What!
Master Sun immediately strode forward several steps, clenching his fists. "Didn't we tie her up in her room? How did she break free of the ropes and end up sleeping in the coffin again?"
The servant was terrified by Master Qian's few steps and lowered his head, trembling. "We don't know either. Several maids were clearly watching over Miss, but somehow, she vanished in broad daylight."
"We thought Miss's disappearance had to be connected to the coffin. When we rushed over, we found Miss lying inside it. We didn't dare disturb her, so we hurried to inform you, Master."
Master Sun sighed, loosening his clenched fist as he looked at Madam Sun beside him. "Cry, cry, cry. All you know how to do is cry. Hurry up and come with me!"
At that moment, Madam Sun stopped crying as well and hurriedly followed behind Master Sun.
The moment the group left the main house, they entered the courtyard.
Beside the courtyard stood a spacious small room.
At this moment, its door was tightly locked.
Master Sun arrived at the entrance, looked at the lock hanging from the door, and pointed at it. "The lock hasn't even been damaged. How did you discover Miss in the coffin?"
The servant hurriedly replied, "When we arrived, the lock had already fallen to the ground. We were afraid something might happen to Miss again, so when we came out, we locked it up again."
"Open it." Master Sun waved a hand.
The servant hurried forward. After unlocking it, he carefully pushed open the door.
Master Sun rushed inside.
In the room, a coffin stood right in the middle, its lid already lying on the floor.
The coffin had been made from fine wood and coated in vermilion-red paint.
A ring of candles had been placed around it.
Their flames flickered through the room, making the scene look exceptionally strange.
Master Sun took several quick steps forward and looked into the coffin, the helplessness in his eyes steadily deepening.
A delicate-looking young woman lay inside. Her hands were folded over her lower abdomen, her eyes closed as though she were sound asleep.
But upon closer inspection, one would discover that her face was pale as paper, while a wisp of black aura coiled across her forehead.
"Xin'er, wake up." Master Sun called softly.
The sleeping Miss Sun furrowed her brows but did not awaken.
At the side, Madam Sun walked over to the coffin. When she saw the sleeping Miss Sun, she could no longer restrain her emotions and burst into heartrending sobs.
"My daughter, why has your fate been so cruel? It's all your father's fault, blindly trusting that filthy Daoist priest's words and turning you into this neither-human-nor-ghost state..."
Her cries echoed through the room. The surrounding servants and maids did not dare look in this direction, afraid that one extra glance would bring this calamity upon themselves.
Amid those wailing sobs, Miss Sun finally woke up and opened her eyes.
Those eyes were filled with exhaustion, as though she had not slept for days and nights.
Miss Sun spoke weakly.
"Father, Mother, I'm in the coffin again."
Yet there was a measure of calm in her voice, proving that this had happened many times before.
Master Sun gave a bitter smile. "Come out first. We'll talk afterward."
Miss Sun nodded and weakly climbed out of the coffin.
Supported by several maids, she stepped onto solid ground.
The moment her feet touched the floor, Miss Sun's legs went limp.
Fortunately, several maids held her up, and she did not collapse to the ground.
"Master, why don't we ask the yamen for help?"
Madam Sun grabbed Master Sun's sleeve, her voice choked with sobs.
At the mention of the yamen, a conflicted expression appeared on Master Sun's face. After a moment, he brushed Madam Sun's hand aside.
"We cannot seek help from the yamen."
"Why not?" Madam Sun cried. "Your daughter is already like this! Why won't you ask the yamen for help? If your daughter dies, after all these years of love, how am I supposed to go on living?"
Master Sun's expression became exceedingly stern. "Someone, take Madam away. And take Miss away too. Let this matter end here. Lock the door properly, and assign more people to watch over Miss."
"Yes."
The servants and maids hurriedly acknowledged the order, leading Madam Sun and Miss Sun out of the room.
In the blink of an eye, Master Sun was the only one left in the room containing the coffin.
Master Sun paced around the room, circling the coffin several times. He placed a hand on its edge, though no one knew what he was thinking.
About half an incense stick's time later, Master Sun finally left the room and returned to the main house.
Shen Bai hid atop the wall, taking in the entire scene with perfect clarity.
"There's something wrong with this Master Sun."
Leaving aside everything else, when something so bizarre and uncanny happened, any normal person's first thought would be to seek help from the yamen.
What was more, the Sun Family was a wealthy merchant household in Ascending Cloud County. They paid the yamen no small amount in taxes, and the yamen would gladly lend a hand.
Yet Master Sun was now concealing the matter.
It would have been strange if Shen Bai still failed to see that something was amiss.
Of course, that was not the most important part.
The most important thing was that Shen Bai had noticed an abnormality within that coffin.
A trace of icy aura emanated from inside it.
An ordinary person entering the room would at most feel a slight chill.
But Shen Bai had qi within him. Beyond the coldness, he could sense an immense resentment soaring to the heavens.
"Uncanny."
Those two words surfaced in Shen Bai's mind.
Shen Bai pondered briefly, then formed a plan.
"The sky is still bright. It isn't suitable to act now. I'll return tonight. Master Sun has something on his mind, so I can take the opportunity to see exactly what it is."
"And I can find out who that Old Daoist Priest is as well."
He was determined to obtain this Killing Intent.
Eliminating uncanny entities was the duty of cultivators to begin with, so Shen Bai harvesting some Killing Intent along the way was only natural.
As for that Old Daoist Priest and Master Sun, Shen Bai also wanted to see how things unfolded.
If he could harvest more Killing Intent, that would be a bloody windfall.
With his plan in place, Shen Bai thought no further. He flipped down from the wall, found a place near the Sun Family estate to sit, and began drinking tea and eating.
From this position, he could observe most of the Sun Family's movements, which Shen Bai found quite convenient.
However, during this time, Shen Bai planned to use the wisp of Killing Intent he had just obtained first.
"Right now, I can either transform the Lustrous Jade Body or appraise the Ancient True Scripture."
Shen Bai tapped the tabletop with his fingers. After taking a sip of tea, he had his answer.
"After appraising the Ancient True Scripture, I'd still have to grind proficiency. For now, that doesn't seem worthwhile."
"Transforming the Lustrous Jade Body, on the other hand, can double my attributes and grant me new ones. It's far more worthwhile."
Having decided, Shen Bai did not hesitate. With a thought, he rapidly consumed the Killing Intent.
Before his eyes, once that wisp of Killing Intent vanished, the Lustrous Jade Body began to undergo a transformation.
Mist emerged before him, condensing into brand-new words in the blink of an eye and floating in midair.
Before you continue