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The Vice General cautiously opened the coffin, but just as Li Yan leaned in to take a look, the Vice General suddenly turned and pressed Li Yan down onto the coffin. Before Li Yan could react, several black-clad figures, who had been hiding in the bushes, sprang out and worked together to pin him down tightly.
Even though Li Yan was a seasoned General on the battlefield, he was momentarily stunned by this sudden turn of events. However, he quickly realized that he had been set up. These black-clad individuals had clearly been lying in wait, and each of them was highly skilled. They had approached silently, and he hadn’t even heard their footsteps when they emerged. As for his Vice General, it was obvious that he was in cahoots with these people. But what exactly did they want?
Li Yan thought to himself as he looked down at the coffin right in front of him. Inside lay two bodies side by side, one male and one female. The male's face was swollen beyond recognition, but Li Yan recognized the wedding garment he wore. As for the female, it appeared as if she had been nailed alive into the coffin.
Could it be them?
Li Yan quickly thought of his former Attendant and his former fiancée. He had only acquired the Attendant after being promoted to a military officer, and he had never investigated her background because he felt it unnecessary. He had only met his fiancée once, and what he remembered most clearly was her attire.
At this point, Li Yan felt a strange sense of guilt rising within him as he shifted his gaze to the woman's face. The woman was partially obscured by a red veil, revealing only her stitched lips, which looked like a gaping centipede.
"Remember, when you pull out the nails, you must be careful. The ghost in this coffin is extremely malevolent. Although it is broad daylight now, we cannot be sure that nothing will happen," the Vice General instructed, pointing at Li Yan. "Be quick about it; if you leave any evidence or give them something to hold against us, we will all suffer the consequences."
The black-clad figures responded with muffled affirmations. Li Yan found their voices somewhat familiar but couldn't recall where he had heard them before.
The black-clad individuals cautiously reached into the coffin and gently pulled out the seven-inch wooden nail that had been driven into the woman's throat. Just as the nail was about to be fully removed, everyone present heard a painful moan. Despite their high martial skills, the black-clad figures felt a twinge of unease facing such eerie corpses.
If they panicked internally, their hands would naturally become unsteady. The hand of one black-clad figure trembled slightly as he held the wooden nail upon hearing the female corpse's moan.
"Be careful! If you hurt yourself and let the ghost latch onto you, don’t drag us down with you," the Vice General scolded as he snatched the wooden nail away. The blood on the wooden nail had already congealed; if one got closer to smell it, they could detect a foul odor mingling with that of decaying flesh.
"General, I apologize; I am merely following orders," one of them said.
The Vice General's gaze turned icy as he looked at the seven-inch wooden nails.
"The General is a solitary man without family ties and thus has no worries about being coerced by others due to family matters. But I am different; aside from my elderly mother who is over seventy years old, I have a wife and two children at home. They threaten my family's lives to force my hand; I have no choice but to comply. Therefore today, I can only apologize to you, General."
"Oh right, if we reach the Underworld, please explain the truth to Yama for me. After all, I acted out of necessity and did not intend to harm you; I believe you understand this well enough. As for who wishes for your demise, I can reveal a little."
"Who is it?" Li Yan's eyes glinted coldly.
"Haha! So you really want to know! Unfortunately, there are too many who wish for your death. Out of goodwill, I'll give you a hint: one of them is related to the man in this coffin. This person was once your close Attendant; you must know his family well enough without me elaborating further. It’s getting late; we should send you on your way now. Please take care on your journey through Yellow Springs Road!"
With that said, the Vice General thrust the seven-inch wooden nail viciously toward Li Yan's neck.
Li Yan felt a strong cold wind burst out from the coffin, followed by a roar from the Vice General. The Wooden Nail in his hand was deflected, and he lunged toward the coffin.
The scene instantly spiraled out of control.
The black-clad men who had been pressing down on Li Yan suddenly turned against each other, engaging in a fierce fight until, before long, they were all dead.
The Vice General was swept into the coffin by the cold wind, crashing onto the Attendant's Corpse. Meanwhile, the Female Corpse, which had been covered by a Red Veil, suddenly sat up straight. Li Yan instinctively stepped back but was caught by the hand that the Female Corpse suddenly raised.
"Cluck, cluck."
