Chapter 210

Chapter 210

Bang!

Liu Ye set the coffin down on the ground.

Several experts nearby hurried forward to inspect it.

To their astonishment, the yin energy on the coffin had vanished completely.

“How could this happen? Does sending a coffin into the sky actually have such an effect?” a Daoist priest exclaimed.

The Driver instantly perked up at those words.

“That’s right! I was just about to explain. This is actually an exorcism technique Liu Ye invented himself. It’s called the… Skyborne Coffin-Driving Style! It borrows the righteous energy of heaven and earth to disperse corrupt yin energy.”

Xiaoshuai gave him a sidelong look.

Didn’t you just say you hardly knew him? And do you honestly think nobody else here has ever read manga?

Truly, Xiaoshuai had nothing but admiration for Liu Ye. Look at what the man had reduced a perfectly good Fiend to.

Xiaoshuai had dealt with the Driver before. He knew the Driver was a high-ranking Fiend and exceptionally skilled at concealing his aura. He could even make himself completely indistinguishable from a human.

Other Fiends with abilities like his went around killing people or creating terrifying urban legends. After falling in with Brother Liu, however, the Driver spent his time helping Brother Liu find work.

“So what happened just now was an intended effect of the technique?” Second Uncle asked uncertainly.

“Exactly. The process may have been frightening, but the outcome was flawless. Now, Patron Yang, a technique like this does not come cheap. About the fee…”

“That won’t be a problem. Once the ritual is over, I’ll pay the rest of what I owe.”

Second Uncle was not short of money. It was simply forbidden to exchange money during this particular hour, lest they offend their ancestors.

The Driver’s face fell. He was afraid Second Uncle might not live until the end of the ritual.

Then he thought about it. The Zhao Group had a reputation all over the world. Surely it could not collapse that quickly… could it?

Meanwhile, Liu Ye picked up his shovel and resumed digging out the coffins. Fortunately, he knew to control his strength this time, and he worked extremely quickly. By close to noon, he had finally uncovered more than thirty coffins without further incident.

The coffins lay on the ground in rows, all painted pitch-black. It was a chilling sight.

By now, the Zhao family members had collapsed from exhaustion. Even Second Uncle was panting heavily.

Although Liu Ye had helped, none of them had shirked their duty. Every one of them had genuinely labored alongside him.

At least the ordeal was finally over. All they had to do now was have the coffins transported away.

Just then, a group of lifeless-looking men approached. They came to the coffins in groups of four, then stood motionless beside them.

“Oh? I didn’t expect the Zhao family to keep people like these,” the Driver said with a chuckle.

“Big Brother, who are they?” Liu Ye asked curiously.

“Coffin bearers. Every one of them was born in a yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour. They have been missing one hun and one po since birth, so most of them grow tall and strong but are born disabled. If someone like that is raised in a place dense with yin energy and survives beyond the age of eighteen, they can become a coffin bearer. They say that coffins carried by such bearers make the dead feel at ease, soothe the resentment of those who died unjustly, and reduce the risk of a corpse rising.”

The moment he finished, the Driver saw Liu Ye listening with rapt interest. His face stiffened, and he hastily added, “Of course, all of that is false. The truth is, most people don’t want jobs carrying coffins. Since these people are disabled, someone came up with a way to help them earn a living. There’s nothing supernatural about it at all.”

“Oh! I see.”

Liu Ye nodded to show he understood, and the Driver let out a long sigh of relief.
The Driver continued studying the men. These coffin bearers had probably been raised by the Zhao family itself.

After all, very few people were buried rather than cremated in modern society, let alone carried to their graves by this ancient kind of coffin bearer.

Raising even one coffin bearer required an enormous investment of resources. Finding someone born at precisely the right date and hour was difficult enough by itself. For the Zhao family to have assembled so many, it must have employed some special method.

For example… cutting the infants from their mothers’ wombs at the designated hour.

While he pondered this, the coffin bearers picked up their carrying poles and roared in unison, the muscles across their bodies tightening.

Then something strange happened. Their muscles bulged as though they might burst, veins stood out all over their bodies, and their skin flushed red from exertion.

Yet the coffins did not budge.

The Daoist priest who had handed out the red strings earlier suddenly shouted, “Quick! Stop! Stop now!”

Bang!

The strings abruptly exploded, then lashed across the men’s bodies. In an instant, their flesh was split open and drenched in blood.

Second Uncle hurriedly ordered people to drag them back. When they did, they saw that the red strings around the men’s wrists had turned entirely black.

“Second Master, there’s something very wrong with your family’s coffins!”

The Daoist priest now regretted accepting this job. He had assumed it would be as simple as the previous relocations, never imagining so many complications would arise. It seemed the things inside the coffins had accumulated extremely deep resentment.

In the past, the Zhao family had always used feng shui formations to suppress them. But the more they were suppressed, the greater their resentment became. This was also why the Zhao family had been forced to relocate its ancestral graves again and again over the years.

In his estimation, even if this relocation succeeded, the new feng shui site would not hold for long. Once its time ran out, those things would erupt. When that happened, every single person present would be killed here.

After all, coming here had already entangled them in the karma of this matter.

“Amitabha. Patron Zhao, it appears we must take a different route back.”

“Master, what do you mean?” Second Uncle asked hurriedly.

“Amitabha. Patron Zhao, resentment, yin energy, and miasma have all gathered upon these coffins. The evil they form as they intertwine is extraordinarily fearsome. No one can lift these coffins on a road of the living any longer.”

He had barely finished speaking when Liu Ye walked past them carrying two coffins.

He had noticed the paint was chipped in places and wanted to touch it up. Second Uncle might not have asked him to, but when one went to someone else’s home to help, one ought to show initiative.

The Driver rushed after Liu Ye and dragged him back. He bowed furiously to Second Uncle in apology, then hauled Liu Ye off to one side.

The master fell silent.

So did Second Uncle.

“Amitabha. No one other than Patron Liu can lift them any longer.”

“Master, why don’t we have Master Liu use the Skyborne Coffin-Driving Style on every coffin?”

At those words, both Second Uncle and the master immediately pictured Liu Ye throwing coffins until the entire sky was filled with them.

The master said nothing.

Neither did Second Uncle.

In perfect accord, they banished the idea from their minds. If Liu Ye mishandled even one and smashed a coffin apart, the consequences would be unthinkable.

After all, strange as Liu Ye might be, neither of them believed he could possibly match the things inside those coffins.