Chapter 205
Chapter 205
I pointed to the malevolent coffin beside us.
“According to what you said, Old Cao, the Nine-Bone Corpse-Suppressing Nails are used to seal vicious corpse-fiends, correct?”
He nodded.
“That’s right!”
I continued.
“Aside from the Nine-Bone Corpse-Suppressing Nails, the Five-Ingredient Ink-Line Cord wrapped around the coffin is clearly another excellent means of suppressing corpses. But these dark-red talismanic inscriptions drawn across its surface…”
“I may not understand them, but their purpose definitely isn’t to suppress anything. They’re continuously strengthening whatever is inside the coffin!”
“That’s what makes this so strange. The ink-line cord and bone nails suppress the coffin, while these eerie inscriptions and the malevolent Dragon Gripping the Tiger formation where it was buried strengthen it. The two purposes run directly against each other. They’re contradictory, aren’t they?”
When I finished, puzzled expressions appeared on Old Cao, Big Bull, and the others.
That was right!
Had the person who buried the coffin been a righteous practitioner trying to seal it, or a wicked occultist trying to nurture the corpse-fiend inside?
These two opposing actions made the whole affair impossible to understand…
Whatever the explanation, something exceptionally malevolent definitely lay inside the coffin.
The immediate problem was getting it out of the Bai family’s backyard!
Before that, however, we also needed to decide where to take it.
Old Cao asked me, “Xiao Wu, can you find a suitable place nearby to rebury this coffin? Once we carry it out, we’ll first see whether we can burn it completely. If we truly can’t, we’ll have no choice but to bury and seal it underground again.”
Some powerful, wicked things were not so easily destroyed outright.
When destroying one was too difficult or required too great a price… sealing it was actually the most practical solution!
It treated the symptoms rather than the root cause, but sometimes there was no alternative.
“All right! Let me take a look.”
As I answered Old Cao, I removed the golden compass Master had given me from the bag on my back. Everyone present was a trusted companion, so I did not worry that displaying such a precious ritual implement would inspire greed.
Big Bull was impatient by nature. The moment he saw the compass, he blurted in surprise, “Young Mr. Wu, isn’t that compass far too small? How can you even make out the markings?”
I smiled faintly, completely confident.
“Just watch, Brother Niu!”
I raised the tiny golden compass in my left palm and lightly tapped it with a finger of my right hand.
An invisible stream of qi poured into it.
At once!
Bzzzz…
The golden compass began to tremble violently and emit a humming sound.
A ray of golden light instantly expanded outward from its center.
Then, astonishingly, it became a golden phantom of the compass hovering above the physical instrument!
It was so lifelike that it appeared entirely real.
Nearly half a foot in diameter, it displayed every feng shui direction of the Twenty-Four Mountains, along with all its markings and characters, in perfect clarity down to the finest detail.
Whenever I turned, the phantom compass automatically adjusted its orientation with me and calculated minute shifts in the feng shui bearings on its own.
Sharp breaths sounded around me.
Big Bull and the others stared in astonishment.
Old Cao remained relatively calm. I had demonstrated the golden compass for him soon after receiving it.
Besides… perhaps he knew more about Master than I did. He might even have seen her use it before.
I surveyed the surrounding mountains and murmured under my breath.
“Qi moves beneath the earth, and living things arise above it. Where form halts, qi gathers, transforming and giving birth to all things. Where the earth holds auspicious qi, the soil rises with the dragon. Where the earth holds still qi, the waters come to rest. Force moves with form, returning from end to beginning. Lofty peaks and layered ridges gather a host of dragons. Bury according to the art, and fortune shall endure without calamity…”
These were not incantations, but feng shui judgments from The Book of Burial.
They could be understood as something akin to mathematical or physical formulas–except only a feng shui master could interpret their true meaning.
As I softly recited the judgments, I concentrated on searching every feng shui site nearby and used the golden compass to calculate and compare them.
Finally…
Two minutes later, I pointed in one direction.
“There!”
It lay northeast of Lianghe Town: turn right at the end of Lianghe Bridge and follow the path into the mountains, near the burial hill where I had found the Golden-Thread Netherbloom.
Ergou smiled bitterly.
“Young Mr. Wu, the site you chose is too far away! It’s several kilometers from here at least.”
Big Bull deliberately glared at him.
“With Coffin-Bearer Cao and Young Mr. Wu here, do you really think they’ll let us wear ourselves out? They have plenty of arts and methods to make us stronger and help us last longer.”
Everyone laughed.
The oppressive tension eased slightly.
I put away the golden compass and turned back to the malevolent coffin.
About five minutes had passed since we entered the Bai family’s backyard.
Even in that brief span, the coffin seemed to have sunk another half inch into the ground. As the Hour of the Rat approached, it was sinking faster!
Old Cao unwound the phoenix rope from his waist and approached the coffin with the dragon staff.
“We can’t delay any longer. Big Bull, let’s get started! Xiao Wu, clear away some more of the yin qi around us, then stand watch nearby. If anything goes wrong, call out immediately.”
