Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1248: Chapter 829: The Deal

The stone slab felt cool to the touch, with a heavy texture. Yang Xiao brought the candle closer, and the surface of the slab had a dim gray color, hardly reflecting any light.

In Yang Xiao’s mind, the image of the strange sculpture inside the Buddha Statue immediately appeared.

The bottom of the sculpture was heavily damaged, likely because it was stolen from this cave, and since the sculpture was heavy, it’s inevitable it got bumped along the way.

Now it seemed that the so-called sculpture was actually a "living coffin", meant to seal the Fierce Ghost called Painted Woman inside.

Under Datou’s guidance, Yang Xiao found a worn stone slab amid the nearby pile of rocks, covered with moss, with traces of polishing faintly visible along the edges.

The moss in the center of the stone slab had been partially scraped away, revealing engraved characters.

After closely examining the engravings, Yang Xiao confirmed the slab’s content, roughly meaning that the object is a sacred artifact bestowed by the gods upon the village. It’s the greatest secret of the village that, as long as one worships sincerely, any illness can be cured, injuries healed, the dead revived, and the flesh restored to its original state.

There was actually more content on it regarding the sun, moon, and stars, and the mighty power of the gods, sounding quite intimidating, but Yang Xiao knew they were just exaggerated depictions by ancient people, with no actual significance.

What he really needed was something that was not found—information about the origins of the "Painted Woman". This was crucial for them.

The reason they risked their lives to come to "River Immortal Village" was to investigate the ghost’s origin and find a way to deal with it.

But now, the situation reached an impasse. They’ve already alarmed the horde of ghosts in the Ghost Village, trapped here and even lost a team member.

"Hmm?"

Yang Xiao exerted force to lift the stone slab, discovering cracks along the edges of its lower portion.

Clearly, this stone slab wasn’t complete. Another half of it had gone missing.

And the missing half of the stone slab might very well contain the crucial information they needed regarding the origin of the Fierce Ghost "Painted Woman".

Without wasting words, Yang Xiao and Datou each lit their candles and separately searched for the other half of the stone slab, but despite turning over the stone platform entirely, they found no clues.

Meanwhile, trouble had come knocking. The tavern owner guarding outside stumbled in, panting heavily.

He reported that those ghostly beings from the village had found their way here somehow, and they moved stiffly in the night, making almost no sound, and by the time he noticed them, they had already blocked the cave entrance.

Yang Xiao hurried over, and the scene outside the cave made his scalp tingle.

Under the night sky, dozens of blurry figures stood at the cave’s entrance, each with their heads tilted, bodies swaying, and stepping stiffly inside, with some already entering the cave.

Among the leading ones were Yang Xiao’s acquaintances—the flirtatious female ghost who had lured him with a scam. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Upon seeing Yang Xiao, the ghosts at the forefront immediately froze, their bodies stiffening, but Yang Xiao knew this was only the beginning of the danger.

These creatures didn’t kill with their bodies but their shadows. Indeed, under the candlelight, several bloated ghostly shadows silently crept towards Yang Xiao along the ground.

Fortunately, Yang Xiao was prepared, pressing the candle close to the ground, slowly forcing the ghost shadows back. This part of the cave was relatively narrow, temporarily preventing any shadows from breaking through the candlelight.

Yet it was only a matter of time, as the candle’s burning duration was limited, and as more shadows floated in, the candle’s burn rate would accelerate.

At this rate, the candle could last only 5 to 6 minutes at most.

Although Yang Xiao still had a single intact candle, it was reserved for emergencies—as his last card to guarantee an escape from "River Immortal Village"—he didn’t want to use it until the very last moment.

Leaving his remaining small half of the candle behind to hold off the ghosts, Yang Xiao quickly returned to Datou to devise a strategy.

Their focus was now on locating the missing half of the stone slab, with Datou speculating that it was most likely stolen by the High Monks along with the rest.

But Yang Xiao thought otherwise, given the High Monks’ limited manpower. It was already quite difficult to carry away the sculpture under a rush, so it made no sense for them to have stolen the stone slab as well.

The stone slab was also considerably heavy, and Yang Xiao could barely move it alone; moving it out would be tough for him and Datou together.

Moreover, even if the High Monks did steal the other half of the slab, where could they have hidden it?

The most ideal and secure place would naturally be with the sculpture, but they hadn’t discovered any stone slab or similar items within the Buddha Statue.

Boldly speculating, Yang Xiao guessed the stone slab was still in "River Immortal Village", most likely hidden somewhere secret within the Ghost Village.

Since there was no slab in the cave, continuing there had lost its purpose. Thinking of the bodies of "village people" inside, Yang Xiao promptly inquired.

Datou explained that these "village people" were dealt with by him. He found they killed using shadows and that once their shadows extended too far from their bodies, they would die, while the remaining bodies would turn into corpses.

"Impressive..."

Yang Xiao silently praised them, realizing he had underestimated his teammates. Though they seemed inconspicuous initially, they really stood up during crucial moments.

"I mean, you should think of something quickly, or else none of us will escape," the tavern owner didn’t understand why Yang Xiao and Datou could converse so calmly when they were already in imminent danger.