The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was operating?
Those words made Fan Wu furrow his brow. This thing could operate on its own? In this World of Gods and Anomalies, there really were all kinds of strange and bizarre things!
The shock in Shen Jiyue's voice did not seem faked. It was as though the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin operating was some major event.
Shen Jiyue immediately turned her head and looked at Xie Jiuyi beside her. "You didn't seal it completely?"
Xie Jiuyi looked utterly bewildered. He had no idea what was going on either. "That shouldn't be... Not a single one of my talismans is damaged, and I didn't recite a single wrong word of the sealing incantation. With my magical power, I should have been able to seal it for five hours."
"On the way here, I resealed it every five hours. This time, there shouldn't have been any mishap, right?"
"Besides, even if the seal had failed, why didn't it choose to escape again? Why did it choose to operate on its own instead?"
It seemed that even the Imperial Astronomy Bureau was not particularly familiar with the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin.
They should merely have been following fixed procedures, attempting to use the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin step by step.
Now that the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin had run into trouble,
neither Shen Jiyue nor Xie Jiuyi knew how to deal with it.
Should they seal the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin again? But what if something went wrong and they damaged it?
After all...
No one had ever tried sealing the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin while it was operating.
"The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin can divine strange incidents, and it can also answer the doubts in people's hearts. It possesses a certain degree of consciousness as well. Perhaps it's operating on its own because it wants to tell us something."
Shen Jiyue was still the first to calm down. She had already placed one hand on the Xuanhua Axe hanging at her waist.
That was such a heavy great axe. Heaven only knew how the belt around her waist managed to hold it up.
After a pause, Shen Jiyue continued, "Let's first see what it wants to say... If danger arises, then don't worry about its value or special nature. Chop it into scrap first. Then report the truth to our superiors and wait for them to punish us."
Xie Jiuyi nodded helplessly.
Since he had no idea how to resolve this situation, that was all they could do.
At that moment... the clattering of mechanisms inside the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin grew clearer.
A crisp click rang out.
A drawer actually sprang out from the side of the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin. Lying quietly inside was a piece of parchment!
The parchment carried a dense aura of yin!
That concentrated yin aura had already taken solid form, enveloping the entire piece of parchment in a white mist.
It was filled with an ominous air.
If an ordinary person without any cultivation dared to touch something wreathed in such yin aura...
At best, they would suffer a serious illness for several years.
At worst, they would be lying stiff as a board by next month!
Shen Jiyue drew a deep breath. She gripped the Xuanhua Axe tightly with one hand, while the other remained completely undefended as she reached directly for the parchment.
Once the parchment was in her hand,
she felt as though she were gripping a block of ice. She paid no attention to such details, instead turning her gaze to the parchment.
She froze.
"Squad Leader, what does it say? What is the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin trying to tell us?" Xie Jiuyi asked nervously from the side.
Shen Jiyue turned the written side of the parchment slightly toward Xie Jiuyi.
Xie Jiuyi craned his neck to look.
He froze as well.
There were only four words on the parchment. They had been written in an unknown scarlet pigment, looking bloody, ghastly, and utterly shocking!
Although Fan Wu was not interested in the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, given his height, all he had to do was lower his head to see those four words.
—Take me and run!!!
"W-what does this mean? Is... is the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin revealing some information to us? 'Take me and run'? Who does the 'me' inside refer to?" Xie Jiuyi was completely baffled.
Although he had transported the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin all the way to Baihe County, he knew only how to use it according to procedure.
He was merely an Imperial Astronomy Bureau Lieutenant.
The reason his superiors had sent him out to transport the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was also to keep the target from being too conspicuous, so that others would not think that an insignificant Imperial Astronomy Bureau Lieutenant like him was transporting such a special object.
Faced with this sudden special situation, even if Xie Jiuyi scratched his head bald...
he still could not think of a solution.
"The 'me' here might... refer to the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin itself?" Shen Jiyue voiced a guess, though she was not certain.
The two of them instantly fell silent.
If "me" really referred to the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin itself, did that not mean the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was asking outsiders for help?
But why would it need help?
Could someone really be trying to harm it?
Strictly speaking, the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was a special strange object.
Who would go and harm a strange object?
The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin was basically sealed every day. How could it have a conflict of interests with anyone?
That made no sense...
Hmm?
Wait a moment!
It was as though a spark of inspiration flashed through Shen Jiyue's mind.
Shen Jiyue and Xie Jiuyi suddenly came to their senses. They looked at each other, seemingly having thought of the same thing at the same time.
"I remember you said earlier that before you and the escorts from the Huwei Escort Agency transported the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin to Baihe County, you encountered a powerful strange object on the road. That powerful strange object explicitly demanded the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, didn't it?"
Shen Jiyue asked.
She was asking Xie Jiuyi.
Xie Jiuyi nodded solemnly. After drawing a breath, he replied, "Indeed, I told you about it, my lord. That strange object was extremely formidable. There was absolutely no way I could have been its match alone."
"If Fellow Daoist Fan had not been there at the time, I might not even have had the chance to reach Baihe County. Perhaps I would already have been a corpse on the road."
"My lord, you mean...?"
Shen Jiyue gritted her teeth. "That strange object you encountered on the road very likely has accomplices! The Heavenly Mechanism Coffin sensed the danger itself, so it is warning us and asking us for help!"
"Earlier, the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin must have sensed, in some unseen way, that the danger targeting it was gradually drawing near! That was why it wanted to escape."
"I think its encounter with Fellow Daoist Fan was not a coincidence. It was the one that took the initiative to seek him out!"
Shen Jiyue's expression was exceptionally solemn. She glanced at the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin lying on the ground and said gravely, "Perhaps it is indirectly telling us—the danger drawing near is terrifying!"
"The Baihe County branch of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau lacks the power to protect it. In the eyes of the Heavenly Mechanism Coffin, only Fellow Daoist Fan throughout all of Baihe County can protect it!"
"It did not encounter Fellow Daoist Fan by accident, and it was not trying to attack him just now."
"It... came to seek Fellow Daoist Fan's protection!!"
The instant Shen Jiyue finished speaking, the wavering candlelight in the inn went out at the same time.
The entire inn...
was plunged into darkness.
The atmosphere became incredibly strange.
"Not good!!!"
The expressions of the two Imperial Astronomy Bureau men changed drastically.
They rushed out of the inn together, only to discover in astonishment that the world outside the inn had already changed beyond recognition.
Before you continue