Chapter 225
Chapter 225
Sure enough, Liu Ye returned carrying a hammer, a saw, and several other tools.
“What are you planning now?” the Driver hurried over and demanded.
“They can’t walk, so I was thinking I could modify the coffins and build a few little carts.”
The Driver fell silent.
Second Uncle and the others lay on the ground, their faces filling with horror at Liu Ye’s words. The corpses inside the coffins covered their heads and wept.
After everything that had just happened, however, who would dare interfere with him?
John, on the other hand, immediately understood when he saw what Liu Ye was doing.
“It seems Brother Liu noticed long ago.”
“Noticed what?” Xiaoshuai asked.
“You know what happened to my uncles, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Their bodies were swapped.”
“Exactly. I questioned Third Uncle before and discovered he never obtained a System. That led me to suspect that the people participating in this mission were not actually them.”
John had simply never expected their true teammates to be Fiends!
“That makes sense. Our mission is to participate in the ceremony and survive until it ends. It never said we had to complete the ceremony with them.”
The two exchanged a look.
They strapped protective charms made by Liu Ye to their hands, then approached the coffin behind Fifth Uncle. Liu Ye had not opened the coffins behind any of John’s uncles.
He had considered those coffins too new to make sturdy shields.
“If I were you, I would definitely place the coffin connected to me directly behind my own position. No one would trust anyone else with a matter like swapping bodies.”
Fifth Uncle stared at him in terror and shook his head frantically. John opened the coffin without the slightest hesitation.
Instead of the Fiend that should have been inside, an aged corpse lay within.
The instant the corpse was exposed, Fifth Uncle began clawing at his throat. His neck swelled, and his mouth was slowly forced open. A pink soul flew out and entered the aged corpse, while a transparent soul passed into Fifth Uncle’s body.
Bang!
The corpse in the coffin abruptly sat up. Its eyes burned with hatred as it stared at John. It wanted revenge. It would tear this brat limb from limb. It would-
Smack!
John slapped a protective charm onto its face. Fifth Uncle’s former possessor screamed, and the aged body exploded, vanishing completely into the air.
“It seems our guess was correct.”
John saw the obvious change in Fifth Uncle’s eyes and greeted him.
“Good morning, Ancestor. You’ll have to wait for a moment, though. We still have others to rescue.”
Zhao Tiande nodded. John and Xiaoshuai continued opening the coffins.
“Hey, John!” Zhao Tianci suddenly called.
“Lend me one of those protective charms. I’ll owe you a favor!”
John looked at him, then tossed a charm over.
Zhao Tianci walked to the coffin behind Second Uncle and placed his hand on its lid.
“T-Tianci, don’t! I-I’m… your father!” Second Uncle cried weakly.
“Yes, you’re my father. Back then, because you wanted control of the Zhao Group, you switched me with John’s older brother. You wanted me to become Grandpa’s vessel! You began poisoning me when I was a child because you hoped Grandpa would drop dead the moment he entered my body, didn’t you?”
Second Uncle’s eyes widened as he stared at Zhao Tianci in disbelief.
“You’re wondering how I know, aren’t you?”
Zhao Tianci leaned close to Second Uncle and enunciated every word.
“When you killed my mother, I was hiding in the chest underneath. I heard every word you said, my dear father!”
With that, he shoved open the coffin lid. Second Uncle’s body began convulsing violently, and the souls exchanged places once again.
Afterward, Zhao Tianci took a cigarette from behind his ear and lit it.
“Thanks. I’m keeping the charm. I’ll buy you a few more when we get out.”
John fell silent.
“So you knew about the body swapping all along?”
“Yes. My mother didn’t want someone else to take over my body, so she deliberately called me over and gave her life to tell me the truth.”
As a child, Zhao Tianci had greatly admired Second Uncle. Second Uncle had also indoctrinated him from a young age. Besides, who in their right mind would believe something so absurd?
“You knew, yet you still competed with John?” Xiaoshuai asked in confusion.
“I thought that if I caught Grandpa’s eye, even briefly, I could borrow his power to avenge my mother.”
“Then why did you give up?”
“Because I discovered that Grandpa’s target had always been you!”
Zhao Tianci looked at John.
“I won’t waste time telling you to be careful. You understand the Old Master’s abilities better than anyone.”
John nodded. Then they approached Zhao Teng and the others.
The child who had caused trouble for Liu Ye earlier appeared behind the real Second Uncle, Zhao Teng.
“Ancestors, you must know something about my grandfather. Can you tell us?”
Zhao Teng nodded. His voice was weak. For one thing, his soul had only just returned to his body and he had not fully adapted. For another, the diarrhea had left him with almost no strength.
“Don’t call us ancestors. We are actually your real uncles. When we turned eighteen, our father swapped our souls. The true ancestors are behind us.”
Zhao Teng pointed behind him.
“Everything I’m about to say was passed to me by the ancestor. He was the first person whose soul was swapped and the only one who retained his sanity. The other spirits were suppressed for so long that they degenerated into evil creatures that know only how to devour humans.”
He slowly began telling them the ancestor’s story.
“Everything began with a book called the Yin-Yang Secret Codex. No one knows who wrote it or how long it has existed. We know only that every time it appeared in the world, it sparked a bloody catastrophe and caused countless deaths. Some even called it a book that would destroy the world.
“There was only one exception. It happened in a minor dynasty omitted from the historical records, a kingdom with little territory. Its emperor was obsessed with immortality and gathered countless gifted practitioners and mystics, hoping to refine an elixir that would let him shed his mortal shell and ascend.”
At those words, John and Xiaoshuai exchanged peculiar looks. Why did this story sound so familiar?
“Three wicked Daoists used the Yin-Yang Secret Codex in an attempt to throw the imperial court into chaos. Fortunately, a man of outstanding virtue and noble character suppressed them!”
John and Xiaoshuai fell silent.
Were they… reading a pirated version of the story? If memory served, the only reason Brother Liu had been able to harm that wicked Daoist was that he had launched his rebellion ahead of schedule.