Chapter 57: The Chaotic Mausoleum Hill, Sun Yuan Meets a Ghost, and Huang Mao's Hidden Treasure Appears

  Having obtained the treasure, Sun Yuan's excitement was beyond words. The annoying wind that had been hard to bear in the past now seemed to have transformed from a bicycle to a BMW. Sun Yuan was enjoying himself inside, and before long, the speed of the wind had reached its limit.

  No need to mention the scenery along the way, let's talk about Sun Yuan returning to Zhengqi Mountain Villa after several days. As for his departure, no one in Zhengqi Mountain Villa noticed it. At this moment, on the top of the 12-story high tower, Sun Yuan was playing with a golden ingot and frowning at a yellowed map, which was actually the treasure map from Bai Xiao's lair. In fact, that night, Zhu Yao found Bai Xiao's burial site, but just as he found the map, he sneaked into the villa and was discovered by Sun Yuan. Before leaving for Snake Boy Mountain, Zhu Yao honestly handed over the map to Sun Yuan.

  After several days of cultivation, Sun Yuan was able to fully control the Lu Bao Golden Money. Using a magic treasure of this level seemed very simple, and cultivating it was also easy. Of course, just because you cultivated it didn't mean others couldn't use it; cultivation only made it easier for you to use the magic treasure. It wasn't like branding your mark on the magic treasure would make it exclusively yours.

  After the excitement of getting the treasure money, Sun Yuan returned to his usual life, but the news of Sun Wukong had not arrived yet, making Sun Yuan's heart unsettled and unable to calm down. He couldn't focus on his cultivation either, so he shifted his energy to the treasure map left by Huang Mao Lao Zu these past few days.

  After a moment of contemplation, Sun Yuan jumped down from the top of the 12-story tower and quickly slid to the ground through the gap. He then sped off in a certain direction along the road in the villa.

  The burial mound, Sun Yuan looked at the tomb in front of him, carefully turning it over and over again. After careful comparison, Sun Yuan relied on his seven years of familiarity with Zhengyi Mountain Villa to finally determine that the location of the hidden treasure was here. This is a barren land behind Zhengyi Mountain Villa, which has been used to bury unknown dead people all along, but for some reason, the body of Bai Xiao Lao Guai was not buried there that year, and in recent years, no one has thrown corpses there anymore.

  It was midnight, and the burial mound was quiet, with only a few ghostly fires flickering out from time to time. When they saw Sun Yuan, they quickly floated towards him, but soon dissipated under his powerful demonic energy. The lonely souls and wild ghosts were also annihilated, body and spirit destroyed. Since he started practicing, Sun Yuan no longer feared these small ghosts as he had in his past life. As the saying goes, "with food in the belly, one's heart is at peace", this phrase was also true for those with real power.

  Sun Yuan stepped into the tomb, under the faint moonlight, the quiet and desolate tomb seemed like another world, filled with a cold and eerie atmosphere. If an ordinary person were to enter this place, they would surely be frightened to death, or even if they didn't die from fright, they would fall gravely ill after returning. However, Sun Yuan seemed completely unaware of all this, step by step entering the realm of ghosts.

  As he went deeper, a low whispering sound began to emanate from his ears, and a soft murmuring voice, sometimes mournful, sometimes gentle, emerged from the bottom of Sun Yuan's heart. A faint mist rose from the center of the tomb, gradually enveloping the entire tomb.

  "Hum!" Sun Yuan let out a loud shout, and with a lift of his head, his eyes gleaming with spirit, he gazed forward. Suddenly, he threw a fierce punch, and the demonic energy within him transformed into a silver dragon that swirled around the tomb grounds before quickly dissipating the mist that had just risen, like winter snow in sunlight.

  The murmurs around suddenly became sharp, and countless lonely souls and wild ghosts were beaten by Sun Yuan's blow, disappearing into thin air. For a time, the tomb was even more quiet, and even the occasional ghost fire seemed to have disappeared.

  "Don't play these tricks on me, provoke me, believe it or not, I will dig up your graves, break your bones into pieces and expose them to the scorching sun. I'd like to see how you can still exist in this world without a place to rely on." Sun Yuan let out a loud roar, lifted his foot and kicked at a tombstone. With a surge of demonic energy, the tombstone was instantly shattered by one kick, revealing the rotten coffin inside.

  "Come out for me!" Sun Yuan kicked open the coffin lid, and saw a girl in red lying inside. However, the girl's face was abnormally pale, with two sharp fangs exposed at the corner of her mouth.

  "What? You want me to invite you out again?" Sun Yuan sneered, raising his fist and suddenly striking it forward with a loud explosion sound. The woman lying in the coffin was instantly shattered into pieces, turning into a cloud of red mist that dissipated into the air, accompanied by a foul odor that wafted away with the wind.

