Chapter 35
Chapter 35
“No! Don’t let it touch the ground. Once raised, a coffin must never touch earth again!”
Old Cao’s voice was frantic. The phoenix pole dug into his shoulders, and the rope nearly cut through his flesh.
Yuan Fei’s face changed too. He seemed at a loss.
No one had expected a wake and burial-site selection that had begun so simply to become this complicated!
They were mentally unprepared and panicked when trouble struck.
I had spent the whole time observing beside Yuan Fei. Though involved, I also felt detached, and that distance kept my mind clearer.
I shouted, “Clothes! Take off your clothes and pad the ground–or use boards. As long as the coffin doesn’t touch earth directly, the corpse energy can’t connect with the earth energy.”
“Right!”
Yuan Fei slapped his forehead. “People, take off your mourning clothes and stuff them beneath the coffin!”
He stripped off his own brown hemp robe first and spread it under the coffin.
Old Cao and Big Bull’s men could barely hold on. The coffin had sunk too near the ground to fit a wooden board beneath it.
Big Bull’s face was scarlet, the veins on his neck terrifyingly swollen.
“Hurry! I can’t hold it!”
As the coffin neared earth, I tore off my T-shirt, spread it underneath, and shouted, “Ready!”
Bang!
The coffin crashed down.
All five men, including Old Cao and Big Bull, tumbled to the ground.
I ran over and helped him up. “Old Cao, are you hurt?”
“Ahem…”
He looked at me gratefully. “Xiao Wu, you deserve to be the Immortal Lady’s disciple. Quick thinking–impressive. I’m old, but my bones are still strong. I’m fine.”
I nodded and looked worriedly at the coffin resting on layers of clothing. “Old Cao, that corpse may be anything but simple.”
Before he answered, Yuan Fei approached with a sigh.
“Master Cao, we both misjudged this. Something is badly wrong with Miss Duan’s corpse. Lifting her coffin tonight will be difficult.”
Big Bull, Ergou, and the others rose, rubbed their strained arms, and stared uneasily at the coffin.
“Master Cao, Mr. Yuan, my daughter…”
Boss Duan looked both frightened and shocked, his usual dignity gone.
Even a wealthy, powerful magnate was no different from an ordinary person when confronted with something beyond his control.
Old Cao pointed at me. “Boss Duan, thank Xiao Wu first. If he hadn’t thought of padding the coffin with clothes, we’d have another corpse here tonight.”
From the moment a coffin left for burial until it entered the grave, it could not touch ground.
Doing so meant the deceased wished to remain. Its corpse energy connected with the earth, and moving it without cause brought varying misfortune upon its relatives.
If it touched down within fifty meters of home, matters were worse–the person inside intended to take at least one bystander along!
Old Cao was right. Had Duan Meng’s coffin touched earth, someone else would certainly have died tonight. With clothes beneath it, the danger remained manageable.
Boss Duan hurried over to thank me.
“Young Brother Wu, your skill saved us. Once my daughter is safely buried, I’ll give you a red envelope.”
He listened to reason.
He did not dismiss me because I was young, which improved my opinion of him.
After thanking me, Boss Duan asked Old Cao and Yuan Fei what to do.
Old Cao said the best solution was to ask Miss Duan herself. Unfortunately, he did not understand corpse speech and could not communicate directly…
After considering it, they could only force the coffin to the Golden Phoenix Spreading Its Wings site first.
Any trouble outside Duan Family Manor would cause less harm. A home’s feng shui and energy field were intimately linked to its owner.
A household without peace was destined for calamity!
“Fortunately, I’m not merely a coffin bearer. I’m also a funerary-paper artisan. If five men can’t lift it, we’ll add five more! If that isn’t enough, we’ll add two horses.”
Old Cao refused to be beaten. He would cut out paper people and horses to help carry the coffin!
Yuan Fei, Big Bull, and I all stared, eager to see a funerary-paper artisan’s methods.
Old Cao returned to the altar, took seven sheets of spirit money from his clothes, and laid them out. They were clearly special, far more intricate than ordinary paper offerings.
He lifted his shirt, revealing a strange pouch on his belt.
Furry and made from an entire animal hide, it held a pair of black cast-iron shears. Tiny talismanic symbols covered the sharpened edges.
“Aside from funerary paper itself, an artisan’s second most important tool is the Yin-Kun Shears. Only things cut from funerary paper with these shears possess special effects.”
Old Cao genuinely intended to teach me; even now, he paused to explain.
With several swift snips, he cut the seven sheets into five palm-sized paper people and two lifelike paper horses.
“Cutouts are weaker than paper-effigy craft, but this is urgent. We don’t have time to summon the paper people and horses from my shop.”
He drew an enormous breath, his chest swelling high, then blew hard across the altar.
Whoosh!
The palm-sized figures flew seven or eight meters and stuck themselves to both sides of the coffin.
Faint neighing sounded in my ears.
Though only palm-sized, the figures lent the coffin the strength of five young men and two horses!
Master highly praised the methods of funerary-paper artisans. She called them the most versatile of the eclectic arts and the closest to the orthodox Taoist schools.
Mastering spirit-paper arts would also greatly help my future study of talismans and incantations!
The folk Taoist master Yuan Fei clicked his tongue in admiration. “As expected of Master Cao. Besides bearing coffins, you’ve mastered spirit-paper arts. I truly admire you. No wonder you’re the most famous coffin bearer among the dozen towns under Fu County.”
Praise from another man of the esoteric arts pleased Old Cao. But he could not smile under the circumstances. He waved. “Let’s lift again.”
He took his place for the third attempt.
With help from the figures, they finally raised the coffin smoothly.
Big Bull’s men still strained, but they carried it through the courtyard gate.
The Duan relatives, divided into male and female lines, wiped away tears and began wailing. In the midnight countryside, their cries were eerie.
“This first coffin procession with Old Cao has certainly opened my eyes. Am I naturally cursed to encounter major trouble?”
I felt helpless.
Then I remembered that my bazi and destiny really were like that…
Just when I thought matters had stabilized, the procession passed several young men at the end of the left-hand line.
The bearers suddenly staggered. Their knees buckled, and they almost fell!
Everyone could see that the coffin had abruptly become even heavier!
Black energy gushed through the seams.
More solid than smoke, its strands gathered above the coffin into a dark cloud.
Resentment!
It was resentment born from inside the coffin.
And it was terribly dense!
The dragon spine and flood-dragon braces, which bore most of the weight, began making strange creaks and groans.
They sounded like overloaded wood–yet somehow different!
I involuntarily quoted The Book of Burial.
“When the joy poles cry, the living die!”
“Joy poles” collectively meant the wooden poles securing a coffin. Strange noises from them during a procession were an omen of supreme evil.
Nothing short of several deaths in the bereaved family could appease it.
Yuan Fei abandoned all dignity and shouted, “What the hell? How is this possible? What happened to Miss Duan? This isn’t an ordinary corpse–it’s surging with baleful force! Once that force rises, a vicious corpse is almost impossible to suppress!”