Chapter 1361 — Returned Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"That's right." Wei Zhao nodded. "I keep feeling there's something alive in this tomb, and that those people may have been eaten by it."
"A tomb keeper?" At Wei Zhao's words, Yu Xiaoke could not help but cry out.
"What's a tomb keeper?" Wei Zhao was no grave robber, so naturally he had never heard of such a thing.
"A tomb keeper is a guardian of the tomb. At first they were the household servants of the tomb's master; as the generations went on, they might be the servants' descendants, or the servants of servants. But such people are very rare now," Yu Xiaoke said.
"You mean there are tomb keepers in this ancient tomb? And one of them ate these people?" Wei Zhao asked.
"It could be a person, but it could also be a spirit beast, a tomb-guarding spirit beast. There are records of them in certain old grave-robbing chronicles. It is a kind of spirit beast that exists solely to guard a tomb; it lodges in the ancient tomb and keeps it safe. When no one is about, it survives in a state of tortoise breathing, rather like hibernation. But the moment someone breaks in, the tomb-guarding spirit beast wakes, devours the would-be grave robbers to fill its belly, and then sinks back into hibernation..." Yu Xiaoke explained. "If these people were not eaten by their own companions, then most likely they were eaten by a tomb-guarding spirit beast."
"Oh? Such things exist?" Wei Zhao was rather surprised. "Then Old Black and the others do not know?"
"Maybe they know, maybe they don't. It is only a legend, after all. I read about it in some old grave-robbing texts. It may have been invented to frighten people. In any case, in all these years I have never heard of anyone running into a tomb-guarding spirit beast. Tomb keepers, now, those people have met, but none of them lived inside the ancient tombs. They all lived near them!" Yu Xiaoke said. "And after dozens or even a hundred generations of succession, many of these tomb keepers no longer even know where the tomb is. All they have is a legend about some ancestor."
"I see." Wei Zhao nodded. He guessed that this tomb-guarding spirit beast was like the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit his own old man had seen, one of those rarest of rare things that few people still believed in. "Then those people probably ran into the legendary tomb-guarding spirit beast. Lucky them."
"Then those people... will they be eaten too?" A frown touched Qiu Lingshan's brow, so faint as to be almost imperceptible.
"Who knows?" Wei Zhao shrugged.
Qiu Lingshan said nothing more. Matters had gone beyond anything she had expected. She did not want these grave robbers to die; she wanted them brought to justice. But things no longer turned on what she wished. Even Wei Zhao was powerless.
If Wei Zhao had been sure of himself, he would not be sitting here waiting.
So Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yuxuan exchanged a glance, and both fell silent. Never mind. If they could at least arrest the small fry left behind up above, that would count as a gain.
"By the way... Male Thief, may I ask you something?" Yu Xiaoke finally could not hold back. She and Male Thief had scarcely exchanged a few words before, and since they were hardly acquainted, she had not dared say much. But now the two of them had talked a good deal, and she was no longer as nervous as before.
"What is it?" Wei Zhao asked.
"Why... why did you help me?" Yu Xiaoke asked after a moment's hesitation.
"Oh..." Wei Zhao did not know whether he ought to reveal his identity. He pondered a moment, then decided not to stir up trouble for the time being, and smiled. "I think you're pretty. I want to take you as my concubine. Will that do?"
"Gah?" Yu Xiaoke's eyes went wide, and Wei Zhao's words set her face burning red on the spot. She coughed twice and stammered, "N-no... surely not?"
Looking at Yu Xiaoke's startled face, Wei Zhao only smiled. "So the things you shouldn't ask, you'd best not ask."
"Oh..." Yu Xiaoke nodded, though she still felt a little embarrassed.