I quickly realized that the coffin hadn't been sealed; someone had pried it open long ago, leaving visible nail holes on the lid and body. The real owner's remains were nowhere to be seen, replaced by Xiaoxiang, a living person. Who did this, and for what purpose, was a mystery. Adding to the strangeness, the ghost's whereabouts remained unknown—how was Xiaoxiang speaking with the ghost's voice?
We all stared dumbfounded at Xiaoxiang lying in the coffin. The ghost girl suddenly said with a surprised tone that she'd figured out where the ghost was hiding. It was a technique called "Ghost Cocooning"!
This was a peculiar art of the ghost realm, where a ghost wrapped itself in a cocoon, using the surrounding environment to hide in a "cocoon space" invisible to both humans and spirits. The cocoon had to be concealed within a living person, relying on their strong yang energy for cover. The ghost girl could detect the ghost in Xiaoxiang because Xiaoxiang's yang energy was weak, allowing a trace of yin energy to be visible through her spiritual sense. If the ghost were hiding in me, it would be completely undetectable.
I was dumbfounded. This was a tomb, after all—why would a ghost need to hide using this technique? Wasn't it redundant?
"Wow, we really misjudged her. Turns out she's a pretty girl!" Xiao Roll Knife said, rubbing his eyes.
Xiaoying, however, nervously asked Xiaoxiang, "Are you... really Xiaoxiang?"
"You know her?" Big-Mouth Rong asked, his face full of confusion.
Before Xiaoxiang could answer, I interjected, "She's not Xiaoxiang. You misjudged her too. She's alive, but there's a ghost in her!"
Xiao Roll Knife furrowed his brow. "Impossible. She doesn't have a trace of evil energy on her. How could she have a ghost inside?"
Xiaoxiang smiled enchantingly. "That's right. I'm not a ghost, nor am I Xiaoxiang. I'm just a poor soul who's been alive in this coffin for many years!"
Seriously? Can someone stay alive in a coffin? And a "poor soul" laughing so seductively?
Even Xiaoying, who didn't understand spirits, sensed something was wrong. She looked at me in alarm, then turned back to the coffin. Her gaze shifted to Xiaoxiang's left foot—bare, with her right foot still wearing a sneaker. That meant the shoe we'd seen in the tunnel really was Xiaoxiang's.
Xiaoxiang blinked, her sparkling eyes now filled with a sinister glint. "Because someone stole my body, I had to find a substitute!"
Damn it, she admitted to being a ghost!
I angrily asked the ghost girl how to get this parasite out of Xiaoxiang. To my frustration, she refused to tell me, afraid I'd use the method to expel her as well.
"If you don't tell me, I'll die here. Then it's over for everyone!" I threatened.
"Not anymore. Your death has nothing to do with me. If you die, I'll just stay here and be companions with this girl," she retorted dismissively.
Xiao Roll Knife couldn't hold back any longer. He used his Lotus Seal hand gesture and chanted a purification spell, aiming to expel the ghost. But as soon as his fingers touched Xiaoxiang's forehead, he yelped in pain and was flung back over a meter, landing on his back.
Big-Mouth Rong panicked, tossing another handful of sticky rice into the coffin before retreating.
Xiaoxiang suddenly sat up in the coffin, her eyes blazing with fury as she glared at them.
"Damn it, it felt like I was electrocuted!" Xiao Roll Knife cursed as he struggled to his feet.
Big-Mouth Rong fixed his gaze on the oil lamp, rushing toward it. Xiaoxiang's eyes widened in horror, and the lamp instantly shifted to the side, causing him to miss.
I understood—the lamp was the key. The ghost must be draining her energy to manipulate it. It was like a battle of attrition, and we needed to wear her down.
"Let's corner the lamp!" I whispered to Xiaoying.
She caught on immediately. The three of us spread out, forming a triangle around the lamp and slowly closed in. Xiao Roll Knife tried to join us, but before he could, he let out another scream as he was flung into the air, this time plastered against the tomb wall like a giant human X.
Around us, more oil lamps flickered to life, their eerie flames casting ghostly shadows.
The ghost girl exclaimed, "This is the true core of the ghost formation! No wonder the cat spirit was so strong even under spiritual suppression!"
Great, just great. "You're always full of hindsight wisdom. I'm gonna die here because of you!" I snapped.
"Shut up! I'm not omniscient. Guessing wrong once or twice is normal. You can die if you want!" she shot back angrily.
With the room full of oil lamps, focusing on just one seemed pointless. We regrouped, looking helplessly at Xiao Roll Knife stuck on the wall.
"Did you think you could just leave after stealing my Sparrow Jade Box?" Xiaoxiang snarled.
"What Sparrow Jade Box?" My heart skipped a beat.
"Don't play dumb. One of you took it when the lamp went out. Return it now!" she hissed.
No one took it, right? Wait—Wulong! That bastard must have taken it. I realized he wasn't here to save Xiaoxiang; he must've stolen the ghost's treasure and fled.
Big-Mouth Rong seemed to have reached the same conclusion. His gaze shifted to Xiaoying, his face full of rage. "It must've been your cousin! Damn it!"