Volume 1 Chapter 035: The Sky Coffin is Broken
In just a short while, three of the 360 Green Dragon Evil-Suppressing Nails nailed to the ground had jumped out, and as I approached, more nails were shaking slightly, as if they were about to break out of the ground.
I was so scared that my face turned pale. The green-faced fox alone had already killed a lot of people, if the real owner came out, it would be terrible! I rushed over and pressed down a blue dragon nail that was about to break out of the ground, but I could hold down this one, but not the other one, so I just pressed my whole body on it.
However, the nails bounced up with great force and I was hit in the chest by a nail. I immediately felt my bones crack, my eyes went dark, and I almost fainted.
The ink lines that were originally connected to the nail heads broke one after another, and a cold whirlwind blew up in the room. The blood-written scriptures that were pressed on the coffin lid flew up into the sky, fluttering all over the ground. The huge runes written with cinnabar that covered the entire cave turned as red as blood!
I endured the severe pain in my back and grabbed a Qinglong evil-suppressing nail from the ground. According to my uncle, this nail is a holy object that can suppress evil. If any demons or monsters come out, I will use this nail to fight them!
In the blink of an eye, I heard a dense "snap" sound like popping beans, and 360 blue dragon nails jumped out one after another. I quietly rolled to the side of the coffin and hid there. This position is a visual blind spot in the coffin and is the least likely to be discovered.
I bit my tongue and took a mouthful of Long Yang's blood. I closed my eyes and adjusted my breathing for a few times, slowing my heartbeat to the slowest, holding my breath, and staying still. Then I heard a "boom" sound, a sound I was very familiar with, the sound of the coffin lid shifting.
I tightened the nail in my hand, and my whole body felt numb. I didn't know if it was because I was too nervous or too scared, but my mind went blank for a moment. I opened my eyes wide and stared at the edge of the coffin, thinking that if anything came out of it, I would stab it with a nail!
After a long while, there was no movement.
Cold sweat broke out on my back and I was about to give up when I suddenly saw a hand reaching out from the coffin and resting on the edge of the coffin.
That hand was as slender as white jade, but in my eyes, it was more terrifying than seeing a rotting beast! He pushed his palm against the ground, used the force to bounce up, held the nail upside down with both hands, and stabbed it into the coffin with all his strength.
But he realized something was wrong while he was still in the air. The smoke in the coffin was so thick that he couldn't see what was inside. In a flash, a huge force hit him, as if he had hit a piece of iron plate. He was immediately thrown out, stuck to the wall, bounced again, and fell to the ground. He felt like he was run over by a heavy truck. His bones seemed to fall apart. He collapsed to the ground, unable to move a finger.
I spat out a mouthful of blood, and my eyes went dark and my ears buzzed. After a while, I saw the hand on the edge of the coffin move, the smoke dissipated, and a woman sat up from the coffin, put her hand to her mouth, yawned, and then spread her hands, as if she was stretching.
She turned her face and half-closed her eyes, as if she had not yet fully woken up. She looked sleepy and lazy.
This is a very young woman, maybe eighteen or nineteen, maybe twenty years old, shrouded in smoke, her face is beautiful, even more beautiful than Sister Ning, but her skin lacks a layer of blood color, and looks abnormally pale. Especially sitting in this coffin, it is even more weird, and I don't know if she is a human or a ghost!
Perhaps she noticed my gaze, the woman turned her head and glanced at me, but it was just a glance, and then she turned her head away. She yawned again, and then came out of the coffin, looking around the tomb lazily, with an indifferent expression. Even when she saw the heads on the ground, her expression did not change at all, and she ignored them.
I collapsed on the ground, unable to move even a finger. I saw the woman's skirt fluttering as she turned around, her black hair falling to her shoulders. She was wearing a top and skirt, the color of white magnolia, with a few crab claw chrysanthemums embroidered on the collar. When I was in the village before, I had never seen any young girls wearing such a dress. The style was a bit old-fashioned, and it looked like the dress of girls in the Republic of China period shown on TV.
The woman wandered around the tomb, and her eyes finally brightened up, as if she had slept for a long time and was finally awake. She walked over to me, squatted down, looked at me for a while, and asked, "Do you want to live? Do you want to die?"
Her voice was very gentle, but her tone was cold and without any emotion.
I raised my head and met her eyes. I felt that this woman was beautiful and elegant, but her expression was cold and indifferent. I couldn't tell whether she was happy or angry, sad or happy. I couldn't help feeling terrified and said, "Want to live!" Isn't this nonsense? Who in this world wants to die?
The woman reached out and touched my forehead. When her palm touched my forehead, I felt extremely cold and shivered.
"Am I cold?" the woman asked.
I shook my head quickly. It was just that the fall was really heavy, and I couldn't even twist my neck, so even though I shook it hard, my head only trembled slightly.
The woman looked at me and said, "If you want to live, don't move." Although her voice was gentle, her tone was cold and without any warmth. Then she stood up and left the tomb.
