Chapter 4: Digging up Corpses

  "Are you back?" The voice appeared as soon as I entered the room.

  Everything went black before my eyes, and I fell down.

  I lay on that carved flower bed, covered with a big red quilt, and then the other me who followed me also lay down, the two of us overlapping into one.

  It turned out that it was a wisp of my soul, which was knocked out of my body by the ghost in the black bamboo forest. It followed me only because I was still alive; if I were dead, perhaps it would have become a lonely and wild ghost.

  "Ow... it hurts so much..." In my dream, I kept dreaming that my head was cut off by a red thread, dreaming that my head was exploding in pain, dreaming that I was desperately trying to escape, but my feet couldn't move.

  I am what I am, from small to big, no one has ever cared about me. When I was a child, the only thing I liked was a little kitten that was beaten to death by the housekeeper in the woodshed, just because it had entered the eldest sister's room.

  My whole body was icy cold, but I still had to help that head find its body. Following his instructions, I continued digging into the damp soil in the dark night, and the sky started raining again. I dug mechanically like a ghost.

  After digging half a meter deep, I finally saw a wooden box, which should be what Xuan Yuan Wu wanted.

  Can't stop, if I stop, he will appear and scare me. I really want to sleep, I feel like I'm going to pass out again, but my hands can't stop.

  Four directions, four limbs have all been found, what's left is the body in the center of the haunted mansion hall. I fell to the ground, the icy ground was as cold as hell, making me shiver uncontrollably.

  Just hold on a bit longer, maybe I can complete the task and go rest. I stumbled to my feet, then slowly dug up the stones on the ground. It was too hard, my already rough hands were blistered with blood, but when dawn broke, I saw the last wooden box.

  Just as I closed my eyes, Xuan Yuan's head floated over again.

  "You've done well today, go take a rest!"

  I saw his pupils turn black, I saw no blood on the corners of his mouth, he didn't open his mouth to bite me, but why is it so cold here?

  I thought I was going to die, but after sleeping comfortably for a while, I surprisingly survived. I looked around curiously and saw the intricately carved wooden bed and the red quilt with auspicious characters.

  "Am I still alive?" I pinched myself hard and found it hurt, which proved that I was still alive. I happily got out of 'bed'.

  When Xuan Yuan's head appeared in front of me at dusk, I was still startled.

  "Didn't you get your body back? How can you still be like this?" Although it was terrifying, I got used to it and wasn't that scared anymore.

  "There's a spell on the wooden box, I have no way of opening it!" Xuan Yuan Mu said in a low voice.

  "If I help you open it, you're not allowed to scare me again?" I feel like my spirit is very good, as if the person who was sick last night wasn't me at all.

  "Ah!" Xuan Yuan's eyes stared at me for a moment.

  "How strange, why do I feel full of energy? Have you given me some kind of medicine?" I asked curiously. This haunted house was just the two of us, not him, but rather the dark bamboo forest outside had many evil spirits.

  "Give you a dragon blood pill." Xuan Yuan Mu has been following behind me.

  "What is Long Blood Pill?" I turned back in surprise and saw him floating in the corridor, staring at me.

  "A medicine ball made of human blood."

  A scene flashed through my mind, Xuan Yuan Mo cut off a person's head and made a 'medicine' pill with human blood, feeding me to eat.

  I shook my head and threw off the images in my mind "You promised not to scare me!"

  "Don't be scared, I died in this house back then. Some of my blood had dried on the stone floor in the hall. I was once the current prince, with a fate of supreme nobility. My blood is dragon's blood, which can cure all diseases, and naturally it can also cure you."

  "But you don't have hands, how can you make Dan medicine?"

  "With this mouth, I fed you medicine, and with this mouth!" Xuan Yuan Mu said with a smile at the corner of his mouth.

  Good heavens! Is he going to use that head of his, that bleeding mouth of his, to feed me medicine?

  I stared with wide eyes, disbelieving the floating head in front of me. A wave of nausea rose from my stomach, I bent down, "Hiccup!" for half a day, but nothing came out.

  Did I just kiss a head? Me? Suddenly my brain turned into mush and couldn't function.

  "Don't be too excessive, I've already given you a lot of face by feeding you medicine personally."

  "But you?"

  "No more nonsense, quickly put my body in that stone coffin. For the next few days, you can sleep on the 'bed'. Tomorrow, go to the capital and find a man named Fēng Tàiyé, let him figure out what the talisman on this wooden box means."

  Seeing that it was still early, he didn't let me set off immediately. I knew he wanted me to rest for a while, and I felt slightly grateful in my heart.

  I went to the kitchen and made breakfast, my body felt better, my spirit felt better, my state of mind improved a lot, food tasted better, even the floating head in the room didn't look so annoying anymore.

  "What's your name?" Xuan Yuan Mu's head suddenly appeared in front of me. Just a moment ago, I saw him standing in front of the coffin on the upper floor, looking at his limbs. How did he appear in front of me in an instant?

  "Melissa Snow." I replied in a low voice.

  "Whose daughter is she?"

  I know that these royal relatives are most concerned with the distinction of 'gate' status, and thinking of my position in the Left Prime Minister's household, I couldn't help but reply: "The maid of the Left Prime Minister's household, due to the nine yin fates, was sent into the Ghost Bamboo Forest."

  "Left Prime Minister Mei Gang, are you a relative?" Xuan Yuan Mu's pupils gradually turned yellow.

  "My heart also tensed up, and I replied in a small voice: 'I am his unwanted daughter, in the Prime Minister's estate, just like a maid.'"

  "Just by looking at the cocoon in your hand, I can tell what position you hold in their household." Xuan Yuan's voice was low and melancholic as his eyes gradually returned to their normal black color.

  "Why did you die here? Why are people outside calling you the Ghost King, when in fact you can't even get out of this haunted house? Are those 'evil' things in the Black Bamboo Forest something you're behind? Do you know how many people have died each year from your selection of concubines?" I finally couldn't bear my curiosity and asked.

  After asking, I also regret it a bit. I've never been a talkative person. Probably because of the dragon blood pill, my energy is full and I can be curious about such boring questions.

  "Hmph! Choosing a consort? If they were really choosing a consort for me, I'd thank their ancestors for eight generations. Unfortunately, they just want to make sure I never have a chance to turn things around. When I was 18, I woke up one morning and was locked in here. Before I even died, I watched with my own eyes as my head and limbs were severed by the red thread of fate. It's been ten years... I've been alone..." Xuan Yuan Mu suddenly stopped talking, seemingly unwilling to continue on this topic. With a swift movement, he rushed up to the upper floor, and the stone coffin creaked shut behind him.