Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 328 Nurturing Evil
In the dark, open space, beneath the dug-out mound lay a strange coffin.

The coffin lid was a striking and glaring blood red, as if it were still alive.

But apart from the coffin lid, the rest was a deep, solemn black.

This strange burial method with a red coffin lid was how Li Hongye was buried.

A red coffin lid signifies unrest after death.

People buried in this kind of coffin will inevitably turn into corpses.

Li Hongye was buried on the back of Plum Blossom Mountain. By utilizing the special geomantic energy of the mountain, she gathered the resentment and death energy of the dead in the entire Plum Blossom Mountain cemetery, which eventually transformed into an extremely fierce and malevolent ghost.

This method of nurturing evil spirits is extremely vicious, cruel, and carries enormous risks.

A slight misstep could lead to failure.

Once the ghost in the coffin cannot withstand the immense malevolent energy, it will perish directly, and the unorthodox practitioner who set up this malevolent energy cultivation technique will also suffer a backlash, ranging from severe injury to instant death.

Li Hongye was able to withstand the malevolent and deathly aura of the entire cemetery only through the blood ties of her family of three and the guidance of her corpse-refining techniques. Essentially, the three of them simultaneously withstood the malevolent energy of the entire Plum Blossom Mountain Cemetery.

The red coffin before us is buried in the ghost town.

Within this ghost town, which has existed for at least several decades, countless wandering ghosts roam, their numbers far exceeding those of the Plum Blossom Mountain Cemetery.

The coffin ghosts nurtured by such an inauspicious place...

Ran Qing stared at the coffin lid in front of her and said, "What grand ambitions!"

If this red coffin were to be forged, the ghost within would be far more ferocious and terrifying than Li Hongye, exceeding all human imagination.

If Aunt Liu were to come back to life and see this, she would probably run away immediately.

The problem is that it's almost impossible to create a coffin ghost in such terrain.

The corpse-refining and spirit-nurturing technique used by Li Hongye's family was extremely ingenious, essentially the pinnacle of what such techniques could achieve. If Li Hongye were buried in this ghost city, she would simply perish, unable to withstand the immense malevolent energy within.

He couldn't figure out how to complete this evil-nurturing technique in such a terrain.

Ran Qing's narration created a somewhat somber atmosphere.

Long Zongshu looked around hesitantly and said, "Perhaps there are other coffins buried underground?"

"The three members of Li Hongye's family, including two blood corpses, together carried the earthly evil energy of Plum Blossom Mountain."

"What if we add a few more corpses here to bear the brunt..."

Before Long Zongshu could finish speaking, Mo Li rolled his eyes and said, "Do you think this is an elementary school math problem, playing with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division? It's not that simple."

"This kind of demon-raising technique is very complicated. The reason why the Li family was able to have all three of them bear it at the same time is because the three of them carried a lot of things such as hatred, blood ties, and emotions. In addition, the Lu family's special corpse-refining technique created two blood corpses, which enabled them to succeed."

"This approach may work, but it cannot be replicated."

"The Lu family's special corpse-refining technique has been lost to the world, and no close relative of the Lu family can perform such a technique."

Mo Li said, looking around, "But if it can't be successful, why bury a red coffin lid here?"

From a certain perspective, is the person who is burying the deceased very confident in their success?
As soon as Mo Li finished speaking, Ran Qing suddenly squatted down and began to push the coffin lid.

The scraping sound of the coffin lid being pushed open was extremely jarring in the darkness.

Caught off guard, Mo Li and Long Zongshu were startled and jumped back in fear, thinking that something had crawled out of the coffin.

Upon seeing that it was Ran Qing pushing the coffin, the two looked at each other in bewilderment.

"...This...open the coffin directly?"

The two were startled by Ran Qing's bold behavior.

Ran Qing squatted beside the coffin, forcefully pushing the heavy, blood-red lid, and said, "We'll know once we open the coffin and look inside. This 'nurturing evil spirit' technique probably hasn't been completed yet; it was buried not long ago. I really want to know who's buried in the coffin..."

If he fails, he might be able to break this demon-nurturing technique and cause its core to collapse.

If such a terrain were to successfully nurture evil spirits, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Perhaps it was for this reason that his mother's dowry chair and Ran Jianfei's female corpse led him here?
Ran Qing pushed the coffin lid open with all her might, and Long Zongshu quickly came over to help. Together, the two of them pushed the heavy coffin lid open.

Soon, they pushed the blood-red coffin lid aside, revealing the scene inside the coffin to the three of them.

Inside the pitch-black coffin lay a "corpse" lying quietly.

He placed his hands folded flat on his lower abdomen, wearing a short-sleeved shirt with lettering on it and jeans. His face was obscured by a piece of white paper covering it.

On the white paper, many strange characters resembling ghost symbols were written densely with cinnabar.

It's somewhat similar to the talismans used by spirit mediums, resembling the ancient Zangke script from the primitive, unenlightened era.

Upon seeing the corpse in the coffin, Ran Qing paused, somewhat surprised.

He had originally thought that the coffin contained the remains of the mysterious old man, Kawamasu Tangichi.

This coffin is almost identical to the red coffin that Kawasaki Tangkichi placed at the Dharma assembly venue.

In addition, the old fox had previously told him that Kawamata Tōkichi was dead.

Ran Qing instinctively felt something was amiss and couldn't believe that the mysterious old man would die so easily.

But when Ran Qing saw that the body lying in the coffin was not Kawamata Taniguchi, she realized what was going on.

The art of nurturing evil spirits involves transforming living people into vengeful ghosts.

The living person who is refined will suffer extreme pain, tormented day and night by resentment and malevolent energy.

Even if that mysterious old man, Kawamata Tankichi, wanted to plot something, he couldn't possibly turn himself into a ghost in a coffin.

—They'll only turn others into ghosts in their coffins.

As Ran Qing had this thought, Mo Li's voice suddenly rang out from beside her, carrying a hint of tension.

"Ran...Ran Qing!"

Mo Li's voice trembled slightly, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

Her strange reaction made Ran Qing and Long Zongshu look up at the same time.

But then they saw the girl staring blankly at the corpse in the coffin, her face pale, her eyes fixed on the corpse's hand.

Mo Li's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out of his throat, dry and hard to describe.

"...Look at the wedding ring on this corpse's hand! Doesn't it look a lot like Uncle Ran's?"

Ran Qing was taken aback by Mo Li's dry voice.

He then looked down and saw the hands of the "corpse" lying in the coffin, folded over its lower abdomen, with a gold ring on the ring finger of its right hand.

But Ran Qing was not familiar with it.

He knew almost nothing about his father.

In the few times they met, there wasn't time to examine the other person's clothes, so it was impossible to tell whether the ring belonged to Ran Jianfei.

but……

Ran Qing suddenly reached out and ripped off the white paper covering the corpse's face.

The white paper covered with cinnabar writing was forcibly torn off, revealing an old face with closed eyes and a pale complexion inside the coffin to the three people.

His once handsome and well-proportioned features have been ravaged by the years; his skin is noticeably loose and dull, and wrinkles have appeared at the corners of his eyes.

He lay there quietly, like a sleeping, loving father, showing no trace of his former repulsiveness.

The dim candlelight fell on his face, making his expression appear somewhat painful and helpless.

Ran Jianfei, Ran Qing's biological father, was the man who abandoned him in the countryside for ten years...

(End of this chapter)