Knocking on the Coffin

I sat by the brazier, lighting a cigarette, my gaze never leaving Zhang Yi Dan. His condition was my biggest worry. After suffering such a tragedy, I feared he might lose his will to live, so I planned to suggest we leave once he felt a bit better.

Yu Xiao Xue sat not far from me, her eyes a little vacant. The once pretty young girl now looked haggard. I figured she was at her limit; if she weren't in such a dangerous situation, she might have fallen asleep immediately.

The rooster crowed, and the sky gradually turned a pale white. I glanced back at the sky; the stars had vanished. This long, long night was finally coming to an end.

The dawn, with its strengthening yang energy, made the yin spirits lose interest in the cigarette and leave the doorway one by one, heading to who knows where to hide in a place with heavy yin energy.

I felt it was time to suggest leaving. "We..."

"Xia Yitian... Tian Ge... Yi Dan interrupted me.

Zhang Yi Dan was a rough person, never respecting anyone, and calling most elders by their first names. Now, he went from his full name to a nickname, and finally called me "Ge" (Brother). I couldn't help but take a deep breath.

If it weren't important, he wouldn't call me that. I said, "Yi, you speak."

"Ge, your sister-in-law died tragically... Grandma said she couldn't avenge her, and neither can I. But she had something else to say, which I've been thinking about for the past two days and haven't dared to tell you." He looked at me, tear tracks seeming indelible on his face.

I didn't know what to say and just stared at him. Yu Xiao Xue's eyes flickered, and she was no longer sleepy.

"Grandma said she mailed you a letter before she got hurt, advising you not to come back. I asked why she'd tell you about such a dangerous matter. She said she could have chosen not to warn you, but after a hundred years of karmic cycles, retribution was inevitable. Even if she didn't say anything, you would have found out through other means eventually.

If you had held back and not returned, that would have been best. Things might have held on for another ten, twenty years. But if you couldn't resist and came back, the revenge could be achieved, but the karma would become immense. The path ahead would be fraught with peril, beyond control. Heh... But, you still came back after all." Zhang Yi Dan shook his head, looking at me with pity.

I noticed something strange in his eyes, a peculiar feeling overlapping. It was as if he were speaking the words Grandma wanted to say.

Creak... creak...

A chilling sound of wooden planks rubbing together came from Grandma's coffin. The coffin, not nailed shut, slowly and solemnly opened!

I was dumbfounded. Yu Xiao Xue fainted on the spot, while Zhang Yi Dan's eerie gaze held a hint of self-mockery.

Bang.

A red sleeve emerged from the coffin, then hung limply, tapping the edge of the coffin.

From within the sleeve, an incredibly pale hand slowly emerged, scratching the coffin and leaving several claw marks.

My eyes widened like dinner plates, my body frozen. Sister Wife practically dragged me away. Before I could react, with a loud bang, the coffin lid was blown open by immense force!

By the time I came to my senses, the owner of the claws had sprung up, her back to me.

She wore red, her hair disheveled, her fair skin as white as snow. She wasn't very tall, instantly dispelling my thought that Grandma's corpse had reanimated.

However, she was definitely not human, as no human could spring their legs up from a lying position.

I could feel how ghastly pale my face must have been.

The little girl seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. She turned, her eyes, completely black with no white, fixed on me. Then, she revealed a terrifying smile, a smile like snow in July, sending shivers down my spine.

Red. It signified either great fortune or great disaster. Red clothing, black eyes – these were the symbols of a fierce ghost.

I remembered her. She was the fierce ghost from my dream, sitting on Grandma's shoulder!

Back then, she waved at me, and Sister Wife sensed danger, pulling me away and preventing me from going closer.

She finished looking at me, then turned her gaze to the unconscious Yu Xiao Xue, finally settling on Zhang Yi Dan.

Zhang Yi Dan's complexion wasn't much better than mine, and his legs were trembling uncontrollably, yet he stood firm.

The red-clad fierce ghost let out a sinister laugh. The next moment, inexplicably, she was in front of Zhang Yi Dan, her hand around his neck!

Zhang Yi Dan struggled, flailing his hands, but couldn't grasp even a strand of the little girl's hair. Any contact with her body would pass right through, while her hand remained as solid as ever, sinking deep into the flesh of his neck!

The fierce ghost girl laughed, a triumphant laugh.

Soon, Zhang Yi Dan's eyes rolled back, and his tongue lolled out.

"Stop!!" I roared, an unknown courage surging through me. I lunged forward, intending to pull the fierce ghost away, but Sister Wife couldn't hold me back.

Just as I was about to grab the fierce ghost, her eyes snapped towards me. Her scarlet mouth split open, and a roar like a collapsing mountain and surging sea erupted!

My head spun, and I was blasted backward, crashing into the wall. My stomach churned, and I couldn't help but cough up a large mouthful of blood.

Seeing me spit blood, the fierce ghost paused, as if sensing something was wrong. Her grip loosened, and Zhang Yi Dan collapsed to the ground, his body limp, his life or death unknown.

I hadn't expected it myself, but the blood in front of my eyes formed a thin mist, rapidly dispersing into the air. A fierce gust of yin wind suddenly swirled up like a tornado.

Then, the blood transformed into a shadowy figure, taking the form of a woman!

