plumnovel Chapter 92 The Man in the Coffin
Chapter 92 The Man in the Coffin
The servants worked together to push open the heavy coffin lid. Inside, a beautiful young woman lay quietly, dressed in embroidered burial clothes, her hands folded over her abdomen.
Surprisingly, her complexion was rosy and lifelike, and her lips even had a faint pinkish hue, as if she were just asleep. However, between her brows, a wisp of black energy could be faintly seen, slowly flowing between her seven orifices.
Zhou Li bent down to observe for a moment, his brows gradually furrowing.
"The evil spirits have not been eliminated, and the three souls are completely tainted... Fortunately, the time is still short, the seven spirits have not been dispersed, and there is still a glimmer of hope."
Upon hearing this, Hu Jingbai rushed to the coffin, grabbed Zhou Li's robe, and said in a trembling voice, "Immortal Master, my daughter... can she still be saved?"
Zhou Li straightened up and said, "Yes, but we need to expel the evil spirits as soon as possible. I'll trouble you, sir, to quickly prepare some items to suppress the evil spirits."
Hu Jingbai, puzzled, quickly asked, "Immortal Master, what is an object for suppressing evil spirits?"
This question stumped Zhou Li. He had only been cultivating for a short time and had not yet delved into the art of weapon crafting, so he did not know how to explain what could suppress evil spirits.
The older fox spirit said from the side, "These are common folk items for warding off evil spirits. They can be made from rooster feathers, a hundred-family meal, or an imperial decree."
"The rooster feather must be the longest tail feather of a ten-year-old rooster; the hundred-family cooking must be a handful of cooking soil mixed from the stoves of a hundred households; and the imperial decree is five copper coins of the time, strung together with hemp rope soaked in cinnabar."
Hu Jingbai immediately ordered, "Steward, take your men back to the city immediately to make preparations. Everything must be ready within half an hour!"
Zhou Li glanced at the fox woman with surprise. Whether it was opening the coffin earlier or suppressing the evil spirit now, this woman seemed to be able to help him at just the right time. He couldn't help but ask:
"You seem to know quite a lot. I only know that the rooster crowing at dawn is the natural nemesis of evil spirits, but what are the mysteries behind the Hundred Families Cooking and the Imperial Contract?"
The fox spirit bowed gracefully to Zhou Li: "Immortal, you flatter me. I have only seen more of this because I used to follow the abbot. The stove is filled with the smoke and fire of cooking, and the earth from cooking in a hundred households gathers the yang energy of living people, which is naturally disliked by yin spirits; while the copper coin carries the aura of an emperor and is blessed by the nation's fortune, so it can be protected from evil spirits."
Zhou Li nodded slightly after hearing this: "You little demon are quite clever. What's your name?"
Upon hearing this, the fox-woman exchanged a glance with her sisters behind her, a hint of embarrassment appearing in her eyes: "We have always addressed each other as sisters, and have never had proper names yet. If the immortal does not mind, could you please bestow upon us names?"
After a moment's thought, Zhou Li guessed what the fox spirit was thinking.
The spiritual energy in this small realm is thin, making it difficult for demons to survive. These fox demons, having no one to rely on, must have suffered greatly. Now that they see that I am highly skilled, they have decided to follow me to avoid the hardships of wandering.
As for having someone else name it, it's because I want to borrow a predestined connection. Those who cultivate the Tao value cause and effect the most. Today, I've given it a name, so we can consider that we have a bond of kinship.
Zhou Li's heart stirred slightly. He was new to this world and needed a guide who was familiar with the ways of the world. Observing the fox woman's actions just now, he saw that she was clever and knew how to act appropriately. She might not be a bad helper.
Zhou Li's gaze returned to the fox woman, his eyes now holding a hint of scrutiny beyond mere appraisal.
"Call me Young Master. You four demons are of the same ilk. Today, I will bestow upon you the name 'Demon Beauty and Elegance' not only to praise your physical beauty, but also to enlighten your path of cultivation."
"Demon-like beauty..." The fox girl's eyes lit up, and she praised, "What a fine name! Thank you for bestowing this name upon me, young master. I have cultivated for the longest time, so I shall accept the name 'Demon'."
