do we do now?" Sera asked. "Do you still want the 'Soul Devouring Flower'?"
"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?" Xia Lin gritted his teeth. "The 'Mind-Expanding Potion' only needs a few more rare ingredients. We can't give up halfway. But we need a safe way to do it." He looked at Sera. "Do you think holy water could block or break that negative-energy link?"
Sera pondered for a moment. "In theory, yes. The holy energy in holy water counters negative energy and necromancy. If the link isn't too strong, it might suppress or sever it temporarily."
"Then let's try!" Xia Lin fished a small bottle of holy water out of his Space Bag.
This time, he didn't simply splash it around. Carefully, he unscrewed the cap and slowly poured the holy water along the path of the invisible magical link, forming a silvery line of water that gave off a faint aura of holiness.
Sure enough, once the holy water covered the area, Xia Lin scanned it again with [Item Appraisal]. The message about the "inactive magical link" had vanished.
"It worked!" Delighted, Xia Lin didn't hesitate. He carefully pulled the "Soul Devouring Flower" out by its roots.
The instant the plant left the soil, the temperature in the burial chamber seemed to drop several degrees.
Without warning, the enormous black stone coffin suddenly let out a hair-raising, creaking groan. Its heavy lid began sliding upward on its own, slowly opening to reveal a pitch-black gap!
"Look out!" Sera had just started to warn him.
Xia Lin let out a yelp before she could finish. His left arm flashed out and wrapped around Sera's waist, while his right foot pushed off hard. The Ring of Swift Wind flashed.
Almost dragging Sera along, he bolted toward the burial chamber's entrance like a wild boar with its tail stepped on, leaving nothing behind but a blur.
The two tumbled and scrambled out of the underground tomb and back into the sunlight.
Xia Lin and Sera hid behind a huge fallen tombstone, gasping for breath and still shaken.
They waited a full half hour, but the monster attack and curse eruption they'd expected never came. The tomb entrance remained silent, with only a few crows perched in the dead trees, cawing hoarsely.
Xia Lin carefully scanned the tomb entrance again. After confirming there were no new danger warnings, he exchanged a look with Sera and crept back inside.
In the main burial chamber, the enormous black stone coffin stood with its lid completely open.
Holding their torches, the two approached cautiously.
In the torchlight, they saw what lay inside the coffin. There was no grotesque monster or powerful lich, only a skeleton lying still.
Judging by the shape of the pelvis and the slender bones, it was probably a woman's skeleton.
She wore an elegant robe that had long since rotted away, though they could still make out a few magical runes embroidered in gold thread.
A ring of archaic design still adorned one of her finger bones, giving off a faint magical glow.
"Whew... so it was a lady mage." Xia Lin relaxed. Then a somewhat greedy smile crossed his face. "Since this lady was so 'hospitable' as to open her 'bedchamber' for us, wouldn't it be terribly rude of us, as 'guests,' not to go in and 'take a look around'—and maybe take a few 'souvenirs' while we're at it?"
Sera was just about to criticize his filthy comparison—
BOOM!!!
A deafening crash suddenly rang out from the center of the graveyard!
The ground seemed to shake right after it.
Before you continue