Chapter 192: The Fox Corpse

The words had barely left my mouth when Lu Ayao called out to us. I hadn’t noticed when he’d moved to the corner of the burial chamber, but at his shout, the rest of us dropped what we were doing and gathered around him. Only Qiao Sangui remained behind, tied up and dumped at the base of a pillar.

I walked over to Lu Ayao, flashlight in hand. Before I even reached him, I saw what his beam was resting on. It was the rotting heap of an animal carcass. It was impossible to tell the exact species, and there was no telling how long it had been dead, but the bones had turned completely black.

“This is…” He Yu stepped past me, leaning in with a frown to get a closer look.

Lu Ayao kept his light on the corpse, then calmly panned it across the wall behind him. “It’s a fox. This fox corpse was originally meant to be hung on the wall, but someone took it down and placed it on the floor.”

I stepped around the carcass and used my own flashlight to scan the wall behind Lu Ayao. There were indeed sticky remnants of decomposition on the surface. The stained area was quite large, matching the size of the fox corpse on the ground.

“Why do you say someone took it down? Maybe it just wasn’t secured properly and fell,” I said, crouching down beside He Yu to look at the fox while glancing up at Lu Ayao.

Lu Ayao shook his head firmly. “Placing a fox as a funerary sacrifice is a true test of a Feng Shui master’s skill. The placement is critical. If placed well, the descendants will flourish; if there is even a slight error, the family line will be extinguished. This wall is the brightest spot in the entire chamber.”

Hearing this, I instinctively looked around. I realized that as long as these Ever-Burning Lamps were lit, this wall, constructed from stacked Ship-Burial Coffins, would be the first thing the firelight touched. Other walls had patches of shadow where the light couldn’t reach, but this wall was different; even the cracks and crevices between the Ship-Burial Coffins were clearly visible.

“As the saying goes: ‘A fox guards the tomb, wealth lasts three generations.’ With the fox corpse hung here, its head facing the coffin and light coming from all sides, it signifies great fortune. Such a layout must have been intentional, and thus it would have been secured very firmly. But now, someone has taken the fox down and placed it on the floor. The floor of a sea burial is damp and Yin-heavy, and the fox’s tail is now pointing directly at the coffin.”

On the other side, He Yu slapped his forehead and quickly backed away from the fox corpse. His expression shifted drastically as he cried out, “I get it! This is ‘Fox Tail Piercing the Corpse.’ With the light unable to reach it, a propitious omen has turned into a malevolent one! Then the body inside that coffin…”

As soon as he finished, Tian Xiaoqi and I both turned our gazes toward the Golden Silk Phoebe Wood Coffin in the center of the chamber. Our faces grew pale. However, I suddenly recalled the body from the illusion. In that dreamscape, I had been dragged by White Whiskers until I was practically hugging the corpse, and it hadn’t made a move.

I found it hard to imagine what that body would look like if it actually underwent a corpse transformation.

“It won’t necessarily transform,” Lu Ayao said, drawing our attention back to him as he stepped onto the jade dais. “The Lu Clan is meticulous. They wouldn’t gamble the risk of a transformation solely on a single fox corpse. We’ve been in here this long; if it were going to turn, there would have been movement by now.”

“The Lu Clan? Your family built this tomb?” Qiao Sangui finally picked up on the hidden meaning. He leaned out from the pillar, craning his neck to question Lu Ayao.

Lu Ayao ignored him, so he leaned back again. “I was wondering what kind of person could be so powerful as to use so many Ship-Burial Coffins to build a tomb complex. So this isn’t Master Jiyun’s tomb after all. This is the resting place of one of your Lu Clan ancestors! They must have buried some incredible treasures in here. And you didn’t even know? Robbing your own ancestor’s grave… you’d better prepare to kneel in the ancestral hall when you get back!”

I didn’t think Lu Ayao was much of a debater, and I didn’t want this old man getting the better of him for nothing. I took a deep breath to speak, but Lu Ayao merely glanced at Qiao Sangui on the floor.

“In the Lu Clan, regardless of seniority or status, the tablets in the ancestral hall only bear names and birth dates. We have no concept of a ‘Founding Master.’ If I have accidentally entered the tomb of a Lu Clan predecessor, the most I would feel is a pang of conscience for intruding. There is no reason to kneel in the ancestral hall.”

Qiao Sangui was momentarily silenced, clearly not expecting the Lu Clan to have such strange rules. His external information network was formidable, but he was not one of the Five Masters after all. He knew very little about the internal affairs of these families that were never made public. He clearly didn’t understand the inner workings of their household.

He Yu stepped forward. “So, about this coffin… are we opening it or not?”

