Black Coffins That Suppressed Baleful Intent

Their journey that morning had not gone smoothly. For some reason, Zhang Xuan kept recalling the aroma of the seared meat from last night...

Passing a stream, he scooped up a handful of clear water and slapped it hard against his face.

Icy droplets slid down his cheeks, carrying away some of his discomfort. He wiped his face haphazardly with his broad sleeve and let out a long breath.

"Brother Zhang Xuan, feeling any better?" the Monk called from behind him, concern in his voice.

That little interlude had brought the two of them considerably closer.

"Not too bad." Zhang Xuan forced a faint smile, his voice somewhat hoarse.

Throughout their journey, Zhang Xuan had been thinking. Since the "Celestial Master's Ordination" allowed him three questions a day, he needed to plan carefully how to use them.

First, as far as he knew, the daily tasks of the "Celestial Master's Ordination" reset at midnight. In other words, he only had to use his questions before then.

Still, Zhang Xuan had no intention of using them all in one go. Who knew whether they would encounter more bizarre horrors along the way?

A trump card was only a trump card while you held it in your hand. Playing them all at once... would be decidedly unwise!

As he weighed his options, his gaze swept over their surroundings.

The mountain trail beneath their feet gradually widened, and more sunlight shone through the gaps in the dappled shade. Clearly, they were heading out of the mountain hollow.

Since we haven't encountered anything else strange, there's no rush to spend today's questions.

If he could ask the burly Monk before him for ordinary information, there was no need to use the "Celestial Master's Ordination."

Zhang Xuan pondered silently...

He only had three chances to ask questions each day. That might seem like plenty, but once he actually started using them, forget three—even thirty would not be enough.

He had far too many questions to ask—

His lost memories, this unfamiliar world, the declining Celestial Master's Mansion, the poisoned Old Celestial Master, the all-knowing, all-powerful "Celestial Master's Ordination," the Chinese characters only he recognized...

Then there were that bottle of poison, that note, and the position of Celestial Master that had been thrust upon him...

All of it was like a fog too thick to disperse, shrouding his heart and hiding the threads of the truth from his sight.

"Those chances to ask questions are precious. I need to think them through carefully. But one thing comes first: making sure I survive this journey."

He murmured under his breath, his gaze deepening.

As he trudged through the mountains behind the Monk, Zhang Xuan silently considered which questions he could ask today.

Everything had its own importance and urgency. Now that he had left the Celestial Master's Mansion, uncovering the secrets of the Old Celestial Master's death was no longer quite so pressing. The mess at the mansion could wait.

Right now, the urgent matter was staying alive!

Twenty-eight days!

If he failed to obtain the "Marrow-Washing Body-Refining Pill" within those brief twenty-eight days, his body would explode, and everything else would be empty talk.

So even if that master he had acquired on the cheap came haunting him as a ghost, furiously berating his unfilial disciple for not uncovering the truth and avenging him sooner, Zhang Xuan could answer without so much as changing his expression...

Master, I know you're anxious, but don't get anxious just yet, because—

I'm even more anxious than you!

The stream burbled, the air carried the fresh, faintly damp scent of tree resin, and sunlight spilled through the treetops, stretching their shadows long.

They walked for most of the morning, and the journey remained fairly smooth.

But around noon, the bright sky abruptly darkened.

Rolling black clouds devoured the entire sky like a monstrous beast, followed by rumbling thunder.

"Bloody hell!"

The Monk cursed under his breath, then turned to Zhang Xuan with a grave expression. "Brother Zhang Xuan, we need to pick up the pace and find somewhere to shelter from the rain."

Seeing the Monk's solemn face, he looked as though he were facing a formidable enemy.

Zhang Xuan was puzzled. "It's just rain, isn't it? Is there really any need to be this nervous?"

The Monk rummaged through his cloth bundle and tossed Zhang Xuan a bamboo hat, then quickly put on another himself. He explained as they walked, "Before entering the mountains, I heard some elders in the neighboring town say that this mountain is sinister. Strange things always happen here, especially when it rains. Some hunters refused to believe it and went into the mountains in the rain. In the end..."

"What happened to them?" Zhang Xuan pressed, frowning.

"They all vanished. No living person was found, nor a single corpse."

The Monk's tone was calm, but his steps grew faster and faster. Zhang Xuan almost had to jog to keep up.

"It's precisely because strange things keep happening on this mountain that the old gentleman only dared ask traveling merchants and escort companies from elsewhere to search for his daughter."

The Monk's explanation was swallowed by the mounting sound of rain.

Before long, rain trickled through layer upon layer of leaves, striking their bamboo hats with a dense pattering.

The two hurried through the downpour, one behind the other.

About the time it took to drink a cup of tea later, Zhang Xuan abruptly stopped, alarm in his voice. "Monk, something's wrong!"

The Monk pressed down his bamboo hat, shielded the cloth bundle against his chest, and stopped to look at Zhang Xuan. "What's wrong?"

Zhang Xuan pointed beneath their feet. "Haven't you noticed? The water's rising too fast!"

The Monk looked down, and his expression changed sharply.

The ground beneath them had gone from dry to muddy, then to streaming with rainwater. Now, in this brief span of time, the water had actually risen over their feet.

In so little time, across such a vast mountain forest, no amount of rain should have made the water beneath their feet rise this high.

Rain was clearly falling over the whole forest, yet it seemed to be gathering only within the hundred-meter stretch around them.

While the two stood stunned, the water had already risen past their ankles.

"Hurry! This looks like Five-Ghost Relocation! All the rainwater in the forest is being moved here!"

Urgency filled the Monk's voice.

"Five-Ghost Relocation?" Zhang Xuan was dumbfounded.

"Five-Ghost Relocation is a spell or Secret Art found in Daoism and folk beliefs. It's one of the Five-Ghost Arts. It chiefly uses the ghosts of the five directions—the five ghosts—to transport objects."

After that brief explanation, the Monk continued, "But Five-Ghost Arts on this scale don't look like a spell cast by one person. This looks more like a formation."

"Can you break it?" Zhang Xuan asked.

The Monk wiped the rainwater from his face and gave him a strange look. "Daoist, I should be asking you that. Buddhists aren't skilled with talismans and formations."

Zhang Xuan was momentarily speechless, his cheeks warming.

Just as he gritted his teeth and prepared to enter the [Inner Landscape] to ask the Celestial Master's Ordination how to escape this predicament, a strange noise suddenly sounded behind them.

They turned at the same time, but the sight before them nearly scared two of their three souls clean out of their bodies—

Two enormous black shapes rode the surging current downstream, hurtling toward them with the force of a thunderbolt!

"Dodge!"

The Monk roared, and both men flung themselves to opposite sides.

Boom—

The black shapes tore through the water, passing close enough to nearly graze their bodies. Spray struck their faces like knives, making Zhang Xuan bare his teeth in pain.

If those had hit us, we'd probably have been torn limb from limb...

Horror gripped Zhang Xuan.

With two tremendous crashes in quick succession, the black shapes slammed into an old locust tree so thick that three people could barely encircle it together. They nearly snapped its massive trunk in half before finally coming to a stop.

The two quickly scrambled out of the water, ignoring their soaked clothes as they first checked their surroundings. Only after finding nothing else amiss did they turn their attention to the two black shapes.

But at that single glance, Zhang Xuan and the Monk looked at each other, each seeing terror in the other's eyes—

The things that had attacked them were actually two...

—Black coffins!!!