The fox spirit, previously referred to as the fourth sister, continued, "Since I am the youngest, I will take the name 'Xiu' (秀)."
Before long, the four women claimed their names, all beaming with joy and pride.
As they were talking, the Hu family had already cleared the mountain path, set up a simple altar, and placed the coffin inside.
Hu Jingbai, accompanied by his steward, handed three brocade boxes to Zhou Li.
Zhou Li handed the three brocade boxes to the three fox-women and instructed them, "Please take these three items and guard the east, west, and south directions of the coffin."
"Hold a chicken feather in the east, a bowl of cooking earth in the west, and imperial coins hanging in the south. Once my talisman is complete, whatever you see, do not move it."
The three women solemnly agreed.
Zhou Li then took out a purification talisman from his sleeve and gently affixed it to the woman's chest in the coffin. He then retreated to the north of the coffin and sat cross-legged.
The north side was completely empty, which was precisely what drew the evil spirits northward.
At this moment, the sun was setting in the west, and the sky was overcast. More than a hundred members of the Hu family held their breath and focused their attention on the girl in the spirit coffin.
Without any complicated steps or rituals, Zhou Li simply closed his eyes and made a hand seal.
Inside the coffin, the purification talisman glowed faintly, and streams of golden light flowed out, gradually spreading over the young woman's entire body.
Immediately afterwards, the black aura between her brows suddenly intensified, her originally rosy cheeks quickly turned ashen, and wisps of black mist seeped from her seven orifices.
"Hmm..."
A strange gasp came from her throat.
The voice didn't sound like a living person at all. The women of the Hu family were so frightened that they backed away repeatedly. Hu Yuanwai's face also turned pale, but he still looked at his daughter with concern.
Then, the girl opened her eyes; they were pitch black with no whites.
Zhou Li frowned: "This Yin Sha has actually developed sentience; it has become a 'Wandering Sha'!"
Before she could finish speaking, the girl opened her mouth wide and let out a shrill, inhuman scream.
Thick, malevolent energy surged into the sky, gradually forming the outline of a head in mid-air. It had no face or eyes, only a swirling mass of black energy.
The evil spirit took shape and hung above the spirit coffin. The fox women, whose demonic power was weak, turned pale as soon as they were hit by the evil spirit, but they still obeyed the Zhou ritual and remained firmly in place.
If even a fox demon was in such a state, the Hu family members were even more distraught, crying and fleeing in chaos.
Zhou Li remained motionless, not even lifting his eyelids, simply sitting quietly. Yet, a clear and pure aura emanated from him, making him seem like a clear spring in a turbid world amidst the pervasive malevolent atmosphere of the mountain path.
Repelled by the three items used to suppress evil spirits, and with Zhou Li using himself as a guide, the wandering evil spirit immediately condensed into an ink arrow, shooting straight at Zhou Li's face!
"Young master, be careful!" the fox girl named Yao Yao exclaimed.
Zhou Li neither dodged nor avoided the situation; the three items he had placed earlier to suppress evil spirits were for this very moment.
In the blink of an eye, the ink arrow was already three inches in front of him. Zhou Li slightly opened his mouth, gently inhaled, and swallowed the evil thing into his body.
Yao Yao's mouth gaped slightly, her face filled with disbelief. To draw evil spirits into one's body was something she had never heard of before.
Within Zhou Li's body, there was a different scene altogether.
The wandering demon entered the sea of consciousness, and in the center of the sea of consciousness, a cloud of five-colored auspicious clouds could be vaguely seen flowing and swirling.
It rushed toward the auspicious cloud, and only when it got closer could it see that deep within the cloud, there was a bronze round platform hidden there.
Just as You Sha was about to approach, the clouds around the bronze platform suddenly surged, and an invisible force descended upon it.
It suddenly let out a piercing scream, a scream born of instinct and the fear of facing its natural enemy.
"How could this be?! How could this kid have something like that inside him?!"
It struggled frantically, trying to escape this sea of consciousness, only to find itself firmly held by that immense power, and then thrown far away.
All of this seemed like a long process, but in reality, it was only a matter of a breath. When the wandering evil spirit reappeared in the outside world as black mist, it was already as thin as smoke and about to dissipate.
Zhou Li then opened his eyes.