  Sun Yuan swung his sleeve and fanned away the aura far away, staring steadily at the front, he knew that this female ghost had not disappeared yet.

  "Cough, cough, why did this friend strike so ruthlessly?" The red mist rotated in the air for a moment before re-condensing not far from Sun Yuan, revealing the girl in the coffin once again. However, her complexion had become even paler now, it seemed that Sun Yuan's previous move was quite severe.

  "Dispel the illusion, or I'll make you unable to live or die!" Sun Yuan didn't explain anything, and with a flick of his hand, he scattered another grave open, revealing a woman in a bright red robe inside. However, this woman seemed to have incomplete cultivation, as beneath her red robe was still a skeleton.

  "What do you want to do?" The girl suddenly became a bit anxious, waved her hand, and the red mist transformed into a giant dragon, rushing towards Sun Yuan. This skull was actually her true form, and at this moment, it was directly found by Sun Yuan. How could she not be anxious? Although she knew she wasn't a match for Sun Yuan, she still took the initiative to attack, with a glimmer of hope in her heart.

  "This is what you get for asking for it, don't blame me!" Seeing the female ghost's obstinacy, Sun Yuan exerted force under his feet and shot out like lightning. In a few moments, he arrived at where the red mist originated from. With several punches, the red mist was completely dispersed into thin air.

  "Ahh!" A mournful cry, the red-clothed female ghost was severely injured by the evil spirit once again. At this moment, she finally realized that she seemed to be seeking her own death. In a state of panic, a red mist drifted and enveloped the skull, just as she was about to make a run for it, but she was afraid.

  "The guy who's been playing tricks on me." As soon as the red mist dissipated, he appeared on the other side in an instant. Sun Yuan swiftly struck at the skull girl in another tombstone, but didn't give her a chance to beg for mercy.

  This time, when he dismantled the skull, a mournful cry echoed through the tomb, and all the red mist dissipated. The view in front of Sun Yuan changed suddenly.

  He looked intently, only to see that in front of him was an endless expanse of white bones, where was the tombstone? At this moment, a skull wearing a red robe lay shattered on the ground in front of him, it was the true form of the red-clothed female ghost, but now she was already dead.

  Sun Yuan was not surprised at all, he shook his sleeves and walked into the pile of white bones with big strides. This time, no ghost dared to come out and cause trouble. The red-clothed female ghost was among the top ten in this ghostly lair, but she was beaten to death by this man with just three punches and two kicks. How could other ghosts dare to come out and cause trouble again? Everyone understood that it seemed like an existence that couldn't be provoked had arrived tonight. As the gentle breeze blew by, the pile of white bones seemed like a heap of rocks, without any signs of life.

  "You'd better know your place!" Sun Yuan coldly snorted, he had already known about the situation here, this chaotic grave hill didn't have any tombstones! So when he saw the tombstones around him, Sun Yuan knew that ghosts were coming out to make trouble. For tonight's action, he didn't mind killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. Now it seemed that his previous method hadn't been wrong, otherwise these lonely ghosts would be troublesome, even if he himself wasn't afraid, this night would be ruined for treasure hunting.

  According to the treasure map, Sun Yuan inferred that only on a full moon night, at a specific time, the treasure left by Huang Mao Lao Zu would reveal its specific color. Previously, Bai Xiao Lao Guai had also deciphered the general meaning of the map, but he had only obtained information that the treasure was near Zheng Yi Mountain Villa.

  Even if he really occupies the Zhengqi Mountain Villa and pushes it all down, it is impossible to find the treasure place of Huang Mao Laozu. The map of Huang Mao Laozu, when Sun Yuan saw it for the first time, felt that it was not simple, and the secret contained in it should not be just a topographic map of mountains and rivers on it.

  As expected, after careful study for a long time, Sun Yuan finally had an epiphany about the familiar-looking painting. He remembered that this was actually a 3D stereogram that was popular in his past life. However, unlike before, this painting was completely hand-painted by humans, making it much more complicated to decipher its secrets compared to the 3D stereograms of his previous life.

  Fortunately, Sun Yuan was also an enthusiast in this field in his previous life. To say nothing of three-dimensional stereo images, he had even studied four-dimensional ones, so when he first saw this picture, he felt a sense of familiarity.

  After determining the true secret of this painting, Sun Yuan used the method of viewing 3D stereograms with his previous life to view this painting with the residual light from the corner of his eyes. After trying continuously for a long time, Sun Yuan finally grasped the opportunity, and in an instant, a picture that was completely different from the surface pattern appeared before him.

  Sun Yuan didn't know that this drawing method was actually the innate divine ability of Huang Mao Lao Zu, and basically only his family's direct descendants could recognize the secrets within. Since Huang Mao Lao Zu had paid so much for this treasure, he naturally didn't want it to be taken by other unrelated demons in the end, so he used his innate divine ability to draw this map.

