A coffin must never touch the ground. This was not only common knowledge in funeral customs, but also something mentioned in the Zhong Clan's Secret Manual of Corpse Driving.
Normally, while the deceased lay in state, the coffin would be placed on stools to keep it off the ground.
There were several explanations for this practice.
Some said that contact with the ground would allow earth energy to disturb the deceased's soul, causing it to linger rather than depart. Others said that a coffin touching the ground would contaminate the earth energy. This was especially true of those who died violent or accidental deaths, whose baleful energy would seep into the soil and alter its nature.
Living on such land for a long time would damage people's health.
If there was no choice but to let a coffin touch the ground, a Transcendence Rite had to be performed at that spot after the coffin was carried away. Cinnabar and other substances would be scattered there to prevent the deceased's soul from lingering and keep the earth energy from being contaminated.
There was also a more scientific explanation: prolonged contact with the ground made a coffin prone to rotting, so wooden stools were needed to support it.
Whatever the explanation, they all agreed that coffins must not touch the ground.
Yet the coffins here seemed to have been placed on the ground deliberately.
Chen Miao recalled the contents of the book. When he and Qi Ning had entered that empty house, they had also found two coffins sitting on the ground.
But those coffins had contained only dried flowers. These coffins...
"Sir, why do you keep these coffins inside the house?"
Qi Ning's sudden question drew Chen Miao's gaze back to the old man.
The old man was heading upstairs. At