A Ghostly Item, Seeking Fan Wu's Protection?!

The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin is operating?

This statement made Fan Wu frown involuntarily. Could this thing operate on its own? This World of Gods and Anomalies truly had many strange and peculiar things!

Shen Jiyue's tone of shock seemed genuine, as if the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin operating was a major event.

Shen Jiyue immediately turned her head and looked at Xie Jiuyi beside her. "You didn't completely seal it?"

Xie Jiuyi was completely bewildered. He didn't know what was happening either. "That shouldn't be... Not a single one of my talismans is damaged, and I didn't mispronounce a single word of the sealing incantation. With my magical power, it should be enough to seal it for five hours."

"On the way to Baihe County, I sealed it once every five shichen. There shouldn't have been any problems this time?"

"Moreover, even if the seal failed, why didn't it choose to escape again? Instead, it chose to operate on its own?"

It seemed that even the Imperial Astronomy Bureau wasn't particularly familiar with the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin.

They probably just followed the established procedures and tried to use this Heavenly Mechanism Coffin through some fixed process.

Now, the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was having a problem.

Neither Shen Jiyue nor Xie Jiuyi knew how to handle it.

Should they seal the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin again? But what if they accidentally messed up and broke it?

After all...

No one had ever tried to seal the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin while it was operating.

"The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin can divine anomalous events, answer people's doubts, and it possesses a certain consciousness. Its current autonomous operation might be trying to tell us something."

Shen Jiyue was the first to calm down. She had already placed her hand on the Xuanhua Axe slung at her waist.

With such a heavy axe, who knew how the belt at her waist managed to hold it.

Shen Jiyue paused and continued, "Let's first see what it wants to say... If there's danger, then we don't need to worry about its preciousness and uniqueness. We'll smash it into pieces first, then report truthfully to our superiors and await punishment."

Xie Jiuyi nodded helplessly.

In a situation he didn't know how to resolve, this was the only way.

At this moment... the sound of mechanisms within the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin became clearer.

With a crisp "click," a drawer popped out from the side of the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, and a piece of parchment lay quietly inside!

The parchment carried a dense Yin energy!

The thick Yin energy had solidified, causing the entire parchment to be enveloped in a white mist of Yin energy.

It exuded an ominous aura.

If an ordinary person without cultivation dared to touch something enveloped in such Yin energy...

At best, they would be seriously ill for years.

At worst, they would be dead by next month!

Shen Jiyue took a deep breath. She gripped the Xuanhua Axe tightly with one hand, while her other hand, completely unguarded, reached out to take the parchment.

After the parchment was in her hand.

She felt as if she were holding a piece of ice, but she didn't care about these details. Instead, her gaze fell upon the parchment.

She froze.

"Captain, what does it say? What does the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin want to tell us?" Xie Jiuyi asked nervously from the side.

Shen Jiyue slightly unfolded the side of the parchment with writing towards Xie Jiuyi.

Xie Jiuyi leaned in to look.

He also froze.

There were only four words on the parchment. These four words were written in an unknown crimson pigment, looking bloody, extremely eerie, and shocking!

Although Fan Wu wasn't interested in the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, with his height, he couldn't help but see those four words when he lowered his head.

--HELP ME ESCAPE!!!

"What... what does this mean? Is... the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin revealing some information to us? 'Help me escape'? Who is the 'me' inside?" Xie Jiuyi was a bit confused.

Although he had brought the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin to Baihe County, he also knew to use it according to the procedures.

He was just a minor official in the Imperial Astronomy Bureau.

His superiors sent him to transport the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin so that the target wouldn't be too conspicuous, so no one would think that a mere minor official from the Imperial Astronomy Bureau was transporting such a special item.

Facing this sudden and unusual situation, Xie Jiuyi could scratch his head bald...

But he still couldn't think of a solution.

"Could the 'me' inside... refer to the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin itself?" Shen Jiyue voiced a guess, not entirely certain.

The two fell into silence.

If "I" truly referred to the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin itself, then wasn't the coffin asking for help?

But why would it need to ask for help?

It's not like someone would want to harm it, right?

Strictly speaking, the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin is a special anomalous entity.

Who would want to harm an anomalous entity?

The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin is basically sealed every day, so how could it have any conflict of interest with anyone?

It doesn't make sense...

Huh?

Wait a moment!

A flash of inspiration seemed to strike in his mind.

Shen Jiyue and Xie Jiuyi suddenly jolted awake, and they couldn't help but exchange glances. It seemed they had thought of the same thing simultaneously.

"I remember you mentioning before that before you and the escorts from the Huwei Escort Agency transported the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin to Baihe County together, you encountered a powerful anomalous entity halfway there. That powerful anomalous entity specifically asked for the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, didn't it?"

Shen Jiyue asked.

She was asking Xie Jiuyi.

Xie Jiuyi nodded with a solemn expression. He took a breath and replied, "Indeed, I told you, that anomalous entity was very powerful, and I would have absolutely no chance against it alone."

"Back then, if Fellow Daoist Fan hadn't been there, I might not have had the chance to even reach Baihe County. Perhaps, I would have already been a corpse halfway there."

"My lady, you mean?"

Shen Jiyue gritted her teeth and said, "The anomalous entity you encountered halfway might have accomplices! The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin itself sensed danger, so it's sending us a warning and a plea for help!"

"Previously, the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin must have sensed in the dark that the danger targeting it was gradually approaching! That's why it wanted to escape."

"I don't think it encountering Fellow Daoist Fan was a coincidence; it actively sought out Fellow Daoist Fan!"

Shen Jiyue's expression was exceptionally serious. She glanced at the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin lying on the ground and said gravely, "It's perhaps indirectly telling us—the approaching danger is terrifying!"

"With the strength of the Baihe County branch of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, it cannot protect it completely. In the eyes of the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, within the entirety of Baihe County, only Fellow Daoist Fan can protect it!"

"It didn't encounter Fellow Daoist Fan by accident, and it wasn't trying to attack Fellow Daoist Fan just now."

"It... came to seek refuge with Fellow Daoist Fan!!"

As soon as Shen Jiyue finished speaking, the flickering candlelight in the inn extinguished at the same time.

The entire inn...

plunged into darkness.

The atmosphere became extremely eerie.

"This is bad!!!"

The expressions of the two Imperial Astronomy Bureau members changed drastically.

They rushed out of the inn together, only to be shocked to find that the outside of the inn had already transformed.