  But the years are ruthless, and the yellow-haired mouse clan disappeared completely in Snake Mountain one year. Snake Mountain had a new ruler, and Huang Mao Lao Zu's painstaking efforts might have been lost in the endless years like many similar figures in history. However, this diagram happened to fall into Sun Yuan's hands, and he, who possessed past life experiences, unexpectedly deciphered this secret method from another angle. If Huang Mao Lao Zu knew about it after his death, I wonder what expression he would have!

  According to the map, Sun Yuan passed through the piled-up white bones and crossed the city wall built with skulls, arriving at the central area of the Luanyang Ridge. It is said that there are fierce ghosts here, and the local residents have not dared to set foot here for hundreds of years. According to Sun Yuan's judgment, Huang Mao Lao Zu's treasure was probably hidden somewhere around here.

  Although the yin wind continued along the way, with the warning of the red-clothed female ghost, these ghosts did not dare to approach easily. They just kept circling around Sun Yuan, and upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the piles of white bones around him were occasionally gathering and dispersing wisps of fog. These wisps of fog gathered and dispersed unpredictably, sometimes condensing into solid form and sometimes dissipating, but the cold yin energy emanating from them was something that couldn't be hidden no matter what.

  For these timid wild ghosts, Sun Yuan had no intention of going forward to find their trouble. After barely opening a road from the pile of white bones, Sun Yuan finally arrived at his destination. At this time, the moon had not yet risen to the top of his head, and although the light was very sufficient, because certain conditions were not met, the treasure still did not make any noise.

  A moment later, the moon was high in the sky, and Sun Yuan also woke up from his meditation on a pile of white bones. Although this place was filled with yin energy, which was deadly to ordinary people, it was a great place for a demon like him to cultivate. The resentment left behind by countless people who died here had accumulated over the years, forming a strong yin energy. This yin energy not only affected lonely souls and wild ghosts but also served as a nourishing substance for demons.

  Looking around, Sun Yuan couldn't help but feel a little strange. He found it hard to imagine that such a place wouldn't have any monsters coming to occupy it. After thinking for a moment without getting anywhere, Sun Yuan immediately threw the thought out of his mind. Whatever was going on here had nothing to do with him; he was just a passing traveler.

  Just as Sun Yuan was deep in thought, a loud explosion came from the tomb not far away. Sun Yuan immediately focused his attention and saw a black skull slowly rising from the tomb. As the skull rose, the surroundings seemed to change suddenly, from the scorching heat of summer to the bitter cold of winter. A strange black gas emerged from the skull and quickly spread in all directions.

  "What is this thing?" As the black air drew closer, Sun Yuan pinched his fingers together and summoned a gust of black wind that wrapped around his body, lifting him into mid-air. He dodged the invasion of the black air, which moved at incredible speed but for some reason only skimmed along the ground, never rising more than one meter above the earth's surface. Otherwise, Sun Yuan would have had to temporarily retreat.

  Sun Yuan floated in mid-air, taking in the entire graveyard with a single glance. It wasn't until now that he had a clear sense of the graveyard's size. Looking around from his position, even with his keen eyesight, he couldn't see the edges. As far as his gaze could reach, there was nothing but a vast expanse of white tombstones stretching out before him.

  "No wonder this place is called the Grave of Chaos. I wonder what happened here in the past?" Sun Yuan muttered to himself, his mind filled with a sense of unease. The atmosphere was too oppressive, even for someone like Sun Yuan who had some understanding of the Western Wilderness world. "Huh? Nothing's happening at all? This is really strange."

  The black breath swept out, but Sun Yuan found that when this fog hit the white bones around him, it just swept past, and the white bones were unscathed. It seemed that this black breath didn't have much power after all.

  I don't know what's going on, but Sun Yuan always felt that something was off. Today, as soon as he entered the Luanyu Gang, he encountered a terrifying red-clothed female ghost. If it weren't for his high cultivation level, if another monster with insufficient cultivation came, they would probably be killed by the female ghost without even knowing how they died, let alone ordinary humans.

  In Sun Yuan's understanding, although this chaotic tomb was terrifying, it wasn't like no one came in and out on ordinary days. Sun Yuan didn't think that all the grave robbers who came in and out had his level of cultivation, nor did he think there was anything on him that attracted evil spirits. After thinking about it repeatedly, there could only be one explanation: today's date was different from usual, and some formidable ghosts seemed to have come out for some reason.

  As soon as he thought of this, Sun Yuan suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction he came from. What he saw made his pupils shrink violently, and the hairs on his body stood up. Sun Yuan shook his head fiercely, almost unable to believe what he was seeing!

