Ita Era

Chapter 22 Peach Blossom Village (Part 20)

It was four in the morning, but Master Baiyun still showed no signs of fatigue, and his tone remained gentle. Ding Shixian couldn't stand it any longer and asked for directions to the restroom.

The restroom is to the left of the main entrance. There's a door in the wooden wall; pushing it open leads to the edge of a sheer cliff. Standing on the edge and crouching down, you'll find a man-made handrail on the cliff face. Below the handrail, there's a hole with an iron plate at the opening. Pulling the plate open reveals a roll of toilet paper.

It has to be said that not everyone has the opportunity to relieve themselves in such a high-end and classy place.

Ding Shi wasn't there to relieve himself. He took out his luggage card and conjured up his luggage. At this point, I have to feel a little ashamed; Ding Shi initially planned to use the supplies to blackmail Master Baiyun into teaching him some skills.

Ding Shi couldn't let his conscience bother him, at least not now, because he still planned to loot Baiyun Temple. He wasn't after money or women; what he wanted were the martial arts manuals or Taoist magic that Master Baiyun had hidden in Baiyun Temple.

Ding Shi brought the luggage to Master Baiyun, who was momentarily stunned. He couldn't understand when such heavy luggage had been hidden in the latrine.

It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Ding Shi explained the purpose of his trip: "There has been a change in the Third Sister's sacrifice. The village chief asked me to invite the Taoist priest down the mountain."

Upon hearing this, the usually gentle and composed Daoist Baiyun immediately stood up and asked, "What?"

Ding Shi clutched his stomach and repeated it.

Master Baiyun looked serious and said, "I will go down the mountain with you now."

Ding Shi asked, "Is it in a hurry?"

Master Baiyun nodded, feeling somewhat guilty: "I know you should rest for the night, but this matter is of great importance, and we must return to the village as soon as possible."

Ding Shi agreed, and the two walked to the gate of the Taoist temple. Ding Shi said, "Taoist Master, my stomach hurts, please wait a moment." Without giving Taoist Master Baiyun time to refuse, he hurriedly ran to the edge of the cliff.

Twenty minutes later, Ding Shi returned from the outhouse. Master Baiyun's face already showed impatience. He said, "Let's go."

After taking a few steps, Ding Shi slipped and fell, but luckily he grabbed a small tree by the roadside to avoid falling down the mountain. Master Baiyun glanced down; the night road was difficult to travel, let alone going down the mountain. After hesitating for a moment, Master Baiyun said, "I will go first. You can rest at the temple for the night and return to the village as soon as possible tomorrow morning."

Ding Shi said gratefully, "Thank you very much, Daoist Master."

Master Baiyun instructed, "There is a demon in Houtang Town. You must not go there."

Ding Shi: "Yes." I'm easily frightened; if someone scares me, I become bolder.

Master Baiyun said nothing more, then floated down the hillside, his feet lightly touching the ground, and quickly disappeared into the night.

Ding Shi returned to Baiyun Temple and lay down on the stone bed. Ten minutes later, Ding Shi rolled to the ground clutching his stomach, shouting hoarsely, "Help! Help! Taoist priest, save me!"

After rolling for three minutes, Ding Shi stood up and dusted himself off, indicating that the old Taoist priest had indeed left.

A dozen or so oil lamps were lit in the front hall, making everything clearly visible. The statues of the Three Pure Ones were stone carvings, utterly worthless. The stone bed and stone walls offered no hiding places.

To the left of the main gate was the outhouse, and to the right was what was essentially the kitchen, where some honeycomb briquettes and tung oil for lighting were piled up. It seemed unlikely that a cultivation manual would be hidden in these places.

After searching for a while, Ding Shi looked at the winding, secluded cave. The cave was circular, over two meters high, and quite circuitous. Ding Shi thought of a term: snake path.

Ding Shi turned on his flashlight and entered the cave. Inside, there was an oil lamp every three meters at a height. These oil lamps were ordinary, yet quite interesting.

The oil lamps were inserted into the stone wall and connected by small flexible tubes. Since the terrain was all downward, as long as tung oil was poured into the cave entrance, the tung oil would flow down and fill each oil lamp.

