They had just said they wouldn't interfere with the "strange things" in Lao Guai Village.
Where can I go now?
The Mountain of the Coffin?
I pulled out my phone, ready to contact Shao Si.
The sound of knocking on the door echoes in the courtyard.
Zhan Ying is slightly puzzled, and I head towards the gate of the courtyard.
During the day, there's nothing to be worried about, so I can just open the courtyard gate directly.
The one standing outside the door is actually Yu Xiu.
Pale skin, hollow eyes.
To anyone else, it might feel desolate, even eerie.
But on Yu Xiu, there's no sense of being out of place at all, she's still attractive.
"Sister." Yu Xiu's lips moved, and a smile appeared.
"Xiu Xiu." Mu Ying stepped forward and embraced Yu Xiu's arm.
"Come."
Yu Xiu didn't even look at me, turning around, so she wrapped her arm around Mu Ying's, and was about to walk along the village road.
Mu Ying was momentarily stunned, she turned to look at me, her eyes were filled with a sense of helplessness.
My pupils slightly constricted, I thought for a moment and took a step forward, nodding to Mu Ying at the same time.
Yu Xiu is indeed as Master Qin's said, she's odd.
If it weren't for her last time, I would have definitely fallen into the hands of the eight paper mache people.
Besides being odd, she is also quite peculiar.
She herself doesn't know why she knows the paper mache people are coming after me.
What she said at night, she completely forgets in the morning, like two different people.
However, Yu Xiu's peculiar behavior may prefigure many things.
It might even provide an extra layer of protection for me and Mu Ying.
...
The village road on both sides is filled with pomelo trees. At this season, the huge pomelos are hanging on the branches, and the air is filled with a faint fragrance.
I rarely walk this village road, and there are also few houses on both sides.
Almost at the western end of the village, Yu Xiu stopped.
In sight, there was a large mansion.
The gate of the mansion is extremely narrow, not that the gate itself is small; the width of the gate is over two meters, but the threshold is very high, at least 40 centimeters tall. There's also a board above it, about 40 centimeters as well.
It's only about 1.5 meters wide in the middle part.
For people to go in, they have to raise their legs.
And at the gate of the mansion, there were three black, glossy coffins!
As the sun tilted towards dusk, its red light pierced my eyes, illuminating the coffins. I could see that the black caskets had been painted white with lime, exuding a chilling aura.
Yu Xiu's hollow eyes gazed at the three coffins, and she let go of Mu Ying's arm, tilting her head slightly.
Mu Ying turned to look at me, and it seemed a bit uneasy.
I feel a slight heaviness in my heart.
This morning, I had talked with Shao Si and Ling Dao Ren. They all believed that the old man, the widow Liu, and the village dog being poisoned are related, which is a strange incident.
And the casket made by Lao Liang is another incident.
And it has no direct connection to us.
Now Yu Xiu has brought us to see the coffins.
My intuition tells me that she wouldn't do these things without a reason...
"Xiu Xiu, why are you bringing us here?"
Mu Ying looks slightly cautious.
"Making caskets, to bury the dead."
Yu Xiu raised her hand and pointed to the three black coffins with her slender index finger.
"Dead people?" Mu Ying's eyelids twitched slightly, she pursed her lips, and asked softly, "Who are the dead people?"
She asked that, and it made my heart tighten.
"The dead are the dead, and there are three of them," Yu Xiu's tone remained hollow.
My eyelids twitched as well.
Three dead people?
This just makes it unrelated to Mu Ying, me, Shao Si, and Ling Dao Ren.
So why would Yu Xiu bring us here if it's unrelated?
At this moment, a crooked leg stepped out of the high threshold.
Lao Liang, the man who makes caskets, is a middle-aged man in his fifties. He is short and ugly, with a prominent front tooth sticking out.
Because of his short stature, even stepping over the threshold seemed comical.
My attention instantly fell on Lao Liang.
Lao Liang also looked at us. His face fell, and he bellowed, "Little shit, instead of going back to saw wood, go look at my grandpa's balls!"
I furrowed my brow.
In fact, Lao Liang has always had a hostile attitude towards me.
These years, because I have mastered the complete funeral nine streams, many of the funerals I handled were the ones I made the coffins for. It was equivalent to stealing a lot of bread from Lao Liang's mouth.
It was only later that Master Qin forbade me from taking on the job of making coffins, effectively giving it to Lao Liang instead.
However, the grudge was still established.
Lao Liang has always had a bad attitude towards me.
People who make coffins tend to be quite enigmatic in character, and since coffin-making is generally passed down from generation to generation, Master Qin was afraid that Lao Liang might try to get his hands on my coffin-making techniques and find out where they came from, so he forbade me from pursuing this path.
My thoughts didn't follow Lao Liang's conversation.
Yu Xiu suddenly turned around and started walking back in the direction we came from.
Mu Ying looks at me slightly awkwardly.
I nodded, indicating for her to follow.
Leaving Lao Liang's mansion behind, my mind was still filled with the three black coffins bouncing back and forth.
At this moment, my phone buzzed and vibrated.
It was Shao Si's phone call.
I answered, and Shao Si asked me where I went, saying that he and Ling Dao Ren had returned, and there was no one in the courtyard.
I gave a simple explanation, saying that Yu Xiu had come to find us, brought us to the coffin maker's residence, and saw the three coffins that the village head mentioned.
There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone before Shao Si spoke in a serious tone, "Xian Shen little friend, besides me and Ling Dao Ren, you should not get involved with anyone else, especially theodd village watch. If she were to drag you into something, it would cause us a big problem."
For a moment, I didn't know how to respond.