  Only when he took a closer look did Sun Yuan discover that, at some point, the direction he had come from had gathered a vast amount of fog. These fogs seemed to be surging in from the other side, and by the time he noticed, this phenomenon still hadn't stopped. Under the faint moonlight, the thick fog seemed like a living creature, crazily rushing towards one direction. Sun Yuan had never seen such a scene before.

  The most terrifying thing is not this, if it were just ordinary fog, but where is this? This is the Graveyard of Chaos! What kind of fog is that in Sun Yuan's heart, it's clearly an endless tide of ghosts. Facing this ghostly tide, let alone Sun Yuan, even the King of Hell would have to temporarily retreat.

  But at this moment, these endless ghosts seemed to be afraid of something. They rushed forward frantically, and the direction they were heading was exactly where the human world was. What's strange is that these ghosts completely bypassed Sun Yuan's current location. So there can only be one explanation for this situation - what they feared was this huge skull, or the black air spewed out by the skull.

  At this time, the huge skull head let out a loud roar, and the speed of the black air, which was already extremely fast, suddenly increased several times over, almost colliding with the ghost army in the blink of an eye. It wasn't until then that Sun Yuan realized just how formidable the black air was.

  Innumerable ghosts dissipated in the impact of the black air, and they had no resistance to the black air. It seemed that they were born to be the food of this black air. After the ghosts dissipated, the momentum of the black air not only did not weaken but instead surged up violently. Soon after, Sun Yuan realized that this black air was devouring the ghosts and evolving itself.

  In just a few short minutes, the endless ghosts disappeared into the black air. What was surprising was that these black airs seemed to be unable to cross over into the world of white bones. They turned around at the edge of the chaotic burial mound and retreated back in, while those ghostly spirits that had escaped from the chaotic burial mound were thus able to preserve their lives. However, they seemed to still not dare to come closer, still wandering about on the outskirts of the chaotic burial mound.

  The scattered black air split into nine strands, shooting back from all directions and swallowed by the skull. After swallowing the nine strands of black air, the skull seemed to have shrunk a bit smaller. A moment later, the skull suddenly shrank inward, and inside, a figure in a black robe appeared. Under the faint moonlight, Sun Yuan's eyes saw clearly that this was exactly the appearance of Huang Mao Lao Zu in the cave.

  "Hmph, what kind of person am I? It turns out that you're just a junior in the Condensation Period. You truly disappoint me, old ancestor!" The black-robed man suddenly turned around, his eyes fixed on Sun Yuan, and suddenly pointed at him, saying "You dare to show off such petty skills in front of me, not knowing the height of heaven or the thickness of earth."

  As the black-robed man pointed, Sun Yuan only felt that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him was suddenly disordered. Before he could figure out what had happened, the dark wind he summoned suddenly dispersed in the air, and he also fell straight down from the sky, making him extremely embarrassed. Fortunately, his demon body was solid, if it were a human cultivator who fell from such a high place, they would not die but would likely be seriously injured.

  "Are you Huang Mao Lao Zu? Is the treasure map your trap?" Sun Yuan rolled over and got up from the ground, not bothering to check his injuries, his expression turned extremely serious, his body naturally assuming a defensive posture, shouting at the black-robed man in the distance. Looking at the current situation, it seems that his situation is precarious!

  "Huang Mao Lao Zu?" The man in black was taken aback, then burst out laughing, as if he had heard something hilarious. "Haha, it's just a mouse spirit, and yet it dares to call itself 'Lao Zu'! I remember when it went out to do some errands for me many years ago, it never came back. Now it seems like it's already dead! How about you, are you its descendant? You don't look like it at all!"

  "Is the treasure map yours?" Sun Yuan stretched out his hand and pulled out a yellow paper from his own pocket, waving it at the black-robed man, his face becoming even more unsightly.

  "Not bad, when I created this thing back then, I was thinking of attracting a large number of masters, but I didn't expect that after so many years have passed, except for three or two little mice, there hasn't been anyone else coming. It's really frustrating!" The black-robed old man looked at the treasure map with a nostalgic expression, "Youngster, now you have two choices: one is to be eaten by me, and the other is to leave behind a wisp of divine soul here as collateral. You go and bring people with high cultivation levels on the night of the full moon every year, at this time, I can spare your life."

  "Like Old Yellow Hair?" Sun Yuan asked with a snort of laughter, somewhat mockingly.

  "Just like that yellow-haired old mouse." The black-robed man surprisingly didn't catch the meaning behind Sun Yuan's words and replied very seriously, "He lived two more years because of that, but unfortunately still died at the hands of human cultivators. It can only be blamed on himself."

  Sun Yuan put on a look of rapt attention, seemingly moved, but in reality he was secretly thinking of ways to escape. In his opinion, this old man seemed somewhat strange. Judging from the black-robed man's previous display of strength, he could easily take him down without even trying, and at that time it would be up to the black-robed man whether to kill or spare Sun Yuan, so why bother with all this tedious persuasion?