“All right!”
As I answered, I drew one paper talisman in each hand and flung them out.
Whoosh!
The talismans transformed into two balls of flame and circled the coffin several times.
The layer of white frost covering the ground melted away completely.
The chill in the courtyard eased somewhat as well.
Next, I took out two Corpse-Suppressing Talismans and sent them flying onto the coffin lid–an extra precaution.
The ordinary talismans I casually cast were negligible compared with the existing Five-Ingredient Ink-Line Cord and Nine-Bone Corpse-Suppressing Nails.
But something was better than nothing!
Sometimes it was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
While I did this, Old Cao, Big Bull, and his three companions also sprang into action…
They quickly positioned the large dragon spine used for carrying coffins and stabilized the flood-dragon braces.
They secured every joint with the phoenix rope, fixing the coffin firmly in place.
Old Cao stood at the very front with the beam laid across both shoulders.
Big Bull and his three companions each took a corner, bearing it on one shoulder while steadying the coffin with the other hand.
Old Cao sucked in a deep breath and called out in a shrill voice.
“The coffin leaves the gate; wicked things retreat. Do not peer, do not pry; the coffin bearer opens the road!”
His voice was piercing and harsh, nothing like his usual tone.
It circled beneath the dark night sky without fading, stirring an inexplicable feeling in my heart.
The words were also completely different from those he had called when helping other families carry the coffins of deceased relatives out the door.
This was a coffin bearer’s nether-path-opening chant–naturally, different circumstances called for different verses!
As Old Cao began his chant, Big Bull and the other three roared together, flexed their muscles, and heaved the coffin upward.
“The coffin leaves the gate–rise!”
Creak, creak…
Amid a strange scraping sound, they forcibly “pulled” the coffin, which had sunk three and a half inches, straight out of the ground.
“Cha-cha, hey! Hey-yi-ya-ho!”
As they slowly carried the coffin forward, powerful, masculine work chants rang from Big Bull and the others.
The chants contained no specific words, but the syllables themselves could intimidate wicked things. They also regulated the carriers’ breathing, allowing them to exert their strength more effectively.
The men’s muscles bulged. Their exposed calves and arms gleamed with a bronze luster, filled with wild strength and beauty!
I marveled inwardly.
“Setting fighting technique aside and judging by strength alone, each of them is probably comparable to a martial artist at the peak of overt force!”
“Unfortunately, a coffin carrier’s methods of building strength can’t possibly compare with the profundity of internal martial arts. If they could learn proper boxing techniques, their combat power would instantly increase severalfold.”
But I knew that was impossible.
The cultivation methods of internal martial arts were also absolute secrets. Without Master’s permission, I could never pass them to outsiders!
Even if Old Cao asked, I would tell him nothing.
…
I vigilantly watched our surroundings, standing to the side to support them.
Soon, Old Cao, Big Bull, and the others had carried the coffin to the backyard entrance.
They were just about to step over the threshold.
Crack!
The sturdy dragon spine resting across the top of the coffin suddenly split, and the coffin lurched downward.
Old Cao roared, “Hold it steady! Don’t let the coffin touch the ground again!”
Big Bull and the other three already knew, even without his warning.
Once a coffin was lifted, there was no turning back!
The instant it touched the ground, whatever lay within would connect to the yin qi below and immediately reanimate!
Then we would have no choice but to fight it for real.
It would probably be extremely troublesome.
As long as the coffin stayed off the ground and the thing inside remained asleep, matters would be much easier!
Old Cao, Big Bull, and the others steadied the coffin.
But the thick dragon spine continued to split with a succession of creaks, and wood chips flew from within it…
“Watch me!”
I shouted and immediately performed the spirit-paper arts.
I pulled the small paper figures I had prepared from my pocket and flung them toward the men.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Five small paper figures flew out and attached themselves to the five men’s backs.
An extra surge of strength immediately flowed into them.
This was Old Cao’s art of borrowing strength from a paper figure. It increased each person’s strength by half of their own–the stronger the recipient, the greater the increase.
Huff…
Old Cao seemed to let out a long breath.
“Having a capable youngster helping from the side certainly makes things much safer. Xiao Wu, can you find a way to repair the dragon spine above us? If it breaks apart, we’re still going to be in trouble.”
Standing at the very front, Old Cao could not turn around as he spoke.
The dragon spine was the longest, largest, and strongest wooden beam running across the top of the coffin. The entire arrangement supporting the coffin depended on that beam.
If it broke, there was no possible way to carry the coffin all the way to our destination. Getting it out of the Bai family residence would be the absolute limit.
I nodded.
“All right. I’ll try.”
I stepped toward the coffin to examine what had happened to the dragon spine.
There was really no need to look. The sinister coffin was obviously responsible!
I merely needed to determine whether any talisman art could repair it.
But never in my wildest dreams did I expect that the instant I drew close…
Crack!
The dragon spine snapped straight through the middle and broke into two pieces!
Every load-bearing point was destroyed.
The coffin plunged toward the ground…