I lay on the ground for a long time and couldn't hear any noise outside. I finally recovered and could move my body. I endured the pain and crawled up, stumbling to the door of the tomb. I saw the woman sitting on a rock in the cave, looking up at the gap above her head, with her feet dangling in the air.
I followed her gaze and said, "The hole is too small. You can't get out."
The woman glanced at me, expressionless, and sat for a while before jumping off the stone and walking toward the tomb. She said, "Come in."
I just thought this woman was very strange and wanted to stay as far away from her as possible, but now the cave entrance was blocked and there was no way to escape, so I had to follow her in. The tomb was choking with the smell of blood, blood plasma and human heads, but the woman was unmoved and ordered, "Clean up the inside."
I was stunned and asked, "How do I clean it up?"
The woman looked at me and said coldly, "Put these in the coffin." She pointed to the head on the ground.
I had no choice but to walk over. Seeing the village chief's eyes wide open, I felt sad and bowed to them. I tore a piece of cloth from my clothes, wrapped my palms, went over to close the village chief's eyes, and then held his head and put it into the empty coffin. Then I did the same thing and invited the others over one by one.
The woman who had been standing nearby said, "Why aren't you afraid?"
I shook my head and said, "There's nothing to be afraid of." Although these heads looked terrifying, they were nothing to me who was used to dealing with corpses.
The woman didn't say anything. When I finished collecting all the heads, she pointed to the sticky bloodstains on the ground that had turned dark brown and said, "There are also these."
I said awkwardly: "There is no water here, so I can't wash it."
She frowned slightly and said, "That's it." She left the tomb and sat on the big rock, propping her chin on her knees. I stood in the tomb and could smell the bloody smell, which was so bad that I simply left the tomb and found a place to sit under the big rock.
The woman sat on the stone for a while, speechless. After a long while, she said, "From now on you will be my servant. You have to do whatever I tell you to do. Do you understand?"
I couldn't help but exclaimed in my heart, "Damn!" I thought to myself, is this woman mentally ill? She still thinks she is a daughter of an official before the liberation. I am a man, when did I become your servant? I said, "I don't understand!"
The woman said, "If you want to live, you must be my servant. Do you understand?"
"understood!"
I have read so many books and have had careful instruction from a head teacher like Mr. Tian, so I naturally understand the truth that "as long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood."
The woman said "hmm" and didn't say anything for a long time. I couldn't help but look up and secretly glance at her. Unexpectedly I quickly retracted my head and said, "You're not asleep?"
"Why do you sleep during the day?"
I heard her tone was not harsh, so I said, "I heard you were quiet, so I thought you were asleep." In fact, I was a bit quick-tempered at the time. If I had made her unhappy, I might have lost my life. But it was also related to the situation at the time. We were locked in the cave, without water or food, and we would die sooner or later, so it didn't matter.
I didn't dare to ask who she was or why she was in the coffin until later on, when I learned that her name was Qingzi. I just didn't know if it was her real name, a pseudonym, or just something she made up.
Fortunately, Qingzi did not have an attack at that time. She just remained silent for a while and asked me, "What time is it now?"
I didn't understand what she meant for a moment. Just as I was thinking about it, I heard her add, "How many years has it been since Emperor Xuantong abdicated?"
What kind of emperor was Emperor Xuantong? I couldn't wrap my mind around it immediately, and then I realized, "Are you talking about Puyi?"
Qingzi said: "It should be called this name."
I said, "Puyi was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He abdicated a long time ago. It must have been more than a hundred years ago!"
In fact, what I said was not right at that time. Emperor Xuantong Puyi abdicated in 1912. On February 12 of that year, at the persuasion of Cabinet Minister Yuan Shikai, his mother, Empress Dowager Longyu, issued an abdication edict. It has been less than a hundred years since then.
Qingzi said "Oh" and said after a while: "It has been so many years."
I was somewhat confused and frightened. Judging from her appearance, she looked like an ordinary person, except that she was a little cold. But if she was a human, how could anyone crawl out of a coffin?
I spoke a few words to her, and her tone was not as cold as before. My mind became active, so I boldly asked, "You haven't been sealed in the coffin since Xuantong abdicated, have you?" As soon as I said it, I regretted it.
How could someone be sealed in a coffin for nearly a hundred years and still not die? Unless it was a Yin corpse like Liu Nan! This woman might be a hundred-year-old or thousand-year-old corpse! If I reveal this, wouldn’t I be courting death?
Qingzi did not get angry on the spot, but just sneered: "Who can seal me?"
I quickly admitted my mistake and said that I was just talking nonsense. Qingzi said, "I sealed it myself."
I was shocked: "You sealed it yourself? Why?" I thought this woman was making up a story. How could she seal herself in a coffin?
Qingzi said coldly: "As long as I like it, what's wrong with that?"
I was speechless. After a long while, I heard the woman say, "I was a little tired at the time, and I just wanted to sleep for a while, but I didn't expect that I slept for quite a long time."
I thought to myself: "This is not just fucking long, it's ridiculously long!" If what she said was not a lie, then she slept for a hundred years, which is longer than many people's lifetimes!