Strange sounds emerged from the Female Corpse's throat, and blood began to ooze from the once-dried wound. The cold wind blew against the Red Veil on the Female Corpse's face, causing it to sway but never fall away.
Li Yan was a General, forged in the fires of battle. He had slain countless enemies—if not a thousand, then at least eight hundred—and had seen all manner of death on the battlefield. Therefore, when he saw the Female Corpse suddenly sit up and emit strange noises, he felt little fear.
He merely watched as the Vice General was swept into the coffin by the wind and slowly began to withdraw his hand from the grip of the Female Corpse. Just as his fingers were about to slip free completely, the Female Corpse tightened her grip on his fingertips. At that moment, one of the Seven-Inch Wooden Nails embedded in her shoulder fell out, trailing blood as it grazed Li Yan's wrist and pierced his skin.
A chill shot through his fingertips, followed by a sharp pain. Blood began to flow from where their hands met, trickling down onto the Female Corpse's bright red Bridal Gown and vanishing without a trace.
He felt as if something was slowly burrowing into his body through his fingertips, yet the discomfort did nothing to stop his increasingly heavy eyelids. Just as he felt sleep overtaking him and thought he could no longer hold on, he suddenly jerked his hand away...
"General? General—"
Xing Ruyi was captivated by Li Yan's thrilling tale when she noticed he abruptly stopped speaking. Eager to know what had happened to him and whether his current ailment was related to that experience, she called out to him several times.
"Fox Demon," Chang Tai said to Xing Ruyi with a shake of his head. "Don't rush him; give him a moment. Brother Li's experience is certainly extraordinary; you need to allow him some time to collect himself and sort through his thoughts."
As soon as Chang Tai finished speaking, Li Yan let out a gentle breath. He raised his hand and looked at half of a broken nail.
"I sensed something was off at that moment and used all my strength to pull my hand free from that Female Corpse's grip at the last second. Ruyi, have you ever seen fingers that have been severely crushed? That was how mine looked at that time. My entire hand turned an ashen purple devoid of blood color, and one of my fingers had its nail broken off and nearly torn away completely. That finger is what you see now.
Before that incident occurred, I never believed in ghosts or deities; even when my finger looked like this, I felt no worry. After all these years of injuries I've sustained, each one has been worse than this. But after what happened, I can't say I felt no fear at all. Though I am a General, I am still just an ordinary person; I can be afraid too; I just hide it better most of the time.
After pulling my hand free from the Female Corpse's grip, I felt a bit flustered. With the deaths of the Vice General and those black-clad men being so bizarre, I hurriedly left that place. As I was leaving, I saw that the Female Corpse had returned to lying in the coffin. Remembering she had once been my fiancée softened my heart; I turned back and closed the coffin again."
"Then what about the Vice General?"
"At that time, I couldn't care less about anything."
What Li Yan implied was that he had left the Vice General's body in the coffin as well. According to common sense, it was indeed somewhat inappropriate, but under those circumstances, even Xing Ruyi herself might not have cared about such so-called common sense.
Li Yan paused for a moment before continuing, "When I closed the coffin again, I felt a cold wind blowing across my face. The wind was so cold that it made me shiver. I hadn't felt such a sensation since I was ten years old. Although my mind was somewhat clear, everything in front of me was blurry, and my eyelids felt heavy, making me reluctant to open them. At that moment, I heard a faint voice, timid like that of a girl.
When I woke up again, I found myself lying in a Ruined Temple. In front of the temple door, there was a fire burning, and on it was a wild rabbit being roasted. The aroma of the rabbit meat wafted into my nose, creating an illusion in my dazed state. It felt as if I had returned to when I was ten years old. I tried hard to open my eyes wider, wanting to discern whether what was happening before me was an illusion, a dream, or something real."
"And what happened next?"
Xing Ruyi couldn't help but ask.
"The result—" Li Yan's expression suddenly became complicated again. "Of course, it wasn't a dream; otherwise, I wouldn't be lying here half-dead like this."
"General?"
"Don't rush; I'll explain." Li Yan glanced at Xing Ruyi. "Since I've brought this up in front of you today, I intend to tell the whole story completely. Because Li Yan also has some questions in his heart and wants to get answers from you."
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