Except for her skin, like white jade, everything about the woman was blood-red: a blood-red phoenix coronet, a blood-red ceremonial sash, blood-red robes...

Seeing the woman with her back to me, the fierce ghost's expression wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant. She retreated continuously, finally kneeling in fear, kowtowing incessantly.

Sister Wife!?

I couldn't speak, my ears buzzing. I reached out to grab her, but couldn't grasp anything.

Without any visible movement from Sister Wife, the fierce ghost girl was lifted as if by something unseen, grasped like a little chick!

Screams of agony echoed. The fierce ghost twisted in the air like cotton candy, seemingly in immense pain! On the verge of soul dispersion.

She cast a pleading look at me, as if her previous ferocity had never existed.

I thought that since this female ghost could sit on Grandma's shoulder, she must have a significant connection to Grandma. Hesitating for a moment, I interceded for her. "Excuse me... can you hear me? Could you... let her go for now?"

"You can't even deal with a little ghost, and you want me to let her go? Do you know that her attack just cost you ten years of your lifespan?" Sister Wife didn't even turn her head, continuing to torment the fierce ghost girl.

I was startled. Ten years of lifespan! Was that true or false?

"Cough, cough... let her go then. I still want to ask her some things." I coughed a few times to cover my embarrassment. I knew clearly that this was my Sister Wife, yet I had choked her quite a bit. It was a truly unpleasant feeling.

Is she really my Sister Wife? Why does she feel different from what I imagined? She's acting so high and mighty right now. Then again, it makes sense. She hasn't spoken to me for over twenty years, so she must have some resentment.

The fierce ghost girl shot me a grateful look. Though she still looked terrifying no matter how I saw it, I decided to trust her this once.

"She can't even speak human language, how do you expect to ask her anything!"

I decided to let her go. Sister Wife seemed furious and stopped her attack with a cold snort.

"Are you a ghost raised by Grandma?" I asked the fierce ghost girl. After thinking it over, this was the only possibility. I wasn't ignorant of Grandma's affairs; raising little ghosts was the most detailed subject in all her books.

As expected, the fierce ghost girl quickly nodded. This method of communication, nodding and shaking her head, made Sister Wife snort in dissatisfaction.

I looked at the empty coffin and ignored Sister Wife's petty tantrum. Then I asked, "Is Grandma dead?"

This time, the fierce ghost girl showed a look of sorrow and nodded.

I sighed. When I first saw the empty coffin without Grandma's body, I still held a sliver of hope. Now that even the little ghost Grandma raised confirmed it, it was set in stone.

I adjusted my breathing and slowly stood up. Honestly, I really wanted to see what Sister Wife looked like. After all, she had been my wife for over twenty years; I couldn't even say I had seen her face.

As a result, Sister Wife completely ignored me, turned her body, and acted completely contrary to me.

Fortunately, Yu Xiao Xue and Zhang Yi Dan had fainted. Otherwise, I would have been greatly embarrassed. But this wouldn't stump me. I simply didn't bother with her and went to check if Zhang Yi Dan was dead.

The fierce ghost girl started chattering away with Sister Wife in the empty space, saying who knows what. This was ghost language. Without burning incense and performing rituals, one couldn't understand what was being said. Now, to me, it just sounded like gusts of cold wind blowing past my ears.

This was the legendary "ghost blowing wind." If normal people occasionally felt a breeze blowing past their ears at night, it was actually familiar ghosts from their past lives trying to speak to them.

Sister Wife remained silent, so I knew what the little fierce ghost was saying was very useful to her, which was why she decided to keep listening.

Seeing that I wasn't curious, Sister Wife coldly said to me, "She said Grandma placed her in the coffin, preparing to kill whoever opened it at a critical moment. But she never expected it would be you. Now she knows she was wrong and is willing to be your raised ghost. Ask me, how do you plan to deal with her?"

I didn't answer and went to Zhang Yi Dan's side. I reached out and checked his breathing and the pulse on his neck. I found that he was barely alive, with only half a life left. Anger surged within me.

"Kill her if you can, destroy her if you can," I said indifferently. I couldn't keep a ghost that was out of control and could even kill important people around me. Moreover, I felt that having such a powerful ghost as my wife was already more than enough for me.

The fierce ghost girl had followed Grandma for who knows how many years, so of course, she could understand human speech. She suddenly kowtowed to me. Gusts of cold wind blew over, like desperate pleas, promising many things.

Thinking about it, having this little fierce ghost around would be good for self-defense. Plus, I had read many of Grandma's books on raising little ghosts and knew she could do many things that others couldn't.

Besides, Sister Wife, this divine being, probably couldn't be "summoned" so easily. Like just now, demanding ten years of lifespan so casually was something I couldn't handle. At this rate, I wouldn't have many ten-year spans left.

"Fine. A little ghost of this caliber isn't of much use anyway. Let her be annihilated." Unexpectedly, Sister Wife was no pushover. Fierce gusts of wind instantly swirled up. The fierce ghost girl was like a grabbed chick, letting out sharp, frantic cries.

My heart sank. Sister Wife, you truly are a ruthless one. I just wanted to discipline the little fierce ghost; I didn't really intend to destroy her right there and then.

And here you are, actually striking such a heavy blow. If the little fierce ghost was someone Grandma had by her side back then, you two must have seen each other around, given your relationship. You should have at least shown some mercy.