I really can't figure out where this woman comes from. What she said is simply unbelievable!
There was another silence, Qingzi didn't say anything, I didn't know if she was in a daze or asleep. After a while, I suddenly found that I couldn't see the things around me clearly, and then I realized that it was dark, and the hole in the cave ceiling couldn't let in any sunlight, and the cave was pitch black.
I remembered that I slept in the same bed with my third uncle last night and had a beautiful dream of going home to build a new house. I didn’t expect that everything would be different today. I don’t know whether my third uncle is alive or dead, and I am trapped in this hellhole, waiting to die of thirst, starvation, or even be killed by this mysterious woman.
It is already cold in the mountains, especially at night. Lying on the ground, the rocks against my back are icy cold. After sleeping for a while I shiver with cold and can only toss and turn over.
"What are you doing?" Qingzi's cold voice came from the darkness.
It turned out that the woman was still awake. I said, "The ground is too cold!"
Qingzi said, "Stop flipping around!"
"It's really too cold. I can't stand the cold if I don't turn over!" I hugged my body and took a few breaths of cool air.
Qingzi said coldly: "You must do whatever I tell you to do! If you dare to mess around again, I will kill you immediately!"
I cursed in my heart: "You are the dog life, your whole family is the dog life!" But I didn't dare to talk back to her, for fear that she would really kill me if she got angry. I had to grit my teeth and curl up into a ball. I endured it for a long time. I felt the rock on the ground sticking to my back, and the chill went straight into my bones. I couldn't bear it anymore, so I turned over carefully.
"I told you not to move, but you still moved?"
I didn't expect that this woman could hear all these noises. She had sharper ears than a cat! I was so cold that I couldn't help but get angry and shouted, "If you don't turn over, you'll freeze to death!"
Qingzi sneered in the darkness: "If you don't obey me, I'll show you how I'll deal with you!"
I had no choice but to shut up, but it was so cold in the mountains at night that it was unbearable. Qingzi said, "Then get up and sleep standing up!"
I got up from the ground and jumped a few times to warm myself up.
"Stand still!"
I could only stop and shiver with my hands clasped together. I stood there trembling for a long time, and my legs felt sore. I looked far away in the darkness and vaguely saw the woman sitting on a big rock, with her chin resting on her knees. It seemed that she hadn't even changed her posture. I lowered my voice and asked, "Are you asleep?"
"What are you doing again?" Qingzi's cold voice came from the darkness.
I hugged my body and shivered for a while, then asked, "What is that green-faced fox statue in your tomb?"
"What green-faced fox?"
I said, "It's the black stone statue on the west side of your tomb. It has a human body but a green fox face. Oh, and it's tied with a thick iron chain. You locked it there, didn't you?"
Qingzi said coldly: "I have never sealed such a thing." After a while, he said: "Maybe someone brought it in later."
I was greatly surprised. I originally thought that since the green-faced fox was in the tomb, it must have been sealed by the tomb owner, but it turned out not to be the case.
“What on earth is that thing?” Thinking of the bloody and bizarre killing scene in the tomb, where even a powerful man like Dead Face died tragically on the spot, he couldn't help but feel even colder and shivered.
"How would I know? When I woke up, you guys had messed up the tomb!"
I couldn't help but remain silent, and became more and more worried about Uncle San's safety. After a while of silence, Qingzi's cold voice came faintly: "Is your last name Bai?"
I was stunned for a moment and shook my head, then I remembered that it was pitch dark and she had her back to me, so I couldn't see her at all, so I said, "No, my last name is Lu."
Qingzi asked: "Is there anyone with the surname Bai here? Where is he?"
My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately realized she was talking about Bai Mei's family. After hesitating for a while, I said, "The Bai family...there's no one left."
After I finished speaking, I didn't hear the woman speak again for a long time. After a long while, I heard her say "Oh": "How did he die?"
I couldn't help but feel frightened when I heard her unfriendly tone, so I told her everything about Bai Mei. However, I was vague about the part about us luring Liu Nan.
"Where are those people from the Liu family?"
I heard her voice was as cold as snow, and I couldn't help but tremble with fear, and said quickly: "The dead old woman of the Liu family has passed away, and most of the people died in there."
After a moment of silence, Qingzi asked, "Is the one in the coffin the daughter of the Bai family?"
My heart was pounding and I didn't know how to explain for a moment, so I said, "Yes... one." I glanced at her and vaguely saw her sitting there. After a while, she suddenly stood up and came down from the rock.
"Follow me in." I vaguely saw her walking towards the tomb.
I didn't know what she was going to do, so I had to follow her. It was dark at night, and it was pitch black once I got to the tomb. I could only rely on my memory to identify the locations of various things in the tomb to avoid tripping.
"Why, you can't see?" Qingzi's voice sounded faintly in the darkness.
Damn, who can see in such a dark place? It would be a miracle if they can see! But he didn't dare to say so. He just said "hmm" honestly, saying that it was too dark inside.
"Your family is not in the business of burying corpses, so you have never used night vision?"
