False evidence

Chapter 496 Coffin Gate

Although Lü Xin once explained what Yin power is, my understanding of it is still somewhat vague. The only thing I am certain of is that I can only use the Yin power of water ghosts with the help of water.

The current decline in my eyesight and hearing means that the water ghost's power has disappeared. I can clearly sense that this is not simply because my body has become dry from being scorched, but because the water ghost's power has completely disappeared and no longer exists under the influence of that strange burning power.

I didn't have time to ask Lü Xin what was going on, because the moment my body felt lighter, some images suddenly appeared in my mind. To be precise, they were fragments, too fragmented to be pieced together, so I couldn't understand what the fragments represented or what they were trying to convey.

I initially thought it was due to the clairvoyance, but I quickly dismissed that idea. Just now, aside from enduring the burning sensation, my attention was solely focused on Zhong Lan. My control over clairvoyance is far from being at will; in fact, I can only obtain relevant information through clairvoyance when I directly touch a ghost. This was the case with Xiao Han Ning, and seeing Lao Li's 'past' just now was also because of my contact with him.

Zhong Lan is definitely a ghost. She was more than two meters away from me. I couldn't even touch her, let alone touch her. Without the water ghost's yin power, I couldn't even see her expression clearly in the dim light. It couldn't be because she saw those fragments.

If it's not Zhong Lan, nor the two 'freaks' around her, then where did these fragments come from?
I don't know how Zhou Xiaoman eliminated Lao Tian and Yingzi, but he was clearly afraid of Zhong Lan. When Zhong Lan said through gritted teeth that she hated rats, he didn't even dare to respond.

After a few minutes of silence in the room, Zhong Lan coldly said, "Aren't you leaving?"

"Let's go?" Zhou Xiaoman seemed to be taken aback for a moment. "Oh, it's about time. We should go in."

Zhong Lan snorted coldly and said nothing more.

I suddenly had a strange feeling that Zhou Xiaoman might have misunderstood her meaning.

Before I could think any further, Zhou Xiaoman had already taken action. She walked to the leftmost coffin and whispered something.

My hearing suddenly dropped, and I couldn't hear what he said at first, but after he finished speaking, I saw him kneel down in front of the coffin and kowtow to it.

I subconsciously counted, and she kowtowed nine times in total. After the ninth kowtow, Zhou Xiaoman straightened up, but didn't continue, nor did she get up; she just remained kneeling there.

After a while, a strange noise suddenly came from in front of him.

Although I had lost my Yin power, my senses had readjusted to the environment. Through the crack, I strained my eyes to see, and there it was—the coffin lid in front of him was open!
The coffin lid wasn't lifted open by anyone; it opened by itself without any external force. And it didn't rise or slide, but rather opened slowly to one side like a single door. The creaking sound was the sound of the coffin 'door' opening.

Zhou Xiaoman let out a sigh of relief, glanced at Zhong Lan, and gave a dry laugh: "Aren't you leaving yet?"

Zhong Lan remained silent.

"Heh, then I'll leave you be for now, I'll go first." With that, Zhou Xiaoman hurriedly got up and stepped into the coffin.

Next, I watched as he lowered his head and slightly hunched his back, his upper body getting shorter and shorter as he moved forward until he could no longer be seen. Then the coffin door creaked shut again.

I realized: there was a secret passage inside the coffin, and it was a downward staircase!

After the coffin door closed, Zhong Lan let out two gloating laughs: "Idiot, I gave you a way to live, but you chose the path of death. Ha, you 'young master' have a big temper, you wipe out anyone you don't like with a wave of your hand, didn't you ever think that if there weren't enough people, that old monster would let it go?"

"Silly child, it's a good thing you didn't point it out, otherwise you would have broken the old monster's taboo."

As a sudden sound came, another 'person' walked in from outside the door.

The woman who entered this time was an elderly woman who appeared to be in her forties or fifties. Her hairstyle, which would have seemed outdated by today's standards, did not make her look rustic. On the contrary, it accentuated her dignified and serene beauty.

The woman wasn't wearing modern clothes, but a conservative, elegant, monochrome cheongsam. Upon seeing this woman, Zhong Lan, who had been cold-faced, immediately changed her attitude, stepped forward, took the woman's hand, and said softly, "Grandma, you've come too. I've been waiting for you."

My mind suddenly jumped.

Grandma?

Why does this remind me of A Chinese Ghost Story?

Could it be that Zhong Lan is a replica of Xiao Qian, and "Grandma" is an androgynous tree demon?

"Lan, don't delay, finish this quickly and go home as soon as possible," Grandma said.

"Hmm." Zhong Lan responded with great respect, released her hand, turned around and walked to the coffin. Just like Zhou Xiaoman before her, she knelt down in front of the coffin and kowtowed.

There were nine heads in total, the only difference between her and Zhou Xiaoman was that she kowtowed in front of the coffin on the far right.

Before she kowtowed, she said something, but she deliberately lowered her voice, and I couldn't hear what she said either.

After kowtowing and kneeling in front of the coffin for a while, the coffin lid creaked open as if a door were being opened.

Zhong Lan didn't speak again, but glanced towards the cabinet. She seemed to be giving a signal, but my eyesight was now normal, and in the dim light, I couldn't make out what she was trying to convey.

Without a word, Zhong Lan went over and took the arm of the woman in the cheongsam. The two of them stepped into the coffin and gradually disappeared into the ground until they vanished from sight.

"That's not right!" Old Li muttered to himself, "Shouldn't it be the head of the clan who is over ninety years old who doesn't have to perform the grand ceremony in person?"

"What do you mean?" I asked in a low voice.

"Shh!" Old Li whispered even lower, "Another fire demon is coming."

Before the words had even faded, I saw another figure step into the house.

Zhou Xiaoman, Zhong Lan, and the woman in the cheongsam were just the beginning. It's unnecessary to describe what the 'people' who followed them were like; just to put it simply, after that, a continuous stream of 'people' entered the room.

Men and women, young and old, all kowtowed before the coffin, just like Zhou Xiaoman and Zhong Lan. After they finished kowtowing, the coffin door opened, and they stepped inside…

I've figured out a pattern: except for the woman in the cheongsam who didn't bow, everyone else kowtowed nine times to the coffin. Also, the men entered the left coffin, and the women the right. The middle coffin, however, remained unopened and untouched.

The whole process lasted for nearly forty minutes. Subconsciously, I counted, and a total of forty-seven men and women, including Zhou Xiaoman, Zhong Lan, and the woman in the cheongsam, entered the two coffins on the left and right.

Forty-seven...

Seeing that no more 'people' were coming in, I suddenly realized: a guy was probably going to be in big trouble, really in big trouble...

(End of this chapter)