"Good idea, you always have a way!"

The fatty's eyes lit up. He couldn't help but admire how useful the doctor's little brain was. Following the doctor, they were rarely ambushed successfully; it was mostly the doctor scheming against others.

Led by Yao Shunyu, the group quickly found the backyard. The backyard wall was very high, almost as high as the outer wall of the Marquis's residence. A black door blocked their path.

Although the door looked simple, it was very solid. Li Bai reached out and knocked on it, but there was almost no echo. He then placed his palm on the door and suddenly withdrew it a moment later.

"What's wrong?" the fatty asked warily.

"It's yin chen wood," Li Bai whispered. "Heavy yin energy."

Jiang Cheng imitated Li Bai, placing his palm on the door. The next second, a heavy chill attacked his body along his arm, as if cold air was seeping out from his very bones. But Jiang Cheng didn't mind. He pushed the door hard, but it didn't budge.

Locked?

There was no lock on the outside, so it must be on the inside.

Naturally, the group wouldn't recklessly break down the door. Although they shouldn't encounter ghosts during the day, there were things here that could kill besides ghosts. If they were discovered by the Marquis's people, it would surely lead to trouble.

"Let's climb over the wall," Jiang Cheng said, looking up at the wall, which was more than 3 meters high, and made up his mind.

Seeing that there was nothing to use as leverage nearby, the fatty leaned against the wall, assumed a horse stance, and clasped his hands together. "Come on, I'll give you a boost."

Jiang Cheng took two steps and stepped on the fatty, using the momentum to jump up. He grabbed the edge of the wall firmly with both hands, then poked his head over to look into the backyard. After observing for about half a minute and seeing no danger, he climbed over. The sound of him landing came from behind the wall. Soon after, Jiang Cheng's voice came, "It's clear, come on over."

Next was Yao Shunyu. His movements were almost identical to Jiang Cheng's. As for Li Bai, her skills were far inferior to Jiang Cheng and Yao Shunyu's. To take care of her, the fatty squatted down and let her step on his shoulders, then slowly stood up against the wall, steadily lifting her up.

Straddling the wall in a stable but not very graceful position, Li Bai looked down at the fatty below and asked worriedly, "We've all gotten over, what about you?"

Whether inside or outside the wall, being left alone was never reassuring. After spending this time together, she had come to regard Jiang Cheng and the fatty as her friends.

"Don't worry about him, just take care of yourself. The ground below is uneven, be careful when you jump down and don't hurt your ankle," Jiang Cheng replied casually while observing his surroundings, seemingly not worried about Wang Fugui at all.

As soon as Li Bai landed, she felt a gust of wind beside her, and the ground shook. The fatty landed steadily on the ground, then shook off his clothes, stood up, and walked towards Jiang Cheng as if nothing had happened.

Li Bai, and even Yao Shunyu, couldn't help but gasp inwardly at this scene. Li Bai even looked up again in disbelief, re-examining the towering wall.

The interior of this other courtyard was much like Yao Shunyu had described. Not only was it dilapidated, but it also had a desolate, uninhabited feel. A large area was covered in weeds.

After observing for a moment, Jiang Cheng quickly noticed the anomaly. The weeds were growing too vigorously, almost half a person tall. The further in they went, the more exaggerated the growth of the weeds became. Moreover, there was a clear dividing line between this weedy area and the outside, as if the weeds were only allowed to grow in this area.

Yao Shunyu cautiously pointed towards the weeds and whispered, "Those tombstones are hidden inside. There are many, probably hundreds."

Jiang Cheng nodded, then turned and began to walk towards the back of the courtyard gate. Before deciding to enter the weeds, he needed to make sure the escape route was safe.

But this look revealed a big problem. The door wasn't locked. No, it wasn't that it wasn't locked, but... but the door couldn't be opened at all!

Something had been used to seal the gap between the two door panels, almost completely closing the gap. The entire door had become a single unit.

Seeing this, Yao Shunyu felt a chill run down his spine. He said in disbelief, "How... how is that possible? I clearly remember walking out through this door last night."

The situation had changed, but having come this far, Jiang Cheng was unwilling to give up. The sun had already risen, and the sunlight shone on them, slightly dispelling the chill in his heart. Jiang Cheng made up his mind. "Everyone be careful, something's not right here. If we find anything strange, we'll leave immediately."

The group stepped into the waist-high weeds, keeping no more than 2 meters apart. Jiang Cheng and Yao Shunyu walked in front. Soon, they encountered the tombstones that Yao Shunyu had mentioned.

The so-called tombstones were actually just upright wooden plaques. Most of the wooden plaques were black, but they could still see a bit of wood color mixed in. The texture felt strange to the touch, not cold at all, but with an unspeakable warm feeling. After examining it for a moment, Li Bai frowned slightly. "It's jinglei wood."

"Jinglei wood?" The fatty was unfamiliar with this term.

"It's thunderstruck wood," Jiang Cheng said, staring at the wooden plaque. A trace of doubt flashed in his eyes. There was a saying among the people that thunderstruck wood was split by lightning from the sky, used to punish evil things in the world, or some monsters undergoing tribulation. Ghosts and spirits were deeply afraid of it, and it was an auspicious object with great deterrent power. Xuanmen people even used jinglei wood to create magical instruments.

But precisely because of its extremely yang nature, it was especially taboo in burial practices. It was said that once, a demon who ate human hearts was captured by righteous people. After killing him, they buried the body in a coffin made entirely of jinglei wood. It was said that this way, his ghost would not be able to do evil again, but would be forever trapped in the coffin, suffering the pain of ten thousand thunderbolts piercing his heart.

Using jinglei wood as a tombstone, the effect was conceivable. It would definitely be a nightmare for the person buried there.

What was even stranger was that Jiang Cheng and the others carefully examined the wooden plaques, but couldn't find any names on them. These were actually wordless steles!

They found several wooden plaques nearby, almost all the same.

Moreover, as they went deeper, the wooden plaques became taller and taller, and the quality and craftsmanship of the thunderstruck wood used became better and better. Gradually, a strange phenomenon caught everyone's attention. These wooden plaques were not very regular. The first few were not obvious, but as the craftsmanship of the plaques became more and more refined, this characteristic became apparent. All of these plaques were narrower at the top and gradually widened at the bottom, like an irregular giant arrow stuck upside down in the ground.