"Why was that man carrying a coffin on his back?"
Curious, Li Ling could not help looking him over.
The man was around forty, with a burly build, sword-like brows, and eyes like stars. His face had hard contours as though carved by a blade, and a weathered beard covered his cheeks and chin. He looked haggard.
He wore a plain, gray-black short jacket. His steps were heavy as he walked slowly forward, yet an indescribably intimidating presence spread out around him. The Yin Baleful Qi, so dense it seemed almost tangible, appeared to lower the temperature within several feet of him.
Most striking of all was the black paulownia coffin on his back.
Chains were wound tightly around the coffin several times, with tough strips of cloth wrapped around its middle to secure it to his shoulders and back. A palm-sized yellow Talisman lay plastered against the lid.
As everyone turned to look, they could faintly hear soft noises coming from inside.
It sounded like fingernails scraping against wooden boards...
Li Ling sniffed. The surrounding smells were a jumble, with all sorts of people mingling together, good and evil difficult to distinguish.
But after this man appeared, a strange, persistent odor seemed to fill the surroundings. Neither strong nor faint, neither fragrant nor foul, it smelled as stale as a corpse that had dried in the wind for years.
Li Ling heard neither his pulse nor his heartbeat. Cultivators did use secret arts to conceal their presence, but since this man made no attempt to hide the Yin Baleful Qi on him, there was probably another reason.
Before long, the man walked past, and the people on the street could not help discussing him.
"That looks like the coffin bearer."
"Is it really him? The one who escaped from