Qiao Sangui suddenly lurched upward from the ground. “Open it! We have to open it! Regardless of whose coffin it is, we must see what’s inside. This is a vital location regarding the Nine-Ring Jade Casket. There’s bound to be something significant inside!”

I ignored Qiao Sangui and walked straight to Lu Ayao’s side. “Don’t listen to that old man. The most important thing right now is your injury. Opening the coffin isn’t safe. If something comes out that we can’t handle, we’re finished. It’s better if none of us touch it. The vaulted ceiling here is closest to the rock face. We should climb up and check the top of the chamber. If there’s a robber’s hole dug from above, we can climb out through it.”

Tian Xiaoqi walked over as well. “She’s right. We’ve delayed down here for too long. Everyone is injured, and this place is damp and cold. Infections will set in easily. We need to get up there as quickly as possible.”

When Qiao Sangui heard that we didn’t intend to open the coffin, he suddenly lunged at me. The move startled me, and I moved to jump back. But even though He Yu had tied him up like a Zongzi, he didn’t hesitate to snap his jaws shut, biting down on the hem of my trousers, completely indifferent to the dried mud covering them.

“What are you doing?!” I cried out.

He made a series of muffled, garbled noises. He Yu quickly knelt down to pin the struggling Qiao Sangui, while Lu Ayao also crouched, gripping Qiao Sangui’s jaw with one hand. With a sharp application of pressure, the pain forced Qiao Sangui to let go.

Having escaped his grip, I quickly backed away to ensure he couldn’t bite me again.

Lu Ayao continued to hold Qiao Sangui’s jaw. The old man was now weeping from the pain, unable to utter a single word. Seeing this, I stepped forward and tugged on Lu Ayao’s sleeve, signaling for him to let go.

“Whatever he has to say, let him say it. Why must this coffin be opened?”

The moment Lu Ayao loosened his grip, Qiao Sangui started shouting.

“No, we can’t just leave like this! This coffin must be opened. Every location indicated by the Nine-Ring Jade Casket is no coincidence; they are all accurately positioned according to the Dragon Veins in the Burial Classics. We can’t let those people from abroad beat us to it again!” Qiao Sangui yelled.

Hearing this, I frowned. “From abroad?”

“I got this news from Tian Yuqing. He said a team of unknown origin followed him all the way to Inner Mongolia. Those people spoke nothing but damn foreign languages; they’re likely from overseas. Tian Yuqing is missing, isn’t he? Maybe he was taken out by them in some backstabbing double-cross!”

“You’re lying!” Tian Xiaoqi rushed forward, but I was quick enough to pull her back. She pointed at Qiao Sangui and cursed, “My eldest brother has managed the Tian Family for years. His shrewdness is praised by all of the Five Masters! He wouldn’t be taken out so easily by some foreign bottom-feeders!”

Qiao Sangui gave a cold snort. “Little girl, if you walk by the river long enough, you’re bound to get your shoes wet. The Tian Family has so many Pankou under its thumb, and none of them are easy to manage. Now that Tian Yuqing is gone, I’d say the Tian Family’s luck has finally run out.”

“You!”

I held Tian Xiaoqi back, shot a calm glance at Qiao Sangui on the ground, and immediately said, “We aren’t opening the coffin. Everyone, ignore him! Let him stay here and curse all he wants, see if he can curse this coffin open himself. We’re going up to find a way out.”

With that, I turned to pull He Yu along, intending to scout the surroundings for any scalable spots. However, I saw Lu Ayao still standing on the steps in front of the golden silk phoebe coffin. He hadn’t budged an inch despite my words.

I let go of Tian Xiaoqi, walked up to him, and gave his sleeve a tug. “What are you doing?” I whispered. “You’re not actually moved by that old fossil’s words, are you? The bastard is just malicious; he wants to get us all killed here!”

Lu Ayao actually chuckled and recited, “‘After many years of travel, betrayed by friends and kin, new feuds and old grudges all faded, laid to rest by a friend.’ Just what kind of person would write such an epitaph? To have the Lu Clan build him a tomb and palace, and to leave Grandma with no peace even in death… I want to see exactly who is lying in this coffin.”

Hearing this, my head began to throb. I was so frustrated I actually paced in a circle before scratching my head. I thought to myself, Is there some part of the pros and cons I didn’t explain clearly enough? Fine, fine, you’re going to be stubborn now of all times?

“Is there something I didn’t make clear?” I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady. “It’s not that the coffin can never be opened, but in our current situation, it’s really not the right time.”

Lu Ayao turned directly toward me. “I know. That’s why I’ll wait until you’ve climbed twenty meters up before I open it.”

I felt my vision go dark for a moment. I turned around and yelled, “He Yu! I can’t take this anymore! You talk to him!”