What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

At night, the transformation of the black bone needles also brings enormous benefits.

Its radius, or rather its intensity, in attracting ghosts has become larger.

Previously, it might take one or two days to attract a ghost with "karmic harm," but now it can attract one or even two ghosts in a single day.

Moreover, I can now stitch up ghost wounds faster and consume less energy.

The cool aura between his brows grew stronger.

I've decided to save a little more to start the next phase of self-reflection.

Jiangcheng seems to be quite peaceful these days.

Ever since Jin Wanliang got that golden toad, he has refused to see any guests, saying he wants to set up a feng shui arrangement to enshrine the treasure. He hasn't even called me.

Until the evening of the fourth day.

I had just finished processing a floating corpse that I had pulled from the river, and I was sitting in the break room wiping my scalpel.

After being polished with guillotine stone over the past few days, the blade now has a layer of dark patterns that are barely visible to the naked eye, gleaming with a sinister cold light under the lamp.

"Buzz—"

The phone on the table suddenly vibrated.

I glanced at the screen, where two words were flashing: Lu Yan.

I put down the knife and answered the phone.

"Feed".

"Chen Yang, where are you?"

Lu Yan's voice sounded very tired, and there was the roar of machinery in the background.

Do you have something urgent to attend to right now?

I immediately realized that there must have been progress on the underground palace side.

"Did something happen at the underground palace?" I asked in a deep voice.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, as if someone was organizing their thoughts, or perhaps there were some things they couldn't say over the phone.

"Yes and no. You've come to the branch office; there are some things I want to tell you in person."

"Okay, then wait for me."

I hung up the phone decisively and drove to the Jiangcheng branch.

Soon, I parked my car in front of a small red brick building in the old town of Jiangcheng.

The sign here reads "Jiangcheng City Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center," and the security guard at the entrance is listening to storytelling on the radio. It looks no different from any other government office.

But only those in the know understand that beneath this unassuming little building lies the central hub that controls the supernatural order of the entire Jiangcheng.

I parked the car on the side of the road and got out.

As soon as I reached the door, the security guard raised his eyelids and glanced at me, his gaze lingering on me for a moment.

"Advisor Chen, Director Lu is waiting for you on the third floor."

Seemingly having confirmed my identity, the old man turned off the radio and looked away.

I nodded and went straight in.

Although it's past 8 p.m., the building is still brightly lit and filled with hurried footsteps.

As soon as I pushed open the door to the director's office, I saw Lu Yan's figure.

She was sitting behind her desk when she saw me come in. She nodded at me, then rubbed her temples. Her usually cool face couldn't hide her fatigue.

"You're here? Have a seat."

She pointed to the chair opposite her, "Pour your own water; I only have strong tea here."

Without being polite, I pulled out a chair and sat down, my gaze falling on the mountain of documents and photos on her desk.

"It's not convenient to talk about it over the phone, can you tell me now? What exactly is going on at the underground palace?"

I asked the question directly.

Lu Yan sighed, pulled out a thick file folder from the pile of documents, and pushed it in front of me.

The file folder was marked with the word "Top Secret" in bright red.

"See for yourself. This is the result of the archaeological experts and special operations team sent by the General Administration working day and night for the past few days."

I untied the string binding the file folder and pulled out the documents inside.

At the top is a set of high-resolution photos.

The background of the photo is a dark underground area, and it shows the core area of ​​the underground palace.

Although the light was dim, it was still possible to see that it was a huge, stage-like architectural structure.

Hundreds of mummified corpses knelt densely around the stage, while in the very center of the stage, there was an offering table, behind which a figure seemed to be sitting.

The "figure" was dressed in tattered ancient armor and held a broken sword in its hand.

Although it's just a photo, I can still feel the overwhelming murderous aura emanating from the paper.

"This is..." I frowned.

"This is the owner of the underground palace."

Lu Yan picked up her teacup and took a big gulp, then said in a deep voice, "According to the experts' interpretation of the burial objects and inscriptions, the tomb owner was a city-defending general during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties."

His name was Zuo Zongtang… not the Zuo Zongtang of the late Qing Dynasty, of course; it was either someone with the same name, or someone who changed their name to avoid using the same character as someone else.

She paused for a moment, then continued, "This General Zuo was responsible for guarding the northern pass of Jiangcheng back then."

According to the county annals, he was extremely strict in disciplining his troops and was also a great lover of opera.

But when experts were examining the inscriptions on his biography, they discovered a chilling story.

As I flipped through the documents in my hand, my gaze settled on a rubbing of an inscription.

Although the text above is in classical Chinese, I can barely recognize a few key words: "kill his wife", "be loyal", and "monastery".

"The story of 'Zhanjingtang'?"

Recalling the mummified corpses performing on the stage that day, I blurted out.

Lu Yan looked at me with some surprise: "You know about opera?"

"I know a little bit." I nodded.

"The play 'Zhan Jing Tang' is also called 'Wu Han Kills His Wife,' which tells the story of Wu Han, a general of the Han Dynasty, who married Wang Mang's daughter."

Later, when Liu Xiu raised an army, Wu Han's mother forced her son to kill his wife in order to sever ties with Wang Mang and demonstrate his loyalty.

This play is very tragic, especially the scene where Wu Han forces his wife to commit suicide in the prayer hall; it is filled with helplessness and bloodshed.

"Yes, that's the story."

Lu Yan tapped her fingers lightly on the table.

"But this General Zuo wasn't just acting; he actually turned this play into reality."

Moreover, it's even more cruel than in the play.

She took a deep breath, as if suppressing some emotion: "According to records, during the war at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Jiangcheng was besieged."

In an attempt to persuade General Zuo to surrender, the enemy leader tied General Zuo's wife, whom he had captured, to the front lines.

To stabilize the morale of his troops, General Zuo publicly shot and killed his wife.

But this is only the surface.

"The true record is on the inner wall of the tomb. In fact, General Zuo had already gone mad at that time. He obtained a kind of evil magic from somewhere and believed in it without a doubt."

They believed that as long as they followed the script of "Zhan Jing Tang" and used the blood of their closest relatives to sacrifice to the military flag, they could invite ghosts and gods to help them and turn defeat into victory.

So, on the eve of the city's fall, in his own prayer hall, he personally skinned alive his wife, three concubines, and more than sixty other people in his household, staging a "living drama."

Hearing this, even I was speechless.

More than sixty people were skinned alive, all for the sake of putting on a show and seeking a vague and unattainable victory.

This is no longer just cruelty, but utter madness.

"So, that underground palace isn't just a tomb?" I asked.