Fortunately, Shao Si changed the subject directly and asked when we would be back. He and Ling Dao Ren had already gone to the foot of the coffin mountain, but they hadn't climbed up yet.
We will wait until nightfall before taking action!
Suddenly, my heartbeat picked up significantly, and I immediately replied, saying we were coming back soon.
Ling Dao Ren also gave us a few more words of advice, warning us not to cause any trouble at this critical moment.
The phone then went dead.
After about ten minutes, we returned to the doorway of my courtyard. The sun had set even deeper, and the sky was filled with eye-stinging fire clouds.
Yu Xiu seemed to know that there were people in my courtyard, and she stopped at a distance, no longer moving closer.
Mu Ying and I went back into the courtyard.
As we approached the courtyard gate, I looked back and saw Yu Xiu walking away towards the distance.
The eight paper mache people in the courtyard were still there.
In the dining room, Shao Si had found a teapot from somewhere, and a small stove was set up below it. The tea was boiling and bubbling.
There were cups set on all four sides of the table. Shao Si poured a cup for himself and Ling Dao Ren first, and then for me and Mu Ying.
After entering the dining room, I first greeted Ling Dao Ren and Shao Si with a bow, and after they nodded in response, they sat down.
Shao Si and Ling Dao Ren didn't mention the coffin incident earlier.
Both of them still seemed indifferent to the matter.
There were two food boxes in the middle of the table, with two empty boxes next to them. It was clear that Shao Si and Ling Dao Ren had already eaten.
Shao Si told us to eat first, and by the time it was almost dark, we would set off for the coffin mountain.
My heartbeat quickened slightly, and I asked, "Mr. Shao, since you have already gone to have a look, do you feel confident?"
Shao Si's demeanor was as if he had the situation under control. He said, "The confidence isn't huge, but at least there is a 50% chance of finding the Corpse Immortal. After that, finding Master will be easy."
My heartbeat quickened, and I couldn't help but show my joy in my eyes.
I inferred that the Corpse Immortal might be controlling the eight paper mache people by holding Master Qin's soul captive!
Finding the Corpse Immortal might be equivalent to finding Master Qin!
Eating up the food in the boxes quickly, Mu Ying's speed was much slower than mine. She took small bites, and even though I ate as fast as possible, it felt like I was eating leisurely.
After finishing the meal, we left the courtyard and headed towards the direction of the back mountain.
The twilight was gradually being swallowed up by the night.
The village was too quiet. Previously, there would be barking on the road, and the dog barks were even louder when passing by some yards. But now there was no sound at all.
Before we knew it, we had arrived at the back mountain.
The square mountain shape, one large and one small, looked like a coffin.
The leaves of the trees at the foot and outer edge of the coffin mountain were black-green, making the area too dark and ominous.
There was actually a person standing at the foot of the mountain in the distance!
The person was wearing a coarse hemp robe, with his back turned to us.
The slender shadow looked like a piece of paper.
My eyes instantly became alert, and I stopped and wanted to pause.
However, Shao Si smiled and said, "Xian Shen little friend, you don't need to be too vigilant. The person in front of us is another friend of mine. He arrived in the village this afternoon and I brought him directly to the coffin mountain foot. He has been observing the malevolent energy here, waiting for us to come at night."
I suddenly understood.
Suddenly, the words Yu Xiu had said kept echoing in my ears!
"The dead are the dead! There are three dead people!"
Originally, Yu Xiu's words had no strong emotions. Now, the words resonating in my ears carried a hint of sharpness.
I glanced at Mu Ying.
In fact, her eyes also slightly changed, but with makeup as protection on her face, I couldn't tell at first glance.
Shao Si led us to continue walking forward.
We soon reached the foot of the mountain, behind that person.
Only then did the person turn around.
He had a beautiful face, with red lips and white teeth.
Ling Dao Ren and Shao Si are at least in their fifties, if not older.
While he looked no more than thirty.
He had the vigor of youth and a hint of calmness of a middle-aged person.
"Haha, I arrived just before it got dark, and Brother Shao and Master Ling came."
"These two, are the expert in the nine sub-streams of funeral techniques, Xian Shen little friend Zhou Xie, and the blood-collecting Pixi family's Mu Ying?"
The man spoke in one sentence and greeted Shao Si and Ling Dao Ren.
Then, he turned his gaze towards me and Mu Ying.
His evaluation and address towards me, I didn't feel any special significance.
But what she said to Mu Ying...
Blood Collecting Pixi!
Instantly, I thought of when we were at Sun's family. Her sister, Huaxiang, had her body dissolve into blood and become a swarm of fire-like insects!
He actually mentioned the hidden fate of the Tujia family in one sentence!
Mu Ying's eyes flickered with a bit of panic, but her expression didn't reveal anything.
"Please let me introduce myself. I am Guo Huang, the Magistrate of Ghosts."
The man bowed to me and Mu Ying.
I and Mu Ying immediately returned the greeting.
However, I didn't understand what the Magistrate of Ghosts meant.
Clearly, the Magistrate of Ghosts is a title, and He Changli is a name.
The Magistrate of Ghosts is called when the Tujia family, whose blood form a Pixi, are mentioned.
The man with the rat-like face should be the Crowned Magistrate?
What is the connection between these two?
Of course, I couldn't ask too many questions, so I could only ponder by myself.
He Changli's gaze was fixed on Mu Ying, as if he were deep in thought. He smiled and said, "It is said that the bloodline of the Tujia family is special. Every generation of the head of the family has women of stunning beauty. It seems that Miss Mu Ying is not the elder daughter of the Tujia family?"
My heart sank slightly.
Even Ling Dao Ren's eyes had a hint of dislike.
