46: Chapter 46 Yin Soul Bead

Strange runes were carved onto the stone coffin, and a sinister, decaying aura rushed toward them.

Jiang Nan frowned, covered his nose with his hand, and said in a grave voice, "This grave site looks like it has been here for quite some years, so how can there still be the smell of rotting corpse fluid?"

"The stone coffin is buried exactly nine meters deep... The number nine is not very auspicious for the dead."

"I wouldn't be unlucky enough to have dug up a sacrificial site for a medieval evil witch, would I?"

Jiang Nan couldn't help but complain, while the White Bone Banshee beside him was incomparably delighted.

"Husband, I can feel the aura of wandering souls becoming more and more intense! The Ghost Spirit Crystal is likely hidden inside this stone coffin!"

"You mean the Ghost Spirit Crystal is a burial object of the stone coffin's owner? What the f*ck, digging up a grave is already unethical enough, but now I have to pry open a dead person's coffin lid? I suddenly feel like I'm a real piece of scum!"

Seeing Jiang Nan looking at the stone coffin with a constipated expression, the White Bone Banshee looked puzzled.

"Husband, are you afraid of ghosts? If you are afraid, let me open the coffin..."

"Afraid of ghosts? Compared to being afraid of ghosts... I'm more afraid of being poor!"

Having said that, Jiang Nan placed his hands on the edge of the stone coffin and gave it a violent heave upwards.

But to his surprise, the stone coffin didn't budge at all under Jiang Nan's full strength, showing only a slight tremor.

One must know that the current Jiang Nan possessed at least five thousand catties of strength. That such terrifying power could not pry open the stone coffin showed just how enormous its weight was.

"...My strength is useless. Quite surprising, isn't it?" Jiang Nan patted the mud and sand off his hands, his face expressionless as he spoke with feigned ease.

He had wanted to coolly pry open the stone coffin in front of the White Bone Banshee to display some masculine hormones, but he didn't expect to fail so miserably.

"Husband, let me try!"

The White Bone Banshee chuckled, walked up, and wedged her ten snow-white bone fingers into the gap of the stone coffin lid.

As the White Bone Banshee gradually increased her strength, the lid of the stone coffin finally stirred, moving gently to one side.

The friction between the lid and the coffin body emitted a harsh sound like grinding gravel.

Thump!

With a loud bang, the heavy coffin lid was overturned onto the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Cough, cough. This coffin lid weighs at least ten thousand catties. I don't know how the craftsmen of that era managed to forge such a thing..."

Jiang Nan furrowed his brows and used his hand to fan away the dust in the air.

He cast his gaze toward the opened stone coffin, and the scene inside shocked him, causing his eyes to widen.

Inside the stone coffin lay the corpse of a woman. Her body was extremely well-preserved. She had long, waist-length black hair and wore all kinds of jewelry on her head—the kind that looked very valuable at a glance.

The corpse was dressed in a bright red, gold-gilded long dress. The dress was embroidered with countless intricate patterns and a phoenix design in gold thread. On her feet were a pair of small red shoes covered in patterns, looking like works of art.

Her attire was neat, her entire body clean and tidy, the makeup on her face incomparably vivid, and every strand of hair distinct, just like an ancient bride who had just finished combing her hair and was waiting to be married.

If this were at a wedding, Jiang Nan would definitely exclaim that this was a beautiful bride.

But this was a Mass Grave, inside a stone coffin that had been buried in the ground for who knows how many years. Such a scene, which defied common sense, appeared extremely eerie.

Jiang Nan swallowed his saliva. The Star of Death on his forehead was flashing wildly, and he had an ominous premonition in his heart.

"Since when did stone coffins have such powerful preservative functions? If not for the unsettling stench of decay coming from the woman's body, I might have really thought she was just asleep..."

"No offense, no offense, miss. I just saw that you've been sleeping for so long and must be a bit lonely, so I came to pay a visit... You shouldn't mind if I take some of your burial gifts, right?"

Jiang Nan let out a long sigh and began to search around the woman's corpse for the Ghost Spirit Crystal.

Well-versed in history, he was very familiar with the clothing on the woman. It was the attire that noble women would wear when getting married in a dynasty called the Yu Dynasty, which existed over five hundred years ago.

In other words, the owner of the stone coffin had been dead for over five hundred years. To remain undecayed for over five hundred years—Jiang Nan knew clearly that nothing good would happen later.

So, he just wanted to get the Ghost Spirit Crystal quickly and leave. But... his gaze scanned the coffin over and over, yet he couldn't find the treasure anywhere.

"It's not here... Could Xiao Gu's perception have been wrong?"

Just as Jiang Nan was falling into doubt, the White Bone Banshee beside him had already discovered the trickery, her golden eyes looking at the female corpse's mouth.

The White Bone Banshee didn't have any thoughts about the dead being respected or that offending the dead was a grave sin.

Her slender white bone hand reached directly toward the female corpse's face. One hand pinched the corpse's chin, while the other hand reached into the corpse's mouth and pulled out a fist-sized, purple-black bead covered in sticky corpse oil.

"Husband, I have found the source of the wandering soul aura!"

The White Bone Banshee wiped the mucus off the bead with her clothes and, as if presenting a treasure, held it in her palm and offered it to Jiang Nan.

Looking at the bead before him, Jiang Nan fell into a long silence.

"Alright, so it turns out this isn't a Ghost Spirit Crystal at all. But even from this distance, I can feel a cold, sinister aura from this thing. It is clearly a treasure not inferior to the Ghost Spirit Crystal."

The moment Jiang Nan took the purple-black bead into his hand, the system, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly made a sound.

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the treasure: yin soul bead!]

[yin soul bead: A treasure permeated by yin energy for many years. After wearing it, one can slowly increase their spiritual power, but it will cause severe side effects. The wearer will be plagued by nightmares, leading to an extreme personality. It is not recommended for users with low spiritual power to wear it.]

[System Evaluation: A treasure nurtured for hundreds of years by the resentment of a Red-Clad Evil Ghost after her death. Originally named the Soul-Stabilizing Bead, it was often stuffed into the mouths of women in ghost marriages in ancient times to stabilize the woman's soul after death, preventing it from dissipating.]

Looking at the system's evaluation, Jiang Nan only felt a chill run down his spine, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

[Congratulations to the host, your death-seeking behavior has successfully attracted the attention of the Red-Clad Evil Ghost!]

[In the legends of ghost marriages from hundreds of years ago, because the man and woman paired in the ghost marriage were separated by life and death and had never seen each other, the deceased bride would take the first man to obtain the Soul-Stabilizing Bead as her ghost marriage partner.]

[Ancient couples were often respectful to each other, but I believe a Red-Clad Evil Ghost who has harbored resentment for hundreds of years... should not be included in that category.]

[Respected host, you now have two wives. Your taste is very unique: one from the Undead Race, one a female ghost... The system expresses its admiration for you!]

"Husband~ Husband~"

A cold wind blew by, and a rustling sound came from the air.

Every hair on Jiang Nan's body stood on end, and he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

These calls of "Husband"... were terrifying to the extreme!