Ding Shi's doubts deepened. Tung oil was cheap, and there were large tracts of tung trees on the mountain; refining tung oil for combustion was a simple process. So why set up such a mechanism? There's only one answer: Master Baiyun frequently went to the back hall and lit oil lamps along his usual route. Technology is driven by laziness; with too much oil, people became lazy and came up with this little trick. The front hall had plenty of space; they could have easily moved the back hall there. Why go to the back hall so frequently?
They descended slowly, the size of the cave remaining constant. After walking about a hundred meters, they arrived at the back hall at Ding Shi (around 7-9 AM).

The rear hall, approximately 200 square meters in size, was irregularly circular. A red coffin was placed in the center of the hall, surrounded by nine oil lamps and a futon. The lamps were small, making the room dimly lit.

Ding Shi stood at the entrance to the back hall, observing the back hall with a flashlight. He immediately saw the coffin and guessed that it was the coffin of the Third Sister that Zhao the Blind Man had mentioned.

Only after confirming that there was nothing else besides the oil lamp and the coffin did Ding Shi step into the inner hall.

Ding Shi walked around the coffin twice, carefully inspected the inner chamber again, and finally walked to the front of the coffin.

This is a red coffin. There are four talismans pasted on the coffin lid, in pairs, in an X shape, and pasted on the head and tail of the coffin lid respectively.

Ding Shi thought of a very strange question: why wasn't the talisman pasted at the joint between the coffin lid and the coffin body?
System: This is a seal, not a seizure.

"Ho ho!" Ding Shi jumped up and down twice, taking a deep breath to bolster his courage. Should he really open it? According to Blind Zhao, the immortal treasure was on the back of the coffin lid; without opening it, he definitely wouldn't be able to get it. But then another problem arose: assuming there was a treasure inside the coffin, then there would be Third Sister inside as well.

Feeling unwell all over, Ding Shi irritably pulled at his hair. Even though he was already here, he couldn't resist the fact that the coffin contained Third Sister. He wondered what Third Sister's true form was like—had it grown hair? Did it smell bad? Was the air poisonous?

Ding Shi pulled out a nail puller and deftly pried out all the nails from the coffin. Then he sat on the futon, staring blankly at the coffin: Open? Don't open? Open? Don't open?

He didn't hesitate for long, because Ding Shi knew he would definitely drive it.

Ding Shi forcefully lifted the coffin lid, only slightly, and took a deep breath, inhaling some of the air inside. How to describe the smell? It seemed to have no smell at all.

Ding Shi continued to lift the coffin lid higher, supporting it with one hand while shining a flashlight inside. He saw a young girl, about ten years old, lying inside, dressed in a red wedding gown and wearing a phoenix crown. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were folded over her abdomen. This must be the true form of Third Sister. There was no hair, no decay, no strange smell; apart from her pale complexion, it was impossible to tell it was a corpse.

Ding Shi suddenly exclaimed, "Ha!"

San Niang remained motionless, while Ding Shi was startled by the echo: Who?
Ding Shi placed the flashlight next to San Niang and continued to lift the coffin lid, preparing to peer under it. Suddenly, San Niang opened her eyes, startling Ding Shi so much that he let go, and the coffin lid slammed down with a loud bang.

Ding Shi slumped to the ground, patting his chest with both hands, breathing heavily. He had a bellyful of swear words he wanted to say.

After waiting a while, there was no movement inside the coffin. Had I seen wrong? Had Third Sister already sat up? Was she just waiting for me to lift the lid?

Since we've already taken the plunge, how can we back down now?
Ding Shi gritted his teeth and lifted the coffin lid again; San Niang's eyes were closed.

Ding Shi reached into the coffin and took the flashlight from inside, putting it in his mouth. He then raised the coffin lid upwards while staring into San Niang's eyes.

Then San Niang opened her eyes, and this time Ding Shi saw it clearly: her eyes had no pupils, no whites, only pure black. It must be said, aside from being terrifying, her appearance and clothing actually made her quite beautiful.

Ding Shi thought to himself, lowered the coffin slightly, and San Niang closed her eyes. Ding Shi lifted the coffin lid, and San Niang opened her eyes; he lowered it, and San Niang closed her eyes again.

Ding Shi had an inspiration: the talisman on the coffin lid had the effect of suppressing San Niang. When the coffin lid was lifted and the talisman was far away from San Niang, San Niang began to awaken.

To confirm his suspicions, Ding Shi lifted the coffin lid up and down between the open and closed eyes. He saw San Niang's eyes open and close repeatedly, and as Ding Shi's frequency increased, her eyelids began to flutter up and down so fast that sparks could be seen.

Hey, that's fun.

(End of this chapter)